In Your Car
I've been playing Grand Theft Auto IV pretty-much non-stop since its release, taking breaks only to go to work, shower and spend some sexy alone time in my room. And while I haven't felt the urge to arm myself to the teeth and pop innocents in the streets of Boston, my perception of the world around me has shifted ever so slightly.
So it was with great surprise that I stumbled upon this Wired article detailing Susan Arendt's altered reality based on her exposure to the game.
I must admit, I'm a bit of a leadfoot by nature, but the flow of traffic on a highway is usually rapid enough to keep me content. That day, however, despite the reasonable pace being set by the cars around me, I quickly grew impatient with my perceived lack of progress. I looked for holes in the traffic that I could use to my advantage to make faster progress. As I approached a stop light at an empty intersection, the thought flashed through my mind that I should just drive right on through it. I didn't, of course, but the thought was there, just the same.
Insert female driver joke here.
Here's the thing: I don't drive. But after jacking hundreds of cars on the streets of Liberty City, I've felt the salivating desire to do so in Boston. Just yesterday I was walking back from the grocery store when a motorcycle cruised slowly by. Motorcycles in GTA are by far my favorite vehicle, and the hardest for me to find precisely when I want one. Seeing this Reality Bike I immediately thought, "Man, I gotta jack that shit, go off some killer jumps."
Of course I didn't (I am, after all, writing this from a computer outside of a prison) but, as Susan points on, the urge ... it's there. Am I crazy? Or have you had warped reality sensations like this, too? Can technology and video games truly alter your brain chemistry? Is this what those anti-violence advocates keep harping about?
[via Wired]
Remember that merger offer between Sirius and XM, like, awhile ago? Yeah, I didn't either until I saw this story, but in any case, it seems that the Department Of Justice is completely cool with the two former rivals joining teams. It's not the final step though, as the FCC still has to give its thumbs up before the two can officially become one, but if the DOJ has already conceded, it seems likely that the FCC will give the green light as well.
Some groups are still worried about price gouging once the services are officially merged, as they are the only two entities in the satellite radio market, which should be a legitimate concern. I don't agree with that concern though, mainly because the market penetration of satellite radio is still pretty small. They have to concern themselves more with making their services compatible first and foremost, then finding ways of getting new customers. Because of that, I don't think rising subscription costs should be a major concern, not while people can still listen to free over-the-air radio (regardless of whether or not those channels suck or not, they are free).
Personally, I've avoided the satellite world because it's just not as easy as my radio or MP3 player to use. For the longest time, you had one transmitter that you could basically only use in the car, and I need to be able to transfer it to my house or listen on the go. That may have changed recently, but I've never really looked back. Here's to hoping for innovation in the satellite radio world with this merger though, as it is a great idea, and anything that is able to skirt FCC decency regulations does in fact make me a happy boy.
Sirius, XM radio merger passes DOJ hurdle, FCC next [Ars Technica]
Bloomberg news brings us word that Chrysler, the U.S. automaker, is planning on adding internet access to its cars.
Chrysler will begin adding the feature to current cars this year, and installing the feature at the assembly line next year.
Frank Klegon, Chrysler's product development chief, said:
"We want to make the radio itself a WiFi port."
Not quite sure what he means, and Chrysler has yet to release details on the technologies involved. Current speculation is that they will be adding a 3G radio to cars that will covert that broadband access into a local WiFi network for the car.
Chrysler did mention that initial users will need a subscription to a wireless phone carrier, but didn't specify what phone companies customers would be able to use.
No word yet on how much worse surfing the Internet while driving is than talking on a cellphone.
I'm staying clear of Chrysler cars later this year for my safety.
Chrysler Plans In-Car Web Access This Year [The Washington Post]
It's that time again folks! Woot, our favourite one product a day discount seller of all kinds of gadgety goodness is having another Woot-Off!
What the hell is a Woot-Off, you say? I'll let the folks at Woot explain it for you:
You have found a Woot-Off, a short term frenzied mutation of our product posting procedure. In Woot-Off mode, a new product is launched immediately after the sellout of the previous deal. There is a half-Woot-life of 12 hours maximum on any product within a Woot-Off that does not sell out. The number of Woot-Off items, sequence, and quantity will not be announced. When Woot-Off mode is over, the orange lights will disappear and our normal schedule will resume. Depending on its success, this may be a mode we would go into once or twice a month for a relatively short duration of time (24-72 hours generally.)
Translation: discounted gadgetry all day, sold one after the other as they sell through their stock!
Get your credit cards and clickers ready, as well as your choice of coffee or tea, because some of these deals go by fast!
(Want an example? At the time of this writing, there was an iRobot Roomba 4296 on sale for $99 + $5 shipping. It's sure to be gone by now, but check out the link for what's on sale now!)
Woot-Off! [Woot]
Apple's using the podcast concept to serve the same purpose as GPS. Yup. If Apple has its way, you could subscribe to map info the same way you subscribe to a podcast - in which map data is transformed into audio or video elements that, based on your location, would offer driving directions and spoken map content while music and ads (yay, ads!) fill the gaps.
