(Credit:
Scott Stein/CNET)
My Thanksgiving was spent in the New York City area, since my family all live on Long Island. But, since I live in the city in an area that's not conducive to owning or parking a car, I'm a renter when it comes to trips. As a result, services like Zipcar and other rental agencies are of great importance to me, as is the quality of their services as opposed to their apps.
When it comes to Thanksgiving car rentals, the city's supply dries up incredibly quickly--weeks in advance, if my attempts were indicative. In particular, Zipcar--the service that's high-tech enough to have an app that unlocks your car for you and offers a mobile rental portal for phones--showed me a map full of unavailability. My car savior came from another service, Connect by Hertz, that happened to have plenty of cars available. And, by coincidence, there's no app. I'm also an iPhone user, and I've become dependent on my apps. But this weekend, I learned a bit of a lesson about phone dependence: sometimes, perhaps, it's better not to have an app for everything.
A me-too competitor to Zipcar, Connect by Hertz is another car-sharing service that has prices and vehicles similar to Zipcar's, as well as a system that uses your membership card as the access key. Connect by Hertz requires a yearly membership equivalent to Zipcar's and works off the same car-sharing model, using your membership card as the car key and offering free gas fill-ups.
It's far from ideal to be subscribed to multiple services, as I am. But the difference is availability: a day before Thanksgiving, Hertz had cars in the city ready to go, many of them, on its Web site. I'm inclined to shift over to Hertz simply to not be stuck on major holidays.
Now, the question is: does not having apps or mobile portals make services like Connect by Hertz more off-the-beaten-path, and thus paradoxically easier to reserve with? Does not having an app make you the equivalent of that below-the-radar cafe that's somehow avoided crowds despite serving delicious food? And am I, by posting news of this, possibly doing the very thing I'm trying to avoid in the first place, blowing this secret up?
Of course, there's always lesson No. 2: don't drive anywhere for Thanksgiving.
"I hope at their best they are beautiful, funny, warm, poignant, odd, and memorable," Sophie Blackall says of the paintings in her Missed Connections series.
(Credit: Sophie Blackall)OK, so your "Missed Connection" post on Craigslist never led to a great romance with that cute hipster who looked your way on the L train--let alone an e-mail from anyone vaguely resembling her. But those hopeful words you sent out into the ether may not be lost after all.
Brooklyn illustrator Sophie Blackall is immortalizing Missed Connections posts in the form of some pretty wonderful and whimsical paintings. And who knows? Maybe your note to that girl with the nose ring and headphones is now a work of art.
"Messages in bottles, smoke signals, letters written in the sand; the modern equivalents are the funny, sad, beautiful, hopeful, hopeless, poetic posts on Missed Connections Web sites," Blackall writes on her blog. "Every day hundreds of strangers reach out to other strangers on the strength of a glance, a smile or a blue hat. Their messages have the lifespan of a butterfly. I'm trying to pin a few of them down."
Her original paintings, created with Chinese ink and watercolor, measure about 11 inches by 17 inches and have names like "Hairy Bearded Swimmer," "I Had a Blue Hat," and "Seeking Girl Who Bit Me TWICE Last Night While We Were Dancing."
Blackall sells 8.5 inch by 11 inch prints of her illustrations for $40 (with free shipping) on crafts site Etsy and plans to release a book based on the series in 2012.
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(Credit:
Alison Rosen)
Alison Rosen is back on the program today, and no, she's not really shrinking. That said, she is mystified by Craigslist missed connections, so we debate about what sort of scenario would lend itself to the use of the site's bizarre feature.
Next stop, Cougarville--better known as San Fransisco--where we investigate a disturbing new expo: The National Single Cougars Convention. Should cougars be given their own convention or should they be hunted in public, the natural way?
Finally, it seems we're just never going to get rid of Autotune. Especially now that the new T-Pain Autotune iPhone app makes robot voice manipulation so easy--as if it wasn't to begin with.
We've got all this and more on today's 404. Enjoy the weekend! (No show on Monday).
Check out Alison's blog or The Daily Alison.
EPISODE 419
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Lexmark Platinum Pro905
(Credit: Lexmark)Not to be outdone by HP's Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web, Lexmark on Tuesday rolled out a new line of printers, three of which will will feature a touch screen to access the Web. Although both companies claim to have the rights to the "world's first Web-connected printer," Lexmark's new product line is aimed at the business market rather than the consumer.
