Countdown Begins For Clone Wars Merchandise

Later today, all 585 Toys “R” Us stores across the United States will mount digital clocks that will count down midnight, July 25. When the counter hits zero, 225 of these stores will begin to sell toys from the latest Star Wars movie, The Clone Wars.

Star Wars - The Clone WarsA virtual store – ToysRUs.com/StarWars – will open at the same time.

Products include The Twilight starship and a separatist Spider Droid, both from LEGO, and a 3 ¾ inch T.I.E. Fighter and ‘Attack Battle Packs’ from Hasbro.

The Clone Wars movie – which is fully animated, and opens August 15 in the US – is not the first Star Wars-related opening for Toys “R” Us, which heavily promoted the three last Star Wars films with midnight-openings, costume competitions and prize giveaways.

“Star Wars is one of the strongest and most iconic brands in the kids market,” said Greg Ahearn, senior vice president for marketing and e-commerce for Toys “R” Us USA. “It really is a beacon that draws people in to our stores 365 days a year. We believe in this brand, and everything we are doing just plays into what we think and feel about the Star Wars property.”

Star Wars - The Clone Wars - Spider Droid

This also marks the first time McDonalds has formed a relationship with the Star Wars franchise – starting August 15, Clone Wars happy meals will be available and, one imagines, in high demand from children worldwide. Each meal features a specially designed box and one of 18 different toys. The promotion will last just a month, which offers a rare opportunity for collectors.

Originally planned as a television feature, The Clone Wars was reformatted for a theatrical release after George Lucas previewed an early draft and decided it would work better on the bigger screen. The film will feature Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee and Anthony Daniels amongst the cast and is intended to precede the animated TV series of the same name which will air on Cartoon Network.

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PS3 Firmware 2.4: DON’T UPDATE!

Just a quick post to warn Playstation 3 owners to wait a bit before updating their console to the latest firmware. It seems that quite a few users on the official Playstation forum are reporting that the new 2.4 firmware bricked their unit. On some cases, people are writing that the SIXAXIS controller refused to sync after the update, and on others, the PS3 stopped sending video and audio signal to the attached display.

Has anyone updated yet, and if so, is your PS3 still in working condition?

Edit: I’ve received 2 emails in the past few hours telling me that I was, and I quote: “A moron only looking for web hits”. If you guys need further proof that this is a REAL issue, you only have to look at this page on the PS3 official support site.

UPDATE: 7/2/2008, the PLAYSTATION 3 system software version 2.40 has been temporarily taken offline and will not be available for download as our engineers examine any possible issues with this update. The Knowledge Center will be updated with information as it becomes available; please check back here for further details.

Search Engine Optimization Tips and Tricks

Today, we’ve got 3 interesting white papers for those of you looking to optimize how your sites rank within search engines. These documents are very well written and offer some good information as what you must and must not do to help your site become more visible.

–Do’s and Don’ts of Search Engine Optimization

The world of Search Engine Optimization has a colorful past of both good quality techniques and poor quality techniques, also known as Spam. Search Engine Optimizers have been categorized as White Hat or Black Hat. The White Hat techniques embrace a “Best Practices” approach to SEO. They typically work for both the good of the Web site and the good of the Search Engines. Black Hat techniques can actually harm results and devalue a web site.

This Paper will examine the techniques that fall under both sides of Search Engine Optimization. The grey area topics will not be covered. The past few years have seen great achievements in communication between Search Engines and SEOs / Webmasters. This communication has led to a much clearer path for long term successful Natural Search Engine Optimization.

–Website Redesign and Search Engine optimization – Keys For Success

Now is a great time to examine your Web site and decide if it is due for a redesign. It could be as simple as a graphical facelift or as robust as a ground-up rebuild. This can be a frightening endeavor when Search Engine traffic is added to the equation.

Ultimately, a well planned and executed strategy will ensure a smooth transition to a superior Web site with new and optimized content, providing increased value for users and Search Engines.

–Determining the Best Keyword Strategies for Your SEO and SEM Campaigns

Keyword rankings in the major Search Engines have long been the desire of Website owners and online marketers. Keywords used in Search Engines have evolved proportionally with the World Wide Web. They are not just single word phrases anymore. They are not static short lists of target phrases. Instead, they are growing and live lists full of robust combinations of core keywords plus many qualifiers. This white paper will provide the knowledge necessary to determine what keywords to use for your SEO and SEM.



Digg introduces Recommendation Engine

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Digg has introduced a new beta feature called the “Recommendation Engine” which aims to match up users with other users based on their “Digging” patterns and show them other stories that they may be interested in Digging.

