The main draw for the 3DS, of course, was the high quality, glasses free, 3D display, a first for any personal electronic device. Most writers and developers agree that the effect is comparable to any other 3D experience and mixed with the built in 3D camera were highly impressed. The one major complaint I have noticed reading the various first impressions, was the 3D effect’s sweet spot was, just that a spot. Outside of this spot, the 3D effect beings to blur.

Personally, lacking any depth perception, any device or movie labeled 3D usually gets an instant pass from me. One thing that does hold my interest is the overall power of the device. It is clear from the technical demos that the device has the potential to render 3D environments with as at least, as much detail and texture as a GameCube.  Nintendo is being its usual dodgy self, and has not detailed the specifications of the device, so I am looking forward to hearing more from the studios and developers with access to the 3DS development kit.

The next few posts of Jukidon will be dedicated to a few highlights I personally liked the best and have me stoked for the coming year.

While WordPress has finally decided to up the major version to three, there aren’t any what I would call radical changes to the function of WordPress. I would sum up the changes in three points.

1. The merge with WordPress MU is arguably the most major of the changes to the underlying software. Rather than deal with incremental and sporadic updates to the MU, which in the past has been left behind in comparison to the rapid development of the main WordPress, all installations will have MU’s capabilities built in.
2. Kubrick has been replaced with the new version of Twenty Ten. I’ve never been fond of Kubrick and this update has been long in coming. The new theme features more flexibility and customization, which will make initial installations more appealing to general users.
3. The menu system of WordPress has been standardized in a similar way widgets were. The menu editor features a nice Ajax interface that should make organizing your blogs navigation a snap.

Beyond that there isn’t a whole lot that’s different. There are quite a few tweaks and adjustments, but I wouldn’t call any of them more than the natural growth of a feature set.

As with all WordPress updates, there is a lack of themes and plugins that are marked as compatible with 3.0, though I have not had any compatibility issues with my 2.9 theme and plugins. Make sure to make a backup if you are going to take the plunge and upgrade.

[ WordPress ] [ Release Details ]

If you are a fan of the font you can still download it from the creator’s website, dot colon.

Even as support for @font-face is still in its infancy, there are free resources available to help developers.

The first place I go when looking for higher quality fonts with open licensing is FontSquirrel. Not only is the collection huge, the site has a wide range of built in tools to make implementing @font-face even easier with pre-packaged @font-face kits, and an @font-face generator.

[ FontSquirrel ] [ @font-face Kit Generator ]

I’ve upgraded to WordPress 3.0, and while most things seem to be running just fine there are a few glitches around the site.

While both initiatives are defiantly to be lauded and praised, the end result is both moves are intended to improve brand awareness and overall market saturation. According to PepsiCo, the in school sales of Pepsi do not amount any significant portion of their global sales.

[ USA Today ] [ Consumerist ]

I tend to be amazed at the rate at which things become popular online. The story of Lady Gaga’s lastest video, Telephone, featuring Beyoncé is one of the latest viral hallmarks of the internet. While the striking both a hip hop and almost nerdy vibe almost simultaneously, it really is one of the more interesting things I’ve seen come out of the over commercial Hollywood in the past few years. If you’re not overly sensitive and don’t offend easily, you should take a peek. YouTube is streaming the video in HD 1080, which really shows the extreme level of detail and quality of the piece.

Also I can’t help but be amused as Beyoncé in the video. Some of the shots from the second half are just priceless as she tries hard to imitate the overall style of Lady Gaga.

[ YouTube Video ] [ "Clean" Version ]

The Vegur font is not a perfect copy of the Myriad font created by Adobe Systems, and suffers from the alignment issues with the site title in the header; it is acceptable for users who lack the needed commercial fonts. Next on my list is to find a replacement for the Helvetica Neue that is used for the body text … though I don’t believe I even have that installed on my computer at the moment.

wilki.me [ Myriad Pro goes Open Source ]

The iPad could easily be called an oversized iPod Touch. With minimal interface improvements and nagging lack of multi-tasking the operating system is nearly a joke. There is a fundamental problem with making the core upgrade feature of something like the iWorks productivity suite, and that is the inherent disadvantage a touch interface has over a standard keyboard. If you are going to be writing or editing a 5 page essay, you are not going to want a touch screen interface, you need a physical keyboard. The keyboard dock aside, which pretty much invalidates the entire concept of the iPad, the laptop is the superior form factor. The iBooks eReader application seems nice, but I cannot imagine reading a 300 page book on a LCD screen, even if it does last 10 hours in-between charges.

I do like the thin nature of the device, battery life and the frame and face look extremely appealing, but poor way it handles existing iPod/iPhone applications makes this a difficult sell, especially when the lowest price of $499 is almost a hundred dollars more than an entry level laptop.

Many questions still remain about Mobile OS X 4.0, and how the iPhone and iPod will be affected by the upgrade, but with their focus on the iPad I don’t expect any real changes there. Most likely the details of the upgrade will be announced closer to the launch in 60 days. That is, if the internet doesn’t rip Apple to shreds for this whole affair.

Live Blog: [ Engadget ] Hands on: [ Gizmodo ] Editorial Opinions: [ Engadget ]