Fitzy Presents: "LET'S GO PATS 2008!"

Folks, I'm so psyched for the upcoming Pats season I assembled a little video to rally the troops and put the NFL back on notice, in the twisted way that only a GFY-head like myself could, or would...



Cheers, drink up, stay in touch, let's go Pats and GFY!

Fitzy
townienews. com

iPhone Might Be Able To Replace All Your Remotes

There are already a few home automation iPhone apps in the store, but here at CEDIA it's clear that all of the home automation heavies have definitely discovered the obvious: the iPhone makes for a great universal touchscreen remote for everything from your AC to your living room blinds to your music collection. And most of them won't make you pay the price of a snazzy dedicated touchscreen controller to get it, either. Most of them.

Of the apps by Crestron, Lifeware, Z-Wave and Control4 we've seen here at CEDIA, Crestron's seems to be farthest along (pictured above). It can control multiple rooms in multiple houses all via Wi-Fi or AT&T data, and is a free download and add-on. Z-Wave, probably the most accessible system that you don't have to have a Cribs-worthy home to run, will sadly charge you $10 a month for the privilege of freaking out your pets while you're on vacation or locking your doors from bed. Lifeware's app is still in its nascent stages, but it will pack more Media Center integrations (in case you're running the baddest Media Center in the world).
Control4's app (above) is the least impressive—the first version will only work in your home on the same Wi-Fi network as your system, which is puzzling. And it'll cost you a "license" that will likely be "over $100 and less than $500," to make up for lost touchscreen remote revenue.

All the apps are currently getting finishing touches, but each will be available before year-end. For now, check out iViewer.

Dutch Dance Club Lets Patrons Produce Energy

Last week, I profiled a gym that uses human-powered energy. It’s a brilliant idea, but there’s no reason why it should be limited to the gym. If you think about it, dancing expends just as much energy as working out. Shouldn’t that energy go somewhere too?

Rotterdam’s WATT club, which just opened today, features a dance floor where the disco lights become more dynamic as patrons get their groove on. The floor even has a meter to show people how much energy they’re producing at any given moment.

WATT contains more than just an electricity producing dance floor. Drinks are stored in basement tanks to save energy by using a central cooling system and toilets in the club flush with rainwater. The so-called “pee experience” lets patrons watch rooftop rainwater travel through transparent pipes when they flush.

The club’s owners claim that WATT saves 30 percent on energy and carbon emissions and 50 percent on waste and water compared to most nightclubs. WATT follows in the footsteps of a green dance floor in London, and the club’s parent company has plans to bring the sustainable dance floor concept to the United States. Could this be the next big thing in nightlife?

7 New Rule Changes for the 2008 NFL Season

Associated Press

A number of 2008 playing-rules changes were adopted by NFL owners at the NFL Annual Meeting in late March. Following are the changes, with comments from NFL head coaches and executives:

» Defensive helmet radios: Teams will now be permitted to have one defensive player on the field with a radio in his helmet. This gives the defense the same ability to communicate its signals as the offense.

"I think it's a great thing," says Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan. "I've always been in favor of it."

Doug Pensinger / Getty Images

Under new rules, a player must have both feet in bounds while making a reception, even while being forced out by an opposing player. » A closer look at the new coach-to-defense system

» Incidental facemasks: The foul for incidental grasp and release of the facemask has been eliminated. Twisting, turning or pulling the facemask will remain a 15-yard personal foul.

» Forceout rule: The forceout rule has been eliminated. A player who receives or intercepts a ball must land with both feet inbounds. This affords the receiver and defender equal opportunity to complete the play.

"We feel that with so many levels of judgment that go into the force-out call it creates a more consistent play when either you get your feet down for a complete pass or you do not," says co-chairman of the NFL Competition Committee Rick McKay.

» Reviewable plays: Instant replay will expand to include field-goal and extra-point attempts as well as illegal forward handoffs. This provides a mechanism for correcting an obvious onfield officiating error.

