A big hello out there to all you readers. Just a few quick updates on some new things we got coming:

1. TeenTechBlog goes social networking – We’re now on Facebook and Twitter! Fan us/ Follow us there to get the latest TTB updates.

2. Love technology and think you got what it takes to be a writer for TeenTechBlog? For those of you out there who want to come join our team, we are looking for another writer to make our blog even more dynamic than ever. If you’re  interested, just send us an email to eli.chaim@teentechblog.com with:

• Some background info about yourself

• Best way to get in contact with you

• What are your favorite things- what do you like about technology– what interests you in technology (video games, cell phones, computers…), and what are your interests outside of technology (sports, music….).

• What do you think you could contribute to TeenTechBlog, and how often you will be able to write (daily, every other day, weekly, etc.).

• A sample post on a topic of technology you like- you can base it on the design and style of some of our previous posts.

Please NO 50 page essays. Just some quick answers to the questions and a short sample post. Please try to get these in soon; the entry deadline is June 10th.

Thanks a hope you enjoy some of the new things we’re putting in, and to all prospective writers– we look forward to hearing from you soon!

Have a great summer!

–Your friends at TeenTechBlog

CES and MacWorld- coming this week!

Yup, it’s that time of year again. The new year and playoff football have begun, and CES and MacWorld — arguably two of the year’s biggest tech shows, in which many of the upcoming years gadgets are announced — kicks off this week.

A lot of good stuff appears on the horizon. Windows 7 looks AMAZING — pretty much all the good Vista was supposed to be — and should receive a lot of attention from Microsoft. All new Palm cell phones should be armed with, by Palm’s hardware standards, a great texting keyboard as well as a new “Nova OS” that should bring the Palm Software up to 2009 and not 2002. We also should be seeing all new cell phones and computers (specifically netbooks), and as far as Apple, you never know with them though we anticipate some nice goodies from their final MacWorld.

Unfortunately, we won’t be able to write about all the details right away; CES and the MacWorld both take place during our  finals/midterms week. On the upside though (at least for us ), with finals means that our winter vacation is almost here!

And don’t worry, we will still give you round ups on a lot of the major things coming from these events (yes, there are some things that we find aren’t worth covering — CES is a BIG event with A LOT of stuff!) after the events are over, but don’t worry- we will have some posts daily on some of the  really BIG things arriving out of the shows (such as the MacWorld and Palm conferences). We’ll keep the posting style for the round ups looking similar to last year (organized by best of each catergory) and we hope to have everything covered from both CES and MacWorld up by the end of next week– so keep checking back!

Happy New Year!!!

Yup, 2008 is in the books- and 2009 is already starting to come upon us. So, what better way to finally finish off 2008 then with our picks for the top gadgets of the year! We got our picks from best cell phone to best laptop to best overall gadget- so read on!

Best Gadget:

iPhone 3G- Hands down the most amazing combination between phone, music player, internet device, and video game player– and its fun!

Best Cell Phone:

iPhone 3G- (see above comment)

Best Mp3 Player:

iPod Touch 2G- Not even a question, 2G touch. Even though its a more minor update, the Touch is still the best Mp3 around, and only got better with the App Store and built-in speaker.

Best Computer:

Apple MacBook/MacBook Pro- It’s stronger, faster, and lighter (not to mention much cooler )- bringing some much needed updates to an already very good MacBook line.

Best Video Game:

Here we’ll break it down to individual picks, as we all had different picks.

Nik- RockBand 2

Eli- Call of Duty World at War

Chaim- Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Zev- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots

Now we’ll give you our choice for the worst gadget of the year.

Worst Gadget of the Year:

PlayStation 3- Even though the PS3 has been out since 2006, in 2008 the PS3 only led the Xbox 360 in sales MAYBE for 2 months tops (we don’t want to even talk about how far it was behind the Wii ). It probably wouldn’t have even had that if the PS3 didn’t have Metal Gear. Heck, the PSP was even selling better than the PS3! In short, the PS3 didn’t do anything unique (not a lot of must have games or a price cut like the 360) to make it a console worth having, leaving us no choice but to name it the worst gadget of the year.

So there you have it, our best (and worst) gadgets from 2008. What’s your list look like? You agree or disagree with our list? Add your own voice in the comments!

Oh, and before we end this post- Happy New Year to all and see you in 2009!

As we mentioned in our Happy Birthday post, we feel that another way we can accomplish that goal is to ask you, our readers, what questions or problems your having with technology. Having trouble backing up an iPod, not sure what type of cell phone to get? Ask us!  We hope to then research the ones that are most interesting or requested and make those questions the focus of future posts in the coming week.

