Isaiah's Tech

So much for "Virtuous Ventures", the first Sims 3 expansion will be called "World Adventures". The Sims 3 World Adventures is scheduled to hit the shelves on November 16th of this year, so mark it on your calendars.

The expansion will grant the electronic puppets the ability to explore tombs in Egypt, romance each other in France, learn martial arts in China and search for treasure, all while making the Sims beg for the sweet release of death from the player's megalomania. The expansion comes with 1,000 SimPoint, just to get kids comfortable with the idea of asking their parents for the credit card later -- their Sim totally needs to live a happy and fulfilling life, you know. World Adventure will also make its way to iPhone in early 2010.

[Joystiq]

According to a post on 4chan, The Sims 3 will be receiving its first expansion. According to the rumour, it will be called Virtuous Ventures. This expansion is going to be announced next month (August) and will be available in October. As of right now, it's unconfirmed and just a rumour.

[zConnection]

After being scheduled to release on February 20, The Sims 3 will now hit PCs on June 2. The non-PC versions will be getting The Sims 3 after June 2, but those dates were not mentioned.

Panasonic's Z1 plasmas with WirelessHD will be hitting the Japan market on April 20. The Z1 is just 1-inch thick, comes with YouTube and has a 40,000:1 contrast ratio. These displays were mentioned at CES. There is no US ship date or price yet, but there are the Japan price tags. The 3 models: a 54-inch, a 50-inch and a 46-inch will go for retail prices of $7,835 USD, $6,715 USD and $6,156 USD, repectively. That's quite expensive, but with WirelessHD, how could you go wrong?

So, the new Internet Explorer 8 RC 1 is, reportedly, catching up to Google Chrome's market share. They are both currently hovering around the 1% mark. "These results aren't necessarily surprising, considering that web developers [all over the world] are likely downloading IE8 to get their sites up to spec before users start switching from IE7 en masse." This actually surprises me because i thought that IE8's market share would be higher than Chrome's. With so many people using Internet Explorer, it shocks me that more people haven't made the switch, especially those still using IE6.

Starting today, Gmail users will finally get Folders. Gmail currently uses Labels to sort and organize your different e-mails. Labels is a really unique feature and may be quite confusing for new Gmail users to use. My bet is that they decided to add Folders because of the migration from other popular e-mail services, such as Hotmail. Those users wouldn't know how to sort their e-mails because they are so used to using Folders over Gmail's Labels. Some people dislike change and i used to fall into that category. But after a while, i got the hang of using Gmail's Labels. Adding Folders to Gmail would be an excellent addition and i can't wait to try it out because i've been wanting that option ever since i started using Gmail. Folders will give Gmail users even more organization, since they will be able to use Labels and Folders, simultaneously.

I've been hearing that Windows has confirmed five versions of Windows 7. But, i've also been hearing that Windows has confirmed six versions. The verdict will be that Windows has confirmed six versions, since this article on Gizmodo explains the functions of all 6 different versions. The 6 versions are: Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate.

Windows 7 Starter is the most lackluster version and you will only be able to run 3 windows at once. Starter will be the go-to version for emerging markets. It's the version that will be used the least for us; it sounds completely pointless to me.

Windows 7 Home Basic will also be targeting the emerging markets and lacks many important features.

Windows 7 Home Premium will be the standard OS and will have all of the "cool features." This includes: Aero Peek and Media Center, just to name a few. It will also have multi-touch capability. Like i said, it's the standard version of Windows 7.

Windows 7 Professional "has everything that Home Premium does, but with business and 'enthusiast' features like file encryption, location-aware printing and advanced backup."

Windows 7 Enterprise has "everything that Professional does, but with a few additions like BitLocker full-disk encryption and direct access capability, so you don't have [to] go through a VPN for remote access."

Windows 7 Ultimate. We all knew that there would be an Ultimate version of Windows 7. Windows 7 Ultimate will have every feature of Windows 7 Enterprise plus some more "advanced features." Unfortunately, Windows 7 Ultimate will have a limited availibility.

There you have it, all six Windows 7 versions explained for you. This was quite a long post, thanks to Windows 7 taking up most of the room. Time to finally start my homework because i have quite a bit to do.

