rich

In case you didn't know, my articles this week are all about car audio. Today, we start at square one with picking out your most basic components for your car stereo: the head unit and speakers.

Rich Richards of Utah-based Innovative Home and Car Audio explains some basic things to look for and consider when designing your car audio system. Rich discusses the importance of getting a deck with high-voltage output through the preamp for better sound, the benefit of component speakers (midrange and tweeter) being as close together as possible, coaxial rear speakers, amplifiers, wiring, fuses, and everything … Read more

I want to be more like Richard Branson. I'm sorry, I meant Sir Richard Branson. He may not be the absolute richest guy around, but he has enough wealth to use it in some awesome ways. Right now, he's using it to buy a personal submarine that carries a pilot and two well-off visitors for extended underwater excursions.

Above, you'll see the Necker Nymph. It's a carbon fiber personal submarine made by Hawkes Ocean Technologies that you can rent out if you're lucky enough to be staying on Branson's $88k-a-week Caribbean island. The fee … Read more

Google on Friday began rolling out an improved version of its search result highlighting and rich-snippet features.

Both improvements bring more visibility to kinds of data that would otherwise require clicking through to the source site. Google now does much of that work for users by bringing relevant, formatted data directly to its search results pages.

Between the two improvements, the highlighting one is the most interesting. It now highlights what Google calls "answers" within page summaries. These are matches to a user's query, so if a user looks up something like a math problem, or a … Read more

MaxBulk Mailer for Windows is a program designed to help people send personalized e-mails to large quantities of people. While it has a lot on its upside, the program also proves to be a little vague for inexperienced users.

This e-mail program should feel recognizable to users familiar with professional quality e-mail programs such as Microsoft Outlook. With a series of tabs taking users through the process of writing and sending bulk e-mails, people almost don't need to visit the Help file. If they do, e-mail senders will be treated to an in-depth dissection of MaxBulk's functions. Creating … Read more

Although Google has traditionally downplayed the importance of the Semantic Web, the company took a noticeable step toward embracing it Tuesday.

Google introduced an enhancement to its search results at Searchology 2009 that uses technologies commonly associated with the Semantic Web, or the concept of making Web pages more discoverable and understandable to computers. Calling it "Rich Snippets," Google's Marissa Mayer and Kavi Goel demonstrated how Google is working with tech publishers (including CNET) to display new types of information in search results such as the number of stars assigned to a particular gadget.

The Semantic Web … Read more

It seems like everything under the sun is getting the Swarovski crystal treatment. Back in February, we introduced you to the top five Swarovski disasters, which included phones, radios, and even a whole piano covered in the stuff. Now you can add light switches to the list of useless abominations sprinkled with Swarovskis.

This time around, Berker Switches and Systems has teamed with Swarovski to present the "Crystal Collection." Why would you settle for a boring old plastic switch when you can get a large, multi-faceted Swarovski-cut crystal instead?

OK, the technology behind the light switch is actually … Read more

Jeff Bakalar makes his return on Fat Tuesday--how appropriate. Justin reveals to the world that he loves Alvin & the Chipmunks, on top of his fascination with Disney music. Disney we can forgive, but really? An Alvin & the Chipmunks cover of "Uptown Girl?" And we figure out that Alvin wears a giant "A" because he's committed adultery.

On today's show, Justin learns some new racial slurs from Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino." Jeff tells us to check out Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler"and reveals to us that he once was a professional wrestler known as "The Flying Daisy." In actual news, newspapers are asking the federal government for a bailout. Get with it! Newspapers are going the way of the dodo. On top of that, it's National Pancake Day, so head on over to your local IHOP! Let Fat Tuesday's debauchery begin in earnest.… Read more

An application that did nothing beyond showing a person was willing to spend gobs of money for it didn't last long on Apple's App Store, but now we'll begin to see if Google lives up to its more laissez-faire approach to its rival Android Market.

Apple banned Armin Heinrich's "I Am Rich", which cost $1,000 and only showed a red ruby, from its App Store last August. Now the conceptually similar "I Am Richer" has arrived on the Android Market from Mike DG.

Perhaps owners of T-Mobile's G1 phone are … Read more

Yahoo's been arguing for years that its two main advertising businesses, search and display, are stronger together than separately, but a new development Wednesday could illustrate just how much truth there is to that statement.

Traditionally, search ads combine a short amount of text with a Web link, but Yahoo is testing the use of display ads such as graphics and video alongside search results in "Rich Ads in Search," described in a blog post Wednesday. The move opens a new chapter in the company's competition with Google, whose search-driven ad system dominates online advertising.

Right … Read more