Ok... I know...! It's a little late to be posting a blog about popular Christmas gifts, but if your like me and wait untill the last minute to do all your shopping, then this blog may be what you need for a last minute Christmas gift idea.

Another great Christmas gift that is popular every year are laptops/notebooks; especially with the new release of Windows 7 (Released in October 2009). Laptops are great for high school and college students. They are also great for those of you who travel a lot. Dell, Toshiba, and HP are a few companies that will have specials. Check you local Best Buy, Office Depot, or Walmart for the best deals.

Of course, I can't have a Christmas gift list without a few cellphone. And with the choices that are available to you, a new cellphone will not disappoint. AT&T has, the always popular, iPhone made by Apple. AT&T also has the Black Berry Bold. Both good choices for smartphones. Verizon has the Droids (Motorola and HTC). Both phones are touch screens and fast. Another phone Verizon has is the Black Berry Storm. A touch screen black berry that is powerful and rivals the iPhone.

And if there is a female in your life, jewelry will not disappoint. A nice ring or necklace would be the perfect finish to a good year.

As always, all of the items mentioned above are popular items. I cannot say that they will be in the store when you do your shopping, but I can say that each of these items are good gifts and are affordable, especially with the holiday sales.

From the I/T Dept. at the Bossier Parish Library System, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The other morning, I woke up to a soreness in my shoulder. Not only was it sore, but I could barely move it. I started thinking, "What did I do that made my shoulder so sore?" I sleep on my back so I knew that wasn't it. I haven't lifted anything heavy in a while. Nor have I been in any wrecks. Then it hit me, as I walked by my Nintendo Wii, the thought struck me. "Not the Wii," I told myself. I shrugged it off, got dressed, and headed to work. As the day progressed, my arm started to fell better. No pain and no soreness. When I got home that evening, I decided not to play the Wii incase I did hurt my shoulder some how. The next day when I woke up, all was fine. Again, no pain and no soreness. That night, my fiancée came over and wanted to play the Wii so, being the man I am, I had to throw in some competition. We played for around 2 hours. After losing to her in almost everything we played, she left. Shortly after that I went to sleep. To my surprise the next morning, the pain and soreness was back. That answered my question. The Wii was the cause of my shoulder pain; commonly known as "Wiiitis." Below is an article, where a doctor actually diagnosed "Wiiitis."

BOSTON (Reuters) - "When Dr. Julio Bonis awoke one Sunday morning with a sore shoulder, he could not figure out what he had done. It felt like a sports injury, but he had been a bit of a couch potato lately.
Then he remembered his new Wii.
Bonis, 29, had spent hours playing Nintendo's new video game in which players simulate real movements. Bonis had been playing simulated tennis.
It was not quite tennis elbow, he decided.
"The variant in this patient can be labelled more specifically as 'Wiiitis,'" Bonis, a family practice physician, wrote in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine.
"The treatment consisted of ibuprofen for one week, as well as complete abstinence from playing Wii video games. The patient recovered fully."
Wiiitis -- pronounced "wee-eye-tis" -- is the latest ailment to develop from the video game era, beginning with Space Invaders' wrist in 1981, which was caused by the repeated button mashing required by the popular arcade game.
Nintendo's Wii game can captivate for hours and "unlike in the real sport, physical strength and endurance are not limiting factors," Bonis of the Research Group in Biomedical Informatics in Barcelona, Spain, wrote.
"What convinced me to send the case report was that a friend of mine, after playing 'Wii Sports' suffered from a similar complaint," Bonis told Reuters in an e-mail. "I have not found other cases in my clinical practice, but it is probably an underdiagnosed condition."
It is not the first time Nintendo has received attention in the medical field.
In 1990, a Wisconsin doctor characterized the thumb soreness brought on by pushing the buttons on a controller as "Nintendinitis" after it affected a 35-year-old woman who played a Nintendo game without interruption for five hours.
With virtual golf, boxing, baseball and bowling already on the market, "future games could involve different and unexpected groups of muscles," Bonis said. "Physicians should be aware that there may be multiple, possibly puzzling presentations of Wiiitis."
Bonis said he still plays the games, "but I try to use it with moderation. Sometimes it's hard to do!" "

Article: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0616721120070606

In the past decade we have seen gaming go from a joy stick with pong, to a controller that looks like it can drive your car. It is also evident the technology that is available to us. Gamers can tell you first hand the leaps in technology that we have made. I want to talk to you about the consoles that are on the market today.

I want to start out with the PlayStation 3. Sony has been around for a long time and they have been in the video game business for a while as well. They are the creators of the "PlayStation." The picture to the right is the PlayStation 3. Like the name describes, it is the 3rd installment in the PlayStation family. But this system does more than just play games. The "PS3" can be hooked up to the Internet and used like a computer. Since you can hook it up to the Internet, you can also play your friends online via the PS3. (They must have the same game to play.) Another awesome feature about the PS3 is it is a BluRay player. It will play all your BluRay movies. The memory in the PS3 ranges from 40 - 80. Of course the higher memory, the higher the cost. Over all a good system and the cheapest form of BluRay.



Next up is the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360, or 360, is made by Microsoft. The Xbox in general has not been out that long, but has made a big impact on the gaming industry. The 360 is the 2nd installment of the Xbox. This system has been made popular thanks to the "Halo Trilogy." Like the PS3, you can play your friends online. (They must have the game to play with you.) But unfortunately, the 360 cannot browse the Internet. The 360 plays games and DVDs only. At one point, Microsoft was making HDDVD players for the 360, but the HDDVD era has come and gone. The 360 is a great system. It is also cheaper than the PS3. You have 3 choices to chose from when purchasing a 360: The cheapest system is around $199 for the Core System (no hard drive), the next system is $299 (with 60GB hard drive), and the Elite System is around $388 (with 120GB hard drive). Overall great system.



The last system I want to discuss is the Nintendo Wii. When Nintendo made the Wii, they had the family in mind. This system requires more then just sitting on your couch. This is an interactive gaming console that requires you to move the Wii Remote More body action than thumb action. The Wii has some pretty cool features as well. The Wii has a built in wireless adapter for those who have wireless Internet. Just like the PS3, you can browse the Internet. Some of the popular games for the Wii are Mario Cart and Wii Fit (which was sold out in most stores for Christmas). The Wii has built in memory (I am unsure of the amount) and it has a slot for a SD card. An SD card is what you digital camera uses to store pictures. It is the cheapest all around system at $249. The controllers are cheaper and the games are cheaper. If you are looking to involve you entire family, no matter the age, then the Wii is what you want.

All of these systems are good. I currently own a Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii and I enjoy playing both of them. If you have a child or a teenager that has been begging you for a new gaming console, I hope this helped you out. Once again, Happy New Year and happy gaming.