Classic TV Shows Go Under the Knife

Charlie's Angels was an integral part of my childhood, and possibly even my development. So it's a little shocking to think about each episode being boiled down to a five-minute plotline. But that's exactly what Sony Pictures Television plans to do with classic shows like Charlie's Angels, T.J. Hooker, Starsky and Hutch, and, uh, Ricki Lake.

The butchered episodes will appear online featuring the same plots as the originals, only condensed. Really condensed. Influenced by the success of YouTube and its supershort video clips, Sony is working on creating minisodes--three-and-a-half to five minute versions--of its classics. Here's the president of Sony Television explaining to the New York Times how a Charlie's Angels episode might go: "They have a meeting, Charlie?s on the intercom telling them what the assignment is, there?s a couple of fights, and then a chase, and they catch the bad guy."

Even Ricki Lake is getting a makeover--guests will be introduced, they'll fight, they'll make up. End of show. If you want to catch the action, look for these minisodes to debut in June on the Minisode Network, an online site that will initially be hosted on MySpace.

New to the Cheater's Toolbox: iPods

Educators often talk about getting technology in the classroom. But in one respect, they're trying to take it out. According to a recent Associated Press article, schools are discovering that the latest method of cheating on exams involves iPods and MP3 players. (Of course, by "latest" I mean "the latest discovered.")

The techniques seem to be pretty straightforward. For example, an iPod's text-file display can be used as a modern form of crib notes. Or a student can record themselves reading formulas and other bits of information beforehand, then listen during the exam undetected by threading the earbud cable through a sleeve.

Cheating by technological means isn't new; in fact, when I was in college I heard of some people who used the latter technique, though they were using Walkmans. And I definitely know that some people used programmable scientific calculators to store crib notes during physics exams -- not that I'm confessing to anything.

Right now schools are dealing with this problem by banning these gadgets from exam rooms. But as audio players get smaller and wireless headphones become more common, it's going to get harder and harder to clamp down on this sort of behavior. The best weapon in the fight might be to make students realize that cheating only provide short-term benefits -- or to create more thorough exams.

MP3s in a Barbie World

As I was reading the recent batch of hand-wringing articles on earbuds and hearing loss in young people, I asked myself if anyone aside from iFrogz and SanDisk were actually marketing audio players to younger kids. Turns out there is someone: Mattel.

To me, the Barbie Girls MP3 player, based on Mattel's recent attempt to meet the edgier Bratz halfway, is a testament to awkward design. But given the loyalty that girls feel toward their little fashion totems, I guess that won't matter to Barbie Girls fans. Like their namesake dolls, these $60 MP3 players can be dressed up for different occasions: the faceplates are removable, and accessory packs with various fashions, clip-on pets, and the like will be sold separately.

The Barbie Girls players also connect to the Barbie Girls virtual world that Mattel has been promoting, providing new content to play with. It's hard for me to work up any personal enthusiasm for that, but given that Bandai is doing all right with thier TamagotchiTown, they might be on to something. Hey, maybe Mattel and Bandai can talk to Microsoft about creating a viable ecosystem around the Zune.

A Different Kind of Steamy TV

That picture on the left isn't of a giant iPod, though it might as well be. What you're seeing is an HD-ready TV mounted in a shower stall -- which means personal hygiene is no longer a reason to miss a single frame of your favorite TV show. (And trust me, there are people for whom this presents a considerable dilemma.)

(Hey, remember those bathroom- and shower-safe MP3 speakers I mentioned last week? I imagine execs at UK-based Envirovision, the company behind this, took one look at those and sniffed, "Amateurs.")

Given my tendency toward hot showers, I'm not sure how significant UK company Envirovision's guarantee of high-quality HDMI connections is, but they've made sure to mention in their hype that they supposedly have the only waterproof TVs with heated screens that prevent misting. Still, I'm not sure how much detail I'm expected to catch through all that steam.

The company's setups start at ?999.00 (about $1993); I wonder how much they'd charge to install theater seating as well?

Bees Appear to Be Safe from Cell Phones

Turns out that maybe our yellow and black striped friends don't have much to fear from us after all. Although it's been posited that cell phones were the reason why honeybees were disappearing from their hives in massive numbers. However, it appears that the real culprit is a parasitic fungus that has been found in many affected hives.

Now, this isn't conclusive. And, for that matter, neither was the cell phone theory. For all we know, one or both of these were just factors, pieces of the whole puzzle. But even if it turns out that the fungus was the key, let's not forget that the German study demonstrated that 900-1800 MHz cell phone radiation was screwing up the bees' navigation. Shouldn't someone be looking into that?

Scientists to Build Robot Colony

No, seriously. Sixty robots are going to interact with each other in groups, learn from each other, and evolve patterns of behavior. Scientists who have clearly not watched The Matrix will study them.

It's all part of a four-year study spearheaded by the University of Abertay; the robots will be organized into groups, observe each other, and copy each others' behavior. The theory is that by modeling behavior based on observation, there will be slight variations in how that behavior is duplicated; then when conditions change, the robots will cope differently, and hopefully adapt. Biology professor John Crawford hopes that observing these evolving behaviors will provide clues as to how "human, animal or artificial societies" work.

At this point I have three scenarios playing in my head:

* A robot looks up from the colony at one of the scientists and saying, "Hu-man. Op-pres-sor." Then one of the scientists looks at another and says, "Wait. Did we give them voice chips?"

* Kent Brockman on the news saying, "And I for one welcome our new mechanical overlords..."

* Me armed with a pipe wrench, defending my family against a renegade microwave oven.

This sort of thinking is exactly why a group of researchers recently came together to discuss the implications of autonomous robots in our society. A bit piqued by glib presentations made by other scientists (and, no doubt, smart-aleck technology writers who watch too many movies), they think we should start asking some of the hard questions. Professor Alan Winfield of the University of West England asked of military sentry robots, "If an autonomous robot kills someone, whose fault is it?" University of Sheffield prof Noel Sharkey envisions the possibility of strikes being broken by robots armed with water cannons.

The slight irony here is that while they scorn sensationalism and seek serious debate, many of the scenarios they discuss -- including using robots to take care of the elderly so society doesn't have to -- have already been addressed in pop culture, sometimes in thought-provoking ways. Maybe they need to get out and catch a movie once in a while.

Black & White E-Books? That's So Last Year

I've been pining for the perfect electronic book for about 15 years now, and the iRex iLiad and Sony Reader have come pretty darned close. The only potential headache is that they're both restricted to grayscale -- no problem if you're reading Harlequin romances or manga, but a bit of a pain if you're trying to read, say, the digital edition of USA Today.

