February 14, 2006, 5:03 PM PST
YOU love LOST? I LOVE Lost!
Posted by: Tom Merritt

About 200 people showed up at a swanky hotel in San Francisco for the TiVo dating game yesterday, hoping to meet a special someone who could pause Smallville long enough to send them a valentine. Date-seekers said they sought a relationship that could time-shift, fast-forward through boring parts, and be transferred to friends.

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February 14, 2006, 3:39 PM PST
Adios, Walkman Bean!
Posted by: James Kim

Bean there, done that.

Sony's "magical" bean-shaped MP3 player--designed with females in mind and aided by a huge glossy ad campaign-- will be discontinued in April. According to Sony, the cute flash-based player, which we panned for mediocre build quality and general navigation issues, will still be supported (warranties, firmware, Connect support, and so on).

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February 14, 2006, 3:10 PM PST
HBO doesn't want you to watch
Posted by: Tom Merritt

Apparently HBO isn't interested in you watching its programming. A post on Boing Boing shows a screenshot of a Windows Media Center PC "restricted content" message that came up when someone tried to watch an HBO show they'd recorded. Let's see. You have to pay to get HBO. It doesn't live or die by ratings. Sure. HBO has a real vested interest in stopping you from recording its programs and watching them later. Oh, Buzz knows, the company is afraid of piracy and the erosion of successful DVD sales. Meanwhile, Showtime's getting a lot of new viewers from people buying shows off of iTunes. And what's up with Windows Media Center playing along with HBO's restrictions? My TiVo records HBO shows just fine. Oops. Shouldn't have said that. That won't last long now, will it?

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February 14, 2006, 11:44 AM PST
Hydrogen: not if but when
Posted by: Wayne Cunningham

Walking to work today, I saw a fuel-cell bus from a local transit authority, AC Transit, driving down the street. It was a demonstration vehicle, not working a regular line, but it made me think about how hydrogen-powered vehicles will become an unremarkable sight. Naysayers often muster arguments against fuel-cell vehicles, but the momentum is against them. All major carmakers have some kind of hydrogen/fuel-cell car in the works. For example, DaimlerChrysler is leasing 60 of its F-Cell cars to government and private groups around the world, including Tokyo, California, and Germany. Honda has been leasing its FCX fuel-cell vehicle to groups for testing over the past couple of years and is planning on putting its next-generation FCX into production by 2010. Ford, GM, and Toyota also have active hydrogen/fuel-cell programs.

But it's not just the carmakers. Major oil companies are also researching methods of hydrogen generation and distribution. BP is building two hydrogen-fueled power plants: a 350-megawatt plant in Scotland and a 500 megawatt-plant in California. Shell has hydrogen projects in Europe, North America, and Asia, while Chevron has built a demonstration hydrogen-fueling station in California. With this much research and investment by major companies, the momentum is going toward hydrogen.

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February 14, 2006, 9:40 AM PST
Cell phones in the dark
Posted by: Kent German

Sprint yesterday published the results of its U.S. Consumer Wireless Usage Study. Conducted nationwide, the survey polled 673 respondents on a variety of questions, from the ordinary to the more arcane. As for the most popular cell phone form factor, the flip phone was the clear winner, with more than 70 percent of respondents saying they preferred it over candy bar and slider models. Besides making calls, the most popular cell phone feature was integrated cameras, while push-to-talk services, ring-tone downloading, Internet access, and music rounded out the top five. When asked what feature they'd like to see in their phones, 27 percent said a printer, a scanner, or a fax machine, and 17 percent asked about a thermometer. On the more offbeat side, 60 percent reported using their mobile to find something in the dark, and 4 percent said they played games on their cell phone while on a date.

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February 14, 2006, 9:20 AM PST
Microsoft launching free Web sites for small business
Posted by: Rafe Needleman

Microsoft Office Live is going into beta this week. It's part of Redmond's ongoing attempt to move from being just a software company to being, at least partly, a company that provides online products.

The Office Live service will be a small-business Web host, essentially. It's designed to help very small businesses (watch for this new acronym: VSB) get online with e-mail and a basic Web site. There will be a free version.

Oh, but you will pay. Eventually, it's a safe bet that Microsoft will start to offer commerce and advertising products on top of its "free" service. While these services might not ever bill the small business directly, Microsoft may be able to take a cut of online revenues. It's a good model for Microsoft, and if it helps the VSB, customers shouldn't mind if the company makes a few pennies for its efforts. That is, as long as the commissions are reasonable and disclosed.

We'll have a quick review up very soon.

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February 14, 2006, 6:59 AM PST
MovieBeam Service launches
Posted by: David Rudden

MovieBeam announced today the availability of its new MovieBeam System in 29 metropolitan areas. The system--an over-the-air video-on-demand movie venture backed by Intel, Cisco, and Disney--is available through major brick-and-mortar and online retailers for $200 (after a mail-in rebate). It lets users view any of 100 preselected movies, from just about every major Hollywood studio as many times as they wish over a 24-hour period for a fee ranging from $2 to $5 per film. It will refresh by downloading as many as 10 new movies over a special antenna every week. But the big news is that the MovieBeam System is slated to offer as many as 10 movies in 720p high-definition at any given time--a big step up from the standard-definition fare you'll find on most cable systems.

If MovieBeam sounds familiar, it's because the system was tested in select markets until last year, when it was rumored to be up for sale. Is the new and improved MovieBeam reason enough to toss your DVD player in the trash? Find out all the details in our First Take of the product right now, and check back soon for a full review.

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February 14, 2006, 6:26 AM PST
Panasonic goes wide
Posted by: Lori Grunin

Joining the ranks of the few wide-angle compact cameras on the market, Panasonic eschews its traditional telephoto zoom lens for a 3.6X, f/2.8 28mm-to-100mm version. The Lumix DMC-FX01's lens group includes four aspherical lenses--in a zoom lens system, more aspherical lenses theoretically deliver better results--while most digital cameras use just two or three. It'll be interesting to see what the distortion looks like on this baby.

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February 14, 2006, 5:49 AM PST
Through Panasonic's prism
Posted by: Lori Grunin

We've seen zoom lenses that extend internally before. But now Panasonic takes the concept to the 10th degree--or to 10X zoom, more specifically. To squeeze the long zoom into a relatively compact design, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ1 uses a prism to refract the incoming light sideways toward the sensor, which is positioned near the grip. It's a pretty nifty concept.

The camera also integrates an updated focusing system for faster operation--yay--and the latest Venus III image processor, which ostensibly provides it with faster shooting speeds and longer battery life. That's with Oxyrides, right?

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