Reporters Notebook

March 10, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

Spring was in the air this weekend in the greater NYC area and as thoughts turned toward the upcoming baseball season, I noticed that DirecTV had updated its Extra Innings Package page to reflect a price increase. Yep, it will cost you more this year to boycott the billion-dollar taxpayer-supported amusement parks that are springing up on the site of former ballparks and watch out-of-market baseball on TV.

According to Maury Brown’s excellent Biz Of Baseball blog, the new $191 price tag for Early Bird subscribers amounts to a 13-percent increase over last season. But there’s a twist: HD programming, up to 40 games a week, is now included in all subscriptions whether you have an HDTV...Read More

January 30, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) (and I understand if I lost you right there, non-New York-area readers) has authored a House bill called the Camera Phone Predator Alert Act that would require camera phones to make an audible sound when taking a picture. 

Sec. 2 of the bill states, “Congress finds that children and adolescents have been exploited by photographs taken in dressing rooms and public places with the use of a camera phone,” presumably unwittingly.

Wired points out that “the idea is not as astounding as it seems. Japan already requires all camera phones, including the iPhone, to make an audible noise when taking a photograph.” 

Not many observers feel the bill...Read More

November 26, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

Joe the Plumber — yes, that Joe the Plumber — is starring in a series of videos on www.velocitystore.com to educate consumers about the DTV conversion.

Let’s hope he does a better job than he did for the McCain campaign.

Hat tip to Wonkette.

November 17, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

For my money, the British make the best technology commercials. A year after the London-based agency Fallon produced this Sony Bravia ad, Toshiba tapped Grey London for an equally impressive spot.

The new 60-second commercial for Toshiba’s upscaling technology, embraces “timesculpture” photography, an evolutionary version of the “bullet time” filming technology made famous in “The Matrix” trilogy.

Director Mitch Stratten conceived the technique of looping action in 360 degrees, which Toshiba said has never been done befor...Read More

October 29, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Super Talent Technology is offering a limited edition 18-carat solid-gold version of its bleeding-edge Pico-C water-resistant 8GB USB drive. It boasts a blazing 200x (30MBps) data-transfer speed and 256-bit encryption technology and, for a mere $599, it comes tucked into a black velvet jewelry box with a serialized certificate of authenticity and an 18-carat gold keychain. Customized text or a logo of your choice can be laser-etched onto the drive “at no charge.”

According to the company’s press release, “this rare collector's item makes an eloquent corporate gift (it speaks too???), and is available only on a...Read More