Atleast there is some benefit for those who have to endure watching the Knicks  lose another season, Optimum WiFi will be providing free wireless internet access in Madison Square Garden. More than 100 access points are installed within The Garden, so you will be able to surf the net while some crappy opening act plays during concerts. Free Wi-Fi will be  in the arena, main lobby, concession areas and restaurants. Those with Smartphones can experience limited free access to Optimum WiFi, while Optimum Online customers will be able to have unlimited access.

Everyone and their aunt's uncle is coming out with a Flip competitor nowadays, and Vivitar is no different. But atleast their alternative to the Flip sports some unique features. For starters it is waterproof up to 5 meters underwater. What is also neat about the Vivitar DVR 510 is that it features Infrared Night Vision, and it also comes in four colors - violet, pink, blue and black. Other features include a 1.8" LCD screen, a webcam mode, 8X digital zoom, TV out, 2GB of built-in memory which is expandable via an SD slot, and and a direct USB connector. The Vivitar DVR 510 retails for ...

You might say that Intel as of late, has become obsessed with mobile Etiquette. This all started a while back when a bunch of Intel employees discovered a woman camped out on the floor of a stall in the ladies room, she was busy using her laptop. The situation was so ridiculous that it inspired them to think more about mobile etiquette and all that it entails.  Since then they've conducted several surveys about mobile etiquette an behavior. Their latest survey in particular, "Intel Holiday Mobile Etiquette" finds that most U.S. adults won't tolerate mobile technology etiquette violations, especially during holiday gatherings.

Many of us have been using Flickr, Snapfish, Picasa for our photo sharing needs. Well Kodak wants to remind us that they too have all the photo sharing capabilities of their competitors as well as the ability to create custom goods for you too. The Kodak Gallery has been totally rebuilt and relaunched to give users a better experience than ever. We got a chance to be at Kodak's relaunching of the Kodak Gallery last week and none-other than Housewife of New York, Jill Zarin, was there to host the event. Kodak has improved the upload times so you can upload hundreds of images to your gallery account. There are new ways to share and make slideshows for family and friends and you can track to see if they actually take a look at them.

For those of you that have been following Chip Chick lately, you probably know that I spent an amazing week in Finland profiling Nordic startups and Finnish culture with a group of BADASS bloggers from around the world. So I was clearly excited when I saw that Finland was in the headlines today! The Finnish government announced that it would be the first country to provide broadband Internet to the entire nation by law: all 5.5 million of them.  According to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the law states that by July 2010, each person in Finland will have the right to a one-megabyte broadband connection, and by 2015 it will be more like a 100MB broadband connection. So basically, by 2015, Internet access will be available throughout the country to all its inhabitants. Although the broadband will not be for free, it will be available if you choose to cash in.

WikiReader is the first pocketbook electronic device dedicated to containing all of Wikipedia's English database. The Wikireader can easily slip in your bag, and almost slip in your pocket. The device sports a touchscreen monochrome display that although not very bright, it is easy to navigate and it will even operate in sunlight. Navigating the device's touchscreen is easy, you can scroll through articles with the stroke of a finger and select hyperlinks with a simple tap. On the face of the device are three dedicated buttons - Search, History, and Random. The WikiReader also turns on instantly and will run for months before needing its two AAA batteries to be replaced.

Helsinki, Finland’s RunToShop Ltd. is a company changing the way consumers  purchase online. Buying is about trust. Is what you’re selling me really as good as you say it is? Obviously a shopper would trust an expert or friend more than a product page or sales person. Based on the concept of trust to enhance online shopping, RunToShop is an online tool that integrates with any e-commerce store and lets customers recommend, compare and ask questions about different products through social networks.  This active sharing is designed to enhance trust and increasing online sales. So here’s how it works: companies can purchase the RunToShop widget and integrate it into their e-commerce store. When customers are looking at a particular product in the store, they can easily pull up information about what other customers are saying about the product including reviews or recommendations.  If they want to leave a review or recommendation, the customer