What's super about this idea is that it doesn't require any local processing - your iPhone would fetch the relevant information automatically, and notify you when it's ready with an RSS feed. Or something. Podmaps, as they're called, could be downloaded and kept for when outside the range of WiFi, EDGE, etc - an extension of the iPhone's Google Maps app, which lacks a cache for offline map access.
Come to think of it, this whole thing sounds like "a fancy cache for Google Maps." Maybe they should call it that instead.
Apple files patent for "podmap" podcasts [Electronista]
It seems car tech is all the rage lately. Bluetooth enabled vehicles, Microsoft's Sync, and On-Star are all prominently featured in car commercials these days as major selling point for vehicle lines. Why not expand our driving experience? Many of us spend a large amount of time everyday in our vehicles getting to and from work and social engagements, so why not find ways to enhance that experience?
Both XM and Sirius unveiled their new navigation technology yesterday at CES (when are these two going to merge, already!), which, not surprisingly, did not seem too horribly different than each other. The XM system was more of a graphical upgrade to the streams, which is nice, but it also added channels for traffic, sports scores, weather and potentially parking-assist and gas finder. No announcement was made for partnerships just yet. The Sirius system, Sirius Travel Link, while including many of the features of the XM system, showed nice touches and improvements. The navigation system is designed to read traffic and create re-routes if things get too congested, the weather system allows you to check the forecast is a few different ways, and a gas-finder with prices so you can find the cheapest gas in the area. Sirius Travel Link was announced to be included in the Ford Flex and Lincoln MKS.
It seems to me that these services are a natural extension of the satellite radio world, and a great fit for car tech. The neatest feature of the Sirius system, in my opinion, is when you have your phone connected via Bluetooth. You can search for movies, for example, and once you find the movie and ticket time, simply push a button and the system will call the theater so you can buy tickets, then set up a route to get there. That's the kind of integration I want to see before I hop on the GPS bandwagon. (well, I suppose I'd have to actually start using my car too...)
[via: CNET]
While those of us here at the Homotron Labs may not be personally attending CES this week in Vegas (something about a new marble rotunda putting us over budget at the moment) we will be bringing you highlights of CES coverage this week for the consumption of your eyeballs.
The BBC has a neat little overview of some of the cooler gadgets from the show floor, including the Rovio robot by WowWee, a three wheeled espionage robot seen in the picture. The Rovio can be controlled from basically anything that connects to the Internet, has a web camera for live feeds, and is GPS enabled for navigation goodness. The 3 wheels give the little guy some impressive manoeuvrability, as seen in this Gizmodo video.
Other highlights on the show floor today include the first live implementations of wireless HD signal transmission by Western Digital:
The 47-inch television looks like any other but has an in-built receiver that takes a signal from an ultra wideband transmitter plugged into a high definition DVD player.
The setup at CES was streaming the James Bond film Casino Royale from a Samsung Blu-ray player.
The firms claims that the secure connection has no lag and is able to stream a range of high definition formats including the highest resolution TV format available today, known as 1080p.
Personally, I also found NPR's efforts to create radio for the deaf incredibly awesome as well:
The consortium is developing radio for the deaf, a counter-intuitive sounding system that translates speech radio into text in real time.
At the moment the voice to text conversion has to be done by typists but could one day be automatic.
The information is then broadcast alongside the voice transmission and displayed on a screen on the radio.
The video in the link also mentions that NPR is working on bringing radio to the blind as well, meaning giving blind people access to special digital radio channels that would provide them with audio versions of common daily publications like newspapers and magazines.
I'd like the service myself just for the value of instant transcripts of all the NPR shows I listen to every week!
The best gadgets of CES 2008 [BBC News]
A new rule adopted by NYC's Taxi and Limousine Commission will force all those cabs to be more green starting next year.
The rule requires all cabs bought after October 1, 2008 (all taxi cab drivers must buy a new cab every 3-5 years) to get at least 25 miles to the gallon. This restriction will go even tighter in the Fall of 2009, requiring all cabs purchased thereafter to get 30 miles per gallon. With most of the city's 13,000 cabs composing of the iconic Ford Crown Victorias, which only get 14mpg, this new rule could completely change the look of the fleet.
NYC's major Michael Bloomberg has stated his own desire to see the entire taxi cab fleet convert to hybrids by 2012, a goal this rule is certainly aimed to accomplish.
While I'm all for being green, I doubt most of the taxi cab drivers will go for hybrid cabs. Hybrids still command a good premium over traditional engines, and with a 3-5 year turnaround time on the cabs, it could put an unacceptable burden on their budgets. More likely, they will probably purchase more efficient all-gas vehicles that are cheaper than hybrid models.
An aggressive tax break and discount program from auto manufacturers like Toyota (who would greatly benefit from stealing business from Ford by having the fleet turn hybrid); however, could spur a dramatic change in the fleet in the coming years.