You can either drop your question as a comment below, or if you prefer, email us at contact@teentechblog.com . Unfortunately, seeing as we our students ourselves and have things outside the blog, we may not be able to answer each and every question you may have so we highly recommend posting your questions as a comment; who knows, another reader might have your answer!

So start sending in those questions, and we look forward to helping you.

–Your Friends at TeenTechBlog

As we turn the corner on our first year, we wish to reiterate that our mission is to help you with tech and it is our constant goal to do our jobs even better (though they’re not really jobs per say- we don’t make money off it ).

We really do value your opinions, and we really want you to share them with us. Want more news on a certain topic (like cell phones, video games, iPods)? Have a better way for us to write some of our posts?

Really, anything- don’t be quiet like in class; sound off in the comments or shoot us an email at tips@teentechblog.com

We look forward to hearing from you.

-Your Friends at TeenTechBlog.

Yup, a year ago today Chaim and I created this little website, and today WE TURN 1!

Wow, what a crazy first year its been! Over the last year we saw this little idea grow from a couple of hits a day, to now having about 1,000 HITS A DAY, and more than 100,000 HITS over the past year- and that number has continued  to grow daily.

Just to thank a few people who helped us start this journey: our mentors on this project — Ryan Block and Peter Rojas, the TABC Leadership Institute for providing the proper forum for an idea to become reality, (brace for cheesiness) our families for their support, and most importantly (get ready for another huge dose of cheesy goodness) — to you, our dear and loyal readers. Without you guys, none of this would’ve been possible.

So now how are we going to top this for year 2? Well, for starters….

We got a whole bunch of things planned, such as:

• A new ratings system for reviews of products- We’ll base this on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1, “OMG NO!” to 5, “RUN AND BUY THIS NOW!”
• The reviving of our Ask TeenTechBlog weekly post- Here you can ask us directly any questions you may have on technology, computer and cellphone products worth purchasing, etc.- and we’ll look to answer them in a blog post in the coming week. All you do is post your question(s) as a comment, and we’ll select a few to respond to. And since we can’t get to all the questions we hope to receive, we recommend posting it as a comment, so that other people can check it out, comment, and who knows, maybe they have your answer!

Those are just 2 brief ideas, don’t worry we got a lot more coming as we look to make Year 2 of TeenTechBlog even better!

Stay tuned!

Eli, Chaim, and all of us at TeenTechBlog

Just like today is a big day for America (for those who didn’t vote yet- GO VOTE!), we here at TeenTechBlog also have a big day with some big news to share with you.

To follow-up on our search for a new writer to join us, we are proud to announce some great news. Some of the applications we received were so impressive, we felt compelled to add not one, but 2 new writers, each with their own styles and specialties.

In no particular order:

1. Nik G.– Out of Atlanta, Georgia, he loves technology (especially T-Mobile phones) and also is a big sports fan (especially Georgia Bulldogs).
2. Zev Rosenbaum– From the New York area, he enjoys PS3, Guitar Hero, sports and tech.

On a sadder note, we regret to announce that our dear Australian friend and writer, Aidan Galea, will be leaving us for now, focusing more intensely on his studies and exams. We thank Aidan for his invaluable help in growing this blog to new heights.

As always, we want to take this opportunity to say thank you to you, our dear readers, because without you none of this would’ve been possible (Go on, give yourselves a little pat on the back for your work ).

Enjoy!

-Your friends at TeenTechBlog

Just a reminder for anyone interested in writing for us that the deadline for applications is one week away (September 4). Interested, but don’t know what you need to do? Well then just click here to for all the info.

Thanks and we hope to be hearing from you soon.

-Your friends at TeenTechBlog

Love technology and think you got what it takes to be a writer for TeenTechBlog? For those of you out there who want to come join our team, today is your lucky day. We are looking for another writer to make our blog even more dynamic than ever. Anybody interested just send us an email to jobs@teentechblog.com with:

• Some Background info about yourself
• Best way to get in contact with you
• What are your favorite things- what do you like about technology, what are your interests outside of technology (sports, music….).
• What do you think you could contribute to TeenTechBlog, and how often you will be able to write (daily, every other day, weekly, etc.).
• A sample post on a topic of technology you like- you can base it on the design and style of some of our previous posts.

NO 50 page essays. Just some quick answers to the questions and a short sample post. Please try to get these in soon, as the entry deadline is September 4.

Thanks and we hope to be hearing from you soon.

-Your friends at TeenTechBlog