It's that time of year when Santa packs his sleigh full and prepares for the longest all-nighter of the year. Per usual, you and your kids will be able to track Santa's whereabouts at noradsanta.org, keeping an eye on where he's at in the world. To make things easier, however, Google has also launch Santa Tracker, an extension for its Chrome browser that features a countdown timer to Christmas.
Here at SlashGear we've got a lot to be thankful for, and without a doubt we've got more people to thank for making this all possible than we can possibly list. That said, we're certainly about to try to thank everyone who went above and beyond for us over the past year, starting with you - the readers! We consider you to be not just the people that keep us in a steady job and off the streets with your interest in what we've got to present, but our extended network of friends as well - we're here for you first and foremost, and we want to make sure you understand that you mean a lot to us!
Google is ramping up its online shopping system with the addition of two new features: 360-degree product view and shortlists. Shoppers can now enjoy a more dynamic variety of virtual window shopping, getting a closer peek at products before buying them. The addition of social networking-like tools allows you to share the experience with friends and family, as well.
Velocity Micro, makers of custom pre-built desktop computers, announced a Vector "Holiday Edition" desktop computer, as well as a VMultra drive external peripheral. The computer isn't dressed up in Christmas colors and strung with bells and ribbons -- it's a different kind of Holiday Edition, meaning the company is making it its main product over the holidays.
The holiday season is here and if your family is anything like mine that means you'll see some of the same boxes used again for gifts this year that you saw last year, I and maybe even the year before. If you want to use an interesting box that will be in the family for years to come, a new PrankPack box is available to wrap your gift in.
It's the first of the Chinese New Year today, ladies and gentlemen, and we're glad here at SlashGear to wish you a happy and extra lucky Year of the Dragon from all of our places of work and play across the earth! The Year of the Dragon, for those of you that do not know, is more than just a year of great luck for those born in it, it's a time when new children are granted a life of innovation, passion, confidence, and fearlessness. We're hoping the goodness pours over into the tech world in a period that's being heralded as an innovation-less time in history.
If you've not yet experienced the unmitigatedly satanic screaming of the hoards of ungrateful kids across the nation at not getting the iPhone they wanted for Christmas, now's your chance - and if you're a parent of one of these whining little pukes, you've got one option, and one option only: take back everything else you gave them. There's a song that goes with this sudden collecting of Twitter status updates that sums it all up quite nicely, you can watch it below. When you do, please, for the love of Pete, check your kid's Twitter account and make sure they're not a horrible, horrible person.
Should you receive or if you've already received a brand new iPad or iPad 2 for the holidays here at the tail end of 2011, the first thing you'll want to do is download a few fabulous and essential apps. What follows is a list your humble narrator has put together for you, the informed reader, detailing what a set of 10 may well be for your instantly impressive apps collection. Everything from high-powered music software to pinball and back down to news reading apps. You'll be set by the end of this post!
So it's Christmas day (or something similar here at the tail end of 2011) and you've just received a fine Android tablet or smartphone to get you started on your way to smart device heaven: what do you do? You first take a look at the apps you've already got, realize there's not just one whole heck of a lot of fun stuff there, then head to the Android Market. Your device likely has a little white bag icon with an Android head on it in green titled "Market" - this is where you want to go to get the goods. In this post you'll find a find handfull of apps I suggest to you to pick up immediately.
Today and tomorrow you'll hear just a little bit less from the team here at SlashGear than you normally would because we're out having a fabulous time celebrating Christmas (or something like it) at each of our various family abodes. What you will find is a couple of guides on what to do with your gifts, specifically if they come from the Apple or Android families, and some surprise posts as well. We're hoping you find this holiday set of days as relaxing as we are, taking a break from everything, including news about the ever-expanding future of gadgetry.
There's a video out there today by the name of Happy Holidays - from Android, which contains spirits being made bright, laughing all the way, and Santa himself, not to mention the brand new Samsung Galaxy Nexus making everyone's noses glow with delight. Of course there's no way this is a response to Santa using Siri, right? It really doesn't matter, what matters is that this commercial is completely lovely and makes for a warm cup of hot chocolate directly from Google's Android headquarters where though it doesn't often snow, it certainly did this year.
When it comes down to it, there's only so much technological gadget bits that one person can possibly want for the holidays*, so when you get to that point with the electronics lover in your life, there's always the old fallback: a big bit of rock. Not just a sack of pavers you stole from your neighbor, no way, this is the BugHouse Future Fossils series of life-sized decorative editions made with a cement casing to make sure you're in the right place when it comes to displaying the future's past in classic connected items. These mothers range anywhere from $50 to $500 USD and most of them are unlimited in the amount that you can buy.