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Trains and burgers: Sprint launching NFC trial in Bay Area
For whatever reason, phone-based contactless payment systems have been incredibly slow on the uptake stateside, while others -- those on NTT DoCoMo's well-received Osaifu-Keitai system, for example -- have had no qualms about turning their handsets into wallets. Every so often we catch wind of a trial in the works, though, which gives us hope that we'll eventually all be able to whip our cellies out of our pockets and clog our arteries in one deft motion. Case in point: Sprint has teamed up with Jack in the Box and San Francisco's Bay Area Transit Authority to offer fare and food payments with a tap of a phone in a trial that runs from January through May of next year. Strangely, the pictured phone appears to be the somewhat ancient A920 clamshell, so we're guessing Sprint is modifying the devices for the trial; Boost Mobile customers should be able to get on the action in some capacity as well. If you live in the area, ride BART at least once a week, and are willing to sacrifice that Touch for a trial phone, go sign yourself up -- just take it easy with the bacon burgers, k?[Thanks, Allan]
Beverage companies blame video games for obesity
On Monday, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom submitted a proposal that he hopes will curtail obesity by applying a financial deterrent to drinks with high fructose corn syrup - in other words, a surcharge on soda. (Amount of surcharge has yet to be defined.) Understandably aggravated by this measure is the American Beverage Association, who pulls out one of our favorite red herrings in its defense.Said Kevin Keane, senior VP of the ABA, "It makes no sense to single out any one single cause of obesity, which is a complex problem." As quoted by the International Herald Tribune, "Keane said that if Newsom really wanted to fight the fat, he would take on computer and video game companies, which Keane said lured children inside when they should 'be outside burning calories.'"Yes, folks, by this logic we shouldn't even bother to worry about soda causing obesity when video games - not Dance Dance Revolution or Rock Band drums, mind you, those other video games like BioShock and Spider Solitaire - are the bigger Cause of Fatness. In a wholly accurate scientific study, Joystiq editors reported feeling approximately 15 calories surge from our controller, through our hands, and into our bloodstreams for every double kill in Halo 3. We jest, of course, but continuing with Keane's logic, we must say it makes no sense to single out video games when the real problem of obesity is existence itself. If Mayor Newsom really wanted to fight the fat, he should combat our very existence. If he obliterates that, then there'll be no more obesity.Update: The ABA sends a response letter to Kotaku.[Image Source. Via OXM; thanks, PrivateRyan]
San Francisco could offer credits, rebates to promote solar panel usage
It's hard to deny San Francisco's infatuation with solar power, and a new plan could further showcase its adoration for the sun (and Mother Earth, too) by throwing out tax credits, rebates and even loans for individuals and businesses that choose to equip their buildings with solar panels. Under the proposal, businesses would reportedly be "eligible for rebates of up to $10,000," while residents could fetch somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000 to help offset the high cost of installing panels. Furthermore, the city itself would underwrite loans that could be paid back "through annual tax assessments on properties." As it stands, the plan still has to be approved by voters and legislators, but Mayor Gavin Newsom is aspiring to have the whole shebang in place by next summer.[Image courtesy of San Francisco Sentinel]
Game mechanics: Crafting deities
Hey, check this out. I was pondering something the other day as I passed a Buddhist temple in San Francisco: virtually every religion that has ever been still exists in some form or another. It's said that a god only dies when its last follower has lost faith. That got me thinking: how could this work as a play mechanic in an MMO?What if you could craft your own religion, the same way you craft a weapon, complete with the deity of your choice, and receive direct benefit from worshiping at its temple? Say, a hefty buff to carry into your next battle, or an automatic resurrection upon any of your teammates? Further, let's suppose that the only way for your god to grow in strength was for you to build temples to it, at which its adherents would pray for a predetermined duration each game session?It gets crazier: you could proselytize and convert other players to your religion, or defile the temples of your rivals and weaken their god's strength. With a minimum number of followers needed to create a new god, there would be few instances of novelty and 'throwaway', or 'gag' gods to clutter up the system; this would be a serious tactic for use by the devout! There are many ways to make this sort of thing work. What about roleplay? Would there be PvE applications as well as PvP? Is there already something like this in place for some MMO? Someone send me a sign, show me the light!
