Self Inflating Tire... Yeah, you will own this one day!

AutoBlog reported on the "Tire Technology of the Year Award" with the SIT (Self Inflating Tire) bringing home the award at the 2009 Tire Technology Awards for Innovation and Excellence. It is quite an impressive concept and could lead to noticiable fuel economy and safety improvemets. I am one of the few people I know that checks their tire pressure every time they fill up, and on my Honda Ridgeline any tweaking that improves mileage is worth my time. I end up having to adjust my tires each time I fill as they slip a few fractions of a PSI in one directoin or another. This technology would compeltely remove the need to ever touch your tires (assuming you dont get a flat). Its self inflating system relies on the rotation of the tire, not compressors or storage tanks, to keep the tires at the perfect pressure. It is a great concept and I hope they can get them opperating at 100mph and out on the roads.

Jump over to the company's website to get more info and watch a video explanation.

Chumby Finally Making Some Moves!

So Engadget has reported that our cuddly tech friend the Chumby is finally making its way onto some more readable screens, most notably our TV's. It has always made sense to me that they port their incredibly robust "widget" platform onto other, more accessible devices. Fortunately this seems to be real as they are partnering with Broadcom to deliver their widgets to the System-On-a-Chip (SoC) products that they are rolling out. All we need now is a manufacturer to buy-in and you will have your Facebook photos and Pandora streaming straight to a TV set near you. Check out the video for a better explanation.

I see this as a cool tool to lay over CNN or MSNBC while drinking your morning coffee or to play videos or music over your TV channels adding value to that cable subscription you pay for every month (assuming the chipset will support audio and licensing will allow for Pandora to run on the platform). I look forward to seeing where this goes!

WOW... Go Verizon?

So I thought this was interesting enough to share. Just watch and let me know your opinion of what is going on....




I would never leave Verizon if this happened to me, but I am not sure I would ever get Verizon to begin with. I need my international freedom!!

zBoost YX510 - First Impressions (Crossing my fingers)

I live in an apartment on the inside of a group of buildings overlooking a pool. While this is great for reducing the noise from the highway and provides a great view to wake up to in the morning, it does not help my cell phone reception being buried within thick walls of concrete. I had the occasional problem with EDGE on my AT&T Blackberry 8310, but now that I upgraded to a Bold the 3G reception is pitiful at best. During a 30 minute phone call I can expect anywhere from 2-5 "called failed" messages (I had a friend with an iPhone 3G here over the weekend and he experienced the same problem, actually a little worse). I recently decided I have had enough of intermittent conversations and I purchased a zBoost YX510 in an attempt to boost my signal and mitigate the always fatal 3G/2G hand off that kills my calls. I just managed to install it in what seems to be the best position for my situation (requires significant experimentation to find a reasonable placement) and so far I am hopeful at best. While my phone reads a full 5 bars (-70dBm) I have still experienced a couple dropped calls. I will continue to evaluate the product for another week and keep you updated on the progress. If you have any suggestions to improve the reception and my experience with with product please share! I would really like for this to work for me!

Google Latitude - Ultimate Location Tool or Creepy Evolution of Technology?

So Google has released "Google Latitude" which is an update to their Google Maps application for mobile devices that allows users to share their location with other users or "friends". This has been a long requested feature for Google maps ever since Loopt for the iPhone the app store. The beauty of this being a native feature to Google Maps is the ability to share with users across multiple device platforms, the software update works with most of the phones that previously had Google Maps functionality and will allow iPhone users to share their location with their Blackberry brethren and even their lesser counterparts using J2ME dumbphones. Once you join the Latitude Community (menu feature within the Google Maps app) by signing in using your google account you can build your friends list and decide who you want to be able to monitor your every move. I am not sure what the refresh rate is but this could possibly be a silent battery killer on phone that allow multi-threading. So far it looks like a fun toy and could be useful at large outdoor events like concerts or fairs to help you find your other group members.

Send your phones browser over to www.google.com/latitude to download the update.


UPDATE: After playing with the application for a bit and managing to convince a few friends to let me pry into their lives, I have decided that it needs a few feature enhancements. First, the friends list looks great but you can't call from it or send a message, so if you are trying to track someone down you have to navigate away from the app to make a call or send a message. Second, there is no casual way to add a friend to the map. If I am meeting up with someone that I wouldn't necessarily want to have constant access to my location, it would be nice to be able to send a one time "ping", whether it be through the application or SMS, to another person with my current location (similar to the "Send My Locatoin" feature in BBM).

I might step into the extra creepy zone but it would be cool if you could set alerts to tell you when one of your friends is within a certain distance or set "geo fences" and subsequent alerts.

Other than that, great work Google, I hope to see those updates shortly :)

The Final Nail in the DJ Coffin?

Activision has recently announced they are in the process of releasing "DJ Hero" and it is exactly what you would expect from the title. The controller is said to feel solid and will allow players to "play competitively and spin discs and mix songs."  Read over at Yahoo Tech for their report. The product is claimed to drop "later this year."  As a DJ, I am excited about this distraction but I hope that it doesnt cut into my bottom line as everyone believes they can be a DJ.