In addition to letting loose a string of expletives, those who have lost a phone or been a victim of phone thievery have probably reacted with the following: "Nooooo! My contacts!"
(Credit:
Tenbu Technologies)
Mobile innovator Tenbu Technologies has come up with Nio, a Bluetooth security tag that links to any of your belongings. If your laptop, phone, keys, or even child move out of range, an alarm sounds.
The gadget has the potential to save your items and the valuable information they carry, like contacts.
How exactly does it work? Attach Nio to your keys, laptop bag, or other belonging you need to secure. The tag is linked to your Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone running the Nio software. Once you step out of the predefined security zone, an alarm is triggered.
The lowest security zone setting will let you wander about 65 feet before the alarm goes off. High security restricts movement to only a few feet away. This could be useful if you're traveling by plane and are worried that you might doze ... Read more
What's worse than a lost or stolen iPhone? Uh, hello? Nothing! That's why Apple invented Find My iPhone--and charges $99 per year for it as part of the MobileMe service.
If you're not willing to spend that much but want some kind of insurance against an iPhone that goes missing, check out Orbicule's Undercover.
This $4.99 app covertly transmits your phone's location and IP information to your browser-based Undercover account (free), thus allowing you to bust in on the thief and, guns blazing, take back your precious.
By which I mean, of course, work with local authorities to recover your iPhone in a safe and law-abiding fashion. Of course.
You can learn a lot more in the above video. However, there are a couple caveats that aren't mentioned.
For one thing, your iPhone won't transmit its location unless the finder/thief runs the Undercover app or its companion Found app, or taps any of the push notifications you send. (I love the fake bank-account message Orbicule
... Read more
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
On her way back from the airport the other day, our photo editor Sarah found a Kindle in the back seat of a New York City taxi cab. Being the honest person she is, she asked me if there was any way to get it back to the owner.
Well, it's actually not that easy to track down the owner of Kindle, especially if that person has a fairly common first and last name, as the owner of this Kindle does. We actually e-mailed him at the Kindle address that's registered to the device but it doesn't appear that you can get your @kindle.com e-mail unless you have the device.
Addtionally--and rather tragically--the person who bought this Kindle never inputted his personal information into the device. The link to "edit personal info" can be accessed from the "Settings and Device Information" tab when you click the menu button from the Kindle's home screen. On this Kindle, the box is empty.
Lesson 1: If you own and ... Read more
Four seasons of "Lost" are already available.
(Credit: Netflix/screenshot by John P. Falcone)Several of ABC's top shows will soon be available to watch via Netflix's "Watch Instantly" online streaming service. The first four seasons of "Lost" are already available, and they'll be joined in September by "Desperate Housewives" (seasons four and five), "Grey's Anatomy" (season five), and "Legend of the Seeker" (seasons one and two). The deal builds on an earlier agreement to make Disney Channel content available on Netflix (ABC is a division of Disney.)
While most of these programs are already available for viewing online on ABC's Web site, the Netflix deal allows them to be watched on TV screens via a large and growing number of Netflix-compatible home video devices, including many Blu-ray players and home theater systems, some Internet-enabled TVs, the Xbox 360, and the $99 Roku Digital Media Player. The ABC content joins programs from rival networks, including Fox, NBC, and CBS, that have long been available on Netflix. (Disclosure: CNET ... Read more
I don't have a dog right now, but if I did, I totally wouldn't trust it to roam around my apartment while I'm not there. Who knows what kind of mischief it'll get into or what it'll find lurking in my sock drawer. This Pet's Eye View Camera makes it easy to keep track of your dog, but $55 is too expensive for what appears to be a glorified Webcam.
There's not a lot going on here in terms of technology: the little USB still camera attaches to your pet's collar and can automatically take pictures at 1-, 5-, or 15-minute intervals. The camera can hold a total of 40 shots in 640x480 resolution. It seems like the camera would be more efficient if it could automatically upload pictures via Wi-Fi to an online account like Flickr or Snapfish so you can monitor your animals on the fly, but as it stands you can only check out the pictures after ... Read more
GTA goes gay for the holidays.
(Credit: Rockstar Games)This isn't an April Fool's gag. The next installment of Grand Theft Auto is on its way, and like The Lost and Damned and Chinatown Wars, it's still set in the massive world of GTA IV. Rockstar has unleashed a surprise announcement with The Ballad of Gay Tony coming this fall for $19.99, or 1600 Microsoft Points.
The character in focus this time is Luis Lopez, an assistant to Gay Tony, or Tony Prince, Liberty City's premier nightclub entrepreneur. The glitz-addled world could be a little dose of Vice City-style mayhem. According to Rockstar Games founder Sam Houser, expect a "focus on high-end night life." And, according to the press release, expect "uncertainty about who is real and who is fake in a world in which everyone has a price."
Also announced was the release of both The Lost and Damned and Gay Tony episodes in a single standalone disc-based game called Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City. At $39.
... Read more
This week brings us a classic platforming game from 1988 along with a space-aged side-scrolling shooter.
- WiiWare
- "Gradius ReBirth" (Konami, 1,000 Wii points): Enjoy this revamped classic side-scrolling shooter through various levels of alien-blasting fun. Choose your weapons wisely, this kind of action isn't for the faint of heart.
- Virtual Console
- "Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars" (1988, Sega Master System, 500 Wii points): Take a trip back to 1988 in this classic platforming title. Help Alex Kidd collect the 12 missing zodiac signs in various environments and levels.
What games do you think are missing from the Wii Virtual Console? Sound off at our discussion board!
The Lost gang displays a clear disregard for local helmet laws.
(Credit: Rockstar Games)We've spent the better part of the Presidents' Day weekend playing through The Lost and Damned, the first episodic downloadable content for Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV. With all three major living room game consoles now more or less permanently hooked up to broadband Internet connections, it makes perfect sense that game companies would want to bypass the heavy fixed costs of pressing discs, putting them on trucks, and stocking them in retail stores, in favor of selling downloadable content directly to the end user.
While the concept isn't new (there are hundreds of mission packs, add-ons, and even full games available from the PlayStation Network store, Xbox Live, and Nintendo's Virtual Console store), this $20 game-within-a-game is easily the most high-profile attempt at mainstreaming downloadable episodic video game content to date.
Instead of adding new locations or extending the original game's storyline, this new content package uses the existing maps and assets from GTAIV to ... Read more
Not only will Rockstar's DLC be available on the Xbox 360 February 17, but Microsoft will allow free access to Live Gold functionality for players of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV and the upcoming expansion The Lost and Damned.
You've got to give it to Microsoft, what better way to get people online to play a game that's almost a year old and pump them up for the next installment from Rockstar? Grand Theft Auto IV is a great game. I can see the servers taking a huge hit Feb. 17; maybe I'll see you there.
This free access expires February 22, so I suggest you get your game on soon. Wishful thinking, but what would make this sweeter is a Feb. 16 (Presidents' Day) release; ah, I'd play all day.
