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Arizona Apple Store opens this weekend
Don't let the summer heat get you down, Arizona. A new Apple Store is going to open this weekend in Glendale. At 10:00 AM on July 26th, Apple Store Arrowhead will open at Arrowhead Towne Center (75th Avenue & Bell Road). The store is located next to Sephora and Naturalizer on the bottom floor below the food court. You can get full travel directions here.If you visit the store on opening weekend, please send us your stories and photos. This will be Arizona's fifth Apple Store.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Cox gets Phoenix ready for the Olympics with 4 new channels
Making sure Phoenix-area customers have access to those thousands of hours of Olympics coverage, Cox is launching USA HD, CNBC HD+, NBC Olympic Soccer Channel HD and Lifetime HD July 21. The first three should account for more than 750 hours of HD Olympics action, so check out the schedule and get your DVR ready.
Phoenix, Arizona Apple Store planned
The Graphic Mac is reporting that a new Apple Store has been planned for Phoenix, Arizona. This will be the state's fifth Apple Store, and Phoenix's second.The new store will open in the Arrowhead Mall. James at The Graphic Mac says he's seen the black construction wall and white Apple Logo in front of a large retail space on the mall's lower level. Rumor has it this store will open at the end of this month.If any TUAW readers want to send us a spyshot of the construction, please do! You'll find the tip link towards the bottom of the page.
Cox to give Phoenix TiVo users free tuning adapter to cope with SDV
Aw, now isn't this just the sweetest thing you've ever seen? Cox has found the generosity to not only send out information to let Phoenix, Arizona subscribers know about the forthcoming implementation of SDV (July 1st, if you're wondering), but to promise a free tuning adapter to CableCARD-using TiVo Series3 / HD owners to boot. In all seriousness, we only wish every other cable company out there would handle this situation in a similar manner, but things just can't be this easy everywhere, right? Check the read link for the full letter.[Via ZatzNotFunny]
Arizona's 'blame the media' bill dies in committee
Arizona's Senate Judiciary Committee killed House Bill 2660 in a 4-2 vote; the legislation would have held media content producers liable for violent acts committed by consumers of video games, movies, TV and books. GamePolitics reports that the sponsor of the bill, Rep. Warde Nichols (R), says he will reintroduce a more concisely-written version in 2009. He believes, "At the end of the day, companies will have to stand before their customers and shareholders and explain why they are OK with the production and distribution of violent, forced, non-consensual sex acts."The bill was written by attorney Keith Perkins, who runs the Never Again Foundation, and represents rape victims in civil suits. Perkins states under Arizona's current law victims can only sue attackers, but that the money they would collect is minimal -- media groups have much deeper pockets for victims (and their lawyers who get a cut of the settlement). It looks like Nichols' bill bit off way more than it could chew. Sen. Ken Cheuvront (D) put it best when he said the bill was too broad and passing it might have unintended consequences.
Arizona bill would hold content creators liable
A new Arizona bill aims to take on the entire media industry. House Bill 2660, which passed the state House of Representatives last month, aims to make a person "liable for damages if the person produces, publishes or distributes written, audio, video or digital material" that is deemed "dangerous or obscene." Such wording could apply to books, websites, video games, movies, TV shows and Numa Numa. While the bill sounds ridiculous to the point of fiction, it is causing many to be concerned -- for example, who decides what is dangerous and obscene? The Video Game Voters Network has issued a call to action over the bill, and representatives for the MPAA and the Arizona Newspaper Associations have taken issue with it.We at Joystiq aren't too worried. Should the bill pass, it would logically self-destruct, seeing as it is also dangerous and obscene written material. [Via Game Politics]
DISH Network opening customer service facility in Phoenix this June
Barely a month after we heard that DISH Network would be hiring 200 folks from the Tulsa, Oklahoma region to "accommodate customer growth," we've now learned that the satcaster is hiring even more folks in an attempt to further demonstrate its "commitment to providing the highest level of customer care." Reportedly, around 400 technical support representatives and 40 support staff -- all of which will be "required" to have at least two years of experience in a "customer-facing or technical support role" -- will be taking a job in Phoenix, Arizona. Oh, and don't worry -- these individuals will be on the clock soon enough; DISH plans on hiring this month, training in May and opening the center in June. Now would be a good time to beam that résumé in, yeah?
