PlayStation 3 Will Be "Network Ready"
The PlayStation 3 will be "network ready" out of the box when it launches in November and will offer a range of services similar to Xbox Live. Xbox Live, Microsoft's online service, has grown in the last four years to incorporate game demos, trailers and movie trailers alongside offering an online gaming experience with downloadable content and extras. Like Xbox Live, Sony's network service is to be holistic, offering gamers a consistent experience across games with options such as friends lists and match-making. Unlike the Xbox 360, the PlayStation will incorporate a browser so that gamers can surf the web via their console. Sony has launched an Electronic Distribution Initiative (EDI) which could be used by smaller companies to develop titles and content for the online audience. By 2009, the online games market is expected to be worth about $14.9bn annually.

Traditional Media Wins
A survey of media consumption in the US has found 50% of people opt for traditional media such as television, radio and newspapers as their primary source for information during major events like hurricanes, rather than turning to "emerging media" forms such as blogs. The survey characterised "emerging media" as internet sites by citizen journalists in the form of blogs, podcasts or internet-only publications. Internet news sites, such as those grown from newspapers or television networks, were grouped with traditional media or broken out into their own category. When asked for their top three choices for accurate and up-to-the-minute information, 50% chose network/local television, 42% chose radio, and 37% chose newspapers. Slightly more than a third picked cable news or business networks, and 25% said they went to "internet sites of print and broadcast media". Only 6% said they turned to "emerging media" sources. When asked to choose the top five topics that interested them, consumers were more into pop culture than politics. The most popular topics, chosen by about a third of the consumers surveyed, are popular entertainment (books, movies, music, TV, plays), hobbies, weather and food/cooking/dining. Almost a quarter of the people chose sports.

Wibree Open Spec for Low-Power Devices
Nokia said it was introducing what it hoped would be a new industry standard for short-range wireless connections between small devices. It said the new radio technology, to be known as "Wibree", would fit with other local linking systems, but use just a fraction of the power, allowing for smaller and cheaper applications. That would provide radio links of up to 30 feet between devices like watches or sports sensors. Nokia said it would also be easy to integrate with Bluetooth short-range radio technology, currently mostly used to connect mobile phones to devices like headsets, printers or microphones. Nokia said companies working with it on defining the standard are Broadcom Corp., CSR Plc, Epson and Nordic Semiconductor, as well as Amer Sports unit Suunto, and Taiyo Yuden Co. Nokia said it expects the first commercial version to be available during the second quarter of next year.

On Demand Advertising-Supported TV from Fox
News Corp. said it will launch a new service to offer full episodes of its television shows on MySpace.com and the Web sites of its local Fox TV stations after they have aired. The new service, Fox On Demand, will be advertising-supported and will offer shows such as "Prison Break", "Justice" and "Bones" on MySpace and on Web sites in 24 U.S. markets where News Corp. owns TV stations. Television networks have raced to offer their shows online and over Apple's iTunes service to a new generation of viewers whose time is split between the computer, cell phone and TV screens. At launch, the service will be sponsored by Toyota Motor Burger King and Lionsgate Entertainment.

Screaming Mobile Phones
About 700,000 mobile phones are reported stolen each year, although many will actually have been lost and many are not smart phones -- devices which integrate applications such as Internet access or GPS navigation software -- in addition to telephone functions. Now if your mobile telephone is stolen, you can scream — and your phone can, too. A new service launched is designed to deter mobile phone theft by equipping telephones with an ear-piercing scream. The screaming won't stop unless the battery is removed. Even if the thief replaces the phone's SIM card, the handset will not work. All customers' information is centrally stored, so contacts, ringtones, pictures, texts and other data can be retrieved when a new handset is purchased. The service costs about $18 a month. The goal of the service is to make mobile phones useless to anyone but the rightful owner. The service is called Remote XT.

Cuban Taps Rodman for Series
Mark Cuban is launching a new makeover series starring former NBA player Dennis Rodman. Mr. Cuban announced the project during an appearance at Advertising Week, a week-long series of events in New York. Further details about the project are not yet known. Mr. Cuban added that his newsmagazine starring former CBS anchor Dan Rather will debut Oct. 24. The weekly "Dan Rather Reports" program will be supplemented by 64 stringers from around the world.

Plaxo Grows to 15 million
Over the last several years I have found Plaxo to be a real life saver, from managing my contact list (over 18,000), to data recovery. I've heard Plaxo referred to as "Bully-ware", becuase people feel it forces itself on non-registed users. I feel its worth trying out, and I know you will discover the same benefits as I have found. One more point on Plaxo, the "Premium" version is well worth the US$49 !

Plaxo announced today that the company has achieved the major milestone of 15 million members. Growth for the Plaxo network continues to accelerate – ramping from 10 to 15 million members in only six months – less than half the time it took the company to grow from 5 to 10 million. Plaxo provides its members with a “smart address book” – a self-updating address book and calendar that can be used virtually anywhere. Plaxo members can securely access always-up-to-date information about their friends and colleagues from a growing list of tools and services, such as the web, mobile phones, Outlook, Mac OS X address book, AIM, and Yahoo!

Today's Site To Peek At:
Israel based ViewScore uses numeric score averaging and a semantic algorithm to give products an average score out of 100 over thousands of professional reviews online. The review sources are ranked by another algorithm and user feedback. The site grabs product specs, compares similar products and offers comparative pricing from multiple online shopping sites. Users can also sign up to get an alert when a new review for a particular product is available. Viewscore currently offers 60,000 reviews from 1,000 sources. Blogs and other social media are not included. The company says it hopes to expand it’s basic formula beyond gadgets and into many other fields.

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