Filed under: Transportation

Tesla VP of Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Service, Darryl Siry, set the record straight on the whole airbag wavier thing: in case it wasn't already clear, the Roadster does indeed have driver and passenger airbags. The waiver was regarding the fact that currently "front passenger airbag does not vary its deployment based on the weight of the passenger," and thus needed the waiver not unlike other boutique automakers (he cites the Ferrari F430 as an example). Of course, this misunderstandings and misinformation might have been mitigated if Telsa just addressed the issue at the time (instead of waiting a month after the fact); we can only hope their non-metaphoric airbags don't take as long to deploy.

 

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Amazon MP3 has been around for several months now. And it’s doing pretty good. Decent amount of press coverage when it hit the stage. Decent song selection, all with decent sound quality. And just about everything is decent with the all-DRM-free program Bezos & Co are touting out in the cloud.

And now the company’s gone and done another decent thing with is music download service: it has opened its doors to Linux users.

Indeed, the Amazon MP3 Downloader software bridge with which consumers are able to get their purchased songs off the Web and into their iTunes and Windows Media Player libraries, is now compatible with Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, and OpenSUSE systems.

Chalk up among benefit to Amazon over iTunes, the Zune Marketplace, and a host of other music download venues currently online. While some in existence do cater to Linux users, none of the heavyweights of mainstream repute - apart from Real Networks’s Rhapsody service - provide Tux fanatics the kind of equanimity they have long demanded. Amazon has filled that void. And it’s likely to garner a great deal of praise for it. A look at the comment roll for this Digg submission sums up the response quite well.

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What it does

Explode is like social glue. Essentially a people-based search engine, it scours the web to find and connect you with people like you. You can search for people across popular social networks like Twitter, Jaiku and Vox. Whether you search by name or by interests, Explode lets you check out other’s profiles, their most recent content, and their friends. Click on a similar interest to find even more people who share your fancies. Creating an account with Explode (unnecessary if you have an OpenID) allows you to form a social network hub where you can find new friends and see who’s searching for you.

In their own words

“Explode is an easy way to find friends and those with common interests, no matter what social network or service they use.

You can use the Explode widget to stay linked to friends regardless of which network they are on”.

Why it might be a killer

Explode is compatible with many networking sites and blogs, including some more obscure sites. It’s a interesting twist on finding others. You’re not limited to one network which means you can find more like minded people without having to signup to a handful of networks.

Some questions

The search feature needs work. It’s difficult to find anyone. Will Explode expand to include Facebook and MySpace? Will they develop an API for even more integration?

Updates


 » original news

What it does

You’ve got bits and pieces of your life scattered all over the net. A social network here and there, a blog, a microblog, profiles every which way, photos on half a dozen storage sites, videos, comments. All pretty standard stuff really; but it is enough to make you wonder, just how you’ll ever put everything together again. This Humpty Dumpty syndrome is what makes lifestreaming apps such as the very aptly named WhereIsMe so popular. WhereIsMe pulls together about a dozen distinct services, centralizing them for your comfort, for a sense of wholeness. Among the services supported are Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Flickr, Netflix, Digg and Last.fm. Once you register you’ll get a whereisme.com/you link, which you can share on your blog, in your email signature, and IM profile, so people know where you are and what you’re doing.

In their own words

“where is me is a web identity aggregator. It takes all the places you do things on the web and centralizes them for you to show off.

Sign up now and get your own account located at whereisme.com/you, linkable from your blog, e-mail signature, instant messenger profile and away message, anywhere you want people to know where you are. It's easy and it's free.”

Why it might be a killer

WhereIsMe is a pretty low key, but effective lifestreaming app. It takes most of the major social tools and aggregates them, meaning you’ll be able to piece together your web life with relative ease. Also, has a memorable name.

Some questions

There are so many lifestreaming applications around that WhereIsMe is quite likely to fall behind. It doesn’t exactly dazzle, and the innovation just isn’t there. Besides that, it doesn’t support nearly that many apps.

Updates


 » original news

Sarah Lacey, the now host of Yahoo Tech Ticker who is perhaps well known to TechCrunch readers as being the person who was suppose to have thrown a drink on Michael (she denies it), interviews Michael in the video above as well providing a brief tour of TechCrunch HQ.

As the rank outsider on the TechCrunch team (Americans can insert foreigner there, both in nationality and physical location) I’ve always found the way Michael runs TechCrunch fascinating, particularly as someone who has been involved in the blogging community for a long time (years before Michael discovered it). It wasn’t that long ago that running ads on a blog was frowned upon (hey Dave), then later blogging for a living was something very few people did, and even then, it wasn’t great money.

The tour through alone is worth watching, even if they did turn the lounge (couch) around for the interview. Laguna (Michael’s dog) greats Lacey at the door, and you get some feeling for how the Crunch empire exists.

You can also see Michael’s response to the question “Are You an Arrogant Ass?” here.

(thanks to Agentbleu for the tip)

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The 2008 U.S. Presidential election is in full swing now. Of course, it arguably has been geared up to a full-on race for the Democratic and Republican party nominations, yet only recently have we been given the privilege of hindsight into the contentious (not to mention hugely convoluted) primary process, which is still very much underway.

