delta

April Fools' gadgets: You'll wish some of these were real

April Fools' is a big day for conceptual technology products. Big tech companies get to let their hair down and come up with gadgets that would earn them ridicule and criticism if they were introduced on any day other than April 1.

We have some real doozies for 2013 when it comes to prank tech gear. ThinkGeek, as usual, has an entire lineup of weird and wonderful items. There's a Play-Doh 3D printer that forms figures out of the famous squishy clay-like material. If you enjoyed listening to Bane's garbled and growly speech during "The Dark Knight Rises," you'll want your very own pair of Bane Mask Walkie Talkies. Other fictional products from the geek retailer include an "Aliens" Chestburster-in-a-Can, a Creeper Body Pillow, and an Eye of Sauron desk lamp.… Read more

The 404 1,190: Where we're knee-deep in Kudos (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- OK Cupid launches Crazy Blind Date.

- Delta's new iPad app shows off the world below your plane.

- MoviePass is the Netflix of movie theaters.

- Developer canned for outsourcing his job to China so he could surf Reddit.… Read more

YouTube gets channel-surfing makeover

Friday's CNET Update is channel surfing:

YouTube has a new design that puts a greater focus on subscriptions and channels. YouTube hopes it will get more users to stay on the site longer by flipping through channels -- similar to how folks lose themselves while browsing television stations.

Also in today's tech news roundup:

- Foursquare added event listings, so a business can post about when there's something unique going on, such as a trivia night, book signing, or wine tasting.

- You can now create repeat events on Facebook. Handy for people with regularly-scheduled meetups.

- … Read more

California AG sues Delta over mobile app privacy

California's attorney general filed a lawsuit today against Delta Air Lines for failing to prominently display a privacy policy in its mobile app.

The lawsuit is the first brought under the state's 2004 Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires Web sites and apps that collect personal information from California residents to prominently post a privacy policy, as well as give users the opportunity to read the privacy policy before downloading the app.

The Atlanta-based airline was among 100 app developers and companies warned recently by Kamala Harris' office that they were in violation of California's privacy laws … Read more

Beware: Fake airline Instagram accounts promise free flights

Fake Instagram accounts for American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and JetBlue have been set up with the promise of free flights.

The accounts, @americanairlines_giveaways, @united_giveaways, @jetbluegiveaways, and @delta_giveaways, all work very similarly. They promise a free airline ticket or round-trip ticket to the first several thousand followers, which vary depending on the account.

The accounts have been pretty effective at garnering followers. Delta's fake account already has 21,000 followers after it promised a free trip for the first 20,000 people who followed and shared the account. Likewise, the JetBlue account has 20,000 followers. The American Airlines profile … Read more

Facebook finally deletes the deleted

The top tech headlines for this photo-fun Friday:

Ustream will soon launch an app that lets you stream live video to your Facebook page. Called BFF (Broadcast for Friends), it'll be available in the coming days on Android and Apple devices.

Facebook has found an answer to the photo deletion issue that Ars Technica uncovered three years ago. The problem: Once you deleted a photo, it could still be found if you had the original URL. But now, Facebook says when you delete a photo it will be gone within 30 days. Ars Technica reported that it saw photos … Read more

U.S. spy satellite heads into orbit after spectacular launch

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket, the most powerful in the postshuttle U.S. inventory, boosted a top-secret National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite into space early Friday, after a spectacular morning launch from Cape Canaveral.

Running three hours late because of technical snags, the 232-foot-tall rocket, made up of three liquid-fueled common core boosters and a powerful upper stage, roared to life at 9:15 a.m. EDT (GMT-4) and quickly climbed away from launch complex 37 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Generating nearly two-and-a-half million pounds of thrust from three upgraded Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne RS-68A … Read more

Track Web page changes with SiteDelta

Most Web sites changes frequently, and it's sometimes useful to know what these changes consist of. SiteDelta is an extension for Firefox that can identify changes made to a Web page since your last visit and even tell you what the previous version of the page said.

Like most Firefox extensions, SiteDelta requires a browser restart to finish installation. Once installed, the extension appeared as a delta symbol (a triangle) in Firefox's status bar. Click the icon and the extension will scan the page; come back later, click it again, and SiteDelta will highlight all changes that have … Read more

DeltaWing hooks up with Nissan, goes Batmobile

The epic 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race on June 16-17 features a sensational vehicle that may remind one of the Batmobile.

We covered the DeltaWing previously, and now a few new developments and content make the innovative race car worth looking at again. For starters, a fresh black paint job makes this whip appear like it came from the prototype area of the Batcave. This video from Nissan Europe (below) shows some seriously sexy shots of the car and a dyno run. It also includes some introspective thoughts from the DeltaWing project developers. … Read more

GM's Lansing, Mich., plant meets Energy Star standards

General Motors isn't just interested in building energy-efficient vehicles; the company now says its Lansing Delta Township Assembly Plant is the company's first U.S. facility to become Energy Star certified. This means the plant has met strict energy performance levels set by the EPA from 2010 to 2011.

The Michigan plant, which builds the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia, and Chevrolet Traverse, was designed to meet the optimum energy efficiency in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning without using steam, the company said in a press release.

The plant, which opened in 2006, has energy and water conservation features … Read more