Super web searches of 2008: What pop icons top Yahoo's search list?. 2008 has been a long year. Obama was elected, the iPhone 3G came out and we've had the Android phone. In Celebsville we've seen Vanessa Hudgens grow up, Britney make a comeback and Alesha Dixon top the charts. But how is this reflected in search engine traffic? We take a look at Yahoo's top celeb searches of the year and have compiled them for you in a nice little gallery. I wonder if the results will surprise you...
Dr Who now available on iTunes.
From today you can get your David Tennant fix on the bus, in the bath or under the covers. You can now get the first season on iTunes (actually, that was Ecclestone) and then each week for the next four weeks a subsequent season will be released. Each episode will cost £1.89, or you can get the whole series for £19.99.
Amazon's UK MP3 store quietly launched.
It's been rumoured for a fair while here in the UK, but Amazon seems to have finally launched their UK MP3 service under a cloak of darkness. And we're not sure why - with brand new albums from the likes of Girls Aloud, Take That and Kings of Leon for £3, it's worth shouting about.
Paypal Student Account: pocket money for the 21st century.
Paypal, the backbone to the ubiquitous online auction otherwise known as eBay, has been the leading authority when it comes to transferring funds across the World Wide Web for ages. Now Paypal is stepping out of the box and has gone and done something that will do doubt only serve to strengthen its web identity when it comes to shifting money from one person to another. Its new initiative is called Paypal Student Account - think of it as an electronic form of pocket money. This is because the service allows you to add up to four sub-accounts to your Paypal account, allowing you to allocate money to those accounts as and when you choose - on a single payment or recurring payment basis.
The latest PMP from Archos has won serious acclaim from a variety of reputed press. But just why is this sleek 5 inch PMP getting all this praise? I think it's so impressive I even put the 7 inch version on my wishlist, so I'm sure you're dying to know all about it now. Normally we'd show you it in video form but due to a rather shoddy wireless Internet connection in the office I'll take you through the pros and cons the old fashioned way.
Virgin offers cheap as chips 30p per day mobile internet.
Mobile operators are desperate for us to get on the World Wide Web but not everyone can afford to cruise the web on a day to day basis, so what's the solution - offer 30p a day internet access and watch the barrage of internet surfers rush in. That's Virgin's solution, which comes into play as of the 8th December. As well as this bargain of an offer, Virgin promises an "enhanced" Virgin media branded mobile web portal "straight to your pocket".
Apple's in-ear headphones finally arrive for discerning listeners.
There's a new pair of the infamous white headphones in town. Hands up who's been impatiently waiting for Apple's in-ear headphones to arrive since Mr Jobs announced them back in September? As you'll notice from the massive slide behind a tiny Steve Jobs, they were promised for October. Well, clearly that didn't go to plan, but the good news for discerning listeners and Apple fans, the wait is over- they're here.
Philips electronic tattoo concept - a new kind of 'physical mutilation'.
According to Philips, "Tattoos and physical mutilation are amongst the oldest forms of personal expression and identity" and they've come up with an electronic tattoo, which "traverses across the landscape of the body, navigated by desire". And at this point you should be wondering if this is Dutch copy that someone asked the work experience to stick into Babelfish for the UK website.
Would you control your boiler from your phone? Nokia seems to thinks so.
What if I told you, you were able to control your central heating from the comforts of your mobile? Does it make you happy, think of star Trek, elated, or are you shaking your head and thinking technology is going to far? If this was summer I may have been inclined to ignore this story, but how great would it be to turn on your central heating on your journey home, so your house is snugly prepared for your arrival. There is such thing as a timer for these home comforts, but how much cooler would it be to do it from the realms of your phone?
Free text messages to any worldwide destination courtesy of Lycamobile.
As soon as midnight struck on the 1st of December, marking the 25 day countdown to Christmas (yay) it's been hard to do anything but feel the Christmas cheer, especially with the sea of Christmas lights and bargains adoring our streets and retail houses. Text messaging goes into overdrive over the Christmas period, what with the relentless Happy Christmas/Happy New Year messages, the 'what did you get?' text messages, or those text messages to loved ones to ensure they're ok during the holiday period. Masses of texts usually mean a higher than usual phone bill or the run down of credit, but this needn't be the case with Lycamobile's free text messaging offer.
Next year is most likely going to be the year of the Android phone - the time for it to take centre stage with offerings from Motorola, Asus and hopefully a few others. But it seems Nokia won't be joining the party. Nokia won't even be standing outside in the cold with its face pressed up on the glass, fogging up the window with its breath hoping someone will invite them into the party. No, Nokia wants nothing to do with the new OS, dismissing adopting Android and admitting Linux could take centre stage on high-end handsets in the future.
Currently obsessed with: Songbird.
You know when you have one of those days when you're just feeling all 'Wow, technology is really really really really great'? I've had one of those today. Things have worked, there's been lots of cool announcements, and no one has said anything twatty on YouTube. Technology *is* great. Specifically, today I discovered Songbird, which has just been released as a full version by Mozilla (creators of Firefox).
Battle of the eBooks : The Kindle vs Sony Reader vs Rex iLiad vs BeBook.
Ebooks are a natural progression for us 21st century folks, who dislike being tied down by clutter. They're light, easy to use and can store sh**loads, but which one would you want to spend your moolah on? We take a look at the four market leaders, and include the USA ones as well (hey it's a good exchange rate). Round one: Size/Weight Amazon Kindle- 292 grams, 7.5-in. x 5.3-in. x 0.7-in. BeBook- 220grams, Width120mm Height 184mm Depth 10mm iRex iLiad 2nd Edition- 435grams and is Width155mm Height: 217mm Sony Reader Pr 505- 260 grams, Width122mm Height 175.3mm Depth 7.6mm
Xbox 360 now comes with added 256MB internal memory.
