real

House Republicans attempt to revive Real ID

If you're a resident of one of at least 24 states including Arizona, Georgia, and Washington, your driver's license may no longer be valid for boarding an airplane or entering federal buildings as of May 11, 2011.

That's the deadline that senior House Republicans are calling on the Obama administration to impose, saying states must be required to comply with so-called Real ID rules creating a standardized digital identity card that critics have likened to a national ID.

The political problem for the GOP committee chairmen is that the 2005 Real ID Act has proven to be … Read more

iPad and iPhone Kindle apps get real page numbers

Much to the delight of many Kindle owners, Amazon recently announced that it was adding "real" page numbers to Kindle e-books that mirror the pages of paper books. With its 2.6 update to its iOS apps, that feature--along with a few others, including the ability to look up words on Google and Wikipedia without leaving the app--has now been extended to iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch owners.

Amazon has quietly made the update, saying that real page numbers are now available for "thousands of book in the Kindle Store," with more coming soon. So far, … Read more

RealVNC offers OEMs anti-distracted-driving device

Cellcontrol has entered into an agreement with RealVNC that makes it easier for automotive manufacturers to adopt its technology. For carmakers planning to use Nokia Terminal Mode for next-generation infotainment solutions, the partnership offers an out-of-the-box middleware solution that blocks distracting applications while a vehicle is in motion.

Terminal Mode is a standard being developed by Consumer Electronics for Automotive (CE4A), of which Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche, and Volkswagen are members, which replicates mobile devices on a vehicle's in-dash screen. The phone is tethered to the entertainment system, and occupants interact with the phone using the head unit interface. … Read more

Amazon adding 'real' page numbers to Kindle

Last week, we wrote a story asking whether Amazon should change how the Kindle's pages are numbered and close to half of CNET readers who responded said it should. Well, now Amazon has made a change.

As part of an upcoming update to the Kindle, Amazon is adding "real" page numbers to its e-books. In a blog post previewing the update (version 3.1), Amazon writes:

Our customers have told us they want real page numbers that match the page numbers in print books so they can easily reference and cite passages, and read alongside others in … Read more

Facebook holding Feb. 8 event to discuss new H.Q.

Facebook has sent out an invitation for a Tuesday press conference at an address in Menlo Park, Calif., which houses the city's municipal buildings. The company has confirmed CNET's guess that it would be to formally announce new headquarters within the Silicon Valley city.

"The press event on Tuesday at Menlo Park City Hall is regarding a campus that will fit our long-term business needs," a Facebook representative said via e-mail. "We'll be sharing more information at that time."

Facebook said late last year that it was searching for locations for a long-term … Read more

For Google's AdWords, relevance takes time

Dodge's Challenger is a modern muscle car. The Challenger explosion 25 years ago was a tragic moment. Other than the name they don't have much in common, but for several hours Friday morning, Google's AdWords system considered them linked.

That's just one example of a weak spot in Google's famous AdWords system, which turned an interesting Stanford science project into the world's most powerful Internet company. Simply put, it takes some time for the AdWords system to determine whether an ad triggered by a search query is truly relevant to that query, meaning that … Read more

RealD to equip 1,500 more Regal theaters with 3D

Regal Entertainment Group and RealD have inked a deal that will see the motion picture exhibitor bring 3D to 1,500 more screens throughout the United States.

The latest deal between the companies is an amendment to an earlier agreement signed in May 2008 that delivered RealD's 3D-enabled technology to 1,500 Regal auditoriums. With this new deal, Regal will have a total of 3,000 3D-enabled screens with RealD technology, comprising 40 percent of all Regal screens. Regal movie theaters are located in 37 states and in Washington, D.C.

Regal's decision to invest in 3D is … Read more

Google closing door on real estate in Google Maps

Google is taking the real-estate listings in Google Maps off the market.

Citing "low usage, the proliferation of excellent property-search tools on real-estate Web sites, and the infrastructure challenge posed by the impending retirement of the Google Base API," Brian McClendon, vice president of Google Earth and Maps, said today that the listings would disappear by February 10. For a few years Google has allowed Google Maps users to search for both rental and for-sale listings in a given area, relying on listings uploaded by real-estate companies.

Search Engine Land notes the comment of a U.K. real-estate … Read more

CES: RealNetworks attempts to Unifi the cloud

LAS VEGAS--These days, cloud services are all the rage for early adopters and business-minded individuals, but they haven't managed to make their way into the mainstream quite yet. However, companies like RealNetworks are banking on the fact that someday all consumers will want to store their content--media, in particular--up in the cloud.

Today, RealNetworks announced Unifi, a multimedia-centric cloud service that aggregates your photos, music, and video files from across multiple devices and online services. In other words, instead of having to keep track of multiple media libraries, you get a single online interface for organizing and accessing your … Read more