Color electronic paper exists, but you won't find it in an e-book until October, when Fujitsu unveils their FLEPia readers. The two units will be available in A4 and A5 (8.27" x 11.69" and 5.83" x 8.27", respectively) sizes, with a resolution of 768 x 1024 and a maximum of 4,096 colors displayed at once. The units include SD card slots and Wi-Fi (b and g) connectivity.

There are two gotchas, though: for one, the FLEPia readers are only being released in Japan (they run the Japanese Windows CE 5.0), and they're a touch pricier -- the A5 units sell for ?157,500 (about $1,319) each if you buy a lot of ten. Bump that to ?262,500 ($2,195) for the A4 models. You know, grayscale isn't looking too bad right now.

Brando Lets You Roll Your Own Keyboard

When everyone has a wireless USB keyboard with programmable media keys, there's only one way to impress your friends: roll your keyboard up and toss it in your bag.

That, in a nutshell, is the appeal of Brando's $29 Wireless Multimedia Flexible Keyboard. It's a full-size, bendy blue (or black, or white, or pink) keyboard, complete with numeric keypad and 18 multimedia keys, that just happens to be made out of silicone. The thin, 9.6-oz keyboard is powered by 2 AAA batteries and can be folded or rolled to accommodate your knapsack or tote bag; and since it's water-resistant it's easy to clean (though you can't throw it in the sink). I'm not sure about their claim that the "flat design ... prevents your wrists getting stress," but if the keyboard's flexible, then hey, so am I.

Sony's Response to YouTube: eyeVio

Japanese media companies have been clashing with YouTube for some time, but Sony has finally gone and done something about it: they've gone and started their own video-sharing site.

eyeVio, which launches in Japan on Friday (which is, er, today) will offer pretty much the same service as YouTube, with one crucial difference: Sony promises that they'll keep an eye on user-uploaded content to make sure illegal material doesn't slip through. Based on how things fly at home, Sony will decide when (if?) to launch eyeVio abroad. (Which, of course, will open it up to many eager smart-alecks waiting to test just how effective the company will be at screening tens, if not hundreds of thousands of vidoes.)

Sony plans to eventually make money from partnerships with other companies and, of course, advertising. As Sony spokesman Takeshi Honma puts it, "We believe there's a need for a clean and safe place where companies can place their advertisements."

Wait, "clean and safe"? Oh, snap -- are you gonna take that, YouTube?

Texting at 20,000 Feet

Whether you consider it a convenience or a nightmare, the notion of cell phones on airplanes is an attention-grabber -- which may be why JetBlue is floating the idea of allowing text-messaging on airplanes. On the surface it's not a bad compromise -- passengers have the convenience of communication, with no obnoxious chatter to drive other passengers bonkers -- but there is that little matter of the recent FCC ban on in-flight cell phone use.

So this is really just speculation on what JetBlue would do if, you know, the FCC changes their mind. Of course, if the various plans out of Europe and the United Arab Emirates come to fruition and planes don't fall out of the sky, that may happen sooner rather than later.

All the TV That's Fit to Link

More than once I've heard or read someone lament that there's no TV guide for the Internet. Actually, TV Guide is on the case -- and so is Tioti, a UK-based project that aims to provide an index to all the TV content available online.

Tioti -- which stands for Tape It Off the Internet -- currently indexes the online whereabouts of over 2,000 TV shows. The upcoming feature set, now in beta, will rely on user interaction and community; users will have a variety of means for suggesting and recommending links to TV shows. Tioti designer Paul Cleghorn estimates that 15% of the links currently point to legal content; the site's home page mentions iTunes, AOL and Amazon Unbox, and he's been in talks with the BBC and Channel 4.

I suppose when the site goes live in June, broadcasters will consider Tioti a boon for finding and shutting down sites that illegally post their content. But I hope they take more of a long view and use it as a gauge to find out what consumers actually want to watch. Case in point: After repeatedly chasing after pirated versions of the Goldorak (the French version of the 1970s anime series UFO Robot Grendizer), Toei Animation got the hint and announced that they'd release an official version. Hopefully other studios will follow suit.

[Thanks, MediaGuardian.]

Texting Teen Is All Thumbs

What do you know, another cell-phone-related sport -- only this one doesn't involve distance or style. It was all about the raw speed and coordination this weekend when thirteen-year-old Morgan Pozgar took the title of US Texting Champion in a competition sponsored by LG.

Bravely risking serious injury, Pozgar typed "Supercalifragilisticexpialidoucious! Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious. If you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious" flawlessly in 15 seconds. (I'm kind of surprised the judges didn't throw in the "Um diddle diddle diddle um diddle ay" as well, just for kicks.) West coast champion Eli Tirosh actually finished typing first, but was sunk by a typo.

Pozgar's total winnings came to $25,000, which she wants to spend shopping in New York, and her mother wants to put toward college. If she wants to pursue this as a career, I'd recommend saving some for physiotherapy as well.

[Thanks, IT Business.]

You Bet Your Drive

Can't get enough of poker? This Memorex USB flash drive should tide you over between games. The drive's protective cover is styled to look like a small stack of red poker chips, and the drive itself comes preloaded with a Texas Hold 'Em game. Unlike some other novelty drives, this one comes with a reasonable 1 GB of storage. Just be sure you don't accidentally gamble away that important PowerPoint presentation you've been working on.

The All-Access Digital Universe: Convenient, but Not Cool

When it was reported two weeks ago that the Beatles had settled with EMI and we could expect to see their music in digital catalogs soon, there was another related tidbit that was briefly mentioned in the tech press, if at all: that Neil Aspinall had resigned as the head of Apple Corps (the Beatles' music company) after 40 years. It's not surprising that this story got short shrift, as it didn't seem to have anything to do with the digitizing of the Beatles' music.

Except that maybe it did.

Reportedly, Aspinall isn't too happy with the idea of the Beatles going digital. Credited with turning Apple Corps around after its initial bankruptcy, Aspinall is the main reason that Beatles products and tie-ins have been slowly carefully measured out. His reasoning seemed to be that scarcity, avoiding the obvious forms of brand exploitation and keeping an eye on quality were the things that kept the Beatles brand cool. By making the music available online (among other upcoming projects), the Beatles become just like every other band -- and part of their specialness is lost.

The funny thing is, I think I agree with him a little. The term "cool" has been thoroughly abused over the decades, and subtlety is a lost art. But there's a lot to be said for holding something back; if there's one thing that defines old-school cool, it's that aloofness and limited availability bring cachet.

At the same time, we're in a digital culture now, and it's (theoretically) all about total access. For instance, I was recently irked that I can no longer just walk to the corner video store and rent Annie Hall -- something had to make room for the Adam Sandler comedies, I suppose -- but I realized that I can always buy it, rent it, or download it online, assuming it doesn't show up on one of my satellite movie channels. On balance, it's more available than when there was just one copy per square mile. However, in the long run that actually makes me less likely to watch it. In fact, my shelves are full of movies that I used to drop everything to see if they happened to appear on TV or at a nearby cinema; now I barely even glance at them, partly because they're within easy reach.

