| Wii Launched Full Version Of Opera Web Browser
Opera Software and Nintendo have finally launched the full version of the Opera web browser for the Internet Channel of the Wii game console. The download is free, but not for long. This web browser allows Wii owners to browse the internet through the console on their television, provided the console is connected to the internet, of course. Some new features of the full version of the Opera browser revolve around usability with zoom and scrolling functions that were not present in the trial version that was launched in December. The application allows you to choose from Google or Yahoo for a default search engine, but like any browser you can navigate to any web page and search engine. Navigation is handled through the Wii remote (please be careful), and two remotes can be used at the same time to point and navigate the web.
Q Award Recognizes Employee Performance
(openPR) - FRANKLIN, Tenn. – To commend the efforts of HometownQuotes' increasing pool of employees, company executives have introduced the Q Award, a rotating inter-office award that recognizes staff members for exhibiting a strong measure of professionalism and exemplary service. “The company is growing so quickly that the executive staff wants to be sure associates continue to feel valued and recognized for their hard work," said HometownQuotes President and CEO Hunter Ingram. Melanie Plymesser of the consumer services department is the first recipient of the traveling trophy. HometownQuotes project manager Mike Hall will be the next titleholder. “Fortunately we have recruited talented individuals who are always looking out for ways to improve our systems and services. That's what this award is about – honoring those team players that are always a step ahead of the game.
Castles In The Virtual Air
Imagine a world in which you can be your own God. You can choose your own gender, color, size, or even species. Instead of driving your car to work, you can fly. Today, you can do all this from the chair of your computer desk with a program called Second Life.
Created by Linden Lab in 2003, Second Life is a “3-D online digital world imagined, created, and owned by its residents" that is free to join. Its roughly five million users create avatars, which are virtual character representations of themselves that can be anything from men and women to butterflies. Second Life is not a game so much as it is an “online community" because there is no specific goal or winner. Users are able to interact, create buildings, and buy land on the Second Life globe.
With such possibilities, Second Life fosters unusual creativeness.
Local racing notes
TOOELE - Before Hall of Fame point guard John Stockton participated in ceremonies surrounding the retirement of Adrian Dantley's jersey at a Jazz game last week, he paid a surprise visit to Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele and drove one of the modified Ford Mustang GTs around the 4.5-mile road track.
The GTs are used in the Ford Racing High Performance Driving School at the track.
"It's just a thrill," Stockton said. "I haven't been exposed to race driving much, other than through [MMP owner] Larry Miller, and to get to drive on a world-class course like this and see what professional drivers go through is a lot of fun."
Stockton said he went away believing even more that race car drivers are true athletes.
"The engines do a lot of work, but they don't do all the work," he said.
Roto Arcade: Opening Day
In March, we're all about arranging players in neat columns. We rank and re-rank. We hype and un-hype. To the extent that it helps you draft – or helps you rationalize a pick for which you were mocked in the draft room – it's a nice thing to do. But in a 12-team mixed league, the draft really isn't so important. Yeah, maybe we should've mentioned that before you bought the $8.95 fantasy preview magazine and the $9.99 draft kit. Sorry. Twelve rosters just aren't nearly enough to accommodate all the useful players, and this tends to devalue a draft. If you expect to win a competitive league, there's a lot of maintenance ahead. You can't be inert. Fantasy baseball is a game, and it's one that needs to be actively played if you're hoping to win. Thus the title of this recurring blog-ish feature, Roto Arcade.
Yahoo's Upgrades And Migrates Events Site Upcoming
Now there are a range of startups and more established sites providing local events information. They include Socializr, Attendio, Eventful, Zvents, Citysearch, AOL Cityguide, Heyletsgo, Jambase, the various ticket sites and Yahoo's Upcoming, among others. And this doesn't include all the online newspaper calendars and entertainment guides. When Yahoo bought "social events calendar" Upcoming.org more than a year ago, the site was basically three guys, a cool idea and some software, but not lots of data. The events information is entirely provided by the community. And Yahoo! has greatly upgraded and improved the site since the acquisition. Today the Yahoo Search Blog announced some additional changes and upgrades, including the integration of Flickr and the transition of Upcoming.org onto the Yahoo! Local platform.
Label leads way with DRM-free music
The wired world, so they say, moves faster than meatspace. In that case, one month, three weeks and five days might seem like an awfully long time tothe digerati. But that's how long it took between Steve Jobs publishing his Thoughts on Music - an open essay telling the recording industry to drop copyprotection - and EMI's announcement this week that it was going to offer downloads without Digital Rights Management (DRM). Jobs, reading from a script rather than delivering his sermon with the usual practised polish, took the stage in London alongside EMI boss EricNicoli to hail the decision as breaking new ground. Campaigners breathlessly welcomed the death of copy protection, and digerati around theweb began wildly dancing on the grave of DRM. Are they right? At first glance, it seems like a situation where everybody wins: the recordlabel can sell to customers without worrying about interoperability; iPod owners can buy from new outlets; Apple can sell to non-iPod users; otherretailers can offer downloads from a big label.
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