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San Francisco Bay Area gets $5 million for EV chargers, Detroit will charge $40 per month
Electric vehicles are inching closer, with several already priced and rearing to go, but so far would-be owners won't have to pay for the devices to charge their cars. Free charging stations are popping up at every red dot on this map, and apparently not satisfied with the 1,600 that Coulomb's installing in California and the three at City Hall, San Francisco and neighboring cities have just approved $5 million for over 5,000 more chargers -- of which only 50 will appear along public highways, for some reason. Meanwhile, the state of Michigan has approved the first standardized rate for EV charger use -- a pilot program by provider DTE Energy will see 2,500 customers paying $40 per vehicle per month (or a variable off-peak rate) through December 2012. Gotta wonder how those grey states are feeling right about now.
Comcast adds an HD trio in Flint / West Bloomfield, Michigan
The weather may be downright dreadful in the Detroit area, but Comcast's warming the hearts of local subscribers with an HD trifecta. Arriving just in time for the weekend, residents of Flint and West Bloomfield, Michigan can now soak in the sweet high-def vibes cast from SPEED HD (223), FOX News HD (214) and FX HD (224). Happy holidays, indeed.[Thanks, Patrick and Jeremy]
Detroit prosecutor updates (makes relevant) violent games list
Detroit prosecutor Kym Worthy has updated her list (thanks to the National Institute on Media and the Family) of the top ten most violent video games. Worthy's new list (found after the break) features many of this season's major titles. Unlike the old list, which had several games that were practically ancient.As GamePolitcs points out, Worthy updating her list is a little bit more than local news, since it was used by the Thai government to eventually ban several old games in the wake of a cab driver's murder just a few months ago. [Via GamePolitics]
Detroit Free Press talks to J. Allen Brack about what's new in Wrath
WoW's lead producer J. Allen Brack (who we spoke with back at BlizzCon) is making the rounds -- he was on the radio this morning at Dallas' Live 105.3 (thanks to everyone who sent that in), and earlier, he spoke with the Detroit Free Press about how WoW became so incredibly popular and what Blizzard is doing with the game's second expansion. There are even a few spoilers in there, about how phasing is used in the game, and a few different situations that haven't yet been covered later on in Northrend.Brack also confirms that Blizzard ripped off Xbox Live's achievements system, which we all knew, but that's what makes it so much fun. He says that achievements will likely be included in the Armory eventually, but all we get is a chuckle and a "stay tuned." And finally, he says Blizzard was amazed by how well players took to vehicle play in the game -- while that was only planned for a few places, when they saw how much players loved it, they really took off with it. The bombing runs, he says, were one of the most popular things in Burning Crusade, so they went for that feel again in quite a few places inside Wrath of the Lich King.Nice interview -- good to see how excited Blizzard is to get this content out to players. The Free Press also has a review of the expansion (glowing, naturally), and a quick story about how people are taking off work in Michigan just to play it. And of course, all of it just leads to one conclusion: we can't wait.
Bright House adds 8 channels for Detroit, MI customers
Almost as good as the ongoing Tigers win streak is the news that Bright House is delivering a new pack of channels to its Motor City-area customers. With the news that half of its digital customers now enjoy HD service, it's launching Discovery HD, Animal Planet HD, The Learning Channel HD, History HD, Science HD, HGTV HD, and Food HD on the basic lineup for no extra charge, while MGM HD jumps onboard the $6.95 optional HD Package. Expect more updates as the company continues to unleash new channels to its customers across the country, so if these aren't exactly the channels you wanted, just wait a minute, they'll change.[Thanks, Dean]
AT&T celebrates a year of U-verse expansion in Detroit, Michigan
Oh AT&T, you party animal. Just days after dancing the night away in celebration of having U-verse in the always-classy city of San Diego, now you're firing up the club scene again for Detroit. A year after the carrier originally brought U-verse services to the city, U-verse TV is now available to over 625,000 living units, and some 1,300 new jobs were created due to "video reform legislation." Currently, said service is available to more than 160 communities in southeastern and western Michigan, and there are already plans in place to expand it further in the state. Party on, we guess.