Phoenix's KPHO multicasting NCAA Men's Tournament over-the-air
Granted, many CBS affiliates -- Raleigh's WRAL and Indianapolis' WISH, just to name a couple -- have been multicasting the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament OTA for years now, but after seeing a breakdown of the schedule over at KPHO, we felt it prudent to remind sports fanatics that busting out the antenna may not be such a bad idea tomorrow. Phoenix -- which just had seven HD channels flipped on by Cox -- is one area in which the local CBS affiliate is multicasting every remaining March Madness game on its array of digital OTA channels, and five other carriers in the heart of Arizona are also providing ways to see every matchup. Granted, we doubt each of these will be seen everywhere in high-def, but feel free to check with your local CBS affiliate to see if you'll be left out of any of the Madness.[Thanks, Steven]
Cox Arizona adding seven HD channels in March
Look out, desert dwellers, as Cox Communications is all set to dish out seven new HD channels to Arizona residents next month. On deck is TBS HD, Discovery Channel HD, Science Channel HD, Food Network HD, Animal Planet HD, Golf / Versus HD and History Channel HD. As of now, we've no idea where these will fit into the EPG, but you can phone up Cox and start to gripe if the whole lot doesn't arrive on March 18th.[Thanks, Ian Z.]
280-megawatt solar plant headed to Arizona desert
And you thought the Nellis solar energy system in Nevada was intimidating. Truth be told, that 14-megawatt project pales mightily in comparison to the one being dreamed up for Arizona, and even Cleantech's 80-megawatt endeavor in California can only bow to the 280-megawatt Solana Generating Station. According to the Arizona Public Service Company, the facility will boast "enough capacity to serve 70,000 customers" when it (hopefully) becomes operational in 2011, and it will also create 1,500 construction jobs and 85 technical positions once open. So, now that the game of leapfrog is official on in the solar biz, who's game for trumping this one? [Via Inhabitat]
Cox Arizona getting VOD via SSD-based servers
It's one thing to get video-on-demand, but it's another thing if that content is being served up via Concurrent's MediaHawk 4500. Apparently, Cox Communications' Arizona division will be using the aforementioned media server -- which automatically detects failures and re-routes streams to alternate paths -- to dish out VOD content to its customers. Additionally, the unit relies on solid state discs, presumably making everything a bit snappier for the end user. We're not told whether HD material will be included in this VOD rollout, but nevertheless, deployment is scheduled to begin in Q1 of next year.[Via Multichannel News]
Terabyte nanotech thumb drives around the corner?
Wired has a write-up of a new storage technology developed at Arizona State University that could produce flash thumb drives capable of storing terabytes of data in the near future, that also happens to be cheaper and more energy efficient than flash memory. The new technology has been branded programmable metallization cell, and differs from present storage technologies in that it "creates nanowires from copper atoms the size of a virus to record binary ones and zeros." It all sounds very interesting -- if slightly too optimistic -- to us, and we'll get to find out relatively soon just how effective the new chips are: Arizona State's business arm has licensed the technology to three companies, which may be ready to sell a product containing the chips within 18 months. Watch this space.
Arizona Apple Store set to open
Apple will open Arizona's fourth Apple Store this Friday, October 26th at 6:00 PM at SunTan Village (why 6:00 PM on a Friday? Gee, I wonder....) The store is located at 2218 E. Williams Field Road in Gilbert, Arizona, near the Gordon Biersch Restaurant. You can get full travel directions here.As usual, we're asking any TUAW operatives who visit this weekend to send us stories and photos. Good luck, have fun and we're hoping you score a T-shirt and a box full of Leopard!Thanks, Jonathan!
Diamondbacks planning "largest display in pro sports," overlook Cowboys' plans
We're certainly not complaining about yet another professional sports team opting for a svelte HD Jumbotron, but the Diamondbacks' claim to soon have the "largest scoreboard in pro sports" is dodgy at best. Reportedly, the board will cost between $10 and $12 million to erect and will measure in at "144 feet wide and 55 feet high," which the team claims is 900-square feet larger "than the biggest existing board, at Atlanta's Turner Field." Nevertheless, the D-Backs have certainly been trumped already in terms of HD scoreboard planning, as the Dallas Cowboys are slated to treat their fans to a pair of 180 feet wide by 50 feet high displays as part of a four-screen setup in 2009. So if all goes as planned, Arizona's MLB club will indeed be sporting the largest high-definition screen in pro sports for a tick, but those mighty claims will soon be squashed by the sensational installation headed to Texas.
