Hasta La Gadget!

There may be a few less places to find an Amazon delivery locker after Staples and Radio Shack announced they were removing them from their stores, but Google’s competing offering is now getting a boost with its biggest expansion to date. The company announced today that it’s bringing its BufferBox lockers to San Francisco, marking the first expansion of the delivery service into the US since Google acquired the Canadian company late last year. Much like Amazon’s lockers, the BufferBox service simply lets you direct deliveries to a locker instead of your own address if you don’t expect to be at home — a service that remains completely free for the time being. This latest expansion also brings integration with Google’s recently announced Shopping Express service and mobile apps, which can now be used to direct same-day deliveries to a BufferBox locker. Those in SF can find a full list of locker locations at the source link below.

Filed under: Misc, Google

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Google Commerce, BufferBox

San Francisco has been striving for city-wide internet access since 2007, and with a little help from Mountain View, it’s now one step closer to achieving that lofty goal. After receiving a $600,000 donation from Google, 31 public parks in one of the world’s most tech-savvy cities will have free WiFi for at least two years. Google’s gift will cover installation and maintenance of all necessary equipment for the project, which builds upon the the city’s existing public WiFi hotspots like San Francisco International Airport and City Hall. While blanket coverage for the entire city is still a ways off, offering free internet access in places like public parks is a giant step forward in making the web accessible for all.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Via: SF Gate

It’s not everyday that you get to mill around rooftops like Spider-Man, so when Sprint invited us to visit one of its LTE cell sites in San Francisco, our answer was a resounding “yes.” While the company’s been testing LTE in the city by the bay for several months now, we’re still a few weeks away from an official rollout. Cell site SF33XC664 is located high above Van Ness Avenue with phenomenal views of the Golden Gate and Telegraph Hill. Sprint showed us around the various pieces of equipment and let us run some speed tests. Take a look at our hands-on gallery below then hit the break to join us on a complete tour.

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile, Sprint

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Californians already see earthquake notices in elevators and falling rock signs on the beach, but if certain lawmakers had managed to get their way, locals would find warning stickers on their cellphones, too. The proposed tags, which detail energy transfer from the device to your body by displaying a device’s SAR (Specific Absorption Rate), will no longer be implemented. The sponsoring group, whose move has been on hold for several years, now faces a permanent injunction; in other words, the stickers will likely never see the light of day. The FCC, which measures SAR, is tasked with determining that each device meets certain safety standards, keeping citizens safe from radiation — sticker or no sticker, people who speak on cellphones are generally not at any risk.

Filed under: Cellphones

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Via: Ars Technica

Source: Reuters

Boxee Cloud DVR has been active in only eight markets since its inception as Boxee TV, but it’s at last time for the platform to spread its wings. As of now, Boxee’s live TV recording service is up and running in the San Francisco Bay Area in beta form; owners just need to update their firmware to start uploading shows. While the company hasn’t outlined its plans for other markets just yet, its target of 26 cities by the end of 2013 means that other areas shouldn’t be far behind.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Via: GigaOM

Source: Boxee (Twitter)