April 19, 2006, 4:28 PM PDT
Philips patent would trap you into commercial-watching
Posted by: Molly Wood

Royal Philips Electronics has filed a patent for technology that would force users to watch commercials without fast-forwarding and would even prevent them from changing the channel during ads. No, seriously. No, I swear, I am totally serious. They say the invention is designed for on-demand television viewing, but the patent application also allows for the possibility that you could pay a fee in order to be able to change the channel on your very own television. I am not making this up. I wish I were, but I'm not. At this point, I can only say: Go, blogosphere, go! Do what you do best!

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April 19, 2006, 3:16 PM PDT
Palm Treo 700w software update available now
Posted by: Bonnie Cha

Palm and Verizon Wireless just announced that the software update for the Treo 700w is available now, finally bringing push e-mail technology to the smart phone. Verizon Wireless customers will be notified of this update in several ways, but you can also download the software from Palm's support site. The update includes the following highlights:

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April 19, 2006, 1:03 PM PDT
Cingular soars, Moto's market share rises
Posted by: Kent German

Cingular said today it added 1.7 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2006, boosting the carrier's total customers to 55.8 million. Cingular also said it has reduced subscriber churn to an all-time low of 1.9 percent. On the financial front, the nation's largest carrier reported good news as well. For the first quarter of this year, revenues were $9 billion, an improvement of 9.1 percent since the first quarter of 2005.

On the other hand, Motorola had a more mixed quarter. For the first three months of this year, while total revenue rose 23 percent to $10.01 billion from the same period in 2005, profit fell $6 million to $686 million, largely due to declining sales from its network division. Thanks to the ever-popular Razr, however, Moto said cell phone sales rose 61 percent to 46.1 million units, boosting its total share of the global cell phone market to 21 percent. The last figure is especially impressive, considering the company's share amounted to just 13 percent before the Razr hit the market. And the Slvr is no slouch either. During its first 180 days, sales from the slim candy bar phone outpaced sales for the Razr.

As for other manufacturers, Sony Ericsson and Nokia beat forecasts, while Samsung's profit fell 25 percent.

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April 19, 2006, 11:30 AM PDT
2006 Nissan Xterra SE
Posted by: Wayne Cunningham

The 2006 Nissan Xterra SE arrived in our garage today, so we took it out for a spin to get some initial impressions. The Xterra is more off-road than tech focused--navigation isn't even an option, which is too bad because some nav systems work great off-road. For example, the system in the Ford Explorer we reviewed earlier drew in custom roads when the car was taken off-road.

Performancewise, the Xterra feels extremely capable. Its 265-horsepower, 4.0-liter V-6 gives it excellent acceleration, and its on-the-fly four-wheel-drive system lets the driver switch between two-wheel, four-high, and four-low, all from a dial in the dashboard. The five-speed automatic transmission our test car came equipped with isn't ideal for off-roading, but there's no manual option at the SE trim level. Nissan does offer an Off-Road trim level that has a six-speed manual. The Xterra is a tall car and feels a bit dicey when taking turns at any kind of speed, even with Nissan's Vehicle Dynamic Control system.

The Xterra is built on a ladder frame, which is more than evident from its rough ride. Pothole-filled city streets send strong bounces and jounces into the cabin, although the seats are cushioned enough to absorb some of the shock. Our test car came with the Rockford Fosgate premium audio package, which produces very rich sound. This system is made up of eight speakers, a subwoofer, an in-dash six-CD changer that plays MP3 CDs, and prewiring for either XM or Sirius Satellite Radio. For MP3 CDs, the stereo shows song title and folder name, although this requires pressing the Display button. Buttons in the steering wheel control the audio system and even include a power button, something we haven't seen in many steering wheel-control setups.

The 2006 Nissan Xterra SE's ride and interior are too Spartan for grocery trips, a taxi service for children, and other mundane activities most SUVs are used for. It's a more rugged truck that needs to be used for excursions that take it off the beaten path.

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April 19, 2006, 10:42 AM PDT
Motorola Q sighting on Verizon's site?
Posted by: Bonnie Cha

Tracking the elusive Motorola Q has become a sport to some, and one eagle-eyed member of Qusers.com found a picture (which has now mysteriously vanished) of the smart phone featured on Verizon Wireless's Web site, complete with the carrier's signature red branding. Searching for the Moto Q from Verizon's main page doesn't turn up any results (trust us, we've tried everything), but according to the thread, it's hidden in the directory. Very interesting...

Many of you have been asking about pricing information, but unfortunately, Motorola hasn't released any such details and has remained tight-lipped on the subject.

Update: Here's some more promising news. Today, the FCC approved the Motorola Q, and though the documents didn't reveal any new information (CDMA, Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone Edition, Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and a QWERTY keyboard), could this be a sign that the Q has cleared the last hurdle before public release? Fingers crossed. (Source: Phone Scoop.)

