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AT&T moving to one phone charger fits all, plus conserve power

March 17th, 2010, 2:45 pm by

A special new phone charger from AT&T could help customers save money on their electric bill and waste less energy to boot.

The AT&T Zero Charger automatically senses when a mobile phone is no longer plugged in and cuts off power from the wall socket. Another eco-friendly aspect? It has a mini-USB port so it can be reused with a customer’s next phone.

AT&T worked with Irwindale-based Superior Communications on the charger, which will sell for $29.99 beginning in May. Interested customers can sign up HERE to be notified when it becomes available.

The world will likely see more of these chargers. It’s part of an effort by GSM World, a global organization supporting wireless technologies used by companies like AT&T. The Universal Charging Solution Initiative, which launched in February 2009, aimed to create a universal power supply for all cell phones (thank goodness!). No more searching for the right cable or adapter.

The new universal charger standard, approved last October, relies on USB technology to connect a phone to a charger. The technology inside reduces standby energy consumption.

Of course, iPhone owners won’t be able to use it unless they buy a micro-USB adapter cable. Perhaps Apple will join the effort and offer a universal power adapter as well.

More on AT&T cell, mobile services:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local cell phone services

Posted in: Gadgets • news • • • • • • • • | 7 Comments »

Broadcom rescues Irvine schools’ science fair — gummy bears and all

March 1st, 2010, 3:56 pm by

It’s nice to know that Broadcom Corp. is investing locally to nudge kids into engineering careers. The Irvine chipmaker, which supplies chips for iPhones, DVRs and other consumer electronic gadgets, ponied up $7,000 for the Irvine School District’s 29th annual science fair to replace money lost due to budget cuts.

On top of the cash, Broadcom is sending over some of its engineers to hang out with students on Wednesday during the district’s annual science fair, said Broadcom spokeswoman Dana Brzozkiewicz.

Update: The $7,000 is approximately the same budget as prior years.

The science fair includes 384 projects from Irvine’s 30 elementary, middle and high school students. Some of the geekiest that Brzozkiewicz could find: “The Effect of Cell Phone Radiation on the Reproduction of the Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae” and “An Analysis of Clock Rate and Thermal Scaling in Modern Multi-Core Microprocessors.” The yummiest? “The Diffusion of Gummy Bears.”

This is the first education grant from the new Broadcom Foundation, established to get young people interested in science, technology, engineering and math careers. The organization targets places where Broadcom employees work, like Irvine, where the bulk of the company’s 7,407 workers are based.

“With the state budget crisis necessitating cutbacks at the district level, funding for this year’s Science Fair was in jeopardy. We are so grateful to the Broadcom Foundation and the Irvine Public Schools Foundation for preserving this valuable educational opportunity,” said Dr. Gwen Gross, Superintendent of the Irvine Unified School District, in a statement.

The IUSD Science Fair is Wednesday, March 3, at Northwood High School, at 4515 Portola Parkway in Irvine. Projects can be viewed from noon to 6:30 p.m. An awards ceremony is at 6:45 p.m.

More on Orange County companies:

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Broadcom not just iPhone supporter, likes Google’s Android too

February 9th, 2010, 2:45 pm by

Broadcom Corp.Irvine chipmaker Broadcom Corp. has fully joined the Android camp and said today that its wireless technologies fully support Google’s mobile operating system.

What does that mean? Conceivably cheaper phones because Broadcom likes to cram several features into one chip. In this case, the company said its series of wireless chips that offer Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and VoIP, are now available for Android phones.

While most Android phones already have these features, manufacturers can now purchase one chip instead of three separate ones. That could decrease the cost of making the phone and/or free up space inside the phone since multiple chips are no longer needed.

On top of the full Android support, Broadcom points out that its chips offer the latest Bluetooth technology, previously unavailable for in Android phones. Broadcom offers Bluetooth 3.0 + HS, which means faster connections of up to 24 mbps. That will come in handy for those who like to share videos, photos or other files between phones or any other mobile devices. Broadcom’s new Android push isn’t just for phones but also tablets, which it will demonstrate next week during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Android manufacturers who add the Broadcom chips will be the first with faster Bluetooth.