9th Transgender Day of Remembrance Observed in Second Life
It's all too easy to dismiss those who are different as unworthy of consideration, respect, or even simple human rights. Growing up in Hawai'i and living in San Francisco, I've led a pretty sheltered existence, taking equality among individuals to be a given; it's when I travel outside of these environs that I'm always shocked how much antipathy and outright hate there is for those who are Not Like Us, whoever and whatever that might resemble.Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, an occasion to remember victims of hate crimes perpetrated upon them for simply being different. Cities worldwide will be holding vigils to commemorate lost friends, lovers, and family members, and Second Life is no different. Elysium Gardens, with the support of the Transgender Resource Center, will host its first service: "The service itself will consist of Second Life residents and their allies sharing their personal stories and memories of friends, loved ones, and members of the community who were victims of hate crimes or who committed suicide. Also included will be personal stories from law enforcement officials and service providers who are familiar with such tragic events including the refusal of emergency services from healthcare providers and medical personal because of bias against the transgendered. The service will be held at Elysium Gardens' new Transgender Suicide Memorial." For more information on this all-day event, contact Random Demina or Jani Myriam in-world.[Thanks, Jani!]
Thanks for coming out tonight, San Francisco!
We're floored! Over a thousand people braved lines to join us at tonight's Engadget reader meetup in San Francisco, our biggest ever event by far! We're completely humbled, but you're not out of the woods yet. Do us a favor and share your photos and video from tonight, would you? We'll post 'em up tomorrow for everyone to check out. Thanks again, SF!Please add your pictures to the Engadget Flickr pool here.And please add your videos to YouTube with the tag engadget2007sf.We'd also like to thank the premium event sponsor of our San Francisco event, the Bluetooth SIG, who really helped us make this whole thing happen!
Reminder: San Francisco reader meetup tonight!
Tonight's the big night, SF bay area! Our FREE and ALL AGES reader meetup goes off at 7PM at UCSF Mission Bay, where we'll have: Free food and drinks Product demos Audience Q&A with execs and Engadget editors ... and will be giving away literally hundreds of devices -- tens of thousands of dollars of gadgets. Hit the read link for details -- hope to see you there!We'd also like to thank the premium event sponsor of our San Francisco event, the Bluetooth SIG, who've been instrumental in getting this thing off the ground!
Reminder: San Francisco reader meetup tomorrow at UCSF
Just a reminder to everyone in or visiting the SF bay area about our reader meetup that's going on tomorrow night, 7PM at UCSF Mission Bay! We'll have product demos, audience Q&A, free food and drinks, and will be giving away literally hundreds of devices -- tens of thousands of dollars of gadgets -- on the spot. Hit the read link for details -- hope to see you there!P.S. -Also, a note to the local hackers in the audience! We'd like to try out the "lightning talks" round here in the US -- let us know if you have something interesting and electronic that you might want to show off! (Email us at event att engadget dawt com.)
San Francisco reader meetup details, note: location has changed!
Last week in Tokyo was pretty amazing, but this Wednesday's reader event in San Francisco promises to be possibly our most amazing yet. Here's a bit about what you can expect: We're giving away literally tens of thousands of dollars in gear, including... A free Sandisk Sansa Connect (4GB with WiFi) to the first 200 people! (And free Flickr Pro accounts for the next 250 people.) We'll also have free food and drinks! Live Q&A session with Engadget The event is ALL AGES and FREE ADMISSION As well as giveaways from: Drobo, Motorola, Nokia, OQO, Plantronics, Samsung, SanDisk, Sling, and others! When: Wednesday, October 10th, 7:00PM - 10:00PM [Listing on Upcoming] Please note, however, that we have changed our event location! We are no longer holding the event at Mighty, the event is now at the Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF. 1675 Owens StreetSan Francisco, CA 94158866.431.UCSF Also, a note to the local hackers in the audience! We'd like to try out the "lightning talks" round here in the US -- let us know if you have something interesting and electronic that you might want to show off!We'd also like to thank the premium event sponsor of our San Francisco event, the Bluetooth SIG, who've been instrumental in getting this thing off the ground!Oh, and please leave us a comment if you're thinking of attending so we can at least try to estimate how many to expect. See you there! (Map, directions, and full list of companies at the event after the break.)
