Bob Caswell

The Wall Street Journal has the scoop on the latest Google news. Google is hoping to offer consumers a new way to store and access files online. The search giant is working on a service that would let you store essentially all of your files online (documents, music, photos, videos, etc.).

I already do this with Mozy for free. But Mozy works more as a backup that I generally access only when I need to restore files. Google wants to simplify the process of transferring and opening files such that you would actually be using your online files actively.

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Toward the end of last week, I pointed out a deal on Amazon for an HD-DVD player with 10 movies for $174. Interestingly enough, I purchased the player online during Black Friday. That is, the day where all the good deals are supposed to be in stores at early morning hours.

Since I had a few other gadgets in mind (not to be named, as they might be for some who may be reading this!) which weren’t offered at any discount during Black Friday, I thought I’d wait until the infamous “Cyber Monday.” For the uninitiated, Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving that is supposed to be the online equivalent of the day-after-Thanksgiving sales. Here is a good article on CNN Money.

But to my surprise and frustration, I have found less interesting online deals today versus Black Friday. In fact, Amazon actually raised the prices on a few of the items I had my eye on. And that HD-DVD player deal? Here it is again for those who missed it the first time, but this time it’s priced at $179 and only comes with 7 movies (update: now two months later it’s only $132). Still a pretty good deal even if I’m glad I didn’t wait till today for mine.

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A little over a week ago I asked for help in choosing between the two next generation movie formats: HD DVD and Blu-ray. I have had all the necessary equipment for a few months now (meaning, a nice HD home theater system minus a next-gen player) but have stuck with my regular old DVD player. I had hoped that my patience could last me through the ensuing format war. But then Amazon came along with this deal. (Actually, now there’s an even better deal.)

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The iPhone will go on sale next week in France. While the exclusive French carrier, Orange, has not disclosed any details, French law has already forced Apple to promise that consumers will have the option to buy a version of the iPhone without a long-term contract with Orange.

And now T-Mobile is in a similar situation in Germany. The unlocked iPhone is now officially available but for €999, around $1,478 even if normally available with contract at €399.

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This last week or so will likely be the most exciting this year for any avid PC gamer: both Crysis and Unreal Tournament III have been released (not to mention the latest in the Half-Life 2 saga). These are high adrenalin, action-packed first person shooters. Both are technical and artistic marvels (consisting of “next generation” graphics) all while being loads of fun to play.

Another game came out for the PC around the same time with slightly less elevated status (but still widely praised): Gears of War. It has been available on the Xbox 360 now for a year. But as I don’t own an Xbox 360, I picked up a copy for the PC last week. The only problem is, it didn’t (and still doesn’t) work at all. And I’m not alone. In one of the official forums for the game, there are 68 pages worth of gamers complaining about almost the same issue: the game locks up soon after first loading.

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*Update* Thanks for the emails and comments that answer some of the questions posed below. Each of the questions has been updated with the latest answer (even if not all are satisfying). The product page for the Amazon Kindle provides some good information as well. Also, check out Boing Boing’s excellent review plus read here for more on the polarized responses this new technology is creating.

So the big technology news for today comes from Amazon. The company is trying to reinvent one of the forms of media which hasn’t taken off digitally: the book. Here’s what we know:

The eBook reader is called the Amazon Kindle and is priced at $399. It weighs 10.3 ounces and has a keyboard. It can hold 200 books via built-in memory and has a long battery life of approximately 30 hours (with 2 hours to recharge)

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The Wall Street Journal has the latest on Google’s cellphone plans via its usual mix of industry analysts and “people familiar with the matter.” Apparently, Google has already erected transmission towers all over its headquarters and is operating an advanced high-speed cellphone network under a test license from the FCC. Prototype cellphones with Android software (Google’s previously announced mobile platform) are currently running on it.

The idea is that Google is actually considering building and operating a wireless network that would provide consumers an option that is faster and cheaper than the AT&T’s and Verizon’s. But, of course, this news comes with all the standard disclaimers revolving around the fact that it’s too early to tell what the search giant will really do.

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Digg founder Kevin Rose announced that Digg buttons will now be available on the Wall Street Journal website (WSJ.com). Not only that, but anyone will have free access to any WSJ articles visited via Digg. Coincidentally, this news comes around the same time Rupert Murdoch suggested that he might take down the Wall Street Journal’s online subscription pay wall. Whatever the circumstances, I’m a daily user of both sites and welcome the collaboration.

In fact, here’s a walk through of how the integration looks and works:

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