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- Lori Grunin
- Justin Jaffe
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- Nicole Lee
- Lara Luepke
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- Felisa Yang
April 10, 2006, 4:05 PM PDTAir France to test in-flight cell phone use
Posted by: Nicole Lee Despite studies that show cell phones may be a hazard on flights, it looks like cell phone use may be allowed onboard anyway. Air France has allowed OnAir, a company in Europe, to equip one of its future planes with GSM technology. It will be an Airbus A318, used to conduct a six-month commercial test, starting in March 2007, for short flights to and from Europe and North Africa. According to The Register, the testing period will be only for data services such as text messaging and data applications; voice testing will come later.
This news comes six months after Boeing and UTStarcom managed to successfully utilize cell phones on both CDMA and GSM networks over Connexion, Boeing's in-flight Internet service provider; Connexion is available on many international flights, but it has yet to see approval here in the United States. According to Connexion by Boeing, it plans to have in-flight cell phone usage available in commercial flights (in Europe at least) as early as this year. However, it's unlikely that cell phone use in commercial flights will be allowed in the United States anytime soon, thanks to FCC regulations.
Note to self: When traveling in Europe, don't forget to pack a pair of noise-canceling headphones.
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April 10, 2006, 3:45 PM PDTHigh demand, low energy
Posted by: Elsa Wenzel
If you're looking to trim utilities bills, start with the government's Energy Star program. Electronics that brandish the Energy Star logo consume less power than others. To earn the seal, televisions, computers and other equipment must enter low-power sleep mode. More than 35,000 products currently qualify.
Before you shop for that new entertainment center, find this list of Energy Star-compliant products. The list includes home audio and TV equipment, battery chargers, PCs, monitors, and printers. The site also helps you look up relevant stores.
Energy Star estimates say that the average household spends 4 percent of its energy bill on electronics such as computers, monitors, TVs, and DVD players. That doesn't count the standby power eaten up by dormant electronics that are left plugged in. The EPA says that Energy Star helped Americans save $12 billion on energy bills last year. The program paints its efforts as helping to prevent greenhouse gas emissions in 2005 by an amount equivalent to what 23 million cars would have coughed up.
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April 10, 2006, 3:18 PM PDTThe Scion Fuse concept teaser
Posted by: Wayne Cunningham Scion sent out a teaser about the concept it will launch at the New York Auto Show this week. The name Fuse was confirmed, plus a teaser picture was made available. The picture, showing a little more than half the car, is pretty revealing. It looks like a squat, curvy xB, which I found surprising because I didn't expect the xB to be the basis for this new sport-coupe concept. I also messed around with Photoshop to copy half the image and split it to try to see what the whole thing would look like. I've got the grille basically right, but the perspective makes the cab look too much like a bubble, which I'm sure it isn't. I'll have the full story on the Fuse in a couple of days. Permalink | Post a comment
- Read also: Car Tech, NY Auto Show
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April 10, 2006, 3:17 PM PDTBMW goes (boat) racing
Posted by: Wayne Cunningham A boat wearing a BMW badge on its hull will compete in the America's Cup race. BMW is giving more than sponsorship, providing key engineering help to this competitor. BMW and Oracle teamed up last year for the America's Cup race, and this year, they've come up with a new lightweight racer. Read CNET's News.com story and watch the video. Permalink | Post a comment
- Read also: Car Tech
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April 10, 2006, 1:37 PM PDTGet paid to watch commercials!
Posted by: Rafe Needleman No, it's not one of those spam scams. ReacTV, an online/cable content company, is rolling out an interactive game-show service that has a clever technology to prevent you from ignoring its advertisers: It quizzes you on the content of commercials and rewards you for the right answers.
Since the whole network is based around game shows (trivia, Wheel of Fortune-like games, and so on), what's one more question based on something you probably just watched? If you answer questions on ReacTV correctly--based on your own trivia knowledge, game-show skills, or recollection of facts from commercials you've just seen--you win points that can be redeemed for prizes. The company is putting 30 percent of its advertising revenue into the prize pool.
