After the run away success of Net News Publisher our world news web site we decided to open a more specialized site. we had received a number of requests for a site providing easy access to product recalls, health information and safety news so Recall Insider was created.

The site aims to make it easy to find the latest information on the things that matter most in people’s lives, keeping themselves and their families safe.

Feel free to come over, browse and leave a comment on this new fledgling site.

We at BlogZeal wish our new sister all the best.

1. Video
YouTube has not shown any signs of slowing down. With the increasing popularity of portability and the increase of video-viewing technology, the growth of video is unlikely to slow down.

2. Healthy
Healthy is in. It is not only fashionable, but now cool to be healthy. Maybe this will help counter the rise in obesity in the US. Even those who give in to their cravings and indulge agree that it is cool to be healthy. Organic foods are at an all time high with an increase of roughly 20% per year in the US! This may also be a top New Year Resolution.

3. Long Tail
The Long Tail is still hot. Small businesses and big business are all attempting to capture the famed long tail.

4. Buy USA
Buying USA is in. The falling dollar has made US products more competitive in foreign markets. Moreover, the quality issues that came to light in 2007 (lead in various Chinese products) have made US consumers more conscious about buying US manufactured products.

5. Rich Internet / Interactive Web / Semantic Web / Web Services
The interactive web with user reviews, peer voting, and social bookmarking has never been more popular. The Internet has become more personal and interactive. Contextual content has given way to personal preferences.

6. Aggregate and Attention Data
Suggested purchases, related purchases, and recommended purchases are now an integral part of ecommerce. Aggregate data is becoming a critical component of upsells.

7. Power of the People
The collective voice and user-generated content is taking the Internet by storm. Yahoo Answers is a pristine twist on the collective voice; it allows visitors to answer questions from others. Good answers are rated and users are rated on a point-based system. Amazon’s MTurk acknowledges the need for humans: pay people to do things that machines cannot. Surprisingly, in a technical society, people still have power.

8. Going Green
Going green has never been more popular. With environmental concerns becoming a global issue, saving the planet, protecting resources and living green is tantamount to being a responsible citizen. Venture capitalists are not turning a blind eye to the needs of clean green technology; alternative energy and green living are attracting interest from deep pockets.

9. Biometrics and Big Brother
Digital data and tracking is at an all time high. Privacy concerns appear to be taking a backseat to cool new technology that is likely to label the 21st century.

10. Prosthetics / Bionic
The revolution of evolution. The devastating limb injuries to soldiers is expediting the growth in the biomedical field of prosthetics. Huge advancements are being made, and super human limbs are a future possibility.

Top 10 Losers – What is Not Hot Predicted for 2008

1. Lead
Lead and harmful chemicals in toys is definitely out.

2. Squat Toilets
Squat toilets are definitely out! The Olympics in Beijing will likely westernize the East and introduce them to modern conveniences of the Western world.

3. DRM
Not much better than #2, digital rights management still has a number of issues to work out.

4. China
Between the claims of spying, rampant pollution and poor quality imports, China is on the outs for 2007.

5. Skinny is Out
Curves are in.

6. Blockbuster / Netflix
The future is downloading movies to iPods. Blockbuster and Netflix are likely to have a difficult time in the future. On demand video rentals available for immediate download offer compact portability and will cut into the current video rental markets.

7. Orbo
Orbo, the promised dynamic new energy source is going out. Orbo fell flat, with lots of hype and little to show. Perhaps Orbo will prove the naysayers wrong and make a splash in 2008, but for now Orbo is not hot.

8. MySpace fell to Facebook
Between perverts and conscientious parents realizing the risks associated with MySpace, the social network toppled. However, it was quickly replaced by Facebook, which promised a higher level of security (which is proven to be a fallacy). Facebook violated user privacy by sharing purchases with “friends”, and with the addition of privacy controls, users are still leery. Social networks not only experienced growing pains but online threats are still an issue and privacy concerns are increasing exponentially.

9. Privacy
Stores tracking purchases, cars equipped with satellite tracking, cell phones tracked, and still few common citizens realize or acknowledge how much privacy they have lost over the last 20 years.

10. Piracy
For the first time it seems people are beginning to comprehend the effects of piracy in the software industry. It seems that software piracy may be on the decline and that software piracy is no longer considered cool.

Last Years Predictions How Did We Do?
Readers can assess my ability to predict based on last year’s collection of technology predictions at: http://www.small-business-software.net/whats-hot-whats-not.htm.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a wireless text messaging software company.