If you know me personally, then you know that I’m a huge Twitter addict, but I have to admit that some of Twitter's usability is a little lacking. 140 characters limits long-winded-self-promoters to just a few words, which prompts the use of shortened URLS for the maximum tweetage. But with the use of shortened links, tweets may contain links to either really cool content or spammy websites and self promoting blogs. So how can we know for sure where those shortened links are taking us without clicking on them? Also, is that twitpic your friend just sent of his breakfast worth taking the time to open up in a new window? If you struggle with these dilemmas everyday like I do, then Brizzly is here to help. An enhanced way to experience Twitter, the site pulls in your Twitter feed and takes its usability to the next level. Plus its mascot is a really cute grizzly bear.

When filmmakers in Tampere, Finland decided they wanted to make a movie in their friend’s basement, little did they know that it would become worldwide phenomena available in 30 languages, with Hollywood quality special effects, that Universal would eventually buy the rights to. Fat chance. Well, it happened. A movie with no real actors, no real budget, that took seven years to film became an online sensation thanks to the passion of its creators and their somewhat different distribution plan. Most movie makers hope to make it big in Hollywood

You can diss and judge Mariah Carey all you want, but to many she is still a Diva and superstar no matter how well her records sell. If you ever wanted to catch her concerts live and could never go, this may be your chance.  On  Saturday, Oct. 10, her performance “Mariah Carey Live In Las Vegas” will be simulcast to mobile (internet enabled phones) and other digital devices worldwide. You can view it at www.iviago.com. It will be accessible in over 200 countries via more than 235 mobile as

Internet addiction may be more susceptible to children and teenagers who are already suffering from depression. After a new survey was conducted on 2,293 seventh grade students from Taiwan, 10.8 percent developed an Internet addiction. The researchers in Taiwan, followed the children for two years and found that ADHD and hostility were linked to Internet addiction as children focused their energies and escapism to online. In girls especially social phobia and depression enhanced the addiction to the internet. However, boys are at a higher risk than girls to become addicted especially if they use the internet more than 20 hours a week. Asia seems to be more concerned about this currently than the US. But as the internet becomes more

Floobs, is a multimedia company based that offers a live streaming video tool. Floobs lets you create your own video channel in which you can broadcast live content directly to the Internet. You can stream live from a DV camera, webcam, or your mobile phone and your viewers can check out your channel on your webpage, Facebook, or MySpace. Not yet available on iPhones, the Floobs tool works on various other smart phones. The idea was born when founder Joonas Pekkanen set-up a webcam in his girlfriend’s horse stable so she could say goodnight to her horse without having to walk down to the stable. From what began as a “pet project,” has turned into a start-up on the cutting

From the outside of this average looking office building, no one would suspect that it's the site of Nokia's most secretive research and development lab. Guarded by a frosted glass door labeled "no entry" hides Nokia's inner sanctum of new product development, cutting edge ideas, possible failures, and future technology. This place is where the next big ideas are researched, developed, and tested. When Chip Chick was granted access into Nokia's inner sanctum located in Helsinki, Finland, I didn't see elves or robots testing the newest products, but instead the clean, simple designs that we have come to expect from the Scandinavians. This international team of rock star visionaries that work at Nokia are combining trends with the newest in mobile phone technology. For example, there was a huge

As you can see between yesterday and today we have been posting items about Finland. Why you may ask has Chip Chick gone Finnish? Well when media agency Finnfacts approached Chip Chick with the opportunity to visit Finland to meet with the movers and shakers of the Finnish tech world, we obviously jumped at the opportunity. Finnfacts, an agency that has been inviting foreign journalists to Finland for 30 years, hosted the first ever blogger tour (woot woot!) with bloggers from TechCrunch, The NextWeb, HenrietteWeber, ReadWriteWeb, StartupMeme, and TechPulse360. Focused on social media and Web 2.0, we got an inside look at how Finnish start-ups are trailblazing in the world of tech.

