Thursday, August 26, 2010

Airline Seating Chart Shows You Best Seat for Your Needs [Air Travel Tip]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5621876/airline-seating-chart-shows-you-best-seat-for-your-needs

Airline Seating Chart Shows You Best Seat for Your NeedsWhether you want more leg room, a better spot to stash your carry on bag, or to keep your elbows safe from the ravages of rickety drink carts, this handy diagram will help.

The above diagram comes to us courtesy of Show Me How: 500 Things You Should Know Instructions for Life From the Everyday to the Exotic by Lauren Smith and Derek Fagerstrom. The illustration offers a great visual guide to selecting seats for your next airline trip. Need a safe spot to stash your carry one? Pick a seat at the back, you'll board first and have your pick of the available bins. Want to bank on decent leg room? Grab a seat by the bulkhead or the back of the plane, seat pitch increases towards the back of many planes.

All that information doesn't help you if you can't actually book a seat that's specific to the sweet spots in the particular plane you're flying in, of course, so make sure you check out previously reviewed SeatGuru—you'll see where your potential seats are in relation to the specific plane you're flying on. Have a travel tip, trick, or infographic to share? Let's hear about it in the comments. Thanks Edward!

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Use Your Google Voice as a Long-Lasting, Far-Reaching Emergency Contact Number [Clever Uses]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5621911/use-your-google-voice-as-a-long+lasting-far+reaching-emergency-contact-number

Use Your Google Voice as a Long-Lasting, Far-Reaching Emergency Contact NumberWe've discussed how Google Voice makes a useful emergency contact number, but Michael at jammer(six) reminds us that, even if you don't use Voice as your primary number, you can use it as an emergency number for others to call you.

Background photo by Steve Snodgrass.

Google Voice is useful enough to have for its voicemail features alone, and if you haven't started using Voice as your primary phone number (it is rather difficult to get your friends to start using a new number), its advanced features can still be useful. Michael explains how to use it as your number for emergency contact:

One of the big things that they ask for at the beginning of the school year is emergency contact information. The problem with this is that, if your phone number changes, you'll have to change your emergency info all over town.

Enter Google Voice. . .You'll no longer have to provide you home, cell, and work numbers. You can just give your Google Voice number and set it up to ring all of your phones at once.

Not only that, but you can use it to ring multiple people (such as both you and your spouse), or prompt a different ringtone so you know something's an emergency before you even take it out of your pocket (you'd need to make sure Voice is set to come up on your caller ID as your Google Voice number, not the caller's, to do this though). Got any of your own clever uses for Google Voice? Share them in the comments.

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NEC builds a better bioplastic from plant stems and cashew nut shells

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/25/nec-builds-a-better-bioplastic-from-plant-stems-and-cashew-nut-s/

We've already seen cellphones made from corn and bioplastics used in other products, but NEC has now come up with what it says is an even better solution: a first-of-its-kind bioplastic that's based on non-edible plant resources. That's as opposed to bioplastics based on things like corn, which are better for the environment than traditional plastics but don't necessarily represent the best use of food. What's more, NEC's new bioplastic also boasts a high plant component ratio of more than 70% -- derived from plant stems and cashew nut shells -- and it's said to boast a high durability that makes it especially well suited to electronics. As you might expect, however, it's not quite ready to be used for electronics just yet, but it's not all that far off either -- NEC says it expects to put it into production for use in a "wide range of electronic equipment" within the 2013 fiscal year. Full press release is after the break.

Continue reading NEC builds a better bioplastic from plant stems and cashew nut shells

NEC builds a better bioplastic from plant stems and cashew nut shells originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony delivers a new midrange 3DTV line with the NX810 series (updated with hands-on)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/25/sony-delivers-a-new-midrange-3dtv-line-with-the-nx810-series/

Sony's finally taken the wraps off its latest televisions for the US market, carrying the NX810 model number. Available in 60-, 55- and 46-inch sizes next month, these give a 3D spec bump (and around a $200 premium on the MSRP) to the existing NX800 series of Edge LED lit HDTVs that came out earlier this year. Like the NX800, these feature a slick monolith design, built-in WiFi, widgets and an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust the picture in changing room conditions, but other than the 3D-readiness (and coupons for free Blu-ray 3D movies and PSN games, though it looks like you'll have to pay for the glasses on your own) it's hard to find any differences on paper. Football fans looking for a new 3D set may be tempted to jump on one and can check the specs and prices after the break, but we'll probably wait around to see what a Google TV might bring to the table -- and at what price.

Update: We got a chance to check out a few of these 3DTVs this evening at Sony's open house in NYC. As per usual, the BRAVIAs were stunning and made us want to save up some cash to get one of these into our living room. And yes, we put on the 3D glasses and watched an assortment of clips. It was like those cute little bears in the snowy picture below were at the swanky event with us. Go on, you know you want to look at the cuddly things, err screens...

Continue reading Sony delivers a new midrange 3DTV line with the NX810 series (updated with hands-on)

Sony delivers a new midrange 3DTV line with the NX810 series (updated with hands-on) originally appeared on ! Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony's Netbox streams Netflix, YouTube and other internet stuff for $130

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/25/sonys-netbox-streams-netflix-youtube-and-other-internet-stuff/

We can't say there's a real shortage of streaming, set-top boxes on the market, but that doesn't mean we won't welcome Sony's addition with open arms. Not to be confused with a netbook or a nettop, the Netbox streams Sony's Bravia Internet services -- YouTube, Netflix, DailyMotion, etc. -- as well as supports a "wide range" of video formats including DivX and MKV. Although it's got 802.11n WiFi baked in, the rather compact box has an Ethernet port around back as well as an USB jack on the front for hooking up an external hard drive for watching any of your legally-downloaded (obviously!) videos. Sadly, when we got to check out the Netbox earlier today it wasn't connected to a network -- go figure, with all those connectivity options -- but the software was up and running, and we got to take a peek at the remote app on an Xperia X10. Fret not, the free app will be available for the iPhone and other Android phones. Look, we'd understand holding out for a BRAVIA with Google TV, but all in all for $130 we wouldn't blame you for heading off to Sony right now and picking one of these little guys up.

Sony's Netbox streams Netflix, YouTube and other internet stuff for $130 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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