NBC-Apple Standoff Means I Lose

Airplane rides are my guilty pleasure. Before I board any flight, I allow myself to buy a copy of People (or if I really have no shame, Us Weekly). It's also one of the few times I let myself purchase videos off of the iTunes Store. I can't think of a better way to kill a few hours than in a cramped chair with legs shoved up against the seat in front of me catching up on the latest episodes of "The Office."

Only I won't be able to do that anymore. With NBC Universal's initial announcement that it would not renew its iTunes contract past this year, and with Apple's subsequent announcement that it would not sell any of NBC's new season of shows, the biggest loser in all of this is the consumer. Backstory in a nutshell: After failing to budge Apple on pricing and other issues, NBC informed Cupertino that it wouldn't renew its contract. Apple's response? An underlyingly seething press release stating that it would cease sales of NBC shows in September along with an explanation that NBC wanted to more than double the price of shows. Bottom line, if Apple had caved, I would be paying $4.99 (instead of $1.99) for an episode of "The Office."

Obviously this is a huge bummer. As a consumer, a part of me wants to have the greatest choice possible. Would I have paid $4.99? Probably. When you want something, you'll pay for it. Yet I also appreciate Apple having a backbone and standing up for consumers (though I'm sure there are selfish reasons for their decision too). If they were to cave to NBC, then the floodgates would open, and every network would probably start drooling over the thought of upping their prices. So go Apple. I hope that this move works--for my sake.

Sensor-laden Helmet Checks Your Head on the Field

I'm not really into football -- I'm more of a f?tbol guy -- but I know players can and do take a beating on the gridiron. More, in fact, than I thought -- a piece in Popular Science talks about how Doctor Bennet Omalu is finding that football players are at increased risk of dementia brought on by head injuries on the field, a condition he calls football-induced chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

Other researchers are chiming in and the NFL isn't too convinced (although the person quoted in the article is co-chairman of the league's Mild Traumatic Brain Injury committee -- who knew such a thing existed?), but New Hampshire-based Simbex is offering something that can help diminish the problem. Their Head Impact Telemetry System, or HIT System, is a football helmet packed with sensors that can detect sudden impacts and wirelessly relay information to a remote station. So if a player takes a particularly hard hit, the coach can see it right away and take steps, even if the player looks fine.

The side benefit is that the HIT System might help determine whether CTE is a genuine condition or not. Since its introduction, it's been used to collect data on over 250,000 impacts -- the kind of real-world data set that researchers dream of.

(Thanks, IT Business.)

Samsung MP3 Players Untether Your Ears

If your ears are getting tired of being separated from their 'buds, it may be time to ditch the cord and go wireless. Samsung's two new September-bound MP3 players should help you sever the tie. Equipped with Bluetooth 2.0, both the P2 and T10 let you listen to your tunes wirelessly over Bluetooth headphones (like Samsung's own YA-BH270s) or Bluetooth speakers (like Samsung's own YA-BS300s. See a trend?)

The YP-P2 is a slim sucker, measuring just .4 inches thick and sporting a luxe 3-inch widescreen for showing off pics and 30fps videos. The display is of the touchscreen variety, and the player is equipped with an FM radio, voice recorder, and either 4 or 8GB of memory. Comes in black, white, and burgundy.

Want the nearest thing to weightless? The YP-T10 is half the heft of the P2 (1.5 ounces), and just a sliver at .3-inches thick. Besides Bluetooth, you get a 2-inch screen, photo and video viewer, FM tuner, voice recorder, and 4GB of memory. This one comes mystic purple, midnight black and white cloud (not to be confused with plain-ol' black and white).

Answer All Your Calls--On One Device

As I run back and forth between my home phone and cell phone, with the occasional Skype phone call thrown in, it constantly makes me think that there must be a better way. I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of time before I fall flat on my face as I lunge for the phone.

With the Calisto Pro from Plantronics, you get a tiny handset for taking landline calls, and a Bluetooth headset that lets you chat wirelessly on your landline, cell phone, or softphone. With noise-canceling tech built in, people on the other end will never know you're roaming around the house in your undies, Risky-Business-style.

