Cranking out news for the geeks, music buffs and gossip junkies, my way. -Greg

The 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicks off this week in Las Vegas. I will be attending for my first time and I’m nothing short of excited. Anyone who has even the slightest geek in them knows this is the biggest electronics show in the world. CES is filled with everything electronic like TVs, phones, computers, cameras, and tablets. If you do a quick search on Google or twitter for CES you find and endless stream of leaks, expectations and hopes for this year. Here are some of the leaks that I’m looking forward to checking out:

• Toshiba’s 55-inch Glasses-less 3-D TV. They are the pioneer for this upcoming technology bringing 3-D video to your home without the need for those annoying glasses. This will be headed to theUSthe first quarter of year with a cool $10,000 price tag.

Source: Engadget

• LG’s 55-inch OLED TV. This thing is only 4 mm thin and weighs in at about 7.5 kg. It also has almost no border so if you played a video of a pool I guess it would be an infinite pool? This same TV is also boasting a new 4 Color Pixels technology that is sure to impress the videophile in everyone.

Source: BGR 

• Intel is finally entering the mobile chip market with their new Medfield design. They already have a partnership with LG and have built an Android phone. Currently this and their mock-up tablets aren’t in production, but once they have the power consumption issue handled they are sure to become a force to be reckoned with.

Sources: AnandTech & ExtremeTech 

• Game Genie will actually be making a come back. They are going to be announcing the return of the Game Genie for the PS3 and PS Portable. They are also creating a downloadable version for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.

Source: Spike

This is only a small taste of what is to come at CES 2012. I plan to blog about as much as I can from my Xoom so make sure you stay tuned. You can follow GMachine on facebook  and twitter as well. I can not wait, I have less than 24 hours until I enter the gates of gadget paradise in Las Vegas and bathe in the electronic glory that is CES. Let us not forget that since this is in Las Vegas, the evenings will be filled with plenty of hookers and blow. –Greg

Seems like just a few days ago I was wishing for an updated version of WordPress for Android. Well it was only few days ago and yesterday my wish came true. Automattic has released a sizeable update to WordPress for Android. This thing has really become a realistic tool to blog with now. They have added a bunch more features and gave it a friendlier interface and polished the look. Let’s not forget it’s now been optimized for tablets.

Here are some of the new features and updates:

• New UI: Action Bar and Dashboard
• New Post Editor with formatting toolbar
• Tablet Support – scrollable item list optimized for the extra real-estate
• Background post uploading
• Media – Titles, Captions, and Placement

One of my biggest challenges was trying to make blogging in WordPress from my Xoom. Automattic’s WordPress for Android was very helpful in making that a little easier. The only major problem I had was with media. Not being able to control the alignment of my media, being able to correctly title pictures, and adding captions just weren’t possible. I would have to create drafts, upload them, and then login from my desktop to make final edits before publishing each post. Not anymore, now that Automattic has addressed all the fore mentioned. WordPress 2.0 for Android is now more usable than ever and with CES 2012 just around the corner this couldn’t have come at a better time. Between my Motorola Xoom and WordPress for Android, live blogging should be a snap when I get to CES. –Greg

Automattic’s WordPress 2.0 for Android

BillGuard is an INCREDIBLE new service that helps you keep from getting charged for things you weren’t aware of. BillGuard is advertised as “Antivirus for our bills”. I think this is an easy label to understand for most, but doesn’t do it justice. Imagine you’re at a ball game and send a text message to say hello on the big scoreboard. Now imagine a month later you notice on your phone bill that there is some $2.99 a month service that is reoccurring and you find out that by sending that text to the scoreboard you had automatically signed up for a some text a month service. Well BillGuard is basically a service that would find things like this on your credit cards and more. The data this service collects, references, and analyzes is amazing. They also allow users input to help validate the fees and errors even further. The service is free for your first card and then you can upgrade the service to $4 a month for unlimited cards. The question I asked myself as I watched the video from was “How worried about security is BillGuard with regard to my financial information I’m going to give them?” Well, watch the video because they answered it! Overall I think this idea if awesome, especially for those who don’t comb their statements meticulously. I think the video below from the recent TechCrunch Disrupt will explain in much greater detail how the service works and what they provide. –Greg

Check out BillGuard

Video Link

“In two years, this type of piracy will be over,” said Ludvig Werner, chairman for the Swedish arm of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. I say “Not bloody likely”. It’s not that piracy is right or wrong, its just simply cheap and easy. Cheap and easy will beat out right or wrong almost anyday. Now I’m not saying I condone piracy, as I of course pay for all of my movies, music, and software. Getting back to the fines and jail time, isn’t this a little steap? I mean The Pirate Bay didn’t host any actual content for download, but only a list. Because they provided a list that its users help to create, these guys being the blame, just pure nonsense. -Greg

Imagine if MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) opened its doors and allowed everyone to learn from them, with out registration or previous education. Imagine if anyone could sign up for a class, get lecture notes, videos, and even take the exams. Imagine if you could do all of this, on your own, on your own time and at your own speed. Sound unrealistic? What if I told you that it’s already possible, that MIT is not the only university, college, or school that’s offering this? What if I told you, it’s FREE!  Open Courseware Consortium is making it more than possible; it’s available now to anyone, anywhere. Knowledge from the some of the most recognized professors, scientist, doctors, and education institutions from around the world! I stumbled across this while reading about the latest Windows exploit and feel as if I have found a pot of gold! Please take the time to look at it and at the very least, tell someone about it! Tell everyone about it, make a phone call, send a text, send an email, just share this pot of gold with everyone you see today! –Greg

OPEN COURSEWARE CONSORTIUM

MIT – OPEN COURSEWARE

G Machine has gone through a little bit of a make over. Come check out the sleek new look and feel. The change is based around making it easier for everyone to read. I think the new layout creates an easier to look at feel for your eyes. The WordPress Theme “Piano Black” was built by Mono-Lab, thanks guys. Once you’ve taken time to feel it out please let me know your thoughts and comments, I would really love to hear them! -Greg

Google is not only complaining that ISP’s have dropped the ball on get high-speed Internet out to homes, but they are willing to prove it. Google has announced plans to launch 1Gbps fiber out to 500,000 households. I hope a the very least this will light some fires out there and get the US on the move towards higher speeds and to reach more rural areas. Google’s bitpipe might be an innovative pipe, how about:

• Integrated shared 802.11n WiFi. Imagine being able to roam authenticated(!) with your laptop or iPad through town hopping on and off people’s WiFi access points. This can be done in a way that is completely secure for the network you’re roaming on
• Integrated picocells: imagine Google integrating picocells and then leasing them out to Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T or allowing people to configure them to their network of choice. Better 2G, 3G, and 4G coverage for all would be the result

Services like these could make Google stand tall and make the current providers anxious to jump aboard. Imagine AT&T leasing bandwidth from Google, there’s something to ponder. I would love to see AT&T become “just another carrier”, rather than the giant they still are today. Google you will have a lot of work ahead of you to make this reality nationwide, but I think you have every household behind you. -Greg

Want to read more, ars technica has some info to soak up..