The Dell Mini 10 is now available for pre-order in the U.S. For details, check out Lionel’s post on the Direct2Dell blog.

In our information-overloaded world, it’s not hard to miss things we wish we hadn’t. Now there’s a free webapp called Crap, I missed It that can help cut through the clutter.

Say you want to stay on top of upcoming concerts, new episodes of your favorite TV show, certain sports scores and upcoming games, the top Digg stories, or critical acclaim for what might turn out to be Hollywood’s next blockbuster. By opting in to these categories — and more — on Crap, I Missed It, you can receive a maximum of one combined e-mail per day.

So whether you want to brush up on your pop culture acumen or just trying to keep a handle on things that are important and interesting to you, feel free to sound off on what you think about this new service. I personally think it’s pretty cool, especially since you can receive aggregated content on such diverse topics, and want to thank Harrison Hoffman for flagging it on the Webware site.

If you’ve read a few of my blogs, there’s probably no question in your mind that I take gaming seriously. At its highest level, competitive gaming is just as physically and mentally demanding as any other competitive activity, and I think it’s high time it was more universally recognized. If you don’t believe me, check this out. For the amount of effort it takes to be competitive in gaming, I think gamers who make the sacrifices necessary to compete should be rewarded for it.

Thankfully I’m not alone in my conviction. There are organizations that not only share it, but work to make competitive gaming more “mainstream,” and to make sure the most talented and dedicated gamers get rewarded for their efforts. One such group is the United Kingdom eSports Association. As their name implies, the UKeSA doesn’t view video games as merely games, but as an arena for serious competition. As they note in their mission statement, their goal is to encourage e-sports in the United Kingdom by providing high level professional competitions for sizeable purses.

Many organizations support their effort, and as announced today, Dell is proudly joining the list of supporters by becoming the Hardware Sponsor of this great effort to help rejuvenate the UK professional gaming scene. Why now? From the release:

“Competitive gaming is gathering momentum, particularly in the UK,” said David Clifton, Director of Consumer Marketing, Dell Europe, “UKeSA have put in place the foundation and growth structure that will feed that momentum, reaching out to all British eSports hopefuls. Dell is delighted to support the UKeSA at such a significant milestone for UK gaming.”

I am proud to work for a company that takes gaming as seriously as I do. Since video games are such a pervasive form of recreation in our society, the time is right for efforts like these, and there’s sure to be more in the future. Maybe someday soon the Western world will take e-sports as seriously as the Koreans do (click and be amazed).

Gaming is serious business. It’s about time the West realized it.

Daniel Alvarez of Austin, Texas, found a new use for a Wii controller. He purportedly used it to attempt to strangle his girlfriend over Girl Scout cookies. Even so, I still maintain gaming has nothing to do with violent behavior. Thank you, Daniel, for giving the anti-gaming lobby something else to wave in the face of logic.

Utah’s H.B. 353 was introduced this week by Rep. Michael Morley. The bill, written by permanently disbarred attorney Jack Thompson, would make retailers criminally liable under false advertising statutes if a game labeled “M” were accidentally sold to a minor. An interesting critique by Prof. Clay Calvert, co-director of the Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment, can be found here.

World of Warcraft game director Jack Kaplan announced in a forum post that he would be stepping down from his position. He said he wasn’t going very far, however, and would be switching roles to work on an unannounced MMO project for Blizzard. I’m personally hoping for a Diablo MMO. MMOs need more gore.

Citing unknown sources, Gamespot stated that Sega had indefinitely suspended all work on an upcoming Aliens MMO, which was to be based upon the 1980’s sci-fi classic. Sega has yet to make an official announcement, but promises to make one soon.

Street Fighter IV commercials should be appearing on a TV station near you this week. The game is set to be released for Xbox360 and the Playstation 3 on Feb. 17. I’m already drooling.

EA is getting ready to release a G.I. Joe video game, based upon the upcoming live action movie, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. According to the Web site, in the game you can:

- Assemble an elite JOE team and call in reinforcements when the mission gets down and dirty.
-Choose from 12 of your favorite JOEs, each with a unique set of skills and weapons.
- Gear up with the latest in high-tech gadgets.
- Jump into, steal or hijack powerful G.I. JOE or COBRA vehicles, then fire away!

Even so, I don’t remember my Joes running around in spandex.

Dell announced the Wasabi – an ultramobile photo printer this week. It packs both functionality and style all into a pocket-sized printer!

I read this story from the New York Times in a couple of places: Layoffs Surge, Women May Pass Men in Job Force. The article suggests that economic ups and downs have less impact on jobs held by more women, while 82% of recent job losses have befallen to men.

Kitchen scale takes the heat features a neat gadget. It weights and measures the temperature of your food all in one!

Top Ten Reasons Social Media is Like Survivor is a fun read from Jessica Knows.

Rather than bore you with a renewed rant about Jack Thompson (he wrote Utah’s H.B. 353 anti-gaming legislation, introduced this week), I decided to write about something different. Not to say the temptation wasn’t almost overwhelming, as targeting specific types of media based upon undefined criteria (age recommendation labeling?) is an open attack upon free expression, and is a repugnant concept to begin with…

Wait… I said I wasn’t going to do that, so I won’t.