What Aspinall knew instinctively is that ubiquity comes at a price: desensitization. As a film fan and a creator, I'm offended whenever media executives use the catchall word "content" to describe movies, TV shows, books, music, or whatever is being used to just fill up real or virtual shelf space -- it flattens out value, making Blade Runner equivalent to Batman & Robin because they have approximately the same running time. But in a sense that's how all media is treated these days, especially with digital technology enabling the giant content spigot. When the Beatles catalog does make it to iTunes, there'll be huge splash, promotional tie-ins, and all kinds of attention-grabbing clatter. But after that their work will be just part of the content stream, and the must-have factor will be reduced. I'll be happy to finally be able to download my favorite Fab Four songs, but I can't help feeling that in the end, Aspinall will be right.

iPod Shuffle Plays in the Big Leagues

iPod Shuffle owners no longer have to feel like second-class citizens of the iPod nation. Though the Shuffle's tiny size has led to some interesting accessories (my favorite is the headgear) there hasn't been a convenient way to enjoy all the iPod docks and boom boxes out there. Griffin Technology's $19 dock adapter solves that little problem; just slide your second-generation Shuffle onto this little piece of plastic and metal and the whole thing comfortably sits in any universal iPod dock connector. A switch lets you toggle between playback and charge/sync modes. So who's laughing now, Mr. 80-gigabyte-iPod?

Fancy iPods and Phones: When Will the Bling Stop?

I'm always amazed that people keep coming out with shiny stuff for the wealthy-magpie demographic. Witness the pictured iPods (fifth-generation, or first-gen Nano), which feature 24-karat, hardened mirror gold backplates. The 30 GB iPods and Nanos are priced at ?299 (about $600); 80 GB iPods go for ?399 (about $800).

If that's too rich for your blood, then you definitely want to stay away from Peter Aloisson's $10,000 "Stainless Steel Gold" Motorola V3i phone, which sports a faceplate studded with 855 3.8-carat diamonds.

I normally regard these kind of luxury electronics with detached amusement. (After all, can you really take a million-dollar laptop seriously? Didn't think so.) But when Earth Day coincides with the first week of spring weather and countless old electronic devices are being put out on the curb, it seems a little less funny that all this money is being spent on things which will be considered useless in short order. I've gotta wonder: what does one do with an obsolete $10,000 phone?

Inflict Your Ringtone on Your Friends

File this under "How to tweak friends and irritate people." Encino, California-based startup Emotive has recently got funding -- to the tune of $7.7 million -- to expand their Ringjacker "push ringer" concept into the mobile phone space.

A "push ringer" allows you to customize your ringtones -- or rather, to customize what other people hear when you phone them. So if I decide that my personal theme song is the "The Maestro" (because, after all, it's me you see with the funk in my walk) that's what you'll hear when I phone you, even if your ringtone is from La Traviata.

Where I see amusement quickly degenerating into irritation, Emotive and its investors -- including Warner Music Group -- see increased revenues, as startled call recipients will be able to buy the ringtone or the original song for themselves. Time for me to switch to vibrate.

Your iPod Is Now Good to the Last Drop

iPod owners might have felt left out when I wrote about the Noritz Juke Tower, which lets you listen to MP3s in the shower, provided they're on a thumb drive. But the white-earbud set has something similar as well: ZumReed's ?4988 (about $42) Drop Speaker, a drop-shaped unit that snugly encloses an iPod and has a speaker in its base.

The screw-top gadget appears to be water-resistant rather than waterproof, which means you'd probably be able to splash it with water but spraying it with the shower head might be a no-no. Still, with four external controls and an extremely portable design, the Drop Speaker is a reasonably convenient way to listen to your tunes without worrying about your player.

Give Me That Old-Time Gaming

For all the furor over the latest generation of consoles and the bleeding-edge games that go with them, it's still true that nostalgia is an increasingly important part of gaming. Here are a few things old-school gamers can get from new-school hardware:

* Sony recently dropped the 1.7 firmware update for the PS3, so PS3 owners can now download games for the original PlayStation from the PlayStation Network and play them right on the PS3. If you've also got a PSP, you'll not only be able to take your games on the road, you'll be able to share saved data between the two machines. If you've just got the handheld but no PS3 (and you're not into the homebrew scene), well, you're kinda stuck for now.

* If your definition of "old-school" only goes back to the twilight of the twentieth century, you'll be happy to hear that Microsoft has just updated their backward compatibility system for the Xbox 360, bringing the total number of original Xbox games available to over 300. Just pop the original game in, and the Xbox 360 will download the patch. If you're old enough to remember when "wakka-wakka-wakka" could refer to either Fozzie Bear or a certain yellow chowhound, then maybe the Pac-Man championship will pique your interest.

* Meanwhile, over on the Wii, Sega just won't stop with the Sega Genesis titles. New to the Wii Shop are Streets of Rage 2, Shining in the Darkness, Kid Chameleon and Toe Jam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron.

Another New Flash Memory Format Debuts

Do we really need another new flash format? Actually, some people might.

Sony and Sandisk have teamed up to create a new memory card format, dubbed SxS -- that's "ess by ess," not "ess ex ess." But you probably won't have to worry about about scrounging for a new media reader just yet; with capacities starting at 8 GB and fast transfer speeds, SxS cards are meant for high-end devices, like professional HD video cameras. Not coincidentally, Sony has incorporated SxS support in its XDCAM EX line of professional camcorders.

So how fast is fast? Well, remember the Grass Valley Infinity Digital Media Camcorder I mentioned last year? It uses CompactFlash cards, which currently top out at 40 megabytes per second. SxS is a native PCI Express card, and the PCI Express spec currently tops out at 2.5 gigabits per second; the companies hope to eventually hit 800 gigabits per second. Considering the demands of professional HD recording, especially for the film industry, that speed will no doubt be quite welcome.

Remember when I called the Grass Valley camcorder "advance notice of things to come?" Welcome to the future.

BBC Prepares to Open Online Vault

According to the BBC (and who would know better?), the BBC is getting ready to launch its long-awaited on-demand multimedia archive. The BBC Archive will include full-length TV and radio programs, along with scripts and notes, all available for download from the BBC's Website. When it launches next month, the trial will include approximately 50 hours of content, open to the public, and about 1,000 hours of programming open to a select group of 20,000 Brit residents. Eventually the BBC hopes to offer up more than one million hours of programming.

As one big-wig at the BBC puts it, the trial will allow the media company to see what they can charge for, and what they should offer for free. He also says: "It will test what old programs people really want to see, from Man Alive to The Liver Birds, how they want to see them--full length or clip compilations--and when they want them, in lean-forward exploratory mode similar to web surfing, or as a scheduled experience more akin to TV viewing."

