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Staples is opening podcast studios in six Boston stores
Staples' latest ploy to get people into its retail stores is podcast recording booths. This week, the podcasting company Spreaker announced that it's part of a collaboration bringing recording spaces to six Staples stores in the Boston area. The booths are part of a new Staples Connect model, in which the retail stores offer coworking and community event spaces.
Uber's breathalyzer kiosk gets you a ride home if you're drunk
Uber sees its ridesharing service as an ideal way to get you home safely when you're drunk, and it's trying out some relatively unique technology to prove its point. The company recently set up an Uber Safe kiosk in Toronto that gave sloshed Canadians a free ride if they blew into a breathalyzer -- much safer than stumbling on foot or struggling to hail a cab, if you ask us. The Toronto device was largely a promotional stunt, but Uber tells us that it's "thrilled" with the early response and to "stay tuned" for the possibility of more kiosks going forward. We can't imagine that Uber would continue to offer the Safe service free of charge if it catches on, but it's easy to see systems like this popping up in bar-heavy neighborhoods.
Security conference effectively bans booth babes from its show floor
The issue of booth babes -- scantily clad people attempting to lure unsuspecting buyers towards second-rate products -- has once again reared its head within the industry. This time out, cryptography and information security gathering RSA has effectively banned them, mandating that all attendees will wear clothing that's appropriate for a professional environment. According to a statement released to TechTarget, people will be unable to display "excessive cleavage," and won't be able to wear tank tops, tube tops, miniskirts or minidresses. RSA go on to say that any scantily dressed people found on the show floor would be asked to put on a sweater or leave.
Ouya booth to be open to the public in a parking lot outside of E3
Ouya's E3 presence will be open to the public, as it plans to show off games for its console in a parking lot down the street from the Los Angeles Convention Center where E3 will be held in June. The information comes from an email to registered Ouya developers from head of developer relations, Kellee Santiago. Santiago says Ouya will provide developers with "everything you'll need to put on a killer game demo," such as an Ouya console, controllers and TV, during the convention's entire three-day stretch from June 11 to June 13. Registered developers, of which there are over 10,000, have until May 28 to submit a form declaring their intent to show off their game at the Ouya lot, with hourly time slots available for each of the three days.
'Sup, Notch: Why Guncraft got a booth next to Minecraft's at PAX
Exato Games co-founder John Getty makes no apologies about the inspiration behind Guncraft. Yes, it's based on Minecraft. Problem?Getty can afford to be flippant about Guncraft's origins because his game, while it resembles Minecraft, utilizes entirely different mechanics and goals, and it simply isn't a rip-off, he says. Guncraft spawned while Getty and his partner Alex Schlee were working on another game, Progenitor."Our artist and former programmer were having a talk about how Minecraft isn't objective-oriented enough," Getty recalls. "They thought that it would be awesome if it was like an FPS, which is an objective-driven genre, where you could also make use of the levels you intricately design. They also thought it would be awesome to be able to blow the crap out of said level, without getting banned from a server for trolling someone's masterpiece."I overheard the conversation and thought it was an awesome idea. After a week of drawing up some preliminary game-design documents, I pitched it to my partner, we both decided it was too good to pass up, and we postponed Progenitor in favor of Guncraft."Guncraft is now a Kickstarter success story, raising more than $16,000 in March to continue development, and it's heading to PAX Prime in Seattle this week – in fact, it's heading to a very specific place on PAX's show floor. Guncraft has a booth right next to Minecraft's.
Google Android booth at MWC 2012: smoothies, robots, slides, oh my! (video)
Want a taste of Mobile World Congress whimsy? You've come to the right place. Like every year, Google's Android booth is the closest you'll get to experiencing Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory in real life here at Fira, and we're gonna take you on a tour. Join us as we enjoy smoothies and ice cream sandwiches, robots and Swarovski crystals, plus a trip down the rabbit hole -- in our video after the break.
Behind the scenes at CES 2012: getting to a hands-on (video)
Getting to and from an announcement, meeting, or keynote is one of the things we find ourselves doing countless times a day. To truly appreciate just how far we sometimes have to trek to get to the things we're covering at CES is hard to understand unless you've done it. Crowds that delay because they're ambling along, booths that are hard to find, and the time you burn getting to and fro is always at the back of our minds. We thought it a good idea to put together a little tour of how we find and then travel to a booth at CES. Enjoy the video after the break.