The Sims 3 Release Date (and picture): http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172595
Panasonic Z1 Plasmas With WirelessHD (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/03/panasonic-z1-plasmas-bring-wirelesshd-to-japan-first/
IE8 Catching Up To Chrome's Market Share (and picture): http://lifehacker.com/5145514/internet-explorer-8-already-showing-stiff-competition-for-chrome
Gmail Adding Folders: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/02/gmail-adds-folders-by-improving-label.html
Windows 7 Versions Explanation: http://i.gizmodo.com/5145366/all-the-flavors-of-windows-7-explained
Windows 7 Versions List: http://www.pcworld.com/article/158870/Microsoft_Announces_Six_Windows_7_Editions.html?tk=rss_news

I lied, sorry. As of right now, there will be at least 3 blog posts today. Just because i love writing blogs. =D.

First off is the MSI gaming laptop, dubbed the GT627. This laptop will be packed with a six-cell battery, "an optional Blu-ray drive and a Core 2 Duo CPU." Along with these features, the laptop itself will have a 15.4 inch screen with a 1680 x 1050 resolution. "It's also the first MSI laptop to feature the 1GB NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS GPU, and there's even a 320GB HDD, 4-in-1 multicard reader, twin USB 2.0 ports, HDMI / VGA outputs, gigabit Ethernet, a two megapixel webcam and an ExpressCard slot to round things out." To end the epic spec sheet off, this laptop will weigh around 5.8 pounds. This MSI gaming laptop is packed with a bunch of good features, as you can see. The red outline on the laptop is kind of annoying though (visual-wise), for me at least. I like the Dell Adamo's looks better than this, but that makes sense, since the Adamo is all about the looks.

Internet Explorer's RC (Release Candidate) 1 is now available for download. If you follow my blog, you will know that i'm not too fond of this so-called Internet Explorer. But, just because i'm in a good mood today, i'll summarize PC World's review of Internet Explorer RC 1. Basically, RC 1 fixes all of the bugs in Internet Explorer Beta 1 and 2. Internet Explorer RC 1 is pretty much the code for the final release and it runs faster than Beta 2. If you are going to download the RC 1, just remember that the normal precautions apply, much like anything else pre-released. Just download Google Chrome or Firefox, seriously.

If you have a Mac, you should mark tomorrow on your calendar. iLife '09 is going to be available tomorrow. iLife '09 was presented at the slightly boring Macworld 2009. iLife is "Apple's bundled application suite that brings facial recognition to iPhoto and piano and guitar lessons to GarageBand." "A new license will set you back $79 [USD], unless you bought a new Mac after January 6. New user upgrade's are going for $10 [USD]." So, iLife '09 tomorrow. Go get it, if you want to.

If you are waiting for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for the Nintendo Wii and DS / DSi, i have the release date for you. It's not too far away. It's release date is actually under 2 months into the future. March 24 will be the release date. "Echoes allows Wii and DS gamers to play alongside one another with a bit less hassle than the original Crystal chronicles."

Just in case you wanted to get EA's 'The Sims 3' it may be delayed. The Sims 3 was scheduled for a February 20 release date, but on its official web site, the date now says "TBA." A recent EA statement also hints at a possible delay. The Sims 3 is "already so close to complete it's hard to imagine the company delaying it for very long." So, it may be delayed, but you probably won't have to wait too long. On the other hand, Starcraft 2's release date still hasn't been mentioned.

MSI Gaming Laptop (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/26/msi-gets-official-with-gt627-gaming-laptop/
Internet Explorer RC 1 Now Available (and picture): http://lifehacker.com/5139534/internet-explorer-release-candidate-1-now-available
Internet Explorer RC 1 Review: http://www.pcworld.com/article/158337/explorer_8_rc1.html?tk=rss_news
iLife '09 (and picture): http://lifehacker.com/5139331/ilife-09-hits-shelves-tomorrow
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/26/final-fantasy-crystal-chronicles-echoes-of-time-clocks-in-march/
The Sims 3 Delayed? (and picture): http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172467

Before i talk about the Playstation Home, i'm just going to briefly talk about this new gaming keyboard, the Logitech G18. Engadget actually has no solid information on this piece of hardware, but it does look pretty sweet. As far as the backlights go, i think it would be better off with a good shade of blue, over the red, which is seen in this pic. Maybe that's just me, since it just matches with everything else in my room. I'm liking the look of the new keyboard screen though, it tilts enough so that you can see it perfect from where you should, generally, be sitting. I wonder if the keyboard pad, or whatever, on the left side of the picture, is optional or if it is a keyboard set. All-in-one maybe? We'll see.