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AT&T ShopAlerts texts location-based promos

AT&T has launched a new service that will send customers texts promoting special deals whenever they're near certain stores.

Teaming up with mobile marketer Placecast to deliver the new ShopAlerts service, AT&T says it's the first mobile provider to offer a location-based marketing program designed for mobile consumers.

AT&T subscribers in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco who sign up for ShopAlerts will get text messages describing special offers, rewards, coupons, and other promotions at nearby participating stores. AT&T said that so far it's signed up Hewlett … Read more

SudoGlove: Bend index finger to accelerate car

Here's one case where giving the finger while driving is a very good idea. The index finger, that is. Bending it makes the remote-controlled car in the SudoGlove system accelerate. Tilting your hand turns the car. Pressing your ring finger makes it go in reverse. Pinkie pressure turns on the headlights, siren lights, and siren sounds. Clapping honks the horn.

The SudoGlove, designed and built by engineering students at Cornell University, allows wearers to control a modded RC car using hand gestures. But it has implications for any hardware containing a wireless transceiver, says Jeremy Blum, a Cornell junior majoring in electrical and computer engineering and one of the students who worked on the SudoGlove as a final project for an information science class sponsored by Intel.

"All the processing is done on the glove side of the system, and simple 8-bit control values are transmitted that can be used to do just about anything on the control end," Blum told CNET. Just the other night, Blum created a computer interface that can be controlled by the glove. He'll display it and the hand-controlled RC car at BOOM 2011, Cornell's technology and innovation showcase, on March 9.

But unlike other gestural gloves that can be used to control virtual objects, the SudoGlove (so named for the Sudo programming command) is aimed at bridging the gap between users and traditional hardware devices.

"By removing the distance between the user and traditional hardware devices," the students say, "our goal is for SudoGlove to feel more like an extension of the body as opposed to an external machine." … Read more

Report: Mobile e-mail rises; Web e-mail dips

Mobile e-mail is growing in popularity while the use of Web-based e-mail seems to be waning, according to a new study from ComScore.

Looking back at November, ComScore found that the number of people sending e-mail via a dedicated client on a mobile device was up 36 percent from the prior November. Over the same period, the number of visitors to Web-based e-mail sites fell by 6 percent.

Even further, those who visited Web-based e-mail sites spent less time doing so. The amount of time spent at such sites dropped 9 percent in November year over year, while the number … Read more

CES: Nyko unveils 2011 gaming accessory lineup

Nyko has had a strong showing at CES over the past few years by introducing innovative third-party accessories for game consoles. Last year the company beat Nintendo to the punch by releasing the Wand+, the first Wii controller to feature MotionPlus built in.

We've gotten a look at the 2011 lineup, and this year Nyko has shifted its focus to target support for PlayStation Move. While we've already seen the two- and four-port Charge Stations for Move, also available in March will be a rifle-shaped Move accessory that should make first-person-shooter games a lot more realistic. Also coming … Read more

Get a database app for iPad

You don't have to own a Mac to use FileMaker's new Bento for iPad, but if you do, wireless sync adds extra incentive to take your personal databases on the go.

Bento offers iPad users a portable personal database for storing everything from birthdays and home expenses to recipes and an exercise log, with 25 templates to get you started. Integration with the address book, dialer, Safari browser, e-mail inbox, and Google Maps make Bento a useful iPhone app offering that could become a master storehouse for your separate lists; and one that quickly facilitates calls, mapping, and … Read more

Secretive X-37B space plane ends 7-month orbit

The X-37B, an unmanned U.S. Air Force space plane whose mystery mission set off a round of speculation over the spring and summer, returned to Earth early this morning after its maiden flight lasted 220 days in orbit.

The space plane landed at 1:16 a.m. PT today at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, officially making it the U.S.'s first unmanned vehicle to return from space and land on its own, according to Boeing, which designed the craft. Launched in April from Cape Canaveral by an Atlas 5 rocket, the X-37B was designed to stay … Read more

Thin client computing grows up

I've been following the evolution of client-side computing off and on for over 20 years. Remember ASCII terminals? Green screens? Beehives? X terminals? If you do, they're most likely dimming memories.

The history of client side computing is filled with efforts to shift the balance of power between the server (ne host) and the client device. Which side is responsible for what, and how the sides communicate with each other, determine the cost, control, security, flexibility, and richness of the result. Some years it's "do everything meaningful on the server." Others, "do most work … Read more

New ways for small businesses to advertise online

Web analysts have been predicting a boom in online advertising for almost as long as there has been a Web. After years of steady growth in online ads, the long-awaited boom could be just around the corner.

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC US, U.S. online ad revenues increased 17 percent in the third quarter of 2010 over the same period of 2009, reaching $6.4 billion, the highest quarterly mark ever recorded.

While online video ads and more traditional banner and pop-up ads continue to generate increased revenue, the text ads that accompany search results … Read more

Ask Maggie: Will Verizon kill its unlimited smartphone data plan?

What good is a smartphone without decent data service? Indeed, accessing the Internet and all those Web-based apps is the only reason most people even want a smartphone.

But what if your service provider starts capping your data service and charging you for how many megabytes of data you use every month? For some consumers, the thought is absolute heresy. In this week's Ask Maggie column, I try to quell one reader's concern that Verizon Wireless will abandon its unlimited data plan once the iPhone arrives.

I also advise another reader to consider an Android device other than … Read more

Cooliris picture viewer going socio-local with Liveshare

Cooliris, which originally made a whizzy plug-in for displaying images from the Web, is finally expanding beyond just making software that leeches on the install of other products (browsers) and is delivering an actual unique business. It feels like a small play to me, but it's focused and addresses a real opportunity.

The company is re-releasing Liveshare, a mobile, social, photo-sharing app designed for venues and events. The idea is that people at an event, like a concert, will use the app to snap pictures on their smartphones. Since the phones know their location and time, it's easy … Read more