Category: News

  • Powered by electricity, cassette vehicle concept is the future be the mode of transport

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    This may sound selfish to those who usually ferry around their whole family in their SUV, but vehicles intended to transport just one person at a time are being chiseled into shape. Designed to work like a train i.e. using a monorail type track, these vehicles can transport a person to his destination quickly. The cassette vehicle concept is powered using electricity and uses the suction technique. The monorail like carrier acts as a hub for the vehicle and at the same time fulfills the duty of charging the vehicles. The carriers form a path for the cassette vehicles through a transparent tube with rails and air suction motors at stations. When needed, the operator needs to run the suction motor at the destination point and the carrier zips there quickly. This design is unique and will be more practical if it can accommodate more than just one person for use in future. This will help save energy and prevent our environment from those harmful gases vehicles emit nowadays.
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    [Tuvie]

  • Go slim, and go green with Tanita’s new solar powered weighing scale

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    Over consumption of energy leads to disastrous results, and that is not only true for the planet! With most people opting for the most clichéd New Year resolution of slimming down, this year you can add a little green twist. Tanita solar technology has come out with the new Tanita HS-302 Solar Digital Scale which combines Japanese electronics with its second generation solar technology to give you a unique weighing scale that uses direct sunlight or indoor lighting for power, so that the power does not get over, no matter how heavy an object you are weighing on the scale.

    The scale itself has been made by a new kind of ABS plastic using biodegradable resins, which is called as Terramac. Terramac reduced the overall carbon emissions 20%, which means, you leave a lot lesser carbon foot-print in comparison to when you use a regular battery-operated scale. And it’s available at a neat $60, which means that much money less in your pocket to splurge on junk food!

    [EarthTechling]

  • RealNetworks Wants a Convergence Play – Just Like Everyone Else [MediaMemo]

    real-logoWhy did RealNetworks buy Varia Mobile, a software company best known for producing a MP3 player no one bought?

    To work on a mysterious cloud computing project, which has something to do with mobility and entertainment. That’s per Techflash, which reported on the deal Sunday.

    Probably best not to make too much of this one. Given that Real didn’t announce the deal (let alone report it to the SEC), it can’t be for much money (note that the last purchase Real bothered to announce was for $4 million). And LaLa deal aside, you can “acqhire” a group of engineers without laying out a lot of cash these days.

    But it is a good reminder that RealNetworks (RNWK) wants to make itself a player in the next phase of entertainment — the one where you buy or rent the stuff you want to consume over the Web, and consume it wherever you want.

    That’s at least part of why CEO Rob Glaser is still wrangling with Hollywood over his “RealDVD” system, which is supposed to let you rip copies of DVDs you already own. Because once you’ve done that, the next logical step is moving the file to your iPod, or your tablet,  or just to different rooms in your house.

    The problem, of course, is that everyone else wants to play there, too. And many of them are already are, in some form.

    There are the hardware guys like Sony (SNE), who are selling TV sets and game consoles with Web connections, and cable guys like Comcast (CMCSA), who already control the pipe that brings the stuff to your living room. And telcos like Verizon (VZ), which want to do the same thing. And, of course, retailers like Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Netflix (NFLX), who are already selling digital entertainment. Etc, etc.

    During the first Web boom, it seemed Real would be in this list as well, since its back-end technology and its Real player were commonly used to move entertainment around the Internet. Now it’s best-known for its Rhapsody music service and its collection of casual games, but it doesn’t have pole position in either sector.

    You’ll hear plenty more about this stuff over the next week at the Consumer Electronics Show, which kicks off Wednesday. But Real will probably be mum.

    The company doesn’t have any announcements planned, and isn’t renting space at the convention’s main show floor. Not a terrible idea to lay low at CES, where lots of people make a lot of noise about stuff that never comes to pass. But at some point it will be interesting to see how Real plans to compete.

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  • Viral Video: 10 Most-Viewed Movie Trailers Online, Including “Mega Shark”–But Is Trouble Ahead for Hollywood? [BoomTown]

    megashark2

    BoomTown is back from a lovely holiday vacation and am gearing up for the Consumer Electronics Show that starts later this week in Las Vegas, but I have been struck by the $1 billion-plus haul that tech-heavy “Avatar” has brought in over that time.

    Does that mean movies in theaters are holding their own against online incursions?

    It would seem so, according to box-office reports for the year. Tallies for the U.S. alone were up 10 percent to close to $10 billion for 2009.

    Or is there trouble behind this success, since another key revenue stream is weakening?