» Second half coin toss: Clubs will now have the option to defer the opportunity to kick or receive the kickoff to the second half.

"It now gives coaches a third option," says Jeff Fisher, Tennessee Titans head coach and co-chairman of the NFL Competition Committee.

» Muffed snap: It will now be a live ball when a direct snap from center to a player who is in position to receive a hand-to-hand snap goes untouched. It was previously called a false start, but now either team may recover and advance the untouched snap.

» There will be a point of emphasis on a rule this season (although the rule itself has not changed):

Grasping the facemask by all players, including offensive players, will continue to be strictly enforced. Specific attention is to be given to the runner who twists, turns, or pulls the facemask of the defender who is trying to make the tackle.

Runners and tacklers are to be treated identically when this occurs. This action is a personal foul and a 15-yard penalty.

» NFL'S "third-quarterback" rule -- sometimes misunderstood:

Seventeen years ago (1991) the third-quarterback rule was instituted to enable teams to have an emergency quarterback available who was not on the 45-man game-day active roster, since many teams, for strategic purposes, only carried two quarterbacks on their game-day roster.

Everybody thinks they understand the NFL's "third-quarterback" rule. But do they?

The rule states that if a third quarterback is inserted before the fourth quarter, a team's first two quarterbacks cannot be used in the game at any position.

Another aspect of the rule is sometimes misunderstood. It is a coach's decision as to whether a third quarterback will be used.

The active quarterbacks do not have to be injured for a team to use its third quarterback.

Chuck Liddell’s Top 8 Blood Splattering Moments in MMA

Zuffa brings its beloved big top to Atlanta on Saturday night for UFC 88. As good hosts, Dana White and Co. are putting their best foot forward in Georgia with an end-to-end burner of a fight card, suitably topped off with MMA's foremost rockstar, Chuck Liddell.

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Cuba's tobacco region should be OK in spite of Gustav

AP photo by Javier Galeano Hurricane Gustav tore through Cuba this weekend. While no deaths were reported, it left the town of Los Palacios (pictured) in ruins.

Hurricane Gustav swept across Cuba’s famed Pinar del Río tobacco growing region on August 30—with wind gusts as high as 200 miles per hour—collapsing thousands of tobacco curing barns, according to Cuban News Agency. It was the strongest storm to hit the island in 50 years.

Cuba reported no deaths due to Gustav, which was a category four storm at the time of landfall, with sustained winds of 140 miles per hour, but the storm ripped roofs off homes and was blamed for the collapse of nearly 3,500 tobacco curing barns, or casas de tobaccos, according to the report. Cuban officials evacuated thousands from the coast in western Cuba, which was in the storm’s path. Hundreds of schools were damaged and 86,000 homes were destroyed or partially destroyed.

Sources in Cuba said that the winds were most powerful in the Viñales region of Cuba, and that the best growing areas on the island, San Juan and San Luis, were spared from the worst of the hurricane. None of the damaged barns were in San Juan or San Luis.

Tobacco farmers throughout the Caribbean and Central America typically do not plant during the hurricane season, and it was too early in the year for tobacco plants or even seedlings to be in the ground. Cuban workers were already out working on fixing the barns to prepare for the upcoming harvest.

Gustav weakened considerably as it moved north toward the United States, where it made landfall in southern Louisiana. Damage there was far less than originally feared. This afternoon, it was a tropical depression over Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.

The storm has been blamed for more than 100 deaths since it formed on August 25.

Hurricanes have changed the history of the cigar industry. Hurricane Gilbert tore the roof off the Royal Jamaica factory in Jamaica in 1988, which resulted in the brand’s production being moved to the Dominican Republic, and repeated hurricane strikes in the early 1990s devastated the Key West cigar industry

Couple Faces 6 Years in Prison for Sex on the Beach in Dubai

A Muslim emirate is not the best place to mix champagne and beach romance. A British couple is facing up to six years in prison for allegedly having public sex near the surf in Dubai, a split-personality emirate that toys with Western permissiveness but is ruled by Islamic tenets.

