We’re not sure who’s winning the ratings war in Houston, but we’re going to give the upper-hand to KHOU based on these shots alone. As you can clearly see in the image above (and the enlarged versions there in the gallery), this newscaster is wielding a Wiimote . It’s hard to say if the news station actually has their slide transitions setup to change with a swing of the controller, or if weather map zooming is handled with something typically used for gaming, but one thing’s for darn sure — lightning rounds of Wii bowling during commercial breaks are definitely happening. [Thanks, Edmar] Gallery: Houston newscaster dictates slide transitions, goes bowling with Wiimote Filed under: Gaming , Peripherals Houston newscaster dictates slide transitions, goes bowling with Wiimote originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

Google released a new mobile navigation app today and GPS navigation companies such as Garmin And TomTom saw their shares take a plunge . The announcement shaved $1.2 billion off of Garmin’s market cap alone. It’s shares are down more than 16 percent so far today to $31.60. TomTom’s shares are down 21 percent to $8.11. And this is just for an Android app. But Google could very well make it available to other phones as well, and that is what has investors worried. GPS navigation apps are among the most expensive, and most lucrative, of all mobile apps. TomTom sells its iPhone apps for $50 to $100, with a different app per country . Google just cut the traditional GPS navigation companies at the knees by releasing what may be a far superior product for free. It is not a standalone navigation app. Rather it taps into a lot of the resources Google makes available on the Web, including Google Maps, Streetview, voice recognition, and sophisticated search. You can use voice search just as you would look for something on Google’s search engine. “Where is the Pizza Hut in downtown Palo Alto”? If Google’s search engine can find it, then so can Google’s navigation app. Garmin and TomTom can’t compete with that kind of Web-scale computing power. And Google is happy to give its navigation app away for free because it leverages many existing technologies it has already built for the Web, and it encourages more people to use Web-capable phones and do local searches on them. It’s strategy is to give the software away for free, and make money on the search ads. Crunch Network : CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

We’ve seen no shortage of homegrown clocks in our day , and while most are cute for their time, few are worthy of being lauded in this manner. Alan Parekh’s Gear Clock is a delightful mishmash of machined gears, thrown together in a fashion that resulted in an actual time-telling gizmo. Hop on past the break to watch this thing spin, but be sure to hold the mute button for the lead-in. Clearly ‘Sound Check’ wasn’t activated. Continue reading Machined Gear Clock makes watching the time pass a true joy (video) Filed under: Misc. Gadgets , Household Machined Gear Clock makes watching the time pass a true joy (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read  |  Permalink  |  Email this  |  Comments

Currently, if you want to share a Pandora station or song with a friend, you have to email it to them. Last time I checked, this isn’t 1994. Tonight, Pandora is joining the 21st century with the addition of simple ways to share stations and songs on Twitter and Facebook. And it’s further emphasizing a feature that no one seems to realize exists: Gifting Pandora stations. On Pandora’s main playback pages you will now see a new set of buttons next to the traditional playback ones. These include a Twitter button, a Facebook button, a mail button, and a gift button. Clicking on any of those allows you to send the current station or current song you’re listening to via those respective services. For Twitter, Pandora is using the API to launch its own tweet box that allows you to select whether to tweet the song or the station, as well as edit your 140 character message that is being sent. If you’re going to be tweeting a lot and don’t feel like doing this over and over again, you can select “Always use this option and message” and Pandora will remember it, allowing you to skip that step. For Facebook, Pandora uses Connect to allow you to post songs and stations to your Facebook profile and News Feed. You’ll also be able to play song previews (30 seconds) right inline on Facebook. For the gifting feature, Pandora takes you to a page that allows you to create a customized station based on either an artist or a song. You can choose up to 5 artists or songs for one station. You then name the station, choose a skin for the message, and enter the email addresses of those you wish to send it to, along with a personal message. This gifting feature, which has existed in the past, but was previously hard to find, is totally free. And it will feature a new holiday option when that time of year rolls around, we’re told. “ It’s sort of our version of making a mix tape for someone ,” Pandora CTO Tom Conrad tells us. And it’s another another way to monetize a bit better. When a user receives the gift email and clicks on the link, they are taken to a gift mix custom page that is sponsored. From there, a user has to click one more time to launch their station. When users on Facebook and Twitter click on the Pandora links sent out, they’ll be redirected to a redesigned landing page that will allow them to either play a 30 second preview of a song (if it was a song that was sent out) or a link to launch the Pandora station (if it was a station that was sent out). If it’s the former, there is also a big button to create a new station based on that song. So why is Pandora doing this? Well obviously moving into the 21st century where people share via Twitter and Facebook rather than email should help increase usage. But Conrad is quick to note that sharing is the key to this, not massive viral tweeting. There will be no auto-posting to Twitter nonsense, we’re told. CrunchBase Information Pandora Twitter Facebook Information provided by CrunchBase Crunch Network : MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

There’s something alluring about the idea of a message in a bottle. You write something, cast it out to sea, and hopefully someday some random person finds it. Naturally, someone had to do that for Twitter. As a Twitter app, 140inABottle is as simple as they come. On the page, you’re presented with a 140-character space to write whatever you want. You’re not asked to sign in to Twitter to send it, because it will be sent from the 140inabottle Twitter account. The only thing you have to do is complete a reCAPTCHA to ensure you’re a human and not spamming the system. Once you fill out and cast away your tweet, it goes into 140inABottle’s system for the next 1 to 90 days. That’s the key; just like a message in a bottle in the sea, the tweet won’t be delivered immediately, but rather at a random date in the next three months when it finds “land” (the tweet stream). But here’s the kicker: Your tweet (which is again, anonymous and being sent from the 140inabottle Twitter account) will be directed at someone completely random. Essentially, they will have “found” your tweet in a bottle and get to read it. To some people this will undoubtedly be extrememly annoying, but come on, it’s one tweet, and kind of cool. I can’t wait to see the reactions on Twitter which will undoubtely include things like, “@140inabottle why are you sending me random messages?” There have been a few other anonymous tweet services , but most have been based around the idea that you can say evil things and get away with it. This is different. That said, I’m sure people will figure out how to game this to be dumbasses anonymously. It’s not hard, just include an @reply in your 140inABottle tweet and the person you’re directing it to will see it as well. The service is the brainchild of New York-based techster Sam Bensalem . He told us that he drew inspiration for it from Kevin Costner’s 1999 movie Message In A Bottle . We’ll pretend he didn’t say that and instead said the inspiration came from The Police song . Crunch Network : CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0