Browsing Category: "SMASH Technology"
Free Slurpee
Get out! 7-11 is here. Not the date, silly -the store. Oh yeah, well it’s 7-11 the date too, we guess. Don’t you know what happens every year on this magical date? Thousands of people flock to their local 7-11 stores and celebrate the anniversary of the store chain by filling up on free small Slurpees. Tomorrow is 7-11’s 83rd birthday. That’s right -more than eight decades serving up local fare that’s literally a block away, and serving customers all over the world.
We all grew up with this chain, and we definitely grew up with the Slurpees -my favorites were the Cherry Red and of course, the old standby, the Coke flavored one. Pull back that knob and fill up those cups, but don’t get brain freeze like Bart Simpson did when he went into the Quik-e-Mart, which is “The Simpsons”’s homage to this most venerable of institutions. Read the rest of this entry »
For some reason, and after stints in LA, Las Vegas and Chicago, the Top Chef crew decided this season to decamp in the nation’s capital. As we can see from scenes that are coming up, the city plays host to a number of venues like the Goddard Space Center and politicians like Nancy Pelosi (yes, that Nancy Pelosi). The crew has also added Le Bernardin chef extraordinaire Eric Ripert to the lineup of judges, including Padma Lakshmi, Tom Collichio and Gail Simmons. Read the rest of this entry »
The latest product from Ymax, is a derivative of the magic Jack and is called the femtoJack, The femtoJack is very similar to the magicJack in look and feel but it takes the technology of the magic Jack to the next step and allow users to make wireless phone calls for free from their home instead of just landline phone calls. Read the rest of this entry »
You Gotta Start Somewhere
If you’re anything like me, you like to start your browsing day with a start page or “portal” that caters to your daily dose of online interests.
Sure there are the more well-known, corporate portals that allow their own brand of personalization [iGoogle, myYahoo, Microsoft Live]. But quite often these mainstays include “value added” content or sponsored links that interfere with your personalized experience. So if you crave to have something a bit more streamlined (or you’d rather have quick access to the aforementioned 3), Fav4 is worth a serious look. Read the rest of this entry »
The Next P.G. & E.?
In a word, no.
But a multifaceted, octopus-like reach is a trait we’ve come to expect from the stalwart giant Google as of late. The company is moving so quickly and in so many directions & markets that anything it does would hardly seem surprising - with the exception of becoming a utility company, which is now another card Google has up its sleeve. Read the rest of this entry »
The Mixable Dancer
OK, this is actually a bit frightening. I must admit that the first thing that came to mind here was the disturbing bunny from Donnie Darko and all the nightmarish imagery he brings with him. But after getting past the initial fright, I found the concept rather interesting.
So you thought that the cuddly teddy bear holding the little red heart box of chocolates really nailed it today didn’t you? You thought you scored with your special Valentine, right? Well, talk about thinking totally outside the box: a company called DNA 11 offers you a gift that is so intensely personal, so unique and yet rather unusual that it will never be forgotten.
DNA 11 offers you a chance to provide your own DNA sample, which they will then process and place on an artistic screen, either in mini-portrait form or on a canvas that you could use as artwork. Now, we’re not talking that kind of DNA sample. Read the rest of this entry »
Isn’t it a coincidence that on the day that Yahoo! had a screaming news story declaring that Sandra Bullock’s enormous smash “The Blind Side” just passed the $200 million domestic gross mark –an impressive feat never before done by any other major actress—we have a magical piece of news from two corporations that don’t normally like each other: Warner Brothers and Netflix.
28 Days Later
In a press release today, both companies agreed to essentially force Netflix and its customers to wait out a 28-day period before Warner Bros. distributes its new releases to them. Read the rest of this entry »
The former Jordan Roseman, raised in rural Iowa and schooled on a diet of 70s disco and 80s Depeche Mode and OMD that he tried to crank out on his Apple II computer, probably should prepare himself for some much-deserved fame right about now. He might also think about leaving his job as DJ at many of the hot locations in the city. Read the rest of this entry »
The Plaid Mystery
I don’t think there’s a quick explanation for it, but what is up with so much red plaid everywhere? Honestly, it can’t just be about the holiday season and the obvious red color scheme because this has been around for much of the year. And while this is a completely unscientific observation, I think I have a few hunches as to why this bold print seems to linger, and probably will so, even after we all take down our Christmas trees and store our ornaments from this holiday season. Read the rest of this entry »
Funny, when I go to McDonald’s, it’s usually for fast (emphasis on “fast”) food—a quick burger, fries, drink. Nothing special, really. But did you know you could also linger around, open up your laptop and surf the web as you stuffed your mouth with Chicken McNuggets and Filet-o-Fish sandwiches?
Well, at approximately 11,000 (out of 14,000) Mickey D’s around the country, you can get this Wifi service, except that it will cost you a little less than the #1 (Big Mac) meal deal –a whopping $2.95 for two hours of access time. That’s just enough time to linger at a McDonald’s perhaps without people thinking you have no life. But why pay for this service? Why not go to a place like Starbucks, or even park outside and access what is essentially free Wifi access, as long as you have some kind AT&T phone service? Read the rest of this entry »
It’s been a long time coming. Finally, after 50 years of enduring nationwide noise pollution, the House passed a bill yesterday that would turn down the volume on loud television advertisements. There’s even a cutesy acronym slapped onto the act: Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation, or CALM. Read the rest of this entry »
Before the main US trade show for cars, held next month in Detroit at the North American Auto Show, Los Angeles holds an annual display, bringing together many new models and concept vehicles for the public to see.
Overall, the show at the LA Convention Center is important for the volume of cars held in three cavernous halls. And even if Detroit still rules supreme because it attracts the world media for the occasional “world” debuts and the annual announcements of the cars of the year, LA is still a pretty fine show.
Here are some of the more impressive new models that I saw last weekend: Read the rest of this entry »
Along with Entertainment Weekly I celebrate the weekly wonder that is Jane Lynch, who plays the balls-to-wall coach on one of this year’s most vibrant new TV shows, “Glee”. Read the rest of this entry »
Last week’s trifecta of tacky behavior –Joe Wilson, in a historic first, heckling the President before a formal address to Congress, Serena Williams screaming expletives and threats at a line-judge at match point at the US Open, and a drunk Kanye West grabbing the mike from winner Taylor Swift at the MTV VMAs—was a strangely aligned set of events that have underlined what many have suspected about social civility in the US: it is rapidly withering away. Read the rest of this entry »
