charging

Europe seeks to save us from death by roaming charges

If you've traveled internationally, you know that airfare is often the cheapest part of the trip. The big ticket item, oddly enough, is often roaming charges. Last year I was hit with a $1,450 bill for fewer than three hours of online time in Canada. Others have been hit with far worse.

It's therefore gratifying to read in Ars Technica that the European Commission, which has taken on Microsoft and others, has turned its attention to the abusive roaming charges that wireless carriers inflict on consumers.

According to the European Commission, citizens are charged an average price … Read more

SF Bay Area vies to be country's electric vehicle capital

The San Francisco Bay Area is a region already well known for its fabulous food, innovative technology, and breathtaking beauty. In the coming years, we could add one more thing to the list: electric vehicles.

On Thursday, the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose held a press conference at San Francisco's city hall to announce their ambitious goal of turning the Bay Area into the electric vehicle capital of the country. Here are details of the nine-point plan that will launch in December, as released by the San Francisco Mayor's office:

Expedited permitting and installation of … Read more

Even more charging stations from Samsung

If you're planning to do a lot of flying next week for Thanksgiving, you may be in luck. Well, depending on where you're actually traveling that is. Last August Samsung Mobile announced the availability of 50 free charging stations at Newark Liberty International Airport. On Thursday, the company announced that they will be adding 115 new stations to that number.

Samsung Mobile says that it is opening new free stations at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Miami International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport.

With the new additions Samsung claims that is has installed charging stations in … Read more

Energizer makes gaming play with Power and Play Charging Systems

Performance Design Products, which is simply known as PDP, recently licensed the Energizer brand to slap on its line of Power and Play Charging systems for the Sony PS3, Microsoft Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. Indeed, the Energizer brand should give these chargers some added visibility in the marketplace, so we thought we'd give them a whirl.

While the PS3 and XBox 360 chargers look very similar, the PS3 version has some extra USB ports that allow you to charge up to four PS3 wireless controllers at one time. And the Wii Charger is a whole different beast.

Read the full review of the Power and Play Charging system for the PS3. … Read more

Sony PS3 controller charger reminds us what we hate about the PS3

Engadget has noted the appearance of a new PlayStation 3 accessory in Japan: a USB charger that can juice up two PS3 controllers at once. While we wouldn't be surprised to see this thing appear Stateside as well, the problem is: there's really no reason it should need to exist. And if the PS3 were better designed, it wouldn't have to. In fact, the existence of this sort of accessory just serves as a reminder of some of the PS3's biggest annoyances--all the more evident because the superb gaming console/Blu-ray player/media hub is otherwise close to perfection. … Read more

Visa's charge card concept goes wireless

Visa is adding a wireless twist to the old phrase "Charge It."

The credit card processing giant announced Thursday several initiatives to allow its credit card toting customers the ability to transfer money, make payments, and receive real-time account notification alerts on their Nokia and Android cellular phones. Visa also struck a mobile deal with U.S. Bank.

Under a pilot program with U.S. Bank, which is scheduled to begin by the end of the year, Visa will offer mobile money transfers from one Visa cardholder's account to another. A U.S. Bank Visa cardholder would … Read more

No dead air: Samsung installs airport charging stations

Samsung Mobile on Monday announced that it had installed 50 free charging stations at Newark Liberty International Airport in Terminals A, B, and C.

Each charging station includes four outlets that allow several normal travelers or a huge geek of one to recharge their electronic devices simultaneously. The stations are built to charge devices designed for U.S. voltage--120 volts--and come with a small shelf to hold the gear. Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) of New Jersey is providing electricity for all 50 charging stations at the airport.

Samsung Mobile has already recently installed free charging … Read more

Charge your cell phone on the SunTable

Sun worshippers now have further reason to worship that great big AC main in the sky: the SunTable, which automatically stores backup energy.

Brooklyn designers Devang A. Shah and Mike Low were inspired to make the SunTable since a table has a nice, big surface area perfect for those photovoltaic cells to snag the sun's power.

Less inspiring is the $2,200 sticker price, though for the money, you get a teak and stainless steel table table with an integrated 64W unbreakable solar panel that will still charge if partially covered. We like the idea that you can hose … Read more

EU cracks down on shady cell phone services

The European Union's consumer chief is taking action against dodgy Web sites selling mobile phone ringtones and wallpapers with unscrupulous practices, according to a story by Reuters.

On Thursday, EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva launched an investigation into 500 Web sites that sell ringtones, wallpapers, news feeds and video games to consumers. Kuneva believes these Web sites are misleading consumers, notably teenagers, and getting people to spend hundreds of millions of euros on services.

"Far too many people are falling victim to costly surprises from mysterious charges, fees and ringtone subscriptions they learn about for the first time … Read more

AT&T Wireless is gouging customers on international roaming charges

I've written before about AT&T Wireless' terrible international roaming rates for the iPhone. Well, imagine my surprise to discover that its roaming rates for its wireless cards is even worse. How much worse? Consider the bill I received from AT&T today:

Yes, that's really $1520.76 for one month's usage of my wireless card. But the shocking thing is that $1450.19 of it came from using the card for under three hours to pull down a total of 96 megabytes of data. That's roughly $15 per megabyte. What a bargain!

Given … Read more