We got something here today we think a lot of you will love. It’s a brand new site by Ryan Block and Peter Rojas (the guys who made the big tech blogs Engadget and Gizmodo– they also are our mentors here and have helped get us off the ground, just a little side note) called gdgt (pronounced either g-d-g-t, like saying each letter, or just “gadget”). As we said in the title, it’s a site that mixes both gadget news and social networking. It’s really cool, kinda like a  Facebook/Twitter for gadgets.

It also really let’s you focus on the gadgets you own, and in your profile, you actually can make a list of the gadgets you want, have, or had– and clicking on one of the gadgets in your list takes you to that gadgets page, where theres a whole bunch of information like a basic overview, tips, tricks and hacks for said gadget (do at your own risk!), and even reviews. Speaking of reviews, you also can post your own reviews on the gadgets (though you can’t just write “this iPod is awesome!”, the reviews need to be at least 200 words), and you can also edit information on gadgets on the site if you find them inaccurate, and you can even add another gadget to the site if you find the one your looking for missing (kinda adding a Wikipedia like element to the site).

There are also a lot of discussions on the site, so if your having trouble with something, there may be a good bet you’ll find  an answer to it there– and if you know the answer to someones problem, you can add in a comment to help them out. Those are just a few of the new things at gdgt, you can see a whole video walk through of the site here.

It really is cool and you can check it out for yourselves here. Oh, and friend me and Chaim!

Today is June 12th, which means if you don’t have cable or satellite TV, or a digital converter box, then you probably aren’t getting TV anymore.

Why? Well if you haven’t seen the news recently (or any of the many ads about it both on TV and online), the TV signals will be switching to digital tomorrow from analog, as per a law passed by the government. The reason for the law? Its benefits will very soon be amazing. See, the analog TV previously used till now for the air stations like CBS, NBC, FOX, etc. (stations you can get with an antenna for instance, which are free “over the air”), use something called the 700 MHz spectrum. Basically, the government wanted to clear up this spectrum for a number of reasons, but the most relevant one to you is: Verizon and AT&T will use this for their 4G networks. Not only does this rake in a whole lot of cash –over $1 BILLION! — for the government, but it will allow for plenty of air for Verizon and AT&T to begin their intended rollouts of  their 4G networks later this year and early next year, respectively. Both of their upcoming 4G networks should be INSANELY FAST but we’ll cover 4G networks later in another post.

So what can you do now to adapt to this new transition to digital? For one, you can always use this as an excuse to jump to cable or satellite, and get yourself a boatload of extra channels as I’m sure your well aware of (yeah, we thought you’d want that as your first choice). You can also order a $40 coupon the government is giving out to purchase a converter box to attach to your antenna and TV, which will essentially give you all your current, standard, “over the air” channels in a much better digital, near HD picture. You can read about the transition and order the coupon here, which will arrive in a couple days (I ordered mine about a week ago and got it Wednesday). You can then buy the converter box at a bunch of places, including Best Buy, CVS and Radio Shack among many.

So there you got it. Now go out there and get your converter box, and let us what you think of this new “digital TV revolution”: you getting better picture and sound, exicted for the future 4G networks coming because of this transition?

The Kindle DX. AKA, a REALLY Big Kindle 2.

Amazon, (ya know, that big online store thing?), announced today the latest version of the popular Kindle eReader. The Kindle DX. In English: A really big Kindle 2.

Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The Kindle 2 is a really nice eReader, definitely beating out say, an iPod Touch, in terms of readability. And the DX has an even bigger screen than its predecessor, almost standard paper size– which is awesome. While I haven’t seen one in person, this definitely looks like an incredible way to read books. Also intriguing about the DX is some of the new partnerships Amazon’s made to get content to the DX.

