Amtrak started last week a new Wi-Fi Internet service called AmtractConnect on all of its high-speed Acela Express trains for routes between Washington DC, New York and Boston, the Wall Street Journal reports. On top of the free service on its trains, Amtrak is offering free Wi-Fi Internet access in Club Acela lounges and in six stations along the northeast corridor.
For more, see WSJ.com
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Apple announces March 12 launch date for iPad tablet.
This past Friday, Apple announced April 3 as the launch date for its much talked about iPad tablet.
At first, Apple will be selling a version that access the Internet through Wi-Fi while another version capable of faster Internet connection through 3G networks, will go on sale later that same month. Talking about networks, AT&T is the selected carrier to support the iPad in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reports.
Apple said that it will begin taking orders for the iPad starting March 12 and the device will be sold through its Web site with AT&T saying it will not sell the device at its stores.
The Wi-Fi version of the device will retail for about $500 while the 3G one will go for about $800 and the device will be available in others countries in late April according to the Wall Street Journal.
For more, see WSJ.com
At first, Apple will be selling a version that access the Internet through Wi-Fi while another version capable of faster Internet connection through 3G networks, will go on sale later that same month. Talking about networks, AT&T is the selected carrier to support the iPad in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reports.
Apple said that it will begin taking orders for the iPad starting March 12 and the device will be sold through its Web site with AT&T saying it will not sell the device at its stores.
The Wi-Fi version of the device will retail for about $500 while the 3G one will go for about $800 and the device will be available in others countries in late April according to the Wall Street Journal.
For more, see WSJ.com
Friday, March 5, 2010
TiVo Premiere set-top box to offer Web search alongside TVs listings.
Earlier this week, digital video recorder maker TiVo, announced plans to begin selling a new set-top box called TiVo Premiere that will put regular program listings from cable and satellite companies on the same page as related material culled from the Web, according to the New York Times.
The new device will work by pulling alongside regular TV listings of a particular program, all related materials found on the Web, be it merchandises on sale on eBay Amazon, old episodes for rent on Netflix or Blockbuster and videos from YouTube.
The new device is set to go on sale in April and will be available on the company Website and at selected retailers like Best Buy. According to the New York Times, the new device will be available in two versions.
Their is a basic one that stores 45 hours of high-definition programming and will cost $300 and a second version called TiVo Premium XL that can store 150 hours worth of programming at a cost of $500. On top of the cost for the set-top boxes, TiVo will charge a monthly fees for the service starting at $12.95, New York Times said.
For more, see the NYTimes.com
The new device will work by pulling alongside regular TV listings of a particular program, all related materials found on the Web, be it merchandises on sale on eBay Amazon, old episodes for rent on Netflix or Blockbuster and videos from YouTube.
The new device is set to go on sale in April and will be available on the company Website and at selected retailers like Best Buy. According to the New York Times, the new device will be available in two versions.
Their is a basic one that stores 45 hours of high-definition programming and will cost $300 and a second version called TiVo Premium XL that can store 150 hours worth of programming at a cost of $500. On top of the cost for the set-top boxes, TiVo will charge a monthly fees for the service starting at $12.95, New York Times said.
For more, see the NYTimes.com
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Vudu to offer movies streaming directly into TVs and Blu-Ray players.
Vudu, the pionneer of movies on demand thanks to its set-top box by the same name, is abandoning the box all together in favor of direct streaming into your TV according to the New York Times. The new strategy is fairly simple and cheaper too.
Until now, if you wanted to watch movies through Vudu, first and foremost, you would have to buy the $150 stand-alone box and then pay every time you want to watch a movie. But the technology was slowly adopted resulting in poor sales of the device. Now Vudu want to go around that problem by offering its product as a feature and not a device. For that end, Vudu has teamed with manufacturers of devices like TVs and Blu-Ray players, to incorporate its technology as a built-in feature into the device therefore, allowing the possibility of streaming movies.
