5. Itunes Movie Rentals- it would be nice to pay a few bucks to watch a movie once, unlike $15 I pay right now for a DRM filled movie.

4. A cheaper Apple laptop- To be honest I am always broke and a sub $800 laptop would be nice, please listen to me Apple.

3. Usable apps for iPod and iPod Touch- With developers being allowed to make apps for the device, starting in Feb 08, I hope they come out with useful apps that are better then the current open source apps.

2. Continued Zune development- I hope that Microsoft keeps pushing out firmware updates for the Zune and keeps making it better.

1. Zune + Xbox Live- How nice would it be to download a movie on your Xbox 360 then sync it to your Zune? Amazing right? Also being able to use your Zune pass on the Xbox 360 would be nice, just think of the possibilities people.

So do you want a full HD experience without having to take out a loan? Or you know stop eating? Well I have put together a makeshift full HD home experience for under $500 with 5.1 Surround Sound.

• Display, Hanns-G HG-216: While it is a computer monitor it does come with a HDMI port and can support all the way up to 1080i resolution, in order to get a perfect viewing experience you must use the native resolution which is 1680X1050. The monitor only comes with two ports, VGA and HDMI, so you cant use any thing that is not HDMI or VGA, so no composite or component devices for this screen, that would be its only downside. You can find it on Newegg for around $200. Link here.
• Surround Sound/DVD, Sony Bravia DAV-HDX266: This 5.1 surround sound set is one of the cheapest and best sounding unites in the market. The speakers also come with a nice 5 disk changer DVD player that can upscale DVD movies into 1080i, they look as good as most HD-DVDs. Remember this unit doesn’t play HD-DVD or Blu Ray so you might want to add another player that can. You can find it at Sams Club for $275 and its worth every penny. Link here.

So you can get a great home theater experience for relatively cheap and you can still add more stuff to your setup, but remember you only have one HDMI and VGA port on this monitor. Also you can add this items to your setup but remember they will set you back a few.

• Xbox 360
• PS3
• Toshiba HDA2 HD DVD Player
• Samsung Bd-91200 Blu-Ray Disk Player

Would you like to track all of your incoming or out going packages with Google Maps? You can with a great website called PackageMapping.com. The site is simple to use and is always up-to-date on your packages. All you have to do is give the Web site the tracking number from either of these companies:

• DHL
• FedEX
• USPS
• UPS

Once you give the site your tracking number just hit “Track and Map!” and you will get a list of detailed results thats you know where your package is and has been along with the times of its arrivals and departures. Of course it also gives you map with a icon of a package to show you where your shipment is currently at and also a line of where else it has been. I use this site daily for all of my tracking needs including my Xbox 360 from Microsoft Repair and also some Christmas presents who are just a little late.

A week and a half on the Xbox 360 repair website it told me that my package was shipped via FEDEX and gave me a tracking number, I had a RROD Xbox 360, a few days I went to track the package and there was no information for that shipping number so I left it alone until today.

Again I tried to track the package but again was unsuccessful with it so I called FedEx. The guy on the phone was extremely nice, Zune support could use some advice from him, and he tried to track the package and even tried to see if there was anything being shipped to my address, there wasn’t, so I was informed to contact Microsoft.

As stated before I have talked to Microsoft Support for my Zune issue and never did get a straight answer and I ended up uninstalling Vista and reinstalling XP and the problem went away. So I get the automated voice thing and it took me to “Check your repaired console’s status. As expected it said that your Xbox 360 was shipped out please wait at least five business days to receive your package, its been seven.

Ok so I figured I needed to talk to a real person on there and see whats up, but I cannot talk to a real person. I was able to get in line to talk to a real person but after waiting for an hour I gave up.

So just like the Zune support I am having a difficult time getting any answers. So if you know a direct number I can call for Xbox 360 support that would be great because I need to know when I can expect my system, this new HD monitor is getting lonely.

As you know with the iPod Touch you have full access to any web page, assuming the page doesn’t have flash :), so you can access your e-mail account as normal, but did you know you can also send SMS messages, aka text messaging, with it to?  So how do you do this? Its easy and of course free to you!(You can also do this with the Mail App, assuming your iPod Touch is hacked)

• First you need someones full phone number, with area code like so 9125551234

• Second you need to go to your e-mail page like Gmail or Yahoo and hit compose, in the “TO:” area type in the persons phone number with the following after the number,  @teleflip.com

Sample: 9125551234@teleflip.com

• Third type an e-mail like normal but keep it as simple as possible, remember they are reading this on their phone they don’t care to read a book!

• Then hit send! That simple!

When you send the e-mail Teleflip automatically converts the e-mail to a SMS and sends it to the phone, remember that person is charged their normal texting rates.One warning though if you send this with Yahoo it sends a weird code as the mail sender,  so please sign your message so the person reading the SMS will know it is. On the other hand  I do  not have this problem with Gmail as it displayed my e-mail name.So you can text back and forth with no cost to you and its as simple as sending an e-mail!If you know of a better way or have any tips please leave them as a comment.  

