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Moving right along, Pres-elect Barack Obama already has his own new official site. Change.gov features a countdown to the inauguration, updates on what he is doing and asks for input on personal stories concerning the election and the road you took to get there. There is also information concerning his future policy, agenda and a page to apply for a gig in the new administration. Sadly, there is no news yet about the puppy, which Obama claims is the topic of about 50% of the emails he receives.
Oh, and for an added tidbit, Obama’s site runs on ExpressionEngine - the same publishing tool we use here to run Gear Live. We recommend it to anyone.
Read More | Change.gov
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Datz Music Lounge £99 Subscription
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Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Hot Deals, Internet, Music, Portable Audio / Video,
What a kewl holiday gift for your fave music lover (or treat yourself.) Datz Music Lounge is offering a year’s subscription to its service for £99 (~$154.00.) Select an unlimited amount of DRM free tunes in MP3 format from their catalog. Choose from classics, current music, or new artists. Best of all, you can sync them to your PMP, cell phone or iPod and keep them forever. Check with their “Who’s Playing” page to check out their latest musical additions.
Read More | Datz
This weeks Newegg coupons and deals: Cheap Blu-ray reader
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Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Hot Deals, Internet,
We’re back with more Newegg coupons and all-around good deals that we have come across. Some of these expire fairly soon, so if you see anything you like, you’ll wanna jump on it. We’ll include expiration dates where applicable:
- Lite-On Blu-ray Reader - $89.99 - Use coupon code “LITEONBLURAY10”, expires 11/9
- Thermaltake power supplies 50% off + free shipping - Expires Nov. 15
- Olympus Stylus 10.1MP Waterproof digital camera - $229.99 - Expires 11/10
- Seagate Barracuda 750GB hard drive - $89.99 - Free Shipping
If none of those strike your fancy, you’ll also want to check out the Newegg promo code thread on the Gear Live Forums, where we’ve listed a bunch of promotions that don’t expire. Happy shopping!
Latest Gear Live Videos
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3 Mobile seems to be enjoying the afterglow of their successful Skypephone S2 as they are now working on a Facebook handset. The INQ1 allows you to view your contacts and text or IM through Facebook chat. The cell phone also has HSDPA connection, Skype integration, an eBay tracker and Windows Live Messenger for non-Facebook users. It also doubles as a mobile broadband modem at speed of up to 7.2Mbps. Look for it sometime this month with a price of £99 (~$157.00.)
Read More | engadget mobile
AT&T testing bandwidth caps, Verizon says no plans to cap FiOS or DSL
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Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Broadband, Corporate News, Internet,
If you’re in Reno and you use AT&T as your broadband Internet provider, you’re now unfortunately the latest victim of this whole capped bandwidth nonsense that seems to be taking hold across the US. It started when Comcast implemented a 250GB per month cap on October 1. Now word has hit that metered billing of between 20-150GB per month is going to be tested in Reno on AT&T’s DSL network. If you are a new customer who’ll be apart of the trial, depending on the speed tier you choose, you’ll get a cap somewhere between 20 and 150 gigabytes per month. If you’re an existing customer, you’ll be chosen to be a part of the trial if your monthly bandwidth happens to exceed 150GB in a month.
The trend is something we are vehemently against, so I figured I’d ask one of the Verizon PR reps that I know on Twitter, Kevin Laverty, if we should expect a similar announcement from Verizon, after another Verizon rep said no. His answer:
That’s an affirmative - Verizon has no plans to cap bandwidth on either its FiOS or High Speed Internet/DSL services.
It doesn’t get much clearer than that. It’ll be a nice bullet-point for Verizon if they can say that FiOS is not only faster, but also is completely uncapped as far as usage goes.
CoffeeCompany Curbs WiFi Freeloaders
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Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet, Misc. Tech, PC / Laptop, Wireless / WiFi,
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We suspect there are a lot of people who hit up their local Starbucks to take advantage of the free WiFi and sip the same cup for hours. The Holland based CoffeeCompany has come up with an idea to curb the practice. They change the name of their network with such passwords as “HaveYouTriedCoffeeCake?,” “BuyAnotherCupYouCheapskate” and “BuyaLargeLatteGetBrownieForFree.” While the message is comical and subliminal, the guilt factor must be worth the effort.
Read More | AdRants
We admit it. With the holidays coming on, we almost welcome the fact that things are not great with the economy. It sort of evens out the playing field for those of us that struggle to pay our rent. So we embrace companies who are worried about a slower than normal season and are trying to help themselves by helping us out. Dell’s Deal of the Day is one such example. They are not only offering low prices on their own products, but on other companies’ products as well, although we found the prices of those about equal to those on Amazon.
Read More | Dell
Record Your Voting Experience
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Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Cameras, Smartphones, Editorial, Internet, Videos,
A little nervous about voting? We won’t mention the term “hanging chad” (oops) but poll experts suggest that you not only bring your ID with you but take a picture of your ballot as well. Video the Vote goes one step further and suggests you record your experience to share with other citizen journalists, indy filmmakers, and media pros. You can upload them on the site and they will cross post to YouTube. We would love to see them, too! Now get your butt out there and do your American duty!
Read More | Video The Vote
Amazon aims to eliminate hard-to-open packaging
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Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Misc. Tech, Toys,
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After years upon years of frustrated purchasers cutting themselves on clamshell plastic cases, a company has stood up and proclaimed “No more!”. This morning, a letter from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos appeared on the main page of the site, informing visitors that the company will now be working with leading manufacturers to deliver products “inside smaller, easy-to-open, recyclable cardboard boxes with less packaging material (and no frustrating plastic clamshells or wire ties).” They are calling it “Frustration-free Packaging.” Really? Could a world really exist where you can simply buy a product, open a box, and easily remove said product from said box—without having to scour the immediate vicinity for a box cutter? We know, it sounds too good to be true. We applaud Amazon for standing up for both the environment, and our cut up fingers.
Read More | Amazon Wrap Rage video comparison
Since we’ve been getting regular feedback from folks who like when we notify them of deals to be had on Newegg, we figured we’d try to make it a regular feature where we hit you with Newegg promo code posts. Let’s just jump right in, here are the details on what you can find on Newegg this week at a bargain:
- Acer Aspire AS4530 notebook: $500
- Western Digital My Passport 320GB external drive: $94.99
- Asus GeForce GTC 260 video card: $209.99
- Corion 42” 720p LCD HDTV: $599.99
Of course, we have a bunch of Newegg discount codes on the forums as well. Happy shopping!
Read More | Newegg Promo codes