The Lexmark Solution Center already has several existing applications that users can easily download onto the machine with a touch of a virtual button. Some additions including a photo viewer, application shortcuts, RSS headline aggregators, and Google Calendar. Lexmark tells us that more applications are on their way and will roll out as they're developed.
Lexmark Interact S605
(Credit: Lexmark)Although only three of the new releases will include the SmartSolutions Web connectivity, five of the eight will feature 802.11n wireless as well as a new eco-friendly mode that automatically changes the driver settings to two-sided printing to save on the cost of consumables.
The final addition is a convenient business card scan feature that automatically inputs contact info to commonly-used personal information management applications like Microsoft Outlook and Palm OSTM. I had the opportunity to see all of the new features in action and was impressed with its accuracy. Unfortunately, the Mac OS Address Book is not supported at this time.
The offering is also labeled with Lexmark's new, simplified nomenclature to make it easier for consumers to distinguish between products and features, which break down into two lines: the Professional Series (including the Platinum, Prestiage, Prevail, and Prospect) and the Home Office Series (Interact, Intuition, Interpret, and Impact). Prices start at $99 for the Impact and scale up to $399 for the Platinum, which includes dual paper trays and the SmartSolutions touch screen.
We already have a Lexmark Platinum Pro905 on the way, so keep your eyes peeled for an in-depth review coming soon.
(Credit:
Plastic Logic)
Last week, Plastic Logic hooked up with Barnes & Noble. Now it's got something going with AT&T to provide the 3G wireless connection for its upcoming e-reader, due out in early 2010.
Early Wednesday, the company announced the agreement, though details were scant. There was no mention of pricing, and it remains unclear whether you'll have to pay extra for AT&T's 3G service or whether it will be included with the device, like it is with Amazon's Kindle. (Amazon has a partnership with Sprint to supply the Kindle's wireless connection.) However, the announcement does note that AT&T offers worldwide coverage and that "AT&T devices work in more than 200 countries and regions."
Plastic Logic's upcoming e-reader has been in the works for a while. It uses E-ink technology, is about the size of an 8.5-by-11-inch pad of paper, is less than 0.25 inches thick, and weighs less than many print magazines (at least the ones that still attract advertising). It also has a touch-screen user interface and built-in Wi-Fi, which leads us to believe the 3G connection may require an extra fee.
Plastic Logic's only comment on pricing is that it will be announced "when the product begins shipping in early 2010."
It seems a little odd that the company is making these types of introductions so far in advance of the product's release, but the e-reader space is heating up and other competitors are lurking. By the time the Plastic Logic Reader arrives, Sony will most likely have released the next version of its Reader--(I wouldn't be shocked to see an announcement from Sony in the next few weeks)--and it, too, might offer a wireless option.
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Lexmark's 4.3-inch touch-screen LCD.
(Credit: Lexmark)Not to be outdone by HP's recent touch-screen printer, the folks at Lexmark just debuted their line of Web-connected touch-screen all-in-ones.
The big difference between the two is that although they both have touch technology, the HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web is meant to live in the home, while the three printers featuring Lexmark's MyTouch technology are designed to increase productivity for the business market. Nevertheless, this won't stop us from putting them side-by-side in the first ever Web-connected, touch-screen-printing kumite.
Only three out of the eight new products include a large 4.3-inch touch screen, coincidentally the exact same size of HP's LCD screen. I had a chance to preview the entire lineup, and I was impressed with the comprehensive set of new features built into each device. The "SmartSolutions" button layout lets SMBs streamline their work flow by customizing their home screen with easy-to-use applications that include template shortcuts, address book favorites, RSS feeds, ID and ID card copies--all built into the machine with updates available through the host computer.
Four of the new printers also feature 802.11n wireless connectivity and all eight include Lexmark's Vizix technology that uses individual ink tanks to produce higher quality output at a cheaper refill cost. Business users will also be happy to see Lexmark's new business card scanning technology that recognizes and automatically uploads contact information into popular desktop software suites. One drawback: the technology isn't available for Apple's vCard address book sync.
All of the new printers will be available in September, and we'll be getting units into the CNET Labs as soon as possible to begin testing, so check back soon to see who will win in a head-to-head match.
iHome iStand Notebook Media Bundle for Mac.
(Credit: iHome)We've reviewed a few iHome computer speakers in the past, but the company is now making a bigger move into the computer accessories market after signing a licensing agreement with LifeWorks Technology Group.