Also in the works is the BBC's iPlayer service, which will allow people to watch any programming that was broadcast in the last seven days (it's touted as a "catch-up" service). Initially iPlayer will be for Windows only, though versions for Macs, Media Centers, mobiles, and cable TV are also being developed.

Saitek's Slick New Critter

It's rare for a mouse to illicit any sort of reaction, but Saitek's new Obsidian is quite sleek and pretty. This 2.4GHz wireless mouse includes a touch-sensitive scroll (rather than a wheel), 1000-dpi optical technology, and two Li-ion battery packs so you can charge one while using the other. Besides left, right, and center buttons, the mouse also features forward and back buttons for cruising the Internet--and they are located on both sides so there's no discrimination against left-handed users. That's a decent haul for $50.

HD DVD Fans Spike Sales for a Day

Okay, so I engage in fanboy behavior sometimes, and for some things I am an unabashed otaku, which is why I usually have a certain degree of sympathy for other obsessives. But I was surprised to hear about recent high-definition DVD fan behavior. It seems that last week's spike in HD DVD title sales -- one that temporarily blew past Blu-ray's lead, at least in Amazon rankings -- was the result of a deliberate effort. A month ago, HD DVD fans at the AVS Forum website organized a one-day mass buy of HD DVD titles, not unlike the tactic employed by the two First Weekend Club organizations (one for Canadian cinema, one for African-American cinema).

And what do you know, it worked, though the rankings seem to be reverting to their previous state. Blu-ray fans aren't sitting idle, though -- they're planning for a similar action soon. So what we appear to have here is, um, a format war.

Note to Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde: It's On

Flex those chomping muscles, retro gamers: the Pac-Man World Championship goes down starting next week on Xbox Live Arcade.

On April 25, contenders willing to drop 400 Microsoft Points ($5 in real money) can sign up, then spend the next two weeks chomping the power pellets in an effort to become a finalist in their region (those would be Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Europe and the United States). Then the finalists are flown to New York in June for the final throwdown, with the winner receiving 26 years of free Quiznos subs (the sandwich company is also behind this), 100,000 Microsoft points, and a Pac-Man themed Xbox 360 console.

Oh, and the victor will also be crowned the Pac-Man World Champion by the game's creator, Toru Iwatani. I get geeky goose pimples just thinking about it.

I do have to quibble about the title, though: "Pac-Man World Champion?" Maybe I'm too much of a purist, but so far as I'm concerned if you're not playing a coin-op, you're not playing the real Pac-Man. The controllers are different -- just ask the battered muscles in my wrist -- and there's a world of difference between a marathon game standing or on a stool and one in a chair. I'd like to see what would happen if the finalists had to play on arcade machines instead of Xboxes. But hey, that's just me.

Digital Tunes Not Making Up for CD Slide

Yet another thing for the music industry to be upset about. According to the RIAA, sales of music CDs fell 12.8 percent last year, which is greater than the 8.1 percent loss experienced in 2005.

While the optimistic among us would point to the rise of digital download services like iTunes as the reason, that's only part of the picture. Digital purchases did increase by over 74.4 percent--albums more than doubled in sales, and song sales rose 60 percent--but those gains were not able to compensate for the overall picture. All in all, music sales were down by 6.2 percent, and of the $11.51 billion the industry made, only $878 million can be attributed to digital song sales. OK, let the "p" word fly (piracy, for those of you who haven't had your morning joe).

Toshiba Doubles NAND Capacity; iPods to Follow?

Brace yourself for another capacity bump in portable gadgets next year. Yesterday Toshiba announced that they've managed to cram even more memory into their NAND chips by using a 56nm process technology to squeeze eight 2-GB chips plus a controller into the same space as current 8 GB modules.

The upshot is that when the 16 GB memory modules go into mass production this December, current flash-based devices that use the Toshiba chips will suddenly be able to access twice as much memory as before. (The 8 GB modules using the same technology go into production in July.) You might want to hold off on that iPod Nano you've been eyeing.

Cell Phones, Scourge of Honeybees?

Technology has always come at a price. (Just ask Prometheus.) And it seems that, yet again, we may have come to a point where we have to ask ourselves if it's worth it.

For a few years now, honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing from hives across North America and Europe. It's one of those things that didn't exactly make headline news, but perplexed (and, let's be blunt, scared) the people who knew about it. It's not just a matter of having a little less sweetener for your tea -- honeybees handle a fair bit of nature's pollination chores, including for the crops that we eat.

A new German study suggests that we might actually be at the core of the problem -- or more specifically, our cell phone usage might be. The study has found that the radiation emitted by phones operating in the 900 to 1800 MHz range interferes with our apian pals' ability to find their hives and communicate with each other. Mass hive desertion means mass bee death.

There's still work to be done to determine if cell phones are the major reason or just one of several factors at work, but let's just say for the sake of argument that they are. What next? How many people would stop or at least drastically decrease their cell phone usage if they learned that doing so would, at least indirectly, save us from crop shortages and/or increased food prices? My bet is, not many. If there's one thing the modern world has illustrated, it's that we're great when it comes to short-term gratification and not so hot on the long-term planning, even when the results are potentially catastrophic. A lot of people thought that cell phones increased the chances of getting cancer during the time cell phone adoption skyrocketed -- even when we're directly involved, we don't seem to fret too much. (Luckily, it turned out that there wasn't really a link between the two.) But if we don't dodge that bullet the next time around, are we prepared to cut back on the convenience for our collective good? Are you?

PS3 Might Get a Storage Bump

Goodbye, 20GB PlayStation 3, hello 80 gigger? Last month we reported that Sony is quietly preparing an 80GB PS3. Today Sony announced that a higher-capacity PS3 is definitely under consideration--one that that can accommodate hardcore players who store tons of games, music, and video on their consoles.

In fact, Sony has decided to discontinue the 20GB PS3 in North America, and stick with just the 60GB version for now. But even that may not be adequate for some gamers. According to a Sony spokesperson talking to Reuters, "For users who vigorously store (games and other entertainment content) in the PS3, 20-giga is probably going to be too small, and even 60-giga may not be big enough eventually."

The hard drive may not be the only thing getting an overhaul. While the main components--Cell processor, RSX graphics processor, BluRay, and network functionality--should remain unchanged, the spokesperson said that other features could come and go.

SanDisk Asks Tweens for a Fair Shake

With tweens, it's all about the social. That's why your nine-year-old is pestering you for a cell phone. In the world of audio players, SanDisk is offering up its version of music sharing for the Nickelodeon set later this month -- the Sansa Shaker, an inexpensive ($39) MP3 player that has a pair of headphone jacks for private listening between buddies and a built-in speaker for impromptu parties. (Because no one throws down like a third-grader.)