Right now, LG and Mitshubishi are the only companies offering the technology with the list set to grow this summer to include others like Sanyo, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba and Vizio.
The movies offered can be watched through three levels of quality: standard, high def and something called HDX which stand for higher hi-def.
To these three levels of quality correspond, three levels of pricing ranging from $4, $5 and $7.
For more, see NYTimes.com
Until now, if you wanted to watch movies through Vudu, first and foremost, you would have to buy the $150 stand-alone box and then pay every time you want to watch a movie. But the technology was slowly adopted resulting in poor sales of the device. Now Vudu want to go around that problem by offering its product as a feature and not a device. For that end, Vudu has teamed with manufacturers of devices like TVs and Blu-Ray players, to incorporate its technology as a built-in feature into the device therefore, allowing the possibility of streaming movies.
Right now, LG and Mitshubishi are the only companies offering the technology with the list set to grow this summer to include others like Sanyo, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba and Vizio.
The movies offered can be watched through three levels of quality: standard, high def and something called HDX which stand for higher hi-def.
To these three levels of quality correspond, three levels of pricing ranging from $4, $5 and $7.
For more, see NYTimes.com
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Pepsi Refresh Project to finance local Do Good initiatives.
Last month, Pepsi-Cola started a campaign called Pepsi Refresh Project complete with the supporting Website refresheverything.com, aimed at encouraging ordinary people to submit ideas they think may benefit others in their communities and receive financing through the company if their ideas receive the most votes in their categories. There are six areas ranging from education, health, arts and culture, foods and shelter, neighborhoods and the environment.
For each area, there are different levels of financing available starting at 5,000 and going all the way to $250,000.
Here how it works: each month, participants submit new ideas for the public to vote with voting ending the following month. The projects with the most votes in each area, will win the prize. The number of winners per category depends on the amount of money involved; the lower the amount, the more winners, the highest the amount, fewer winners.
There is also a category reserved for celebrities. In total, Pepsi is devoting $20 million to the project through the end of the year.
For more, see NYTimes.com
For each area, there are different levels of financing available starting at 5,000 and going all the way to $250,000.
Here how it works: each month, participants submit new ideas for the public to vote with voting ending the following month. The projects with the most votes in each area, will win the prize. The number of winners per category depends on the amount of money involved; the lower the amount, the more winners, the highest the amount, fewer winners.
There is also a category reserved for celebrities. In total, Pepsi is devoting $20 million to the project through the end of the year.
For more, see NYTimes.com
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Pogoplug.com is a combination of onsite and cloud storage.
As trends go in the technology world, it is hard right now to find one hotter than the term "cloud computing." The terms describe the phenomenon of accessing information from anywhere with an Internet connection and storing back the information in far away servers. The key with cloud computer is that instead of storing data on their own devices, users rely on a third party storage servers. Nowadays almost every day activity involves some form of cloud computing, from social networks, photos sharing sites, online e-mail programs etc.
With those services, the decision to house the data in the clouds is not the user's, but the provider's. But today, any individual can take the initiative to have his or her data stored in the clouds with different providers. Most providers package their services starting with some level of free storage for a limited data; after that, the amount paid varies with the amount of data and the payments can be monthly or yearly. For instance, ZumoDrive.com offers 2 gigabytes of storage free and charge annual fees ranging from $30 for 10 gigabytes to $800 fir 500 gigabytes, according to the Wall Street Journal. SugarSync.com, another cloud storage service offers a free 2 gigabyte program and charges from $50 to $250 a year for 30 to 250 gigabytes, still according to the Wall Street Journal.
But despite all these offerings and the many options that they offer, cloud storage has not took off with consumers worried about having their data stored in someone else servers hundred or thousand of miles away. That's where a new product called Pogoplug comes to play.
Pogoplug available at Pogoplug.com was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal earlier this year and is from a San Francisco based company called Cloud Engines Inc. It is a combination of an onsite storage and a cloud storage.
