Welcome back on this day-after-election day! For those of my U.S. friends, regardless of who you voted for, pat yourself on the back that you voted at all. There are too many countries out there that don't get the right, so I'm proud that you all used your civic liberty.

Now, let's get to the news!

Sometimes the best way to go green is not the high-tech solution, but the low-tech approach: This week, Amazon.com announced that it is teaming with retailers to reduce packaging waste. So, all those gadgets you order from Byte-Sized's upcoming Must-Have Holiday Gift List will be shipped sans all the finger-ripping plastic coats and staticky wraps the company can spare. Good call, Amazon.com. Every little bits helps.

Nielsen research has now shown that 30% of at-home internet surfing occurs while people are also watching TV. I'd like to make fun of that ... but I'm victim of it, too. Not 30% -- that's a bit much! -- but I do have my laptop running with up-to-the-second scores in fantasy football during Sunday games, and at work, I have two flat panels streaming CNN visible from my desk. Not quite in line with the study, but what say you? What kinds of shows do you watch while surfing the internet? Of course, this just makes the whole 'selling your brand in a few different places' strategy hold more water.

Keep an extra vigilant eye on your credit histories from now until I tell you to stop. Why? There are too many intelligent Trojan Horse viruses out there to keep track of anymore. Most recent is the Sinowal Trojan that has, to date, stolen half a million identities from online banking sites. Please, I don't ever joke about security -- use your head and stay safe. If it looks fake, it is.

Today's a good day to be a gamer -- there are a ton of seriously hot video games hitting the market. Here are reviews of some of the biggest from the mother ship, USA Today:
-A follow-up to the hugely popular franchise hit, this Gears of War 2 review gives you a sneak peak of what to expect.
-Currently burning a hole on our 'to be played' shelf -- Bethesda's Fallout 3, which, if anything at all like the company's Elder Scroll series, are totally awesome.
-Also waiting to be played at my house is Fable II. Let's only hope this game is cooler than its much-hyped but not so great predecessor.

See you all Friday!

Labels: Amazon.com, election, Fable II, Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, nielsen ratings, trojan horses

Hello out there! This was a great week for tech news, so let's get to it...

A new Ipsos poll shows what you and I have known for years: The world's view of gamers is vastly different from reality. According to the poll, the average gamer is over 30 and nearly twice as likely than a non-gamer to get out of the house and go on dates. They are also 11% more likely to play sports and 13% more likely to go to a local theater to catch a flick. Also not surprising to me, at least: Gamers also tend to earn more money than non-gamers, to the tune of an average $79,000 to $54,000. So mommas, maybe you *should* let your babies grow up to be gamers!

For all you voters unsure of where to cast your ballot -- never fear, Google is here! The search giant has added a new layer to its Google Maps application to point out voting locations around the U.S. Get out there and make a difference!

Organizers have announces that the E3 video game expo, set to hit L.A. June 2-4, 2009, will be
back to its old form as "main event of the video game industry, must like San Francisco
Macworld Expo for the Apple community, or January's Las Vegas CES show for almost the entire media and consumer electronics industry," according to Digital Trends. Gaming CEOs are psyched about the new format -- its turn back to glizty fanfare -- as are all of us here at Byte-Sized!

In other gaming news, Microsoft has posted the song list for its upcoming karaoke game Lips -- and I have to say that the songs are ridiculous! Whatever happened to Paradise by the Dashboard Light and other favorites??? Hopefully there will be an option to download other tracks, like with Rock Band. Otherwise, why not just crank up the mp3 player and sing along with your real faves? Or, even better, pop on down to the local Asian restaurant on Karaoke Night with a bunch of
friends?

Users of Google's Gmail service can now send auto-responses to contacts who send them emails while they are away. Not quite as fun a feature as the Google Goggles, but still useful for those few people who feel guilty when an email goes unanswered for more than 2 days. Thinking about it more, the only people who'd use this feature are the ones who check their email while on vacation anyway. Hmph.

See you all next week!

Labels: auto-responses, election, gamers poll, gmail, google maps, karaoke, Lips, Microsoft, voting locations