XplanaZine

Here’s our take on news that matters for Wednesday, March 15. Today’s theme is get a life , and here are a some links to headlines about technology that is changing the way we live and learn.

• Gaming — Okay, Sony has made it official. The PS3 will launch in Japan, the United States, and Europe within the first ten days of November. And, determined not to be outdone by Nintendo in the handheld, Sony announced updates for the PSP. These include GPS, retrofitting PS1 games, and eventual support of Macromedia Flash. Now it’s really “Game on!”

• Blogging, Podcasting, and Vodcasting — Dave Winer says he’s stop blogging at the end of the year to focus on business and to get our of the limelight temporarily. “I want some privacy, I want to matter less, so I can retool, and matter more, in different ways,” he wrote at the end of a blog entry Monday. This sound somewhat familiar to the recent self-imposed blogging hiatus by Stephen Downes and echoes what others have been saying. Blogging consistently takes time. It becomes a bigger part of your life than you imagined. It can also lead to a certain fame and responsibility that go on top of everything else in your life. Also, if you’re interested in podcasting transcription solutions, check out this review of CastingWords .

• Handhelds – EQO, will be offering a software client that would allow you to IM people on your Skype-list from your mobile phones. Also, One of the first casualties of last week’s UMPC rollouts may be OQO . OQO led the way several years ago in the handheld PC market but its price point and narrow features can’t compete with the next wave of products.
• Social Networks – Will Pate posts this summary of Craig Newmark’s (Craig’s List) keynote at SXSW. Here’s his train of thought on how TiVo can save democracy. 1) Digital video recorders allow people to skip commercials 2) If everyone started skipping political commercials it would defeat their purpose 3) Maybe politicians would then have to say more, there would be less of a race to raise cash for expensive political ads 4) It is the patriotic duty of people to get digital video recorders and skip political commercials.
• Technology Talks — Google had announced that it will add a new feature to its Google Print Library that will allow users to purchase access to online titles.Also, NBC Universal’s chief is telling folks not to come pitching new shows unless you know how it’s will play competitively on the Web as well as on iPods, cell phones, and Origami devices. And, some mysterious reports purport a successful porting of Microsoft XP to the new Apple Intel platform — game over?