pole

Google generates Festivus pole search results for the rest of us

There's a certain beauty to the Festivus pole. It's tall. It's undecorated. It's made from aluminum, a material with a high strength-to-weight ratio. It doesn't have the maintenance needs of a Christmas tree and its plain, unfussy look thoroughly captures the spirit of Festivus. Though Festivus isn't celebrated until December 23, Google is already getting in on the holiday action.

When you google the word "Festivus," you get all the expected search results. There's a link to Wikipedia. There's a link to a place to buy Festivus poles. And, hello... what's this, Google? There's a virtual Festivus pole over on the left side of the screen. Scroll down and you reach the base.… Read more

Google Maps visits Antarctica's snowy landscape

Antarctica is long known to be an inhospitable place of constant cold and wind and completely void of plant life. It is also supposed to be beautiful -- filled with snowy vistas, blue-tinted glaciers, and penguins.

Google announced today that with the introduction of its new Google Maps feature people don't need to gear up, survive the elements, and make the long journey to explore this corner of the world. They can simply fire up their computers and take a tour with Antarctic Street View. … Read more

Google's Wonder Woman could save Yahoo

Tuesday's biggest tech story has a superstar trading teams, and I'm not talking Jeremy Lin:

Are you dusting off that Yahoo email account? Freshening up your Flickr page? Yahoo got a dose of Google cool factor with its new CEO, 37-year-old Marissa Mayer. She was a top executive at Google and Google's first female employee. She oversaw pretty much every Google service that's a common part of your life, including maps and search. Expect Mayer to breathe new life into Yahoo's services. Perhaps she can even lure talented computer minds to join her new team. … Read more

iPole: Direct and star in your own iPhone video

LAS VEGAS--It's not all about the big players at CES. Take FastCap founder Paul Akers, the creator iPole and iPole Mini, who I ran into at a small booth in the back of the North Hall of the convention center.

The iPole Mini (shown above) is telescoping stainless steel pole that you mount your iPhone on (or any other product that has a threaded mount for a tripods). The pole itself, which extends out to about three feet, costs $24.95 and if you want to shoot with your iPhone 4 or 4S, you'll need to buy the $… Read more

Compete in summer games that are almost impossible

With almost 550,000 active apps in the iTunes App Store, you get plenty of variation, and one developer continues to release games that are downright silly.

Many iPhone gamers will probably remember Justin Smith's Enviro-Bear 2010 (99 cents) from Captain Games. When the game came out in 2009, our Mac and iOS freelance reviewer, Paul Hughes, started the review by saying, "Enviro-Bear 2010 is part game, part joke, part art piece, and part game-design experiment." In Enviro-Bear 2010, the premise is that you are a bear getting ready to hibernate and you must drive a car … Read more

N.J. solar panels on utility poles to use AT&T

AT&T announced Wednesday it's signed an agreement to allow Petra Solar solar panels in New Jersey to communicate with the utility Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G) over its wireless network.

In July 2009 the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved a $200 million contract between PSE&G and Petra Solar in which the solar company agreed to install over 200,000 photovoltaic panels on existing utility poles throughout New Jersey to tie in to the state's electrical grid.

The solar panels, which are currently being installed throughout six cities and over … Read more

Wind Pole Ventures tackles faulty wind data

For wind power to take a firmer hold, a missing ingredient must materialize: data.

Wind Pole Ventures is building a business as an information broker, gathering more accurate wind speed information for sale to wind farm developers. Last month, the Lexington, Mass.-based start-up signed on its first customer, Invenergy, which will use Wind Pole's data service to better predict wind performance.

Wind power has grown rapidly in the U.S. over the past few years, but the output of large-scale farms has not always matched expectations, which means those projects are less profitable than predicted. Varying wind speeds … Read more

The 404 309: Where Tom Avery still can't feel his big toes

World explorer Tom Avery joins the 404 today to talk about how he's conquered both the North and South Poles of our great planet Earth. Boy, does it make Justin feel terrible about his life, Wilson know he'll be eaten like in the movie "Alive," and Jeff promise to beat Tom on his next journey.

Normally, The 404 is kind of a technology show, but more often it is not. Today is one of those days where we take a break from our virtual Wii Tennis game and get into the nitty gritty of life, man! Wanna know what it's like to run out of food in the middle of the cold artic? How to cross an ocean of constantly moving ice? What about having to decide whether to eat your dog or starve to death?

Well, Tom Avery tells us and you about his adventures, and we promise it's a good story. Apparently, when you fall through the ice into cold water, the first thing you should do is run as quickly as possible. Don't hold us to that, but that's what Mr. Avery says to do. No Twitter from the North Pole and no Santa Claus, either.

Our caption contest is still going on. Make your best caption for this photo of Justin. Call us at 1-866-404-CNET (2638), or shoot us an e-mail at the404 [at] cnet [dot] com. It's your chance to win a copy of Wheelman for the Xbox 360. Vin Diesel kicks some major boo-tay.

Here are some good entries:

Hey do I LOOK like a guy who's seen every episode of "Sex in the City?" Congratulations Mr Yu. You're going to be a father. Your printer's pregnant. Mr. Spaceman's superhero secret identity before changing in a phone booth. All the single printers, all the single printers! EPISODE 309 Download today's podcast |  Subscribe in iTunes |  Subscribe in RSS… Read more

Perpetual winter

Entrancing photos of penguins, polar bears, and Arctic seals are upstaged only by the dramatic North Pole geography itself in this crisp photo slide show. You can control the speed that photos rotate on your screen, but you'll mostly stick around for the white-on-white show. We'd like to see the collection expanded with more photos; however quality always trumps quantity, and in this trial the latter perseveres.