Black Friday Internet Sales

A lot of stores sale prices have been leaked on the Internet , creating a hype among shoppers.
The Black Friday Sales are a high point of the Thanksgiving and Christmas period. Creating hype with shoppers all over.

And even with this years financial climate it is no different. Store’s are getting ready for more excited crowds this year.

So if your one, who loves sitting out side the closed doors in the wee hours of the morning till opening, your in for some fun. But there are other ways of getting the Black Friday Bargains without even leaving your couch.

The Black Friday Internet Sales. Major retailers such as Dell, Walmart, Best Buys and others have some fantastic bargains on their Black Friday online sales as well.

Even computer giant Apple are having sale prices especially on their laptops, so if this year your looking for technology, this is your year!

But remember with many stores this is the only time of year that they offer such prices. So make sure to get in early.

But if lining at the store isn’t your cup of tea, maybe you will consider shopping online. It saves time, money waiting times and the madness of in-store activity.

But research is important , either if you choose online or in-store to shop.

The store’s websites such as Best Buys are offering some great prices on TVs, DVDs and blu ray discs. You also have Target, Kohl’s, Kmart, Home Depot, Walmart and Toys R US who are offering online bargains for eager shoppers.

One of the best stores for purchases this year would have to be Walmart who are offering bargains on just about everything, but be careful if your going in-store, last year Walmart saw a Black Friday related death, when an employee was trampled by shoppers eager for a bargain. Maybe more reason to shop online.

Intouch IT1750 Wireless Internet Frame

Intouch has launched a new digital photo frame, that comes with a range of features, the Intouch IT1750 Wireless Internet Frame.

The Intouch IT1750 Wireless Internet Frame can display your photos, which can be uploaded to the photo frame via the built in WiFi or USB connection, on top of that it can display the news, weather, and a range of social media.

Intouch IT1750 Wireless Internet Frame



Everyone can automatically keep up with their friends’ photos on Facebook or get the latest news from Washington through FrameChannel, a web-based content provider.

The Intouch frame comes pre-programmed with commonly used news sources, but users can also personalize feeds by subscribing to RSS feeds from their favorite sites. Kids can get the latest on Hannah Montana, students can keep up with what’s happening on campus, and the family can check on the snow conditions they can expect for their ski vacation.

The Intouch IT1750 Wireless Internet Frame features a touchscreen 7 inch LCD display with a resolution of 800 x 480 and a 16:9 aspect ratio, there is also a virtual QWERTY keyboard
and it features support for Internet radio, with access to up to 24,000 mainstream ans internet only radio stations.

The Intouch IT1750 Wireless Internet Frame will be available sh0rtly for $229.99.

Internet ghost-towns: the blocked IPs where the bad guys used to live

When a block of IP addresses or a collection of domain names becomes associated with bad action -- spamming, jabbering, denial-of-servicing -- various ad-hoc Internet groups will add it to a blacklist of "rogue IPs" or "badware domains" that are blocked at a very low level in the network.

The problem is that there doesn't seem to be any way to readily diffuse an "all clear" signal to everyone who follows along with this block, which means that gradually, the net is acquiring "slums" -- blocks of useful space that can't be occupied by legitimate users because someone bad once lived there and now no one will accept their traffic.

The Washington Post's Security Fix visits this question -- it's a compelling problem when you think of it. Bad actors will continue to move from blocked IPs to fresh ones, and if we never release the blocked sections, eventually we'll have shut down a very large chunk of IP space indeed.

"The problem is once an address block gets so polluted and absorbed into all these blocklists, it's difficult to get off all of them because there is no central blocking authority," said Paul Ferguson, an advanced threat researcher at Trend Micro. "That space won't be toxic for all time to come, but certainly it is going to be tainted for whoever ends up with it..."

"What you'll find is some blacklists out there are derivatives of other lists, and it's hard to get those cleaned up," Bertier said, recalling a case last year in which a customer was given a swath of Internet addresses, only to find it was impossible to send e-mail from that space. "Typically in those cases, we'll work with the customers to get them new space and mark that allocation as something that really shouldn't be used for e-mail."

The internet says Will Smith is dead

Did you hear the news? The internet said that Will Smith is dead. His very fast car, a Porsche, had flipped over, killing the actor. We know this is true because “Will Smith dead” was, around 4 p.m. on Sunday, the number one searched word combo on Google. Twitter played its part, too, making “Will Smith” a big time trending topic.

Smith, as you may now know, did not flip his car today (if it is indeed a Porsche), nor did he die. So how does erroneous information suddenly catch fire and go viral?

An article earlier today talked about receiver Steve Smith and that he “will play” after being in a car accident. The key words of “will,” “smith,” and “car accident” could have been combined to Will Smith car accident.

