fuzz

Virtual Worlds Management, a company that provides research on the growth of online virtual worlds, said $594 million was invested in 63 virtual worlds during 2008. Gaia Online and PlayFish were two of the most prominent recipients of venture funding during the year. That said, investments in virtual worlds declined as the year wore on. In the first quarter of 2008, virtual worlds received $184 million in funding. By the fourth quarter of that year, investments dropped to $101 million. Virtual Worlds Management expects a further decline in funding in virtual worlds during 2009.

Fuzz.com, a social-networking site for … Read more

Although you wouldn't know it from the weather in Seattle (colder than Siberia!), summer's almost here, and that means lots of touring bands are passing through town.

As always seems to happen when summer approaches, I've been on a live music roll: a couple friends' bands last Friday, Return to Forever on Sunday (Stanley Clarke is the best bass player I've ever seen, but the four of them together--that's a lot of notes!), and guitarist Bill Frisell with violinist Eyvind Kang and drummer Rudy Royston last night (great players doing a remarkable blend of avant-jazz … Read more

Rafe and I enjoyed playing around with Muxtape yesterday (review), but were turned off by the uploader and potential limited life span of the service due to its lenient position on copyrights. If you're looking for a slightly more flashy experience, and one that works without having to upload 50MB of music from your hard drive, check out Mixwit. It lets you create gorgeous-looking Web mix tapes to share with others and pulls in media from various streaming services such as Seeqpod and SkreemR.

Maybe its greatest asset is that the players look like real compact cassette tapes, with … Read more

Fuzz, a new online music service launched today, tries to recapture some of the teenage excitement of making a mixtape and update it for the online era.

Unfortunately, like some other new online music services, Fuzz suffers from an unclear mission. In this case, it's trying to serve two audiences at once: music fans and musicians.

From a fan's perspective, the biggest draw seems to be an easy way to share music with your friends. After signing up and signing in, you start by clicking the "Deckorator" on the right side of the home page. This … Read more

With all the technology that's poured into the interior of today's cars, perhaps most surprising is the evolution of the lowly rear-view mirror. As we've noted, various automakers are outfitting them with Webcams to check blind spots, including some that fade away when not in use. Now, it's being used as a radar to detect speed traps too.

The "GPSMirror" checks traffic conditions as well, using its built-in database to look for "accident black spots, common mobile cameras, and fixed safety camera locations," according to NaviGadget. It's not clear how that … Read more

With so many distractions on the road these days--inside the car, as well as out--how is a person supposed to notice the flashing lights on the radar detector? Rocky Mountain Radar has found an answer to the sensory-inundated driving experience with the "C-450 Laser Detector."

Not only does it detect and scramble radar guns and beams, but Gadgetizer says the C-450 also issues a voice alert when police vehicles are within range. Does it help promote road safety? Of course not. But neither do cell phones and DVD players.