Broadcom, of course, has long supported the iPhone and was among the first to provide chips for the revolutionary phone. But now, with analysts expecting Android to be the second most popular mobile software by 2013, Broadcom decided to expand its support.

The company isn’t new to Android. It previously demonstrated support for Android on personal navigation devices; Android chips that combine Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and FM radio; and support for an Android HD camcorder, video player and 12-megapixel camera.

Previously on Broadcom:

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Watch O.C.’s Super Bowl 2010 TV commercials

February 7th, 2010, 10:12 am by

It’s a big year for Orange County’s tech-minded companies. Three are involved in Super Bowl ads, airing today. We got them ahead of time and have set them up to be available once they appear on TV. Until then, you’ll just see some blank spots below and will need to satisfy yourself with the extra filler.

Read the rest of this entry »

Vizio, HDTV company in Irvine
[brightcove]65100383001[/brightcove]

Posted in: news • • • • • • • • • | 4 Comments »

One peek at Vizio’s Super Bowl 2010 ad with Beyonce

February 5th, 2010, 3:16 pm by

I’ve seen Vizio’s Super Bowl 2010 ad with Beyonce but have promised not to reveal anything until after the ad airs during the fourth quarter of the game. But Vizio did share this with readers:

Beyonce is only one celebrity in Vizio's Super Bowl 2010 ad.

Beyonce is the Irvine HDTV company’s latest celebrity endorsee. It’s great that Vizio signed her but let me say this, she’s not the only celebrity showing up in Sunday’s TV commercial.

Vizio also shares this: Besides the Beyonce commercial, the company has the opening and closing bill boards and two 30-second spots during the pre-game show, which it’s sponsoring. Its Internet TVs will decorate the background of the anchor desk plus its name will be on the camera that hovers above the field — the Vizio Vision Cam.

How much is Vizio spending? No idea, but last year’s ad cost the company a minimum of $1 million in TVs it gave away to consumers.

Read the earlier story: “Beyoncé, Batman, the 2010 Super Bowl and Vizio“

I’ll have all the commercials posted on the blog Sunday after they air. Come back if you feel like giving me some more page views ;)

Check out the Register’s 2010 Super Bowl coverage HERE. More non-game Super Bowl coverage:

Posted in: news • • • • • | 2 Comments »

Free calls to Haiti, where to watch benefit concert

January 22nd, 2010, 5:13 pm by

Hope for Haiti NowWith all the rain in Orange County this week, it’s hard to believe that the devastating earthquake in Haiti was just last week.  Donations continued to pour in this week via text messages, plus there’s tonight’s “Hope for Haiti Now” benefit concert for the country.

Here’s a round up of what local TV and wireless services are doing:

Cox Communications: Waiving fees on international long-distance calls to Haiti (country code 509) through Feb. 28. This is retroactive to Jan. 12. The Cox Foundation also donated $250,000 to relief efforts. See press release.

Time Warner Cable: Waiving fees on international long-distance calls to Haiti through end of February, retroactive to Jan. 12. This applies only to direct-dial calls and not calls made through an operator. See press release.

AT&T: Waived fees on calls to Haiti numbers. Also letting customers watch  tonight’s “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon on their phones, U-verse TV or web. To watch on a phone, go to AT&T Mobile TV on MTV’s MediaFlo channel. U-verse subscribers can tune in to the major networks and MTV for the performance. Online, the event will be streamed at entertainment.att.net. Wireless customers can also donate $10 to Red Cross International Relief Fund by texting the word “HAITI” to 90999.

Sprint: Waiving texting fees to Haiti through Jan. 31. Customers donated $3.1 million to the effort, as of Jan. 19, by texting “HAITI” to 90999.

T-Mobile: Waiving international long-distance fees through Jan. 31 and dropping fee to text “HAITI” at 90999 to donate $10. Customers donated $3 million, as of Jan. 19. T-Mobile and its parent company have  also donated $250,000 to the effort.

Verizon: Waiving international long-distance calling fees plus offering a live broadcast of the relief concert to mobile users who have access to VCAST Video on their phones. See press release. Verizon users can also text the word “HAITI” to 90999. So far, the company has collected $4.84 million in text donations. Verizon also has a page dedicated to the Haiti relief effort with information on several organizations accepting donations. Click HERE.

