Well, 2009 is coming to a close, and the holiday season is well upon us. If you haven’t finished your holiday shopping or you’re scrambling about to get something for someone you just found out got you something, there’s always the Gears and Widgets 2009 Holiday Gift Guide and the 2009 Classy Geek Holiday Gift Guide from our sister site The Classy Geek!

2009 has been a really big year in the technology space, from the release of Windows 7 and Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard to netbooks landing in the mainstream, a lot of technology topics and trends made this year a huge one for technology fans. From being terrified of the Conflicker virus at the beginning of the year and everyone running about trying to get their hands on a Nintendo Wii to the end of the year presenting a rush of Android phones to market (when at the beginning of the year we were worried the platform was almost dead) and everyone talking about tablets like the Crunchpad (now the JooJoo) and the non-existant Apple tablet, 2009 has been pretty impressive for us geeks. Even networking technologies made a shift – wifi has taken a backseat to cellular wireless networks, and 802.11 “draft n’ because 802.11n.

But as we all look back over 2009, take a step back, reflect on the technology trends of the year, and remember that all of this technology is really designed to make our lives easier, help us get more things that we actually want to get done finished, and stay connected with the people we care about – people you should be spending this holiday season with.

From me to you, happy holidays!

Over at WebDesign Dev, there’s a rundown of the type that I always adore, 50 of what the editors think are some of the best workspace setups, from the classy and minialistic to the cluttered and functional, to the absolutely absurd.

I love posts like this, like my old post, Amazing Dual-Monitor Mac Setups, and of course the venerable Lifehacker’s series of featured workspaces (check out their Most Popular Workspaces of 2009) – there’s something about looking at the desks of other people that always thrills me.

In any event though, I caught wind of this one because Danny Choo tweeted the fact that his workspace made it in the top 50 here, and then looking through the others I fell in love. All of these tend to give me ideas for things to do with my own desk, but the bulk of them are just amazing to look at. Head over and check them out!

[ WebDesign Dev :: 50 Awesome And Creative Web Designer Workspace Setups ]

I give Verizon a ton of flak, and sometimes it’s deserved (read: Verizon Calls (read: Whines) for Broadband Incentives (read: Public Handouts)) but sometimes they do something that proves they actually are pretty vested in broadband expansion and investment in telecommunications infrastructure.

For example, today Verizon sent out a press release announcing they had conducted a “world’s first” 10 gigabit-per-second down to the home connection using their fiber network. Now this doesn’t mean that FIOS customers should expect the tested 10 gigabit download/2.4 gigabit upload speeds in their houses anytime soon; the connector technology used in the test isn’t exactly widespread, but it’s proof that the limiting factor on fiber is really the connector types on either end of the fiber connection – something that companies who have invested in 10 Gig connectivity in their datacenters can tell you straightaway.

Even so, this is a pretty groundbreaking test, and it may be a harbinger that we may see an uptick in telecommunications investment in the coming years – if Verizon does something like this, their competition from other telecommunications companies, namely Comcast, will also have to pick up the slack and roll out newer high-speed technologies to more areas of the country. That kind of competition – and its investment – can only be good for everyone.

[ Verizon Conducts World's First 10 Gigabit-per-Second Fiber-to-the-Premises Field Test ]

Smartphones are all the rage, but they’re clearly not for everyone. The majority of the mobile phones in the United States are still feature phones or plain old cell phones that are used primarily for making telephone calls, not surfing the Web or keeping up with Twitter or Facebook. But how do you go about buying a cell phone when all everyone is talking about lately are smartphones like the Apple iPhone 3GS and the Motorola Droid?

Well, Sascha Segan and Jamie Lendino, writing for PC Mag, have an amazing primer that I wish I had forwarded off to my parents (before I gave them my old Razr and Razr 2) to help pick a great phone at a great price that meets your needs and is on a carrier that’s right for you. You’ve seen the commercials where the carriers are sniping at one another for the quality of their networks and their selections of devices, but just because one network is bigger or one carrier has the hot new phone doesn’t mean that’s the carrier or the phone you should choose.

First of all, you have to pick what matters to you, and this article will help guide you through the process – it’s pretty definitive. Check it out!

[ PC Mag :: How to Buy a Cell Phone ]

In the market for a laptop? The holidays usually bring some great prices on notebook computers in all shapes and sizes, whether you’re shopping for a netbook for yourself or you’re looking for a desktop replacement laptop to connect to an external monitor at home and even do some mild gaming on. The extremely knowledgeable Cisco Cheng (who I met when i visited the PCMag offices last week!) has put together an excellent primer on how you should go about buying a laptop that’s right for you – what you should look for, what you should avoid, and how to decide whether the features are right for you specifically in a market where so many laptops come with the same specs and the same hardware under very different hoods.

[ PC Mag :: How to Buy a Laptop, Period ]

Google recently released Google Public DNS with the desire of speeding up web surfing for the masses. If you’re not entirely sure what DNS is, head over to Wikipedia and read up. But the question remains – if you, like most people – have your DNS set to automatic (meaning you’re using DNS servers supplied by your internet service provider) or if you’re like me and have embraced OpenDNS, you may be curious whether Google’s new public DNS represents any real improvement in DNS lookups over what you already have.

Well, ExtremeTech ran the numbers, and the results may be surprising. Head on over and take a look!

[ ExtremeTech :: Is Google Public DNS Faster than Your ISP's? ]

Full disclosure, The Classy Geek is my own project, a site I’ve been working on for months with the goal of being the Web’s premier destination for all things both geeky and classy.