Seriously, though, my first thought was that the Shaker moniker was a cute allusion to its appearance, as the speaker on top makes the player look like George Jetson's salt dispenser. Actually, the name refers to its wacky alternative control: If you want to skip ahead to the next song, you can just give it a shake. (The Shaker comes with a lanyard, so I presume it needs a fair bit of snap before changing tracks; otherwise, kids will have to walk very carefully.)

This Player Sings in the Shower

The 21st century is all about ubiquitous music. Right? Anyone who wants to can listen to music while swimming, sleeping, grabbing a cold one or even brushing their teeth. But while showering? Well, that's generally been tricky. Even if you're brave enough to bring your MP3 player and speakers into the bathroom, you'll have to crank it to hear anything over the running water -- which might be a problem if the rest of the family doesn't quite appreciate "Ride of the Valkyries" as a morning pick-me-up.

Enter Japanese company Noritz's Juke Tower, a ?10,500 (about $88) waterproof speaker that looks like a foo-foo shampoo bottle. Just put a thumb drive of MP3s inside and the sound that comes out of the .5-watt speaker in the underside hits the conical base and broadcasts the music in all directions. (Hmm. It occurs to me that if you combine the Juke Tower with a few tracks downloaded from doPi, you can sing in the shower with style.)

The Juke Tower is powered by three AA batteries, which can keep it going for a good 12 hours. But I expect the hot water will give out before then.

Guitar Hero III Gives All Gamers Love

Details have emerged on Guitar Hero III, the videogame that lets you indulge your Jimi Hendrix or Slash fantasies on a faux six string. According to the president of Red Octane, makers of Guitar Hero, the third iteration of the game will be out by end of year on all three major next-gen consoles, as well as the PS2. There's even the possibility of a Nintendo DS version early next year; a mobile phone version is already in the works (should make bus rides more interesting).

Guitar Hero III will focus on the ability to compete against others over the Internet, as well as more downloadable content (as with the newly released Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II). And no, the Nintendo Wii version of the game will not have you shredding on a Wiimote. Instead, Nintendo rockers will also get to sport a guitar controller, like other console owners.

TomTom Goes Widescreen on Its GPS

Mmm, widescreen GPS. I'm digging the look of the new TomTom One XL, a GPS device with a giant 4.3-inch touchscreen that, thanks to its wider figure, can accommodate more streets and information on its display. At 1.2-inches thick, it's slim like the TomTom One (as opposed to the chunky TomTom Go I bought several years ago), and it also comes equipped with a two-hour battery and Bluetooth.

The device comes preloaded with maps of the US and Canada (including Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico!), and millions of points of interest. It's also set up to handle real-time traffic reports (subscription required) and comes with the TomTom Home software for your PC, which lets do things like update your device, prepare for a trip, install maps, and back up your device. Not too shabby, for $400.

Shiny, Happy iPods

Some people prefer their gadgets with nice, subdued colors. Others prefer nice and shiny. If you find yourself more on the magpie end of the spectrum (but not so far as to load up on the bling), Digital Lifestyle Outfitters has got you covered. Or rather, they've got your iPod covered with the $25 VideoShell SE, a case which comes in six rather appealing metallic colors.

The VideoShell SE sports the usual access to the iPod's various connectors and controls, but it's also useful for video junkies: it sports a kickstand that keeps the player up at an easy-to-view angle and, incidentally, makes it easy to show off your style.

Stripped-Down Sidekick Coming Soon

If you're getting jealous of seeing all the kids kicking out quick text messages from their Sidekick, you can now join the texting revolution for cheaper than ever. The new T-Mobile Sidekick iD, due out April 25, is just $100 (with the now-standard two-year contract and data plan) and can be personalized with removable panels.

In terms of design, the iD is just like the Sidekick 3, complete with the standard 2.4-inch flip-out screen and comfy QWERTY keypad underneath. Like other Sidekicks, the device is a natural when it comes to IM, email, and text-messaging.

But, of course you don't get something for nothing. At half the price of the Sidekick 3, the iD has been stripped of many of the 3's major features, including the camera, music player, Bluetooth, and higher-speed EDGE networking (especially a bummer since this is a data device). But if you're wallet-conscious, and can live without frills, it may be worth a look.

HD Radio Gets Affordable

I'm a big fan of HD Radio, in case you couldn't tell. I just love how you can get double the amount of programming (and cool stuff where I am, like the BBC and an '80s channel) without having to spring for a monthly or annual subscription, which always ends up on my credit card at the most inopportune time.

The problem is, HD Radio units tend to be expensive, like the $300 Cambridge SoundWorks 820HD we wrote about earlier this week (even the RadioShack Accurian is $150, after rebate). Well, if you're looking for an affordable HD Radio unit, check out Radiosophy's HD100. Due in May, the radio will sell for $120, though if you order by June 30, you can get one for $100.

The HD100 includes a "scan HD" feature that allows you to look only for digital stations, along with standards like alarm, snooze, and sleep buttons, headphone jack, and a line-in input for connecting an MP3 player. Unfortunately, it skimps on presets, limiting you to five FM and five AM. Still, if it's HD Radio you're looking for, this is a budget-friendly way to get it.

Samsung Announces Another Multi-Format Player

The march toward inevitable multi-format compatibility continues. LG was first out of the gate with a player that could handle both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs under the Super Multi Blue rubric, and Ricoh announced they'd have a similar player out in time for the holidays this year. Now Samsung has gone ahead and said they will do the same, releasing their player under the Duo HD moniker. (It looks like they turned around from last year's turnaround.) The BD-UP5000 will also debut in time for the holidays, and will support the competing formats' interactive technologies like HDi and CD-Java -- something that's lacking in the Super Multi Blue player.

Whatever; it's all good news so far as I'm concerned, but I have to take exception to a statement by Dongsoo Jun, executive VP of the Digital AV Division at Samsung Electronics: "Consumers are hungry for more HD content but are currently confused about competing formats." The first point is debatable, but the second? Dude, we're not confused: we just don't want to take a chance and end up with the Betamax of disc formats. Maybe if you guys could have compromised earlier and come out with a single format, we'd have been a bit more willing to buy into this high-definition DVD thing.

Beatles and EMI Make Nice, Edging Closer to iTunes

It's almost exactly a year since we first reported that the Beatles were having their music catalog digitally remastered, (hopefully) in anticipation of a forthcoming iTunes release.

On the heels of February's settlement between Apple (the Beatles' music company) and Apple (the computer company), another obstacle has been knocked down. Earlier today, it was announced that Apple (the Beatles' company) has settled their long-standing dispute with EMI over five years' worth of royalties. This leaves the two entities free to start new royalty negotiations over online sales, which brings us tantalizingly close to the possibility of the Beatles' music appearing on iTunes and possibly other online music services.

