Sanyo is getting closer to shipping a mobile phone with a built in terrestrial digital TV. The phone features two antennas, one for the phone and another for the TV. It also has 128 megabytes of RAM, and can actually record a half-hour of TV or video you take with the built in camera. Terrestrial digital broadcasts begin in Japan this December. Though digital TV has existed in the U.S. for five years, but we won't get phones like this until five years from now. Here are morepictures.
Cadbury India Ltd., BPL Mobile and E Cube India launched an SMS-enabled chocolate vending machine in Mumbai, the city formerly known as Bombay. BPL customers can send a message to 2233, which will be displayed on the LCD panel of a special vending machine. After a chocolate is selected and dispensed, the customers receives a receipt via SMS.
Domestic Australian airline Virgin Blue will soon offer customers the option to check in via SMS. Instead of a boarding pass, the airline zaps them a barcode, which is scanned when they show up at the airport.
Lindows.com, Inc. unveiled its new KooBox, an all-in-one computer system with an LCD flat-panel monitor, speakers, keyboard, mouse, CD player, network card, modem and 1,500 applications downloadable from the Lindows web site.
In a desperate attempt to protect itself against viruses and to make sure all e-mail goes through company servers, Merrill Lynch bans AOL, Yahoo, MSN and other web-based e-mail services.
During better times -- in the year 2000 -- the IRS cut Intel a $600 million break. The IRS went back and check Intel's books again, and decided it wants the money back.
How to Save On Ink: Buy a New Printer Each Time You Run Out
The printer price wars have created a bizarre situation, as highlighted by a writer for the San Antonio Express-News: You can often buy a new printer fully loaded with ink cartridges for less than it costs to buy just the cartridges. He found an Apollo P-2200 for $10 (after a rebate) that came loaded with HP ink cartridges that, if purchased separately, would cost more than $60.
Writing, Grooming, Eating All Distract Drivers From Focusing On Their Cell Calls
While the politicians are obsessed with drivers being distracted because of cell phone calls, a new study by the AAA found that all drivers -- all drivers! -- in their study were distracted by one thing or another. The list includes talking with passengers, fiddling with the radio, eating, drinking, grooming, taking pills, applying lipstick, reading, writing and more. Some 25 percent of accidents are caused by distracted drivers.
One in three consumers who calls tech support never gets their problem resolved, according to Consumer Reports Magazine. The survey does not compare American and Indian tech support.
Navy Submarines Getting Apple Servers Running Linux
Terra Soft Solutions, Inc., has been awarded a contract to fulfill a unique sonar imaging system for the United States Navy through Lockheed Martin with Apple Xserves and Yellow Dog Linux.
University of Florida electrical engineering student Kevin Phillipson has designed a robot that deals blackjack. Called CHIPS, for Card Handling Programmable System, the robot takes bets, deals cards, interacts with players and disperses winnings. The cards are bar-coded so the dealer can ID them.
Internal eBay Memo Orders Staff to Keep Live Chat Feature Secret
This internal memo from eBay orders customer service staff to keep the online auction company's Live Chat support feature a secret from customers because there aren't enough people to support it.
Geniuses at MIT have created a bug robot that walks on water, just like real bugs. Called RoboStrider, the mini-robot mimics tricks used by water striders to use the surface tension of water to avoid sinking beneath the surface.
One of my favorite escapist summer reading pleasures, "The Journal of Depression and Anxiety," has published criteria for identifying Obsession with the Internet as a real disorder calling for real drugs.
As a key element in realizing the Terminator 3 nightmare vision of a war between sentient machines and the human race, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) -- the people who created the Internet -- are working on an army of 100 robots for coordinated "urban surveillance." The robots, called Centibots, communicate with each other. If a human destroys one, another robot automatically resumes the task of the other. The robots are "autonomous and independent of any network infrastructure, carrying and deploying their own communication network." Da, da, da, Da-DA!... Da, da, da, Da-DA!
6,400,000,000 - The expected revenue of the secure content management business, up 19% over last year. Wild growth is driven by anti-spam products. (IDC)
Laptop Doubles as Home Entertainment System Without Booting
Sharp's newest laptop, the PC-SV1-7DB, plays both TV, DVD and music CDs. Big deal you say? The trick is that you don't have to boot up the notebook. Just pop in a DVD or CD or press the TV button and your media plays while the laptop stays off. The PC-SV1-7DB becomes available August 28. Pricing has not been announced.
Sony will introduce September 21 the new SMU-WR 1 optical wireless USB mouse, which looks awkward to use but has a cool feature. When you place the mouse in its cradle, it goes into sleep mode, which conserves battery life. Clicking on the right or left side of the giant button is like pushing the right or left buttons on a standard two-button mouse. A scroll wheel is right in the midde of the button. The price has not been set.
A documentary film maker is shooting a film about Craig's List, the Bay Area's best resource for jobs, apartments and personal ads. Mike's List is next.
Forget Fat Camp. Kids Need Internet Addiction Camp!
A new camp in Germany is aimed at breaking kids' addiction to the Internet. They don't have to go cold turkey: Each camper gets 30 minutes of quality web browsing per day. The rest of their time at camp is spent outdoors, discovering new concepts like "trees" and "grass" and "sunshine."
