My News Today » Future Watch

Will Star Trek Pirates be the start of a new distribution framework or an end to Untrammeled Broadband?

Kyle — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:40:17 +0000

io9 – Five million people downloaded copies of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie since it opened in theaters, and it’s not even on DVD yet. Paramount cites that fact in its filing with the FCC’s taskforce to create a National Broadband Plan. Easy access to broadband has made movie piracy easier than ever before, and sites like Google and Bing are participating, Paramount charges. So any plan to expand access to broadband has to include some mechanism for preventing piracy, possibly including some kind of “deep packet drones.”

10 Things You Need to Know About Apple Today

Kyle — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:17:32 +0000

Gawker – Cupertino released a lot of new products today, and it was easy to miss a lot in the press release onslaught. To stay versed in the Tome of Apple, here are 10 things you need to know: Click Here to Read More

Comcast is so not Comcastic when it comes to the FCC.

Kyle — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:08:20 +0000

Gismodo – As soon as FCC’s Julius Genachowski takes out his mighty sword to kill internet providers’ greed-driven traffic filtering, the fat cats are already attacking. A Comcast fat cat named David L. Cohen, who of course is playing the FUD card.

Cohen is Comcast’s executive vice-president for broadband, who believes that FCC should get their hands off the internet. Because, you know, everything is perfectly fine now that private companies are controlling it, making sure to block or throttle down any traffic they want. They just want to keep doing that, because that’s what benefit most all of us, the consumers and other companies trying to make free use of a vital infrastructure, one that should be neutral for everyone.

Apple Rock n Roll Music Event not very exciting this year.

Kyle — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:18:02 +0000

The Apple iPod event came and went with not very much excitement after all. The Nano gets a camera and video recording capability, a built-in FM receiver with pause functionality. Price changes on the current line up of iPod Touch, iPod mini and iPod Classic. iTunes 9 has some interesting features and a cleaner iTunes Store interface. Also an update to the iPhone OS for all the new functionality of iTunes 9.

Overall it was okay with still more questions as to why some functions are only on the iPod Nano and not the Touch that we have been hearing so many rumors about.

Steve Jobs did make a return which was a great thing. But overall not much to see. Click link to see the live blog at Gizmodo for all your Apple Music Event info.

AT&T Launches iPhone MMS September 25

Kyle — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:56:10 +0000

Gizmodo – AT&T admits they’re late, saying “it was important to give our customers a positive experience from day one” so they needed the extra to “to make sure our network is ready to handle what we expect will be a record volume of MMS traffic.” Which I think means if MMS doesn’t work, everybody can ream the shit out of them for it.

The wait for tethering continues though, with “no set date.” They simply “expect to offer it in the future.” Again, ’cause the network isn’t ready: “This function could exponentially increase traffic on the network, and we need to ensure that some of our current upgrades are in place before we can deliver the expanded functionality with the excellent performance that customers expect.”

Our Food and why it just might be killing us.

Kyle — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:33:26 +0000

Gismodo – It’s hard to think of anything more essential to human survival than eating. And yet that very primal act of gobbling sustenance has, of late, become one of the most genuinely perplexing things we people do.

Notice the sudden flood of books and movies covering the evils of industrialized food? Since Taste Test is, after all, a look at “technology’s transformation of food,” we felt we’d be remiss in skipping this particularly stormy subject. We turned to Georgina Gustin, food reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, for answers. Here’s what she has to say:

Eating is no longer just eating. Beyond tooth decay or bad gas, food has consequences. For our health, for the environment, for the giant, interconnected economy that feeds us, for poor farmers in far away countries, for rich farmers in the US, for the politicians we elect.

The AT&T dark overlords decide to force it’s ‘data plan’ for smartphone domination

Kyle — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:41:34 +0000

Boy Genius Report – AT&T subscribers, we have good news and bad news. The bad news is that as of September 6th, AT&T will begin requiring that all smartphones sign up for a smartphone data plan. The good news is that customers with smartphones purchased prior to September 6th with non-smartphone data plans will be grandfathered in and will not have to upgrade their current plans. Note that if you currently use a feature phone with a data plan and you upgrade to a smartphone on or after September 6th, you will not be able to keep your current MediaNet plan.

We’ve been hearing rumblings to this effect for a few weeks now but as of this morning it’s 100% confirmed thanks to an internal email from one of our ninjas. AT&T’s claimed reasoning behind the move: to ensure customers receive a predictable bill each month. Mmm hmm. Note that this only applies to smartphones purchased from AT&T or a dealer of course, so those of you who opt for unlocked handsets should be unaffected. Hit the jump for the internal email circulated today at AT&T.

Video coming to your glossy Mag Rag!

Kyle — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:44:56 +0000

Gismodo – That’s right, aging, future-minded denizens of the 50s, video magazines are here! Almost. Come fall, Entertainment Weekly will feature the world’s first video-screen-in-a-page advertisement, to sell you some TV shows.

Apple might be planning keynote for week of September 7th, might have new products on offer

Kyle — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:21:40 +0000

Engadget – We’re hearing “multiple sources” are now reporting that Apple is most likely planning a keynote event — possibly for the week of September 7th. There’s also the requisite murmuring that one Steve Jobs may make an appearance — though of course, there’s also nothing more solid than wishes and fairy dust to back that one up. As far as possible product launches go, well, there have been significant whisperings about upcoming iPod / iTunes developments as of late, including the company’s reported dealings with major record labels. This would fall in line with Apple’s habit of releasing iPods every fall, and we’ve heard plenty about upcoming iPod touches which boast, among other things — a camera and microphone. Daring Fireball has also reported that these bad boys will come in 16, 32 and 64GB varieties running $199, $299, and $399, respectively. In more salacious gossip, there’s the possible Apple tablet we’ve been hearing about, but there’s no solid word on any products for now. We’ll be watching this one closely, we assure you.

Chevy Volt to get 230mpg in much the same way that your mom can say she’s ‘lost weight’ and Obama can say 45 million are uninsured: by fudging the numbers

Kyle — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:51:17 +0000

CNN Money – Ultra-high mileage for GM’s electric-drive Volt could give it a marketing boost.

he Chevrolet Volt, GM’s electric car that’s expected to go on sale in late 2010, is projected to get an estimated 230 miles per gallon, the automaker announced Tuesday.

That exceptionally high government mileage rating could give the Volt a major boost. For the first time, car buyers will easily be able to compare electric cars with ordinary gas-powered cars.

“Having a car that gets triple-digit fuel economy can and will be a game changer for us,” said GM CEO Fritz Henderson.

Determining fuel economy for an electric car is a tricky matter. While General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) has been working with the Environmental Protection Agency for years on the issue, the agency says it has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM.