Archive for: July 17, 2009

By Andrew Liszewski The BMX bike’s heyday may have ended back in the 80’s, but Rintendo has found a way to make me want one again. They’re currently selling this little contraption known as the Fire Trick Bob which appears to be an actual rocket-powered bicycle. According to their site (Google translation) the turbine engine spins at a rate of 120,000 RPM and produces the equivalent of 4.4 horsepower. The 1 liter fuel tank is good for about 7 minutes of continual thrust, and you’ll probably want to be careful about where you’re riding this thing since the exhaust can reach about 700 degrees. So is it dangerous? Yes. But is it worth 1,000,000 Yen or about $10,000? Double yes! [ Fire Trick Bob ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

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Fire Trick Bob Rocket Bike

By Andrew Liszewski The BMX bike’s heyday may have ended back in the 80’s, but Rintendo has found a way to make me want one again. They’re currently selling this little contraption known as the Fire Trick Bob which appears to be an actual rocket-powered bicycle. According to their site (Google translation) the turbine engine spins at a rate of 120,000 RPM and produces the equivalent of 4.4 horsepower. The 1 liter fuel tank is good for about 7 minutes of continual thrust, and you’ll probably want to be careful about where you’re riding this thing since the exhaust can reach about 700 degrees. So is it dangerous? Yes. But is it worth 1,000,000 Yen or about $10,000? Double yes! [ Fire Trick Bob ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

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Fire Trick Bob Rocket Bike

Microsoft Corp.’s redesigned search site remains a distant third to Google and Yahoo despite getting a slight boost in its first month. ComScore Inc. estimates that Bing, the new site, snagged 8.4 percent of U.S. Web searches in June, up from 8 percent in May. It appears Microsoft’s slight gain was Yahoo’s loss. Google’s share stayed steady at 65 percent. But Yahoo’s dipped to 19.6 percent in June, losing about as much as Bing gained. Google’s dominance means a bigger slice of revenue from search advertising, the small text ads that appear next to search results. Microsoft has been trying to catch up for years, both with Live Search, its previous Web search incarnation, and by trying to buy Yahoo. The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker is trying again with Bing, which it says does a better job than competitors for searches related to travel, shopping and health. Analysts were underwhelmed by the June results. Barclays Capital analyst Douglas Anmuth wrote that he expected Bing’s share to come in between 10 percent and 11 percent. Anmuth reported the comScore figures in a research note Wednesday. “Bing doesn’t exactly set the world on fire,” Benjamin Schachter, an analyst for Broadpoint AmTech, wrote in a note to investors. “We continue to believe much of Bing’s early interest is being driven by curiosity and early adopters, and not from fundamentally better search experiences or outcomes.” Microsoft executives have said that they don’t expect an immediate change in Bing’s search share, but the comScore estimates were lower than early June reports showing Microsoft’s share topping 10 percent.

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After Bing’s First Month, Microsoft Still No. 3

Tracfone Wireless, the country’s largest provider of “prepaid” cell phones, is quietly testing a new service that appears to be a response to the fierce price competition in the prepaid market. Since June, Tracfone has been selling unlimited calling and texting for $45 per month under the “Straight Talk” brand, and 1,000 minutes and 1,000 text messages per month for $30. The service uses Verizon Wireless’ network. Tracfone’s chief executive, F.J. Pollak, said Straight Talk is a test for the company, whose main customer base uses a phone for fewer than 100 minutes per month, paying an average of $10 per month. The new plans are a better value for more-frequent callers, and represent Tracfone’s entry into the unlimited plans at the “high end” of the prepaid market. The “high end” is relative because even the most expensive prepaid plans cost less than traditional, contract-based cell phone plans. Sprint Nextel Corp. shook up the prepaid market this year with an unlimited calling plan under the Boost brand, taking on regional carriers like MetroPCS and Leap Wireless International Inc. that have long offered such plans. Phones for Straight Talk are sold by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. at 234 locations and on its Web site, Pollak said. Dallas and Atlanta are some of the largest markets targeted. The phones start at $30. Tracfone is a unit of Mexico-based America Movil SA, which doesn’t have its own wireless network in the U.S. Instead it buys wholesale access to the networks of U.S. carriers to support its 11.8 million subscribers. While Tracfone uses Verizon Wireless’ network for Straight Talk, Verizon’s subscribers on contracts pay $130 per month for unlimited calling and texting. Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett says the introduction of Straight Talk is a further sign of trouble for wireless carriers. The low prices ...

