grande

Report: Apple to open store in Grand Central

Apple is reportedly planning to open its largest-ever retail store in New York's Grand Central Terminal.

Citing "a source close to the company," Cult of Mac today said it confirmed Apple will make an internal announcement in the next month or so about the new retail location. Apple is said to have chosen Grand Central to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its first store opening.

The store, which will open in the fall, will reportedly be the largest Apple store in the world when completed. Currently the company's largest retail store is the Regent Street store … Read more

IBM researchers show love for 'Jeopardy' champion Watson

SAN JOSE, Calif.--I'm going to just come out and admit it--I was rooting for the humans.

By "humans," of course, I mean Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, two men who on the one hand are the greatest champions in the history of "Jeopardy" and who on the other just ended up getting their butts handed to them at the game by a computer that didn't even seem to know that Toronto isn't in the United States.

In case you were somehow in a cabin in the mountains with no Internet access and … Read more

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee named 'Internet Truck of the Year'

The 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee has been chosen as the Internet Truck of the Year, beating out the Kia Sportage and the Ford Super Duty.

Internet Car and Truck of the Year are chosen by a panel of 15 automotive journalists and thousands of consumers, or "Average Joes." The pros voted 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Internet Car of the Year, and the 2011 Ford Mustang GT was named Car of the Year by consumers, but both voted for the Jeep Grand Cherokee for Truck of the Year.

In addition to recognizing the top car and truck, the Web site … Read more

GTA trilogy coming to Mac OS X

Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas are on their way to the Mac, the franchise's developer, Rockstar Games, confirmed Thursday.

Responding to a question about whether Rockstar Games is planning to offer its games on Macs, the company responded with a hearty "yes!" on its Facebook page.

"Look for the long-awaited release of the classic Grand Theft Auto Trilogy for Mac--most likely later this year," Rockstar wrote. "We'll have much more info and a proper announcement soon."

Unfortunately, the company didn't provide … Read more

2011 Grand Jeep Cherokee swaps soy foam for recycled foam

Chrysler has found a way to make use of 180,000 pounds of polyurethane foam that would otherwise end up in a landfill. And if you find yourself in a 2011 Grand Jeep Cherokee, you'll be sitting on some of it.

The seats and headrests found in the new 2011 Grand Jeep Cherokees are partly composed of new recycled foam. Starting a green-versus-greener debate, the recycled foam comprises by weight 5 percent of the seat and 10 percent of the headrest, and replaces the previously used amount of soy foam. To put it in perspective, 180,000 pounds of … Read more

Grand Central's multimillion-dollar secrets

NEW YORK--If you want to know what the very latest tech toys are, don't go to Best Buy or an Apple Store. Go to the lost-and-found department at Grand Central Terminal.

That's because in a train terminal that services 700,000 people a day, and more than 2,000 lost items a month, those with the latest cell phones, laptops, or other tech gear are bound to lose them while at Grand Central. And there's a really good chance those people will be reunited with their hot new items.

"We start seeing technology as soon as … Read more

Diesel option for Grand Cherokee? Not yet

SAN FRANCISCO -- Jeep has no immediate plans to sell a diesel version of its redesigned 2011 Grand Cherokee in North America.

Jeep will begin exporting the diesel-powered Grand Cherokee to Europe early next year. But for North American consumers, it is "an open question because the business case has to make sense," Phil Jansen, the Grand Cherokee's chief engineer, said during a press event here.

At issue is how many U.S. buyers will accept the price for the engine and the system for the urea aftertreatment. The urea system is required to meet emissions standards … Read more

Ferrari World set to open in October

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi reps announced that the park will open October 28, 2010, ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which will run at the neighboring Yas Marina Circuit on November 14.

Ferrari World, located on Yas Island, is promised to be an intense multisensory experience that pays tribute to the passion and performance of the Ferrari company, family, and cars. The park's iconic sleek red roof is directly inspired by the classic double curve side profile of the Ferrari GT body, sporting the largest Ferrari logo ever created.

The park includes more than 20 state-of-the-art attractions, including … Read more

Gates Foundation to fund 78 more health projects

In its fourth round of funding, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges Explorations grants have been awarded to 78 science projects, with each collecting $100,000.

Through its grants, the five-year, $100 million initiative aims to foster "creative projects that show great promise to improve the health of people in the developing world," and as part of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative is supported by the Gates Foundation.

This latest round of grants brings the total number of Exploration projects receiving funding to 340. Although the group originally anticipated funding roughly 60 projects … Read more

The 404 554: Where Justin and Wilson take a trip to the Jersey Shore (podcast)

Look for me and Wilson at an Ed Hardy store near you! We might just pop up on your television set too, if all goes well with a casting call in L.A. asking for Asian-Americans to audition for a reality show based on "Jersey Shore" and "The Hills."

It's rumored to be set in Koreatown, and we're not putting much faith in the series based on the fact that Jin and this guy are the only two Asians on TV right now. That being said, an Asian-American reality television show would be a real gag...maybe their first order of business will be to help Snookie and the Situation get that elusive GED.

Artist Jack White of The White Stripes has a few words of advice for aspiring musicians, not the least of which is to put down the plastic guitars and drums and learn how to play a real instrument.

While we completely agree with Mr. White that the fad has turned living rooms across the country into nurseries, there's still an element of self-appointed stardom that goes along with the Guitar Heroes and Rock Bands of the world, and it doesn't look like it's going away any time soon.

That being said, real musicians have an opportunity to show off their recording skills in our ongoing The Audiophillie Music Awards for Excellence in Recorded Sound, so get going and you could win a set of either Monster Turbine Pro Gold ($299) or Pro Copper ($399) headphones.

We're excited about a new pilot for a show called "Immersion" that tests video game concepts out in the real world. One real-world scenario is the idea of a third person steering like you'd see in a driving game. To put it to the test, the crew mounted a camera on a long arm behind a car and put a monitor in front of the driver. To make things more "video game realistic," they also blacked out all the windows in the car. It's a hilarious and creative premise, and we're looking forward to an episode where they compare GTA to real life.

The second half of the show is all about a list of the eight most irritating types of gadget owners. Characters like "The Bluetooth Warrior" and the "Super Tech Spec Guy" are universal, but we really spend the whole time complaining about our own personal tech pet peeves, like our friends who are "too cool" to get on Facebook or refuse to own a cell phone in order to "reduce their carbon footprint."

And don't think we've forgotten about the main perpetrators of tech-induced fury: our PARENTS! Share in the horror of showing your father how to import a CD in iTunes, teaching a grandparent to cut and paste, and forcing your mother to use a Roomba.

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