By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Thinking about running out and purchasing one of those 103″ plasma tvs? Well, check this one out.

We’ve seen big HDTVs before, claiming to be world’s largest, but now Mitsubishi has topped them all, building a high-definition video screen at a horseracing track in Tokyo that’s 218 feet wide and 37 feet tall, taking up 8000 square feet—that’s nearly a fifth of an acre. The screen, delivered in 35 pieces and assembled at the Tokyo racecourse, uses Mitsubishi’s Aurora Vision LED technology. Source: Gizmodo

We Say: Start saving up, this baby will set you back about $28 million. Chump change.

By Andru Edwards
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

For all of you suffering out there, melting in your beds from the summer heat, the SoothSoft Chillow just might be the device for you. The Chillow is slipped into your pillow case (or, for the super hot, you can just lay right on top of it) after preparation, and keeps your head cool for the duration of the night, virtually eliminating pillow-flipping. To find out all the ins and outs of the cooling device, check out this full Chillow review.

By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Looks like ZangoBar, er I mean Zango, are still up to their same old tricks, trying to make it look like an affiliate is to blame for all their troubles. The Paperghost busted an affiliate of theirs pushing Zango on MySpace, a site they themselves have said is hands off, and soon after, the page pushing the videos was gone, and the MySpace profiles that were being used were also gone. Or so we thought. In his latest post, the Paperghost discovers that not only is the guy who was pushing Zango on MySpace is back pushing them on another site, but the old page is still up.

If Zango had actually killed his account off for doing the above naughtiness…and you’d assume they had considering his Video page got “pulled” (why pull it if you’ve done nothing wrong?) their S3 technology should prevent these installs - however, as you can see here, the installs work just fine (you can see Zango is installed in the bottom right hand corner). In fact, the installs work from both the new site I’ve discovered and the old site with the (now hidden) video page.

Forgive me for being so bold, but this isn’t so much canceling the guy’s account as hiding him behind some bushes for a few weeks.

Either what this guy is doing is wrong, and Zango should have cancelled his account at the time, or they should have refuted everything and thrown it all back in my face. What should not happen, is something where it’s made to look like his account has been terminated, only to have him happily carry on installing the Zango Adware across MySpace with his wonderful websites. Is this “detecting and dealing with them effectively”?

“We know where Boyd and others like him stand, and they know where we stand,” Stratz said.

Heh - you know something, you’re dead right. Source: VitalSecurity

We Say: Business as usual at ZangoBar headquarters, deflect and divert, then go back to the money grubbing ways, infecting kids, showing them porn, etc, etc. Blame someone else, yadda, yadda, yadda, only this time, they should have already removed this affiliate, they themselves said no one should be promoting Zango on MySpace, so I wonder how what he was doing can be wrong, and yet he still remain in the program? Check out my latest post on Zango and WarnerBros as well, you probably won’t be surprised, but you will want to keep your kids from visiting WarnerBros website.

By William, Contributing writer,
RealTechNews

Apple’s iconic mighty mouse now gets a cooler and sleeker look without its connecting wire. With its new laser tracking engine, it’s able to track on surfaces 20 times more sensitive than other optical mice, a great news for Mac designers and gamers.

Apart from the new bluetooth 2.0 capability, the new wireless might mouse has essentially the same design and customizable side squeeze buttons as its predecessor. I guess Apple knows the rule of “If it ain’t spoilt, don’t fix it”.

Read full article: Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse

By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

When IE 7 becomes available later this year, Microsoft is planning on pushing it out to users, although you will get a chance to say no. It will be delivered as a high priority update.

IE 7 will be delivered in the fourth quarter as a “high priority” update via Automatic Updates in Windows XP, Gary Schare, Microsoft’s director of IE product management, said in an interview Tuesday. Automatic Updates is a Windows feature typically used for security updates, but Microsoft has also used it to push its ant piracy tool WGA Notifications.

“The justification, of course, is the significant security enhancements in IE 7,” Schare said. Microsoft recommends that all Windows users install the new browser when it ships, he added.

Although IE 7 will be pushed out over Automatic Updates, people will be able to choose whether they want to install it or not, Schare said. Automatic Updates will first notify people when IE 7 is ready to install and then show a welcome screen that presents key features and the choices to install, not install or postpone installation. Source: News.com

We Say: I’m sure there will be a lot of complaining about this, even if IE is better, I myself have not tried it yet. Any early adopters have any opinions they want to share?

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Whether or not it’s tattling is up to you, but Tivo has launched a research division that tracks ad-skipping. With over 4 million subscribers, Tivo’s data could be very telling.

On average, TiVo has found that its users spend nearly half of their television time watching programs recorded earlier. And viewers of those recorded shows skip about 70 percent of the commercials, said Todd Juenger, TiVo’s vice president for audience research. Source: The New York Time via IHT

We Say: Based on my personal experience, this sounds about right (I have a DirecTivo). Am I in the monitored user group, though? More of my thoughts here.

By David Johnston
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

The AMD-ATI merger has now been made official (subject only to a vote by ATI shareholders) and there are many stories about the subject floating around trying to make sense of it. Why would AMD burn its bridges with nVidia? Why would ATI partner with AMD and risk losing it’s business with Intel? These are just two of the many questions that have left most people scratching their heads in wonder. However, a great column by Charlie Demerjian at the Inquirer has ventured to answer all of these questions with great clarity and accuracy. Here’s an excerpt:

The net effect is good for ATI, good for AMD, and good for everyone else, including all the current AMD partners. For all the analysts, deep breaths, think of your happy place. This is not bad, not bad at all, in fact it is very good. Breathe. If it doesn’t happen, well, sell your AMD stock, it is done for.

Read the rest of the article here.

Source: the Inquirer

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Blasphemy! Instead of faux paper money, new Monopoly games are going to use faux credit cards and an electronic banking system.

Parker Brothers is phasing out the cash-based version’s funmoney and replacing it with an “Electronic Banking” flavor that could leave Mr. Moneybags turning his pockets inside out as his stash is replaced by a magnetic strip. New kits are completely devoid of the famous multi-colored bills; instead, you’ll find phoney Visa debit cards and a calculator / reader which keeps a running tabulation of your riches — or lack thereof. Source: enGadget

We Say: What’s next? Are they going to get rid of the race car and the little dog?