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April 19, 2006, 10:19 AM PDT
Microsoft issues a patch workaround
Posted by: Robert Vamosi

Experiencing trouble with your PC since you downloaded last week's Microsoft Security patches? You're not alone. According to a Microsoft knowledge base article, "Problems in Windows Explorer or the Windows shell after you install security update MS06-015," users running Hewlett-Packard's Share-to-Web software may find that they are unable to open the My Documents folder and that Microsoft Office apps may stop functioning when they attempt to open the My Documents folder. These users may also note an inability to open documents with Microsoft Office apps. Also, manually typing an Internet address into Internet Explorer may have no effect, using the Send To function after right-clicking may have no effect, opening the contents of a condensed folder in Windows Explorer may have no effect, and non-Microsoft apps may fail when users attempt to save a file to the My Documents folder. The patch in question, MS06-015, "Vulnerability in Windows Explorer Could Allow Remote Code Execution," includes a new binary VERCLSID.EXE, which validates shell extensions before executing the command in Windows shell or Windows Explorer. The Microsoft knowledge base article details specific workarounds for HP Share-to-Web users.

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April 19, 2006, 9:50 AM PDT
Is this the Palm Treo Hollywood?
Posted by: Bonnie Cha

Lately, much of the Treo buzz has been around the upcoming 700p, but as you may recall, Palm CEO Ed Colligan promised three new smart phones this year, one of which is the Hollywood, a slimmed-down version of the Treo. Well, it seems Treonauts saw the device out in the wild and snapped some blurry pictures of it. If all the speculations are right, the device will run Windows Mobile 5 and feature a 300MHz processor, 128MB of flash memory, 64MB of RAM, a 240x240-pixel screen, and a 1.3-megapixel camera. It's also rumored that the GSM/UMTS phone will launch on Cingular's network.

While we wait for the official announcements from Palm, tell me: Which new Treo are you more excited about? The Treo 700p or the Hollywood? TalkBack to me below.

Update: Right on the heels of the Treonaut news, Brighthand has confirmed from "very reliable sources" that the Hollywood Treo does not exist, stating, "According to this information, Palm does not have any current or future device codenamed Hollywood. Moreover, the original report of a slim Treo designed for Europe is false, and the company has no such model on the table." If this is true, what exactly does Palm have up its sleeve for its two other smart phones?

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April 19, 2006, 9:44 AM PDT
Nerds for nature
Posted by: Elsa Wenzel

In the spirit of Earth Day this Saturday, we've assembled a CNET guide to greener tech. Here, you'll see how eco-minded folks are using all sorts of everyday tech tools to address environmental woes--whether with energy- and money-saving hardware, solar-powered cell phone chargers, hybrid cars, or software.

"The soul selects her own society," wrote one nature-loving poet. And Web 2.0 tools make it a snap to put like-minded souls together. Green geeks, for instance, have mashed up Google Maps to chart ecological disasters and pollution, even to help you find discarded treasures on New York streets. Other tech-savvy observers of Earth Day are building Web-based micro start-ups that allow people to pay for their pollution or to help far-flung microentrepreneurs.

And just as editor Rafe Needleman describes social bookmarking tools, such as Digg, that help news junkies to vote on and find stories that appeal to them, the popular green blog Treehugger now adds its own social bookmarking service to the crowded field. Its Hugg allows you to locate and rate stories on all things green, even gadgets. You can also browse the green blogosphere via Squidoo's specialized directory and Rollyo's custom search. Catch up on cutting-edge green tech news at News.com.

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April 19, 2006, 8:43 AM PDT
Den of ubiquity
Posted by: Will Greenwald

The Hanaro Plus is a "ubiquitous integrated device," which appears to be British for "expensive Webcam with strange features." It's a Webcam with a memory card reader and a USB hub, as well as a speaker built into its base. According to U.K. importer KJ Global, the Hanaro Plus will replace your digital camera, camcorder, speakers, and...DVR?!? We can pretty much guarantee that the Hanaro Plus's 320,000-pixel CMOS won't replace your Canon EOS 1DS Mark II or your Panasonic AG-HVX200, and its 3-watt speaker certainly won't replace your Onkyo SKS-HT240 surround-sound setup. Heck, we don't know how it'll even try to replace your TiVo. Unfortunately, you probably won't even get a chance to drop $140 US on this goofy Asian product--the only Western site we've seen that carries it is KJ Global, and we doubt that the company ships across the pond. If you understand Korean or Japanese, though, you might be able to find this for a bargain!

Source: Gizmodo

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April 19, 2006, 7:52 AM PDT
Why don't camcorders shoot raw?
Posted by: Lori Grunin

Maybe it's because I'm awash in a sea of DVD-, flash-, and hard-disk-based camcorders at the moment, but after staring at hour upon hour of artifact-ridden footage, I can't help but wonder why tapeless camcorders don't support some sort of raw recording. If you had a video stream straight from the sensor, you could work all sorts of software magic on it with little or no degradation before committing MPEG on it. Furthermore, by delaying the compression until it can be done by a real computer, it should yield better results. True, that would detract from some of the convenience, but I think there are ways around that as well.

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