Let's not forget that EMI is moving to DRM-free music next month -- which just may be the thing to hurry those negotiations along.

OLED TVs to See the Light of Day

For years we've been hearing about OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display technology being used in TVs. Now, several display manufacturers are ready to make the move.

According to Reuters, Toshiba and Matsushita are aiming for a 2009 to start commercial production of an OLED TV. And now Engadget is reporting that Sony will launch an 11-inch OLED TV this year. Though 11 inches is nothing to write home about, some of the other specs are, including 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and a paltry 3 mm depth. Slobber slobber.

Besides the ability to make them super-thin, OLEDs are also known for their energy-efficiency and prowess with handling fast-moving images.

USB Pill Might Be What Doctor Ordered

I'm currently suffering from an obnoxious cold, but I think even in my less than lucid moments I wouldn't think to accidentally take this $70 capsule-shaped USB drive with a glass of water -- which is a good thing, because 4 GB is an awful lot of data to inadvertently consume. I'll remember to keep it away from my older relatives with iffy eyesight, though.

If you're wondering where you've seen something like this before, look no further than a blog posting last June in which I wrote about a French pop group releasing their fifth album on a similarly shaped (and similarly colored) flash drive.

Sony Looking to Put PS3 Grid to Commercial Use

Many people were just tickled to be part of the Folding@home project, in which PlayStation 3 owners could lend some of their spare processing power to a distributed computing effort to fight disease. However, they just might be a bit fazed by the recent news out of Tokyo. With the success of Folding@home -- Sony Computer Entertainment CTO Masa Chatani says that there are 11,000-12,000 Folding@home participants at any given moment -- corporate interests have expressed interest in harnessing that kind of computing power for their own uses.

The problem, of course, is that it's one thing to ask people to donate computing time to a university project that can potentially help people with cancer or Alzheimer's (raise your hand if you don't know anyone affected by either. Hello? Anyone?) and another entirely to help a corporation turn a profit that much more efficiently. (Then again, companies like, say, pharmaceutical firms are always controversial. If Pixar wanted help to speed calculations for their next feature, would you say no?)

Chatani already recognizes that people might be reticent to let companies use their PS3s for free, so he mentions the possibility of incentives like free products in exchange for computing time. Still not a deal-maker for some people (as "free product" usually means something like "cheapie MP3 player" instead of "new sound system"), but that doesn't mean this kind of plan won't eventually happen, with more companies or other organizations looking to borrow time from consoles or desktop computers. How commonplace do you think this will be in ten years?

Belkin Fills the Hole in Your Desk

Even if I had a corner office with a giant executive desk I've always dreamed of (I'd want this with the executive salary but without the executive headaches of course), I'd still manage to fill that desk up with piles and piles of stuff. So it's nice to see that Belkin's killing two birds with one stone.

The company's new line of in-desk hubs takes those often-unused grommet holes you find in desks and fills them with functionality you need, like a USB hub or an iPod charger. There's an angled USB hub that fits a 3-inch hole and features four ports. There are also flat USB hubs (so they're flush with your desk) that fit either a 2-inch or 3-inch hole. Finally, the iPod dock lets you charge, sync, and play music at the same time, and includes a stereo-out jack so you can hook up headphones or speakers.

All accessories cost $45 and will launch in May.

The New Internet Menace: Wilfing

If there's one thing that I can't stand, it's cutesy new acronyms tied to questionable studies -- like "wilf," a curiously incomplete abbreviation for "what was I looking for," which refers to the apparently epidemic practice of getting distracted by other websites when you should be using the Internet for, like, work.

(I will confess right now that I am a champion wilfer, having spent five minutes reading only tangentially related sites while researching this post. But then, I was the kid who got distracted by other entries in the encyclopedia while working on school projects.)

According to a survey of 2,412 surfers in the UK, over 2/3 of UK Internet users admit that they surf "without any real purpose" (this and similar phrases were used in several articles, which leads me to believe it came from the study or the subsequent report).

Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what "browsing" means? And while calculations put the supposedly wasted time at two working days per month, I have to ask: since when has anyone ever had a desk job where they actually work every minute of every hour their paid for?

Of course, none of this would be complete without a quotable expert issuing a dire warning. Lancaster University psych prof Cary Cooper is quoted as saying that wilfing at home could just be procrastinating -- or, ominously, "not wanting to -- or being unable to -- engage with the family."

Come on, people. It's the online equivalent of channel surfing. Get a grip.

KDDI Brings Service, Leaves Phones Behind

Yesterday my blogging cohort Cathy reported on Japanese mobile-phone network KDDI starting up an MVNO service Stateside. She also wondered aloud if any of the nifty Japanese phones we gadget freaks hear about will become available.

According to Digital World Tokyo, the answer is, alas, no. (Or, as optimists put it, "Not right now.") It turns out that KDDI Mobile's initial offerings will be the Sanyo 2400 and LG 225 clamshells, neither of which makes you shout yatta, you know what I'm saying?

Japan's #2 Mobile to Launch in U.S.

Does the U.S. need another mobile service? KDDI, Japan's second-largest cell-phone carrier, hopes so. Following in the footsteps of companies like Virgin Mobile, Helio, Amp'd, and Disney Mobile, the company announced that it will be launching an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) service later this month using the Sprint network.

MVNOs tend to target a specific niche--Helio goes after the MySpace generation, Amp'd targets multimedia heads, and Disney wants to sign up families. But with KDDI, it's not particularly clear what special services will be offered (or if any of those cool Japanese phones we hear about will make their way over). So far the company has said that it will begin by targeting Japanese people who are living in the States. The service will be launched as KDDI Mobile, reportedly later this month.

Cambridge Goes HD on Its Radio

File this in the better late than never category. Cambridge SoundWorks is finally shipping its tabletop HD Radio, the SoundWorks Radio 820HD. The $300 radio comes in onyx and Arctic white (or, uh, black or white), and includes a remote control, dual alarm clocks, a headphone jack, and an auxiliary input for hooking up an MP3 player.

As for HD Radio, you know the song and dance: Digital radio sound quality is much improved over its analog counterpart, and data such as song title, artist, weather, and traffic can scroll across the radio's screen. Most importantly, HD Radio means that radio stations can squeeze multiple content streams on one frequency (a technology called multicasting), so your favorite classic rock station could also broadcast, say, an all-Elvis channel too. Hey, we know a few people who would dig that.

Actually There Is Cause for Alarm

In a nice bit of retro styling, Japanese gadget maker Logitec has just released a nifty iPod alarm clock/speaker dock that skips the usual cube structure and cleverly mimics... an alarm clock.

