christmas

Barnes & Noble's Nook server woes rectified

Over the last couple of weeks we've been writing about how all the e-reader manufacturers have been talking up their robust holiday sales.

Well, there can be some downsides to success, as Barnes & Noble's servers apparently couldn't handle the influx of new users on Christmas Day and continued to experience trouble into Sunday. This is the second year in a row that Barnes & Noble's server issues have kept new Nook owners from buying e-books on Christmas Day.

Across the Web and on Twitter, people were complaining about the problems. For instance, CNET user Ridermom … Read more

dSLR Christmas tree sure to capture Santa Claus

Most Expensive Christmas Tree Ever from The Seventh Movement on Vimeo.

Let's hope the Grinch doesn't steal their Christmas.

Some guys from a camera equipment rental shop have fashioned an impressive Christmas tree out of cameras, lenses, and tripods.

The time-lapse vid above shows folks from BorrowLenses.com whipping a tree together with Nikon and Canon dSLRs and some very serious telephoto lenses. … Read more

New Google doodle rings in the holidays

Google has unveiled a new doodle on its home page today to serve up some interactive Christmas cheer.

Topping the company's home page for the next two-and-a-half days, the new doodle is more ambitious and challenging than past holiday doodles. Most of the Christmas doodles that have graced the site's home page over the past 12 years have been relatively simpler designs that tweaked the familiar Google logo. But the new doodle displays a collection of festive scenes created to suggest that logo in a rather abstract fashion.

At first glance, you may not see the Google logo … Read more

Android gets Grinch-y

The classic story of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" has come to Android and it translates quite nicely. The interactive, digital version of the book feels very comfortable and familiar complete with the original artwork. Intuitive from the first time it is opened, the app acts exactly like one would hope. For instance, tapping on a characters or item within pictures, yields the pronunciation and spelling. Words are highlighted in red as the narrator reads them aloud and can be reread with a quick tap.

Options include reading the story on your own, having it read to you, … Read more

Snow Blaster: A Christmas light video game

The creator of the exceptional Christmas light Guitar Hero game from last year is at it again.

Behold Snowball Blaster, a 26,000 LED- and incandescent-bulb Christmas light game by Ric Turner. The 50-year-old programmer, who has gotten nearly 3 million views on his YouTube channel, has become something of an Internet legend for making "video games" out of real Christmas lights. In his latest merriment, you sit in a "electric training sled" wrapped in green and red LEDs. Anyone else think it could be a side car for a Tron bike?

Players sit in the motorized seat and use a game controller to dodge snowballs. It's pretty wild because Turner really has the game instructions (spoken in a funny voice), music, and lights coordinated and played through speakers as shown in the video below. It's even broadcast on FM so people in cars can watch and listen. The audio "does not blast through the neighborhood," according to Turner, but you have to wonder if the neighbors are in agony. … Read more

Is Pandora taking over our Christmas carols?

Over the past week, I noticed that some of my friends and family had mentioned that they trimmed their Christmas trees with carols provided by Pandora, the Web's top radio and music-recommendation service.

I wondered what was up.

Turns out this is the first year that Pandora has offered pre-made holiday genre stations, according to Deborah Roth, spokeswoman for the company. You can choose a generic Christmas station or you can also divide up your holiday music by different genres.

You can get holiday music in rock, jazz, or country flavors.

The feature seems to have caught on. Roth … Read more

Rumor: Apple to release Verizon 4G LTE iPhone after Christmas?

As holiday shopping days shrink, Verizon iPhone rumors are growing. The latest from MacDailyNews pegs the Verizon iPhone for a post-Christmas release on Verizon's sparsely available 4G LTE networks.

These details are from a MacDailyNews source that they "believe to be familiar with the matter":

Verizon managers are being trained to handle the iPhone and have functional units running on Verizon's 4G LTE networks. AT&T has worked out an agreement to postpone the announcement of Verizon's iPhone until "right after Christmas" in an effort to maximize its holiday sales. The Verizon … Read more

Cut the Rope holiday freebie: 25 Xmas levels!

Not to be outdone by Rovio's Halloween- and Christmas-themed Angry Birds Seasons, Chillingo just took the wraps off Cut the Rope: Holiday Gift.

That's right: Om Nom is back, still hungry for candy, and still adorable as can be. The game serves up 75 25 new levels and immediately lives up to its name. Holiday Gift is absolutely free. You don't even have to own the original.

Update: My bad. The game has 25 new levels, not 75.

Just in case you don't, Cut the Rope works like this: Little green monster Om Nom has a sweet tooth that rivals, well, mine. In each level, a piece of candy is attached to a series of ropes you slice with your finger.

To complete a level, you need to figure out which ropes to cut, and when, to swing the candy into his mouth--collecting as many stars as possible in the process.

Holiday Gift is packed with Christmassy touches, like stockings that teleport the candy from one spot to another (I won't spoil any of the others). It probably goes without saying that if you liked the first Cut the Rope, you'll love Holiday Gift.… Read more

Gorillaz iPad-produced album drops Christmas Day for free

As expected after a report in music magazine NME back in November, Gorillaz front man and songwriter Damon Albarn has produced the latest Gorillaz album on an iPad and will release it Christmas Day for free.

The album will be a digital download, free to users on Christmas Day with a free music video from one of the songs on the new album available Christmas Eve. Albern, interviewed in Perth Now, said, "If I left it until the new year to release it, then the cynics out there would say, 'Oh well, it's been tampered with.' But if … Read more