Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re lucky, your smartphone’s battery can just make it through a full day, with the percentage meter dropping to the single digits as you finally get a chance to plug in. With 10 hours out and about, some handsets can’t even last through dinner, though, and out of reach power outlets make juicing up at the restaurant a tad inconvenient. Beginning this summer, public power will be much more accessible in New York City. AT&T is partnering with Goal Zero to deploy Street Charge stations in a handful of parks and other locations around NYC. They’ll be coming to Fort Green Park on June 18th, and will roll out to Brooklyn Bridge Park, Coney Island, Riverside Park, Rockaways, Summerstage in Central Park, Randall’s Island, Governor’s Island, Union Square, and Hudson River Park over the next few weeks. Each solar-powered pole, designed locally by Pensa, sports six USB connectors: for iPhones and iPads, there’s 30-pin and Lightning plugs, Android and Windows Phone users can hook up to micro-USB, and everyone else can use their own cable with one of three female USB connectors.

There’s three 15-watt solar panels and a 168 watt-hour battery, enabling each Street Charge to power up to six devices for several days without exposure to the sun. Sure, it’s probably impractical to fill your gadget’s cell completely, but if you have a few minutes to spare, you’ll be able to juice up and go. You can plug in phones, tablets, cameras, or even a Pebble watch — each cable can pump out up to two amps of 5V power, providing support for just about any USB-powered device. Each weatherproof unit will have AT&T branding, which seems reasonable, considering the carrier is footing the bill here. You should start seeing these pop up at several TBA locations in New York throughout the summer, with more stations to come if the trial’s a success. Take a closer look in the hands-on video after the break.

Filed under: Household, AT&T

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Source: Pensa

If you live in a city lucky enough to have one, your relationship with the subway/L/T/metro/underground/tube is probably fairly complicated. The convenience and cost-effectiveness of mass public transit is unparalleled, but that doesn’t mean that the experience itself is going to be pleasant—and that’s putting it kindly.

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While Google has practically blanketed New York City with eye-level imagery, few would doubt that there’s still ground left to cover. The search giant is filling in some of those gaps with new Google Maps galleries for a trio of historic areas. A collaboration with Historypin lets the curious glimpse photos and videos of regions affected by Hurricane Sandy; those who want to visit the 9/11 Memorial, meanwhile, can see Street View panoramas of both the North and South pools. Google is also expanding its Street View coverage of Central Park to include its many legendary trails, not just the roadways. If you’ve been meaning to pay a virtual tribute to any of these three spots, they’re waiting for you at the source links.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Source: Google, Historypin

Call us crazy, but it sure feels like Yahoo’s had one heck of a spring. When it comes to spending, anyway. Just as soon as it can get one check to clear, the search icon is breaking the ink back out to write another. According to a breaking tweet from CNBC, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is scheduled to speak at a “product-related” event in New York City this coming Monday. It’s tough to tell what kind of surprise will be in store, but we wouldn’t be shocked if it involved the word “Tumblr.” We’re digging for more as we speak, and will most certainly be on hand to see what comes to fruition.

Update: We’ve just heard back from Yahoo, and the event is indeed going down in order to “share something special.” And yes, we’ll be there to bring whatever happens to your browser of choice.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: CNBC (Twitter)

We’ve been eager to try out Aereo’s TV streaming service, which sends live broadcast content to devices over the internet. But the service has had at least one significant flaw: it’s only available to subscribers in the New York City area. That will soon change when it heads to Boston on May 15th, though, and the streaming service has now announced that the rates will be changing slightly then as well. The base plan, which includes unlimited streaming and 20 hours of DVR storage, will remain unchanged at $8 per month, but the $12 monthly tariff will include 60 hours of storage, compared to the 40 hours Aereo previously offered.

And that’s it — no more $1 daily or $80 yearly plans, though that latter option is still available until the new structure goes live on Wednesday. The service is supported on iOS, Chrome, IE 9, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Roku devices, though those geographic restrictions keep the access pool quite limited. New Yorkers can take the service for a spin today, Bostonians will get the green light come May 15th, and the rest of you can see what you’re missing in the demo video after the break.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, Software, HD

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Source: Aereo