paris

How TMZ uses tech to get in your face

Alec Baldwin, Lindsay Lohan, and Kramer from Seinfeld may despise TMZ.com, but that hasn't stopped the celebrity news site from bagging more blockbuster scoops the past two years than any competitor.

TMZ's growing reputation as Hollywood's in-the-know and in-your-face news agency was built by working the phones, developing sources and basically out hustling rivals, say executives. What isn't well-known, however, is that the company may also possess a technology edge.

TMZ, which launched as a Web site in 2005 and moved into TV last September, is among the first to build a tapeless, high-definition TV … Read more

MySpace, Yahoo blame bad APIs for celebrity photos breach

Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan's private MySpace photos are all over the Internet now, thanks to a glitch in the bad APIs.

While the not-so-publicity-shy stars probably won't mind, and none of the photos are all that racy (except for the one of a fully dressed, provocatively posed Hilton in a tanning booth), there's a lesson for us all in this social network privacy flap du jour.

"Anything you upload to a public Web site is not private; it's public. Even if you think it is password protected," says Jeremiah Grossman, chief technology officer … Read more

Another Swarovski victim is in the bag

What would go impractically well with a $350 Dunhill USB drive? A Swarovski-studded laptop bag, of course. Port Designs has made one to order in the name of "Paris," a crystal-trimmed case in a sleek black design for laptops up to 15.4 inches. It even has a matching heart charm, Chip Chick says, in case you don't have enough rhinestones in your life. As saddened as we are to see another Swarovski-infected product on the market, we're somewhat heartened that its designers exercised some restraint, unlike other items we've seen. One must take … Read more

Where Wilson Tang is the new American Idol

Now that Wilson is the new American Idol (not to mention the perpetual Chinese Idol), he can't stop talking about his celebrity chumleys. Today, we discuss his American counterpart David Cook, everyone's beloved Dick Gaywood, Jessica Alba-Tang, Arnold Shawarazanegarradudebro, Saving Paris's Privates, Grandpa Ford, and more dregs of society. EPISODE 105 Download today's podcast

Chevy to show production-spec Volt at Paris

The batteries may not be ready yet, but Chevrolet is planning to show a production specification version of its electric-powered Volt at this year's Paris auto show. According to a report from the U.K.'s Channel 4 News, the Volt will be shown at the October show with an electric power train and auxiliary gasoline engine in similar configuration to that of the original concept, which debuted at Detroit last year. However, an official teaser shot of the production Volt released by GM suggests that the Paris-bound production version of the four-seater may lose some of the dashing … Read more

Two new hybrids from Honda in 2009

Honda announced it will unveil a new global hybrid car at the 2008 Paris Auto Show, which will launch in 2009 along with another hybrid based on the CR-Z concept. Both cars will be produced as hybrid models without a gas-only counterpart, similar to Toyota's Prius. These hybrids are part of Honda's strategy to sell 400,000 hybrids per year by 2011. The new global hybrid will launch in Europe first, then come to North America. Both hybrids will use updated versions of Honda's integrated motor assist (IMA) mild hybrid system, currently used in the Honda Civic … Read more

When in doubt, change planes in Munich

When you fly to Europe from the West Coast, your choice of nonstop flights is rather limited. Outside of cities such as London, Paris, Amsterdam, or Frankfurt, you're usually forced to fly to a large hub airport and then change planes if you want to travel to another city. Such was the case when I flew to Barcelona for the recent GSMA World Congress. Since there are no nonstop flights to Barcelona from San Francisco, I had to fly to Munich first and then catch another flight from there. And all I can say is, I'm glad I … Read more

Where this weekend we're going waterboarding!

EPISODE 32

Today we talk about how Monster cables are overpriced (duh), how much Paris Hilton sucks, and how to "hack" T-Mobile. Plus, Comcast is covering its ass by amending the company's Terms of Service to allow for throttling of BitTorrent traffic.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Images: In Paris, the aircraft of the future

There's no time like the present for those who have designs on the future. That's certainly the case at the International Paris Air Show, where aircraft makers have gathered to make deals and show off what they've got on the drawing board.

One company with a particularly lofty goal is Aerion, which wants to get the first supersonic business jet off the ground. The aeronautical engineering venture, based in Reno, Nev., says its plane will be able to fly from Paris to New York in just a little more than four hours--or about three hours ahead of … Read more