canceling

On this episode of Roadside Assistance we tackle of the subject of car idling, Honda's noise cancelling, and making a right turn on red.

• Idling FAQ

• Drive Accord

• Red-light camera firm puts exec on leave for Web postings

• Meet reader 'W Howard,' undercover traffic cam exec

• LOLcars (photos)

The Internet makes it so easy to share data that once a bit of information gets planted on a Web server, it's nearly impossible to remove all traces of it. The e-mail, photos, and other data we upload to Web sites will travel far and wide, whether we intend it to or not.

(The dark side of this sharing is shown by the recent Gawker security breach, as reported by CNET's Steven Musil. See below for links to more information on the Gawker data leak.)

When it comes time to remove an account, we can only hope the … Read more

The holiday season is a peak time for traveling, as many people gear up to take advantage of the kids' time off and visit family and friends. If you're traveling by air this year, a high-tech travel bag can help you ward off tedium and the annoyances that come with being contained on an airplane with dozens of strangers.

My main goal when flying is to drown out crying babies, obnoxious passengers, and droning engines, so the first thing that goes in my carry-on is an MP3 player--but it's not much good if I can't hear the … Read more

It's a noisy world and getting noisier all the time. No wonder sales of noise-canceling and noise-isolating headphones are booming.

Dwight Garner's New York Times article, "Meditations on Noise" reports on three books covering the impact of sound and noise on our lives.

Noise is usually classified as unwanted sound, but one person's noise is another's bliss. I've always been fascinated by electric guitar distortion, which can sound beautiful. Musicians such as Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, and Jonny Greenwood mastered the art of noise. Why humans like such unnatural sound is a mystery to me, but it appeals on a primitive, strangely organic level. That, or it's noise, ugly, nerve-wracking, unwanted sound. Indulging in loud music can be risky business; if you occasionally experience "ringing in the ears" after exposure to loud sounds or concerts, you may be losing your hearing.

Garner looks at three books: Garret Keizer's "The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want: A Book About Noise" (PublicAffairs); "Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute Silence" (Scribner), by George Michelsen Foy; and "In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise" (Doubleday), by George Prochnik.

I never thought about it until I read the article, but noise exposure has social and political aspects. Garner put it this way: "You can judge a person's clout--his or her social and political standing--by witnessing how much racket he or she must regularly endure." Right, money can buy whatever degree of solitude you need.

Technology may be the source of much of the aural bombardment, but it also offers remedies. We can block out some of the din with our iPods and such, but using music to mask noise can be dangerous. When earbuds and other headphones don't hush outside noise you have to turn up the volume louder than the noise to hear the tunes, so you're compounding the problem. That's why noise-canceling and noise-isolating headphones are such a good idea; they let you turn the volume down and still hear more of the music.

Reducing background noise, in and of itself, lets you hear more deeply into the music. It's not a small, audiophiles-only distinction. Noise masks the subtle stuff, so you can't hear the reverberation surrounding a singer's vocal, or the gentle strum of an acoustic guitar. When the background noise level is high you only hear the louder sounds in the music. Listening "through" noise is stressful and fatiguing; mute the noise and you hear more and feel better. … Read more

Frequent fliers have a special challenge when it comes time to pick out headphones. Finding 'phones with a travel-friendly design, but that are also comfortable and provide great sound with some capability to block out ambient noise can be tough. Now add in a budget of $100 and you can forget about getting all those features in one package...or maybe not. Audio-Technica's ATH-ANC1 QuietPoint headphones may have an MSRP of $130, but they can be found online for $100, and they solidly address all of the above considerations.

Read the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC1 review.

Wilson is supposedly out sick this morning and can't be on the show, but it's obvious to Jeff and me that he wanted a head start on Wednesday's Apple Event. Either way, we're happy to have CNET's Smartphone Senior Editor Bonnie Cha here to replace him. We casually discuss our weekends in the first half of the show, which include some serious headphone shopping and a viewing of the documentary "Anvil." Bonnie also tells us about her weekend run-in with the new cast members of MTV's Jersey Shore.

With the January 27 Apple Event just around the corner, speculation about the Apple tablet is reaching critical mass, but an interesting Call From the Public raises new questions about the possibility of an Apple gaming console.

Judging from the amount of gaming press in attendance, there's a solid chance that the hardware will be gaming-friendly, but the chance of Apple unveiling a gaming-only console is slim. If anything, we're predicting a strong push toward gaming development on the new platform.

Thanks to everyone who sent in photos of their strategically placed 404 stickers and tattoos! Keep them coming, or be sure to listen to the promo in the break for how you can get your own merch.

For frequent fliers, good noise-canceling headphones can make the difference between a relaxing, enjoyable trip and a barely tolerable one. Of course, not all such cans are created equal, and two years ago, Sony upped the ante with its first pair of digital noise-canceling headphones. This designation refers to the fact that the headphones use a digital equalizer combined with a software engine in order to cancel ambient noise and reduce stress on your ears. It also allows the headphones to react in-kind to various environments, such as an airplane, a train, or an office, which all generate different types … Read more

Last year, we reviewed the Audio-Technica QuietPoint ATH-ANC7 noise-canceling headphones, and editor Jasmine France thought they were a good value, offering decent, but not great, sound for the money. Well, when we heard that Audio-Technica was releasing a new, improved version of these headphones with a "b" tacked on to the model name, we were eager to get our hands on a pair.

What exactly has the company improved? According to the news release, these 'phones are supposed to sound better, offer a more comfortable fit (the earcups have been redesigned), and deliver some additional design tweaks, including … Read more

In designing its fourth-generation consumer noise-canceling headphones, the QuietComfort 15s, Bose has done something interesting. Instead of coming up with a whole new look for its headphones as it did with the QuietComfort 3s, Bose has left the basic design of its popular QuietComfort 2s intact and simply redesigned them on the inside, adding even more effective noise-canceling circuitry and improving their sound quality.

The QuietComfort 15s look identical to the QuietComfort 2s, with the same over-the-ear design, including earcups that swivel and fold flat to fit in a stylish case. (To be clear: the QC15s replace the QC2s, which … Read more