There's also a waist clip for dialing or identifying who's calling when you're away from the base station--just don't wander more than 300 feet away or you'll be talking to yourself. The unit also has built-in speakerphone, and the ability to import up to 200 Outlook contacts. Look for this multitalented phone to hit in September for $280.

Venzero Media Players Make (Radio) Waves

You've got to hand it to German PMP maker Venzero. Their sales don't hold a candle to the iPod's (but really, whose does?) but their players always have some kind of distinctive feature, not the least of which are their names. Their latest two players, the FREQ and the LINQ (see?) continue the trend, with each making use of radio technology in different ways.

The $99 FREQ (pictured) plays MP3, WMA and WAV audio and MTV video (the esoteric video file format, not the TV station). It's also the first media player to come with an integrated FM transmitter, obviating the need for any kind of cabling for listening to tunes in the car. The 2 GB capacity feels a bit lightweight, though; it would be nice to at least have more expansive models available.

Meanwhile, the $199 LINQ, which has a few more media options (it plays MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, Ogg, WMV and MPEG-4) and a bit more headroom (4 GB onboard, plus a microSD slot for more) has Wi-Fi capability. There are no sharing or transfer options here, but it does provide two nice features: the FREQ can stream Internet radio, or music from a PC using Windows Media 11.

The FREQ and LINQ sport a 2.4'' 240x320 TFT screen, and like other Venzero players they have a MusicMarker feature that allows you to identify songs you hear in the wild by recording a snippet. Both players will be available in late September.

SanDisk's New Clip-On Player

Thanks to the iPod Shuffle, sporting an MP3 player on your lapel is somewhat stylish. The latest clip-equipped portable player may not cut it for true fashionistas, but at $40 for 1GB--and you get a screen--SanDisk's new Sansa Clip is probably cheap enough to make you not care.

Available in September in both 1 and 2GB capacities ($60 for the jump up in storage), the Clip packs in more than just a clothing tether and OLED display. It also has an FM radio and recorder, voice recorder, and the ability to play subscription and Audible content. Battery life is rated at 15 hours, and if you're tired of black-everything, try it out in pink or blue. For that amount of cash, you can't really lose.

Sniff Your Next E-Book

File this under the category of "Huh." CafeScribe, seller of electronic textbooks, has announced plans to start selling e-books that come with scratch and sniff stickers. The stickers can be affixed to your laptop to simulate the smell of a crusty old book while you read. In a survey of college students, CafeScribe found that 43 percent ID'ed smell as the thing they liked most about a textbook. Still, I can't see curling up in bed with a laptop and a smelly sticker as being an adequate replacement for that already-scribbled-in, drooled-upon psych textbook.

My Backyard Apple Store Robbed

I'm a frequent visitor to the Apple Store in Seattle's University Village Mall. It's where I go whenever I want to check out a new Apple product, or fork over hundreds o' dollars for a phone. So it's rather alarming to find out that it was broken into this week, and robbed.

Apparently burglars came in through the ceiling in the middle of the night and proceeded to steal a bunch of laptops that were in for servicing, along with refurbed iPhones that were going to be restocked. Thieves even took the time to cut through a cable lock that was securing the tech staff's laptop. Unfortunately, at least one customer had left bunch of personal information on the hard drive, which serves as a gentle reminder to us all of how vigilant you need to be about your personal files every time you let your laptop leave your sight.

A Gaming Mouse You Can Make Your Own

Customizable gaming mice seem to be all the rage, with Microsoft's SideWinder the latest rodent to feature custom tuning and performance controls.

So how tweakable is this thing? Let us count the ways. First, there's a weight tray for adding and removing a set of four weights; three swappable mice feet that come in different materials for various degrees of glideability; three DPI switches (low, medium, and high sensitivity); and the ability to record macros that can be set into action when you press one of the buttons.

It also has an LCD (yep, first time on a mouse) for displaying the various functions and settings. And even though the mouse is corded (a performance must), a cable manager helps keep the extra wire under control, and also serves as storage for the extra weights and unused feet. If you don't mind your mouse being as complex as your PC, check out the SideWinder come October for $80.

Control Your iPod--With Your Mouth?

It's a natural reaction for me to clench my teeth whenever that James Blunt song comes on my iPod. Yes, in a moment of weakness, caught up in the hype, I downloaded it; and it still lives in my playlists. So how very convenient it'd be if, with a little gritting of my teeth, I could skip past that ill-conceived purchase.