All Xbox 360 Arcade owners know you need at least 128MB of free storage space to run the new Xbox 360 Experience, putting users without hard drives in a right predicament. The solution - get yourself a memory card (you could have bagged yourself a free one last month). But plugging in your memory card isn't the most attractive solution. Wouldn't it be better if everything was taken care of internally, rather than slap, bang on the outside? Good news folks. As you've probably already gathered from the title, the Xbox 360 is now available with a beefy 256MB memory bank, eradicating the need for plugging in an external device.
Warning: Big Brother bosses are watching your internet.
You. Yes, you. This post is specifically directed at you. Hi. I thought I should bring it to your attention that apparently, 65% of employers monitor internet activity in the office. This could be blocking Facebook, it could be positioning their desk behind you, so they can see what you're looking at. As the guy who does the voiceovers for the National Lottery once said, 'It could be you'.
Secret Santa sorted thanks to ThinkSecretSanta.
Our Secret Santa Solutions are hopefully helping you out with gift ideas, but what if you're the poor sod who's been left to organise the whole thing? Trying to ensure everyone's picked a name, has bought a gift and hasn't just gone through the crap they've accumulated over the year in their desk drawer, can be a nightmare.
Shiny Review: Headphone head to head. Duncan, Lucy and Zara her cosy on the two-seater sofa, to test out the best in noise isolating and noise cancelling headphones. There's rice crispies, obnoxious phone calls and science goggles. We do things properly here at Shiny Towers.
Porsche does it again with another luxury handset - the P'9522.
The P'9521 was a beaut of a handset, so it's only right its descendant - the P'9522 - screeeams as much luxury as its predecessor. It's no Porsche, but if a high end sports car is out of reach and you're desperate to own something emblazoned with the brand, the P'9522 is a handsome choice. As we saw with the 9'521, a high class name warrants high class specs and the Porsche P'9522 does not disappoint (well almost, apart from the keypad). It's a rather special phone, created form just a single solid aluminium block and a single sheet of scratch-proof glass. There's a 2.8-inch OLED screen, built in WiFi, GPS and fingerprint reader for the ultimate mobile phone security (not to mention making you feel every bit the spy).
MySpace brings video streaming to your mobile.
MySpace is giving mobile video streaming a go, so you can get all your MySpace hosted vids wherever you want, be it at the bus stop, church or at work (if you happen to work in one of those unfortunate places where all fun internet activity is banned!). Sadly, iPhone users aren't included because the iPhone downloads videos before playing it, whereas MySpace is using RipCode technology. It works in real time so is therefore compatible with a range of handsets, screen sizes and playback specifications.
Android smartphone on the way from Kogan.
Ok, so we already know Nokia's not in any hurry to bring us the next Android phone. But there is a contender waiting in the wings - the Kogan Agora. This Android based smartphone (which looks a little bit like a budget Blackberry) comes form a company that gets its products custom-made in Chinese factories. So, as well as possibly having to look out for poisonous amounts of lead in the surface paint, it'll sell for an unbelievably low price.
The Volcanu speaker explodes with colour changing rods.
This rather strange looking device is not only a speaker it's also a lovely light show for your home. The illuminating acrylic rods glow in sequence with the music, and display the beats in delightful rainbow shades. I think this would make a rather striking centrepiece for your home
Make some moolah from old MP3s.
Downloading music is fun isn't it? But there comes a point in every MP3s life when it's just not wanted anymore. Owners are either bored of them, or they've simply fulfilled their musical purpose and you're ready to move on, not to mention the fact that they're cluttering up your hard drive. Bopaboo.com has the answer - sell your unwanted MP3s (prices start from $0.25) and buy others. In the words of the website 'stop illegally sharing and start legally selling'. Bopaboo isn't all heart though as it takes 20 percent of each transaction.
The USB heating blanket will keep you as snug as a bug in a rug.
The frost outside my door and the immensely embarrassing slip I experienced this morning as I made a mad dash for my train has compelled me to write about something that will help you through the harsh winter. A USB heated blanket may sound like something for the elderly or people with circulation issues, and the person using it in the office may well become the subject of ridicule, but at least they won't be shivering or have ice cold hands that could turn surrounding objects into ice, or make people feel violated when you touch them.
Guess which super celeb is a fan of the Zune.
I'm not sure I'd even call this man a celebrity. If celebrities are A list, this guy is A*** list. Oh yes, this guy is pretty special. I could end this with just a few words and basically give away the answer, but as you should be aware by now - it's never that easy. So here come the clues. First things first, this guy loves his Zune. He recently worked his arse off in one of the biggest campaigns America has seen in a long time. He's also taken a lot of stick for doing what he believes in, as has some of his fellow supporters. He's got two gorgeous little daughters who'll be getting a new puppy in the New Year, a devoted wife he's won many hearts around the world.
Shiny Gallery: Lucy's Christmas wishlist - donations welcomed. It's that time of year again when I fantasise about getting things waaaay out of my price range. And what better way to tell you what I want than with a gallery of my top 10 Christmas wishlist? Wishlist in my case means things two things. Firstly, it means items I wouldn't necessarily buy myself due to the fist bitingly high price tags and secondly, things I'd rather not buy myself that aren't necessarily expensive but could be deemed a waste of money.
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