The ?8,000 (about $67) Dialive snugly fits a fourth- or fifth-generation iPod or a first- or second-generation Nano in a plastic housing shaped like the kind of alarm clock you're more likely to find in cartoons than real life these days. The "bells" are actually a pair of 3W speakers, and the Dialive even charges your iPod through the connector. Hey, there are worse ways to wake up in the morning.

XBox 360 Controller Gets a Keyboard

Hey XBox 360 users. Getting tired of using that onscreen keyboard to tap out messages to your buddies? Microsoft is trying to relieve your tired fingers by coming out with an add-on QWERTY keyboard that latches on to the bottom of your controller. The keyboard is reportedly expected in summer, though Microsoft has not yet announced a firm date or a price.

The new keyboard goes hand in hand with the newly announced Windows Live Messenger for XBox 360 software, which will arrive on May 7 via a spring update. The software will allow you to chat with other MSN Messenger users, whether they're on a PC or a phone. So now your mom or your spouse can reach you via IM, even during your Gears of War LAN party. Actually, that might not be so cool.

Does This Mean We'll Have Custom Blinktones?

Getting cell phone calls at work can mean one of two things: either the ringing bugs people around you (honestly, did you have to download the "Bolero" ringtone?) or the thing vibrates itself right off your desk and onto the floor, possibly in two or more pieces.

The less irritating, less hazardous and more stylish option is the $21 Signal Cell Phone Adviser, an opaque cup in which you can gracefully park your ringer-less phone. When you get a call, it (silently) lights up.

Digital Options Cannibalizing Broadcast Reruns

TV reruns are like anchovies on pizza -- few people claim to like them, but enough people watch them that they're viable moneymakers. Actually, more than viable -- reruns are essentially free programming, as broadcasters have already paid their costs up front (writers, actors and other creative talent who are paid residuals on repeat airings aren't complaining, either).

However, a Variety article points out that rerun viewership has been falling in the past few years for a few reasons, and three of them are digital. First, more networks are allowing people to watch episodes for free on their websites or charging a couple of bucks to see them on iTunes. These reruns usually within 24 hours of their initial airing, or, in some cases, even before the original airing.

Second, the window between the end of a TV series and the arrival of the related DVD box set has been drastically reduced. This also leads to more people skipping the original airing altogether, preferring to watch the shows ad-free, bug-free, in the original aspect ratio and with better video quality. (A similar issue has been slowly creeping up on the comic-book industry, where people opt to buy compilation trade paperbacks rather than individual issues.)

Third, DVRs are allowing people to record shows during their regular airing and watching them when convenient. (I wonder how much of this is really an issue; I've been doing that since the days of the Betamax.)

These woes aren't too problematic for the studios and broadcasters as yet, as the first two of these issues still result in revenue for them, and some believe that online viewing helps bring more new viewers into the broadcast fold. Still, there might be more grumbling if the problem gets worse.

The Variety article goes on to mention that three factors also figure into rerun fatigue: extensively licensed, self-contained procedurals like CSI and Law and Order that are repeated on the networks and on cable channels; the slow decline of the traditional sitcom; and serial shows like Lost, 24 and Battlestar Galactica.

That last point made me wonder if the powers that be in the television industry are thinking that about another possible reason: the very existence of TV seasons. The basic structure of the TV season means things are fairly regimented. (It's not a coincidence that the magic number for syndicated TV series is 65 episodes: that's 13 weeks -- exactly one quarter of a year -- of weekday programming, which makes slotting a syndicated show into a schedule very easy. And that's just one example.)

The UK and Japan, to pick two examples, have more than a few serial TV shows, but they don't have TV seasons as in the States. They also have more series that run short compared to typical American episode runs of 13 or 20-24 (for weekly shows) and 52-65 (for daily shows). Here in Canada, where we get plenty of American programming, Canuck broadcasters will often shift programming around so as not to run into American powerhouses. All of these examples mean there's almost always new TV shows on the air.

American networks have slowly started to shift in this direction as well, but for the most part are stuck in a fairly predictable pattern which encourages heavy -- and easily ignorable -- reruns. As these factors, as well as audience fragmentation brought about by other digital diversions (games, the Internet, cell phones, YouTube -- you know, the usual suspects) continue to apply pressure, we may yet see the death of the traditional TV season. And, one hopes, a greater variety of content.

Wii Comes Out on Top for Holidays

It's too early to make any declaration about Nintendo winning the next-generation console wars (and what is winning anyway?), but it's a good sign for them that they came out on top in sales for the holiday period, as well as the months following.

According to stats from the NPD Group, Nintendo sold 1.86 million Wiis for the four-month period from November through February. Sony unloaded 1.1 million PlayStation 3s, while Microsoft sold one million Xbox 360s. But remember, while Sony and Nintendo both released their consoles last November, the 360 has already been out for more than a year.

Still, it's a good start for Nintendo. As one manager from the NPD Group told Newsfactor.com, "The Wii is doing well for several reasons. A lot of it has to do with price, the availability of consoles, and Nintendo's marketing. The PR buzz for the product has been phenomenal."

Protect Your iPod Shuffle from Theft

The iPod Shuffle's two selling points -- its tininess and lack of heft -- also make it incredibly easy to steal. If you're paranoid -- er, cautious -- and don't want to keep your Shuffle on your head, you might just be in the market for the Podolock.

The $19.95 Podolock borrows a trick used by retailers everywhere: the Shuffle is enclosed in an acrylic case that still allows you to use the player, then the case is secured to something with a steel cable. That "something" could be a purse (which would force a miscreant to steal the entire purse, which isn't quite as tempting), your desk (which would force them to steal your entire workspace, which is hard to explain), or, as the company indicates, your pants (I think I'll stop right here with the parenthetical comments).

Similar Podolock kits for the video-enabled iPod and iPod Nano are forthcoming.

Roll Your Own Flash-Based Notebook

If you've been itching to get some of that solid-state drive action, here's an alternative to the SanDisk and Samsung offerings: storage wizards Addonics have a $25 adapter that connects a CompactFlash card to a 44-pin IDE male connector, so that you can use it to replace the 2.5'' IDE drive found in your laptop or media player. You'll still pay a bit of a premium, though: a 16 GB CompactFlash card currently lists for $399. (By way of comparison, SanDisk's 32 GB drive wholesales for $350 if you're buying in volume.) Still, if you're the kind of person who just happens to have extra flash cards lying around, you can probably find all kinds of uses for this.

[Thanks, IT Business.]

Copyright Videos May Not Rule YouTube

YouTube and Google are currently engaged in a $1 billion lawsuit with Viacom. But are media companies getting their knickers in a twist for nothing? According to a study by Vidmeter.com, less than 10 percent of YouTube's most popular videos belong to copyright owners that want them to be removed.