KVOA bringing HD news to Tucson, AZ
There isn't anything better then watching your towns highs and lows in spectacular high definition and so we are always happy to announce another market's high-def details. KVOA is going to be the first in southern-Arizona with HD news if their late-April launch plans go off without a hitch. We sure hope for our HD-starved peeps everywhere that at least one of their local network affiliates gets with the program and spends the cash necessary to get you local HD news. Yeah.
Irate driver rams fellow motorist due to cellphone use
You should already know that the Grand Canyon State isn't exactly kosher with rampant tailgating, so actually ramming someone's vehicle due to a personal conflict you have with them isn't likely to get you a whole lot of mercy. Subsequently, a 58-year old male is facing jail time due to his inability to turn the other cheek when he drove up on another motorist who was casually yapping on their cellphone. Rather than simply signing to hang up or doing nothing at all, Mr. Asselin felt it was in both of their best interests if they had a verbal exchange whilst cruising down the avenue, and to make matters worse, the curiously enraged driver reportedly ran the talker into oncoming traffic where the cellphone-using victim narrowly escaped death. Notably, several witnessed deemed the whole event akin to something we'd see "in a movie," but unless you've got Transporter-like skills, we wouldn't recommend trying to reenact this in your home state, no matter your feelings on driving while connected.[Via Fark]
Chatterbowl: the talking dish for spoiled pets
We're not sure about this whole pet anxiety thing (our cats seem to do just fine without us, thanks), but apparently dogs are a different beast. With that in mind, an Arizona inventor has just announced the "Chatterbowl," a regular dog dish bowl (not at all like this one) that will let you record a message to comfort your dog (up to 10 seconds) every time he or she comes to grab a snack or get some water. The $20 bowl has been advertised on cable TV in Dallas and Houston for a few days now, but it will reportedly hit other markets across the US in the coming weeks. We're sure that once the MAKE folks get a hold of the Chatterbowl's electronics, they'll come up with something even more ridiculous.[Via Gizmag]
Arizona implements Lidar gun to nab tailgaters
While we can't say we're exactly fond of notorious tailgaters ourselves, we won't be the first to agree that fines in "the hundreds of dollars" are exactly fitting for those who like follow closely. Nevertheless, the Arizona Department of Public Safety is taking a note from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and Oregon by implementing a radar-based tracking system to calculate just how far back a car is from another while cruising on the freeway. Laser Technology's Lidar (no known connection to Liger) works essentially like a speed gun, except it boasts a higher level of accuracy and the ability to calculate the distance between passing cars down to the tenth of a second. Arizona cops are reportedly loving the new machine, as it's "basically impossible" to argue with, and supposedly "educates the people who get pulled" because of it. So if you get a thrill from seeing just how close you can come to kissing that bumper ahead of you, or you just get a testosterone rush every time you get behind the wheel, you may want to put a few seconds (at least) between you and your closest roadmate when rolling through AZ.[Via Slashdot]
Researcher dreams up $2.5 trillion "space sunshade"
With all these batteries exploding vehicles running around, we aren't too surprised that researchers at the University of Arizona are getting fired up about stopping global warming, but dropping $2.5 trillion on such a project might just cool the whole idea down a bit. Nevertheless, astronomer Roger Angel thinks that launching a "constellation made of trillions of small, free-flying spacecraft parts a million miles above Earth" could form a long, cylindrical cloud to reflect "about 10 percent" of the sun's rays away from our planet. The lightweight flyers hanging around in the L-1 orbit would be crafted from "transparent film pierced with small holes," utilizing "MEMS" technology mirrors as tiny sails that hold them in line while drifting about. The idea gets even zanier when referring to shooting the "20 million ton structure" into space; it's been suggested that "20 electromagnetic launchers" running on hydroelectricity could launch a stack of flyers "every five minutes for ten years" to complete the project, and while he feels that even the massive sunshade is no substitute for "developing renewable energy," that's still a huge chunk of coin to drop on something so, um, outlandish.[Via Primidi]
Wii invades Arizona
You guys really like Target. Is it the minimalist logo? The peppermint-fresh color scheme? Maybe it's just that they aren't the other guys, we dunno. Whatever the reason, if it brings more photos of the Wii retail experience, we're in. We're on your side. Dedicated fanster (like hipster, but... well, y'know) Carl encountered the Wii experience in the wild and wrestled it to the ground using only his cell phone, and he's sharing the spoils with you, dear reader. Here it is, the Wii in Mesa, Arizona. [Thanks, Carl!]
