While it is a little US centric, it does give you a great idea just how big the Internet is, and how fast it is growing.

Via Information Aesthetics

In no particular order, here are my ten favourite Kiwi online stores:

Good As Gold

Good As Gold's online presence is every bit as charming as their Wellington shop - except you can buy cameras, the latest Cheap Monday jeans and Colab sunnies in your jim-jams and it'll be socially acceptable. Their blog is as cool as they come too.

Meadowlark

Meadowlark makes edgy, contemporary jewellery, with workmanship that can't be beat. Their latest collection Fit To Be Tied is a quirky series of rings n' things based around belts and other assorted fastenings.

Huffer

Street clothing label Huffer has a comprehensive online store. Sign up for Dan's weekly missives/giveaways while you're at it -they're a giggle to receive on a dull Friday afternoon.

House Of Aroha

The House of Aroha is born from love. It is the online home of  Aroha Lamour, a retail  store in Napier, New Zealand. Arty things, sexy threads and a whole lotta romance.

Marbecks

Choose Marbecks (established way back when, so you know they're good for it) for snappy delivery of music and movies to your door.

Toggle

Toggle is craft central, showcasing the best of New Zealand's contemporary craft and Kiwiana. Find gift of the handmade variety here. Tea cozy anyone?

Endemic World

I heard many people praising Endemic World last Christmas. Rightly so, as the one stop New Zealand design shop is a perfect place to buy all your gifts. My picks of the store are the local tees and jewellery (especially Zoe Ikin's silver accessories).

General Cucumber

A good place to pick up the best pieces from New Zealand's darker designers. Highlights include Gothic stalwarts Zambesi, the luxe leather work of Deadly Ponies and Jaeha - Alex Kim's brilliant label.

Children Of Vision

Not just for K Road club kids - Children Of Vision lets you order all sorts of avant-garde fashion fancies, no matter your location in the country. Yeah! Rock the latest Danish designed cape in Taihape if you choose.

Inzivil

Inzivil deserve a mention because I bought my favourite pair of vintage boots from them (imagine the shoes your Granny would wear on safari in Africa). Anyway, with Invzivil expect a nicely edited range of vintage, New Zealand and Australian threads.

This of course (as always) is by no means a comprehensive list, so if there's any other online Kiwi run shop that tickles your fancy, please share it with us! We always need another site to scope out on our online sprees - all the fun of shopping, with none of the changing room pain.

Social Media Club is an international association of professionals interested in sharing and learning about how they can get the most out of using social media in their business. A group of us here in Auckland have put together a local group to do just that right here.

We plan to have monthly meet ups at various locations around the city where anyone can come and listen to a brief case study from a practicioner here in New Zealand, and enjoy networking over a few drinks.

The inaugural meet up is happening tonight down at Ninteen42 (the 42 Below bar on Commerce St) from 6pm. It is going to feature a presentation from Jayson Bryant, the owner of The Wine Vault, a small business making great use of social media tools. It is free to attend, and is strictly on a first come, first served basis. Check out the full event details on Facebook. 

Look out for more events over the coming months covering a whole range of social media topics. You can also check out Social Media Club Auckland on Facebook.

Remember also that this is also your last weekend to take advantage of our great 'Summer of YouTube' promotion. From midnight on Sunday YouTube data will count like normal.

During the past 2 months Orcon broadband customers have devoured more than 100 Terabytes of YouTube video. That is a whole lot of videos of kittens playing and people falling over. We hope you enjoyed it.

Look out for more special bonuses for Orcon customers throughout 2010.

I went straight into scenario campaign mode as thats where "the story unfolds". After a really long intro and many loading screens, we finally get into some fighting - great old fashioned button mashing with a great amount of combos for those with the patience to learn them. However the story mode is just followed by wave after wave of a few people/beasts trying to stop you progressing, which yes while this is predictable for this sorta game, its not done in a captivating manner. I got immensely bored very quickly. After facing a few waves of enemies, and a couple of bosses, it felt like the same thing with different backgrounds. Oh and did I mention the loading times - its terrible. After every wee section it seems like it wants to load for a period. Theres a few things to collect along the way, which could keep some of us amused along with the what seems like a long road ahead. You start each section by selecting where to go on the "Tekken world map".

Offline mode, is what I fondly remember of Tekken. Good old button mashing getting past each player to try and get to be numereo uno! The graphics seemed very nice and smooth - still keeping with the arcade and comic feel but still very sharp detail. There are a hang of a lot of characters in the selection screen, a great deal I remember from older editions of Tekken, and some new faces. For some reason I have taken a liking to Lili - mind you I managed to taken down Yoshi (my old fav from teens) with her in my first battle! Theres vs modes, arcade, practice - and a mode called Ghost mode, where you can fight ghosts of characters preforming well working out how to beat certain moves etc. The Animals in certain fighting arenas can be a little distracting, but amusing trying a move on a sheep all the same - should it get in the way!

Online mode I found a lot more fun, and challenging. Its the one thing that makes this Tekken better than the old ones. Being able to play online - however lag seems to be an issue on the times I have played it online, granted partially due to my DSL connection i'm sure, but this sorta game play may need all the stars to line up to be a smooth game for all! Time will tell I'm sure. Altho could also be due to taking a while to find potential games - due to the amount of players online maybe? Selection pool and connection preferences limited?

All in all, I wouldn't be in a hurry to go grab this game, unless you love Tekken and cant miss an edition. Just be patient on the loading times, it was incredibly frustrating. I don't think I will bother any further with the campaign. I'm sure however I will enjoy playing it with my mates having a laugh while partaking in a session of button mashing!

Reviewed on: XBox 360

Available on: XBox 360, PS3, PSP

Rating: 2/5

If you want to know more about how Gary put this together, and where he gets the information from, you can check out the explanatory post on his blog.

