talks

The 404 657: Where Santa Jobs and Kenley pay us a visit (podcast)

Unfortunately Jeff can't make it to the show today, but our good friend Kenley jumps into the hot seat to fill Wilson's shoes while he pulls out his beautiful hair trying to play sound engineer for the day. Meanwhile, we're making last minute predictions on what the Apple Music event will bring, so head over to CNET's live blog for more details and in-depth post show coverage.

The average e-mail user gets hundreds of message everyday, and while spam filters get rid of most of the junk, we're still blasted with e-mails from work, mailing lists, Facebook, and more low-priority comments. Gmail recently rolled out a new solution to organize your messages called Priority Inbox.

The Gmail feature automatically sorts your incoming e-mail into three sections: "important and unread," "starred," and "everything else," and the idea is to target messages that aren't outright spam but still aren't important...Google cleverly calls this "bologne," or BACN. The service also improves accuracy as you use it and will sort sort between senders you reply to and others that you just skip over, hopefully helping you sift through the piles of mail you get a day.

We've seen plenty of strange Nintendo Wiimote accessories in the past, but the new detachable controller from a company called Mojowijo is by far the most NSFW. The device attaches to the Wii's accessory port and uses Bluetooth to run wireless software that basically turns it into a partner-controlled "marital aid." Its patent-pending "Motion2Vibration" technology transforms one user's motions into vibrations signals that get sent to another selected device, even if they're in another part of the country. Get it?

Thanks again to everyone who entered our JetBlue All You Can Jet contest! We've selected two winners for the seven-day and five-day passes and will announce their names on tomorrow's show where we'll welcome hypnotist Paul Ramsay back into the studio! On his last appearance he hypnotized me into forgetting my name, so who knows what'll happen tomorrow- tune in at 11:30 a.m. ET to find out!

Episode 657 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Tapping this app gives special-needs users a voice

At $189.99, Proloquo2Go is far from the cheapest App Store offering. Believe it or not, though, that price is actually a bargain--one a certain market is seriously happy to pay.

The target market? Parents of kids with special needs--specifically those with autism, apraxia, and other disabilities that affect their communication. Many of these kids can't speak, or can't speak as fluently as their peers, but they understand what's going on around them, and they do have things they'd like to say.

Augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC, devices can supplement existing speech or replace speech that is not functional to improve social interaction, school performance, and--not for nothing--to give the kids a better sense of self-worth. Electronic AAC aids use picture symbols, letters, and/or words and phrases to create messages. Equipped with an AAC device, a child with cerebral palsy whose speech is limited suddenly has a way to tell you, "I want to go to Grandma's house this weekend!" or "I ate cake!"

Proloque2Go is just one of a growing number of AAC apps quickly gaining ground in the special-needs community. The reason is hardly surprising: before these apps came along, AAC devices could cost upward of $10,000--a cost many insurance companies would not cover. And for that hefty price, you got a heavy, clunky device that screamed, "I am different!" You would have looked cooler lugging an actual Commodore 64 around--though, at least then, you could have rocked the whole retro-chic look.

Kids aren't the only ones benefiting from these apps, of course--stroke and accident victims, as well as adults with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease) and other progressive degenerative diseases are also tapping into this growing market. … Read more

Google, Verizon in tiered-Net traffic talks

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded:

Verizon & Google agreement may raise net fees RIP Google Wave FTC & Intel reach settlement Jailbreakme.com patch coming soon

Wal-Mart expands prepaid phone service to AT&T

Shoppers perusing Wal-Mart for a cell phone will soon have double the options--that is, a choice of purchasing a prepaid phone on two carriers instead of just one.

Wal-Mart's Straight Talk wireless service, which has previously run only on Verizon's networks, is expanding to AT&T. StraightTalk is a brand made by TracFone, and is sold exclusively in Wal-Mart stores.

AT&T confirmed to The Wall Street Journal on Monday that StraightTalk phones will work on the network. Wal-Mart would not comment on the impetus behind building out the service to include AT&T.

The … Read more

Weigh it and say it with a talking scale

Kitchen appliances are generally manufactured with convenience in mind--not surprising as all cooks appreciate some form of convenience. As convenient as some appliances are, however, some simply are not convenient enough. Or thoughtful enough. They may have all the bells and whistles meant to enhance the cooking experience, but sometimes, for some at least, they don't have the feature that matters.

The Terraillon 8776 Linear Vocal Kitchen Scale takes an easy-to-use popular kitchen appliance and adds the convenience of voice. Speaking in three languages (English, French and German), the talking scale may be a convenient feature for some, but … Read more

iPhone 4 exceeds talk time promises

Our official iPhone 4 talk time battery tests are back from CNET Labs. In both 3G and EDGE tests, we beat Apple's promised times of 7 hours and 14 hours respectively. Also, when compared with the previous three iPhone models, the iPhone 4 delivers more juice per charge.

Below you'll find the complete talk time results for all four iPhone models as tested by the always affable Eric Franklin in CNET Labs. We're still running battery tests for music playback, video playback, and Internet use, but I'll report them here as they come in. And for … Read more

T-Mobile announces new prepaid plans

T-Mobile announced two new prepaid calling plans Monday--Unlimited Text and Unlimited Talk & Text. Unlimited Text is $15 a month for unlimited text, while voice calls will remain 10 cents a minute. Unlimited Talk & Text will cost $50 a month, but will have unlimited voice and messaging (SMS/MMS/IM and e-mail). The plans do not include data, however.

(Via Phone Scoop)

U.S. seeks climate ideas after Copenhagen fell short

OSLO--The United States is asking for ideas about how to tackle global warming without raising expectations of breakthroughs in 2010 ahead of climate talks among the world's top emitters on Sunday in Washington.

A document obtained by Reuters on Friday listing U.S. questions to delegates from 16 other major economies shows the two-day talks will focus on the fate of U.N. climate talks, the non-binding Copenhagen Accord, and the Kyoto Protocol.

It does not answer key questions such as what the United States, the biggest emitter behind China, plans to do under any future U.N. plan. U.S. legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions is stalled in the U.S. Senate.

Instead it shows that major nations may have to go back to the drawing board after the Copenhagen summit failed to come up with a binding deal at the climax of two years of U.N. negotiations.

"The general focus of the meeting: what are the key issues that need to be addressed in order to have a successful outcome?" it asks of preparations for the next annual talks of environment ministers in Cancun, Mexico, November 29 through December 10.

"What is the outcome we are all seeking in Cancun? A set of decisions; a legally binding agreement; something else?" according to the document, signed by Michael Froman, deputy White House national security adviser, and U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern. … Read more

Fax the Word

Windows' built-in fax tool often doesn't integrate seamlessly with Microsoft's Word, which is usually part of the Office productivity suite. That's where Fax 4 Word Addon 2.6.2 from Addins4Office can help. As its name suggests, it's a Word add-in that both streamlines and expands your capability to fax a wide range of documents to numerous recipients. You can send personalized documents to specific recipients, a capability that turns Windows' basic fax feature into an excellent direct-marketing tool.

Fax 4 Word installs a new toolbar on Word; its look depends on which edition of Office … Read more