[Weekly Wrapup] New MySpace; HDTV Deals; Beatles On iTunes

This Week:

• The New MySpace
• Best Buy HDTV Deals
• Apple’s BIG Announcement:  The Beatles Are On iTunes
• Donate To Wikipedia!

The New MySpace

MySpace has finally rolled out the long-awaited redesign of their website.  Is it good?  Kinda.  Great?  No.  Better?  Definitely.  I did a long piece on United Tech Guys about the positives and negatives, but to sum it up, the negatives outweigh the positives.

MySpace is dropping the “a place for friends” tagline in order to become “the leading entertainment destination that is socially powered by the passions of fans and curators.”  This is an attempt to redefine what MySpace is as a whole, so as not to be the loser in the battle against companies like Facebook and Twitter.  The new design is cleaner and more organized, without a doubt.

The negatives include the backlash on Twitter, the busy and disorganized homepage, the head-start that Facebook has (with 500 million users, compared to MySpace’s 61 million), and quite a bit more.  Also, have you seen the MySpace Logo Video?  Bizarre.  Very bizarre.  

Best Buy HDTV Deals

Best Buy was late to the game in releasing their Black Friday specials, but they’ve done it, and it looks like they’re really featuring home theater this year.  I saw 5 or 6 HDTVs and a few Blu-ray players with hot prices.  Check out a nice list of Best Buy’s specials here (BlackFriday.info).

Apple’s BIG Announcement:  The Beatles Are On iTunes

The other day, Apple started prepping the world for a major, ground-breaking announcement.  The tech industry’s heart sped up.  Everyone’s expectations were high.  We thought there was going to be a big new feature implemented into iTunes.

It turned out that Apple had just gotten the rights to put The Beatles on iTunes.  Don’t get me wrong; this is a great thing for Apple.  I just think they started too much buzz for something like this.  I wrote an article a while back ranting about how businesses shouldn’t start hype if they can’t live up to it.  Apple is no exception to the rule.  They are known for blowing everyone’s socks off when they raise expectations, but they let us all down this time.

No disrespect to the Beatles of course.  🙂

Donate To Wikipedia!

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has published a personal appeal asking the online community to help give back to the 10-year-old non-profit Wikipedia project.  He describes his initial goals for Wikipedia, and discusses how it has evolved to what it is today.  Because it is the most-used encyclopedia online, and it is provided for free with no ads and no strings attached, might you consider making a donation?