Isaiah's Tech

Just like i mentioned this morning, (from left to right) the 5730 XpressMusic, 5330 XpressMusic and the 5030 XpressRadio are now available for €280 (Q3), €260 (also Q3) and €40 (Q2), respectively. I just thought i'd give you a picture of all 3 of Nokia's new handsets.

This small device you see here is a AA battery the new iPod Shuffle from Apple. As you can see, it's extremely tiny and has no buttons on it. The buttons are found on the supplied earphones. The new iPod Shuffle announcement and release was a surprise to everyone and I have some of its specs for you. The new iPod Shuffle has 4GB of storage, comes in silver or black with a stainless steel clip and Apple claims the Shuffle to be the first music player with a "VoiceOver" feature. It also has 10 hours of music playback, but that is actually 2 hours less than the 12 hour music playback that the last Shuffle touted. This Shuffle is extremely small and i can't really stress that enough. It's actually now available for $80 USD, so go and get it online if you want it that badly. This is clearly the "real" iPod Nano, in terms of size.

"When Facebook users login today, they're going to find something new - and, Facebook hopes, addicting - a real time stream of all their friends' updates across Facebook, the Facebook Platform, and Facebook Connect." Clearly this is not the case, since i'm still waiting for the Facebook Home Page to change. It will probably be up tonight before i go to sleep and i'm excited to see it. It looks good and i especially love the use of the 3 columns in the new design. I'm excited to see how it works out and how others react to it. Apparently, this new Facebook Home Page will roll out slowly over the next couple of days to users, so it could be a while before it pops up for you.

Nintendo has reached yet another amazing feat. To be specific, I'm talking about Nintendo shipping out their 100 millionth Nintendo DS. This is amazing and this number is growing at a steady and quick pace. The Nintendo DSi is scheduled to be released in a couple of weeks, so expect those to be sold out at a store near you. The DSi will be a significant upgrade to the current DS. It sports a larger (3.25-inch) screen, has built-in memory, but unfortunately will not be backwards compatible with your old GameBoy Advance games. It also has 2 cameras and has the ability to go on the Internet and stuff. It's only a few weeks away kids!

Nokia XpressMusic / XpressRadio (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/11/nokia-outs-5730-and-5330-xpressmusic-and-5030-xpressradio-handse/
New iPod Shuffle (and picture): http://i.gizmodo.com/5167946/new-ipod-shuffle-moves-buttons-to-headphones-adds-text-to-speech
New Facebook Home Page (and picture): http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/03/11/facebook-launching-new-home-page-today-taking-the-live-stream-mainstream/
Nintendo Ships Their 100 Millionth DS (and picture): http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/nintendo-ships-its-100-millionth-ds-581879?src=rss&attr=all

Looks like Samsung's Android phones will be delayed. Enough to the point where their Android phones will not be showcased at this year's MWC. But it's okay, there's still the i8910 Acme and the S8300, right? Samsung is new to the Android OS, but it's still kind of surprising that the phone had to be delayed this much. Hopefully, it will be worth the wait. Maybe, an Omnia successor?

Activision-Blizzard has just hinted that the Starcraft II beta will begin in the "months ahead." Obviously, this is not a direct hint, since it was kind of obvious that it is coming soon. "Furthermore, the beta will include an early look at the new & improved Battle.net architecture that will ship with the game." I simply can't wait for this. It's gonna be amazing.

In response to Facebook Connect and OpenID's alliance, Google has responded by adding a social bar to their Google Friend Connect. I don't think that this addition will bring them closer to trumping Facebook Connect, but it's a start. "Google's new Social Web Blog introduces us to the social bar, a new gadget that 'concentrates many of the basic social functions into a small strip at the top or bottom of your webpage.'" The social bar will contain information, such as: your site's activity feed, comment wall and your member list.

Gmail has slightly altered how you organize your contacts. There are now 4 new options that relate to your contacts: contact merging, all contacts, removing contacts, and searching your contacts. First off, contact merging will combine those 3 accounts that your friend has into one. Secondly, "instead of Suggested Contacts, you'll now see a group called All Contacts which, as the name would suggest, is where all of your contacts live and thus a good view for merging duplicate contacts." Third on the list is removing your contacts. Yes, "you can finally move contacts out of the My Contacts group." This is probably something that should have been implemented before, but you do have it now. Last, but not least is searching through all of your contacts. This new Gmail feature will strengthen the search feature. Instead of being restricted to searching for email addresses and names, you now get the feature to search using "phone numbers, notes fields, and mailing addresses as well." Thank you Google, for all of these improvements.

As of right now Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is scheduled to hit consumers by this year's holiday season. Write this down on your Christmas list.

Samsung Delays Android Phones (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/11/samsungs-android-phones-delayed-wont-show-up-at-mwc/
Starcraft 2 Beta: http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/693202/StarCraft-II-Beta-in-Months-Ahead-Will-Include-New-Battlenet.html?utm_source=g4tv&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=TheFeed
Google Friend Connect's Social Bar (and picture): http://mashable.com/2009/02/11/friend-connect-social-bar/
Gmail Contacts: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/four-changes-to-gmail-contacts.html
Gmail picture: http://www.breakitdownblog.com/working-around-gmail-contact-importing-oops-an-unknown-error-occured-while-importing-your-contacts/comment-page-1/
CoD: Modern Warfare 2: http://ps3.qj.net/Activision-Blizzard-CoD4-Modern-Warfare-2-out-by-Holidays/pg/49/aid/128834

More PSP-3000 colours!!! There will be a radiant red (just like one of the Japanese 'carnival colours'), mystic silver and pearl white. These will be released in Japan Europe. The radiant red colour will be coming in March. While the mystic silver and pearl white PSPs should be available as of today.

