Into Tech

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A new television show that debuted
over the Christmas holiday season is turning Finnish viewers
into soap opera scriptwriters — through the power of text
messaging.

Pack you bastards. Pack like you’ve never packed before. – Jason Chen

The Cool Hunter

We hear a lot these days about the evils of music torrent downloads and how it impacts revenues for honest hard working bands. Gee, my heart breaks when I picture cash-strapped Metallica on tour being unable to afford the ‘services’ of another professional groupie on the tour bus.

It seems though that there are still lots of honest folk out there, with iTunes sales rocketing for the break. According to Hitwise, visits to the iTunes Web site were up a stonking 413% on Christmas Day 2006 versus Christmas Day 2005. Visits to Apple stores were also up 110% [impact of more stores, perchance?]. Unsurprisingly, Zune.net downloads were also up a silly amount at over 1,000% but then sales are a teenie tiny fraction of the iPods.

“For the third holiday season in a row, the iPod has been the must-have Christmas gift,” said Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise. “Competitive offerings have not yet succeeded in capturing the attention of music listeners, and the surge in visits to the Apple Store shows that iPod owners are also engaged in filling and accessorizing their new devices.”

Maybe next year, Zune. Or the year after. Or maybe even…zzzzz-Martin Lynch

[Hitwise]

news technology gadgets music ipod zune itunes

Yes, it’s true. Some of those mad people who queued outside big retail stores in the US for more than day for their precious Sony PS3s are now reported to be trading them against Nintendo Wiis. Even worse, some of them are willing to do so at a loss.

The main forum for such blasphemy seems to be craigslist.org, where disaffected PS3 owners are sorry they ever caught pneumonia in the first place and want to trade (up?) for a Wii. According to this report, there were 48 PS3-for-Wii trades going on in San Francisco alone while the story was being written.

I just ran a search now and, sure enough, the PS3 dumping is well underway – see the search results here.

Nintendo’s PR department couldn’t have wished for a better Christmas story. If you feel like sending me a Wii as a thank-you, I won’t say no, since bribery will get you everywhere.-Martin Lynch

news technology gadgets games Wii PS3

NBC game show Deal or No Deal gains the highest ratings in the US on Christmas Day, the Hollywood Reporter says.

NBC game show Deal or No Deal gains the highest ratings in the US on Christmas Day, the Hollywood Reporter says.

NBC game show Deal or No Deal gains the highest ratings in the US on Christmas Day, the Hollywood Reporter says.

NBC game show Deal or No Deal gains the highest ratings in the US on Christmas Day, the Hollywood Reporter says.

Dawn French’s sitcom The Vicar of Dibley is watched by more viewers than any other TV show on Christmas Day.

Night at the Museum, Ben Stiller’s family adventure, is the number one movie over Christmas in North America.