Earlier this month, comScore found that the Nintendo Wii was the most popular item in UK search engines, which is why it doesn't really come as all that surprising that the console has turned out to be the most popular item on UK's eBay. Read how the handhelds and other consoles fared in the full article.

The ModBook took a long time in coming but it may finally be on its way to stores. If you don't know what it is yet, the ModBook from Axiotron is essentially a MacBook-turned-Tablet-PC. According to an email from The Other World Computing Team, the marketers for the ModBook, the sexy Tablet Mac may be shipped on or before January 8. Read more in the full article.

 Here's a little something for iPhone owners, at least if you're looking to enhance your phone's text messaging capabilities. Developer Shawn.Chain has recently released weisms, a homebrew that functions as a native SMS application for your choice Apple phone. More details on this app are available in the full article.

Download: weisms v1.0

Looks like the most popular gadget in Europe this Christmas is the Wii if online searches are anything to judge by. According to the figures released by comScore Inc., the gadgets most frequently searched for in online engines in Europe during the first three weeks of November is the Nintendo Wii followed by the iPod. Next comes the DS lite, the PSP and the iPhone. More in the full article.

A study from London-based market research company GfK NOP is indicating that Apple's iPhone is not going to be picked up by British consumers this holiday season because of the mobile phone's steep price.

According to the research, awareness of the brand is not the problem as 75% of UK's population has heard of the iPhone and more than 25% mentioned that they like its look. Read full article for more info on this.

Apple confirmed today that it has picked France-leading wireless carrier Orange as their official partner for the iPhone launch in the said market on November 29. This seems to be a good move from Apple especially after the mobile phone unlocking incident.

"The iPhone is a marvelous product and will change how people think about mobile... Our partnership with Apple is a natural fit because we are two global brands who share the same values of simplicity and innovation. It's going to be a very merry Christmas for Orange customers all over the country," said France Telecom CEO Didier Lombard.

As stated above, the iPhone will launch in France on November 29. The only model that will be available is the 8GB iPhone and it will be priced at 399 Euros (US$ 568.87). Consumers can purchase their unit through Orange's online and direct retail stores.

As the saying goes, you have to break some eggs to make an omelet. Well after the day we've had here at QJ Central, I hope everyone's hungry, because we've got breakfast for all ... as long as you don't mind your eggs scrambled.

So what's the dish? As many of you might've known already, QJ.NET keeps growing and coming into its own with each passing day. As we grow, so does our audience (hey, that's you!). For some time now, the site has been dragging its feet, and we practically have to get out and push it to your browsers sometimes. That's no fun for you, and we're tired of having to buy new shoes.

Today we saw the first (of two) changes to our server structure, including a new addition. But like a little boy on Christmas morning, that brand new bike doesn't put itself together, and Santa isn't always the greatest when it comes to reading the French instructions. The short of it is that things didn't go as planned, and we should've taken the proper precautions and made offerings to the server gods... may thine bandwidth bless thee and keep thee free from lag.

Everything seems to be in order now, and hopefully the change in loading speed has been noticed (if you can tell, let us know in the comments - we could use the affirmation right about now). We apologize for the huge, unanticipated outage today, but now that you're surfing the site a bit faster, hopefully you'll forgive us.

And there should be another dramatic boost to speed by the beginning of next week as we make another change to our setup. This will result in a few hours of downtime for DL.QJ.NET, but like Santa, the plan is for us to sneak in while most of you are asleep, so leave out some cookies. Both DL.QJ and the front pages will benefit from this shakeup, but the front pages should remain unaffected as far as downtime is concerned.

Thanks for sticking with us and being patient! Now who's up for some spicy Denver Omelettes?

It seems that there is nowhere to go but up for the people at the Cupertino, California-based company, Apple. After being blessed with a 1, 222% traffic increase for iTunes this past Christmas, Goldman Sachs brings more good news to the company.

