iPhone 4S

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that one of our top picks this Christmas is the newest model iPhone – The Apple iPhone 4S. Sure, the iPhone 5 wasn’t announced, and that disappointed many people, but the iPhone 4s does offer a few rather significant upgrades over its predecessor. Improvements in the iPhone 4S include:

Better camera: The iPhone 4S features an 8 megapixel camera, a significant upgrade over the 5 megapixel camera on the iPhone 4. It is also capable of shooting HD video.

Improved  processor: You better fasten your seat belt, as the iPhone 4S features a major upgrade in processor power over the 4. In fact, the dual-core a5 chip offers more than double the speeds of the iPhone 4, and 7 times its graphic rendering speeds.

Perhaps the most talked about new feature of the iPhone 4S is the fact that this smartphone talks! The iPhone 4s is the first iPhone to offer “Siri” which is essentially a service that allows you to make more requests to your iPhone via voice — and “Siri” will even respond with audio. The video below shows just how advanced and potentially game-breaking this feature is:

Amazon Kindle Fire

Perhaps the most exciting and mysterious tech gadget available this Christmas is the Amazon Kindle Fire, which is Amazon’s first full fledged tablet to hit the market. This tablet should quickly become a very popular gadget for Xmas 2011, as well as a potentially hard to find gift. Why is this? Well not only is the Kindle Fire a much anticipated rival to the iPad, but it is also extremely moderately priced (especially when compared to newly launched gadgets – the Amazon Kindle Fire is available for pre-sale (from Amazon.com, of course) for only $199! Compare that to the price of the iPad (or iPad2) when they launched, or even the Samsung Galaxy and you’ve got a significant saving on your hands if you choose to make the Amazon Kindle Fire your tablet of choice.

3D TVs

Okay, these are a “little” bit big to be classified as “gadgets” but they are still bound to be a big hit for Xmas 2001, so we couldn’t resist adding them to our list. If you know someone who has been an especially good boy or girl this year ( or perhaps you yourself feel deserving) the Sony Sony BRAVIA and the Toshiba Cinema Series 3dTVs are both worth checking out for Christmas 2011.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus – (Nexus Prime) – Google Nexus 4G

The much anticipated smartphone with many names is sure to be a big hit this winter: The Samsung Galaxy Nexus AKA (Nexus Prime) AKA Google Nexus 4G. The specs are impressive: 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 4.6-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen (720p), 1GB of RAM, 8.0 mega-pixel camera and Android’s latest operating system.

Motorola Dinara

Yup, smartphones and tablets are truly the “it” items again this year as the Motorla Dinara rounds out or list. The Dinara is rumored to be leaner and meaner than the Droid Bionic. Motorla Dinara is said to include a 13 megapixel camera, an HD touchscreen, and an unspecified as of yet but what should be a heavy duty processor as well as a large storage capacity. It’s not known if it’s going to be running Gingerbread or Ice Cream Sandwich (Do these names make anyone else hungry, or is it just time for this blogger to head for lunch?) but the Motorla Dinara is certainly going to be a very high end and highly demanded phone this Xmas season.

Perhaps most interesting is Miscrosoft’s answer to the Wii, a motion sensing device called Kinect. Kinect works with the Xbox 360 and through a series of cameras and sensors detects user movements in order to provide a virtual reality type experience. This is actually the first time in a very long time that I can’t wait to get my hands on a Microsoft product. If done well the Kinect could mean a  surge for Microsoft in the video game/console market… However if the Kinect performance is clunky or otherwise imperfect word will quickly get out and put a damper on any Microsoft party. The Kinect is conveniently set to be released in early November (November 4th to be exact), right in time for the Christmas rush.

Okay, next up is Nintendo who is using E3 to promote a game that is sure to fly off store shelves -  The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The Wii remote will be fully functional in this game, with the ability to be used like a sword, and with the nun chuck serving as Link’s shield. However, as big as The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is sure to be, Nintendo’s main focus of the expo has been showcasing their upcoming portable gaming platform the 3DS. The 3Ds, as the name would suggest, is a fully 3D capable portable system — thankfully, no funny glasses are required. The 3DS isn’t due out until next spring.