First 'Skype booth' opens at Estonian airport as company reaches 30 million simultaneous users
Phone booths are old hat, we know that much for sure. But Skype booths? Tallinn Airport in Estonia's capital has become the first site to host a dedicated Skype station, which allows you to video chat with your friends or call them on their phones using Skype credit, exactly as you might do on your computer at home. There's a 22-inch touchscreen up front and a headset nearby, only thing you'll need are some actual friends you want to communicate with. The idea's being put into action by three Estonian companies, all of whom are quite happy to remind us Skype originated in their fine Northern European nation, and the plan is to roll the futuristic-looking booths out to other airports, hotels, shopping malls, hospitals, and the like. In the meantime, Skype usage keeps growing and the company recently recorded 30 million simultaneous users online, breaking its previous record by a trivial three million extra souls.
Google's MWC 2011 Android booth tour
It'd be no exaggeration to say that Google's Android booth here at MWC 2011 has been the most popular of them all. The Mountain View secret to this preeminence has been some combination of putting cutesy costumes on its now iconic robot logo, installing a slide for weary geeks to reconnect to their childhood with, and operating a fully fledged smoothie bar that offered up free Honeycomb elixirs. In short, Ye Olde Google has aimed to be fun first and foremost and the crowds have responded by keeping its booth constantly busy. Heck, we even saw our buddy Stephen Elop walking by, though his panther-like quickness was too much for our cameras to document the moment. Never mind, we've still got a ton of photos and video for you below, so why not dig into those while they're still hot? %Gallery-116994%
LG's CES 2011 booth tour
If there is one booth at CES this year that is going all out, it's arguably LG's. The massive, supermarket-sized chunk of show floor real estate showcases everything from the manufacturer's latest phones -- like the Revolution, Optimus Black and Optimus 2X -- to SmartTV devices, network Blu-ray players and HDTVs. You'll also find smart appliances linked with WiFi and smartphone apps using LG Thinq, and even a scanner mouse -- not to mention a mesmerizing display wall. Sample the insanity in the gallery below, and in the video after the break. %Gallery-113532%
Motorola's CES 2011 booth tour
To say Motorola's had a stellar show would be a massive understatement. Betwixt the Motorola Atrix 4G, the Xoom, Droid Bionic and to a lesser extent the Cliq 2, they've been reborn and are the star of the show. Of course, in order to peddle your wares at CES you need a booth -- the more garish the better, typically -- and Moto's is massive and bedecked and badazzled in light with more flair than you'd need to work in a place like Chotchke's. So, we wandered about, took in the sights, the sounds, and grabbed some pics and a short vid of what we saw. %Gallery-113437%
Angry Birds gets real... corporeal (in China, at least)
Let's be honest: you can never get enough of Angry Birds, but for those wandering around Guangzhou, China, you might be able to get your fix at this arcade booth. Like the game itself, there's an actual slingshot for firing your enraged fowls at a bunch of plush doll piggies, except there are no special abilities like explosion or splitting -- maybe the next version will take care of that, unless Rovio Mobile decides it's game over for these guys.
Northrop Grumman's CaMEL 'bot features one .50 caliber gun, loads of class
When the dream factory that is Northrop Grumman needed to up the "wow factor" at its Association of the U.S. Army's Washington conference booth, it did what plenty of CES exhibitors wished they could do: it weaponized. Hence, the deadliest CaMEL yet. The acronym stands for Carry-all Mechanized Equipment Landrover -- think of the BigDog robot, but with treads instead of legs. The motorized platform will hump up to 1,200 pounds of gear at seven miles per hour, and as Spencer Ackerman at Wired points out, over sixty of them have been sold to the Israeli military. But the above pictured CaMEL is the only one floating around with armaments: in this case, a .50-caliber M2 machine gun. The gun is fired remotely, via touchscreen controls, and the platform itself could support any number of weapons including the M249, the MK19 grenade launcher, or 30mm cannon. Which kind of proves a pet theory of ours: if you build it, eventually someone will mount a gun on it.
Burger King uses 'musical shower' as latest trick to entice Japanese clientele
A new Burger King eatery opening up in Japan isn't usually something we concern ourselves too much with, but this one comes with an interesting new twist. Those umbrella-aping translucent cones hanging over the tables are known as "musical showers," and their function is to deliver music in an isolated fashion to you and your significant -- but not too significant, it's still BK, after all -- other. All you'll need to do is plug your portable media player into the provided receptacle and the tunes you know and love will literally shower down upon you. To be honest, if the audio channeling is sufficiently precise not to disturb nearby punters, we're loving this idea. Now just give it a name that won't make teenagers giggle and bring it westwards.
