Hasta La Gadget!

The radio waves that saturate the air around us may, or may not, give us headaches and cancer, but we can tell you for certain they’re capable of powering tiny wireless chips. Renesas Electronics Corp has created a new ultra-low power wireless transmitter that can push data to both Bluetooth and WiFi receivers without the need for a battery or AC adapter. Instead of the typical tens of milliwatts, the little transmitters require only a few microwatts of power, which can be harvested from environmental radio waves through LC resonance. The creators envision adhesive sensors that send a baby’s body temperature to laptops and ads that beam coupons to smartphones over short distances — you know, the sort of stuff NFC can do, but without the specialized hardware.

Battery-less transmitters pave the way for wireless baby sensors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Tech-On  | Email this | Comments

The words “Facebook” and “Twitter” are now verboten on French TV, because France thought it’d be a good idea to follow its own laws. Last week, the country’s Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA) ruled that TV networks and radio stations will no longer be able to explicitly mention Facebook or Twitter during on-air broadcasts, except when discussing a story in which either company is directly involved. The move comes in response to a 1992 governmental decree that prohibits media organizations from promoting brands during newscasts, for fear of diluting competition. Instead of inviting viewers to follow their programs or stories on Twitter, then, broadcast journalists will have to couch their promotions in slightly more generic terms — e.g. “Follow us on your social network of choice.” CSA spokeswoman Christine Kelly explains:

“Why give preference to Facebook, which is worth billions of dollars, when there are many other social networks that are struggling for recognition? This would be a distortion of competition. If we allow Facebook and Twitter to be cited on air, it’s opening a Pandora’s Box – other social networks will complain to us saying, ‘why not us?'”

It didn’t take long for the US media to jump all over the story, with many outlets citing no less objective a source than Matthew Fraser — a Canadian expat blogger who claims, in ostensible sincerity, that the ruling is symptomatic of a “deeply rooted animosity in the French psyche toward Anglo-Saxon cultural domination.” Calling the ruling “ludicrous,” Fraser went on to flamboyantly point out the obvious, stating that such regulatory nonsense would never be tolerated by corporations in the US. But then again, neither would smelly cheese or universal healthcare. Apple, meet orange. Fueling competition via aggressive regulation may strike some free-marketeers as economically depraved, but it certainly won’t kill social media-based commerce. Facebook and Twitter have already become more or less synonymous with “social networks” anyway, so it’s hard to envision such a minor linguistic tweak having any major effect on online engagement. That’s not to say that the new regulation will suddenly create a level playing field — it won’t. But it probably won’t put America’s social media titans at a serious disadvantage, as some would have you believe. Rather, these knee-jerk arguments from Fraser and others seem more rooted in capitalist symbolism and cross-cultural hyperbole than anything else — reality, included.

France bans Twitter, Facebook mentions on TV, in the name of market competition originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 08:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Yahoo! News  | Email this | Comments

Internet radio provider Slacker is bulldozing the thin line dividing itself from subscription-based music services today, with the launch of Radio Plus. The new pricing tier joins the existing gratis Basic Radio and ad-free Premium Radio plans, adding an all-you-can-eat music model akin to services like Rhapsody and Rdio. Subscribers who shell out $9.99 a month receive all of the features of the $4.99 Premium Radio users, plus unlimited access to eight million songs, letting them listen to what they want, when the want, and generally play god with the site’s existing radio services. Radio Plus also gives you on- and offline access to music on a number of mobile devices, including the iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android, and BlackBerry handsets — not to mention unlimited bragging rights to all of your broke friends who are still rocking the Basic Radio plan. Don’t feel too bad for ’em, though — at least they didn’t get suckered into slotRadio.

Continue reading Slacker intros Radio Plus subscription service, makes Premium Radio look like Basic Radio

Slacker intros Radio Plus subscription service, makes Premium Radio look like Basic Radio originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Pandora is letting its hair loose, expanding beyond the realm of music-based radio stations into the world of comedy. The streaming music service will offer more than 10,000 clips from over 700 comedians, and will be loaded and ready to go sometime today. If you’re already familiar with the service, this brand-new genre will work the same exact way as any other Pandora station: create new radio stations based on your favorite comedians and you can still give the thumb up or down for those tracks you feel strongly enough about. The press release is no laughing matter, but it’s available for your reading pleasure after the break.

Continue reading Pandora gets a case of the giggles, now offers comedy stations

Pandora gets a case of the giggles, now offers comedy stations originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 04:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink New York Times  |  Pandora  | Email this | Comments

Try as we might, we’ve never been able to get too worked up over DAB radio — dab, just saying it rids the body of consciousness. But then we perked up after seeing the image above for Sony’s retro-nouveau XDR-S16DBP micro — a temporary burst of adrenaline nearly stifled by the more mundane XDR‑C706DBP clock radio found after the break. Both are compatible with the DAB+ digital broadcasting standard rolling out across Europe and offer ten DAB/DAB+ presets with an additional ten for FM. The £79 XDR-S16DBP portable brings a pair of 0.8W stereo speakers, a 16×2 character LCD display, sleep timer, and headphone jack while the compact XDR‑C706DBP is a more traditional DAB+/DAB/FM alarm clock with 0.4W speaker and 4 alarm presets. Both are available now.

Continue reading Sony’s XDR-S16DBP wakes up from the DAB+ doldrums

Sony’s XDR-S16DBP wakes up from the DAB+ doldrums originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 06:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Sony Europe  | Email this | Comments