The couple -– Vince Acors and Michelle Palmer -– face up to six years in jail for indecency and having unmarried sex. A trial on the charges is expected to begin next week. The British Broadcasting Company quoted Palmer, who was reportedly fired from her job at a publishing house after the incident, as saying:

“We were just kissing and hugging. We didn’t have sex together. I was lying on top of him. I have been to Dubai for 2 1/2 years without committing any kind of offense. I’m sorry.”

Authorities in Dubai -- the flashy, financial hub of the United Arab Emirates -- said the couple met at a champagne brunch, got in a taxi and were arrested on the beach by a policeman who spotted Palmer sitting on Acors with her shirt off.

“The lady is innocent,” Palmer’s lawyer, Hassan Mattar, told the media after the couple appeared in court this week. “The medical reports from the police show she didn’t have sex.”

Foreigners make up about 85% of the UAE's population of 5.6 million, and cultures often collide.

— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Vince Acors, accused of having sex on a Dubai beach. Credit: Reuters

How to change channel by simply waving your hand:

The new webcam that could kill off remote controls

By Andrew Levy

It may be called 'gesture interface technology' but it is as simple as waving your hand.

In fact it is waving your hand - and could mean the days of the television remote control (and the days of arguing over who has it) are over.

Scientists at a Toshiba research laboratory in Cambridge have created the technology that allows viewers to operate their TV purely by gestures.

Futuristic: Engineer Catherine Breslin's hand signal pauses the new TV

For example, raising a hand in a 'stop' sign will pause the action on TV. Flapping a hand up or down can raise or lower the volume.

And the technology could be customised to suit individuals.

Touching your right ear, for instance, would increase volume, while touching your left ear would lower it. The software could also recognise viewers as they walk into a room and switch automatically to their favourite channel - opening a whole new area for family disputes.

No hassle: Dr Breslin demonstrates how to use the TV 's computer mouse'

Toshiba said its gesture recognition system was already extremely accurate as it responded to the shape, colour and motion of hands.

But, of course, there are always potential hazards, such as the TV misinterpreting a stretch or a sneeze.

But Toshiba is working on it. It said its technology, which can also be used with PCs, is being finetuned to differentiate between someone making a control gesture and an unthinking movement.

Enlarge

how it works

The system went on show in Berlin this week and could be on the market within five years.

It follows similar work at the University of Wollongong, Australia, last year and brings the world of futuristic Hollywood films a step nearer.

For example, Tom Cruise's character in the thriller Minority Report uses hand movements to manipulate images - such as magnifying them - on a computer screen.

Dr Kate Knill, who works at the Toshiba laboratory, said: ' Technology is going to become more and more accessible and much less scary for everyday users.'

Inspired: The TV echoes one used by Tom Cruise in futuristic film Minority Report

New Home Door Locks Can Be Controlled Online

Lock Company Adds Internet Remote Control Option for People Who Forget to Bolt Their Doors

By CATHERINE TSAI

The Associated Press

The wireless feature allows users to control the locks from a mobile phone or computer.

(Getty Images)

DENVER

What if locking the front door of your home while you're away were as easy as hopping on the Internet?

At the CEDIA Expo in Denver this week, Ingersoll-Rand Co.'s Schlage unit is showing off door locks that can be wirelessly set or opened via the Internet, from a mobile phone or a computer.

The battery-operated locks have keypads that are locked and unlocked with 4-digit access codes (or old-fashioned keys, as a backup). Users who forget to lock a door and want to enter their code remotely can hop onto a Web portal or an application added to their mobile phones. These password-protected portals also let people change, activate or disable the codes.

The company says the wireless signals sent to the locks are encrypted.