As with all other algorithms, this is something that is not too accurate to begin with, but it improves the more you use it. So the more you digg stories, the more the algorithm learns and the more accurate results it eventually brings back to you.

The Recommendation Engine is two-fold.   First it identifies other Digg users that are submitting and digging the same kind of stories as you are.   It then shows you those stories so you can digg them too if you want.

It also presents those Diggers with a compatibility scale rating so you can decide whether or not you want to befriend them on the site.

In theory, the Recommendation Engine is supposed to eventually filter out all the crap that you won’t like and show you with only the stuff that you WILL – in other words, the thinking caring Digg that anticipates and thinks about your interests and needs beforehand and gets the page ready for you.   Hmmm, OK.  We’ll see how that goes.   It’s only a beta right now.

Windows XP has been retired but you can still get it

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

June 30th 2008 was the day that Microsoft officially pulled the rug out from under Windows XP. It was the day that the OS was given its gold watch, its long service medal and told to sod off and retire because it was hogging Vista’s limelight.

But as this Wired wiki points out, XP may still have the last laugh for quite a while yet.   Not only will Microsoft continue to support XP until the end of next year, but there are many places where you can still pick up a brand new legitimate copy of the OS if you want one.

For example, if you have Vista, you can “downgrade” to XP.   You can also do a bit of legwork and hunt round all the smaller computer chains who might be hoarding copies of the OS in their storerooms.

So put the celebrations on hold Vista.   You haven’t got the stage for yourself just yet.   XP still has a few curtain calls to go before it finally departs for good.

Cut down on the Friendfeed noise with Noiseriver

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

With Twitter’s downtimes becoming less and less of a joke, lots of people are migrating to Friendfeed.   I’ve been at Friendfeed for quite a while now, but the site suffers from the same problem that most aggregation services suffer from – excessive noise.

No, I don’t mean Led Zeppelin being played at full volume or the screams of passionate love making.   What I mean is lots of duplicate entries cluttering up the page – yes, that kind of noise!  This can be a big problem if you’re on the site and you’re following several hundred people.   If someone posts the same link several times, it can be enough to get you unsubscribed – and it’s easy to do.   If you digg a link, then stumble it, then add it to your Delicious account, then talk about it on Twitter, then blog about it… that’s 5 identical links right there.

Continue reading ›

The Adventures of Andre and Wally B

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

“The Adventures Of Andre and Wally B” was technically the first Pixar animated film, and I say ‘technically’ because this 1,48 minute clip was made in 1984, a time when Pixar didn’t officially exist.   So to be accurate, it was made by the talented future Pixar crew who were still learning the ways of the Force at Lucas Studios.

That’s whats so amazing about this clip.   It’s hard to believe that this was made 24 years ago.

[Via The Experience Project]

Geek-Friendly Fashion to Get your Week Started

By JR Raphael
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

We may not be GQ, but we’ve tracked down some new fashion items that we think will be a bit more exciting than the latest trendy threads. See if you agree.

The Stink-Free Socks

perfume-filled microcapsulesScientists are close to creating a kind of clothing that’ll keep you smelling a little fresher. The fabric actually has perfume-filled microcapsules to mask any offensive odors with a pleasant lemony scent. They’re working on suits, socks, and even underwear with the technology. It’s the same concept at work in scratch-and-sniff stickers, believe it or not, but this is the first time a skin-safe solution has been found. So scratch away, dear readers — though we advise using caution with any direct sniffing.

The Marty McFly Sneakers

Marty McFly SneakersYou may already own the orange vest, but now you can get the official Marty McFly Back to the Future shoes, too. Inspired by the futuristic high-tops from the second installment of the series, Nike is releasing a new “Hyperdunk” line of sneakers this summer. The shoes have a similar look and even come with the year “2015” on the front. No auto-lace-up feature yet, though.

The Photo-Proof Glasses

Worried someone might snap an incriminating photo of you? Make yourself a pair of “Anti-Paparazzi Sunglasses” and fear no more. The glasses come with a switch to turn on bright LED lights on the front, making your face virtually invisible to cameras.

The All-Seeing Jacket

If the glasses aren’t good enough, you can use the Hard-Wear Jacket to keep an eye on all sides of you. The jacket comes with a built-in microcamera in the back and a tiny display screen on the sleeve so you can watch who might be following you. Of course, with the popped-up collar and bright orange checker design, we imagine you’ll find mainly people pointing and laughing behind you — but hey, at least you’ll know they’re there.