No doubt pranksters also hopped on this bandwagon, too. A recent article at Gawker looked into all the people officially pronounced dead on Twitter. They include: Morrissey, Britney Spears, Harrison Ford, Jeff Goldblum, Miley Cyrus (her tour bus did flip this week), Lil’ Wayne, and Kanye West. Indeed, dying on Twitter is something of a compliment these days.

In the age of user generated news, rumor mongering is the common currency. On the other hand, the power of the internet to spread truthful information quickly is undeniable. As was the case in the recent death of a true pop icon.

Al Gore Wishes He Never Invented The Internet

It used to be a lot easier for people in power like Al Gore to control peoples opinions.

Not too long ago you if you said something stupid on national TV it was no big deal, just a phone call to a couple of big newspapers and the story went nowhere. But now if you say anything wrong at all, like the earth's core is several million degrees instead of several thousand degrees, all the little bloggers with no credentials jump all over it and make a big deal about it.

Or when Senator John Kerry, in explaining the need for a climate change bill, noted that in "the last eight years emissions in the United States of America in greenhouse gasses went up four times faster than in the 1990s" when in actuality they went down in that time period. In the olden days the press would just take Kerry's word as gospel.

And now with the release of the leaked emails from AirVent.com I bet Al Gore Wishes he never would have invented the internet.

The Global Warming Extremists had a good thing going for a while. All it took was one U.N. entity, a few scientists, a few scientific journals, one chart based on one tree, one politician and his documentary plus the main stream media, and Voilà! You have a worldwide crisis that requires a worldwide tax and a worldwide government. But all it took to bring it down was one comment on one little blog. Even the New York Times is talking about it.

It will take a long time to decipher what was said in these emails but here is one of my personal favorites so far.


if McIntyre had a legitimate point, he would submit a comment to the journal in question. of course, the last time he tried that (w/ our '98 article in Nature), his comment was rejected. For all of the noise and bluster about the Steig et al Antarctic warming, its now nearing a year and nothing has been submitted. So more likely he won't submit for peer-reviewed scrutiny, or if it does get his criticism "published" it will be in the discredited contrarian home journal "Energy and Environment". I'm sure you are aware that McIntyre and his ilk realize they no longer need to get their crap published in legitimate journals. All they have to do is put it up on their blog, and the contrarian noise machine kicks into gear, pretty soon Druge, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and their ilk (in this case, The Telegraph were already on it this morning) are parroting the claims. And based on what? some guy w/ no credentials, dubious connections with the energy industry, and who hasn't submitted his claims to the scrutiny of peer review.

The Global Warming Extremists controlled the argument for years by saying, it's only legitimate science if it's published in certain journals and peer reviewed, and if you control the Journals you control the science. But sadly with Al Gore's invention, the anointed few are losing control, much like the medieval church did with the invention of the printing press.

Vizio Internet-connected HDTVs delayed

Well this is no fun. If you’ve been patiently waiting for the Vizio HDTVs that bring Twiiter, Facebook, Netflix, and Yahoo into you living room, you’re going to have to wait a bit longer. Santa isn’t going to bring one this year.

The HDTV sets were supposed to be out in July, but that obviously didn’t happen. CNET is reporting that the new launch date is January 2010. Too bad that Vizio couldn’t make the original deadline. We’ll no doubt see other HDTVs at CES ‘10 with similar social-networking functions. Vizio might get lost in the crowd.

Second Generation Pogoplug lets you share multiple USB drives over the Internet

Like it’s predecessor, the new Pogoplug allows for USB drive sharing over the Internet. It’ll cost you $129, has no service fees, takes up to four USB drives, and has Twitter and Facebook integration. It will sync your content with a Mac or PC and let you share and watch movies, listen to music, or view photos directly through the Pogoplug website and on an iPhone.

It also has a drag-and-drop interface and sharing over social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. The only downside is that you are relying on the company staying in business in order to be able to share data.

Decade's top 10 Internet moments

List includes Wikipedia, iPhone and the election of U.S. President Barack

NEW YORK - The launch of Wikipedia, emergence of the iPhone and the election of U.S. President Barack Obama were among the 10 most influential moments on the Internet in the past decade, according to the annual Webby awards.

Other events singled out by the New York-based International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which has presented the annual Webby awards since 1996, were the Iranian election in 2009 when protests demonstrated the power of Twitter and other social network in reshaping democracy.

"The Internet is the story of the decade because it was the catalyst for change in not just every aspect of our everyday lives, but in everything from commerce and communication to politics and pop culture," said David-Michel Davies, the executive director of The Webby Awards, in a statement.


"The recurring theme among all of the milestones on our list is the Internet's capacity to circumvent old systems and put more power into the hands of ordinary people."