A Schlage kit that includes the lock and the wireless bridge to communicate with the locks sells for $299, plus there's a $13 monthly fee to use the applications that let the locks be controlled remotely. The system, which Schlage bills as the first of its kind, will be available in late October.

Breast Ironing in Cameroon Africa (Warning: Graphic images)

The UN says that 3.8 million West and Central African girls are at risk of a painful form of body mutilation know as 'breast ironing'.

In Cameroon where the practice is most widespread, 50% of adolescent girls in cities and a quarter of all girls nationwide have their breasts 'ironed,' often by their mothers.

The 'ritual' is performed by massaging the girls' chests with heated objects like stones, in order to reverse their pubescent development. The mums say it's driven by fear of unwanted male attention, rape and pre-marital pregnancies.

According to UNFPA, breast ironing exposes girls to numerous health problems such as abscesses, infections, dissymmetry of the breasts, cysts, and even the complete disappearance of one or both breasts.

Nevertheless breast ironing is widespread and interestingly, the high prevalence in cities attributed to the effects of urbanization.

In Cameroon, the Network of Aunties Association, RENATA, made up of members who have undergone the practice, is trying to stop breast ironing by drawing public attention to its dangers in radio and television spots and by disseminating leaflets. 

Metallica Changes Their Mind: Album Leaks Are Welcome Now

Metallica played the recent Reading and Leeds festivals

The drummer of rock band Metallica has welcomed an internet leak of their new album, ahead of its release next week.

Speaking on San Francisco radio station Live 105, Lars Ulrich said: "If this thing leaks all over the world today or tomorrow, happy days."

"It's 2008 and it's part of how it is these days," the musician added.

Death Magnetic, officially released around the world on 12 September, was posted on the internet after reportedly being sold in a French shop.

Legal action

The band, who were honoured at the Kerrang! awards in London last month, made one of the album's tracks, Cyanide, available for download recently.

They have also announced details of an intimate gig due to take place in London on 14 September.

Ulrich appeared on the US radio station to give a sneak preview of the album.

In 2003, Metallica decided to allow fans to download their music via the internet, three years after taking legal action to prevent digital access to their material.

The band chose to make their entire back catalogue available for download in 2006 - after finally relenting on a refusal to allow their music to be carried by iTunes.

They are due to play London's O2 Arena on 15 September, and will subsequently embark on an extensive North American tour, ending in January. 

7 Potential Logos of the 2016 Summer Olympics

Here’s a look at 7 new logos from cities applying for the 2016 Summer Olympics. I think the 2016 games should be done online with various games in different cities. Maybe thats a stretch, but it would be cool to see one day. Either way, as long as i see more of this, ill be satisfied.

NBC’s THE OFFICE Writers Are Scripting GHOSTBUSTERS III !!

Sony has hired Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, Emmy-nominated writer-producers on the Steve Carell version of "The Office," to script a "Ghostbusters" sequel that would reunite Venkman, Stanz, Spengler and Zeddemore.

Harold Ramis, who co-wrote the earlier "Ghostbusters" movies and portrayed mold fetishist Egon Spengler in those comedies, is in post-production on next summer's Jack Black period comedy "Year One," which was directed by Ramis from a screenplay by Ramis, Eisenberg and Stupnitsky.

Ramis directed three season-three episodes of "The Office," namely "A Benihana Christmas," "Safety Training" and "Beach Games."

"Office" episodes scripted by Eisenberg and Stupnitsky include "The Fight," "The Secret," "The Convention," "Women's Appreciation," "Dinner Party" and "Job Fair."

Find all of Variety’s story on the matter here.

Well, that's what I heard!

Highlights from the Ramis-directed "Benihana Christmas":

Son Spots Dad on TV, 8 Years After Family ‘Cremated’ Him

A man who cremated a body believing it was that of his father has been reunited with him eight years later after seeing him alive on television.

 

By John Bingham and Nigel Bunyan

John Renehan and his father John Delaney: Greater Manchester police have apologised Photo: MENS

John Renehan spotted his father, John Delaney, by chance on a programme about missing people.