The system involves the Pogoplug device which the company sells for $129 and a storage device of the user's choice. Three cables attached to the Pogoplug are to be plugged to the electric outlet, a router and the chosen storage device respectively. From there, "the Pogoplug runs as a mini computer with its own processor that sends files out to the cloud for streaming whenever you want to see them" said the Journal.
The Pogoplug device acts like a projector, streaming to the company own website, any data stored in it. It allows data sharing with others it you choose so, and more importantly, sharing between computers using a button at the bottom of the device. The device works with both PC and Mac computers and some mobile apps for iPhone, Palm Pre and Google's Android phones are available.
One of the Popoplug most appealing characteristics is that beside the initial investment in the hardware, there is no more fees associated with the use of the device, the Journal reports.
For more, see WSJ.com
With those services, the decision to house the data in the clouds is not the user's, but the provider's. But today, any individual can take the initiative to have his or her data stored in the clouds with different providers. Most providers package their services starting with some level of free storage for a limited data; after that, the amount paid varies with the amount of data and the payments can be monthly or yearly. For instance, ZumoDrive.com offers 2 gigabytes of storage free and charge annual fees ranging from $30 for 10 gigabytes to $800 fir 500 gigabytes, according to the Wall Street Journal. SugarSync.com, another cloud storage service offers a free 2 gigabyte program and charges from $50 to $250 a year for 30 to 250 gigabytes, still according to the Wall Street Journal.
But despite all these offerings and the many options that they offer, cloud storage has not took off with consumers worried about having their data stored in someone else servers hundred or thousand of miles away. That's where a new product called Pogoplug comes to play.
Pogoplug available at Pogoplug.com was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal earlier this year and is from a San Francisco based company called Cloud Engines Inc. It is a combination of an onsite storage and a cloud storage.
The system involves the Pogoplug device which the company sells for $129 and a storage device of the user's choice. Three cables attached to the Pogoplug are to be plugged to the electric outlet, a router and the chosen storage device respectively. From there, "the Pogoplug runs as a mini computer with its own processor that sends files out to the cloud for streaming whenever you want to see them" said the Journal.
The Pogoplug device acts like a projector, streaming to the company own website, any data stored in it. It allows data sharing with others it you choose so, and more importantly, sharing between computers using a button at the bottom of the device. The device works with both PC and Mac computers and some mobile apps for iPhone, Palm Pre and Google's Android phones are available.
One of the Popoplug most appealing characteristics is that beside the initial investment in the hardware, there is no more fees associated with the use of the device, the Journal reports.
For more, see WSJ.com
Monday, March 1, 2010
DynamicBooks to allow texbooks to be rewrote by instructors.
In a page borrowed to Wikipedia, Mcmillan, one of the five largest publishers of trade books and textbooks, has announced plans to introduce a software called DynamicBooks that will allow college instructors to edit digital editions of textbooks and customize them for their individual classes, according to the New York Times.
Quoting the paper, "professors will be able to reorganize or delete chapters, upload course syllabuses, notes, videos, pictures and graphs," and most interestingly, "rewrite or delete individual paragraphs, equation or illustrations."
The way the software is set up, instructors will have the power to go online, log on to the authoring tool and make whatever change they want without even the need for prior authorization.
The program is set to start in August when 100 titles will be available for sale through DynamicBooks.
One of the advantage of the DynamicBooks edition is that the titles offered will sell for much less than the the price of other ebooks because of their personalized character.
For more, see NYTimes.com
Quoting the paper, "professors will be able to reorganize or delete chapters, upload course syllabuses, notes, videos, pictures and graphs," and most interestingly, "rewrite or delete individual paragraphs, equation or illustrations."
The way the software is set up, instructors will have the power to go online, log on to the authoring tool and make whatever change they want without even the need for prior authorization.
The program is set to start in August when 100 titles will be available for sale through DynamicBooks.
One of the advantage of the DynamicBooks edition is that the titles offered will sell for much less than the the price of other ebooks because of their personalized character.
For more, see NYTimes.com
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