Tech Bites: 6 January 2009

• Are Techies an Endangered Species? Infoworld reports that as if the US economy didn’t have enough problems, now it’s facing a techie bust. Enrollment in undergraduate IT degree programs was more than 50% lower in 2008 than in 2003, according to the Computing Research Association’s annual survey.

• Despite the current economic downturn, the Consumer Electronics Show kicking off in Las Vegas this week is projecting that attendance in the entertainment category will hold steady with last year. TV Week reports that overall, the Consumer Electronics Association expects about 130,000 attendees for the annual tech-centric event, down about 10% from 140,000 in 2008. Those who make the trek will be treated to a heavy dose of programming, as CES continues to position itself as not just a gadget show but a programming event as well. CES has more than 200 conference sessions and 500 speakers covering all aspects of the consumer electronics industry. Read the TV Week overview or visit the CES official web site

• Meanwhile, another once major technology gathering, MacWorld in San Francisco, may be on its last legs after Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced will no longer deliver a keynote address at the annual expo.Jobs has of course been busy talking about his personal health issues this week, but the lack of a keynote would seem to mark the end of the show with Apple apparently deciding it no longer needs MacWorld to announce products and get media attention.

• Despite glomy news of mass redundancies at Microsoft, it seems Christmas 2008 was a good one for its console division, with the Xbox 360 had its best ever Christmas period in Europe. The console sold almost double numbers over 2007, taking its total to date to around eight million units. While not mentioning any actual figures, a new release from the company is quick to point out that last year saw it "grow faster than any competitor" and that it "leads the Sony PS3 by over one million units."

• Muffin is a music discovery engine that delivers a fresh and accurate system that introduces you to more of the music you'll enjoy based on your individual musical tastes. The team behind the app includes some of the original minds behind the MP3 format. Official Site: www.mufin.com

• While we're talking music, Nokia made quite a big deal of its 'Comes with Music' service last year, which offered unlimited downloads of tracks for a year from four major record labels. However the DRM-infested, non-MP3 tunes haven't exactly gone down too well with consumers and the fact that they're tied to your phone (and therefore its internal memory capacity) restricts the appeal even further. Gizmodo reports experts even criticised it for potentially 'costing Nokia a fortune' without much return and despite Nokia's CEO claiming substantial interest in the service and suggesting that the economic situation would make these 'free' tracks even more appealing, it doesn't seem to have worked out as planned. Read the full Gizmodo story

• Here's what looks to be a fun new media tool (currently in beta): Xtranormal. Create your own animated feature using only Flash and typing skills. Select from a range of characters, drag direction icons into your script, and type in your dialogue. You can even select different accents for your characters.