As I type Shaun is sitting in Sydney making final preporations for his departure from Coffs Harbour tomorrow or Thursday (weather permitting). It is a journey of 2200km that couldl take him up to 80 days to complete.

Shaun is following in his father Colin Quincey's footsteps, who was the first to row the Tasman solo back in 1977.

As a major sponsor of the Tasman Trespasser campaign we have helped Shaun out providing high speed broadband for his base here in New Zealand so that his support crew can keep track of him.

You too can keep track of his progress across the Tasman via the live tracking feed.

The first obvious plus was the wireless controllers. We've gone though a couple of PlayStation mics just through cord issues and the mics cutting out half way through a song. The lights sounded like a gimmick at first - and they mostly are, but it's a handy way of knowing that they are switched on and working. The biggest surprise was that they are motion sensitive and are used in game for a variety of Wii style moments that do add to the game play, adding another element to what would over wise be just another singing game.

Graphically the songs all have different video mode options - I decided to stick with the original music videos - and display wise the lyrical set up is a lot easier to follow than on the SingStar games and even has a Guitar Hero style star power feature for extra points.

The song range is great, something for everyone, and with XBox Live you can add to your collection with ease.

Microsoft have essentially borrowed from various other sources to breath fresh life into the singing genre, but whilst Lips may lack in any original ideas, Microsoft defiantly now how to package an existing genre and make in into something better.

Not being a singing type of guy, Lips won't make it on my essential games list any time soon, but I know that none of my girls are going to be dragging the PlayStation out of the closet anymore, instead they're going to be fighting me for time on the XBox.

I'm not sure that this is a good thing...

Reviewed on: XBox 360

Available on: XBox 360

Rating: 4/5

Watch coverage of New Zealand's premier tennis event, streaming live from Stanley Street.

So if like us you are back at work, at least you can keep up with all the action (provided the boss doesn't notice of course). Just head on over to the TVNZ site.

Remember that Orcon@Home and Orcon@Work Broadband customers also get free data from Youtube until the 31st of January. So even if this great weather does come to an end, at least being stuck inside wont be quite so painful.

So, rest easy. It is.

In almost every way, Modern Warfare 2 takes what made the first game great, and pumps it full of steroids. The multiplayer is bigger, the graphics are an improvement, there are more weapons... more, more, more. Modern Warfare 2 is a masterpiece, and it's well worth your money.

Phew. Now that that's out of the way, let me take a deep breath and say this... it's not perfect.

The "amp everything up" mentality doesn't always work to the games advantage, and this is evident in one area: the campaign. Don't get me wrong, it's a great campaign. It's an absolute thrill ride, and my jaw hit the floor on multiple occasions. But, make no mistake, developer Infinity Ward has chosen to throw all their eggs in the Michael Bay style blockbuster basket. Call of Duty 4 - while not being exactly believable - had a little bit more subtlety. Missions like Ghillies in the Mist, where you played as a sniper, stuck in the brain long afterwards, more for their chilling intensity, and sense of loneliness. There is nothing like that in this game.

It's balls to the wall action, and it reminded me of a James Bond film. It's almost as if Infinity Ward decided on all the cool set pieces and locations they wanted to include, then worried about the story later. The finale is the greatest example of this, seeing you fight it out in a Dr Evil style underground base, against - I kid you not - henchmen. I was only left to wonder when I'd encounter the sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads.

Also, the campaign is at least two hours too short, and certain missions are over in the blink of an eye.

If my criticism sounds strong, it's just because I love this series so much. And, I loved the campaign too. I was hooked throughout, and there are multiple moments of bottled awesomeness. I'm just saying that Call of Duty 4's campaign will probably be the one that stays with you long-term.

I suspect that the second mode on offer - Special Operations - is where you'll find a lot of replayability. You can play this mode in co-op, one mission at a time. The challenges vary from simply taking down a set amount of enemies in a set time, to racing snow mobiles down a mountainside. They are a lot of fun and a great addition.

More than anything else though, multiplayer is where it's at. This was the case with the last game and it's the case with this one. And here, you'll be pleased to know, the "amping everything up" mentality pays dividends.

The RPG-lite levelling system is what makes it so addictive, and there are more ways than ever to create unique classes. The list of weapons, unlockables and perks can seem overwhelming at first.

In Call of Duty 4's multiplayer I'd burn my way to 150 kills with every weapon I could as a quick way of levelling up. I soon realised that to unlock everything for a single weapon in Modern Warfare 2 would take hours and hours. This encourages you to pick a favourite and go from there. After a brief love-affair with the Vector machine gun, I've now settled on the sexy Intervention sniper rifle (with an ACOG scope and heart-beat sensor) and the FAL single-shot rifle.

The great thing about multiplayer this time round is that you will be rewarded for playing in the style you love. So, if you're like me and like to hang back, you'll get extra points for one-shot kills and pulling off lone-range shots.

Probably the biggest game-changer this time around are the killstreaks. There are a ton of them, and you can unlock and choose the ones that suit you. This encourages you to be slightly more defensive, but with Predator missiles raining down and AC-130's in the air, that is easier said than done. One of the earlier killstreaks is the Care Package, which can contain anything from ammo to a Chopper Gunner killstreak. It reminds me of nothing so much as that old computer game Worms, believe it or not.

Like the campaign, all of this makes multiplayer more cartoon-like. However, in this case, I'm really enjoying the change.

While I have one or two gripes, they hardly seem fair. Modern Warfare 2 is so far and away from anything else in this genre. If I could only purchase one game in the next few years it would be this one.

It's the best game of this console generation and you need to play it.

Reviewed on: Xbox 360

Available on: XBox 360, PS3, PC

Rating: 5/5