Intel Corp. has had a near lock on supplying processors for netbooks — the cheap, tiny laptops that are the biggest hit in the computer market these days. Now there’s an alternative from a Taiwanese competitor, Via Technologies Inc. It might be time to leave your Intel-powered comfort zone. I took the Samsung NC20, the first netbook on the U.S. market with the Via Nano processor, for a spin. I found it to be a capable unit, comparable to the netbooks that use Intel’s Atom chip, though there are some notable differences. If you’re in the market for a netbook, perhaps for the fall semester, it’s definitely worth considering. First of all, the NC20 has a 12-inch screen. Netbooks have so far topped out at 10 inches, so the NC20 gives us a lot more space to work with. Intel has discouraged manufacturers from using Atoms with larger screens, saying the processor isn’t powerful enough. (A few manufacturers, like Dell, have just started making 12-inch Atom-powered netbooks anyway.) The size of the screen brings the NC20 closer to a full-size laptop, but the price and weight are still netbook-ish: $500 and 3.5 pounds. Like other netbooks, Samsung’s lacks a DVD drive and runs the Windows XP operating system, rather than the more recent Vista. The keyboard is smaller than full size, but by no means cramped. When it comes to performance, the NC20 is also clearly a netbook rather than a full-powered laptop. It’s fine for Web browsing and e-mail, but not for the latest games or for video editing. The processor can’t keep up with high-action scenes from shows like “Prison Break” on Hulu.com, resulting in stuttering video. However, it did better at video playback than an Asus EeePC 1000HE, a good Atom-powered unit, indicating that the Nano has ...

Intel Corp. has had a near lock on supplying processors for netbooks — the cheap, tiny laptops that are the biggest hit in the computer market these days. Now there’s an alternative from a Taiwanese competitor, Via Technologies Inc. It might be time to leave your Intel-powered comfort zone. I took the Samsung NC20, the first netbook on the U.S. market with the Via Nano processor, for a spin. I found it to be a capable unit, comparable to the netbooks that use Intel’s Atom chip, though there are some notable differences. If you’re in the market for a netbook, perhaps for the fall semester, it’s definitely worth considering. First of all, the NC20 has a 12-inch screen. Netbooks have so far topped out at 10 inches, so the NC20 gives us a lot more space to work with. Intel has discouraged manufacturers from using Atoms with larger screens, saying the processor isn’t powerful enough. (A few manufacturers, like Dell, have just started making 12-inch Atom-powered netbooks anyway.) The size of the screen brings the NC20 closer to a full-size laptop, but the price and weight are still netbook-ish: $500 and 3.5 pounds. Like other netbooks, Samsung’s lacks a DVD drive and runs the Windows XP operating system, rather than the more recent Vista. The keyboard is smaller than full size, but by no means cramped. When it comes to performance, the NC20 is also clearly a netbook rather than a full-powered laptop. It’s fine for Web browsing and e-mail, but not for the latest games or for video editing. The processor can’t keep up with high-action scenes from shows like “Prison Break” on Hulu.com, resulting in stuttering video. However, it did better at video playback than an Asus EeePC 1000HE, a good Atom-powered unit, indicating that the Nano has ...