Here is the Webby's list of the 10 most influential Internet moments of the decade:

* Craigslist, the free classifieds site, expands outside San Francisco in 2000, impacting newspaper publishers everywhere
* Google AdWords launched in 2000 allowing advertisers to target their customers with laser-sharp precision
* Wikipedia, the free open-source encyclopedia, launches in 2001 and today boasts more than 14 million articles in 271 different languages and bringing strangers together on projects
* Napster shutdown in 2001, opening the file-sharing floodgates
* Google's IPO in 2004 put the search engine on the path to powering countless aspects of our everyday lives
* Online video revolution in 2006 that led to a boom in homemade and professional content on the Internet and helped reshape everything from pop culture to politics
* Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter takes off in 2006
* The iPhone debuts in 2007 and smartphones go from a luxury item to a necessity with an app for just about every aspect of modern life
* U.S. presidential campaign in 2008 in which the Internet changed every facet of the way campaigns are run
* Iranian election protests in 2009 when Twitter proved vital in organizing demonstrations and as a protest too

McAdams Denies Black Cat Rumors, So Internet Moves On To Jula Stiles

This is hilarious. Rachel McAdams made a statement that she was not in Spider-Man 4, and the Internet's collective response was akin to "Lalalalala I can't hear you." Then the news sites promptly started cranking out Julia Stiles Spider-Man rumors.

Entertainment Weekly caught McAdams briefly to chat about the rumor that she will be the new Black Cat in Sam Raimi's Spider-man 4.

"That's a total rumor, I have to say…I was hanging out in Toronto the other day and someone came up to me and said, ‘I just heard you're doing Spider-Man 4.‘ And I said, ‘Really? No one told me!' It's not true."

And just about every site reporting the denial is insisting that well, McAdams may have had some discussion about Spider-Man 4 at some point in her life so... yeah. But even if we have to give up on McAdams, there's no need to panic in the resulting news vacuum: the web is ablaze with a new rumor, this time Julia Stiles. Turns out UGO has sources that says Julia Stiles contacted a New York casting company about a role in Spider-Man 4.

Now before we get all upset about the prospect of Save The Last Spider-Dance For Me, let's just remember: She contacted a casting company about it. So it's a possibility not the truth. We still have no idea who the Black Cat will be, but there seems to be a consensus that she is in the film.

Internet addiction can harm real relationships

Technology can be seductive because it provides an instant reward - a text message from a friend, success in a video game or stimulating news on a Web site - that is not necessarily harmful.

But mental health experts say an addiction can form - just as with gambling - when people keep seeking that intermittent, unpredictable reward.

"The fact that it is unpredictable is what compels the brain to keep checking over and over and over," said Dr. David Greenfield, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

"When people are afraid of not having their PDA or a phone with them, then it's addictive," Greenfield said.

Still, the question is: When does an addiction to technology become a problem?
Human contact suffers

Dr. Kimberly Young, founder and director of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery of Bradford, Pa., said it depends on individual circumstances.

"It's not a time limit," said Young, who has been studying Internet addiction since 1994. "You can't diagnose alcoholism by how much someone drinks. "

Also, she said, "it's a generational thing. Go interview a 15-year-old, a 45-year-old and a 75-year-old, and you'll have different views of technology. For 15-year-olds, it's their lifeline."

But some of the warning signs include being so preoccupied with online activities that it affects relationships. (For more on signs of addiction, see the chart on the next page.)

There's a problem with "someone who is always having to get up in the middle of the night to check e-mail and not having sex with his wife," she said.

According to the center's Web site, NetAddiction.com, the most common type of Internet addiction is online pornography, but online gambling, auction sites and multiplayer role playing games are also on the rise. Surveys indicate half of Internet addicts also have another addiction, such as drugs, alcohol, smoking or sex.
Brain chemistry

Dr. John Ratey, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, said a physical addiction can form from the chemical reaction in the brain - a "dopamine squirt" - that comes from a rewarding tech experience.

"We condition ourselves to need it, and after a while, it becomes a physical need like any other constant practice," Ratey said. "It's worse now because we've got all these devices."

Greenfield said that 10 years ago there used to be more debate among mental health professionals about whether Internet addiction was an actual malady or a symptom of more recognized problems such as depression and social isolation.

In fact, a Pew Research Center study released last month concluded that the rise of Internet and mobile phone use has not made Americans more socially isolated.

"Personally, I have some doubts about the notion that there can be an Internet addiction," said sociologist Keith Hampton, the Pew study's lead author and an assistant professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

"We can't forget that we had media before the Internet," he said. "Husbands have been sitting at the dinner table reading the newspaper for a long time. Just because the devices change doesn't necessarily mean that the overall social pattern has changed."
China's response

Around the world, however, experts say they are just starting to measure the effects.

In China, which has almost 300 million Internet users, the government has declared Internet and video game addiction a public health problem.