If the latest research in Japan comes to fruition, that could be the case. According to the AFP, a team at Osaka University has come up with a piece of head gear that lets you control your music player with your teeth. In tests, grinding the right side of your teeth starts and stops your iPod, while using the left side of your mouth allows you to skip through songs. And just so that your iPod doesn't confuse gum-smacking with a command, you have to sustain the action for about a second.

The head gear sends commands via infrared, and researchers believe it can eventually be used to control cell phones, wheelchairs, and other gear.

Sony Helps You Dump Your Old CRT

After watching a "60 Minutes" special on global warming last night, which documented melting glaciers and diminishing penguin populations, I am feeling especially vigilant about living a more environmentally conscious life. So it's nice to see big consumer electronics companies doing their part.

The latest move to help retard the ruination of Earth comes from Sony, which will be launching a country-wide recycling program on September 15. People looking to ditch their old Sony CRTs and other electronics can bring their wares to one of 75 drop-off centers and dispose of them for free. (Sony hopes to have 175 recycling centers in a year.)

Apparently, just about every part of a TV can be reused 'cept for the old wooden cabinets (what, you don't like that wood-paneled TV look anymore?) And if you don't have a Sony, you can trash other brands for a small undisclosed fee.

Simple But Brilliant: Texting for Pizza

On the surface, it doesn't quite make sense why you'd text a pizza order rather than just call it in. But sometimes ya just don't feel like dialing, waiting for someone to pick up, then explaining all the details, right? "Yes, I really do want a large with pineapples, artichokes, hamburger meat, and anchovies."

The latest in a long line of tech to ensure you never have to speak to a human being again, Dominos UK's new Pizza by TXT service lets you order by sending a quick SMS. For now, only available across the pond, Pizza by TXT requires pizza-lovin' Brits to register their mobile number and a few of their favorite pies online. They must also assign each pie a memorable name (like "Shroom" or "Meat" or "Hangover"). Then whenever the hankering hits, they simply text the name of the pizza they want to 61212.

Drunk dialing for pizza? Hey, it's healthier than calling the ex?

Happy 25th, Compact Disc

It was 25 years ago today that the first compact discs rolled off of a production line in Germany, bringing ABBA's The Visitors to the world in 44.1-kHz digital sound.

With today's plethora of high-definition DVDs, it seems almost quaint to remember how excited we were by the thought of this new, shiny 5'' disc that promised to revolutionize the way we listened to music. Not only was the sound supposed to be crisper and clearer, the discs were smaller, easier to handle, and more resilient than the vinyl discs they were intended to replace. Though there have always been audiophiles who were less than satisfied with CD audio quality and vinyl has never really gone away, CDs have for the most part lived up to their hype. Furthermore, they changed the way we listened to music -- those of us who weren't too keen on "Mother" could just program the song out of existence whenever we popped Synchronicity into the tray. And more adventurous souls could hit shuffle on their favorite album just to see where serendipity would take them.

For my money, the really big deal about CDs was their multifarious character: for the first time, the same medium could be used for music, video or data, without necessarily using a computer. The possibilities inherent in that idea fired the imagination of programmers, corporations and artists. (More than a few technology writers -- yours truly included -- were also excited, and in those heady days a number of us envisioned CDs as the killer communication medium of the future... while failing to notice that we were filing our stories via a little thing called e-mail.)

For all that, we tend to think of music as the CD's killer app, and in that regard the format has fallen on hard times, as portable audio players and downloadable music have caught on. But it's worth noting that the CD is still going strong as a recording medium. It's not uncommon for everyday people to burn mix CDs or personalized photo albums without a second thought, and CD recorders are standard issue on any computer you buy these days.

More than anything else, the compact disc has led to other, more versatile formats. The compact disc's direct descendant, the DVD, turned ten this year, and is the most widely (and rapidly) adopted consumer media format ever. And while the CD's various grandchildren -- SACD, DVD-Audio, HD DVD and Blu-ray -- don't necessarily get along, I'm sure the CD would beam contentedly from the rocking chair on the front porch, if such a thing were possible.

