With the Nintendo Wii outselling both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 worldwide, it faces a possible ban in the USA due to a patent-infringement case that could cost Nintendo $21 million.

The patent doesn’t cover the console itself; instead it covers the controllers for the GameCube and the Nintendo Wii. Nintendo has already lost the lawsuit, and has been told that they cannot have a retrial. The company that owns the patent that Nintendo have apparently copied is called Anascape Ltd, and they have very little coverage or presence in the gaming world. They’re a firm from Texas who few people have even heard of.

The specific controllers that are affected from Nintendo are:

• The GameCube controller
• Nintendo Wii classic controller

It doesn’t affect the Wii Remote or the Nunchuk however.

Nintendo still denies they broke any patent laws and insists they’ll appeal.

Apple have reported their best ever profits for a Q3 period, largely attributed to sales of their Macintosh computers and iPods. During the period Apple sold over 11 million iPods worldwide, which is an increase of 12%. There were some price reductions in the mix however, which saw the revenue Apple received from the MP3 Players rise just 7%.

The iPhone notched sales of 717,000 units. Also included in the success story for Apple were sales of its new MacBook Air, but they haven’t included any sales for the 3G phone.

Apple’s impressive revenue was $7.46bn (£3.72bn) for Q3, and they’re expecting an even bigger Q4 now that the new iPhone has been released.

Apple supremo Steve Jobs stated that June was:

The best June quarter for both revenue and earnings in Apple’s history.

We set a new record for Mac sales, we think we have a real winner with our new iPhone 3G and we’re busy finishing several more wonderful new products.

Abigail Haythorne died when she was knocked down by her car while riding on her bike and listening to her MP3 player; she couldn’t hear the car coming.

The driver of the car, Christopher Mills, explained that the 17-year-old girl road in front of his car without warning, from the safety of the cycle lane.

I knew there was a cyclist there but I did not expect her to come straight out.

As soon as I saw her come out I put the brakes on and steered to the right. All I know is that I hit the brakes hard.

Abigail was declared dead at the scene.

Thames Valley Police’s PC Gavin Newman discovered that the teenager had been listening to her iPod, which was still switched on and playing in her pocket.

PC Mark Howard explained at the inquest:

Later on, we found that the display light was illuminated. Her earphones were found tucked inside her neck scarf.

Christopher Mills had been travelling around 45mph when he collided with Abigail, which was within the speed limit. PC Howard told the inquest that had Abigail been listening she would have easily heard the car coming.

Mr Gardiner, the coroner for the incident, warned of the dangers faced by cyclists and pedestrians when listening to MP3 players and iPods while out on the road.

Miss Haythorne died as a result of an accident in that she was struck by a car.

Whether she could see the car coming we do not know, it is possible that she was wearing headphones at the time.

I would urge cyclists to reserve their hearing and not to use their earphones while using the roads.

The Nintendo Wii, since its launch, has been the family entertainment console. The machine that brings people together and gets wheeled out at parties when the drinks are flowing. It’s not something that you’d expect to rival the PC in any department, but now Nintendo are about to change that. They’ve just announced plans to launch an online photo upload service whereby users can upload their photographs, via the Nintendo Wii, to the Internet. From there they’re able to print their pictures.

The new photo services comes as part of a partnership between Nintendo and Fujifilm Holdings Corp. When a user uploads there photos, as well as printing them they’ll also be able to create their own photo albums and make stationery such as business cards.

The huge demand for the Nintendo Wii is also something that Nintendo are looking to address. Satoru Iwata, their CEO stated:

We are really intending to increase the shipments to the U.S., especially compared to last year.

However, I can’t give you a 100% commitment. What I can commit myself to is that Nintendo is going to do its best to supply as many Wii hardware units as possible in order to meet demand there.

Nintendo is also planning to combat a shortage of their console by producing a staggering 2.4 million units this year.

Recent research in the United States by the NPD Group found that MP3 ownership among children, aged 4 to 14, had more gains in the last three years than those seen by any other electronics product. This includes digital cameras and mobile phones, and the research covered 3,200 households.

MP3 player ownership from children within the age group of 4 to 14 rose from 4% to a staggering 28%. A company spokesman stated:

PDMP (portable digital music player) usage has doubled two years in a row, increasing 10 percentage points over the past year, making PDMP’s the strongest growth product in both year-over-year and over time trends.

In the last three years electronic items such as mobile phones and digital cameras has experienced growth it double digit percentage figures, while items such as portable CD players have experienced a similarly spectacular decline.

The survey also found that 20% of children aged 4 to 14 owned their own mobile phone, but only 13% actually use them.

