better

Employees love their perks, be it cheap gym memberships, lower-priced ski lift tickets, or discounted restaurant meals, and a new startup is aiming to do for these kinds of rewards what Groupon and LivingSocial have done for local coupons.

The startup, Los Angeles-based BetterWorks, has a simple idea: reach out to local merchants and strike deals for year-round offers while at the same time signing up companies that will offer those deals to their employees. The result? The companies have new ways to incentivize workers, merchants have a new source of regular customers, and employees get a wide range of … Read more

I saw an electronic toilet seat on sale at Costco the other day that made me think about advances in toilet technology. That's not a topic most people spend any time contemplating.

Copenhagen, Denmark's culture design agency UiWE has dedicated plenty of time to the topic with its PeeBetter project. As the name might lead you to believe, it's all about figuring out better ways for people to pee in public spaces.

Follow me here. So far, the big triumph of the PeeBetter project is Pollee, a prototype urinal for the gals. It debuted this summer at the massive annual Roskilde music festival, where notoriously long bathroom lines have held up women for hours.

UiWE says it best: "Pollee is an open air, touch-free urinal made for a semi-squat position." It can handle four women at a time compared with a traditional toilet's inefficient quantity of one. It also features the clean, rounded lines of contemporary Danish design.… Read more

It's our last show before the three-day weekend, so we're wrapping up with a review of the movie box office, and some new services that'll help with the cost of tickets. We're also exploring the idea of 4D movie theaters, and quizzing Wilson on another episode of Tang that Tune. Also, be sure to tune into the second half of the show for the debut of Jeff's new recurring segment, Squishy Moments with Jeff Bakalar!

Better Place held a demonstration at the first of 20 Better Place battery-switching stations planned for Denmark over the next year, the company announced today.

The station was installed in Gladsaxe, a town outside of Copenhagen. Its inaugural battery swap was conducted on a Renault Fluence Z.E.

Better Place offers a subscription service in which drivers of electric cars have their depleted car batteries swapped for a fully recharged one at any member station, in lieu of waiting 15-30 minutes for a partial charge, or hours to fully recharge at a charging station.

The company launched its first retail … Read more

As communities across America celebrate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, we'd like to share with you the contribution from employees of CBS (parent company of CNET) to the It Gets Better Project. The project, which started off as an inspirational video message to LGBT teens to address bullying and help prevent suicide, has since grown into a national movement with scores of people sharing their own stories about growing up gay and others lending words of encouragement.

We've recorded our own It Gets Better message from CNET and CBS employees. It is honest and powerful, and … Read more

Plenty of things are sadder than a plain Facebook page; spilled milk, for instance, or paper cuts. But why risk even that modicum of sorrow when it's so easy to personalize your space? With free tools like Better Facebook for Firefox, it's easy to create a memorable look and a custom feel for your Facebook page. This extension adds feed filters, tabbed news, a static header bar, enhanced navigation, a friend tracker, and the ability to hide read posts, and it also lets you hide features you don't want or need, such as the "Lightbox," … Read more

Something like 100 new tablets will hit the market this year. Certainly at least one of those will draw your glazed eyes away from the iPad, at least for a minute. Brian Cooley runs down a list of the Top 5 tablets that could be better than an iPad as of early 2011.

All of CNET's latest tablet news, reviews, and iPad alternatives can be found here.

Better Place announced yesterday details of its plan to open a series of electric-vehicle charging stations in Israel.

The company offers EV charging stations that, through a subscription service, give electric-vehicle owners the option of a quick battery swap instead of plugging in and waiting for their car's battery to charge over time. It takes only a minute to make the swap. The depleted batteries are then recharged and used in other cars, according to Better Place.

The service may be seen by some as a substantial convenience considering it takes 15 to 30 minutes to recharge an EV … Read more

Better Place, which offers battery service for electric vehicles, opened today its first European retail station in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Better Place stations offer battery swaps for electric vehicles as an alternative to waiting to recharge the batteries. Commercial stations are already running in Israel and Japan. Until now, though, Better Place had only been testing pilot stations in the U.S. and Europe.

Most of the stations offer fast-charging plug-in spots for EVs, as well as battery swaps for subscribing members. The battery swap is a convenience for drivers because it takes only a minute to make the switch, according … Read more