The study measured the site's most-watched video clips between December and March, and found that less than 10 percent of YouTube's 6,725 most popular videos ended up being removed for copyright infringement. Views of these videos accounted for less than 6 percent of most-popular views.

However, companies holding copyrights say that Vidmeter's methodology is flawed, claiming that the study only accounts for those clips that were taken down, and doesn't consider copyrighted videos which have gone unnoticed and remain on the site.

FCC Nixes Inflight Cell Phones

Like most reasonable people, I trembled in fear last year at the suggestion that we might someday be allowed to use cell phones on airplanes. (That ability is already a go on Emirates Airlines, and European airlines are looking to add the capability by the end of the year.) It looks like I don't have much to worry about: the FCC has officially declared the idea a non-starter, meaning at least there's now one place you're guaranteed to get away from overhearing inane (or frighteningly intimate) phone conversations. Too bad about the food, though.

Of course, the FCC doesn't care so much about that as potential interference with airplane systems and ground-based phone networks. Apparently, there's still some question as to whether using a cell phone on a plane will cause any kind of interference. What, have these people not watched 24? (Though I suppose "If Jack Bauer can do it, I can" isn't the most rational of justification...)

Seriously, just do some tests so we'll know once and for all, okay?

Bendy Solar Batteries for Your Portable Gadgets

Constantly having to remember to recharge portable gadgets is a pain, so someone decided to do something about it. The five-country European Polymer Solar Battery group has developed a prototype solar battery for low-wattage devices that is lightweight and less than a millimeter thick.

The solar cells each deliver about 0.6 volts (they can be connected in series for more power), have a life of about 3,000 hours, and can be powered by even indoor lighting. So any mobile device with this technology built in would pretty much remain charged all the time , provided you actually use the darned thing instead of leaving it at the bottom of your purse or in your pocket.

The battery's flexible nature means it can be incorporated in just about any kind of funky-shaped device, and the cells can be printed at low temperature, which should theoretically keep costs low.

Free Zune with Subscription Someday?

Could the Zune go the way of the cell phone? Users commit to a subscription for a certain amount of time, and get the device at a reduced cost, or even for free?

According to Zune-Online, Microsoft has made innuendos that suggest they are looking at subsidizing the cost of the hardware if people sign up for the Zune Pass subscription. Right now, a Zune Pass costs $15 a month and lets you sample all the tracks you want (though you don't own them).

Zune-Online quotes the Zune marketing director as saying that Microsoft is looking at "other flavors of subscriptions" including the "subscription model where you pay a certain amount and you essentially get the cell phone for free." If that happens, it could actually be a compelling enough reason for people to give Microsoft's player a shot.

World's Easiest Digital Timer

Surprisingly, there are times when technology actually makes things simpler. A recent example is the $14.99 Cube Timer, a digital timer in the shape of a black 2.5'' cube. The Cube Timer has four preset times (5, 15, 30 and 60 minutes) displayed on four of its faces. To a timer, just turn the cube so that the time you want is face up. And, uh, that's it. Nothing to push, twist, flip or otherwise manipulate after that. The cube beeps to let you know when it's done.

Mexico City Goes for Citywide Wireless

We're all for unlimited free wireless coverage wherever we go, but we'd prefer access to water--if forced to make a choice. According to the Associated Press, Mexico City is the latest to add its name to the growing list of urban areas looking to provide free high-speed wireless.

The city's mayor has made the project "the highest priority," having inked a deal with a Chinese corporation to provide wireless access to all 8.7 million residents. Yet, according to the AP, that could be overly ambitious, considering the fact that the city continues to have problems providing basics like water and electricity to all residents.

Rumor: PSP to Get Cheaper

Looking to buy a PSP? Now might be the time. Rumor has it that starting tomorrow, you'll be able to go to your local GameStop or EB and buy the PSP Core Pack for $170, a good $30 less than what it cost before. The Core Pack is the one that comes with a charger and a battery, but nothing else. If this happens, it will be the first true PSP price cut for the North American market.

Katzenberg: High-Def Format War Pointless

A while back we looked for opinions on the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war from the producers of a popular type of movie that gets no respect: porn. Now, there's some comment from someone who produces another popular type of movie that gets no respect: animation.

DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg was recently quoted as saying that so far as he's concerned, the battle for future platform supremacy between Blu-ray and HD DVD won't have a winner, because aside from videophiles, no one really cares. In his words, there's simply "not a big enough delta between the standard DVD in terms of where it is today and the next generation."

This led to my first spit take, because Katzenberg pretty much agreed with what I wrote about HDTV's limited appeal back in December -- and in general, I disagree with almost everything Hollywood moguls say, especially when they work in animation. Imagine my further surprise when he went on to say that he's a bit more keen on digital distribution, although he acknowledges that for the next two years it won't be a great moneymaker.

A Hollywood exec that's actually reasonable and realistic? It's a good thing I'm sitting down.

MPAA Ranks College Copyright Violators

Back in February, we reported on how the RIAA has been increasing its efforts to stop illegal song-trading at colleges. Now the MPAA is joining the fight.

Last week the film industry organization announced that it would work with schools to help end piracy. First step: Release a "Dishonor Roll" that includes the top 25 violators, including how many students are doing the dirty deed. Top five includes Columbia (1,198 students), University of Pennsylvania (934), Boston University (891), UCLA (889), and Purdue (873). Incidentally, Purdue was number two on the RIAA's list.

What the MPAA intends to do with this list remains unclear.

EMI to Offer DRM-Free Music Online

It figures that two major corporations would actually follow through on their promises -- promises that consumers actually wanted them to keep -- around April Fool's Day.

But hey, I'm not complaining. Word is that EMI Music Group, who have been considering releasing DRM-free digital tracks, and Apple, whose CEO Steve Jobs has said that he'd cheerfully sell DRM-free tracks if those pesky labels would let him, have gone ahead and made a deal to sell DRM-free EMI songs on Apple's iTunes store. (EMI will be selling their music through other online outlets -- and, presumably, in formats other than iTunes' AAC -- but this is where the party's starting.) EMI's music videos will also be going DRM-free.

This move will apply to all of EMI's digital music catalog, which includes heavy hitters like Gorillaz and David Bowie. (Hmmm -- I wonder if that includes the mashup album Mashed I was all set to drop serious import-release dollars on?) Don't expect the much-anticipated Beatles catalog just yet, though, as the Fab Four's music hasn't been made available digitally as yet.

EMI's music will be offered at twice the usual iTunes bitrate of 128 kbps, but will accordingly sell for a little more ($1.29 per track, versus $0.99). If your library is already chock full of EMI music, don't fret; you'll be able to upgrade to the new tracks by paying only the 30-cent difference.

The DRM-free music and videos will become available in May, which means I've just figured out what I'll be doing with my tax return.