LATEST TWISTED PAIR PODCAST: Podcasting not a hot skill for 2008 Jason and Keith mourn the end of the Netscape browser, discuss holiday e-tailing successes and failures, and chat about the hottest 8 IT skills for 2008. LATEST FROM NETWORK WORLD PANORAMA: Top network management issues for 2008 As part of our Prediction Week of podcasts, we chat with Charles Thompson of Network Instruments about the top trends for 2008 in network management. Learn about the mainstreaming of Retrospective Network Analysis, the adoption of 10 Gigabit Ethernet and MPLS, and how business and personal applications will continue to blur (14:37). LATEST FROM RON NUTTER'S HELP DESK TOOL CHEST: Keeping your computer running smoothly with Norton Systemworks, Laura Chappell Talks about how to sniff the traffic on your network Join Ron Nutter for the this installment of Ron Nutter's Help Desk Tool Chest. First off is Mail Call where listeners questions are answered. This weeks Tools of the Trade talks about using Norton SystemWorks to help keep your system running smoothly. In Hot off the Press, New Products or significant announcements are discussed. Since using a Network Protocol Analyzer is becoming more common each day, I talk with industry expert Laura Chappell about the different ways to connect to the network to capture the data you need to look at. (64:30) LATEST COOL TOOL BLOGS: The coolest cooler My birthday is about a month away and now I know what I want: A Cruzin' Cooler. Keith and I found these guys over at the Sands Convention center here at CES. The high-end cooler can tow 600 pounds total and get up to 13mph. And, it's electric so it's good for the environment. If you tailgate or stay near the beach in the summer, this is the perfect accessory. Heck, I want one for the office. World's best tchotchke at CES Forget about squeezy balls, T-shirts, pens or candy. The best thing I got at CES so far was a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer, courtesy of N.E.W. Customer Service Companies. Air Guitar afficianados rejoice! I can already predict one of the hottest toys for the year -- the Guitar Hero Air Guitar Rocker is simply awesome. The device includes a mini-amplifier that attaches to a belt, and then a belt buckle-like sensor attaches to the front of your body. Using a plastic "pick", you wave that in front of the sensor and you begin to play a guitar riff. The device comes with 10 guitar riffs, including five famous songs (Black Sabbath's "Iron Man", Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water", Motorhead's "Ace of Spades", Van Halen's "You Really Got Me" and Boston's "More Than a Feeling") and five freestyle riffs. Solar-powered Bluetooth headset on its way On the way over to the convention center I had a good meeting with officials from Iqua (pronounced "ee-qwah"), a Finnish company that's in the Bluetooth accessories business. Formed from a bunch of former Nokia executives in 2004, the company is now entering the U.S. market with a bunch of Bluetooth headsets, stereo headsets and hands-free speakerphone systems. An invention that would really work at CES Forget about high-def TVs, the latest digital cameras or MP3 players. The device you need to make in order to make lots of money, especially at conventions like CES, is the personal transporter. My brush with celebrity Usually, I hear about celebrities and other famous types wandering the floor at CES, but never see them myself. Well, today while trolling the Nokia booth for potential slideshow pictures, I ran into David Caruso, star of CSI: Miami. He was nice enough to pose for my photo and to let me know that the CSI: Miami show (it's a guilty pleasure) is on hiatus until the writer's strike ends. Annoying plastic packaging here to stay Everyone's had to battle that tough plastic packaging that encases our consumer electronics devices. It usually takes a very sharp object and numerous stitches to get the darn things open. While wandering through the South Hall here at CES, I came across Innovative Plastech's booth, a Batavia, Ill.-based maker of those annoying packages. So I had to ask: "Are they going to get friendlier?" Get Slingbox on your Blackberry Good news for Blackberry owners that have a Slingbox connected to their TVs: Sling Media will unveil its SlingPlayer Mobile for Blackberry at next week's CES show in Las Vegas. For $29.95, you'll be able to watch TV from wherever you can get a strong enough signal on your Blackberry. The mobile player for Blackberry will be available later this year. Sling already makes players for Windows Mobile, Palm OS, and Symbian clients. |
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