As a student in college it is a little frustrating carrying around a 10lb laptop with roughly 2 hour battery life, thats when the battery would hold a charge, and by no means is it convenient to cary to class each day. So I have been looking for an alternative to this and I thought I found it in the iPod Touch, big mistake. While I love my Touch it is damn near impossible to take notes on it and I have spent more time trying to correct my spelling on there and actual writing. Also my notes get jumbled around when I try to upload them onto my Mac and it as well is frustrating.

So I have been looking for another alternative and I think I have found it, the Asus Eee. This compact 7″ PC is the perfect computer on the market for theblogger/student. For $300 I can get a decent computer with a built in microphone and even a web-cam, sweet. It comes in a few colors including white, black(my choice), blue and pink. Of course this computer this cheap doesn’t have ideal storage for downloading large files or movies, roughly a gig of space, it is still large enough for photos and word documents. One thing I do like about the computer is that it comes preinstalled with a slew of great open-source programs like OpenOffice. The computer comes with a version of Linux buy you can also install Windows XP and you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues.

The computer holds about a 3.5 hour charge and that is more than enough time for me. Also the computer is very durable and I would not be afraid to drop it. It also has a nice VGA out port on it so I can hook it up to my 21.6″ monitor.

So if you are a student like me or even a blogger than you can’t go wrong with the Asus Eee computer, its also perfect for kids.

What are ROMs?

First off you need to know what an emulator is. An emulator is a program that usually “emulates” a game console such as an NES or a Sega Genesis. There is virtually an emulator for every game console to be released in the past twenty years.

Okay, so now what are ROMs?

A ROM is a copy of the chip found in game cartridges and made into a file that can be read on a computer, think of it as a computer based copy of a game. ROMs exist for nearly every game that has come out for the popular consoles, like the Atari, Nintendo, and now even the Nintendo DS. As you may have noticed the consoles that I have mentioned are all cartridge based.

So now that you know what a ROM is, how do you know if its legal or not?

Well it’s simple really, if you own a game, and actual retail version of the game, then it is perfectly legal to own a ROM of that game. Some people abuse them and download ROMs of games that they do not own thus giving the emulation community a bad reputation and is often refereed to as people who steal games. While this is the case some times not every person who uses emulators or ROMs are thiefs and most, like myself, can’t stand when some body steals someone’s hard work.

Where can I get ROMs?

There are literally tons of sites online that offer ROMs but most of them are filled with spam and spyware. To add to the frustration of try to find ROMs some sites actually require you to vote for sites to gain access to their large base of ROMs but they give you a endless supply of pop-ups and ads thus making it frustrating. . Also some sites may require you to have a membership fee or may actually charge you to buy the ROMs, this is 100% illegal. I have to add this: Just because you bought a ROM from a website doesn’t mean you own that game and to add to that you did not pay the hard working people who made that game, the person you just paid got paid for someone else’s work.

Okay, so are there any decent sites?

A great site that I have found is called Doh Games. This site features no spam, fees, or even those stupid voting things. The site features ROMs and even ISOs for most game that cover just about every console. I would also like to add that the owner of this site also does not condone the illegal use of ROMs, so please don’t abuse this great privilege.

Thats right you can now private test the new application, from the guy who did the GBA emulator for the iPhone, psx4iPhone. This program is still very much in beta and most games do not work but a handful do like Megaman X4 and Resident Evil 2. You download the application here, but you must donate some money to the developer to get the password to be able to extract the file.

So far the app can only read iso, img, ,bin, and z files and that should be what most popular PSX roms are encoded in. The controls do feel funny and should get better over time but its still not the same as holding a controller and is the real week point of the app.

Here is a video of the application in action( he is playing Hot Shots Golf).

Popular Mechanics recently released their 10 Worst Gadgets of 2007 article and name the Zune 2 as one of those products. So basically they are saying that one of the top reviewed mp3 players in the past few years, well sucks. I have a serious problem with this because I am a Zune supporter to the fullest. In Popular Mechanics they try to compare it to Apple’s iPod Touch which is completely unfair, they should be comparing it to Apple’s iPod Classic or Nano. The new Zunes are just as good if not better then the Classic in every way. I am sure you can go to Amazon an search for mp3 players and find products that are far worse than the Zune. Also the Zune is so bad that so many people made the bad choice and bought every available Zune on Black Friday.

Also Popular Mechanics called the Apple TV the worst product of 2007, and the Kindle was no where found, go figure. So don’t waste your money on the Zune or Apple TV, they are crap but remember to subscribe to Popular Mechanics Magazine.

Well I have had my Mac for a few months now and don’t plan on going back to Windows any time soon, 5 days without touching Windows!, and with the purchase on my crumm G4 iMac I also bought iLife 06. Up until this point I have only used iPhoto on rare occasions because I don’t own a working a digital camera or camcorder. This is sad news really but its true that in the year 2007 I own neither. Well for Christmas my Mom has bought my dad a nice camcorder and my sister a decent camera.
Well what does this mean?
For the first time I will be able to make home movies that are professional looking and now we can use our digital photos and make a professional photo album or book or heck even a calendar. I usually don’t get excited about using a program but really am stoked about using the iLife package to its fullest. I have only used the programs with sample pictures and movie clips and have been impressed with it so far and am so excited to add my own original stuff to the programs. I can’t believe that I didn’t switch to Mac before because it looks like I am in camp Apple for the foreseeable future.

 Thank you Apple for getting me excited about computers again.