The site will be a go-to resource for geeks who want to look at confident as they feel, or feel as confident in themselves as they are in their knowledge and their skills. The way I see it, if you know how to configure your own ESX host at home and set up a couple of VMs, then there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to pick out a nice tie for your company holiday party. If you can see the periodic table in your head and even start naming some of the elements in random parts of the table, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to pick a nice wine to pair with a fine meal. And I’m here to help out with that.

That being said, the entire content won’t be all how-tos, there’ll be plenty of geeky goodies, product reviews both techy and lifestyle-related, rich articles and content, and discussion on topics you may think are taboo in the geek community, like how to confidently approach members of the opposite gender without coming off like a creep, and more! I’m even considering doing a podcast in the future if there’s interest. In the meantime though, the site launched today, so head over and take a look, leave me a comment, and let me know what you think!

[ The Classy Geek ]

Word has been floating around for a long time that Comcast was interested in picking up NBC Universal from parent company GE, but early this AM Comcast made their move, announcing they planned to buy up 51% stake in NBC Universal, effectively merging the two companies. NBC Universal of course owns all the NBC networks including MSNBC and Telemundo, and Universal movie studios and theme parks. Here’s what Gearlog had to say about the matter:

As expected, Comcast on Thursday announced that it has brokered a deal with General Electric to acquire a 51 percent stake in NBC Universal (NBCU) for $6.5 billion.

The arrangement puts the value of NBCU at $30 billion. As part of the deal, GE will acquire Vivendi’s 20 percent stake in NBCU for $5.8 billion, putting GE’s stake at 49 percent. Comcast will make its $6.5 billion payment to GE.

The deal includes: NBCU’s businesses, Comcast’s cable networks, regional sports networks, and certain digital properties, Comcast said. NBCU will contribute its cable properties like MSNBC, broadcast stations NBC and Telemundo, the Universal movie studio and theme parks.

The combined entities will be known as the Comcast Entertainment Group (CEG), which will stand alongside Comcast Cable. Jeff Zucker, current president and CEO of NBCU, will be CEO of the new joint venture and will report to Steve Burke, Comcast’s chief operating officer.

Of course, tech pundits and officials came out of the woodwork to discuss the deal. Comcast has made it long known that they want some stake in the content that gets to their cable, broadband, and voice customers’ screens, whether those screens are large or small, television, internet, or mobile phone, and they’re very willing to spend the necessary money to make it happen. The problem with this though is whether or not Comcast owning so much television content like this will put them at an almost monopolistic advantage given their share of the broadband and cable markets, and now their share of the television markets.

Government officials were quick to point out that the deal still has to undergo extensive review and analysis by the FCC and other regulatory bodies, and may be subject to Congressional inquiry, which frankly I think is warranted in this case – and I’m certain Comcast’s competitors in the broadband and television spaces (and now their competitors in the television space) will have something to say about it. Comcast could very quickly pull any NBC Universal content from sites like Hulu in order to push its own competing service Fancast, which is similar but just not as popular. Comcast could start jacking up fees on services like DirecTV in order to allow them to carry NBC Universal content once it’s all owned by Comcast, although Comcast will likely say they won’t do that.

In any event, if the deal goes through, we’ll see more media in the hands of fewer and fewer companies, which leads me to believe it likely won’t go through. And to that point, if it does, it will definitely encourage DireTV and other cable/broadband companies to start snapping up content producers in order to control the channel of media to consumers in the direction that’s most beneficial to them. It’s also worth mentioning that the last major deal like this that brought together a media company and an access provider was the merger of AOL and Time Warner, and…we all know how well that ended up.

I’ll wait and see, but my gut says this isn’t a good bargain for consumers and people who enjoy both the access Comcast provides and the content that NBC Universal provides, and that bringing them closer will wind up leaving the consumer with fewer affordable or free options for obtaining and enjoying that content in ways that the consumer chooses – as opposed to their content provider.

[ Gearlog :: Comcast Buys 51 Percent Stake in NBC Universal ]

The holidays are rapidly approaching, and if you haven’t started your holiday shopping, you might want to get busy – there are precious few shopping days left before Christmas, and even if you don’t celebrate it directly, the sales and stores are all acting like you do, so now’s the time to pick up some presents for the geek in your life, and to hopefully save a little money at the same time and get them something shiny that they’ll actually enjoy.

Now of course everyone is doing holiday gift guides, and a lot of them have a ton of expensive and superfluous junk on them that may end up on Craigslist or ebay by this time next year, so I put together a short list of five items that will thrill anyone when they see them in a pretty box tied up with a bow this holiday season, regardless of whether they’re a geek – but if they are a geek? Even better. Let’s dive in!

Continue reading Gears and Widgets 2009 Holiday Gift Guide!…

So Facebook has announced a number of changes to its privacy policy – turns out the whole “networks” thing, which most people used as their high school, middle school, city or town, or workplace, were ambiguous ways that people were allowing others they may not have intended to have access to their profiles to get access to those profiles. It’s not so much closing a loophole as it is the advancement of a privacy policy that Facebook has been working on for a long long time.

In a blog post at Facebook, founder Mark Zuckerberg noted that these are only part of the changes – privacy settings will be simplified so you only allow access to one of three groups: friends, friends and their friends, or everyone. While everyone is talking about how this change will streamline privacy settings and change the way you allow people to access your profile and the information on it, and how it’s removing the concept of “networks” as an outmoded way of creating an artificial sphere of influence (Zuckerberg correctly points out it’s clearly a holdover from when Facebook was organized by participating schools), there’s a couple of things – namely how the new privacy settings will allow you to choose who sees what as you post it – that I think are worth talking about.

Let’s dive in behind the jump.

Continue reading Spinning Gears :: Facebook Privacy Changes May Actually Make It Useful…