We’re going to be away for the holidays, and posting will be light to nil for the next week or so. However, we are working on a podcast for your listening pleasure that will launch (most likely) after the new year. We don’t talk about day to day news on the site much, but we will be talking about important stories on the podcast. We’re going to try and get some interviews as well. Is there anything you, dear reader, would like to hear us babble on about? Let us know and we’ll see if we can make it happen.

-MIKE KURZ

UPS dropped off the box that MS had sent out to put my broken Xbox 360 in on Monday. Unfortunately, I was out of town and was unable to deal with it until today. It seemed like this was going to be a fairly straightforward process. When I opened the box up, I found a set of instructions, a box within the box (for extra padding), a shipping label, a bag to put the 360 in, and a seal to keep the box from popping open on it’s way back to Microsoft. Seems pretty simple, right? Wrong. (more…)

Okay, so maybe you already gave your girlfriend a dick in a box last year and you’re in need some last minute shopping ideas. Here’s a list (compiled by a real live girl) of some girl-friendly geeky gadgets and gifts. And rest assured, this list isn’t just a list of gadgets that come in pink.

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Show everyone what you digg! There are new products available from Jinx! Now you can even get stickers to slap on anything that you digg.

-JENNI CHASTEEN

I make a lot of predictions verbally that end up being true, so I’ve decided to start writing them here, so that in the event that I’m correct, I can go back and give everyone else a big “I told you so!”

My Wii prediction is that we’ll see a price drop on the Wii (probably down to $199.99 USD) just in time for the holiday season in 2007. This price drop will likely coincide with the introduction of the DVD capable Wii, which will most likely come in at the $250 price point. I know Nintendo has said otherwise, but I suspect that was all marketing - why would we buy this Wii when a better one is coming down the line?

This seems plausible - just look at their handheld strategy. We got the Gameboy. Then we got the different colored Gameboys. Then we got Gameboy pocket, followed by Gameboy Color, and then Gameboy Advance. If that weren’t enough, the Gameboy Advance SP wasn’t far behind. The only one of those to actually effect gameplay was the jump from Gameboy Color to GBA. My prediction is that they’ll try and migrate that strategy to the living room with the Wii.

When I first heard the term “Pageflakes” I thought of Jimmy Page scratching his head and ending up with a snow covered shoulder. Then I actually went to the site, and started looking around. Turns out that Pageflakes is actually an AJAX based website where you populate your personal home page with “flakes” (think widgets) that allow you to do things like leave yourself notes, keep a schedule complete with email reminders when a deadline is about to come up, check your email, and see what’s new on digg.

There’s also a social element to Pageflakes. You can keep your page private, share it with people you choose to share it with by providing them with a password, or you can just make it public and share it with the world. For an example, check out our pageflakes page.

There’s a lot to like about Pageflakes. There’s a wide variety of flakes to choose from, and those flakes do a wide variety of things. I’m a big fan of having everything I need in one place - it just makes life a little easier. The social aspect sets it apart from similar services such as the widgets you can add to your google home page. There’s room for improvement though. I have yet to see a music related flake. I’d love to see Pandora integrated directly into it, or better yet, I’d love to have a gig of Pageflakes storage to upload some music to, and a flake to play it with.

Pageflakes is worth checking out if you’re looking for a new homepage, or if you’re just into web 2.0. I look forward to seeing what they add as time goes on.

-MIKE KURZ

As you may or may not know, the northwest of the United states was hit hard with a freak wind storm. Many have been left without power or heat, and as you can see, temperatures are in the teens and twenties in that region. Xbox Live’s director of programming, Larry Hyrb (better known as Major Nelson) was among those affected by the storm, and is without power or heat. If you live in that area, best of luck getting things back together. If you have friends in that area, call them and make sure they’re alright. If you can do something to help those in need, do it. If you’ve ever complained about something pointless on Major Nelson’s blog, now is the time to go there and click on an ad and say something nice…. I’m sure he’d appreciate  the support from the community in his time of need.

-MIKE KURZ

We’re running a contest to win a custom, hand-painted Xbox 360 faceplate of your choice! The contest starts today and will run until Jan 15, 2007. The faceplate will be painted by yours truly. (Check out my portfolio for larger examples) All you have to do to enter is comment on any post between now and Jan 15, starting with this one. The winner will be selected randomly. So the more often you post, the better your chances!

[Update] To clear up some confusion, the examples above are faceplates that have already been painted and have been sold. The contest is for a custom faceplate that hasn’t been created yet. I will paint (pretty much) anything the winner decides he or she would like on a faceplate. The winner’s faceplate will be one of a kind (I never paint the same design twice). Sorry for any confusion. ^_^’

Rules and details after the jump.

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These are some kinky bunnies, doin’ it Final Fantasy VII style. This is a mural I painted with my dear friend and talented artist (and WTG contributer) Jenni. Now why, you may ask-why paint 6′x4′ bunnies breeding on a wall? And why do they resemble Cloud and Tifa? Because we had paint and our friend’s bare wall at our disposal. Now you may be wondering what kind of sick freak would want a mural like this on their wall, and that folks is the beauty of this story. We painted this mural without permission, while our friend was slaving away at his job.

Note we are both still alive to share this story, in fact this painting is still standing strong after 5 months (because he is too lazy to paint over it). I think everyone needs to complete a work like this for one of their friends. All you need to do is get a hold of their house keys, get some paints, and find out when your friend won’t be home. From there you just have to pick a creature or two and your favorite characters. Remember if you don’t like bunnies, there’s always hamsters. I’m telling you all to go for it, go paint a sexy cosplay animal mural! If you do let us know!

*Not responsible for adverse effects of painting such a mural. These results are not typical.*

And yes, that is me in the photo…for the couple thousand of you who were wondering what I look like. (Or atleast that’s why we think there were that many google searches for me… if not, I have a lot of stalkers to worry about.)

-SARAH TOMESKY

Now this is a shirt I’d rock on a night out to the bar. What better way to break the ice with a chick than to press the button between her breasts, or maybe not. Note, the people at Jinx did point out that “pick up,” isn’t always to be taken literally. Pressing “X” will not guarantee a chick or her breasts in your hands. At worst it may get your ass kicked in a round of Halo, or is that at best?

Ladies wear this shirt at your own risk, or if you’re looking for an excuse to slap a bold (and possibly stupid) guy.

-SARAH TOMESKY