    According to a report in The Wall Street Journal today:

    Last year was the first since 2002 that U.S. consumers spent more money buying movie tickets than buying movies to watch at home, underscoring the changing economics of Hollywood…

    The figures indicate that studios will likely have to continue looking for ways to survive in a marketplace where they can’t count on hefty home-entertainment revenue to offset giant production costs. Those costs often more than eat up the studios’ half of the box-office receipts, which are split with theaters.

    The ongoing decline in home-entertainment revenue has already fundamentally altered the way studios do business, forcing them to place big financial bets on hoped-for mass-market blockbusters at the expense of features that cost less to make but that also have smaller earnings potential.

    Since online purchase and rentals are nowhere close in terms of revenue (see chart below), declining DVD sales could be a worrisome trend for Hollywood.

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    We’ll see what happens in 2010. Until then, here are videos of the top 10 most-viewed trailers of 2009, according to Yahoo (YHOO)–which garnered many tens of millions of views on its popular movie site.

    Most–but not all–of them track on the big box-office winners, although the group includes an unusual one: “Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus,” starring Lorenzo Lamas, which was not exactly a hit.

    Here they are:

    No. 10 UP

    No. 9: AVATAR

    No. 8: MEGA SHARK VS. GIANT OCTOPUS

    No. 7: STAR TREK

    No. 6: G.I. JOE

    No. 5: HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

    NO. 4: TERMINATOR SALVATION

    No. 3: 2012

    No. 2: TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

    No. 1: THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON

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  • Spotify and Google Said to Be in Talks in the US

    The fourth quarter, the period when Spotify was supposed to launch in the US, is gone and still there’s no sight of the free music streaming site. The delay was expected after talks with the music labels failed to reach a mutually-appeasing compromise. New rumors are surfacing though which claim that the two parties are getting closer to a deal, but one that doesn’t look too promising for the actual users. It sounds like there will be a free version of the service in the US, which the music labels have been against, but it will be available to only a small number of people.

    At least that’s what TechCrunch is claiming, citing people close to the matter, but how exactly this will work out is anyone’s guess. It might mean some sort of invite system which would definitely limit the number of people which could actually use the free service.

    Spotify has been invite-only in the past in Europe as well, but this was mostly during its beta period and it benefited from a lot of well-deserved hype. Spotify may very well be shooting itself in the foot by going for an invite system in the US. But it may employ other kinds of limitations and we’ll just have to wait and see what it comes up with.

    Another, much more interesting but a lot sketchier rumor, though, is a supposed deal with Google which want… (read more)

  • The Hottest Cheerleaders in the NFL

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    As the year changes, the web is chock full of “top” lists. The best movie of the year, the worst dressed of the year, blah blah blah. It’s time for a truly important list: the 25 Hottest NFL Cheerleaders of 2009, put together by the folks at Bleacher Report.

    While we don’t necessarily agree with all of their picks, here are some truly worthy candidates.

    Morgan, a cheerleader for the San Francisco 49ers, goes to prove that no matter how disappointing your season may have been, a hot cheerleader can always make things better:

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    The New Orleans Saints have a secret weapon to thank for their outstanding season – Carly:

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    Tatiana may be a rookie cheerleader for the Miami Dolphins, but something tells me she has staying power:

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    Check out the entire top 25 hottest cheerleaders list at Bleacher Report.

    Related posts:

    1. The Fine Cheerleaders of the Pac-10
    2. Who Are the Hottest Women of Country Music?
    3. The Hottest Women in the Fastest Cars

  • How the CES Works

    I have been covering the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for years and it feels like there are fewer surprises at the show each passing year. I am hoping there will be some cool unexpected things at the show this year, but it’s hard to get excited about the prospect. One of the reasons for the lack of surprise about things shown at the CES has to do with the way the entire show process unfolds. Those not involved in covering the show are not familiar with how things work so this will give you an idea how the CES happens for those of us who cover it.

    The activity starts well over a month before the show, with companies beginning to reach out to those registered to cover the show. The emails start flying first, with dozens of emails a day hitting my inbox claiming that their company’s next big thing (NBT) is the best thing since sliced bread. These emails start trickling in at first, building to a veritable avalanche of email by showtime. It is not an exaggeration when I tell you I get hundreds of emails a day from companies exhibiting at the CES, and from the PR firms handling them.

    The big players that typically announce many new products at the show begin having pre-CES online press conferences a few weeks before the show proper. The companies literally present everything that will be announced at the show, under NDA to protect the “surprise” of the announcements. I am not kidding, they present everything in detail that they will be unveiling at the CES. These conferences are accompanied by photos and full spec sheets for all products being announced. It is not uncommon to have all of a company’s CES information a full month before the show.

