will

The 404 744: Where we make our own leaked photos (podcast)

Remember the dream of the Concorde? It was that supersonic passenger jet that would ferry passengers from New York to London in less than 3 hours, but supersonic travel never took off because of the loud sonic booms that the planes would generate as they broke the sound barrier.

NASA is working on new technology that would dampen or eliminate those booms, and the space agency is hoping that this will usher in a new era of supersonic travel.

Early experiments add a 24-foot-long spike to the plane mounted on the nose of the aircraft that creates three smaller shockwaves to greatly reduce the noise as the aircraft hits Mach 1. It could mean shorter travel time for consumers, but Jeff is more excited to wean himself off the sleeping pills he takes every time he boards an aircraft.

In less exciting historical innovations, New Yorker Till Krautkraemer is touting a beverage that offers a new way to supplement your protein intake: drink it! MeatWater is intended as a meal supplement with flavors like Peking Duck, Beef Stroganof, and Fish'n Chips; but the liquid contains zero animal byproducts, so vegans and vegetarians are encouraged to consume it for their daily dose of protein.

This is not a joke. According to the Web site, MeatWater has 22 amino acids that aid in performance recovery and decrease body fat when ingested with liquids, and it's recommended that you drink MeatWater warm, as the flavors and aromas are heightened this way.

And while we're solving first-world problems with technology, check out this double USB concept that hopes to save precious microseconds and the frustration you experience from "plug rejection."

Finally, Intel is following in the footsteps of Polaroid and Lady Gaga by introducing its own celebrity employee: Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am has been appointed director of creative innovation, a role that places him as an ambassador to the company and collaborator in "new technologies, music and tech advocacy."

There's not much to say about this should-be joke, so we're just waiting to hear the BEP single that samples the Intel Inside chime. Wait, he's already doing that.

Episode 744 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Subscribe in iTunes video | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Will.i.am riffs on BlackBerry, music distribution

It's easy to dismiss a celebrity product endorsement as an empty money grab, but not so when the celeb is Black Eyed Pea's front man Will.i.am and the product is his BlackBerry. When speaking about his phone there seems to be an honest affinity between the man and the brand, a relationship he plans to capitalize on as a means to communicate directly with his audience.

"I've been using them since the very beginning; I'm a BlackBerry fan-fan," Will.i.am said.

At one time this may have meant Will.i.am … Read more

Jammie Thomas rejects RIAA's $25,000 settlement offer

Update 12:01 p.m. PT: To include quotes from Joe Sibley, one of Jammie Thomas-Rasset's attorneys.

The four top recording companies on Wednesday made a settlement offer to Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the Minnesota woman who was found liable last summer of willful copyright infringement and ordered by a jury to pay $1.92 million in damages.

And wasting little time, Thomas-Rasset's attorneys rejected the settlement offer almost immediately.

Days after a federal court judge reduced the damage amount to $54,000, the Recording Industry Association of America forwarded settlement terms to her attorneys, according to a copy of … Read more

RIAA in pickle over Jammie Thomas ruling

The music industry will have to make some very tough choices within the next week about file sharer Jammie Thomas-Rasset.

The Recording Industry Association of America wants to put the Thomas-Rasset affair behind it. The Brainerd, Minn., mother--who refused to settle with the RIAA for $5,000 over copyright infringement allegations, instead fighting it out in court--has been found liable of willful copyright infringement by two different juries and was ordered to pay damages of $222,000 in her first trial (a decision later thrown out) and $1.9 million last June in her retrial.

On Friday, Michael Davis, chief … Read more

Blue-Will: Hyundai's plug-in hybrid concept

DETROIT--Green is all the rage at the Detroit auto show, but a different hue emerged in the Blue-Will plug-in hybrid concept car that Hyundai revealed Monday.

The car can run solely on its lithium polymer battery for a range of 20 to 40 miles, said Scott Margason, director of product planning for Hyundai Motor America, in an interview here at the North American International Auto Show. Like the Toyota Prius, perhaps the best-known hybrid car, the Blue-Will has an engine that's directly connected to the drive wheels and that runs in parallel with the electric motor.

Hyundai wouldn't … Read more

Conservative commentator George Will slams gamers

In a bizarre aside shoehorned into his most recent column, conservative writer (and self-professed baseball fanatic) George Will takes a swipe at video-game-playing adults.

Seventy-five percent of American "gamers" -- people who play video games -- are older than 18 and nevertheless are allowed to vote.

The actual thrust of the column is about a much more serious threat to the fiber (no pun intended) of our country -- people wearing jeans. He calls it "the plague of that ubiquitous fabric, which is symptomatic of deep disorders in the national psyche."

The latest demographic data on … Read more

Hyundai previews Blue-Will plug-in hybrid

Hyundai has given us our first look at its Blue-Will plug-in hybrid concept. While the silhouette is nice and the proportions are pleasing, there are more character lines and creases than it appears the designers could handle. Then again, it's a concept, so we can forgive the wonky design.

Under the Blue-Will's sculpted hood are a 1.6-liter gasoline engine, a 100kw electric motor, and a continuously variable transmission putting power to the wheels. If that configuration sounds familiar, it's because the Blue-Will is boasting a very second-gen Toyota Prius-like setup. However, the Hyundai concept also brings … Read more

Life insurance for your passwords: Legacy Locker

Jeremy Toeman is unveiling on Tuesday a simple, clever, and very different kind of backup service.

Legacy Locker simply backs up the passwords and access codes to your online accounts. When you die, it gives that information to the people you designate.

I got this concept in half a second: if I go, I cannot imagine the trouble my wife would have trying to untangle my financial and e-mail accounts and deal with my contacts on my social networks, not to mention controlling the disposition of some online assets I own, like domain names.

The idea with Legacy Locker is … Read more

Colbert's Webby honor: 'Person of the Year'

He might not get to fulfill his presidential dreams, but comic pundit Stephen Colbert will still end 2008 with at least one, uh, honor: Person of the Year at the 12th Annual Webby Awards.

The "Oscars of the Internet," presented by a consortium of technology, media, and entertainment hotshots known as the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, announced their winners and honorees on Tuesday. This year's Webbys will be presented next month as part of Internet Week New York.

Colbert received the Person of the Year accolade for his reputation as a digital buccaneer of … Read more