As part of the Wired For Gadgets relaunch, we’re giving the power to the people! Instead of me guessing what you want to read about (and generally guessing wrong), the new WFG is turning the tables, and looking for writers, giving Wired For Gadgets an online community feel.

You can write as often or as little as you want… there’s no quotas or requirements.

Requirements to be a writer for WFG? A passion for tech and decent grammar skills. No past experience is required!

Oh, and did I mention the best part? You can write about whatever you want, as long as it’s tech related! (We’re talking gadgets, software, robots… anything that involves computers or technology)

So if you want to give it a shot, fill out the writer application and I’ll get back to you ASAP.

You never thought you’d see the day, did you… After almost a year “off the air”, WFG will be coming back on the air in the near future.

In the coming weeks, I plan on revamping the website to make it more social media oriented. Instead of me writing the content, you’ll write the content… almost like a social blog.

Okay, these changes are going to take some time so be patient. But I assure you, WFG will be back at it better than ever in just a few weeks.

Stay tuned!

- Jake

I generally don’t use Wired For Gadgets to plug other projects, but I’m going to make an exception to the rule.

Last year, the youth of Fargo,ND and Moorhead,MN made history by creating the largest youth led food drive in Fargo’s history, Fill The Dome. Last year’s project raised 80,498 pounds of food for local food pantries by filling the FargoDome floor with food. Food Pantries in Fargo-Moorhead, as well as the surrounding area are running low. Some in rural North Dakota are even having to close due to the lack of food. This year, Fill The Dome 2008 is aiming to raise 50 tons of food and $50,000 of funds to help these food pantries.

And to make things interesting, we are competing with Athens, Alabama, who is also trying to raise canned goods for their community.

As webmaster and an organizer for the project, I can honestly say this has been bigger than we ever had imagined. What started as a small idea two years ago has turned into something beyond belief.

If you are in the Fargo, ND area, please donate food. If you are not in the area, but still want to help, please donate. Info for doing both of these things, as well as more about the project, can be found on the Fill The Dome website (run by me), http://www.fillthedome.org

Thank you so much!

As I’m sure you know, running a website typically isn’t a money making venture, especially when you’re doing it as a hobby as I am.

So to defray costs, I’ve added donate buttons to the sidebar and to my alert bar at the top. Do you have have to donate? Certainly not. Wired For Gadgets is free to view and use and will always be that way. But if you support what I am doing, I do beg you ask for a donation.

So I ask you to donate to Wired For Gadgets through the PayPal links I’ve put up. I don’t have a set amount for donation- I ask you do donate what you think “right” for what I’m doing. Again, thank you for your continuing support of Wired For Gadgets. Your donations will not only keep WFG free (which it always will be), but will keep the content coming. Thanks!

Yes, even I need time off every once in a while too. I’m running out of town for Choir tour the next few days, and will be away from my computer. I’ll have my iTouch for email, but that’s it. Unless something big breaks, I don’t plan on posting anything for a few days. I might do something on Saturday, we’ll see. Otherwise, I’ve got over three years of archives and plenty of non-time related material. Thanks, we’ll see you Monday.

Welcome to 2008. As I mentioned yesterday, both 2006 and 2007 were huge years in the world of tech, and I expect 2008 to be no different. So, here are my Top 10 Tech Predictions for 2008.

1. iPhone will go 3G, will be available on Verizon or Sprint.
2. Apple will come out with a 12-inch sub-notebook for under $1300.
3. A new iPod Shuffle will come out and will be ungraded to 2GB.
4. Windows Vista will still suck (A real stab, I know).
5. Serious heat will pop up in the world of piracy.
6. The drop of Analog Cell Phone signals will create mass chaos.
7. I will still be the only one in my family with a Mac.
8. Both Tivo and Tumblr will be acquired.
9. Google or Yahoo will launch a Facebook look-a-like.
10. Google will pay stupid money for the 700MHz spectrum.

What do you think will happen this year? Leave your feedback in the comments. Happy New Year!

In the last few hours, I have recieved a lot of spam. I am putting out right now that Wired For Gadgets, as well as JakeBechtold.com and Fill The Dome, have NO TOLERANCE policy for spam, both in email and in comments. I do log IP Addresses (see my privacy policy), and I will block you if I think you are sending spam. Also, I may soon have to lock down comments to prevent spam.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you… Okay, that’s done.

I figured today I would take some time to explain a few changes that are going to happen to the site.

The top priority is how (or when) new content will be rolled out. I start school tomorrow, so my posting schedule is going to change. In the past, I’ve gone to every-other-day posting. This year, I’m going to try something different. Rather than go every other day and limit you on content, I’m going to go a non-guaranteed posting, meaning that I’m going to try to post everyday, but it may not happen.

Also, with this switch, I’m going to start pushing myself to get more original content. You’ve emailed me, and you want cool new stuff on the site, not what everyone else has. And since I am here to serve you, I’m going to try just that. I have some cool stuff in the works, and you should be able to see it soon.

These changes are for the better, and I hope they work out. Thank you so much for sticking around these two and half years (500+ posts- woot!), and I hope to continue to provide more great tech content in the near future.

- Jake