Engadget event locations: Tokyo (Oct. 4th) and San Francisco (Oct. 10th)!
Tokyo, San Francisco! We're coming to town to hang out, so please join us THIS WEEK in Tokyo as we host our first ever Japanese readup in Google / YouTube Japan's offices. Next week in San Francisco we'll be at Mighty. Directions and info below.Both events are ALL AGES and FREE ADMISSION (as usual).Tokyo - October 4th, ~6:30PM - 9:00PM, Cerulean Tower (7th floor) [map]Please note we have limited capacity, but we will do our best to accommodate everyone that shows up!San Francisco - October 10th, 7:00PM - 10:00PM, Mighty [map] We'd also like to thank the premium event sponsor of our San Francisco event, the Bluetooth SIG, as well as our host in Tokyo, Google Japan!Note: If you're thinking of coming to the Tokyo event please let us know in comments! It helps when we're figuring out catering and all that stuff. (Don't worry about San Francisco, we'll have more reminders on that one soon. And for everyone else who wants Engadget to come to your town, we'll do our best next time!)
Camera-equipped buses could automatically ticket San Franciscans
Not long after hearing about England's newfangled auto-ticketing system comes word that San Franciscans could soon be facing something similar. If signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger, "forward-facing digital video cameras would be installed on city buses," which would then be used to automatically ticket the owners of vehicles that are caught "blocking buses." The cameras would presumably be used to photograph vehicles that are in bus-only lanes, and interestingly enough, the proposed law also authorizes Municipal Transportation Agency "employees to access sensitive personal data" from the DMV for ticketing purposes.
Sonic.Net aiming to provide another WiFi option for San Franciscans
For those paying attention, you'd know that betting the farm on San Francisco's muni WiFi project ever coming together wouldn't exactly be the best move, but it appears that Sonic.Net is stepping in to provide an alternative. The California-based ISP has reportedly conjured up an initiative to bring an ad-supported MuniFi model to San Franciscans, and would utilize hardware from Meraki. Apparently, Sonic.Net customers can snag a Meraki wireless mesh router "at a subsidized cost," which would enable them to share "up to 500kbps" of their DSL line. Users of the service will spot a Google ad bar atop their browser, and there's even mention of ad revenues being shared with customers in order to reduce their monthly bill in the future. Notably, the platform could even expand to "other areas" outside of SF if it proves successful.
San Francisco pulls the plug on Google / Earthlink's citywide WiFi... for now
It looks like the people of San Francisco are going to have to wait a little bit longer before they can spam their friends with memes while sitting in the middle of Golden Gate Park. The WiFi blanket deal which would see Google and Earthlink teaming up to deliver a citywide network to the Bay-area has ground to a halt after a round of somewhat "unfriendly" statements from Earthlink concerning the plans. David Noyola, speaking on behalf of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (which has been overseeing the project) said that the network's rollout has stalled "in the shadow of comments," made last week by Rolla Huff, the internet provider's CEO, who expressed reservations over municipal wireless deals. Breaking points in particular seem to be the city's request for changes in data speed and privacy controls, and its desire to downsize Earthlink's contract on the network from 16 years to eight (significantly reducing the company's time to earn a profit). The internet provider now claims that they are doing a "detailed review," of their business model regarding the project, which the company says will not provide "an acceptable return." Obviously a lose-lose situation for the laptop-toting citizens of the City by the Bay.
Hilton's Sight+Sound suites deliver DirecTV, HD niceties
As the HDTV movement continues to reshape the average hotel room experience, Hilton has made sure it doesn't get left behind. Recently, the chain launched 25 "home theater-like" Sight+Sound rooms at the Hilton Chicago O'Hare International Airport, while 30 guest rooms at the Hilton San Francisco received the makeover. Among the amenities are a 42-inch LG plasma, Yahama's YSP-800 Digital Sound Projector, Monster cabling, DirecTV programming including 14 HD channels and a number of XM radio stations, and a high definition menu system from LodgeNet. Additionally, guests can hook up their DAPs or external audio sources to a unique "connectivity panel," and just in case you forget to pack an extra bag of cables, the specially equipped rooms should provide all the copper you need. Notably, this here setup sounds like one of the most fully-featured HD offerings found in a "standard" hotel, and now that it's been available for a few months, have any of you had an opportunity to indulge?