First up, and most important to me as a teenager and student, is their new partnerships with schools and textbook makers. Yes, textbooks – those enormous, heavy bricks that are the bane of every student, forcibly lugged to school every day, back and forth- have now been digitized on the Kindle DX. So theoretically, you can just carry one of these around, loaded with all your textbooks and other books (I’m a huge reader), which makes it a very enticing deal for those like me whose bag on average, between books and laptop, and other random stuff, weighs more then a small child. However, while it  seems like a promising option for students, much has yet to be found out about this arrangement: the project cost for digital textbooks as well as the list companies/textbooks to be available for purchase has yet to be announced.

Another new feature allows Kindle owners to subscribe to a variety of newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and others, directly to their device. This is pretty cool, something that’s been seen a thousand times in sci-fi movies, and combined with the DXs large screen looks like it could be interesting. Cost is about $10-$15 a month per paper- about $50 more a year than print subscriptions.

Which brings up the next thing. Price. And I gotta say, this one’s gonna hurt. $489 worth of hurt. Seriously. Not including content– although Kindle books are cheaper then paper ones. Compare to the Kindle 2, which is already expensive at $359, and the restrictively high price (surely according to a student’s wallet) makes the choice between Amazon’s 2 models even harder; especially considering that while the Kindle 2 is smaller screen-wise, it’s $100 cheaper, has most of these features, and is semi-portable (the screen is 6 inches compared to 9.7 on the DX). But for both devices, in my opinion, if Amazon wants to get teens and students to be interested in ‘em, they’re going to need to reconsider prices.

This isn’t to say that the Kindles aren’t excellent products; they are. But quality comes at price, which here is fairly high. The Kindle DX launches in the summer, and you can preorder it online from Amazon now, as well as view Amazon’s comparison between the Kindle 2 and the DX on that page. More info to come as we get it, particularly regarding textbooks.

The Amazon Kindle 2

Some of you may have heard of Amazon’s digital book (called an e-book, and yes people do read books ). Believe it or not- and we know a lot of you probably won’t believe it , the first Kindle was really popular, and they were constantly sold out on Amazon’s site.

The original Kindle  let you read countless books on one small, thin device and let you download new books, magazines and newspapers straight to the Kindle using Sprint’s 3G network– all without charging you a monthly data price.

Now the Kindle, as we said, was really, really popular, and this past week Amazon announced the next generation version  of the device, cleverly named the Amazon Kindle 2. So what’s new in the Kindle 2 and why should you care? Well, read on to find out!

We’ll break this one down like we break down everything else- feature by feature.

• Thinner Design- This Kindle 2, is 1/3 of an inch thick (or should we say thin!); it’s as thick as a magazine or a pencil!

Ya, we’re talking pencil thin!

• Very Light- This is lighter than most paper back books, so not only do you get all those books, but you get them in something lighter than 1 physical book!
• Built-in Sprint 3G- The Kindle 2 keeps the same great 3G features that let you buy books, and view newspapers, blogs and magazines right on the device.

The New York Times on the Kindle 2

• Updated Screen- The screen on the Kindle 2 is updated, and now pages turn 20% faster!
• Over 230,000 books, available from the Kindle’s store– and counting!- Basically you can read A LOT!
• Better Battery- According to Amazon, you can go DAYS, yes DAYS, of use without charging.
• “Read-to-Me”- Probably the coolest feature on this device. This feature will, you guessed it, read the books to you- so not only can you read it, you can listen to it to! Let the laziness begin!
• Hold’s 1,500 books- Yup, a “library in your pocket.”

So there are the features, what are our own thoughts? Well, I think this is a really cool device. While my reading is more SI and ESPN magazine, online articles, as well as the daily newspaper, and usually not books, I’m not sure this device would be perfect for me (though who knows, maybe having a cool device like this would inspire me to read more ). But for someone who is a “bookworm”, and would love to be able to have 1,500 books in their pocket- this should fit the ticket.

The Kindle 2 can be pre-ordered now from Amazon.com for $359, and will be released on February 24th.

What do you think: you a bookworm and gonna get this? Interested, but don’t want to spend the $359? Not really into books at all and would rather just use that $359 and get yourself an iPod Touch and a book reading app? Let us know in the comments.