    The two weeks prior to the show the emails take on an urgent air, with invitations to private meetings flooding my inbox. There are invitations to private events, parties and “one-on-one” interviews with CEOs. All of them are vying for just an hour of my time during the CES week.

    The last two weeks before the show sees the phone calls start in earnest. We have to give a phone number when we register as press for the CES, and the companies start calling like crazy. I have received 10 — 20 calls in a given hour, and average over 50 calls a day. Thank goodness for Google Voice as I have it grabbing all of my calls these days to keep my sanity.

    Once CES week rolls around is when the real fun starts. The exhibition runs from Thursday – Sunday, but the press events start the Tuesday before. A few companies hold press conferences starting at midday on Tuesday, and the CES Unveiled “pre-show” event is Tuesday night. This event will have about 100 companies showing the new stuff they are most proud of, and it will be wall-to-wall bodies.

    The next day, Wednesday, is the official Press Day for the CES. The major companies at the exhibit hold press events to announce new products, and they are held all day. Most of them are in the Venetian Hotel, but some are at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). Others are held at other hotel venues around town, and it can be a real struggle to schedule time to see all of the press events of interest. The CES kick-off keynote address, this year by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, is held Wednesday evening as it is the day before the exhibition actually opens. Another pre-show event, Digital Experience, is also held that evening after the keynote. It’s like the CES Unveiled, in that a bunch of companies are in one room showing off their wares. Many of the companies exhibiting will be the ones having exhibited at the Unveiled show.

    Thursday is the official opening of the CES proper, and it covers two convention centers. The LVCC is the biggest, and spans three huge halls and two stories. You can spend all four days of the show trying to visit everything. The show also laps over into the Sands Convention Center, which is attached to the Venetian Hotel. It is smaller and tends to attract the smaller companies with some off-the-wall products. Shuttle buses run back and forth between the two venues to help cover such a large territory.

    During the day on Thursday there are a number of keynote addresses by executives from companies such as Intel and Nokia. All keynotes are being held this year at the Hilton Hotel next door to the LVCC, rather than at the Venetian Hotel as in years past. This will make it a bit of a logistical problem getting back and forth for keynotes. Thursday evening there is another off-site event, Showstoppers, that is held at the Wynn Hotel. It is similar to the CES Unveiled and Digital Experience events, with different companies exhibiting.

    Thursday through Sunday the exhibition will run, and typically I will spend all of each day in one of the venues. This gives me the chance to see as much as possible, and I will have scheduled appointments with many companies each day. I will meet with some larger companies as needed, and these may be at other hotels in town. Some companies take big suites to provide better venues for hands-on sessions, and these are often where I will shoot videos of new products.

    Both the LVCC and the Sands Convention Center have press rooms and blogger lounges for those of us covering the show. Most of the blogging will be done in one of these rooms. There are also interview rooms available that we sometimes use for shooting video interviews and audio podcasts. All of these facilities are great, with good Wi-Fi and snacks for those moments we actually have time to grab them. We get to see many friends in these rooms, which is easily my favorite part of the entire week.

    Covering such a vast event is a lot of fun, and is easily my busiest week of the entire year. It is a tremendous amount of work, but it’s great to see friends that I don’t see anywhere else. There will be the odd unexpected product that is great to see, and those are real gems to find. The lack of surprises at the show have more to do with being exposed to products prior to the show, than any shortage of product announcements at the show proper. The week of the show does provide great opportunities to spend hands-on time with dozens of cool gadgets, and that is worth all the tea in China to a geek like me. In spite of being such a huge job, and the fact that I will be totally exhausted by week’s end, it is one of my favorite weeks of the year. I can’t wait to get there.

  • Hyundai wants dealers to section off space for Genesis, Equus sedans

    2010 Hyundai Equus

    According to a memo obtained by WardsAuto, Hyundai Motor America wants its U.S. dealers to section off a special area in their showrooms for showcasing the automaker’s new luxury sedans including the Genesis and the upcoming Equus.

    The memo said that the move is in keeping with Hyundai’s “aggressive product cadence.”

    Joining the Genesis sedan and the new Genesis Coupe will be the large Equus luxury sedan in fall 2010. The Korean automaker will change the name for the sedan when it comes to the United States. The final name, packaging, pricing and specifications will be announced when it goes on sale at the end of 2010.

    According to Hyundai Motor America’s CEO John Krafcik, having dealers create a section in the showroom for the Genesis and Equus will be the lowest-cost alternative to selling through an entirely separate channel like Toyota does with Lexus.