Motorola and NEC are working on cell phones that make cheap calls via Wi-Fi if such a wireless network is available. If not, they make regular cell calls. The hybrid phones should enter the market next year. Motorola, Avaya and Proxim have previously announced similar products.
Rumor that HP Wants RIM Proves False, RIM Share Price Plummets
RIM shares dropped nearly 10 percent today, as rumored suitor Hewlett-Packard didn't come calling. Stock in the Canadian firm fell $2.75 to $25.53 on Nasdaq.
U.K. Company Lets You Home In On Anyone's Cell Phone Signal
Brits can pay $38 per year to use Carphone Warehouse's mapAmobile service, which enables you to zero in on any cell phone, pinpointing the phone -- and its owner's -- location. The service can track only those who have consented and have their mobiles switched on.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is the first federal agency to roll out free Wi-Fi for visitors, who, along with warstalkers, can gain access on the 12th Street Courtyard and Eighth Floor corridors.
Dialing for Dolphins: If you're tired of talking to humans on your cell phone, soon you'll be able to call a number and listen to the live clicks and squeaks of dolphins in the Shannon estuary in Ireland. Marine biologist Simon Berrow, of the Shannon Dolphin and Wildlife Foundation based in Kilrush, Country Clare, plans to install underwater microphones in the estuary and make those sounds available by cell phone courtesy of Vodaphone. The purpose is... well, there is no purpose, really, other than jacking up your minutes and providing cheap publicity for Berrow and Vodaphone.
A two-wheeled robot has been created by the "Shmoo Group," an associated of security experts, that rolls around detecting hackable Wi-Fi networks. It can also be programmed to hack into networks itself.
The associated press falls for obvious hoax about a film of earless artist Vincent Van Gogh, which was supposedly "discovered" by Dutch filmakers and used in their new documentary. Here's the AP story as posted on Salon.
Here we go. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will reportedly instruct airport security screeners to watch out for gadgets, including digital cameras, PDAs, cell phones and laptops, according to a report based on a leak from inside the department. Expect extra scrutiny and more delays at the airport. The alert is not based on new intelligence. Obviously.
Cingular Wireless denied a press release issued Friday by a PR agency for NextWave Telecom stating that the two companies have reached a spectrum license purchase agreement valued at $1.4 billion. Cingular acknowledged that the two companies are in negotiations, but said that no deal has been struck. dBusinessNews
RIAA Crackdown Can't Beat the Power of Public Apathy
More than two-thirds of American music swappers don't care whether the music is copyrighted, according to a study. The Pew Internet and American Life Project study, released on Thursday, found that 67 per cent of US internet file-swappers are indifferent to copyright concerns, up from 61 percent in the summer of 2000. Black and Hispanic Americans are more devoted to copyright apathy than European-Americans, according to the study. The biggest downloaders: students, especially those with a university-provided T1 line.
HoloTouch has signed a license agreement with InfoPerks to use HoloTouch's holographic display technology in New York sidewalk kiosks. The technology shows computer screens floating in midair. "Touching" the buttons activates commands, even though the "button" is nothing more than light. HoloTouch's president also said other companies are interested in the technology for ATMs, entertainment, factory, medical and military applications.
Ambitious plans for man in orbit this year apparently scaled back, as well as manned mission to Mars. U.S. put a man on the moon eight years after announcement during the 1960s.
Canada's Research In Motion, which makes the popular RIM pager handhelds, is enjoying a huge surge in its stock price on rumors that Hewlett-Packard, the current number-two handheld maker (after Palm) will buy the company. HP already sells a RIM device under the iPaq brand that it acquired along with Compaq last year.
... when you can just buy music and download it into your electronic trumpet. Yamaha's Trumpet EZ-TP (sounds more like electronic toilet paper) lets anyone play like a pro.
Lindows.com, Inc. unveiled its new 
University of Florida electrical engineering student Kevin Phillipson has designed a robot that deals blackjack. Called CHIPS, for Card Handling Programmable System, the robot takes bets, deals cards, interacts with players and disperses winnings. The cards are bar-coded so the dealer can ID them. 
Geniuses at MIT have created a bug robot that 
As a key element in realizing the Terminator 3 nightmare vision of a war between sentient machines and the human race, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) -- the people who created the Internet -- are working on an army of 
The Orchestra for the Opera Company of Brooklyn has been 
Sony will introduce September 21 the new SMU-WR 1 optical wireless USB mouse, which looks awkward to use but has a cool feature. When you place the mouse in its cradle, it goes into sleep mode, which conserves battery life. Clicking on the right or left side of the giant button is like pushing the right or left buttons on a standard two-button mouse. A scroll wheel is right in the midde of the button. The price has not been set.
A new camp in Germany is aimed at breaking kids' 
HoloTouch has signed a license agreement with InfoPerks to use 
... when you can just buy music and download it into your electronic trumpet. Yamaha's Trumpet EZ-TP (sounds more like electronic toilet paper) lets anyone play like a pro. 
A whopping 
The U.S. FCC published the user guide to the new device, which 