Line forms anew at San Francisco Apple Store
By 10:10AM local time -- just 10 minutes after opening -- this was the scene at Apple's downtown San Francisco outpost. You know, hundreds of iPhone owners waking up this morning and saying to themselves "zomg I need accessories" or "zomg this thing sucks, I'm returning it." Think of it as the "day after Christmas" effect.
Not much going on at San Fran's Apple Store
So far, the throngs of iPhone-demanding humanity beating on the glass shells of Apple Stores across the globe haven't materialized -- at least not here in Apple's backyard. At this point, the line consists of about one woman, four gentlemen, and three clowns. For whatever reason, we were expecting more (way more) people and generally fewer clowns. Are the contract requirements and price keeping the buying public at bay? We'll know tomorrow! Stay tuned for more updates live from the San Francisco outpost.
Final Fantasy party tonight in San Francisco
Sonia Im, of Square Enix North America, has posted on the PlayStation.Blog today to remind people that tonight is the launch party of Final Fantasy I 20th Anniversary edition. Details for the party can be found here.We wish we could be there, if only to gawk at all the people wearing funny clothes. Speaking of funny clothes, Sonia also mentions that due to the overwhelming reaction to the US boxart, there will be limited edition T-shirts available at the party. A sneak peek of the tee can be seen to the right. Shame we won't be there to get our hands on them ourselves. Hint hint.If you're thinking of picking up Final Fantasy I for the PSP then be sure to check out our review coming out later.
TUAW Video: Bently Holding loves Macs
Click To Play Yesterday we made a trip to 240 Stockton Street, a gorgeous old art deco building overlooking Union Square in San Francisco. A short elevator ride up and we were taken on a quick tour of the Bently Holdings SF office-- an office that runs everything on a Mac. They are really serious about it too (check out the posters). We also got a sneak peek inside one of the most exclusive spas in town: Kamalaspa. Very swank, and in true fanboy form their fish tank is stocked with the fish from Finding Nemo. Take a look at the video for what might be the holy land for you Mac techs out there.
Your Mac Stories
If you're a Mac user in San Francisco next week we're going to be around to take your picture. In fact, what we'd really like to do is tape your story. We're on a hunt to hear as many Mac stories as possible. What's a Mac story? Anything positive or remarkable about your Mac experience. That time you showed a coworker how they can save as a PDF, or how cool you thought Sherlock was back when it was released, or how the Chooser changed your life. We'll be hovering around Moscone all day Monday through Wednesday and would love to hear the tale. And if you're not in San Francisco? Dial up your favorite video-sharing service on the internets and tag the video with TUAW. Post a link below if you like, and we might just feature it one day. Nothing about how you stopped the alien invasion with your PowerBook, OK? Oh, and we're looking for Mac stories, which means we'd rather not have a zillion "my iPod is teh awesomes" videos. The Mac is the truly definitive Apple experience, which is why we're itching to hear how the little platform that could serves you best.
Rumor: Marketers head for the hills, a fond farewell to Kaplan and Harrison
It's a wild week in the world of Nintendo's upper management in marketing ... we think. Recently, Nintendo's marketing department was told they'd need to ship off to either New York or San Francisco from their current homes in Redmond. According to Game Informer, as astounding 90% decided to remain in the area and take severance pay. What's even more shocking are that Beth Llewelyn (senior director of public relations), Perrin Kaplan (vice president of marketing and corporate affairs) and George Harrison (senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications) are among the dearly departed. From Nintendo, we mean.Those are some big names dropping from Nintendo's ivory towers, and we've got to sad we're sad to see them go. George was always a nice, candid fellow, and who can forget drunk Perrin (pictured above)? Now that was a classic. We would like to reiterate that Game Informer's claim has not yet been corroborated, so we'll post an update with confirmation or denial when we get it.[Thanks, Jensonb!]