Video: ASIMO burns as Yo-Yo Ma fiddles
Stand down oh gentle readers and defenders of the flesh, we're getting reports from Detroit that the baton wielding ASIMO did not direct the human race to its doom. Instead, Yo-Yo Ma is safe and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert went off without a hitch while netting the DSO a cool million for the musical education of Grosse Pointe's children. Of course, the Honda-built robot wasn't so lucky as he got "keyed" on his walk back through the parking lot. We kid, we kid.Update: Video added after the break.[Thanks, Funke]
Detroit's FOX affiliate falls in line, flips news to HD
Early last year, Cleveland became the first city to boast of having a trifecta of HD news channels. Now, however, the Motor City is making sure it keeps up. Reportedly, Detroit's own WJBK / FOX 2 just started serving up newscasts in high-def, but it's not like residents weren't already getting their HD news fix from either WXYZ / ABC 7 or WDIV / NBC 4. Still, there's nothing like a little competition to keep everyone honest, so feel free to take your pick now that the playing field is all leveled up.[Thanks, Jeremy]
Comcast rolling out Science, Disney and ABC Family HD channels
Comcast is stepping up its busy HD rollout (and channel squeezing) schedule, with several new channels spotted today in the Detroit and Chicago areas. Science HD, Disney HD and ABC Family HD are probably in your local channel guide -- Discovery HD is now listed DSCHD, while Disney is DISHD, confused yet? -- and word is they should hit many other areas Wednesday. Posters at AVSForum indicate more of the 3 channels-on-one-QAM compression tactics are afoot, take a look and let us know if having High School Musical 2 in HD still satisfies.[Thanks, Nathaniel]Read - Detroit, MI HDTVRead - Chicago, IL Comcast
FSN Detroit looks to air more games overall, in HD
While Ohio residents are certainly getting their fill of local sports in HD, it seems as if Motor City dwellers could be experiencing the same in the not-too-distant future. Reportedly, FSN Detroit has locked up deals with the Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings to "televise nearly all their games -- exhibition, regular season and playoff -- for at least the next decade." Apparently, the revised deals will enable FSN to pick up the rights to all telecasts not claimed by a national network, and we're already told that it'll air 152 Tigers games this season, with 103 being in high-definition. According to FSN senior vice president and general manager Greg Hammaren, the firm is "stepping up its investments and is clearly committed to HD." That's what we like to hear, Mr. Hammaren.[Image courtesy of mlive]
Wide Open West customers in Metro Detroit get new HD channels
While many of the larger cable companies have been expanding their HD lineups of late, we figured the little guys should get their time in the spotlight, too. According to a tipster parked in the Metro Detroit area, four new high-definition channels have been added to Wide Open West (or WOW!, as it were). Effectively immediately, customers in the region can look forward to Discovery HD on channel 225 (HD Theater relocated to 210), Animal Planet HD on 226, TLC HD on 227 and National Geographic HD on 228. Any WOW! subscribers in other locations receive the updates, too?[Thanks, Riscky]
Detroit prosecutor makes outdated violent games list for holidays
Detroit has a bit of a crime problem and prosecutor Kym Worthy is looking to bring that down by issuing her third annual list of the "Top 10 Most Violent Games" for parents. As GamePolitics points out, the list isn't looking to be topical or specific; wide brush strokes will do. For example, if reading literally, the original Grand Theft Auto, the original Manhunt, and last year's Scarface round out the top three. 50 Cent Bulletproof comes in at number four -- because that already forgotten 2005 title is on every any kid's wish list for 2007.The problem with Worthy's list is its basic redundancy of what one would hope is common sense, because every title on her list is rated M. How about just telling parents not to buy M-rated games for their kids? Blanket statement, end of story. Why pick and choose games when the ESRB has been kind enough to slap an M on the cover, giving parents adequate warning in the first place?
Detroit-area teen builds nuclear fusion reactor
We've heard of plenty of DIY projects, ranging from an MP3 player to a Wacom tablet, but a kid building a small nuclear fusion device in his parents' basement? That's something special. Thiago Olson, a 17-year-old from Oakland Township, outside Detroit, has just completed a 1,000-hour (that's over 40 days worth, but he spread it out over two years) project to build a small-scale nuclear fusion reactor. How does it work? The short of it is that Olson takes a vacuum chamber, fills it with deuterium gas and then jolts it up with 40,000 volts, which creates a very small amount of nuclear fusion. That sounds easy enough -- but now the question is, can young Dr. Strangelove hook up his reactor to the house so he can pay his parents' electrical bill? [Via MAKE: Blog, photo courtesy Detroit Free Press]
A reader documents their Nintendo Fusion attendance
One of our readers from the Detroit area recently attended the Nintendo Fusion Tour there and, like the class A reader he is, caught a whole bunch of the show on film, including play time with the Wii. Of course he did, we aren't a music blog after all!So head on into the post to see the embedded videos, presented after the break.[Thanks Ali!]
Comcast, NFL Network-HD team up in Detroit
Everybody is getting ready for Superbowl XL, and for those of us in the Detroit area that includes Comcast and the NFL Network. The NFL Network isn't normally available full-time in HD here, but it has shown up in the last few days. According to Multichannel News, the two are working together to provide access to residents and those just in town for the game. Up until February 7th, you'll be able to view NFL Network on analog cable as well as NFL Network HD on digital cable.Hopefully this leads to NFL Network always being in high definition on Comcast, the NFL has one of the largest libaries with all their NFL Films content.