Unknown to his family, Mr Delaney had spent the intervening years living in a care home just a few miles away from them, using a new name because he could not remember his own.

Police have apologised for an extraordinary series of errors which led to him being declared dead and an unidentified man being cremated in his place.

Mr Delaney, now 71, was reported missing in April 2000 after he failed to turn up at a hostel in Oldham, Greater Manchester, where he was staying.

When he turned up just nine days later, six miles away, he was admitted to hospital and seen by a police officer who failed to make proper checks of records of recent missing people in the area.

Suffering amnesia caused by a head injury, he was soon handed over to local services who cared for him ever since.

All that staff could say for sure was that the man they called David Harrison retained a strong Irish accent from childhood and made regular references to "Tipperary" and "boxing".

When, three years later, a man's badly-decomposed body was found in bushes at Manchester Royal Infirmary - it was assumed to be him.

Police produced a file for the city's coroner Leonard Gorodkin pointing out that he had been wearing a pair of jeans and a green top similar to that Mr Delaney's clothes and had a number of healed fractures appearing to match the missing man's medical history.

But despite an offer of a DNA sample from a family member, no genetic tests were carried out and no dental records analysed.

At an inquest a few months later Mr Gorodkin formally confirmed the body as that of Mr Leonard and recorded an open verdict.

Believing they were finally able to grieve for their father, the family held a wake and had the body cremated.

Eventually Missing People, the national charity supported by Kate and Gerry McCann, were alerted to the case of Mr "Harrison" and made a series of national appeals.

He was featured in a Crimewatch-style BBC programme known as Missing Live in April of this year. Mr Renehan, an engineer, caught the programme by chance as he was home during the day having worked night shifts.

"As I was turning away I got a glimpse of who I thought was my father," the 42-year-old said.

"I was sure straight away, I was stomping up and down ... for the rest of the day I could not get to sleep. I was in shock."

He was one of 50 people who called the programme claiming to be related to him whose names were passed on to police.

But unlike the others he provided photographs which led to a DNA test finally being carried out which proved paternity in July.

Mr Renehan said: “My father is suffering from total amnesia still. I have been bringing him photographs and things are just starting to click I think.”

But he said he still wakes up at night wondering about the man he cremated.

“I have got up, had a cup of tea and been thinking, 'Who was that person?’ he says.

“There is another family who are never going to know.”

Greater Manchester Police have launched a review of the case and admitted that mistakes were made but a spokesman was unable to say whether the officer who spoke to Mr Delaney eight years ago, who has since retired, would be called in.

"Greater Manchester Police accepts that in 2000, the man who was admitted to Royal Oldham Hospital should have been identified as Mr John Delaney and that the inquiries made at the time to establish the unknown man's identity were not sufficient," he said.

A separate inquiry will attempt to identify the man who was cremated.

Mr Gorodkin, who has also since retired, said he had identified the other man's body as that of Mr Delaney based on the balance of probabilities on the information he was provided. He said no DNA test was done because there appeared to be no suspicious circumstances.

"I can't say I have any regrets because at the time it will have been the most logically thing to do," he said.

The current coroner Nigel Meadows is applying to the High Court to quash the original inquest verdict.  

Apple Multi-Touch Data Fusion Adds Camera, Voice, Force Sensors

Apple has been working in new multi-touch technology that combines touch interfaces with input from the camera and the microphone. For example: this will allow you to select text in the iPhone, say "copy," go to another application and say "paste" to make this task really easy. The most intriguing part, however, is the use of a camera in laptops and desktops.

This will require two cameras, one for video chat and the other for the "hand reading," but it opens a lot of possibilities. To start with, the entire keyboard can become a gesture control pad without even having to touch the surface. In addition to that, it can be combined with actual touch technology to identify single fingers on the surface, with the possibility of assigning specific functions to them.

