| When it comes to the crunch
THE pain of the credit crunch, combined with five rises in interest rates, has begun to hit consumers' pockets hard. Spending on the high street slowed slightly in October, signalling a difficult Christmas at the tills. John Lewis has warned it is suffering a severe trading slowdown in what should be one of its busiest periods. .
Black Friday Site Traffic Increases 52%
Online traffic to Black Friday advertising websites is rising earlier in 2007 compared to 2006, Hitwise reported today. Online traffic to a custom category of Black Friday advertising websites increased 52 percent for the week ending Nov. 10, 2007 compared to Nov. 11, 2006. Online interest in Black Friday is taking place earlier this year and becoming more widespread than the past two holiday seasons. Searches on the term "black Friday ads" are up 91 percent compared to last year and have increased 954 percent since 2005. This is a continuing trend as searches for the same term were up 452 percent in 2006 compared to 2005. Wal-Mart received the most traffic from Black Friday advertising websites for the week ending Nov. 10, 2007 among a select group of brick and mortar stores.
iPodObserver - iPhone, iPod touch 1.1.2 Updates Go Mainstream
The iPhone and iPod touch Software Update 1.1.2 shipped on the first batch of iPhones sold in Germany and the U.K., but didn't begin appearing as an option in iTunes until Monday evening. Apple is calling the update a security patch because it removes a flaw that could allow at attacker to use a maliciously crafted TIFF image to run arbitrary code on the hand held devices. The update appears only in iTunes, and can't be download from Apple's Support Web site. .
Point, click and recharge with these hot gadgets
Microsoft�s new Mobile Memory Mouse 8000 isn�t just another clicker. Loaded with 1 gigabyte of memory, the rechargeable mouse doubles as a storage device. With the help of a three-way transceiver, you can work wirelessly with the mouse, save files in the mouse�s memory and recharge it through just one USB port. The 2.4-gigahertz mouse also includes a wireless Bluetooth option, a battery status indicator, an on-off switch, a tilt wheel and a magnifier. Cost: $100. www.microsoft.com .
Guerrilla film school
Torry Tukuafu is tired. After 15-hour days working as a camera assistant on "Lost" (he's the only staffer who's been there since Day 1), he's busy organizing the second anniversary of Showdown in Chinatown, his monthly short-film competition. What started with a few kids sitting on the floor at thirtyninehotel has turned into an SRO event with "Lost" crew as competitors and show-biz names as judges. But for Tukuafu, 30, the most gratifying result of Showdown is that "so many young filmmakers now have 10 to 15 short films under their belt. The greatest thing we've seen ... is those filmmakers blossom, and now they're doing professional gigs, and they're just kids who picked up cameras and have a love for filmmaking." With the goal of improving "the level of the independent film community in Hawai'i," Showdown, in effect, has turned into a free-form film school.
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