Japanese Embrace Cell-phone Novels

Here's why futurists look to Japan: while we just got around to finding someone willing to write a book on a cell phone, in Japan people have been reading books on cell phones for years.

Keitai shousetsu (literally, "mobile novels") have been big business in Japan, to the point where two smaller publishers who only sell to the mobile market have outsold traditional, dead-tree publishers.

Given that e-books of any stripe haven't fared too well over the years and that cell-phone screens are only moderately better for text than those on the MiniDisc-based MD Books Sony was flogging in the early 1990s, you might wonder how this is possible. I think it's a number of factors:

1) An awful lot of commuters, and awfully little elbow room. Tokyo's subways system alone carries about 10 million every day, and subway cars are often crammed beyond capacity. A cell phone is a lot easier to deal with than a newspaper or a manga volume.

2) Keitai shousetsu are dirt cheap, costing only a few hundred yen (less than $10) -- which makes sense, given the lack of printing, storage and shipping costs.

3) No DRM.

4) Japan's major publishing houses got into keitai shousetsu in a big way, which I'm sure helped give the form an air of respectability.

So let's put this another way: Mobile novels meet consumer needs, are cheap and convenient, and the old guard have enthusiastically embraced the form. Translation: massive popularity and respectable amounts of money (the two publishers I mentioned earlier sold more than three million novels in the first half of this year) in fairly short order. Nope, never saw that coming.

Forget the RAZR2; Meet Fin

While most cell phones in the U.S. seem to be stalled at the 1 or 2-megapixel stage, Helio's pushing out its latest multimedia wonder. The Fin (made by Samsung) features a 3-megapixel camera, 100MB of memory, microSD slot, and 2.3-inch screen, all in an extremely slim .45-inch flip-phone package.

Sweet hardware is cool, but software is what makes the phone. Once you shoot your high(er)-res photos and videos, you'll be able to upload them to YouTube and Flickr. And like other Helio phones, you'll be able to manage your MySpace page, buy music from the store, as well as use GPS-plus-Google-Maps to find where you're going. And if you've really gone astray, you can get voice-guided, turn-by-turn directions using Garmin Mobile (available for $2.99 a day).

If you've been looking for a reason to hook up with Helio, but were waiting for a more-jeans-friendly phone, here's your chance. The Fin is available now for $175.

iPods Can Be Pretty in Pink

As we wind down the summer and gear up for another year of school, it's time for the consumer electronics industry to start warming up in anticipation of holiday madness. Griffin Technology is out of the gate with new iPod cases, but its entries are modest: rather than coming up with new designs, they're instead refreshing existing lines with a dose of bright pink (and a little bit of bright blue).

Two of Griffin's armbands (the $14 tempo for the shuffle and the $29 Streamline for the nano) have been released with hot (Griffin calls them "vibrant") pink straps. Meanwhile, the shiny, $24 Reflect case for video-enabled iPods and nanos now comes in bright pink and bright blue.

Griffin describes these as the season's "hottest hues"; you certainly won't be able to miss them.

Freqtric Game Gets Touchy

I had fun with the Freqtric Drums at the Emerging Technologies exhibit last year, so when SIGGRAPH rolled around last week I decided to see what the folks at the Freqtric project were up to. As before, they were exploring ways to incorporate touch into the electronic game play. However, I found some of their efforts in this year's Freqtric Games a bit underwhelming.

All of this year's games used simple handheld controllers (pictured) with four directional buttons, two action buttons and an electrode on the underside. All of the games involved human contact; one player touching another would complete the circuit, causing the computer to reach in some way. Freqtric Shooting is a vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up in which each player has just one life -- but if you die you can get back into the game if the other player is alive, and you touch him 100 times. That requires a level of patience on both players' parts that no one I saw seemed to have.

Freqtric Dance is a basic follow-the-Japanese-pop-singer game in which you push the appropriate controller buttons or touch the other player to the rhythm. Sorry, but Donkey Konga is still far more entertaining.

Best of all was Freqtric Robot Battle, a cross between digital arena combat and sumo wrestling, in which your objective is not to kill the other robot but to push him out of the ring through relentless firepower. The wrinkle is that robots can push each other around if one player slaps the other, or they can go into a clinch if one player grabs the other. Players have to shake hands to start or end the game.