BlogZeal

No we are not reporting on the end of the game or even a possible date for the end of the online experience. We are asking that if your heart stopped for a moment when you read the title you may need a few minutes to think and comment on life without World of Warcraft.

With 9 million subscribers playing online there is one inevitable fact for them all. Not death or taxes this time, but life after the game is no longer available. If you are one of those people who spends twenty or more hours a week hacking and slashing your way through endless monsters you need to think of the inevitable fact that it will not last forever.

What have you given up in order to spend so much time online? What have you gained by being in front of the computer for so long? What will you use to fill the void when the game is no longer there?

The game is already dated, the graphics starting to look old and each new patch brings easier content removing some of the challenges. The next patch, 2.3 is going to make it easier to complete the lower levels, is this a good thing for you or are you annoyed, after all you had to put in all those hours to receive your level 40 mount.

It’s not just us questioning. other commentators are thinking along the same lines. Do you really want the less dedicated masses to catch you up without doing the work you had to?

Blizzard has a simple money making formula 9,000,000 x $16pm = $144 million plus of course the fact you have to buy the software. We cannot begrudge them the profit and you can see how tempting it must be to grab new subscribers with promises of easier leveling.

Anyway leave us a comment on what you think. We have set the ball rolling.

BlogZeal

(if you post a live link in your comment it will be deleted unless there is a reciprocal we can find on your site. Dead links accepted no problem. Keep it clean or it will be deleted)

“Zuggy” Hales has recently been discussing some of the more important issues on the horizon for World of Warcraft. Specifically how the lack of difficult objectives may affect the longevity of the player base.

Derek discusses how Blizzard Entertainment’s policy on creating additional casual player based content has digressed into an excuse for simplistic and easily attainable objectives. “I’m beginning to become concerned that the whole idea of what it means to play casually is being turned into more an easy mode.” Derek says.

In addition Derek believes that reducing the time investment required to play the game will in the end be a contributing factor to its demise. Derek goes on to explain that, “players need something to shoot for, without this the same old boredom and stagnation is sure to return”.

Derek is somewhat of an expert on the game having produced many articles and tip guides to help every level of player. Leave us a comment on whether or not you agree with him.

BlogZeal

Derek points out how many players often fall prey to a phenomenon known as “Clicking”. A “Clicker” is described by Derek as a “player who chooses to bind very few or no keys at all.” This is in reference to the keyboard configuration used in the game.

Derek’s tips go on to explain in detail how a player may improve his or her overall level of play. He lays out in step-by-step format how a player should bind their World of Warcraft hot keys. These improved bindings will help the player gain a more sophisticated and efficient manner of play as well as prolonging the life of their keyboard.

Derek Hales has written a great deal on many World of Warcraft topics including: Player vs. Player, Player vs. Environment, arena, playing tips, and a book on making gold in World of Warcraft and is considered by some to be an expert in the online game.

NetNewsPublisher

I will put aside some time this weekend to work on some SEO issues and posts for here.

Thank you for your patience.

Admin

The processor runs at an average of 37c and the graphics card runs somewhere between 50 – 55c when playing the game. I have had a few warnings of pending doom from the software running the fans but it is because the fan speed is to slow and not due to an imminent failure.

These are the items I ended up with that have completely updated the machine:

Gigabyte s-serise motherboard ga-m61p-s3

PNY GeForce 8500 GT with 512MB

CoolerMaster 500w powwer supply

CoolerMaster Case

Amd Am2 4200+ x2

Seagate Sata 300 Drive

Matched pair 1GB pc-5300 ram

The game loads faster than ever and plays at an average rate of 60fps unless really busy in which case it dips to 30fps+ Now if only the monitor was bigger than 14in it would justify the rest of the hardware.

Success at last, the game is running at a solid 60fps with no glitches, all the graphics settings are turned up high and the display has never looked so good.

A big thank you goes out to the manufacturers of all the items for bringing tranquility back to the household. Hopefully that is the end of the saga for now although I do have to upgrade it to Vista. Pray for me.

One hour later I hear murmurs of discontempt. Looking at the screen was like looking through tissue paper and the framerate was so slow you could make a cup of tea between actions. I guess we know why the card was ‘previously owned.’  I will take it back tomorrow and try again in another store. Now if somebody has a cure for world of warcraft addicts then let me know. I may need it soon.

I have two older cards which both worked in the machine but the game was unacceptably slow. It does point to the hardware though or at least a driver issue with the newer card. I guess a trip to a local store to buy a replacement is in order. Hopefully it will work,we have had a lot of issues since the latest warcraft patch and life for some has been more difficult with the extra unreliability. Hopefully peace will return soon or at least the clanging of swords.