    “That’s a good way to go,” Krafcik told Ward’s at the New York Auto Show last year. “That way, dealers don’t have to spend $5 million, $10 million on a new luxury brand. Sectioning off the brand, that’s the Holy Grail.”

    – By: Omar Rana

    Source: WardsAuto


  • Weeks after Marrying Pinch Media, Flurry Gets in Bed with comScore and Starts Revenue Machine

    FlurryComScoreFlurry Analytics has been real busy this holiday season. They recently merged with Pinch Media to create the biggest (in terms of user base) mobile analytics platform on the market. Today, Flurry is announcing a partnership with comScore, Inc. to provide mobile analytics for comScore clientele. This will provide Flurry with a fresh new revenue stream and comScore with the ability to stay relevant with their analytics offerings to existing clientele.

    Essentially, comScore, inc. has a large sales force and existing relationships with big brands that pay comScore to provide them with analytics. These analytics come primarily through panel data, in which comScore uses a sampling of users as a way to determine web traffic and usage data. By selling Flurry’s SDK to clients, comScore can remain relevant by providing mobile analytics on top of their existing web analytics package.

    Flurry wins because comScore’s sales force will sell Flurry’s data analytics software, generating an initial revenue stream for Flurry. According to VP of Marketing Peter Farago, clients will pay comScore to have Flurry’s SDK installed on their applications, and Flurry will make a revenue-share for each client. ComScore is adding reporting and charting software on top of Flurry’s analytics. Flurry is traditionally free for developers, but comScore is going to charge clients to use Flurry because of the additional reporting and charting they add.

    In general, this is part of a larger push by Flurry to take revenue generation seriously. Sources within the company have told me that this is one of two revenue initiatives they are working on (the other being AppCircle, which is in private beta). Though they downplayed the revenue value of the deal, it is clear that it is a major draw for Flurry. Another major draw is access to comScore’s high profile customer list and sales force. In this way, Flurry doesn’t have to create a large sales force to sell its product to big brands and companies, but still gets a cut of the revenue generated from the opportunity.

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  • Overfishing Prevention

    FishCounterBack in November, I learned I was allergic to gluten and was told I should lose 20 lbs or so to improve my health. So now that I am gluten-free, my diet consists mostly of nuts, seeds, rice and lean meats– like fish. 

    I believe variety is the spice of life and I’ve been struggling to come up with different things to eat. I was able to make myself a gluten-and dairy-free (since I can’t have milk) coconut cake that was pretty tasty. There are different types of nuts, seeds and rice but I’ve found fish to have the best variety since there are so many different types—tuna, Atlantic Salmon, Mahi-Mahi, etc.

    I’m not alone with my love of fish. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which monitors U.S. fishery populations, we are overfishing many of these edible species. In 2007 the agency reviewed 528 individual stock and stock complexes and found that nearly half of them were overfished or in danger of being overfished.

    The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management
    Reauthorization Act of 2006
    required that NOAA work to stop overfishing through continued and new sustainable management practices such as aquaculture, annual catch limits and marine protected areas (MPAs) by this year. Since 2010 isn’t a week old, I don’t think NOAA has done a significant study to track their progress. Last month they did begin soliciting comments from interested groups and the public about their new "Draft Catch Share" Policy and last week started the National Saltwater Angler Registry, which will help track the effects of recreational fishing on fish stocks.

    What do you think of overfishing in the U.S.?

  • Kia to Kill MY 2010 Borrego

    Kia Borrego isn’t quite a successful model in the United States and, as a result, the South Korean manufacturer might drop this particular vehicle for the 2010 model year. According to a report by thecarconnection.com, the weak sales recorded by the Borrego in the United States are representing the main reason for the decision, despite the fact that it’s quite new on the market – Kia officially introduced it in late 2008 as model year 2009.

    To give you an idea on how poor the Borr… (read more)

  • Social Network Removes 5,000 Users For Putting On Weight During Holiday Season

    No doubt seeking attention by making controversial decisions and statements, elitist social networking site BeautifulPeople.com says it has kicked out 5,000 users because other members signaled that they became too chubby celebrating Christmas and the New Year.

    The social network, which prides itself in not letting ‘ugly’ people enter the site, claims these users had it coming by putting pictures of themselves celebrating during the holiday season, revealing that they ‘may have let themselves go’. The company also says ‘vigilant members, who take pride in the standards demanded by the site, called for action’.

    Following complaints, BeautifulPeople.com moved to place thousands of users back in the rating stage, after which only a couple of hundred members got back in after review from existing members. According to the company’s statement, most people that got banned for being ‘overweight’ came from the US (1,520), UK (832) and Canada (533).

    Is there a DespicableBehavior.com yet?