And Sony? Sony also has a motion sensing device coming down the pipeline, theirs called PlayStation Move and due out in mid September. The PlayStation Move tracks user movements and reflects them in game much the same as the Kinect is supposed to do. Right now it appears users will also need to purchase the PlayStation Eye camera for the device to work, which kind of sucks – likely these two will be sold as a bundle at some point, hopefully right from the get-go. It should be interesting to see how the PlayStation Move compares to the Miscrosoft Kinect, and how Nintendo responds to this increased competition for the Wii.

Oh, Sony also revealed details about PlayStation Plus, a service costing $50 annually for additional features, including demos and maps.

The iPad is currently available for preorder from Apple.com, and those who choose that option will receive their iPad on April 3rd. It’s obviously a good way to avoid long lines at stores if you’re one of those people who must be among the first to own an iPad. Personally, I’ll be sticking with my netbook but look forward to reading the many reviews and user stories that will soon surface concerning the product. Perhaps it really will be as “magical and revolutionary” as Apple describes.

I had considered previous Audi TT models, but decided back then that it wasn’t a good time to splurge on a new car. However, now that the money situation is a little better, it’s hard to resist the beauty of the Audi new TT. One thing that separates it from previous versions is that it’s actually a little bit larger, while still appearing sleek and classy. The interior is also upgraded to be more in line with the company’s higher end cars, which is a definite plus.

Now, as for the engine four or six cylinder is an option, and liking some extra power I’d probably opt for the six. Also an option is Audi’s magnetic ride damper system which provides drivers and passengers with one of the smoothest rides out there.

                                                    
You know those people that just have to tweet about everything, from their morning Cheerios, to their nightly Crest  White Strips treatment? Well, it would seem that the wife of Twitter CEO Ev Williams is one of those folks, given that she recently enjoyed “tweeting” during labor. Of course, her in-labor tweets are a publicity boost for Twitter (as if they need it) which certainly can’t hurt things for the micro blogging platform, but it does bring up the question – When is a situation just too personal to tweet about?

In this case, with iPhone firm in hand, Sara Williams tweeted from the time her water broke up to the time she was required to push. Apparently she even used an iPhone app to measure the time between contractions. Her last tweet before the actual child birth was a both humorous and likely serious “Epidural, yes please.”

While the pains of labor would probably have me throwing my iPhone at the wall, I do think it’s kind of funny that someone could think of tweeting at a time like that, and I have to believe that it was likely planned as a publicity move for Twitter. I know quite a few people thought her tweeting during labor was a bit tasteless, but either way, they sure are talking about it, and that’s probably good news for Twitter.

                                                    
“Hacker Croll” has supposedly managed to infiltrate the Twitter website with an administrator account. The person has bragged about the breach in a French web forum, saying he hacked into Jason Goldman’s account, a product management director at Twitter. As proof, he published 13 screenshots of the company’s account management interface. The screenshots indicate that he accessed several celebrity Twitter users, such as Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears.

Biz Stone, Twitter’s co-founder admitted on the site’s blog that the site was accessed, but that no account data was changed or deleted. The only unauthorized activity that took place is that 10 accounts were viewed without permission. Hacking into Twitter doesn’t seem like a worthwhile activity for a hacker since there isn’t any user financial information listed on the site. More of a technical challenge, which seems not to pose much of a barrier for some.

The Honda is readying to unleash the ’10 Honda Insight Hybrid, which should retail for just under twenty thousand US dollars. The car is quite comparable to the Prius – a small stylish five seat hybrid with excellent fuel mileage. Honda expects the auto to sell a whopping 200,000 models in just its first year!

                                                    
Researchers from MIT have apparently made a large discovery in regards to recharging lithium-ion batteries more effectively, in a way that is being touted to largely improve the efficiency of hybrid vehicles. Believe it or not, the discovery allows batteries to be recharged almost ninety percent faster than previous batteries. The MIT scientists were able to accelerate the pace at which lithium ions move, vastly increasing the recharge times.

This could lead to huge advances in electric and hybrid vehicles, and mean great things for protecting our environment. Way to go, geniuses at MIT!

** A heads up on the slow down in posts lately, it’s due to the fact that it is tax time and I’ve been busy attending to my yearly finances. Because I do business globally, I’ve had to consider the services of an International tax lawyer in order to get things done right, which has taken more time than I expected. There should be an increase in post volume soon!