The system even contemplates combining all this with accelerometers and force sensors, so the touch action can generate secondary data. One example of this may be applying a deformation effect to an image or a sound effect to a music track, giving it more or less strength depending on the force you use in your action.

Blacklight Posters for the Seriously Stoned

September is National Mushroom Month, and while organizers presumably want to honor the shiitakes that jazz up salads, we can't help but think of the kind you eat in your parents' basement that makes your friends' faces melt.

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17 Extremely Expensive Gadgets for the Luxurious Lifestyle

If excessive is your motto, you’re gonna love this article. Opting to choose the path of interesting and innovative, we left out be-jewelled phones and diamond encrusted appliances to give you 17 truly expensive and truly unique devices that will surely make your neighbors and other rich cronies drool!

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You Can Tell a Woman's Orgasmic Ability By the Way She Walks

A new study found that trained sexologists could infer a woman's history of vaginal orgasm by observing the way she walks. The study is published in the September 2008 issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine, the official journal of the International Society for Sexual Medicine and the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health.

Led by Stuart Brody of the University of the West of Scotland in collaboration with colleagues in Belgium, the study involved 16 female Belgian university students. Subjects completed a questionnaire on their sexual behavior and were then videotaped from a distance while walking in a public place. The videotapes were rated by two professors of sexology and two research assistants trained in the functional-sexological approach to sexology, who were not aware of the women's orgasmic history.

The results showed that the appropriately trained sexologists were able to correctly infer vaginal orgasm through watching the way the women walked over 80 percent of the time. Further analysis revealed that the sum of stride length and vertebral rotation was greater for the vaginally orgasmic women. "This could reflect the free, unblocked energetic flow from the legs through the pelvis to the spine," the authors note.

There are several plausible explanations for the results shown by this study. One possibility is that a woman's anatomical features may predispose her to greater or lesser tendency to experience vaginal orgasm. According to Brody, "Blocked pelvic muscles, which might be associated with psychosexual impairments, could both impair vaginal orgasmic response and gait." In addition, vaginally orgasmic women may feel more confident about their sexuality, which might be reflected in their gait. "Such confidence might also be related to the relationship(s) that a woman has had, given the finding that specifically penile-vaginal orgasm is associated with indices of better relationship quality," the authors state. Research has linked vaginal orgasm to better mental health.

The study provides some support for assumptions of a link between muscle blocks and sexual function, according to the authors. They conclude that it may lend credibility to the idea of incorporating training in movement, breathing and muscle patterns into the treatment of sexual dysfunction.

"Women with orgasmic dysfunction should be treated in a multi-disciplinary manner" says Irwin Goldstein, Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Sexual Medicine."Although small, this study highlights the potential for multiple therapies such as expressive arts therapy incorporating movement and physical therapy focusing on the pelvic floor."

Source: Wiley

uPlayMe-

Don Pelson thinks licensing music for online distribution is dumb. He should know: the former consumer marketing SVP at Warner Music Group wants to create a community around the music people already own play, and with uPlayMe he thinks he’s hit on a missing link.

UPlayMe will definitely not be signing licensing deals with the major labels to distribute music. Pelson sees music distribution as an overcrowded market plagued by hefty licensing fees, offering little room for a startup to connect music consumers around the music and videos they watch.

"To be blunt, the cost of licensing music is so significant that I don't see the possibility of putting an ad-based music service around music, if you're delivering it to the consumer," Pelson told us via phone. "Pandora, Rhapsody and the rest don't work, and over the next 24 months, licensing models will change. People who licensed (music catalogs at today's prices) will feel dumb."

Consumers already have plenty of places to check out music and videos. Why bother joining that crowded field? So uPlayMe takes a different tack: letting other companies handle the distribution of music while it concentrates on helping listeners communicate with each other about what they're hearing, regardless of where they're hearing it. "The content is there," said Pelson. "That's not the value proposition, that's not the problem that needs to be solved. It's 'how do you make music social again, how do you add value?'"

