Andy chats about the latest technology and interesting websites each week with Nerissa Pace on the "Talking back the night" radio show, heard across Australia.

 
Top 3 websites

http://www.theflatearthsociety.org
Would you belive that thre are still people among us who still think the earth is flat.

http://iparklikeanidiot.com/
This U.S website sells bright yellow stickers that feature the website address…the idea is that you can buy some of these stickers, then when you see a badly parked car, slap a sticker on it, take a photo and send it into the website to be featured.

http://www.toiletmap.gov.au/
Find the location of just about every public toilet in the country …around 14 thousand of them…on this website.

Feature chat – High-tech Xmas Gift Ideas
Starting with basics…Rechargable Batteries
If you’re buying anything that requires batteries, from remote control cars to torches or portable radios…rechargable batteries are a must have item.Sanyo’s Eneloop rechargable battery pack includes four fully charged batteries with a charging pack for around 40 dollars. The batteries are environmentally friendly too, as they are recyclable.

Digital Music
Apple has the world’s smallest digital music player, the iPod shuffle, and it’s proving to be a real hit.Measuring just 4.1 cm in length and weighing in at just 15 grams, the ‘new look’ iPod shuffle holds up to 240 songs, and you can listen to your music for up to 12 continuous hours.Sells for $119 at www.apple.com.au

Video Cameras
The days of recording home movies to tape are just about gone.
While Camcorders that record directly to 8cm DVDs are very popular, the latest High Definition Handycams from Sony record directly to a 30Gigabyte hard drive (around 4 hours of amazing quality video).
A high definition video camera will give you double the carity and 4 times the resolution of a standard definition video.
http://www.sony.com.au/dis/catalog/product.jsp?categoryId=23774

Video Games
Nintendo’s new video games console, the Wii, is a revolution is gaming and another sure hit for Christmas at $399.95.

Using the Wii’s unique wireless remote controller, users are made to pysically interact with games – waving their arms around for a game of tennis or ducking and weaving in a boxing match…with other games requiring moves that need to be seen to be believed.

The Wii launched in the U.S last week and immediately sold out, with launches in Japan on Dec 2, Europe on Dec 6 and Australia on December 7.

Hot Tip…Video games on a Budget?
Sony’s Playstation 2 can now be bought for under $190, is supported by the thousands of games made for the system over the past 6 years, plays DVD movies and CDs and can be hooked up to the internet for online gameplay.

 
Top 3 websites – Gearing up to go shopping online

http://shopping.yahoo.com.au
The Yahoo shopping portal is one of my favourites as they’ve made it very easy to shop around prices from different online retailers.

http://www.ebay.com.au/
I think that some people still believe that ebay is full of second hand goods, but the truth is that you can find just about anything on ebay…including new items from people who run ebay stores for a living.

http://www.dealsdirect.com.au
One of the hottest bargain hunter sites on the web with a warehouse full of goodies in catagories from movies to outdoor furtature and MP3 players to pet supplies.
Feature chat – Technology savvy kids!

The New Generations Australia 2006 research by the Cartoon Network probed the minds and habits of kids aged between 7 and 14 years, and their parents, who had internet access at home.

Here are some of the interesting results that came from interviewing 3000 child parent pairs.

• 96% of kids’ homes have a mobile phone; 95% have a DVD player.
• 35% of kids have their own mobile phone, and that number goes up to 71% for 13-14 year olds.
• 63% of kids live in homes with an iPod or an MP3 player; access to MP3 Players has almost tripled in the past 12 months
• 91% of kids have some form of game system in their home.

It looks like kids are also very good at multitasking with multimedia...

• 60% of kids claim to have watched TV while using the Internet
• 34% claim to have used instant messaging or e-mail while doing homework…which again rises to 70% for 13-14 year olds

Kids & the Internet

• 89% of Kids use the Internet at least weekly; 40% use it daily
• It looks like the internet is split between work and play as 77% of kids use it to play games; 68% for doing homework
• Nearly 1 in 4 kids (23%) have made their own website or homepage, rising to 48% of 13-14 year olds
• The good news is that 85% of kids are aware there are things on the internet that aren’t safe for them, so the message must be getting though from parents
• and it’s also good to hear that only one in ten kids aged 7-8 agree that “without e-mail, instant messaging or texting, it would be difficult to stay in touch with my friends”.

 
Top 3 websites
www.dogsinduds.com
This website is for Dog owners who like to dress up their pooches, take photos and then share them with the rest of the world.If you don’t have a dog, you can still leave comments on the photos and rate them out of 5 stars.

www.like.com
If you’ve ever seen a celebrity wearing an item of clothing or accessory that you like the look of….like.com is a new visual search engine to help you track down the fashions of the stars…or just search for clothing and accessories by looking at images.

www.coloring.com
If you have a child who is old enough to use a computer, this is a different way to enjoy coloring in picutres.

Feature chat – Doing more with your mobile phone (with Telstra's Next G)

Some of the great features that you'll have access to using the Next G mobile network from Telestra include...

*12 channels of live FOXTEL - including News, Documentaries, Kids programs and more.

*Access to services like the yellow pages, City Search and Whereis where because your phone knows where it is, you can easily track down a local business or map directions.

*Video calls

*Downloading music to both your mobile and PC with a single click.

There are more features and exclusive content to read about - visit www.telstra.com/nextg