It should be mentioned that all the slaps I saw, gave or received were on the arm, but I can easily see this as a new way to express sibling rivalry. I can only imagine the havoc a Freqtric Robot Battle-type game could wreak on the family room. If you think the Wii is physical, you ain't seen nothing yet.

e Ink Brings Color and Motion to SIGGRAPH

As in previous years, the Emerging Technologies exhibition at this year's SIGGRAPH conference promised a glimpse of potential future tech. Microsoft's Surface was consistently crowded, but there were other things worth oohing and aahing over.

e Ink had a table full of devices using their electrophoretic display (EPD) technology, including the Sony Reader, the iRex iLiad, and the Motorola Motofone. But it wasn't all current tech, of course. I've been told that we can expect three new e Ink-powered devices by year's end, though no details were offered.

In the meantime, there were a few working demos from e Ink's research labs. The first I managed to get close to was a color EPD display (pictured, above), which looked quite appealing despite its low (11:1) contrast ratio. (Oddly enough, in the exhibition's low light it gave the images the organic appearance of aged paper.) Another demonstrated animated images on a paperlike e Ink display (below). Michael McCreary, e Ink's vice president of research and advanced development, told me that they had managed to use e Ink to display full-motion video, but I couldn't get back in time for a demonstration.

Universal Deal Outs New Music Store

Universal Music's earlier announcement that it will be selling DRM-free tunes through a number of venues (notably missing: iTunes) brought up some interesting questions about Google's role in the online music space. Well, according to the AP, Universal will buy ads on the search engine, Google will get a cut of ad fees from song/artist searches, and--here's the interesting part--a company called gBox will get the traffic.

So what's gBox? Apparently it's a startup music store that will launch on August 21. Like WalMart, Amazon, and Rhapsody, it will get to sell a selection of DRM-free songs during Universal Music's five-month trial (which will take place between August 21 and January 31). Songs will sell for 99 cents, and one more interesting thing--gBox will be offering a wish list widget that you can post on your blog or social networking page so friends can see what songs you want, and buy them for you (from gBox, natch).

Dish Network Lets You Up the Storage

I'm a DVR packrat. I frequently want to save shows, even after I watch them, and I record way more than I actually watch. Which leads to some difficult decisions sometimes: Do I delete the final episodes of Rome, or let go of the Motorcycle Diaries, which I swear I'm going to watch even though it's been sitting on my hard drive for the past year?

According to TVPredictions.com, EchoStar is solving that problem for its Dish Network high-def DVR users by enabling them to plug in an external USB hard drive for extra storage. The feature will be zapped to all ViP 622 HD DVR boxes on August 15, letting people go from 35 hours of HD recording to sky's-the-limit (well, actually 750GB drives are the limit here). The feature will also be available on the new ViP 722 box, and there will be a $39.99 fee to enable the capability. But in the grand scheme of things, not a wholly unreasonable price to pay.

Roughing It with Magellan's New GPS

Going for a trek? If you're not entirely confident about the route, it's a good idea to carry a GPS with you so you can find your way out if you get lost. (Or maybe I've just been watching too many episodes of Man Vs. Wild.)

Magellan has introduced a supersexy new line of outdoor GPS units that will help you find your way back to civilization. The Triton line boasts color screens, a more-user-friendly interface than previous outdoor GPSes, and National Geographic topographic maps. Some of the units also work with the VantagePoint desktop software, which lets you transfer additional maps to the device, as well as grab waypoints and other media from the GPS.

The top-end Triton 2000 ($499) includes everything but the kitchen sink: a 2.7-inch touchscreen; built-in base maps; 2-megapixel camera (for proving that fish you caught really was "this big"); SD card slot; LED flashlight; compass; barometer; and a speaker/microphone so you can record, then attach audio notes to waypoint files. On the other end of the spectrum, the $129 Triton 200 has a 2.2-inch color screen, built-in base maps, and a compass screen. There are four additional models in between, all with varying levels of features and pricing, so you can easily find the one that suits your needs. Look for the Triton line to hit stores in September.

SIGGRAPH Rocks the 80's Arcade Games

I've been in San Diego for the last few days for this year's SIGGRAPH conference, and while I've been catching some interesting stuff at Emerging Technologies and other exhibitions, I can't resist leading off with a report from the Electronic Theater.

