parties

The big chill for holiday parties?

For a company that's cutting costs these days, the annual holiday party is an easy target. But there have been fewer cancellations in the tech industry than one might think.

True, eliminating an evening of eggnog and sugar cookies won't help an ailing balance sheet that much; in the current financial downturn, it has a lot to do with appearances, too. "It's the economy, definitely, but it's also a lot of public perception," said Celia Chen, a New York-based event planner who runs the blog Notes on a Party.

"People don't want … Read more

Ice bucket brings mood lighting to the party

Mood lighting is important in any situation. However, when a bottle of wine is opened the need is even more pronounced. It just calls for having the lights down low and some pleasant tunes on the hi-fi. Of course some friendly company is an agreeable accompaniment too.

But what of the times when the lights just aren't right? Too low or too bright, sometimes it's tricky to set the proper mood.

Enter the Drink Light Bottle Cooler. Or rather, turn it on.

This combination designed by Jorge Najera takes the lowly ice bucket and transforms it into something … Read more

Is Nintendo's software success really a curse?

Gamasutra posted an interesting study on video game sales and found that so far this year, four of the top five best selling titles can be found exclusively on the Wii.

According to the publication, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the top-selling game so far this year with an estimated 3.5 million units sold, followed by Mario Kart Wii, Grand Theft Auto 4 for the Xbox 360, Wii Play, and Wii Fit.

There's no debating that Nintendo is extremely pleased with the results and I'm surprised by just how well the Wii is performing. But can we ignore the fact that every single Wii title mentioned in that survey comes from Nintendo?

To those who only cares about playing games, I'm sure that doesn't even matter. Why should it? To the average person, it doesn't matter who makes the games, as long as the games are worth spending $50 or $60 on.

But from a business standpoint, I can't believe that Nintendo would be too happy about Gamasutra's findings. Sure, the company is reaping all the benefits of providing the top-selling games on its own consoles and that helps the bottom line, but we can't forget that a strong third-party library of games still matters to the success of a video game console.… Read more

Thrillist's recession special: Free stuff!

Trendy men's newsletter Thrillist has already shown its penchant for giving the middle finger to all things recession-related, whether it be chartering party planes or throwing '90s-dot-com bubble-theme parties (granted, both of those stunts preceded the Wall Street meltdown by a few months). But the New York-based start-up may be savvier than its big-pimpin' image would have you think.

The latest move from the company is a monthly compendium called Thrillist Invites, which is a listing of stuff you can do for free, if you sign up and RSVP. The first Thrillist Invites list will be for its New … Read more

BlackBerry Storm gets hip LA launch party

HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--The BlackBerry Storm got its chance to be a child star Wednesday as Research In Motion threw it a coming-out party at the legendary Avalon Hollywood club.

There was the full runway action, as paparazzi photographed celebrities going down the red carpet on their way into the club. As I arrived, a couple of cast members from the new 90210 show were making their way down the carpet. (Perhaps my favorite line of the evening was one of the show's cast members saying she hadn't actually seen the original show, but had "seen pictures" of the show's stars).

I hung out near the red carpet as long as I could, but was urged to move it along so John Mayer could get his turn in front of the cameras. (Mayer and Apple fans alike will note he has made more than his share of appearances onstage with Steve Jobs but now stumps for RIM).

Since I know, I'd get comments along the lines of "Pix or it didn't happen," I've included a number of shots I took with my own BlackBerry (a Curve, alas). The pictures that were taken with the Storm's 3.2 megapixel camera look a lot better than the ones I took with my Curve, but well, there you have it.

In the VIP section, while the celebrities largely drank and took in the Foo Fighters, there were a few geeks that also managed to score a coveted white wrist band (often friends of friends of friends of the VIPs). They could easily be spotted tapping away on one of the many demo Storm devices at the event. … Read more

Oracle ordered to name settlement price in SAP lawsuit

A federal court judge ordered Oracle to name its settlement price in its ongoing litigation against archrival SAP over the handling of proprietary maintenance and support information for former Oracle customers who had switched over to a subsidiary of SAP.

Judge Joseph Spero on Monday ordered Oracle to give a specific dollar amount by February 13 to settle the lawsuit it filed in March 2007. Oracle previously indicated in its lawsuit that its damages were in excess of $1 billion.

SAP has until February 18 to issue a counterproposal. A settlement conference is scheduled for February 23.

The judge's … Read more

WiiWare and Virtual Console releases for this week

This week brings us two balance-board-compatible titles along with a duo of Turbografx 16 games.

WiiWare Tetris Party (Tetris Online Inc., 1,200 Wii points): Tetris Party puts a new spin on everyone's favorite shape-shifting puzzle game. Not only does the title introduce various new modes of play, but you can now dust off that Wii Fit balance board and use it to control Tetris pieces! The Incredible Maze (Digital Leisure Inc., 500 Wii points): Use your Wii remote to balance your way through various mazes and puzzles. Or if you prefer, use your balance board to do your … Read more

MyPunchbowl gets new look, snazzy invite designer

Web party invitation and management service MyPunchbowl on Tuesday relaunched with a new look. While mostly a new paint job, the big, new feature is the invitation designer, which has been renamed as a "studio."

Where the service's former system had users simply picking colors, pictures, and some ready-made templates, the results of using the new tool resembles a real life paper invitation. Users can still select things like the coloring and background, but there are new flourishes like colored ribbons, textured backgrounds, and various form factors that mimic proper card stock.

All of this amounts to … Read more

YouTube to host live-streamed event in SF

Google video site YouTube is planning to host on November 22 a San Francisco gathering its active users called YouTube Live--"part concert, part variety show, and part party."

The event is scheduled to take place in front of an audience at the Herbst Pavilion in Fort Mason Center and streamed live on the Web, as well as in the air, on the planes of sponsor Virgin America.

This is notable because YouTube doesn't offer live-streaming technology.

YouTube co-founder Steve Chen announced earlier this year that live video would be coming to YouTube later in 2008, but … Read more

The 404 gets down and dirty at the CNET Tiburon launch party

The 404 is proud to present our official podcast from the Tiburon Launch party. The event was held at the elegant 450 Club complete with hors d'oeuvres (vodka spritzer, anyone?), desserts, and of course, an open bar. After sitting down with a host of people and later sifting through a mountain of cuss words, deviant behavior, and otherwise inappropriate material, it's easy to see that people had a blast. The new CNET.com looks fantastic and we all worked hard to see it come to life, so a big thanks to everyone that came out, especially Jim Loughran … Read more