With technology like this, there's no need to worry about people skipping over commercials. Give people a few shekels, and they'll likely watch anything. Test them on it, and they'll probably even pay attention. Furthermore, the data from the quizzes can get analyzed and reported back to the advertisers, telling them which messages get through to consumers and which don't. It's sneaky. And it's smart.
ReacTV's game shows will run simultaneously on the Web (at 77.tv) and on cable TV. A cable carrier announcement is coming on August 1--not coincidentally the 25th anniversary of the launch of MTV.
The company is also releasing a cool new universal remote control, the REMO [see picture], that has Wi-Fi technology built into it. This will allow the remote to act as a console for the games, as well as display information about what you are watching (sports stats and electronic program guides). You'll also be able to program it easily from a Web site, the company says.
Tidbit I can't resist: The company's core advertising technology is called the Consumer Rewarded Advertising Vehicle (CRAV), and according to the press release, the patent is filed under the moniker of the CRAV Reactive Ad Process (you figure out the acronym). I guess you can get a patent for anything these days.
Permalink | Post a comment- Read also: content, emerging tech, televisions
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April 10, 2006, 1:18 PM PDTCingular and MySpace team up
Posted by: Nicole Lee In an effort to keep hip with today's youth, Cingular is planning to sell ring tones made by indie bands that put their music up on MySpace, probably one of the most popular social networking sites among teenagers. Any artist on MySpace can upload a short track via an audio file and have it converted into a ring tone, as long as it's deemed original and "appropriate" (the criteria for what is appropriate is unclear). While artists can sell the ring tone on their own MySpace page, there's already a site on MySpace called Cingular's Mobile Music Studio, where you can purchase the ring tones and "bring your favorite unsigned artists to your Cingular mobile phone." Each 30-second ring tone will cost $2.50, and each band will get 25 percent of the proceeds. I can just hear the screams of hard-core fans yelling "Sellouts!" now.
Source: News.com and MobileTracker
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April 10, 2006, 10:49 AM PDTJVC GR-D650: compact cassette camcorder
Posted by: Will Greenwald
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Source: Newlaunches via Gizmodo
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April 10, 2006, 9:26 AM PDTGizmondo may be dead, but Ferrarigate lives on
Posted by: Molly Wood Perhaps the Gizmondo handheld gaming device could have a second life, once someone writes a game for it that echoes the fabulous life of ex-exec Stefan Eriksson. Eriksson has just been charged with grand theft after a mysterious and spectacular Ferrari crash. It now turns out that the Ferrari, which first appeared to belong to Eriksson, was actually owned by a British bank, because he'd stopped making payments. And this chapter comes in the aftermath of the crash itself, which included: claims by Eriksson that the driver of the wrecked car was a guy named Dietrich who mysteriously vanished into the woods; a loaded gun found under what remained of the seat in the sheared-in-half, million-dollar Ferrari Enzo; an Irish accomplice who gave his address as a luxury yacht and then fled the country; and of course, some murky connection to Homeland Security. Now this is a role-playing game I can get behind. Permalink | 2 comments
- Read also: Buzz
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April 10, 2006, 9:22 AM PDTABC and Disney offer free TV (for you and me)
Posted by: Molly Wood For months, we've been promising (in the form of studies and surveys) that we'd cheerfully watch ads if it meant we could get television online for free. It's time to put your money where your "press 1 for yes" is: Disney and ABC are planning to offer ABC's most popular shows on a revamped Web site, for free, the day after they air--with technology to keep you from fast-forwarding through the commercials. So, the question is: now that they're giving us what we asked for, how are we going to get away with being mad about the fast-forwarding thing? Permalink | 18 comments
- Read also: Buzz
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April 10, 2006, 7:39 AM PDTSonos ZP80 bundle now available
Posted by: John P. Falcone
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We just received the ZP80 bundle and will have a complete hands-on review soon. But it's worth noting that the previous Sonos system has remained an enthusiastic CNET Editors' Choice, and the ZP80 version is $200 cheaper while still utilizing the best-in-class Sonos CR100 remote.
Related CNET coverage:
- Sonos ZP80 unveiled
- Sonos Digital Music System (ZP100 bundle)
- Sonos adds support for Audible and Apple Lossless
- Roku SoundBridge M1000: affordable Sonos alternative
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