The uPlayMe application, released this week after about a year of development, sits on your Windows or Macintosh computer, checking out what you play in a wide range of online and offline music applications: iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp, YouTube, Last.fm, Pandora, Hulu, Metacafe and CBS Radio. UPlayMe watches what you play in these programs to create a realistic portrait of your media consumption habits. Luckily for occasional fans of adult or controversial content, it offers a way to delete objectionable media from your list.

Once it has a good picture of your listening and viewing habits, uPlayMe recommends new content and hooks you up with people who are into the same stuff. Once you make friends with people on the site, you can see what they're watching or listening to in real time. In addition, it shows you which other members are consuming the exact same piece of content as you at a certain time, so you can send them a message or check out their profile (see screenshot to the right).

The company is adding the ability to share and discuss media with people who don't have the application installed, as well. Those people will get updates via e-mail instead of being able to watch or listen inside the uPlayMe desktop application. Essentially, your friends become your filters, just like in real life.

The concept is somewhat similar to that of Last.fm, but Pelson sees an opportunity to leapfrog ahead of that site as it works on integrating with CBS and another CBS acquisition, CNET. In addition, Last.fm doesn't "scrobble" playback behavior from as many sources as uPlayMe. As for the social music behemoth iLike, which claims 28 million users, Pelson says most of those people don't use the service on a regular basis. He says uPlayMe's growth rate of 2,000 desktop installs per day is more significant.

So how is uPlayMe going to make money on music and videos without hosting or distributing them? In addition to receiving kickbacks for ticket and music sales, the answer, of course, is advertising. UPlayMe plans to offer user demographics to advertisers at a lower cost than other avenues will be able to match.

"Do you want to sponsor Madonna?" asked Pelson. "It used to be you'd write a huge check and talk to her manager. Here, we'll place your ad every time we play Madonna (by matching an ad to the song's metadata)," adding, "there's no reason we cannot do this legally."

By finding a spot between consumers and their media without having to license the media, uPlayMe could build a formidable business, assuming consumers continue to install the application. It essentially mirrors the way many of us consume media (via instant message or email from a friend) in a way that's both faster and more passive. All you have to do is listen to something or watch it as you normally would, and your friends will see it. Plans for the future include a mobile application that will overlay peoples' geographic locations into the network, so that you can find people in your immediate area who are into the same stuff.

Warner Music Group was impressed too. The company invested in uPlayMe in July.

Tivo HD XL

TiVo HD XL

Everything’s getting tiny. The once sexy V8 engine is now an automotive pariah while the Smart Car gets all the chicks; HD video cameras are now damn near Twinkie-size, and we’ll probably be implanting the next-generation iPod in our molars.

But there's at least one company isn’t succumbing to all this smaller-is-better madness: Tivo just announced the Tivo HD XL. Stuffed like a Cornish hen with a terabyte hard drive, it’s the highest capacity DVR available, with room for 150 hours of HD content. That’s, like, every Olympic event you actually care about plus all 60 episodes of The Wire. It’s an entire season of Sunday Night Football with more than enough space for your Food Network-obsessed roommate to go balls-out on Batali. —Joe Brown

WIRED Western Digital hard drive is nearly silent. THX-certified audio and video (finally). Say goodbye to the ugly sitck, because the XL gets the same slick programmable remote as the Series 3. TiVo-easy, as expected, with the company’s ever expanding catalog of downloadable videos (YouTube!).

TIRED Remote collects more greasy fingerprints than a second hand sex-bot. Annoying info screen hovers over the picture for a few seconds too long each time you change channels. Cutesy TiVo noises are a little grating, and your only other option is to turn all the sound effects off. We noticed an increase in video artifacts when recording off both tuners simultaneously. In San Francisco, at least, you have to deal with Satan Comcast to get service. $600 plus the $20 monthly fee is a lot of cheddar.

$600, tivo.com