Retail Sees Solid, Not Stellar, Holidays

On the whole, this article didn't really tell me anything I didn't know (or at least expect). However, one tidbit was very interesting. I hadn't known the origin of the term "Black Friday" before, but it is called that because it's the day most retailers move into profit for the year... getting "in the black," as opposed to "in the red."

It's also interesting to think about how much money changed hands in one day - $22.8 billion, just in America. The mind boggles.

Math Whiz Sets Record for Mental Calculation

Pretty amazing... but what use is it, really?

Last Rites Sounded for Life-Changing Video Format

The best bit of this article (though you really should read the whole thing):

By the 1990s, a VHS recorder was a common feature in most homes as prices fell and technology improved -- although the art of actually programming a recorder remained a mystery to many.

To add insult to injury, police grudgingly admit that in Britain at least, house burglars don't even bother to take VHS players because new ones now cost so little that no one wants a second-hand model.

Holidays Looking Merry for Web Retailers

Well, it's pretty obvious that Internet shopping is getting more widespread... and now here's a news article to tell us so.

Film Review: Christmas with the Kranks

I'm looking forward to this movie, even though Jamie Lee Curtis looks like Rita Rudner in the previews. I also haven't seen Tim Allen do anything new in a while, and the kid who plays Dewey in Malcolm in the Middle will probably do well too.

The Hammer in Spain Is Plainly to Ease the Strain

If you've ever seen "Office Space" or fantasized about destroying bothersome workplace equipment, you'll understand this concept. Apparently there's a junkyard in Lubia, Spain, that will let you go around with a sledgehammer and bash in "cars, computers, phones, and photos of the boss." 40 euros ($52) will buy you two hours of destructive joy, but organizers from group called StopStress say that nobody has yet been able to make their aggression last more than half an hour.

Taipei to Cloak City in World's Largest Wi-Fi Grid

This is a pretty neat idea: Taipei wants to completely cover its environs with an ubiquitous Wi-Fi network. This means that PDAs, Laptops, and other wireless devices will be able to connect to the Internet anywhere in the city.

It seems that this may not be as fun for those with their own 802.11x networks (and even cordless phones and baby monitors) at home, but the added connectivity throughout the city seems to be a great idea.

If only there was a way to get Wi-Fi connectivity to jump from 2.4GHz to another frequency not quite as occupied by other cordless and wireless household gadgets... However, this worldwide connectivity is definitely the Internet of the future, and I see Wi-Fi and cellular technologies converging into one voice-and-data wireless system several years down the road.

Half of U.S. Parents Plan to Buy Videogame-Survey

Not only are half of parents planning to give gifts of interactive entertainment to their children this Christmas, apparently 37 percent of Americans (I'm assuming that this figure refers to the adult population) "expect to either give or receive a video game as a gift this holiday."

My Amazon.com Wish List has a couple of video games on it, but none of them are the new "Halo 2" and "GTA" -style games. I always find myself a bit retro in my video-game taste: when 3D gaming was all the rage, I still liked 2D platformers best; now that first-person combat shooters and criminal adventures are hip, I finally like 3D platform games (but I still prefer third-person to first-person). The games I want are kind of old (Rayman 2 & 3; Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb), but I find that liking older games means much less financial outlay at Best Buy and/or Amazon: Games more than a year or so old often end up on the cheap-o bin and are still as good as they were when priced at $30 or more.

North American Moviegoers Dig 'National Treasure'

Not only a short review of "National Treasure," this is Reuters' weekly round-up of the top-grossing movies of the week. The new Cage flick debuted at number 1, trailed by Paramount's SpongeBob flick. Apparently, viewers of this animated bit of hooliganery were "split evenly between moviegoers either side of 18 years." Odd, but Reuters reports that "'SpongeBob' is a cult favorite with the college crowd," which I believe but find a bit disheartening. The obsession of today's college student with kids' television programming is causing me to lose faith in the America of tomorrow.

Mac Skeptic: Apple's ISight, a Webcam and More

The iSight, it appears, can be more than just a vehicle for online video chat. The application that intrigued me most in this article actually uses the iSight to scan barcodes from CDs (possibly DVDs, too, but it wasn't clear) in order to create a digital representation of your music library, including cover artwork.

I know iTunes does this sort of thing, too, but it doesn't have the ability to scan barcodes! That's pretty nifty.