If you've been following my blogs for a while, you may remember when i was trying to decide between OpenID and Facebook Connect for comments on my blog. Well, Facebook will be teaming up with the OpenID foundation. That's incredibly good news because i'll be able to change my comments soon, so that Facebook Connect and OpenID will be implemented. With Facebook, OpenID should be more useful and i think it will be a big boost for them.

Today, Canadian-based RIM (Research in Motion) sold its 50 millionth Blackberry. This is incredible because it was just RIM's 10th year anniversary last month. Congratulations to RIM on this impressive feat.

Hey iPod Touch users (this includes you ashlee), this one's for you. In my iPod Touch review a while back (here) i mentioned that you can make you iPod Touch into a phone. Well, there is now an app that is available that will do all of the dirty work. JaJah App will be "offering cellphone-esque functionality free of SIM cards and contracts, and provide mobile carriers the JaJah technology to use under their own brand." To use the JaJah app you will need a Wi-Fi connection and a headset, so that you will be able to talk. You will get a real phone number, so that your friends can call you, meaning you'll be able to receive calls. Unfortunately, you will have to pay for your calls, sort of like a phone card. You will be able to purchase minutes through JaJah, "or soon enough, they'll make their service available to mobile carriers, letting them use the technology under their own name, letting customers deal with a company they already know." JaJah will allow you to make calls to the US for 3 cents / minute and 3.4 cents / minute if you call parts of Europe. Although, the JaJah App is not available right now, it will be available in a couple weeks and it will be free.

PSP Colours Hitting Europe (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/05/psp-hit-europe-in-three-more-colors/
Facebook Connect and OpenID: http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/02/05/facebook-joins-openid-foundation-board/
RIM Sells 50 Millionth Blackberry: http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/02/05/50m.blackberries.sold/
iPod Touch and the JaJah App (and picture): http://i.gizmodo.com/5147282/jajah-app-now-turns-your-ipod-touch-into-a-voip-phone

So, my layout is just a tad different from before. I've re-arranged some stuff on the right sidebar. So, i added "Followers" which reveals that only my girlfriend follows my blogs, but that's okay with me =D. I know ashlee (no caps because she likes it that way) reads my blogs too, so it's all good. Anyways, i've moved up "Google Friend Connect," which is now located under "Followers." The "Google Friend Connect" commenting portion is actually not working, but i will try to fix that. I've spent a majority of time today trying to implement Facebook Connect to the commenting system, but to no avail. I just couldn't do it. I tried to implement Facebook Connect AND OpenID comments at the same time, but after all that work and research, i gave up. I had to take the easy way out and i threw OpenID out the door. I chose Facebook Connect over OpenID and i did this for a couple of reasons. One of the reasons is because i know my 2 main commenter's ashlee and Nikki both have Facebook, so they can still comment on my blog, so that wasn't a problem. Another reason is because some of my friends on Facebook might even view my blog (maybe) and may want to post a comment. At the same time, they may not have an OpenID, so this will allow them to comment. The last reason is because you can also post a comment anonymously, which actually may not turn out too well, but i'm sure i can moderate comments. So yes, there you have it, Facebook Connect, [many] Followers and Google Friend Connect, which is still under some construction.

My last blog informed all of my reader's that i was going to church. Well, this was not the case. When my mom came home, she changed her mind about going to church. Instead, we're going tomorrow. But, me and my mom did leave the house, shortly after she got home. We went to one of her friend's houses to drop off some Christmas presents. After the very boring ride there and the same boring ride home, i tried to figure out how to implement Facebook Connect and OpenID comments again. As i said earlier, i couldn't get it. I left home again at 7:32 p.m. to go to Aldric's place. We got there around 8 and they were watching Raptors on TV. They ended up losing again. I ate some food and after me and Aldric headed to the basement to play some mini-net basketball. He actually beat me. He had to score 5 in-a-row from one spot in the basement and then another 3 in-a-row from another spot. On the other hand, i had to score 10 in-a-row from a spot a bit farther than his was and then another 5 in-a-row from another spot, which was also farther than his. So, anyways, he nailed his 5 in a row before i hit my 10, so he was at the next spot. Then, i nail my 10 shots in a row and move to the next spot. 5 minutes later, Aldric makes his 3 in a row. That means i had to make my 5 in-a-row to tie him on the next turn, or i lose. What do you know, i hit 4 in-a-row and the last shot rims out, leaving him with the win. Congratulations Aldric, although i was kind of bummed. So, after that shootout, it was around 10 p.m. already. Me and my mom actually went home before the midnight countdown, which was dumb. Anyways, we got home around 11 p.m. and i do the whole Facebook Connect thing again for a good 4 hours, with a brief intermission from 11:59 p.m. - 12:01 a.m. to go to my mom's room and say Happy New Year's. At around 3:30 a.m., i finally gave up trying to implement Facebook Connect and OpenID comments. That leaves me where i am now, with the new Disqus comments. Remember to tick the little circle beside Facebook Connect to post your comments =). I hope you like it, give me some feedback.

So, to post a comment is still pretty straight-forward. Click on "Comments", under the blog that you want to comment on. From there it will take you to a new screen, with a new comment layout system. Tick the little white circle next to Facebook Connect. From there, you just log-in with your Facebook credentials and post your comment. Again, don't forget the feedback. =D

[Edited at 4:23 a.m.]: Seems that the number of comments are actually not being tallied, will have to fix it tomorrow.

By the way, Happy New Year's to everyone. Have a great year!

Disqus picture: http://mashable.com/2008/12/16/disqus-to-integrate-facebook-connect/
Facebook Connect picture: http://mashable.com/2008/12/16/facebook-connect-plugins/
Google Friend Connect picture: http://www.socialmediamagazine.com/social-blog/social-media-news/2008/05/google-friend-connect-social-media-tool/