It was reported before that there are 1.8 million Macs sold last December. Analyst David Bailey also speculated a better than expected profit margin that would propel earnings of for US$ 0.79 per share on sales of US$ 6.38 billion. That's a lot of cash.

It seems that the iPod is not the only overachiever in the Apple family as the Mac line is also doing its share. Now on to some MacWorld fun.

Bailey is speculating that Apple is gearing for a "Macworld introduction and a [first quarter] release for the full-screen video iPod which is noticeably more innovative than the current generation and should not be considered as a simple refresh." Aside from that, a lot of aficionados are expecting for the launch of its iTV digital media hub. As for the much-talked about iPhone, he predicts it'll be released ready for manufacturing by April 2007 in time for a second quarter launch.

T'was the night before Christmas and all through the site, all the banners were snowing and consoles alight! As a holiday gift to all our readers, I'll end the poetry abuse right there. On behalf of the entire QJ.NET staff, I'd like to wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, a cheerful Kwanzaa and any other yuletide tradition you might practice.

It has been quite a year for the gaming industry with the rounding out of the next-gen console list, and here's hoping some of you are lucky enough to find your favorite gadgets in your stockings tomorrow. But even if you don't, you can count on our fantastic writing team to keep you up to date on all the latest news and happenings over the holidays. They're sacrificing quite a bit of their own holiday time to keep the articles flowing over the next few days, so be sure to drop them a line and let them know you appreciate their unwavering commitment to keeping you in the loop! There's no rest for the wicked, and we've got that covered in spades.

Aside from sparing everyone from my pathetic attempt at poetry parody, we do have one small present for you guys in the form of a new feature! As many of you probably know, the QJ.NET Blog of Blogs is a compilation of every news story posted across the entire network, making it a one stop shop for all your news needs. But since not everyone will be interested in everything we cover, you can now make the Blog of Blogs (or as we lovingly call it, "the BoB") display just the news you want to read about.

All you have to do is register an account (for free of course) and then click on Blog of Blogs Settings at the top of the right-hand column. From there, you can select which subjects you want displayed on the BoB and voila! - a custom front page chock full of all the news you want to see!

Happy Holidays!

Besides the actual North Pole, there's one specific place that picks up all the mail addressed to Santa Claus. It's North Pole, Alaska, and the the merry elves of Santa probably find it a little bit warmer there than what they're used to, though they get to read through all the mail addressed to the jolly red gift-giver.

According to a press release from Duracell, it seems that tech stuff is mentioned a lot in kids' Christmas wishlists. They compiled a gift index based for all this called the "Duracell-North Pole Gift Index." This Gift Index was created by reading through 1,013 Dear Santa letters sent to the North Pole.

Of the top 15 things asked for, game systems and portable music players got in, with Apple's iPod and the Nintendo DS being mentioned often. Here's their list:

1. Clothing (e.g., jerseys, boots and jackets)
2. Dolls and Action Figures (e.g., Bratz, Barbie, G.I. Joe)
3. Gaming Systems (e.g., Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation 1/2/3 and Gamecube)
4. Portable Gaming Devices (e.g., Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable - PSP and Game Boy)
5. Video Games (e.g., Madden NFL 2007)
6. Sports Equipment (e.g., hockey sticks, basketball hoops and baseball gear)
7. Toy Vehicles and Planes
8. Portable Music Players (e.g., iPod, MP3s and CD Players)
9. Remote Control Vehicles and Animals (e.g., cars, helicopters, Tamagotchi and TEKNO dog)
10. Movies/DVDs (e.g., "Cars," "Ice Age")
11. Books
12. Bikes/Scooters
13. Art Supplies
14. Board Games
15. A Live Pet (e.g., dog, cat, ferret, fish or hamster)

While it's definitely not representative of what the world wants for Christmas, it's definitely an indication that kids are getting savvier with tech every year. Our only question, besides "world peace" losing its spot on the top charts, is why kids want Madden NFL 07. To each his own, we suppose.