Studies have found anywhere from 2.4 to 15 percent have a problematic Internet addiction, said Dr. Cheng-Hua Tian, professor of psychiatry at the Peking University Institute of Mental Health. In an e-mail, Tian said he and other senior psychiatrists are developing diagnostic criteria to more accurately measure addiction, which affects teenagers more than adults.

In the United States, Greenfield said, studies have estimated anywhere from 3 to 6 percent of Internet users have a problem. The nation's first inpatient "detox" center focusing on Internet and video game addiction opened in Fall City, Wash., in July.

The reStart Internet Addiction Recovery Clinic, which charges $14,000 for a 45-day recovery program, has treated three men and one woman who sought to kick serious video game habits that left them unable to complete school or hindered their ability to form real-world relationships, said clinic co-founder Dr. Hilarie Cash.
Instant gratification

In serious cases, technology "can be more immediately gratifying than the labor of building an intimate relationship," Cash said. "That is one of the biggest prices we pay by letting ourselves get seduced by all this technology."

Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, assistant director of the Stanford School of Medicine's Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Clinic, said there's no question in his mind that technology can cause problem addictions.

"From a clinical experience, I've seen plenty of people whose primary problem is an Internet problem," he said. "They're not gamblers, they're not pornography addicts, they're not necessarily depressed. And there are real offline consequences that we are just starting to appreciate.

"What we're seeing is that people with social anxiety are gravitating online as a substitute, and that can be OK to a certain point," he said. "There's nothing wrong with having these connections, unless your real-life relationships begin to suffer, and that's when it becomes problematic. Some of them truly have difficulty forming real-life relationships."

Signs of addiction

Here are some questions to ask if you think you are addicted to the Internet:

-- Do you spend excessive time online, or more than you intended?

-- Do you feel more depressed or lonely the more time you spend online?

-- Do you have a heightened sense of euphoria while online or using a computer?

-- Is it interfering with your job or school performance?

-- Do family or friends complain about the time and energy you spend online?

-- Do you frequently chose spending time online over going out with other people?

-- Do you hide, lie or become defensive about online activities?

-- Do you feel depressed, restless, moody or nervous offline and fine again when online?

-- Do you spend too much time with online pornography, multiplayer games or gambling sites?
What to do?

Unplug yourself completely from technology for at least a few moments each day.

-- Keep track of how much you use technology, and moderate overuse.

-- If needed, seek counseling, self-help or support groups.

Sources: Virtual-Addiction.com; NetAddiction.com; netaddictionrecovery.com; Dr. John Ratey, Harvard Medical School.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/14/BU2J1AGILQ.DTL&type=tech#ixzz0X1XUiLQa

Clicker launches a TV Guide for the Internet

* Clicker.com aims to be TV Guide of Internet age

* Analysts say approach is new, but competition will come

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Clicker.com launched a TV Guide for Internet television on Thursday, designed to provide a new way to find everything from old Seinfeld episodes to cooking shows.

"What is TV Guide for the next generation going to look like?" asked Chief Executive Jim Lanzone. His aim is for a comprehensive Internet guide that makes it easy to find programs, save them, click to them and get reminders.

Of course, the real TV Guide -- once a highly popular printed listing of television programs sold at grocery stores across the country -- still exists as a website of its own. And there are lots of other choices for consumers.

YouTube has videos, Hulu offers network TV programming and other material, BuddyTV offers listings and TV news, Channels.com advertises "no more hunting for videos." And there are video search engines like Truveo and BlinX.

"There are sites where you can watch programs, and there are a range of sites that touch all the different pieces, but I am unaware of anyone who does all of these things," said Greg Sterling, of Sterling Market Intelligence. He said that Clicker seems to be a candidate.

The company has $8 million in backing led by two venture capital firms, Benchmark Capital and Redpoint Ventures.

Lanzone sees video moving away from ordinary television and more and more to the Web in coming years, making a service like Clicker.com ever more of a necessity.

The Clicker.com database allows consumers to chose programs in many ways, as well as enabling a form of social networking -- a necessity in the latest Web companies.

Allen Weiner, an analyst with Gartner, said Clicker.com wants to be "the interface between the consumer and video channels" and that it "takes a much more holistic view" than others.

But he said if Clicker.com is successful it can expect competition from major high tech firms like Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and possibly from TV makers. And he believes the task Clicker.com faces is tough.

"This is a market that has to prove itself. It is not easy to be comprehensive, and it's not easy to update material."

New Internet Attacks

There are stories out there right now saying there is a computer virus that can and will download child pornography onto an unsuspecting person's computer. But is it real. One expert says he's heard the stories, but there is no proof of a child porn downloading virus in anything he's seen.

But that doesn't mean there aren't new threats out there. One of more serious are the MySpace e-mails. It's a link to the z-bot virus that steal people's identities.