What was I going to blog about instead? Oh, I remember now.

I recently ran across a game that reminded me of something very important. All the glitzy graphics and innovative code in the world can’t make up for a bad initial concept. The reverse is true as well. If you have an amazing idea for a game, all that extra “chrome” and gloss isn’t necessarily needed. Enter Crayon Physics Deluxe, an amazing puzzle game from indy developer Kloonigames (a.k.a. Petri Purho). Puzzle games usually aren’t what I normally go for, but this one turned my head. After watching the following video, I had to download the trial.

See? No glam, no glitz, just an amazing concept.

The game actually reminded me of Line Rider, a simple flash game that took up way too much of my time a couple of years ago. I looked it up again today, and was pleased to discover Line Rider 2: Unbound, available for Wii, DS, and PC. With the new incarnation, you can make Line Rider tracks that look like this:

They started with an amazing concept, and the graphics additions just make it sweeter.

I’m not saying graphics and special effects aren’t a good thing. I’m just saying they can’t turn a bad concept into a good game. The concept is where it all starts. If the foundation is rotten, the house isn’t worth buying, no matter how good the floor plan and the paint job are. A lot of folks could do well to remember that.

How does this all relate to H.B. 353 again? I’ll let you connect the dots.

A few months ago, blogger Chris Whittome lamented over at Trade2Save the Planet that an incredible amount of consumer technology winds up being unused — to the point where it has no value — instead of being returned to the marketplace.

Fast forward, and now there’s a free, easy-to-use online trade-in system available in the contiguous 48 states. It’s run by Dell and partner Dealtree Services Inc.

Called Dell Exchange, the program allows you to turn in unwanted technology from a variety of manufacturers. In return, you’ll receive Dell gift cards. You can clear some desk space for new products while keeping your old stuff out of the landfill.

Click over to the Dell Exchange site for details, and check out a sampling of the initial news coverage from PC Magazine and Reuters.

Jeannette Burris is a practice manager for a cardiology office two hours away from where she lives. Her grandchildren live two hours away in the opposite direction (yes, Texas is a big state). Somehow she manages to be everywhere she needs to be, but I have noticed that she travels with lots of technology. Sometimes all carried in a big box! I sat down with her this week to try and get a handle on all she does… and how.

First I asked her to explain to me what a practice manager is. She said it is a lot of things all rolled into one: human resources director, recruiter, payroll clerk, purchasing officer, financial manager, software trainer, contract negotiator, IT support… and the list goes on and on.

She told me that there is no typical day for her. Some days she may be in the office, other days working from her home office, and every now and then she works from my house to take care of sick grandchildren (oh yes, Jeannette is my mom). She said that regardless of where she is, most days consist of some employee issues, working with sales reps, managing workflow in the clinic, being available to the doctors for questions, managing financial issues… that list goes on and on too. My favorite thing she mentioned is that she tries to maintain morale for 30 women all working closely together. If you did not envy her before, I am sure you do now.

So now we get to dig into the box of technology. I asked her what gadgets she uses every day. She says she loves her Palm smartphone, which syncs with MS Outlook. She keeps everything planned there! She also can’t work remotely without her Dell Latitude and PC.Com. She remotes in to her network at the office and can access everything she needs from home. She has also really enjoyed having an aircard to work online no matter where she is.

She said it is her laptop that she can not live without. She cannot travel, work remotely and still manage the practice without her system. Of course, I love her system the most too, since it allows her to help me out with the kids when I need it!

Can you relate to this story? How do your gadgets make your lifestyle possible?

Earlier this month, MySpace reported that about 90,000 sex offenders had been removed from the site.  You can read the full story at ocregister.com. This is a good thing, but it does not mean that it is now totally safe to go out and play in the MySpace backyard.

It is not that hard for someone to recreate another account.  All they have to do is change their identity, picture, hardware and Internet connection.  They will simply become someone else but with the same bad intentions. 

MySpace has some suggestions on how to be careful; you can read the tips at iamharriet.blogspot.com.

Yesterday, Dell began offering the latest in printer technology with the pocket-sized Wasabi PZ310 photo printer. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on one and test it out. I was totally impressed by the $99 device and the idea of not having to purchase any ink cartridges thanks to the Zink Zero Ink technology.

I can print from my mobile phone using Bluetooth wireless, which was a pleasant change since I can never find the correct cable. I also tried it out on a couple of Dell Inspiron Mini computers- the Mini 9 and 12. It took no time at all to connect and print- it really was easy to use.

Once I got the Wasabi home and showed it to my 16-year-old daughter I knew I was going to be talked into buying one. What was I thinking? She just so happened to have her computer on and wanted me to print some pictures for her to show her friends. Once she saw the 2×3-inch semi-gloss printed pictures she was on the phone telling her friends about how cool it was and how good the pictures came out.

I have no doubt that the Wasabi Ultramobile printer will be a HUGE HIT for everyone, but especially for teens and college students. It is compact (7 ounces) and prints in 55 seconds. The Zink or Magic paper that the pictures are printed on also have an adhesive back for sticking on a variety of places. They should also make for a great gift for someone- maybe even my daughter.

For more details and a video, check out Lionel’s announcement post on Direct2Dell.