We here at TeenTechBlog aren’t only bout technology. Believe it or not, we actually are into other things like sports (and quite passionately I may add as I am writing this I’m getting ready to play in a charity basketball tournament. Go MTA Lions!).

So we wanna ask what’s your pick for the Super Bowl tomorrow- you think the Pittsburgh Steelers D and the awesomeness of Ben Roethlisberger will prevail over the “Cinderella story” of Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald and the Arizona Cardinals?

My personal pick? Steelers hold on and lay down the law on the Cards. Yeah, who doesn’t love the underdog (especially after last year’s AMAZING win by my hometown Giants ), but I just gotta believe the Steelers D is too good, and they will be able to contain Fitzgerald and the rest of the Cards (much easier said then done ). Final score: 35-24 Steelers.

So… what’s your pick: do the Steelers dominate, and end the Cards amazing road to the Super Bowl, or do you think the Cards are gonna be like last year’s G-Men and pull off another amazing Super Bowl upset (and end the second longest drought in sports for a professional team without a championship– first are the Chicago Cubs– sorry Cubs fans ).Let us know your picks (and your reasons behind them) in the comments.

Pix from ESPN.com

Yup, it’s that time of year again- the holiday season. Presents, snow, no school, intense college bowl games, and anything else you can imagine. We thought that, seeing that it is the holiday season, we’d share with you some of the gadgets on our holiday wish list. So what gadgets would we like to get this holiday season? Read on!

We each picked three things we wanted, and gave a little reason why we wanted said object as well as a price. We’ll go in alphabetical order.

Eli:

1. Apple Macbook Aluminum

I saw this in the Apple Store a couple weeks of ago, and boy is it awesome. I love the glass trackpad with multi-touch, the screen looks great, and the most important thing for me: it is small and light so it would easy for me to take around. Oh, and the updated graphics don’t hurt for playing games either

2. NBA 2k9 for Xbox 360

I’m a sports nut, and I love the NBA 2k9 series (I find it much better the NBA Live- I’m more for a realistic game than a dunk off), and from what I saw with the demo I downloaded a while back, this new version will not disappoint.

3. 120 GB Xbox 360 Hard Drive

I have one of those old 20 GB hard drives, and while it works for the average game saves and such, it really limits me in terms of saving games to hard drive for playing (one of the new features in the new Xbox Update- see here), as well as saving things off of Xbox Live. A 120 GB hard would suit all those needs and more

Chaim:

(Note: This is not meant to be taken seriously  )

1. Optimus Maximum:

Alright, now that that’s out of the way, here’re my picks – the Optimus Maximum keyboard. Quite possibly the coolest keyboard ever, the Maximum has 113 OLED screens for keys. Each key is customizable, and is just insanely cool. Available at an insanely uncool price of $1593.

2. Telsa Roadster:

Another needlessly awesome thing, the Roadster is an electric sportscar. Nuff said. Only $100,000, provided you can get one of the few that they make yearly.

3. Panasonic 150 inch Plasma Screen TV

Reason: Can you read? 150. Inch. TV. This monster doesn’t display HD – it displays 4x HD! Current Price – if you have to ask…..

Charlie:

Canon Rebel XT

Everybody these days has a camera and if you’re someone who likes to consider himself a more serious photographer than most — a category to which I am proud to claim membership — an above-par camera is a must. The Rebel, a digital SLR with options and settings that can exhaust the appetites of even the most adventurous and a compact design, stands head and shoulders above its competitors and would be a delightful treat in my holiday presents.

Toyota Prius

Hey, if you’ve got the money, why not? As a budding driver, environmentalist (as long as they don’t take away Styrofoam bowls– bare necessities!), and, most importantly, a cheapo who thinks high gas prices shall ultimately prevail, I would appreciate one of these in the driveway in the coming days (colored “mango” preferably )

Flashlight

Any kind is fine really– I just really need that extra assurance that I won’t tumble down the stairs when the power goes out and my phone battery dies and its dark outside unless it is because I want to! So yes, flashlight would be great and I advise all readers to do the same!

