bands

Web search is music to the ears at Hakia

A would-be Google rival is making waves, but not the kind you might think. Hakia dubs itself the "meaning-based search engine" and purports to give more relevant results than the major search sites. Google may be the most popular Web search engine; it may have free lunches and be a verb, but Hakia has something that Google doesn't--a band. So there, Larry and Sergey!

Hakia's Chief Executive Riza Berkan has started a band with several other employees of the New York-based start-up and some professional musicians. The group's first CD, titled ""Cogito Ergo Search,&… Read more

Cuff tries to keep Wiimote under control

As the Wii travels the world and gets increasingly challenging, we cringe at the thought of how the next fool will inflict injury (on self or others). Some accessory makers are coming out with safe-gaming products that take the form of pint-sized sports equipment such as tennis rackets, golf clubs and baseball bats, but a simpler solution is now available.

The "Retractable Wii Sports Cuff" is a plain old adjustable band that attaches to the Wiimote and wraps around your wrist to keep the controller from flying off the handle, so to speak, for just $6. Kotaku says … Read more

BandBot to help indie bands manage their online presence

RightRound, which had a presentation table at SF Beta last night, was showing off a new product it's working on for people in bands: BandBot. It's a one-stop shop for managing a band's online presence. Initially it will manage an e-mail list, a Web site, and a band's footprint on a few social network sites. So all a band will have to do is update its info in one place. Then its Web site (under its own name, e.g., www.thebandthatsucks.com), MySpace page, and other social networks will all get updated at once.

Unfortunately, … Read more

Big Brother one step closer to floating eye in the sky

The U.S. government wants to build and deploy a huge stratospheric airship, three times the size of the Goodyear blimp, that is capable of spying on an entire city.

The idea is that the blimp, dubbed the "Integrated Sensor is Structure" (ISIS), would hover above the jet stream at 70,000 feet and use its giant, flexible radar antennae to acquire a "dynamic, detailed, real-time picture of all movement on or above the battlefield: friendly, neutral or enemy." And we thought surveillance satellites were sitting ducks.

One of the challenges has been to come up … Read more

Where's Digg for music? Right here

When Digg 3.0 launched in December we wondered where the capability to Digg music was. We were led to believe it was coming, but Web 2.0 abhors a vacuum. There are already a few Digg-like services for music. Today I took a look at BandBuzz, iJigg, and ChartU.

None of these sites plays music from major labels, which is frustrating, because you'll miss hearing from artists who have signed recording contracts (unless their managers get with the program and start uploading tracks). But it's also wonderful, since it lets smaller indie bands bubble up in a … Read more

Buffalo unveils dual-band Draft N router

At CES 2007, Buffalo Technology announced a Draft N dual-band wireless router, the AirStation Wireless-N Nfiniti Dual Band Router & AP (WZR-AG300NH), which supports all current Wi-Fi standards (802.11a/b/g) as well as the Draft N spec. Buffalo deviated from its vertical design with a flat-sitting base unit and a separate (cable-attached) three-antenna unit. The three antennae are arranged in a circle, and the unit resembles a small toy helicopter.

The benefit of including 802.11a support is stability when streaming voice packets or high-def video, because 802.11a operates in the 5GHz band. Common household devices such … Read more