if you've been waiting to publish your romance novel, or an autobiography, or maybe those two are the same for you, then there is no better time than the present to jump on that if you decide to use FastPencil. FastPencil guides you through each step of the publishing process, from content creation to completion. The service provides free online tools for you to write and edit your book, and it also lets you collaborate with friends so they can give you their two cents as you work. Once you're done with your masterpiece, FastPencil will get you set up with a design for the cover. And when the book is completed, you can choose from having just 1 copy printed or thousands - that is up to you. To top it all off, FastPencil will even distribute the book for you at Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and other retailers. They also offer self promotion pages, community interaction, and the ability to publish to ebook formats for the iPhone and Kindle.

Desk Lamps tend to not be the most exciting of gadgets, if you can consider them a gadget at all. But the Learning Light is a lot smarter and cooler then your average drab desk light. Have you ever spent hours studying at your desk and ended up with a headache from the glare of the lamp? The Learning Light has been designed to ease the strain on your eyes. The Learning Light also features cutting edge tech that is designed to "provide a low heat, low glare, natural illumination which helps reduce eyestrain and create a comfortable environment for studying, reading, computer work, and close up/detail work." The lamp comes in several different colors, including red, purple, silver, white and yellow and it retails for $24.99. Also, each lamp comes with fun stickers for you to customize and decorate the lamp with.

Like to dance? Like rhythm games? Well then you have come to the right place, because we are giving away 50 Beta keys for those who would like to test out the newest multiplayer online rhythm game - Dance Groove Online.  Controls are easy enough for the casual user, but for the hardcore, it's all about the 8 button mode. While battling others, the better your character or crew performs, the bigger the spotlight you'll get. What sets DGO apart from other dance games is its personal character progression with avatar customization. With hundreds of different looks, you choose how your character or crew will stand out from the others.

The New Edge 500 from Garmin is not another GPS system for your car but rather a GPS system for your bike. Its compact design is perfect to add on to any type of handlebar. The GPS-enabled Edge 500 tracks speed, distance, time, GPS position, elevation, calories burned, climb and descent. For extra-precise climb and descent data, Edge 500 incorporates a barometric altimeter to pinpoint changes in elevation. It will also have an USB interface for easy charging as well as data transfer to your computer. The Edge 500 will retail for $249.99 as a standalone device or $349.99 when bundled with a heart monitor and speed/cadence sensor. Availability ...

Using Ugolog, you can transform your existing web cam in to a home video surveillance system on the cheap. The online service lets use your existing web cam to record video footage of what goes on when you aren't around. Aside from webcams the service also works with IP Cameras and it will provide you with a full history, including frame by frame snapshots. Additionally, it will even send you notifications via RSS when ever there is motion detected and recorded. The basic service is free and includes 1 camera and 50mb of storage. However, the Plus and Pro accounts offer more 2, and 5 cameras respectively, and 1gb and 5gb storage, are currently free during their beta. No matter what, it certainly seems like it doesn't hurt to try out Ugolog. It might just be the cheapest and easiest to use surveillance system that we have ever come across.

Well look what we have here....We all thought that the Sharper Image was long gone and buried like many of its tech counterparts when the mass retail slaughtering of 2008 began. Back in January, during CES 2009, they announced that the Sharper Image would be producing branded electronics such as iPod Docks. Now they seem to be taking things a step further, they are back and with a revamped website to boot. Backed by the Camelot Venture Group who specializes in financing direct to consumer companies, the Sharper Image has been resurrected. The site is set to launch in the fall, and it looks like you will ...

Have you ever been sent a PDF document that you wished you could edit the way you can edit the text in a Word document? Ordinarily you would need to purchase pricey software to convert the PDF to an editable Word document. But now you can do it quickly and easily for free online at PDFtoWord.com. Just upload the PDF file, and the site will email you the document as a .doc or .rtf file. For those looking to convert PDF to Excel, that free service is available oo.