Rule will force NYC taxis to go green [CNN]
For those of you looking for jobs at Apple, you're in luck! Apple has posted two new job listings that coincidentally also give us hints on what Apple is working on for the near future:
The first job is for an "iPhone Windows Outlook/Exchange QA Eng":
The iPhone Quality team is looking for a motivated, highly-technical Exchange test/sync engineer with excellent problem solving and communication skills. You will join a dynamic team responsible for qualifying the latest iPhone products. Your focus will be testing Exchange and Outlook functionality with Apple’s innovative new phone.
That's right folks, it looks like Apple is serious about adding full Exchange and ActiveSync support to the iPhone so that they can expand into the corporate market. Good news for all those suits that wish to jump on the bandwagon (not to mention Apple's coffers.)
The second job is for a "SW Prototype Application Design Engineer," but that's a little vague, so we'll go with the description:
HID SW is responsible for delivering the firmware and software for Apple’s Input Devices, such as Multi-touch for iPhone, cameras, and remote controls. The team is a key part in driving an integrated customer experience involving new HW and SW designs, working with creative, smart people, world-class products and cutting edge technologies.
HID SW is looking for a SW Prototype Application Design Engineer that will design and develop prototype software to showcase new technologies, user interface concepts and system usage concepts within Apple.
Cutting through the PR BS, there's some key bits of information there, as pointed out by Macrumors: multi-touch, camera, remote controls, new interface designs. Could this mean a resurfacing of the Apple Universal Remote? What do cameras have to do with multi-touch displays? Perhaps Apple is exploring ways to make the famous Minority Report interface (the one everyone seems to love but no one has made feasible) work?
In any case the person who lands that job will most certainly have fun playing with lots of cool new toys in the Cupertino labs.
Unfortunately, not every job offering and position leads to an actual product or feature being released by Apple, as there's a lot of devices that never seem to make it out of the labs, but at least we know that Apple is serious about expanding both its iPhone line and its human interface division.
Coupled with all the patents Apple has been applying for recently in regards to human interfaces, it seems Apple's long term plans include positioning itself as a leading provider of new interfaces for computers and gadgets in the future. This, of course will once again bring it in direct competition with efforts by Microsoft, who has made news in the past year with its Microsoft Surface concepts.
For the uninitiated, Woot is an online store that sells one item every day starting at midnight CST for deep discounts.
However, every once in a while they have a crazy sale called a Woot-off! What's a Woot-off, you say?
You have found a Woot-Off, a short term frenzied mutation of our product posting procedure. In Woot-Off mode, a new product is launched immediately after the sellout of the previous deal. There is a half-Woot-life of 12 hours maximum on any product within a Woot-Off that does not sell out. The number of Woot-Off items, sequence, and quantity will not be announced. When Woot-Off mode is over, the orange lights will disappear and our normal schedule will resume. Depending on its success, this may be a mode we would go into once or twice a month for a relatively short duration of time (24-72 hours generally.)
This means lots of random gadgets at even deeper discounts than usual, all in succession as they sell out!
So get your clickers ready, and your choice of coffee or tea, because there's sure to be a couple of things on your shopping list that show up!
Main Page [Woot]
There are times, in this wonderful gadgety world we live in... that I just shake my head at the utter stupidity of an idea. Seeing the Tow Hitch TV is one of those times.
$200 dollars and you can "be a tailgating hero" by mounting your expensive HDTV... to your trailer hitch... hanging out of the back of your pickup truck... next to the road.
The website also claims that "Towhitchtv.com is your one stop for the highest quality tailgate towhitch for your flat screen TV!" Wait, there are others that have had this idiotic idea?
Product Page [Tow Hitch TV]
[via: Boing Boing Gadgets]
Rumour has it that the new KITT, the sentient car from the Knight Rider series, on NBC's upcoming Knight Rider TV show remake will be a Ford Mustang (in black, instead of the red shown in the photo, of course):
That's what we're hearing anyway. Although this may seem as rumortastic as they come, we feel our source is solid -- he's a loyal Jalopnik reader with a validated connection to an LA FX studio working on the pilot for the new Knight Rider TV show. Our source is claiming he's got it on good authority that KITT's gonna be a Ford Mustang.
I realise this isn't gadget news per say, unless you count futuristic talking cars as a gadget (actually, I would!), but the nanites flowing through my body feel a kindred spirit with KITT. Would you argue with little robots flowing through your bloodstream? Yeah, me neither.
KITT to be Cast as a Ford Mustang in New Knight Rider Series? [Jalopnik]
And girls who like girls who like fembots!
Gadget of the Week
Show-stopping "half-VGA" screen and HSDPA/UMTS support, gorgeous video playback: Bold, Bold, Bold!
Links
The Homotron Store
- Help support Homotron by purchasing your items through our store!
All rights reserved © 2007 FAD Media, Inc.