Nik:

Blackberry Storm

This was kind of a tough one for me. I really, really like my Blackberry and I also really, really like my iPod touch.  I also wanted to put a new phone on this list so, I picked the middle man, the world’s first touch screen Blackberry.

Sony Playstation 3

Why is this on my list you ask? Well, I’ve never really been much of a gamer — some Madden here and there or maybe some Call of Duty over at a friend’s house — and because of this, my most advanced gaming system is a PS2.

But, this year I want my own next-gen console and when I say next-gen about the PS3, I really mean it. This thing is packed with WiFi, Bluetooth, Blu-Ray and instead of having to pay for a membership to play online, it’s completely free. Also, that new PlayStation Home (see our previous post on it here) feature looks pretty cool.

Apple Macbook Pro

This one is definitely at the top of my list. Apple’s latest offering in the laptop world not only has amazing specs as well as tons of power, it also looks beautiful. Honestly, this thing is gorgeous and I really wouldn’t mind having this baby waiting for me under the tree on the 25^th.

Zev:

1.  Resistance 2

Insomniac made huge improvements an already great shooter, but then again who wouldn’t want to destroy 200 feet tall monsters?

2. iPod touch 32 GB

Single handedly, the best and most stylish MP3 player out there, plus my old iPod is ready to go

3. HTC Fuze

Great texting, great touch screen, and as long as you don’t require Wi-Fi like Eli : ), this is the phone for you.

Okay, so there you have it- some the things on our holiday wishlists. What’s yours? Any of these gifts things you want? Let us know in the comments.

And before we go, we just want to wish all of you a happy Christmas, Chanukah, Kawanza- or anything else your celebrating- and a happy New Year!

There’s a reason all these people lined up last year (Pic from ABC News)

For those who don’t know, Black Friday* is the day after Thanksgiving — the first day of the holiday shopping season –  and stores put out deals with HUGE SAVINGS on EVERYTHING, including electronics.

So if you want/need something new and value your wallet, READ ON!

*alludes to companies profits rising from “red” to “black” from its large volume of sales, though its less likely due to the current economic turmoil

All the major stores have great deals going down: Best Buy, Amazon, Circuit City (who really need go holiday sales if they wanna stay in business ), Amazon, Walmart, Costco- you name it.

For all the info on the deals from these and tons of other stores check out BlackFriday.info, but we’ll give you a small taste of some of the deals that catch our interest in this post.

By the way, if you really wanna capitalize on these Black Friday deals, you better be ready to get up really early (think earlier than 5 AM!) because the lines here are crazy.

Here’s some of our picks from each store.

Walmart:

• Xbox 360 Arcade Bundle- (see here) with Sonic Saga. wireless controller and Guitar Hero 3 with Guitar for $199.99 – this is a perfect example of insane Black Friday deals.

Xbox 360 Walmart Deal

Best Buy:

• Xbox 360 60GB Console with 4 games (Lego Indiana Jones, Kung Fu Panda, NBA 2K9, Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground) for $299.99. For those who wanted a 60 GB system deal instead of the deal Walmart is offering (above) for the Arcade.
• AT&T LG VU With Touch Screen – $49.99 with New 2-Year Contract- another great deal.
• $100-$150 off Macbooks and Macbook Pro’s- yup, this is even for the new Macbooks that came out only a lil’ while ago (see here for a recap of new Macbook info). This is great for those looking to buy one of those new, sweet, aluminum Macbooks (oh, and you can save even more on some of the older plastic Macbooks- I saw one with a $300 savings!). Check it here.

