train

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--It's been 62 years since the United States claimed a gold medal in bobsled.

And this year, our best hope is piloted by a computer geek who trains by playing video games.

So our chances are pretty good. That's because, in addition to being a Microsoft Certified Professional and admitted PC nerd, Stephen Holcomb is also the reigning world champion in the four-man bobsled.

Plus, he's got this crazy "Holcy dance" that one just has to see to believe.

Holcomb hopes to dance his way on to the medal podium by the time … Read more

The economy may be getting better, but unemployment is still high. Companies slashed budgets and personnel last year, but as the economy begins to recover, the creation of jobs is not falling in line.

The lack of new jobs continues to be an issue even for San Francisco Bay Area tech companies. So, how are unemployed developers and technologists supposed to find work? One solution: learn new skills.

Drupal is a free software package that makes publishing and managing social content on the Web easy. It's been downloaded more than 2 million times to date. And though Drupal has … Read more

Humans really are like magpies; we love shiny things. The iPad shows yet again how easily we are attracted to hardware baubles, even if it's actually the more abstract ecosystem of services, content, and software surrounding the hardware that makes the physical product truly worthwhile.

I find this a fascinating phenomenon, and it's something I talk about in the chapter on Convergence in my book, as it's a critical thing to understand if you are in the business of creating ecosystems that combine hardware, software, and service elements. I've seen it happen time and again where … Read more

No, we don't have the new iPad/iSlate/iFail just yet, but we're crossing our fingers hoping for good news at tomorrow's Apple Event. CNET correspondent Natali Del Conte is already in San Francisco ready to cover the big announcement, and we're stoked that Jeff hosted Loaded today in her absence. Also, be sure to check out PRE-GAME, Jeff's newest video game show on CNETV starting next Tuesday, February 2.

Lost in the flurry of Apple rumors circling the Internet (will someone please tell Regis about the Internet??) is the distinct possibility that AT&T will lose iPhone exclusivity tomorrow. According to "industry insiders" (sounds legit to me) other carriers will begin to offer the popular smartphone starting tomorrow due to networking troubles clogging the AT&T pipes. AT&T will make up for the loss of sole ownership by offering a series of Windows Mobile, Android, and WebOS-based handsets as consolation prizes to wayward shoppers.

If you already own an iPhone but fear the prying eyes and fingers of your paranoid better half, we recommend checking out iTrust, a 99-cent app that fools would-be spies by displaying a dummy image of your iPhone home screen and recording any attempts to access private information.

Alternatives to shelling out a buck for this app: 1.) If you know your bf/gf is nuts enough to check your phone for naughty pictures and texts, you can always set a passcode and keep it private, or 2.) download The 404's forthcoming "girlfriend app" that immediately hides your cache with a simple dice-shaking motion. Hey, don't steal that idea, for real.

Finally, be sure to stick around in the second half to hear our explanation of THAT ^ in addition to a few more stories and a hilarious Calls From The Public segment! We'd love to hear from you as well, so just give us a call at 1-866-404-CNET and tell us what's on your mind! We're also still accepting Self-Addressed Stamped Envelopes (SASE) for sticker requests, so check out this fan-made tutorial and get it over to us ASAP!

Amtrak is finally getting an upgrade, but it's not high-speed rail. (If you've been to Europe or Asia, you'll know that Acela is NOT high-speed).

But Amtrak will be getting slightly more technologically savvy (and bearable) with the addition of free Wi-Fi to those Acela trains. So far, that means only trains on the Northeast corridor (New York, Washington, and Boston, specifically). No word on when that will be available anywhere else, where Amtrak trains are old and slow as beasts.

Read more of "Amtrak putting free Wi-Fi on Northeast trains; others have to wait" … Read more

The latest research into allowing people not to drive comes from Europe, where the EU is funding a road train concept. A road train is a group of cars controlled by a lead vehicle. If you are on a long trip, your car might detect a road train going in your direction. You could then choose to join it, slaving your car to the lead vehicle. If a car wanted to leave the train, the gap between it and the other cars would be increased so it could safely exit. The lead vehicle would be operated by a professional driver, … Read more

Sit up straight. Be on time. Watch your blood pressure; wise admonishments all, yet hard to enforce--until now.

A new type of undershirt wired with an integrated system can now monitor an individual's heart and respiration rate, activity, GPS location, and even posture, then transmit the data to a supervisor or other concerned adult.

Where are they? How are they? These are questions the TrainTrak physiologic "garment-based" monitoring ensemble promises to answer, according to developer, QinetiQ. By updating real-time location and physiologic status the "e-garment" can help maintain "personnel accountability, increase situational awareness, detect … Read more

DUGWAY, Utah--"We train warriors and test weapons."

That's how Col. Jeff Snell, the commander of the 388th Range Squadron, which operates the gargantuan Utah Test & Training Range (UTTR), summed up the main mission of his command.

I had spent the day visiting part of UTTR's Maryland-size facilities, and discovered that Snell's words were a very succinct way of explaining what really goes on at the range: Air Force pilots fly in there in screaming-fast aircraft to run bombing training missions, often in advance of deployments to either Iraq or Afghanistan, and, less frequently, … Read more

TERRA, Utah--It seems like Road Trip 2009 has still just started, but the odometer hit 2,000 miles as I was driving through this tiny hamlet.

Terra is near the entrance to the Dugway Proving Grounds, where I was on my way to visit the Air Force's 388th Range Squadron and its Utah Test & Training Center--the largest bombing range in the country,

Since I hit 1,000 miles just a few days ago, I've done quite a few things and, obviously, covered a lot of ground in the Audi Q7 TDI clean diesel SUV I'm road-testing. … Read more