It seems everyone is launching MP3 download services these days, with sites such as Amazon and Tesco doing it already, now Rupert Murdoch’s Sky are getting in on the act. Sky is to take a slightly different approach to downloading music online though, as they’re to offer unlimited streaming in exchange for a monthly subscription service.

They’ll also be offering MP3 downloads as well.

As with everything from Sky, there will be a selection of price plans, which will be announced at a later date during the year.

The good news for MP3 player users though is that Sky’s music offerings will be available for use on any MP3 player or iPod, and will be made available as DRM-free downloads. First up to sign with Sky are Universal Music, which includes such artists as Amy Winehouse and U2. Further music labels are expected to join Sky in the near future.

Mike Darcey of BSkyB said:

It’s clear that there’s huge demand for online music and companies like Sky and Universal Music are well placed to work together to meet consumers’ needs.

We aim to offer an easy and affordable service for all UK music fans, while ensuring that artists are properly rewarded for their creativity.

The service is planned to launch later this year.

Vinyl records take up a lot of space in the home, and since they were eclipsed by CDs they’ve pretty much disappeared from our homes, all except for the houses belonging to wedding DJs and record enthusiasts.

CDs were much smaller, and you could store far more of them in your house. However even compact discs take up space, especially if you’re really into your music and have a wide range in tastes. Therefore the digital evolution means great news for those who love music. No longer are you restricted to how many records you can fit on your shelf, or how many CDs you can get into your CD rack. Now it’s just a matter of how many MP3s you can fit on your MP3 player.

Even then though, some people may find their MP3 player is too small to fit everything they want; that’s why some are turning to home servers. Instead of shelves full of dusty records or racks full of CDs, you can buy a portable hard drive and use it as a music server. You can store nothing but music on your home server, and access it from either your PC, laptop or choice of MP3 players.

The added bonus of this is, should you lose your iPod or MP3 Player, or should your home computer crash, your home server will still be safely preserving your music collection.

If you’re hoping to burn off those extra pounds you put on over the Christmas period by bouncing around on a Nintendo Wii Fit board, you’ll need to get your order in early according to reports. Shopkeepers are reportedly running out of stock the Nintendo Wii Fit boards as we start the slow build to the silly season, where parents tend to have a mad panic looking for those Christmas presents for their children.

Much like last year, the Nintendo Wii is expected to be the must have present this Christmas, with the Wii Fit the number one accessory.

According to reports, waiting lists for the Wii Fit board is growing by almost 1,000 people each day. Also websites that track the movements of the Wii Fits are receiving almost 30,000 hits in a single day.

According to Chart-Track, the Wii Fit sold a staggering 338,000 units in the first two weeks of its launch, making it the 8th biggest launch of any video game, ever!

With retailers everywhere running out of the Wii Fit, if you’re looking to buy one for Christmas you’ll be best advised to get your order in early.

One of the best things about the iPod and the iPod range is the level of accessories you can buy for them, such as earphones, covers, clips and even speaker systems that turn an iPod into a full fledged stereo system.

However not everyone wants to spend money on the accessories, preferring to buy their iPod and spend their money on iTunes downloading their music, the reason for having an iPod after all.

Therefore if you want to turn your iPod into a stereo system without buying an extra set of speakers or an iPod dock, you’ll be interested in what the Instructables came up with. They’ve invented a new iPod speaker system, made from a Tupperware box. It looks cheap and simple, largely because it is, but it makes for a great speaker system.

Using the box, and the sound that it can reverberate, you’re able to create a sound system for your iPod. Check out the full instructions on how to make one at their website here.

For years parents have been suffering during long car journeys as their children would get restless, bored and agitated asking ‘are we there yet?’ constantly. However, due to the use portable gaming systems such the Nintendo DS and MP3 players, the children are quite content to sit patiently; it’s the parents who now get frustrated and ask ‘are we there yet?’.

A recent survey showed that 56% of children spend their time on car journeys playing on games consoles such as the Nintendo DS. 50% of youngsters also choose to listen to their own music on MP3 players or iPods, so that they don’t have to endure the musical tastes of their parents.

According to survey, it takes just 24 minutes for parents to get irritated on car journeys, whereas children can happily last for an hour and a half before they suffer the boredom of the trip.

10% of parents questioned said they became irritated in the first ten minutes of a long car journey.

Dowshan Humzah, director at More Than Insurance stated:

Children increasingly have plenty of options to keep themselves occupied and happy on long journeys. It’s parents and guardians who are now faced with a range of stresses from getting stuck in traffic jams to avoiding menaces on the motorway.