Given the present state of affairs on the campaign trail, we stand at a point at which it might be worthwhile to consider the investments made on the part of the candidates as far as their online presence is concerned. In particular, advertisements.

We all recognize the sheer insanity exemplified by the volume of spending for television spots in various markets around the country. By the time all is said and done, the amount of money involved in advertising - the bulk of which will naturally (or unnaturally, if that’s the way you prefer to see it) go to television - will most certainly be record-breaking in just about every which way one can think. Still, let us focus exclusively here on financing that has and will continue to go into the candidates’ Internet campaign efforts.

Many of us have already seen banners and boxes placed on sites operated by Web media outlets big and small showcasing the iconography and tag lines of the three main contenders. (Sorry, Huckleberry, but come on, let’s get serious here, your chances have already gone well south of the divide separating political miracles from political realities.) They’re on left- and right-leaning blogs alike. They can really be found most any place that is even tangentially related to the presidential race commanding the news feeds this year.

Yet, they’re not everywhere. That is to say, they’re not as prevalent as many may have suspected they would be at a moment such as this. Though the battle for the Oval Office is turning out to be the most engaging in recent history, online ad sales for the campaigns of Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and John McCain have been quite low. At least for the Democratic hopefuls, anyway, says Michael Learmonth of Silicon Alley Insider this morning.

Learmonth says, for example, that out of the $18 million spent by the Obama campaign, just $163,188 went to purchases of static and video-enabled ads online in January. That’s…tiny, yes? (more…)

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What it does

Finding the right senior care facility for your parents or grandparents is a stressful process for anyone. Luckily, CareGrade is here to make sure that you make the most informed decision possible. The site combines user and professional reviews of a variety of senior care facilities and businesses, ranging from assisted living to hospice to dialysis experts. Users simply search by location and either a specific business name or the specific type of care they are seeking. CareGrade then pulls up a detailed list of results, which combine detailed information about the specific facility or business- location, contact information, dates of founding- as well as user and professional reviews. The site also pulls up a Google map, so you know the exact location

In their own words

“CareGrade was developed to help people rate, review and find senior service providers and facilities in their area. We are the only website of our kind that utilizes both consumer and professional reviews.”

Why it might be a killer

Traditionally, the most reliable way clients have found out about senior care facilities has been through word-of-mouth. CareGrade attempts to build on this philosophy, but by using thousands of user opinions, so that anyone, anywhere, can make an informed decision about senior services. Moreover, it seems like there is a new horror story every few months about atrocities in senior living centers; CareGrade addresses some of the unknown factors you might miss with a simple visit to a facility.

Some questions

When will the database be more complete? Not only are there practically no user or professional reviews, but the basic company information is not filled out.

Updates


 » original news

What it does

Finding the right senior care facility for your parents or grandparents is a stressful process for anyone. Luckily, CareGrade is here to make sure that you make the most informed decision possible. The site combines user and professional reviews of a variety of senior care facilities and businesses, ranging from assisted living to hospice to dialysis experts. Users simply search by location and either a specific business name or the specific type of care they are seeking. CareGrade then pulls up a detailed list of results, which combine detailed information about the specific facility or business- location, contact information, dates of founding- as well as user and professional reviews. The site also pulls up a Google map, so you know the exact location

In their own words

“CareGrade was developed to help people rate, review and find senior service providers and facilities in their area. We are the only website of our kind that utilizes both consumer and professional reviews.”

Why it might be a killer

Traditionally, the most reliable way clients have found out about senior care facilities has been through word-of-mouth. CareGrade attempts to build on this philosophy, but by using thousands of user opinions, so that anyone, anywhere, can make an informed decision about senior services. Moreover, it seems like there is a new horror story every few months about atrocities in senior living centers; CareGrade addresses some of the unknown factors you might miss with a simple visit to a facility.

Some questions

When will the database be more complete? Not only are there practically no user or professional reviews, but the basic company information is not filled out.

Updates


 » original news

Filed under: Wireless, Storage

You kind of miss the point if you open your Time Capsule after just a day or two, but at least we now know that future generations can, in fact, expect an active drive cooling system (by way of a blower fan).

 

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Survey results released by We Media/Zogby earlier this week show that more people turn to the internet for news than any other source.

The survey found that nearly half of all people in the United States (48%) cite the internet as their primary source of news and information, compared to 29% for television, 11% for radio, and a dismal 10% for newspapers. There was an age difference at the lower end, with only 7% of people aged 18-29 getting news from newspapers, vs 17% of those 65 and older.

67% of Americans believe traditional journalism is out of touch with what they want from their news.

It should be noted that the survey did not break down the types of news sites respondents were reading online, so by no means do the results equate with the death of the mainstream media (ie they could well be reading mainstream media sites online). The figures do suggest that some forms of offline news reporting may well be headed to the Deadpool over the next 5-10 years, at least in the United States. It will be a long and slow death, but as newspapers and radio slump into lower and lower single figures, it’s a given that the presence of both will shrink; we’re already seeing massive across the board downsizing now in print media.

(in part via Reuters, image credit: Brian Solis)

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