The new line is expected to launch "this summer," and we've highlighted a couple interesting looking products, the iStand Notebook Media Bundle with an integrated iPod/iPhone dock ($299.99) and the iConnect Media Keyboard ($149.99). The Mac version of each is colored silver and white, while the Windows version is black. iHome-branded mice, headsets, and Webcams are also in the works.
For more info check out life-works.com.
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iHome iConnect Media Keyboard for PC.
(Credit: iHome)
We've seen plenty of network-connected streamers over the last few months, most of which rely in some degree on Windows Media Center for content. This wouldn't be such an issue if Media Center would just play nicely with third-party devices.
These "extenders," like the Linksys DMA2200, gave us an inconsistent stream with unreliable picture quality regardless of our connection strength. On the other hand, the Seagate FreeAgent Theater HD wasn't able to play as many file types as we would have liked.
It is with the Digital Entertainer Elite that we've found the best of both worlds: a media receiver that doesn't rely on Windows Media Center and a device that can handle almost any file format you throw at it. The Elite isn't necessarily for everyone, though--in fact, we'd probably recommend it only to that crowd of do-it-yourselfers who are fluent in the ins and outs of audio and video formats.
The Elite is priced around $400 and, while you won't have the added luxury of Netflix or Amazon Video on Demand, there are plenty of extra features that may justify its purchase, including a removable and user-replaceable 500GB hard drive. Read our full review to see if it's right for you.
Jasmine France joins The 404 today. Just a little warning: she had just flown into New York City on the red-eye from San Francisco and is pretty loopy for part of the show. But she does give us the 411 on the best MP3 player and headphones to get.
(Credit:
Wilson G. Tang/CNET)
Jasmine dishes the dirt on Justin as an intern years ago. Let's just say dry cleaning, coffee, foot rubs, and walking her dog were part of his daily routine. Oh, how far he has come.
We talk a bit about how popular "casual encounters" has become on Craigslist. It's even bigger than Match.com, eHarmony, or even Yahoo! Personals. Jasmine tells us about her "missed connections" story. It gets juicy. Find your subway crush here.
Also, we discuss a bit 'bout how piracy is ruining the PSP. Justin doesn't really care; Jeff gets upset; and Wilson's fourth cousin is selling pirated games back home in Zhong Guo. Speaking of China, for about five minutes too long, Wilson exposés on Jackie Chan's recent comments in the press. This is why we don't discuss anything with any seriousness.
Finally, it's "Earf Day"...we think that's how it's spelled. Anyway, as part of our effort to be friendly to the environment, CNET TV is launching The Green Show, starring Mark Licea. That's right! MTI has his own show now. Check it out and send us your comments at greenshow [at] cnet [dot] com.
Episode 325
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T-Mobile WebConnect
(Credit: T-Mobile)With Wi-Fi hot spots blanketing the nation and its 3G network rolled out and expanding, T-Mobile felt the time was right to roll out its new webConnect USB Laptop Stick.
Manufactured by Huawei Technologies Co., this small, portable modem lets you connect to the Web on your laptop using T-Mobile's 3G network or Wi-Fi, and comes with built-in T-Mobile Connection Manager software to automatically detect the best available Internet connection.
In addition, the WebConnect laptop stick offers tri-band 3G connectivity (HSDPA/UMTS 1900/AWS/2100), so you'll be able to use it on compatible networks overseas. If you're in an area where there is no 3G coverage, it is compatible with GPRS/EDGE networks, so you're not left to search out a Wi-Fi hot spot as your only option of getting online.
Aside from connectivity, the T-Mobile WebConnect laptop stick can also double as a portable storage device. Similar to the AT&T USBConnect Mercury, it's equipped with a microSD/SDHC expansion slot that can accept up to 8GB cards. The accessory features a swivel USB design and measures 3.5 inches tall by 1.1 inches wide by 0.4 inch thick and weighs 1.5 ounces.
The T-Mobile Connection Manager software will determine the fastest available Internet connection, whether it be 3G or Wi-Fi.
(Credit: T-Mobile)The T-Mobile WebConnect USB Laptop Stick will be available in select T-Mobile retail stores and online starting March 25. There are various pricing options available: $49.99 with a two-year contract after rebate; $99.99 with one-year contract; or $249.99 with no contract.
Service plans start at $59.99, which gives you 5GB of wireless data per month. If you go over that limit, you will be charged an overage fee of $0.20 per MB. To help you keep tabs on your usage and minimize overage charges, the aforementioned Connection Manager software also monitors how much data you have used and how much you have left for the month.
