Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

So, most of us probably already use the easy route of auto locks for our vehicle and the familiar “beep-beep” as we walk away is nothing new.  The thought of actually having to fumble around and (gasp!) insert a key in the lock is an almost foreign concept these days.  But the new smart key offers oh so much more than that.

From as many as several hundred yards, drivers are able to send information to their vehicle to set their seat position to just where they like it, program the radio to their favorite station, even exchange navigation destinations downloaded from a computer.  The key has a mini-screen which can display information like whether the vehicle doors are locked, if the alarm is turned on, how your tire pressure is doing, and whether you soon need to stop for gas.  Nice little reminder for those who tend to forget that rather important little tidbit.

What else does this thing do?  Find out after the break.

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Think of how many people have become very used to the ease of having TiVo.  And now, it’s going to be available for your computer as well.  Nero and TiVo are working together to launch LiquidTV, which basically is TiVo, just for a computer.

You’ll still get many of the same basic functions you know and love on regular TiVo.  You can watch live or recorded TV. You are able to burn videos to DVD if your PC has a DVD burner.  As long as your LiquidTV is networked with other TiVo boxes you have in your house, it even plays nice with those.

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I’m sorry, but I just wonder, is this entire thing just someone’s idea of “Just how far can we take this and people will think we’re serious?“ I mean, the name itself. Who came up with it? You have got to be kidding me.

Okay. For those who aren’t aware…Cucku is a “Social Backup Service” that runs on Windows machines. It was available to select beta users since February of this year, and its 1.20 version just became available for all to download yesterday. You want to make all your personal files oh so safe? Well then, all you have to do according to Cucku (oh, that just makes me roll my eyes each time I type it), is back up all of your data to your friend’s computer. Oh, and in return, they back up all their work onto yours. You are “back-up buddies.“  Isn’t that special?

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Sections: Computers, Hardware, Laptops, Networking, Security, Software / Applications, Wireless, Gadgets / Other, Household, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, Peripherals, Storage, Web, Downloads, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Web Browsers, Websites

Businesses in rural parts of the UK are getting a raw deal when it comes to broadband and mobile phone coverage according to Stuart Burgess, chairman of the Rural Communities Commission and the Government’s Rural Advocate.

Dr Burgess goes as far as to claim that coverage is worse than in parts of India and Malawi which isn’t going to please the UK government who have repeatedly been hit with criticism over the UK’s IT infrastructure and skills.

Suggestions as to the way out of this situation include funding for rural entrepreneurs or coverage agreements in telecommunication providers contracts. The report isn’t due to be finished until February, and with the speed that the Government usually works it is unlikely that anything helpful will happen in the near future, but it is good to see that people are at least making an issue out of this.

Via [Times Online]

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