XplanaZine

Here’s our take on news that matters for Thursday, April 20. Today’s theme is now that’s something I needed! , and here are a some links to headlines about technology that is changing the way we live and learn.

• Gaming — A new study from the Consumer Electronics Association says that there are many more women gamers, ages 25 to 34, than men because of games like solitaire and Tetris. Also, expect in-game advertising revenue to increase dramatically in upcoming years. The Yankee Group “predicts that in-game advertising is ‘poised for explosive growth’ and will reach $732 million by 2010, representing more than five times the current value of the in-game ad market.”
• Blogging, mediacasting, and online creations — In the “extremely useful” category — Feedburner has launched a new service that provides blog feeds via e-mail.
• Handhelds – Gas prices are on the rise but it looks like Apple iPod’s will cost a bit less in the coming quarter. I can do without my car but my iPod? C’ mon! And Palm has released it’s first update for the Treo 700w. This update includes push email capability for wireless synchronization of e-mail and calendar information.
• Social Networks – Social networking sites may indeed be a dot com fad but they are certainly attracting lots of money. New deals are made almost daily. Facebook has raised $25 million in its latest round of funding from venture-capital firms. Also, Mashable! has a nice take on how, if you can’t beat MySpace you should definitely think about joining them.
• Technology Talks — The latest Pew survey on Internet life has some interesting information on how Americans rely on the Web. “Some 45 percent of internet users, or an estimated 60 million Americans, said
  the internet helped them make big decisions or face a major moment in their life
  during the previous two years.”