By Andrew Liszewski Given the number of people still using old audio formats like cassette tapes, compact discs and MiniDiscs is shrinking every day, it makes sense that JVC would create the RC-A2 which is kind of like a catch-all device for those dying formats. It basically lets them target every group who’ve deemed MP3s an inferior audio format. From what I can tell, the RC-A2 can be used to transfer or ‘dub’ music between the recordable formats like audio tape and MiniDiscs, and the JVC site even boasts about a feature called ‘Sound Lifter’ which seems to direct the audio depending on if the listener is sitting or standing near the stereo. [ JVC RC-A2 ] VIA [ Akihabara News ]

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Remember Tapes And MiniDiscs? JVC Does

Good news, folks. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has turned his attention to controlling the weather. Five U.S. Patent and Trade Office patent applications, made public on July 9, propose slowing hurricanes by pumping cold, deep-ocean water in their paths from barges. If issued, the patents offer 18 years of legal rights to the idea for Gates and co-inventors, including climate scientist Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Hurricanes, most famously demonstrated by the deadly intensification of Hurricane Katrina before its landfall in 2005, draw strength from warm waters on the ocean’s surface. The patents describe a system for strategically placing turbine-equipped barges in the path of storms to chill sea surfaces with cold water pumped from the depths. First requested by Gates and colleagues last year, the patents describe methods “not limited to atmospheric management, weather management, hurricane suppression, hurricane prevention, hurricane intensity modulation, hurricane deflection” to manage storms. Given the scope of the applications, “I suspect these will have a lengthy stay in the examiner’s office. They are talking about some interesting issues here,” says patent expert Gene Quinn of IPWatchdog.com. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Caldeira declined to comment on the patents. “The bottom line here is that if enough pumps are deployed, it is reasonable to expect some diminution of hurricane power,” says hurricane expert Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is not part of the patent effort. Cutting sea surface temperature by 4.5 degrees under the eye of a hurricane would actually kill a storm, he adds. “This would have to be done on a massive scale, but is still probably within the realm of feasibility.” Says climate scientist Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University in State College: “Needless to say, there is a whole lot of skepticism about ...

Cheaper or faster? That’s going to be the burning question for computer shoppers perusing the aisles of electronics retail stores this fall. That’s when the new line of notebooks powered by consumer ultra-low voltage (CULV) chips will start appearing in force. They’ll be sitting right next to the trendiest offering in portable computing, Netbooks. Netbooks have come to be viewed as the best way to get cheap, portable computing, but CULV notebooks could change that. CULV-based notebooks are poised to give Netbooks a run for their money. (Credit: Macles) Netbooks are mini-notebooks with screens between 9 and 11 inches, that have lower-power processors, and fewer features, but very attractive price points. CULV-based notebooks are ultrathin notebooks. They come with a more traditional 12- or 13-inch screen, but are also very low-power, so they have great battery life. Starting at $600 to $1,000, they’ll occupy the price range just a step above Netbooks, which run between $200 and $500. That’s where the choice comes in. Will consumers go for a Netbook, which is less expensive, sometimes harder to use, but very portable? Or a sleek-looking notebook with great battery life and a slightly higher price? Just a bit more money could mean a far more fully featured computer. Who would still go for a Netbook? Some analysts suggest many won’t. For its part, the provider of these ultra-low voltage chips, Intel, would prefer to steer people toward CULVs. Sure, Intel is also responsible for the Netbook phenomenon, but those devices carry much lower profit margins. Intel CEO Paul Otellini on Tuesday talked up CULV notebooks and their advantages over Netbooks, saying, “Now, if you want a thin and light notebook, you don’t have to just pick a Netbook. You can pick an affordable notebook that has more functionality.” …

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By Evan Ackerman Flying out of Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and feeling bad for leaving your fish at home to fend for themselves? Just bring them with you and drop them off at the world’s first (and only?) goldfish hotel. This luxury establishment features four floors of fish sized rooms, a tennis court, and a pool with a lifeguard station and water slide. From what I can tell, this is a promotion for the D-reizen travel agency, and before you ask, I have no idea what the rates are or how exclusive the waiting list is. But your fish will love you forever if you set them up with a nice, relaxing vacation… I mean, when was the last time they really got to have a social life, after all? [ PetSugar ] VIA [ Neatorama ]

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Fish Tank Friday: Fish Hotel