Tags are pretty big when it comes to finding and sorting information, what more digital songs when you have a huge collection in your home and want quick access to a particular tune within the minimal time possible. For those who tune in to HD Radio devices instead, they will soon be beneficiaries of the “tag” feature, enabling them to KIV songs heard on the radio for later purchase via iTunes. Of course, this advancement is available only to selected HD Radio devices from JBL and Polk Audio, so judging by the names alone, you can be sure that neither device will come cheap.

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Is there really nothing Google cannot do? This all conquering (seemingly anyway) company has grown from a humble startup to a mega-corporation today, and has placed itself squarely in Microsoft’s crosshairs as a viable target. The company does not seem to be able to do any wrong at all (although there were hiccups along the way), and their latest offering would be an enhanced flight simulator for Google Earth. Users at home will now be able to take part in scenic flights across the globe - all they need is a decent Internet connection and a controller other than the standard keyboard and mouse for a more enthralling experience. After all, flights using the software has already been one of its major entertaining aspects so there are very good reasons to come up with something with more substance.

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Usually when a headline starts with the word “Google,” the first thought was – they must be stopped! But not this time. Recently, Google Earth announced it was great for not only mapping the earth, but the heavens as well.

Google Sky is an add-on for their very popular Google Earth software containing over 100 million stars and twice as many galaxies. Google Sky also features layers of constellations, the moon, the planets, a “Life of a Star” tour, and a comprehensive listing of backyard astronomy objects within easy optical reach. It even includes some stunning images taken from the ultimate telescope – the Hubble.

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All volume knobs on the computer are built alike - or are they? The PowerMate volume knob looks pretty ordinary at first glance, but inside it packs performance that more than meets the eye. Not only does this little number let you adjust the volume of your favorite tunes currently playing, it can also be used to edit home movies or scroll through long documents (although I would question use of that especially when the scroll wheel on the mouse does that just fine), or compose a musical score. All these functions are made possible courtesy of it being an assignable controller that can be customized according to your own needs.

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No, we here at Coolest Gadgets aren’t holding a competition of any kind, but are just passed the word that $100,000 in cash will be offered for the right to freely distribute the iPhone unlocking software onto the Internet. Needless to say, full credit will be given to the creator(s) during the proposed release date of Wednesday night (the time zone is unspecified). No idea on who is offering the dough nor how payment is supposed to be made since only a single email address has been posted. I wonder how far Apple and AT&T will go to counter this campaign, as losing exclusivity to the iPhone would certainly hurt the pockets of AT&T.

Source: Engadget

Last year it was Dance Dance Revolution – a game that allowed users to get a work out while they did the two step to fast paced megahit. Then came Guitar Hero – which allowed axe wielding wannabes to follow hard core riffs and get high scores.

Now, it’s all about the Jam as new games go into interactive, yet social gaming. Witness Disney’s latest video game for Nintendo DS that’s based on the hit family TV show “Hannah Montana.” Called the Hannah Montana Music Jam this game lets players use four different instruments for some stellar high fidelity performance. And the handheld game takes advantage of the DS’s wireless networking ability to not only get kids to rock out in concert, but to record it as well. And the quality is out of this world with players strumming their Nintendo DS touch screen to master instruments including lead, bass and rhythm guitars, or ripping the digital skins with with drums - all in an effort to help Hannah win a competition.

The cost is about $30, and will be out come October. Meanwhile, you can check out the Hannah game in action over at YouTube.

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China does not exactly have a sterling reputation when it comes to the number of shops that sell legitimate software, and piracy runs rampant there (along with plenty of other countries in Asia, especially South East Asia where piracy is more of the norm than exception). After all, when you can fork out around $1.50 for a copy of Windows XP or Windows Vista, why not? That’s surely the cheaper alternative than handing over $99 to enrich Bill Gates’ coffers further. Microsoft has certainly seen such cheap prices as a threat and will do the necessary in order to have more people jump onto the genuine software bandwagon. In order to achieve this, the first step Microsoft has taken is to reduce the retail price of Windows Vista Home Basic to a mere 499 renminbi (that’s approximately $65.80) from 1,521 renminbi - which means you can pick up a copy for roughly one third of the original price.

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The search engines of today might be able to do just word and images searches, but how many of them will be able to take a sound sample and retrieve similar tunes? An Australian computer scientist believes that the upcoming search engines in the future will be able to do just that - retrieve music on your behalf whenever you belt out a tune to your computer. She strongly holds on to her views that the next three to four years will see such a search engine appear on anyone who loves music. Currently, there are still a fair number of problems to solve, such as the wide range of music genres available as well as ‘the effect interference from things such as sound quality and environmental noise have on the ability of the program to detect notes.’

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