The Electronic Theater is SIGGRAPH's premier showcase for computer-generated films, and it's always kicked off with a live pre-show event. This year, there's a spectacular outbreak of 80's fever; several of the SIGGRAPH community's rock stars have taken to the stage before each screening to play classic vector-graphic arcade games (Asteroids, Tempest and Star Wars).

The games are actually MAME emulations running on PCs, with just a few crucial differences: the controls are actual arcade controls (while the Tempest controller is just a dial, the Star Wars controller is from a Star Wars cabinet) and the screen is the Civic Theater's movie screen. Oh, and this isn't just a rasterized version of the game; Matt Polak of Raven Systems Design customized the software, translating the vector information so that lasers could draw the image on the screen. Best moment from last night: discovering that Jim Blinn still has killer Asteroid moves. Guess all that NASA work still comes in handy.

Solar Mouse Sees the Light of Day

Living green starts with the little things, such as turning off the TV when you leave the house or not running the water as you brush your teeth. So why not go back to basics on your computer setup, and try a solar-powered mouse?

A research group in the Netherlands has created the Sole Mio, which it claims to be the "world's first exclusively photovoltaic-powered computer mouse." The Sole Mio is currently in trials to determine whether regular use is enough to charge the mouse. (In fact, one of the trial users is the country's Minister for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment.)

Though the mouse can get some charge from artificial light, the real challenge is whether computer users will be willing to stop working long enough in the day to throw the mouse under some real sunlight to be charged. The group estimates that with solar-powered mice, "several hundred million batteries could be saved annually on a global scale."

Nintendo Sees Red with New DS

I already have a Nintendo DS Lite, but I can't help but lust after any new gadget that comes in a shiny red. Nintendo just officially announced its new dual-toned special edition DS, with a matte black bottom and glossy red lid that's "reminiscent of a dangerous shade of lipstick or a cherry-red sports car." If you want in on the deal, you'll have to buy into a bundle, which includes a copy of Brain Age 2 (luckily, a game that I already want). The whole shebang can be yours for $150 starting August 21.

Robotic Elvis Ready to Rock

Wowwee's own Elvis impersonator first popped up on the scene at CES, and was so realistic looking that it actually creeped out one of our own editors. Well, looks like Wowwee's finally getting set to release this thing, and if you've got $350 to spare, you can have your own Elvis in the house.

Prop the lifelike robotic bust on your mantel, plug in a cartridge (according to Wowwee, an additional $30), and watch as the Alive Elvis bops around and belts out one of eight tunes, such as "Hound Dog," "Heartbreak Hotel," or "Jailhouse Rock." Or you can listen to one of 37 monologues that recount his life history. If you get a karaoke jones, you can select the Sing Through mode on the remote (appropriately shaped like a microphone), plug in a real mic (not included), and sing along.

If you don't mind things getting weird, go into Alive mode and robotic Elvis will use IR sensors to look for movement and make real-Elvis type remarks as objects pass before him. Hey, who needs a cat when you can have a moving, interactive Elvis head to keep you company?

Garmin GPS Specifies Street Names

"Left turn, 500 feet," isn't exactly what you want to hear when there are a ton of roads ahead, and you have no idea where you're going. Garmin's nuvi 260 is the latest portable GPS device with text-to-speech, making it capable of speaking street names aloud, so instead of providing directions that are only useful to math whizzes, it can tell you what street to be on the lookout for.

Available this month for $500, the 260 features a 3.5-inch touchscreen, and comes preloaded with maps of the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico, as well as six million points of interest. It can also display personal photos, and has a built-in calculator, currency converter, unit converter, and world clock, for all those times you plan on schlepping it abroad.

B&W Goes Long with its 1st iPod Speaker

We've seen some pretty creative iPod docks, but there's no doubt this new blimp-shaped speaker system will draw some interesting stares from house guests. The appropriately named Zeppelin is the first iPod speaker system from high-end speaker company B&W. The system measures two feet wide, and is packed to the gills with technical goodness: The bass units sit toward the middle, with the tinier mid-range and tweeter drivers branching out from there to fit the tapered shape. With 100 watts of power and a five-inch woofer, the Zeppelin should be taking off this September to the tune of $599.

Give Me That Cell Phone, Stat!