Tonight’s benefit concert includes singers Madonna, Jay-Z, George Clooney and Haiti native Wyclef Jean. It airs at 8 p.m. tonight on the following channels:

ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, CMT, PBS, TNT, Showtime, Comedy Central, Bravo, E! Entertainment, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, G4, CENTRIC, Current TV, Fuse, MLB Network, EPIX, Palladia, SoapNet, Style, Discovery Health, Planet Green, CNN en Español, HBO Latino and Canadian networks, including CBC Television, CTV, Global Television and MuchMusic.

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Star Trek goes where it hasn’t gone before: Del Taco

January 21st, 2010, 5:45 pm by

Del Taco teams up with Star TrekPassing along: A new Star Trek promotion may have me boldly going where I’ve never gone before: Del Taco.

The Lake Forest fast food joint has teamed up with game publisher Atari Inc. and to promote  ”Star Trek Online,” a new massively multiplayer online game from Cryptic Studios.  The game comes out in 2 weeks but if you want to get a Star Trek fix before then, Del Taco is offering some limited-edition freebies plus a free trial to the game.

The deal: Buy a Macho-sized drink or combo meal and get one of 4 limited edition Star Trek collector’s cups, plus a code to get a free 48-hour trial of the game.

Apparently, you can get multiple trials and use them all by logging into the Star Trek Online site via startrekonline.com/deltaco. If you get 4, they’ll toss in an extra 2 days of game play for a total of 10 days … away from work. Bonus: Buy the game after the free trial and get a Type-8 Shuttle, a virtual pet for your Starship.

The news should amuse long-time fans eager to get those limited-edition goodies. But it may also appeal to new fans who became enamored with the franchise during last year’s modernized Star Trek Movie with rebelliously dreamy Captain Kirk and cleverly sexy Uhura, Sci-Fi’s latest poster girl. Even my sister-in-law, whose favorite video genre was musicals, is now a fan of the franchise.

The game itself has been getting some good reviews by early testers who pounded Cryptic’s computer servers for a chance to play a beta version of the game.  The game, which will cost $14.99 a month to play, launches Feb. 2. (Note: Lifetime and annual subscriptions are available if you buy them soon. See Cryptic’s “Star Trek Online Pre-Release Promotions and Subscription Pricing“ release.)

As to why this post is not appearing on the OC Register’s Fast Food Maven blog? The Maven says her readers aren’t into that. Really! What does that say about Star Trek fans? Okay, I admit, I may have stepped inside a Del Taco once. It’s just so easy to overlook when there are so many great little taco dives all over Orange County. That reminds me, it’s almost time for dinner…

More info: startrekonline.com/deltaco or deltaco.com

Recent Gadgetress posts:

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Are AT&T subscribers the most generous?

January 14th, 2010, 5:33 pm by

Earthquake in HaitiInteresting note: By simply texting the word “HAITI” to #90999, mobile phone customers everywhere donated $5.2 million to the Red Cross International Haiti earthquake relief effort. That’s in the past 24 hours, according to data from data obtained by AT&T from  mGive, a mobile donation site.

AT&T just let me know that of that amount, its own subscribers donated $2.63 million or half of the total.

Not that anyone is counting…

Sprint also announced that its subscribers have donated $882,000 to the relief effort. Sprint added that the money can be donated to more than just the Red Cross:

  • Text “HAITI” to “90999” to donate $10 on behalf of the American Red Cross.
  • Text “YELE” to “501501” to donate $5 on behalf of The Yéle Haiti Foundation.
  • Text “HAITI” to “20222” to donate $10 on behalf of The William J. Clinton Foundation.
  • Text “HAITI” to “85944” to donate $10 on behalf of the Rescue Union Mission and MedCorp International.
  • Text “HAITI” to “25383” to donate $5 on behalf of the Internal Rescue Committee.

Every mobile carrier has jumped into the game, telling subscribers that they too can donate $10 to the Red Cross. Some still charge for the actual text, but T-Mobile said it is waiving texting fees. The donation is charged to a user’s cell phone bill.

See earlier story:

Posted in: Cell phones • news • • • • • • • • • • | 4 Comments »

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