Circuit City:

• Xbox 360 Arcade Holiday Bundle with Extra Controller & 20GB HDD – $199.99. As you’re probably noticing, the Xbox 360 is getting major deals everywhere, but for those looking for an Arcade bundle (or anyone looking for a video game system below $200), but here you are basically getting what was the discontinued Pro model as a new deal. This is AWESOME and should make a great holiday gift.

Dell:

• Creative Labs 8 GB Mp3 and Video player w/ built-in speaker and voice recorder for $79! Perfect for anyone who wants a great music player loaded with features, that is also almost $100 cheaper than the iPod Nano.

Creative Zen Mozaic 8 GB

• Dell Inspiron Mini 9 for only $299- This is a tiny little laptop — aka netbook — is perfect for school and travelers with its small 9 inch screen. I assume this version is the one running a special Linux OS with a 4 GB SSD (solid state drive), and it may not be the perfect system for those who aren’t completely tech savvy.

Dell also sells a Windows XP version and both models have room for up to 32 GB SSD (these aren’t designed to replace you big 15 inch laptops or desktops), and these models may cost more than the $299 price here, though not much higher (these aren’t available with those expensive add ons you find on other computers).

For all the info on the Dell Mini 9 click here.

Dell Mini 9

This is just a small sample of the crazy deals coming on Friday. For all the info on all the deals go to that BlackFriday.info site.

What you think- any of the Black Friday deals listed going to make you wake up early on Friday? You gonna wait till a little later in the Holiday shopping season looking for even better deals? If you are getting something on Black Friday- what is it? Let us know in the comments. 

School is almost over, but of course before we can all go enjoy our stress free summer breaks, we need to take our finals. Ours this year start this Thursday and run till Tuesday the 17, so we just wanted to let you all know that we might not be able to get as much out as possible for we do need to take these tests. Of course one of the big things we are missing in this is the Apple WWDC, and the possible intro of a new iPhone that Chaim wrote about here. So for all of you out there looking to see what new thing Apple has released you may wanna check out Engadget.com on June 9-13 when this all happens. We hope to sometime during those days summarize what went on there during the event. So keep checking back and good luck with all your finals and tests.

Ttyl,

Eli, Chaim, Charlie and Tzvi

This is what I hope to be a new series of little simple how-to’s to spruce up your computer. To kick it off, I’m starting with the Indiana Jones desktop, in theme with the upcoming movie.

This is my final result. I’m doing this on a Mac, and in several steps, but everything in here is adaptable easily to Windows. So we start easy:

The Desktop Picture:

This desktop I actually made using several tutorials in Photoshop Elements. Not the easiest thing, but i can post instructions to that too if anyone wants. If you want to download it, you can do so here. Other places to get pictures from is from the Indiana Jones Website, the going to the downloads and then to the wallpaper, where there is tons of wallpaper from the movies. Also a good one can be found here of Indiana Jones’ desk as shown in the film.

So thats wallpaper. Next up is icons. I got mine from Iconfactory. As of now only the Raiders of the Lost Ark icons are up, but the others movies’ icons are forth coming. They happen to be really nice icons, in large sizes for Leopard and Vista. Mac icons can be applied using the instructions found here. As for Windows, for XP users you can check out this Microsoft guide for changing your desktop’s theme, and for Vista you can view this Microsoft guide.

It is also possible to change the dock on Leopard, but this is a really task that can only be done by changing system files, or using a program like Panic’s Candybar. The icons from the Iconfactory come with a dock compatible with that program, but it cost $30, which I frankly don’t have to spend on an icon-changing app.

As some of you may have noticed, we started changing some things for the better around here, and here is just a quick summary for some of the things we did and are planning to do in the near future.

Changes:

We changed the name from Tech4Teens to TeenTechBlog and have moved the sites name from tech4teens.wordpress.com to just teentechblog.com (We are still running the same blog). We also added some new people to help us reach our goals of helping teenagers with technology, and those new people are some of our fellow students at our school- Charlie Wollman and Tzvi Solomon. Charlie will be working as our new editor, and Tzvi will be helping us expand our site on the business side to bigger and better things.