I spend enough time at film festivals that I'm used to seeing cell phones, PDAs and Nintendo DS consoles -- anything with a TFT screen, really -- used to illuminate a darkened cinema. But a recent incident in Buenos Aires provides another good reason to keep your phone charged.

Two weeks ago, surgeons were performing an emergency appendectomy on Leonardo Molina when the power went out, and the hospital's backup generator failed to kick in. The solution? A member of Molina's family borrowed cell phones from people in the hospital corridor and used them to provide enough light for the doctors to work.

Maybe it's time for my wife to upgrade from that teeny tiny screen on her phone...

American Airlines Goes Wireless

An airplane is the last haven where you can read a book and not feel guilty about shunning all of your email or being incommunicado. Well, add American to the mix of airlines looking to change that. The company has teamed up with AirCell, and plans are underway to start testing in-flight WiFi on planes in the U.S.

Using AirCell's air-to-ground network, aircrafts will send and receive data from the ground. The tests will commence in 2008 on Boeing 767 transcontinental flights, and of course, there will be a charge for connectivity, though American has yet to reveal exact figures.

Earlier in the week, Lufthansa announced a partnership with a group headed by T-Mobile to add broadband to its long-haul flights come 2008 (after having to scrap its Boeing-provided Connexion services last year).

This Umbrella Tells You If You'll Be Singing in the Rain

There are some things in life that people have but hope they'll never need, like pepper spray, accident insurance, or a copy of The Villain. But how about something that you hope will tell you you don't need it?

Cambridge, Mass.-based Ambient Devices, whose motto is "Information everywhere" and lives up to it by producing things like Internet-connected refrigerators and colorful stock-market indicators has developed the $140 Ambient Umbrella -- an umbrella with a radio receiver in the handle that gets weather data from Accuweather.com. If rain is expected in the next twelve hours, the handle glows; depending on the type of rain expected, the light pulses at different frequencies.

Now if they could just build something into the handle so I'd stop forgetting umbrellas on the train, I'd be all set.

[Thanks, Reuters.]

Logitech Gets Personal with Your Mouse

Most mice have customizable buttons and tracking, but that's about it. Logitech takes personalization to the next level with its G9 Laser Mouse for gaming.

First off, there are two different grips from which to choose: Wide-Load provides a fuller, softer grip while Precision is more compact and geared toward fingertip control. Besides changing your grip, the G9 also lets you alter how heavy the mouse. You can add up to four weights in the weight tray, and there are eight different weights to choose from.

The device can also accommodate up to five different profiles that include dpi settings, keyboard macros, and your chosen LED color for the mouse, all stored in the G9's built-in memory. Other customizations: You can switch dpi settings on the fly, choosing anything from 200 to 3200 dpi, and you can also toggle the scroll wheel setting between click-to-click and smooth scrolling.

For keeping lag to a minimum, the G9 plugs in through USB (sorry, wireless lovers). The G9 is expected to hit the streets in September at a price of $100.

SACD Hits the Road

HD DVD and Blu-ray get all the press, but there's another high-definition format war that's been going on for even longer: Super Audio CD (SACD) and DVD-Audio have been duking it out since the turn of the millennium. Actually, it's less of a format war and more of a format spat: last year's combined SACD and DVD-Audio sales are a fraction of iTunes' revenue from a week of music sales.

Still, hope springs eternal, right? That's why, citing audiophiles' alleged desire to replicate their home audio experience while on the go, Sony's released not one but two car units based around the SACD format.

The star here is the $800 XAV-W1, a double-DIN–height audio/video unit that includes 5.1 surround sound and a 7'' WVGA (852x480) TFT screen. Supported video formats are DVD, DVD-R/RW, Video CD and JPEG video; CD, CD-R, MP3, WMA and of course SACD are the supported audio formats. Included video inputs allow you to plug in other AV devices, and more safety-minded drivers can connect rear-facing video cameras to see behind the car.

Then there's the $279 MEX-DV2000, a single-DIN car stereo and receiver that supports the same audio and video formats as the XAV-W1, which offers the same features, minus the TFT screen. Both units are also HD radio/satellite radio/iPod-ready. Distressingly, the MEX-DV2000 also includes a microphone input and karaoke capability.