Hasta La Gadget!

Technology that saves your life could also annoy you to death. Car dealers may soon have a system that lets them send advertising messages via the two-way voice and data telematics system in many new cars. One dealer testing the waters for Mercedes-Benz is Ewing Autohaus in Dallas. It uses Mercedes’ Tele Aid communications feature to tell owners, in their cars, that if they come in for maintenance, they’ll get a free car-cleaning kit, according to Automotive News. But Mercedes says the big brother scenario is far-fetched and is only, repeat only, a single-dealer test.

According to Automotive News, the Autohaus dealership is working on a pilot program with ATX Group, which provides the call center and dispatch services for Mercedes, before it rolls out to other dealers. BMW, Chrysler, GM, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz all have telematics packages with the potential to reach out to captive-audience customers. The pilot program is Mercedes-only. 

General Electric today announced a new technology it says is capable of fitting 100 DVDs worth of information onto a single standard disc. According to the company, the technology is still in early development. G.E. is looking for ways to produce it at cost effective prices.

The technology, according to The New York Times, utilizes holographic storage. Says the paper,

The data is encoded in light patterns that are stored in light-sensitive material. The holograms act like microscopic mirrors that refract light patterns when a laser shines on them, and so each hologram’s recorded data can then be retrieved and deciphered.

“The price of storage per gigabyte is going to drop precipitously,” G.E. Scientist Brian Lawrence said of the technology.

According to USA Today, Apple is in late-game talks with Verizon about the iPhone. Specifically, the iPhone could be coming to Verizon’s network as soon as next year, lending some credence to the excited claims made by Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg in the WSJ last week.

This comes, you will remember, barely a week after Apple made an official statement that it would be remaining faithful to AT&T (in the US, at least) for the foreseeable future.

We don’t know which way to jump on this one. It makes sense for Apple to make the iPhone as widely available as possible, and making a CDMA version will open up new markets. And the iPhone is so ridiculously successful that pretty much any carrier would jump at selling it.

On the other hand, multiple carriers in the same country would probably bring at least some small differences in pricing and contracts, which is certainly not the Apple Way. Likewise, unless there was a hybrid GSM/CDMA handset, confusion would ensue at the Apple Store:

Apple employee: “Yes sir, an iPhone. Which network will you be using that on?”.

Customer: “Wait. What? Is the the Microsoft Store?”

We still don’t know for sure when the Apple/AT&T contract expires, or if it even will — maybe it was inked in blood in a Faustian pact. One thing is sure, though — this would be good for the consumer. Multiple carriers means competition and, seamless brand message be damned, the carriers wouldn’t be able to stop themselves from entering a price-war.

Apple and Verizon consider iPhone deal [USA Today. Thanks, all powerful John!]

Photo: GlennFleishman/Flickr

See Also:

• Apple: We’re Sticking With AT&T for the iPhone

You know the story — your daily craving for a shot of espresso hits right around 7:30AM local time, and if you don’t have it in your grasp by 0800 hours, you’re likely visiting the slammer for at least a day or two for barista battery. In a beautiful effort to keep addicts far away from prisons and ever closer to their productivity machines, Espressi has unveiled the mypressi TWIST, which is described as a truly portable espresso maker that delivers top-notch goods without the wait. The secret to the one-pound device is the pneumatic engine that provides constant pressure throughout the extraction cycle, and we’re told that a single CO2 cartridge can provide around eight shots. It’ll hit American shores this fall for $129 — ’til then, it’s on you to keep a local shop on retainer.

[Via Single Serve Expresso]

Filed under: Household

mypressi TWIST gives espresso addicts an easier way to indulge originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For those of us who haven’t moved our fundament in three days, we can definitely attest to the fact that finding motivation to exercise is amongst life’s greatest challenges. Not to fear, as Allen, Matt and Doug have decided to provide all the encourage we nerds need with their final EE316 (Computer Engineering) project. By utilizing an Axis network camera, a Bluetooth heart rate sensor and a few intelligent lines of code, they concocted a Space Invaders exercise program that requires the player to physically move in order to stay alive. Talk about incentive. Check the vid and full description in the read link.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

Filed under: Gaming

Space Invaders used to encourage exercising, snag an A+ in EE316 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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