Dell has partnered with Nickelodeon and Whyville.net to give life to its latest version of the Mini10v. According to Dell, the kids' Netbook has been designed with safe computing, education, and entertainment in mind. At a glance, Dell is only trying to reach another market (children), but if you look a little closer, the Netbook may represent a change in the way the next generation of preteens and children will learn to socialize and develop their decision-making skills.
(Credit:
Dell)
The Netbook comes with desktop animations which link to Whyville.net, a virtual world where kids of all ages chat, shop, and visit places in town that engage them in science, nutrition, art, and business activities.
One of the most interesting locations is the cafeteria, where Whyvillians can pick a food item, view its nutritional facts, and select a meal based on an educated decision. If their character eats more fattening, high-calorie items, the cartoon character will see the effects as it becomes fatter and unhealthy. Likewise, if the character doesn't eat enough, he will become frail and sickly. A lack of vitamin C will cause scurvy sores, and a lack of calcium will cause weak bones and a bandaged head. As a result, the child may be advised that his Whyvillian should see the Whyville nutritionist.
... Read moreRandall Bennett, co-creator of The 404 and now the host of TechVi, joins us on today's show to talk about his journey around the globe, a few of his new projects, and how he's saving the world one post office box at a time.
(Credit:
Randall Bennett)
We've had Randall on the show before, but this is the first time we've seen him since he moved back to New York from his brief but productive stint on the Left Coast. What the heck has he been doing this whole time? Well, Randall is a man of many many talents, and he tells us that he's been using those talents for projects including Tech Vi (pronounced vee), a constantly updated tech news outlet with frequent guests that include industry pundits from Engadget, Popular Mechanics, and a couple of lame dudes that have no idea what they're talking about.
Randall also lets us in on some big news in the works for TechVi that actually involves the CNET departed, so be sure to listen closely to hear it first!
Per usual, the second half is all about the latest news in the world of silly tech and beyond. Following up on yesterday's story about the young woman falling through a manhole while texting, we discuss an even worse occasion: a different woman has twittered through a bank robbery! How is that possible? Well, mainly because the trackball on her BlackBerry smartphone fell off, rendering her incapable of doing anything on her phone but twittering out asinine messages like "cant figure out how to call work without a trackball... police just arrived. maybe theyll let me go now." Me, I probably would've twittered something useful, like "OMFG call the cops frealsies, there's an effing gun in my face."
Be sure to listen to the entire episode to hear Randall's hilarious story about how he saved the lives of countless Netflixers by stopping a man from burning down a post office box. New York needs more good Samaritans like you, dude! Also, feel free to leave us a voicemail (a clean one we can actually play on the air, sans caviar) at 1-866-404-CNET!
EPISODE 382
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The Sun Streaming System -- film festival diva?
(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)Can you make a server sexy?
Short answer: No.
But you can still throw it a glitzy launch party.
Over the past week or so, I've been poking my head into various events at the Tribeca Film Festival in lower Manhattan, which runs through tomorrow. I've always thought of film festivals as sort of low-tech affairs, and in a lot of ways, it's true--at a screening of Edward Burns' new flick, Purple Violets, the producers apologized for the first reel being "too light," and at the premiere of Spider-Man 3 co-star James Franco's latest project, Good Time Max, Franco acknowledged that the sound on the film was still a bit iffy.
But despite that, there are more than a few high-tech companies among the festival's list of sponsors. Some are no-brainers--Apple, for example, seems quite at home among the stars and red-carpet premieres (and festival kickoff guest-of-honor Al Gore). But Verizon? Yahoo? Sun Microsystems? Last week, Sun debuted its Sun Streaming System, a new product geared toward speeding up the delivery of Internet protocol television (IPTV), in conjunction with the festival. Guests were invited to the luxe Tribeca Grand Hotel for an evening of wine and hors d'oeuvres, followed by a private screening of Burns' Purple Violets. The Sun Streaming System, meanwhile, was standing awkwardly out in the hallway, humming away. A few people opted to pose for photographs next to it. But let's just say it wasn't exactly the life of the party.
Yes, the Sun Streaming System is a step forward in IPTV's short history, but an indie film premiere still seemed a little bit of a disjointed promotion for a server, to say the least. I was in attendance that evening, and my goal was to figure out exactly what both Sun and Tribeca Enterprises had at stake in such a partnership. The answer, according to Adam Sloan, the festival's executive vice president of sponsorship sales and marketing, is content delivery. Whether it's Verizon's
So are film festivals inking these new-media content delivery deals because they're afraid they'll be losing market share to Ask a Ninja if they don't expand? Sloan assured me that isn't the case. But the truth is that films nowadays have started to rely heavily on viral buzz, and the Internet is (for obvious reasons) the place to build that buzz. I asked Sloan about whether or not the festival was doing anything with that perpetual buzzword--user-generated content. After all, it's one of the major reasons that IPTV and broadband video are gaining the momentum that they are. "In many ways, everyone's becoming a filmmaker, and that's what makes it really fun," he said, but then added that the Tribeca Film Festival currently does not have any categories that the average person would associate with the YouTube revolution. There's a Cadillac-sponsored award that viewers vote on, and Sloan hinted at adding some more interactive features to the festival's Web site. Aside from that, it's still a hand-picked selection. Not very 2.0--but the idea I got was that it's gradually evolving to that point.
As is everything these days, right?
(Credit:
Larstan Publishing)
You'd think that bloggers and podcasters would be happy with their respective media. After all, how much better can it be to have free worldwide distribution of whatever it is you want to say at any moment.
But if you think that's enough for them--and hey, why not lump them all together in one large group--you'd be wrong. We know this because Larstan Publishing has just announced the launch of, well, Blogger & Podcaster magazine, a new monthly dedicated to chronicling the latest and greatest happenings, and the biggest names in, er, blogging and podcasting.
"Believed to be the first publication to launch simultaneously in three distinct formats," according to a press release announcing the new venture, the magazine "promises to deliver news, features, tips and profiles written for, and by, those who want to use these thriving online media to leverage their voice and expand their businesses' opportunities."
The magazine, which features famous blogger and podcaster Robert Scoble on the cover, has a Web site, of course, on which most of its content will be available for free. And it also has a free podcast edition. Why anyone would pay $79 for a subscription to the print magazine is not entirely clear.
All told, however, it is aiming its sights at the more than 80,000 podcasters and 60 million bloggers it says industry estimates say there are.
Initially, the magazine will have a circulation of 20,000, but it expects to grow to 250,000 within a year. That's a lofty goal given that most magazines simply flop.
Regardless, given the content, we should all expect to soon be reading diatribes about the new publication, both in its pages and out on the Intarweb, from Dave Winer.
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