Hasta La Gadget!

Electric cars and other fuel-efficient vehicles certainly have plenty going for them, but all that reduction in fuel consumption also has the side effect of reducing the money earned from gas taxes, which has prompted folks like Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski to turn to some alternative solutions to keep those funds rolling in. In the case of Oregon, Governor Kulongoski is proposing a mileage tax that would eventually replace the gas tax altogether, and make use of GPS units to determine just how far each person travels and bill them accordingly (Oregon is proposing a 1.2 cent per mile tax). To assuage privacy concerns, that information would apparently only be collected when the driver fuels up, and actual travel information supposedly wouldn’t be tracked. Obviously, that system would only work if everyone had a GPS, so the governor is proposing an increase in the standard gas tax in the interim, with drivers already equipped with a GPS unit eligible for a refund on the taxes paid. All of this also still has to pass the Oregon legislature to become law, but it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that the state broke with convention.

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

Oregon governor looking at GPS-based mileage tax to fund roads originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, a Dutch chip designer plans to demonstrate a remote control that could have battery makers quaking in their boots. GreenPeak claims its design offers two-way communication with multiple devices through walls and other obstacles with such efficiency that, in some cases, one watch battery can power the remote longer than some remotes last.

If only there were a human equivalent. For technology journalists, CES is about talking to everyone, writing about everything, and catching some sleep on the flight back from Vegas. For companies like GreenPeak, CES is about setting up deals with larger consumer electronics manufacturers. Sure enough, GreenPeak will be showing them a reference design featuring its Emerald GP500C chip, which it hopes they’ll start putting into their remotes next year. One reason they might is that in addition to the RF transceiver, GreenPeak’s chip includes an IR transceiver so it can work with consumer’s existing gear. But efficiency is the main selling point here.

"By using GreenPeak’s network radio technology, these remotes will
be able to run for the life of the device or until the battery falls
apart," stated the company. 

GreenPeak’s chip’s
IEEE 802.15.4 protocol allows for two-way communication, so
these potentially greener remotes would be able to offer
high-definition album art and menus from household devices on their screens, although at this
point, running a full display for a long enough time would require more
than a watch battery. The company’s reference design features no such
screen, since one of the advantages of this design is keeping AA and
AAA batteries out of landfills.

GreenPeak made its name building decentralized, energy-neutral mesh networks to help farmers monitor their crops more efficiently. Oddly enough, what began as a tool for farmers could wind up in the
hands of couch potatoes.

See Also:

• Why Are Green Personal Electronics Products So Rare?
• Recession Drives the Greening of the Electronics Industry
• Class D Amplifiers Are Shrinking and Greening Your Electronics
• Greenpeace Rates "Green Electronics;" Nokia and Samsung Stand Out

Blaupunkt and miRoamer will announce a partnership at CES that will put internet radio into car dashboards for the first time. Blaupunkt prototypes pictured here show the technology in action.

"miRoamer’s development with Blaupunkt is the first seamless
Internet radio solution," said miRoamer founder and CEO George
Parthimos. "With the simple push of a button, users can access
AM/FM stations or Internet radio’s thousands of music, entertainment,
news and talk stations from around the world, all from the same car
stereo."

MiRoamer dipped its toe in these waters last year, but the requisite hardware deals apparently didn’t materialize. Now that Blaupunkt and miRoamer have formed a partnership, we could see in-car internet radio enter the mainstream.

"The first model will connect to a 3G/HSDPA/HSPA device via Bluetooth for Internet connectivity," explained miRoamer spokesman Ryan Greives. "When connecting to the Internet via an external device (such as an
iPhone), the customer’s existing mobile service provider is the default
network," adding, "various models are in the pipeline which may have an internal modem."

With the radio connected to a smartphone on an unlimited data plan,
these prototypes (the New Jersey 600i, pictured above, and the Hamburg
600i, below) will provide in-dash navigation of tens of thousands of
miRoamer stations, already available via computer and available for access by car starting on January 1, 2009. Beyond that, the availability (and pricing) of Blaupunkt’s internet car radios
are unclear at this point, although Grieves confirmed that they will be
available on original equipment in new cars, although surely the
dedicated gadget head could find a way to get one installed.

miRoamer’s claim that this is the first internet radio for the car
seems a bit dubious on the surface. Indeed, although they are not
elegant in-dash solutions, imeem, Pandora, SeeqPod, YouTube and other music services have been available on connected portables like the Apple iPhone and Windows Mobile for months. In addition, Autonet – another CES exhibitor this year – has offered in-car internet
since last year that could potentially be used for music streaming from
any number of providers. And, of course, satellite laptops can stream
music to car stereos.

But miRoamer and Blaupunkt’s prototypes appear to be the first models
to offer in-dash internet radio. "Today, users want to jump in their
car and go — no pulling out third-party devices or plugging in cords
to access their music and information," according to Parthimos.

These stereos also offer phone, address book and navigation via
Bluetooth, but internet radio is the main attraction with the ability
connect to tens of thousands of miRoamer stations as well as any other
online playlist or MP3.

If you’re diligent enough, you could post
playlist files pointing to various MP3s on the internet, on a free blog
site or anywhere else, since they don’t occupy much disk space, since
they just link to remote files. Then, you could bookmark those
playlists on the Blaupunkt radio to access it all from the road. Another plus is that you can customize favorites, search options and
more through your computer at miRoamer.com and access them later through
the radio.

See Also:

• Imeem Brings Easy Music to Google Android
• CES: Delphi/Autonet’s In-Car Wireless Access Point Adds Media Storage
• Sweet: Pandora’s Streaming Radio App for iPhone
• SeeqPod IPhone Button Allows Instant Access to Free Music
• QLoud’s Popularity on Facebook Proves YouTube Is Best On-Demand Music Service

(Credit: Eee PC News)

There are no detailed specifications available, but Asus seems to be readying a 12-inch Eee PC.

Following in the footsteps of Dell, the Asus Eee PC S121 looks a lot like the slim and stylish Eee PC S101, except for a smaller bezel to fit the …

Many many users, are now reporting that, for whatever reason, their original 30-Gbyte Microsoft Zune MP3 players crashed soon after midnight on the morning of Dec. 31.

Edit 12:32 PM PDT: Microsoft says that the company is “really close to identifying the root cause of the issue.”

Edit 4:30 PM: We have a resolution!

From Microsoft: “Early this morning we were alerted by our customers that there was a widespread issue affecting our 2006 model Zune 30GB devices (a large number of which are still actively being used). The technical team jumped on the problem immediately and isolated the issue: a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year. That being the case, the issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009. We expect the internal clock on the Zune 30GB devices will automatically reset tomorrow (noon, GMT). By tomorrow you should allow the battery to fully run out of power before the unit can restart successfully then simply ensure that your device is recharged, then turn it back on. If you’re a Zune Pass subscriber, you may need to sync your device with your PC to refresh the rights to the subscription content you have downloaded to your device.

Customers can continue to stay informed via the support page on zune.net (zune.net/support).

We know this has been a big inconvenience to our customers and we are sorry for that, and want to thank them for their patience.

The affected users say that the Zunes lock up as the boot process almost completes, to the point that the progress bar reaches about the 90 percent mark. Joel Durham Jr., an analyst for ExtremeTech, was one of the users affected, as both of his Zunes died identically.