I use Gamefly, and in the past year, I have had return issues with three games. At first I was thinking that Gamefly needed to get their act together, but now I think that there is something more sinister going on. If I lived in Philadelphia, I would certainly think something was going on. As it turns out, a Philadelphia USPS worker knows exactly where many Gamefly games are; he stole them.

Reginald Johnson of Germantown, PA, stole over 2,200 video games that are worth over $86,000. Apparently, he was stealing the games and trading them at Gamestop for store credit. I know when I check my Gamefly Q, most of my desired games are not in stock. Are they popular, or are they simply being stolen and traded. If one man can make off with 2,200 games, then 100 scandalous workers could easily make off with a quarter of a million games. Personally, I think this just sucks; even if Reginald Johnson is the only trash bag thief out there, he has done substantial damage to a service that has affected many people.

If you live in the East, and your games have gone missing, I would be suspicious. If you have had several games disappear in your account, I would press the local post office to investigate. I just wonder how Gamefly will be reimbursed, and why Gamefly was willing to accept 2,200 games missing in one particular geographical area.

via CrunchGear

I have almost entirely become a Google Docs User; it is simple, cheap (free), and gets the job done 99% of the time. There are times, mostly when dealing with spreadsheets and numbers, that I have to use Microsoft Office. To be frank, I don't like doing it at all. Microsoft Office represents such bloat on my 80 GB SSD drive, that I resent using it. I would love it if someone would come along and give me a true lightweight and powerful Office replacement. Wouldn't it be ironic if Microsoft were that someone.

Rumor has it that with the release of Microsoft Office 2010, the Big Window from Redmond will release an online, add supported, and fully functional Microsoft Office suite. First, this online office suite would replace Microsoft Works, which is convenient. Works is always the first piece of bloatware I have to uninstall when I set-up a new PC or help a friend restore theirs. Second, an online suite is the perfect companion for the millions and millions of Netbooks that are spreading across the world. Lastly, there are many people like myself who love Google Docs and Zoho; if the alternatives continue to improve, we will continue to leave.

The ad supported office will not have PowerPoint or Outlook. In my opinion, that is a plus; while I might miss PowerPoint, I have not used Outlook in years. Users who are in need of those two programs will be able to upgrade the ad supported basic suite with a retail card, downloadable code, or retail box. Microsoft is fighting back, and this battle might be won by Redmond.

via CrunchGear

When HP says that their new Premium Photosmart printer is an all-in-one machine, they are are not kidding. The printer is a copier, printer, fax, scanner, and it is WiFi enabled. You don't even need a computer to print pictures; you can take them off of a memory card directly, but that is not new. Thanks to the HP SDK and premium widgets, you can do a whole lot of printing without the use of a computer.

The HP Touchsmart Premium Printer with Touchsmart Web is the combination of a touchscreen interface (it essentially looks like an iPhone), and an all-in-one. The interface allows the user to browse various widgets, enter text, and navigate a limited web space in order to print information directly from the computer. Currently, widgets include tools from USA Today to get news, Google to get maps and email, SnapFish for photos, and Fandango for movie tickets. The widgets allow direct communication to the website, so that a user doesn't have to bother with a computer. For some, I see this as useful. For the vast majority of tech-savvy computer users, I think this would slow you down.

A well equipped WiFi enabled all-in-one runs about $200. The Touchsmart Premium rings up at $400, and that is the killer for me. I can not justify spending a $200 premium to shave a few minutes off of my movie printing. If you are rich, or computer-phobic, it might be for you. But if you are computer-phobic, you probably don't need to check your email or print your online movie tickets.

Via HP Product Page

We've seen the N900 in pictures and in videos but this is the first time we've seen someone running custom apps on the device. A clever little coder has got his hands on on e of the machines and has managed to customize a Linux based SNES emulator to run on the phone, and then further mucked with it to accept Wiimote input. This device could be absolutely fantastic, just hoping the price isn't going to be a factor that pushes developers away....

So Microsoft has started the rollout of their "Compatible with Windows 7" program, set to let consumers know whether the hardware the buy will function with the soon to be released Windows 7. It's been applied to 6000 pieces of hardware already and we are seriously hoping it's not going to be a big flop like the Vista version was, being applied to systems that purely wern't capable of running Vista with any sort of speed.