AT&T is cleverely upgrading their HSPA data speed later this year to their new 7.2 wireless networking technology, creating potential speeds of 7.2 MB per second. AT&T notes that the new speed boost will be released in time for new notebook cards and smartphone devices. Can you say third-gen iPhone? Link
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Calorie-counting Patch Will Call You A Fatass
Having trouble losing weight? This little patch is about to change all that. It’s being produced by a company called PhiloMetron and here’s how it works: slap it on your arm and sensors will measure your energy and calorie intake. From there, the data is beamed to your phone via Bluetooth where you can measure how much you’ve eaten in ...
Read More »Nabaztag Reboot: The Mirror by Violet
Alright. Stick with me on this one. You crazy Europeans love to created weird names for products, like The Mirror by Violet. That being said, The Mirror’ is one of the neatest gadgets I’ve seen in a long time. Hook the $60 plate up to your Mac or PC and get ready to read some RFID tags. The set includes ...
Read More »Beat Blender Prototype
The Arduino continues to power innovation and creation well into 2009. This blender, created by Matti Niinimaki, is rigged to create beats. No smoothies here, folks, just pounding techno full of cheesy sound FX. The Beat Blender prototype reads fruit embedded with RFID tags that are dropped into it. Hitting different blending speeds (Puree, Liquify, Blend, Grind, etc.) will add ...
Read More »Verizon Wireless: Do You Want The iPhone?
Customers who are leaving Verizon Wireless are being asked to conduct an exit survey so VZW can find out why they left. The standard questions apply but one of the answers is raising some eyebrows. Can you guess? I’ll give you a hint: it rhymes with iClone. Yes, Verizon Wireless is gauging how badly the iPhone is hurting its subscriber ...
Read More »MySpace Founder: Facebook Beat Us
Say it ain’t so! Brett Brewer, the guy who formed MySpace parent company InterMix Media and later sold it to News Corp., says that Facebook will dominate the social networking war on a worldwide scale. Facebook’s traffic is already overtaking MySpace and MySpace’s appeal is dying by the week. But it’s not just Facebook that Mr. Brewer focuses on: But ...
Read More »Arduino Burglar Alarm
While I’m not a fan of Twitter, I can understand some of its potential uses. Take for instance, a burglar alarm. By using an Arduino + XBee radio module hooked up to a home alarm system, Kelvin was able to have his alarm system send an SMS to his phone when someone breaks into his home. It will also update ...
Read More »XM-Sirius Will Most Likely File For Bankruptcy
The New York Times tends to be a pretty reputable news source. So when I read last night that XM-Sirius Satellite Radio is probably going to file for bankruptcy, I felt like absolute shit. Why? Because I recently bought some shares of the company hoping it’d recover by 2011. Apparently CEO Mel Karmazin just can’t get the company to turn ...
Read More »EchoStar Trying To Take Over Sirius-XM Radio
So you’ve got the debt-riddled satellite radio monopoly known as Sirius-XM and you’ve got veteran satellite pioneer EchoStar. EchoStar is trying to buy Sirius-XM but the company keeps rebuffing its offer. As a shareholder, I believe this is not in our best interests. Sirius-XM has yet to turn a profit and while its subscriber base is increasing, short-term money solutions ...
Read More »Poken: Social Networking With High Fives
Children are increasingly interested in social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook. However, children under 13 don’t really have a lot of safe options for an online presence and the technical curve can be difficult for some. This is all solved with the RFID-enabled Poken. These little toys come with big hands for high-fiving. Two kids can high five ...
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