Hey, just a reminder on the Webby Awards that Minneapolis-based PUNY is actually nominated in two categories for its in-your-face, colorful design of the Yo Gabba Gabba! website (pictured). Besides being nominated in the celebrity/fan category — the one everyone seems to mention — it’s also nominated in the television category. So when you vote in the Webby’s People’s Voice Awards, be sure to check both categories.

(Side note: Considering that it’s created by an organization that rewards Web excellence, the website for the Webbys could really use a much better design. For one, it should be searchable, not just by website and creator but by region of where the nominees are based. The awards would probably get more press with this simple addition.)

As I noted in my column today, three other Minneapolis-produced websites are also in the running. They are Our Message of Hope for best video mashup/remix, Pizza Luce for best restaurant site and Yearbook Yourself for best viral marketing. Voting ends Thursday, so get your picks in soon.

As far as PUNY, founder Shad Petosky is elated about the Webby nods. He also said PUNY is planning more innovations: “We are working on a new show/tech thing that will blow your gourd.”   �

Just catching up on some recent topics that have been stacking up since I started doing NewsBreak duties. Here are some interesting tidbits from the video-game and home-video world:

Mature DS: I recently wrote about the spate of Mature-rated games that have hit the Wii lately, including MadWorld. But the Nintendo DS is growing up, too. Last week, Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the portable system. It’s only the sixth M-rated game to come out for the DS. (A seventh, the first-person shooter C.O.R.E., comes out April 14, after being postponed from December.) GTA: Chinatown Wars has been getting rave reviews, with a Metascore of a whopping 94 (out of 100) at Metacritic. I just started playing last week, too. I’ve been turned off by the cartoonish graphics and humor, and I’m not thrilled with any DS that requires the player to wield the stylus at the same time you use the various buttons. But I have to admit that the game is as addictive as any previous GTA title. As soon as you finish a mission, it’s nearly impossible not to want to go on to the next one immediately, no matter the hour.

Game sales: Video games continue to defy the economic conditions. Sales of hardware, software and accessories were up 10 percent in February and up 11 percent since the beginning of the year, compared with the same time periods a year ago, according to the latest figures from the industry-tracking NPD Group. Interestingly, analyst Anita Frazier said, “Unit sales increased even more than dollar sales did, reflecting a slightly lower average retail price for all categories as compared to last year.” The biggest-selling game was Wii Fit, benefitting surely from New Year’s resolutions and the Wii’s continued dominance (753,000 units sold in February, by far the month’s biggest console). Sony’s PlayStation 3 had the biggest sales increase from January among all systems (276,000 sold) – largely thanks to the exclusive shooter Killzone 2, which ranked No. 5 among all games even though it was available only two days of the month.

Amazing PS3: I missed The Amazing Race last night while I was out for the evening. March Madness pushed 60 Minutes back an hour, which then delayed my show — nullifying the time set on the season pass on my DirecTV DVR. No problem. I’m planning to watch the missed episode tonight. I’ll just go to CBS.com using my PlayStation 3 and stream the TV show directly from the website to my big screen. The Wii and Xbox 360 can’t do that.

Warner DVDs: Interesting news that Warner Home Video has decided to sell thousands of unreleased movies from its vaults as custom DVDs ($20) or instant downloads ($15). I don’t see much for me in the initial batch of 151 movies being offered at the Warner Archive, but I’m intrigued to see what’s coming, especially among the TV shows. I have a feeling that Warner is going to rake in some money on this venture, so expect other studios to follow suit. MGM, for example, has a similarly huge catalog.

High-def classic: Speaking of MGM, my favorite movie, Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, has finally been announced for release on Blu-ray. It’s coming May 12, and , well, I can hardly wait. High-Def Digest has the details, such as they are at this point.

I’m singing a jingle online today as part of Dex’s clever Jingle That promotion. OK, so it’s not really me singing; I’ve just picked the words. But that is my face that I’ve superimposed on the body of an ’80s-style big-hair rocker. And I could have uploaded my actual voice using a phone. I could have typed out the words, too, but then the jingle would have been done in one of those creepy robotic voices — and “Technobabble” would have sounded like “TEK-NOBLE.” And while I picked an ’80s power balladeer, I could have chosen an alt-rocker, a country singer or a lounge vocalist.

Here are the words to my song, which I constructed  as an ode to the digital TV conversion:

You need a flatscreen
And you need it fast
Don’t know how long your sanity can last
Complicated stuff!
You’re all zoning out
No future in sight
And you’ve just got to watch it tonight
Get with the program!
Complicated stuff!

Not bad for picking from stock words, eh? Readers loved these kind of interactive online features when I wrote the Web Search column, so I hope you enjoy this one, too.

And once you create your jingle, you can e-mail it to a friend, post a link to it or embed it on your website, as I’ve done below:

Have fun!

Minnesota Public Radio has moved its old Morning Show to the Internet and HD Radio (as Radio Heartland), but you can continue to tune it in on your regular stereo. Reader David Peter recently wrote to ask how he could stream MPR’s Internet audio from the computer in his home office wirelessly to stereos in other rooms of his house. Here are three ideas for him and others in the same situation:

1) If you want something elegant and good quality — plus something that can be used for all kinds of wireless audio applications — the Squeezebox Duet has earned raves and is lower in price than comparable systems (such as Sonos). You can read more about it at CNET. It’s more of a whole-house system, and prices start below $400.

2) If you want something cheap, quick and dirty, you could always try connecting an FM transmitter to the audio output of your computer and then tuning in the signal using an open frequency on your FM receiver. Arkon makes such a device for only $15.

3) An AV transmitter — such as this $40 model from the reliable Monoprice – is a variation on the latter. It has two devices that connect to your computer on one end and your receiver on the other (using an audio input), and then the audio signal is sent wirelessly between them. This device also transmits video and is commonly used for security cameras — but it will do the trick for a radio show.

Any other suggestions?

If you’ve ever heard Minnesota comedian Louie Anderson reminisce about family holiday dinners, he invariably gets to the part where his mother jumps up during the meal and screams, “Oh, the cranberries!” — having forgotten to put them out yet again. Cranberries always make the holidays better, as this deliciously, hilariously macabre video from the twisted minds at JibJab reminds us:

You’ll never look at a traditional popcorn string the same way again.

Merry Christmas, and happy holidays to all!

In a year when there wasn’t much good to hear from politicians, a cooperative online project among several Minneapolis-based creative agencies has resulted in an amusing mashup video that turns their negative sound bites into Our Message of Hope for the holiday season. The clip features President-elect Barack Obama, President Bush, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and even Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, among other politicians.

“Our intention, is to create an emotional holiday message that makes people stop, think and share,” said Bruce Bildsten, creative director of Brew, the lead agency. “This year we thought our friends could use a smile, as well.”

Brew has made a tradition of creating online videos for the holidays. Last year, its Glow envisioned a sparkling spectral span across the Mississippi River in the wake of the bridge collapse. The year before, The Letter delivered an uplifting holiday message amid the turmoil of the Iraq War.

The new Our Message of Hope offers a twist in that users can create their own mashup after watching the clip by rearranging the political scenes and music. Other agencies involved in its creation were Sevnth Sin, Ditch, Rumble and Fast Horse Inc.

Give it a whirl.