blue

The 404 118: Where we wallow in the Swamp of Sadness

Cheryl Holloway fills in for a snoozing Wilson today and gives us her perspective on the Burger King 12-step program, killer Crocs, Wanted's sneaky viral video, the upcoming Smurfs movie, and the $50,000 Harry Potter prequel. We end the show by collectively begging Daniel Radcliffe to sheath his wooden wand. EPISODE 118 Download today's podcast

Crunch gyms use satellite technology to re-create Groundhog Day.

Everyone has their own way of dealing with extraneous flesh and respiratory deterioration.

Some control their diet with the rigor of Reese Witherspoon and go for long walks, waving their arms around like angry spouses. (Which many of them appear to be.) Others staple their stomachs like a two-page letter from a lawyer. And there are those of us who go to gyms, where at least one can bike, read a book and laugh (inwardly, of course) at the progress of leotard design.

I choose to exercise at one of the amiable horse boxes in the stable of Crunch gyms.… Read more

BlueFire Ethanol bets on household trash

BlueFire Ethanol expects to start construction of a plant within weeks that will convert landfill waste into the fuel ethanol.

CEO Arnie Klann on Thursday provided a timeline for the company's trash-to-ethanol projects at the Jeffries Global Clean Technologies conference, saying that there are two other larger plants already being pursued.

He argued that making ethanol from municipal solid waste is more economical than making it from corn, as is done now, or from agricultural and forestry wastes. Its process can make 70 gallons per ton of waste stream going into its machines.

BlueFire Ethanol intends to locate its … Read more

JetBlue adds more e-mail options to in-flight Wi-Fi

JetBlue passengers, rejoice. Now there is yet another way to pass the time during flights. JetBlue's free in-flight Wi-Fi will no longer require Yahoo or BlackBerry accounts to check e-mail and chat with friends.

Starting Wednesday, JetBlue's plane equipped with in-flight Wi-Fi will let users with Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, and Windows Live Mail addresses check their e-mail while onboard. It also will offer Microsoft Exchange so travelers can communicate with their office on the ground. No Web surfing is available, but thanks to a deal with Amazon, passengers on the so-called BetaBlue plane can log on to the … Read more

Where you don't mess with the Yu-Tang Clan

YU-TANG CLAN AIN'T NOTHING TO BUCK WITH! Founding members the Yza, Method Man, and Ghostface Killah (aka Tony Starks) keep it cutty and explore tech's first format war; skyrocketing Wii Fit prices; losing water on film; and our culture's lousy obsession with movie remakes. McLovin and Sr. Sean Connery also stop in to discuss Mr. BAKalar's questionable fashion choices. EPISODE 104 Download today's podcast

Say good-bye to rotten fruit and hello to Blue

I'm a person who doesn't like surprises. I don't like practical jokes, I hate unexpected visitors, and I loathe peeling a banana and finding it's rotten. In a perfect world, a grapefruit would still be good three months after I bought it. The designers of the latest product in the battle for fresh fruit might be able to do just that.

Active Fresh Blue Technology is the secret behind Blue providing fruit with the same type of light they receive in nature, which allows fruit to stay fresh longer. According to Yanko Design, the blue LED … Read more

The Gizmo Airline Report: Virgin America

In a way, this story is left over from CES 2008, where I attended a blogger party hosted by the Parnassus Group and sponsored by, among other companies, Virgin America, the US domestic airline counterpart to Virgin Atlantic.

The party was a lot of fun, and all the sponsors did extensive giveaways. I got a flight suit from Intel and Zero G, a private company that offers "weightless" (parabolic trajectory) flights. Alas, I didn't win a Zero G flight, but I did win a free flight on Virgin America. In fact, I think pretty much everyone at … Read more

Acer's ships new Gemstone Blue laptops

Your desktop replacement options expanded today, with Acer announcing its 16- and 18-inch Aspire Gemstone Blue notebooks are now available. The 16-inch Aspire 6920 starts at $849, and the 18.4-inch Aspire 8920 starts at $1,299. Both models have an Intel Core 2 Duo chip, Nvidia GeForce graphics, and a display with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1920x1080-pixel screen resolution for full HD goodness. The 18-inch model finds room for 5.1 speakers; the 16-inch model serves up 2.1 sound. Blu-ray is an option on higher-end configurations.

The Gemstone Blue design is a new look, which … Read more

Biofuel gets lift from Honeywell, Airbus, JetBlue

Algae may someday become a part of the jet set.

The pond plant is getting a boost from a joint biofuel effort announced Thursday that involves some marquee names in the aviation industry--Airbus and JetBlue Airways--along with International Aero Engines, Honeywell Aerospace, and a second Honeywell company called UOP. The group plans to study ways to make commercial aviation fuels out of so-called second-generation feedstocks such as algae.

Success with algae would be a salve for biofuel boosters who are feeling the sting of a backlash against early hype. Hailed just a few years ago as a potentially quick … Read more