Macworld 2010: Telltale Games live in our booth
We're cleaning out the video files from the chaos of Macworld last week, and while we've already shared with you an interview that we did with Dan Connors of Telltale Games (who just recently announced that they're bringing their whole catalog over to the Mac), his co-founder Kevin Bruner also stopped by our booth live on the show floor to chat about gaming on the Mac and why Telltale has made the leap to our side. You can watch the interview in two parts after the link below. In addition to telling us about his company and their big Mac Revolution, Bruner also shared with us his own passion for Apple's machines, including how he went into hock to buy a Newton on day one, and what he thinks of the iPad as a gaming device. Click on to see our chat, won't you?
Macworld 2010: TUAW interviews Jeff Scott of Best App Ever
We've been livestreaming all day long from the floor of Macworld 2010, and our very first interview of the day was with Jeff Scott, both of 148Apps.com and the Best App Ever awards. Jeff just announced the Best App Ever winners (in all fifty-six categories) at the show last night, and he brought the list of winners to our booth today to discuss the winner of the 2009 Best App Ever (spoiler: it's Pocket God) and all the other winning apps. Additionally, we show off a little of the show floor around our broadcasting booth, and we chat about what we expect to see at Macworld and how it's changed in years past. Excellent interview, and thanks to Jeff for stopping by to help us kick off the livestream right. Hit the break to watch the video, and stay tuned all this week for more interviews and coverage just like this, as TUAW covers every single inch of the Macworld show floor at the Moscone Center.
Macworld 2010: Hands-on with Musicskins
Musicskins was kind enough to show us around their booth on the Macworld floor, and while we expected to see the usual vinyl case stickers, what we found was actually pretty impressive. The 'skins, which are made for almost every accessory and device under the sun (the rep told us they add five to ten devices to their roster per week) are actually very durable. For one thing, they're made to be removed and replaced as much as you want, so while attaching one to the back of your iPhone, you don't have to worry about making one minor mistake and having to stare at it every time you check Twitter. The skins themselves have little grooves on the surface, which we were told acted as air channels, so if you ever did get a bubble underneath, it's much easier to squeeze out. But the most interesting part of skins like these isn't on the side towards the phone, it's on the side away. Musicskins is one of the biggest licensors of art for device skins, and as you can see in the gallery below, they've got all kinds of different famous and infamous licenses to stick on your iPod, iPhone or Macbook. They just recently made Apple history, too -- read on to learn how. %Gallery-85262%
Cast of The Guild making an appearance at BlizzCon '09
Fans and followers of the popular web series The Guild, loosely based on World of Warcraft, should be excited to know that the show's cast will be making an appearance at BlizzCon this year! Blizzard Community Manager Nethaera confirmed the news with an announcement on the official forums. Blizzard's forum post on the subject says that The Guild will have both its own booth and its own discussion panel at BlizzCon, where the cast (like geek goddess Felicia Day) will show off exclusive clips from the show's upcoming third season. This is a great move by Blizzard, given that the show is clearly based off of WoW and the communities for each share quite an overlap. If you've never seen The Guild before, now would be a good time to catch up on what you're missing from this award-winning show at http://www.watchtheguild.com. BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd! We've got all the latest news and information. At BlizzCon you can play the latest games, meet your guildmates, and ask the developers your questions. Plus, there's some great looking costumes.
CES 2009: The Microsoft outer hub of booth games
Situated in the exact opposite corner of the CES Central Hall, Microsoft must have been strategically placed so that no wars would break out between the two juggernauts. Although Justin McElroy thinks it's so that an employee from Microsoft won't fall in love with an employee from Sony and cause complete chaos. That's definitely more plausible.However, just like Sony, Microsoft only had a tiny section devoted to gaming. You could get some hands-on time with Fallout 3, Lips, the new Scene It, Gears of War 2, Dawn of War II and Halo Wars. The rumor we'd heard that Fallout's upcoming Operation: Anchorage DLC would be there turned out to be untrue, so we spent most of our time beating young girls at karaoke with Lips. Okay, we kid. We geeked out on Dawn of War II. More on that soon. Meanwhile, enjoy the gallery below for you booth addicts.%Gallery-41641%
CES 2009: The gaming sliver of Sony's ginormous booth
Sony's a pretty big company. Shocker, right? They're busy putting out things like new digital cameras, wafer-thin displays, televisions that show realistic 3D images, and some new piece of tech that replaces your brain with a network of recycled Memory Sticks. Amazing.Still, with all that going on they do still manage to churn out games. Only a tiny part of their booth at CES was dedicated to gaming, but they managed to fit in Patapon 2, Killzone 2, Resistance: Retribution, Flower and an in-progress EyeToy game. Check them all out in the gallery below.%Gallery-41560%
