instant

Amazon may be aiming at Netflix with new streaming service

Amazon may be looking to cut into Netflix's action by launching a new video streaming service.

Citing information from industry sources, The New York Post said the new service would expand beyond Amazon's current Instant Video by launching as a standalone, subscription-based business.

Amazon's Instant Video is free with a $79 Amazon Prime subscription, though nonsubscribers can buy or rent individual movies and TV episodes on a per-title basis. In contrast, the new service would borrow a page from Netflix's business model. Amazon is just currently trying to figure out what to charge, one source told … Read more

DARPA wand fights fire with physics

DARPA's list of projects reads like a sci-fi writer's dream. The federal agency has studied flying cars, starships, and cyborg insects. Now you can add a magic wand flame suppressant to the agenda.

A Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency research team at Harvard University created a handheld electrode that puts out fire with no water, chemicals, or smothering.

Details are sketchy as to how exactly the Harvard wand, whose technology may eventually find its way into fire suppression systems for military ships and vehicles, works. We do know, however, that the Instant Fire Suppression program is looking at the feasibility of using electromagnetic fields, ion injection, and acoustics to put out flames. As DARPA so poetically explains, flames are just "cold plasmas comprising mobile electrons and slower positive ions."

There's something very Harry Potter-ish about the flame suppression wand. I almost expected to hear a scientist muttering, "Aguamenti!" during the demonstration video, below.… Read more

Get a $5 Amazon Instant Video credit when you register a compatible device

This is an update of a deal I posted a couple months ago.

Lately I've become a big fan of Amazon Instant Video, which makes video rentals so much easier than, say, two trips to my local Redbox (one to get the movie, another to return it).

You pay extra for the privilege of on-demand rentals, but sometimes--like when it's 20 degrees outside--it's worth it.

And if you own a Roku box, Web-connected HDTV or Blu-ray player, or any other device that's compatible with Amazon Instant Video, here's your chance to score a free rental … Read more

The laptop with two brains: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Hybrid doubles down on CPUs

Remember the Lenovo ThinkPad X1? Last year's uber-high-end semithin and semirugged business laptop has gotten a 2012 refresh with the ThinkPad X1 Hybrid, adding an idea that we definitely haven't seen before: this Intel Core i-series-powered computer has its own separate Qualcomm dual-core processor for viewing media in a battery life-saving mode called IMM, or Instant Media Mode.

The idea's not unlike a hybrid, so to speak, of ideas such as automatically switching discrete graphics and quick-launch OS environments that have gone out of fashion as of late in laptops. Lenovo's IMM claims to bump battery life to 10 hours when in that Qualcomm processor-powered Linux-based OS. A dedicated, separate 16GB SSD acts as storage in this mode.… Read more

Microsoft opens instant-messaging for all comers

In a move that would have been shocking a decade ago, Microsoft has made it possible for others' instant-messaging software to tap into its Windows Live Messenger.

Instant-messaging networks--the big ones are run by Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL--once were well-defended strongholds, and developers of third-party programs like Trillian had to work hard to reverse-engineer their inner workings. But whatever residual excitement IM possessed has faded as new communication methods such as Facebook and Twitter have seized the spotlight.

I'm inclined to blame the companies involved. Had they banded together on a standard, IM could have become a staple of … Read more

The birth of instant replay

Could you imagine watching football and not being able to see crucial moments played back again?

Well, thanks to CBS Sports, none of us ever has to miss a play. Forty-eight years ago on December 7, 1963, CBS made sports tech history as it introduced the first-ever instant replay during the Army-Navy football game. Before that, all viewers at home could see was the real-time action, as captured by one camera. There were no highlights, no zoom in, and no slow motion. It was a long, drawn-out viewing experience.

Looking for a way to change that and to help viewers … Read more

Get a $5 Amazon Instant Video credit

Do you own a Roku box? How about a Web-connected HDTV or Blu-ray player? Or any other device that's compatible with Amazon Instant Video? If so, today is your lucky day.

You can get a $5 Amazon Instant Video credit when you link that player, TV, or box to the service. The entire process takes all of 2 minutes, and the credit is good for anything in the Amazon Instant Video store: movies and TV shows, and both rentals and purchases.

Here are the deets from Amazon:

1. Register an eligible Amazon Instant Video-compatible device with Amazon Instant Video … Read more

Google Music plays up sharing, free storage

Web sites black out their pages to protest online censorship and SOPA, the Salvation Army is using Square, and Google Music arrives with free online storage, music sharing tools, and a few freebies.

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

The 404 948: Where we're in some deep dish (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 Podcast episode:

Congress is proposing a school lunchroom bill that would allow as little as two tablespoons of tomato paste on a frozen pizza to be classified as a proper weekly serving of vegetables for students. Fries and tater tots also count as vegetables. The U.S. Department of Justice wants to make it a crime to lie on social networks like Match.com, Facebook, and OKCupid--if the fib in question violates other laws outside of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This holiday season, the Salvation Army send its volunteers into the streets with a new way to accept donations using credit card-reading hardware provided by Sprint/Nextel and Square. The program will join Girl Scout troops and The U.S. Army in pushing the next generation of mobile payments. A digital experiment from the artists at Wemakecoolsh.it enables subway denizens on the L-Train to access Wi-Fi and communicate with one another secretly using their self-powered "NOTwork." The enclosed system will run the week of November 14th on L-Trains going in and out of the Brooklyn and Manhattan boroughs. AOL resurrects its Instant Messaging service AIM with new features that even the score with sites like Meebo and Adium, and Jabber that already let you log chat histories, sign into multiple social networking accounts, and view multimedia like video and Twitter messages directly in the message window. An attack on online copyright infringements is in in progress, spearheaded by an initiative called the Stop Online Privacy Act, or SOPA that aims to blacklist sites that allegedly violate existing copyright laws. As of last night, however, the opposition is gaining powerful allies across the Web, including big names like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Zynga. Bathroom break video 1: Star Wars Rogue Squadron - Cheers Bathroom break video 2: Turkish Ice Cream Follow Jeff, Wilson, Justin, and The 404 Twitter pages for a chance to win Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, and Uncharted 3. Check out this post for how to enter.

Click through to stream or download today's 404 podcast episode!… Read more

Polaroid Z340 Instant Digital Camera: Say cheese!

Polaroid instant cameras conjure up images of bell bottoms and avocado-colored appliances from the boom days of the 1970s. You can get in on the retro wave with the new Polaroid Z340 Instant Digital Camera.

The Z340 pretty much takes the original Polaroid concept and updates it. It's a 14MP camera with a 2.7-inch LCD display and an integrated printer that spits out 3x4-inch color prints.

The printer part uses inkless printing technology from Zink Imaging. The special Zink paper has embedded dye crystals with a polymer overcoat for protection. Heat activates the crystals to form the image.… Read more