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  • Sonic Solutions to launch richer version of CinemaNow movie service

    cinemanowSonic Solutions is announcing today a new generation of its CinemaNow movie downloading service.

    The Roxio CinemaNow 2.0 will have more interactivity, high-definition video support, and 3-D viewing. CinemaNow is a movie service that lets you download films over the Internet to your TV or set-top box. It is used by Blockbuster and Best Buy as a movie downloading backbone for consumer electronics devices.

    The 2.0 version is being shown off at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas. The point is to deliver richer services for users with the enhancements, said Mark Ely, executive vice president of strategy at Sonic Solutions. The new version lets consumer electronics companies create storefronts on their connected devices with branding by leading retailers.

    The enhanced storefront has contextual links for each movie that give users more content about things like the studio, director, writers and actors. Users can also view trailers, recommendations, and instant movie previews. The platform also supports downloadable and streamed HD video in resolutions up to 1080p. It will also be 3-D Ready, meaning it can support upcoming films that can be viewed with 3-D glasses. Lastly, the interactive content makes it possible to deliver streamed movies with features like you find on Blu-ray discs, such as multiple chapter points, subtitles, multiple audio streams, and other features.

    CinemaNow was founded in 1999 and acquired by Sonic Solutions in 2008.


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  • Even Without Cash For Clunkers, Americans Keep Bingeing On Cars

    Even without cash for clunkers, American auto sales have remained remarkably strong. While automakers’ December sales data comes out on Tuesday, it already looks like it was a great month.

    WSJ: “We are seeing an increase across the board,” said Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst at Edmunds.com, a car-buying Web site. She cited higher-than-expected gains at BMW AG, Ford Motor Co., Honda Motor Co., Toyota Motor Co.’s Lexus, and General Motor Co.’s soon-to-be-shuttered Saturn and Pontiac brands.

    Many industry analysts now expect the seasonally adjusted annualized selling rate in December to be more than 11 million cars and trucks. Such a figure would mark the second-best month of 2009 after August, which received a major jolt from the “cash for clunkers” government rebate program.

    Sls

    Read more at the WSJ — >

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  • Suzuki Cuts Prices for Aussie Alto and Swift

    With manufacturers across the world trying to leave behind a very troubled 2009 and look ahead to a better 2010, the first month of the new year will bring with it a wave of price cuts in the automotive industry, as carmakers will try and bring consumer interest back on track after the holidays.

    Among the first to do so is Japanese carmaker Suzuki, which announced a (minor) price cut of AU$700 for the entry level Alto GL with manual gearbox (new price AU$11,790, as well as a majo… (read more)

  • Volvo S60 Previewed on Youtube

    The launch campaign for the new Volvo S60 has taken another step as the first footage of the sedan emerged on the Internet. No, we’re not talking about a mistake or any leaks from Volvo. The car manufacturer decided to upload video of the car on its youtube channel.

    Pictures of the car were launched late last year on Facebook, a well known social network. No footage of the car was launched before, so you should check out the video below showing Volvo’s new S60 model.

    … (read more)

  • We’re About To Make The Same Mistake We Made In 1937

    paulkrugman explaining tbi

    Here’s what’s coming in economic news: The next employment report could show the economy adding jobs for the first time in two years. The next G.D.P. report is likely to show solid growth in late 2009. There will be lots of bullish commentary — and the calls we’re already hearing for an end to stimulus, for reversing the steps the government and the Federal Reserve took to prop up the economy, will grow even louder.

    But if those calls are heeded, we’ll be repeating the great mistake of 1937…

    Continue at the NYT >

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  • Monitoring tool

    My name is Dana and I have a friend (in Sweden) whose father is a diabetic. He invented a pouch for storing the insulin pens with a simple monitoring system and named it Mobivita.

    You can keep all your insulin pens in it well protected and it is also indicating whether you have taken the injections or not. You can also write your daily insulin dosage there.

    If you are on insulin, injections are so much part of a daily routine… Mobivita monitoring system is for any diabetic who injects his/her insulin. It does not need batteries and is very easy to use. It is not only a reminder system, it also helps protect your insulin pens and accessories, no matter where you are. It is a small pouch that you easily take with you everywhere.

  • New Year’s Cooking Resolutions: What Are Yours?

    2010-01-04-NewYearsResolutions.jpgIt’s a brand new year, and we’re feeling refreshed, energized, and ready to tackle a whole new set of cooking projects. Thinking of diving into Chinese cooking? Baking bread every week? Eating entirely locally? Take a look at what the Kitchn editors have planned for the coming year, and share your own cooking resolutions for 2010!

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