Gadgets Inspector | Hot Gadgets and Gizmos

Steve Hoffman and Eric Hayashi are certainly well-rounded interactive entertainment executives. Their bios are full of so many impressive entertainment and gaming companies that it will make your head spin. Combined, Steve and Eric have worked at Vivendi Universal Games, Virgin Interactive, Infospace, Hasbro Interactive, Sega and Atari.

So what did Steve and Eric do with all that experience? What was the culmination of this vast interactive knowledge? In 2007, Steve and Eric joined forces with Naomi Kokubo and co-founded ROCKETON, a new type of multiplayer social experience that spans the entire web.

Instead of having to go to a separate site or use a specific application like Second Life, ROCKETON turns the entire Internet into a virtual world for browser based avatars. Think of ROCKETON like Second Life + PMOG with a twist of Facebook and a dash of StumbleUpon. It’s a Web 2.0 evolutional twist on virtual reality.

MethodShop was lucky enough to get some time with Steve and Eric and grilled them pretty hard about ROCKETON. A link to the full interview is below. Enjoy.

Interview: ROCKETON’s Steve Hoffman and Eric Hayashi

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The long awaited iPhone 3G was released on Friday, July 11th. But what should have been a happy and joyous day for iPhone fans, ended up being an exercise in frustration for many.

AT&T’s insistence on trying to activate the phones in store taxed Apple’s authentication server (more info) and caused lines to move at a snail’s pace or sent buyers home with a phone only good for making emergency calls. During last year’s iPhone 1.0 launch Apple had everyone activate their own phone at home through iTunes.

Worse yet, AT&T outlets were allowed to sell far fewer phones that Apple Stores, forcing them to turn away customers who waited hours to get their hands on one.

The iPhone 3G line outside the Manhattan Apple Store on 14th Street at 12:52PM. Estimated wait time was ~4 hours. (Photo credit: MethodShop.com)

Earlier this week, Apple also had problems with the relaunch of their data service now called MobileMe (it was previously called iTools and .Mac). The MobileMe service is designed to synchronize a user’s personal data across devices, including the iPhone, but many users were denied access to their accounts this week, including Frank Accarrino.

“I’ve been trying to upload pictures from iPhoto to my .Mac website for the past few days but it’s offline. I can’t even get to my Mac mail. I bet Steve Jobs is pissed right now,” Frank told MethodShop.com.

Apple is usually known for flawless product launch events. Let’s hope Apple solves these network issues for next time. It’s estimated that 1 million iPhone 3G models were sold in the U.S. this weekend.

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Digg is rolling out a new recommendation engine this week. The new feature’s goal is to help users discover content from like-minded individuals amid the clutter of the 16k+ stories submitted to Digg.com each day.

You know how when you are browsing Amazon.com and the site suggests related products based on what you are viewing and what you’ve already purchased? This new Digg feature works kind of the same way. It analyzes your previous “diggs,” or stories you’ve voted for, then lets you know what other users with similar tastes have recommended.

If you want to know more, Digg execs Kevin Rose and Anton Kast go into detail about how it works on the Digg blog.

Rose will also probably explain the new feature during his next Diggnation podcast.

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