Cranking out news for the geeks, music buffs and gossip junkies, my way. -Greg

I would do this in a heartbeat, but I would NEVER pay for it! $35,000 to be a test pilot for something that could potentially kill me, no thanks. I’m all about extreme sports, but not paying $30k to test a new technology. Still though if these things ever got main stream, can you imagine a drunk-jet-packer? -Greg

By Danny Allen, 11:20 AM on Thu Sep 24 2009, 2,741 views

 

An eBay auction (ending in 10-hours) offers the chance to be part of the Jetpack’s first public test pilot program. You’ll need to have a driver’s license, be over 18, under 198lbs…oh, and have a spare $35,000 lying around.

Holy crap. Considering the thing will cost about $100,000 when it goes on sale, that’s pretty extreme—even if you will be recorded as an official test pilot. Adding insult to injury, a lucky New Zealander (the Jetpack’s home country) won a local auction for about US$4130.

More a personal helicopter than a Jetpack (its lift is driven by two ducted fans), it can theoretically reach as high as 8,000 feet, and move as fast as 60 miles per hour. The company is even negotiating a “multi-million dollar deal” to supply an as-yet unknown foreign government’s civil emergency services.

You might also remember that our own Mark Wilson actually got the chance to take one for a spin—and ask its makers some important questions. As for me? My budget probably limits me to this $2500 home made kludge-job. Such is life. [eBay via Martin Jetpack via New Zealand Herald]

Honestly, I don’t want to know or even care how much this thing is going to cost. I want to know WHEN, when will this be in production and be available to the public, more importantly, me! There is no doubt in my mind that I will be first in line to get one. So, I simply ask, Mr. Gates don’t charge too much for this as I’d hate to be shot by my girlfriend because I spent $10k on this thing. -Greg

By The Paperboy, 7:30 PM on Tue Sep 22 2009, 220,969 views (Edit, to draft, Slurp)

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It feels like the whole world is holding its breath for the Apple tablet. But maybe we’ve all been dreaming about the wrong device. This is Courier, Microsoft’s astonishing take on the tablet.

Courier is a real device, and we’ve heard that it’s in the “late prototype” stage of development. It’s not a tablet, it’s a booklet. The dual 7-inch (or so) screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. They’re connected by a hinge that holds a single iPhone-esque home button. Statuses, like wireless signal and battery life, are displayed along the rim of one of the screens. On the back cover is a camera, and it might charge through an inductive pad, like the Palm Touchstone charging dock for Pre.

Until recently, it was a skunkworks project deep inside Microsoft, only known to the few engineers and executives working on it—Microsoft’s brightest, like Entertainment & Devices tech chief and user-experience wizard J. Allard, who’s spearheading the project. Currently, Courier appears to be at a stage where Microsoft is developing the user experience and showing design concepts to outside agencies.

Microsoft has a history of collaborating with other firms, especially in the E&D division: Zune and Xbox have both gone through similar design processes. (And plans for the Microsoft Store leaked through a third-party agency were confirmed as genuine prototype layouts and concepts.) This video is branded Pioneer Studios, a Microsoft division within E&D that specializes in this kind of work, working with another agency that’s a long-time Microsoft collaborator on confidential projects.

The Courier user experience presented here is almost the exact opposite of what everyone expects the Apple tablet to be, a kung fu eagle claw to Apple’s tiger style. It’s complex: Two screens, a mashup of a pen-dominated interface with several types of multitouch finger gestures, and multiple graphically complex themes, modes and applications. (Our favorite UI bit? The hinge doubles as a “pocket” to hold items you want move from one page to another.) Microsoft’s tablet heritage is digital ink-oriented, and this interface, while unlike anything we’ve seen before, clearly draws from that, its work with the Surface touch computer and even the Zune HD.

Over the next couple days we’ll be diving much, much deeper into Courier, so stay tuned.

Story and video at GIZMODO..

I’m not sure if it’s because I never have so closely watched the end of someone’s tour or if it’s just Kenny, but it seems he is really taken it very serious about letting his fans know he’ll be back and why he is taking 2010 off. It’s really neat to see how much effort he is putting in to letting his fans know how much he cares. I know that I’m pretty disappointed that he’s taking next year off, but he has said several times now that he will still be putting on shows, just not the full blown tour. I know I will still get to see him next year, because I will for sure make it to one of the small venues! Looking forward to the new album Kenny and we’ll be seeing you soon enough! -Greg

Kenny Chesney photo courtesy of Sony BMG Nashville.

September 21, 2009 — Kenny Chesney said goodbye to fans last Saturday on the last night of his Sun City Carnival Tour as he takes some time off to rejuvenate and record another CD, due late spring, 2010.

“It’s hard to believe we’re putting this thing up on blocks,” Kenny said after the sold-out show at Lucas Oil Stadium. “The response from the fans, out in the crowd and the Internet, it makes [me] feel like people understand, and that they know we’re not gone for good, it’s just a breather.

“And I hope people understand, I’ve never been an all or nothing kind of guy,” he stated. “This doesn’t mean there will be no shows or no music. It means I’m not going to be staging a major tour – I’m not going to take two weeks off and be meeting with people to build a stage, to start thinking about how we can do the lights different and what the video’s gonna be.”

Kenny ended his tour surrounded by fans and fellow artists. Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles joined him on his hit “When The Sun Goes Down,” Miranda Lambert came out on “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” the Zac Brown Band performed Alabama’s “Dixieland Delight” and Steve Miller’s “Space Cowboy,” and Wailer Drummie Zeb did the reggae classic, “Three Little Birds.”

“This isn’t just a show,” said Kenny, who’s the 4-consecutive Academy of Country Music and 4-time and current Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year. “This is a major production … and it’s not just, ‘Decide what to play, rehearse for a couple weeks and get out there.’ I need a break from that, so I can get back inside from a fresh place – and I’m really looking forward to that, because I don’t know anyone who keeps their foot on the gas like this for 8 years.”

Kenny’s break won’t be all flip flops and island sunning. Next year he’ll be part of the Hard Rock Café’s international Ambassadors of Rock, and currently, his “This Is Our Moment” is the break-out song for ESPN’s college football games this season.

“There are all kinds of things to explore within the music,” Kenny said. “I can’t wait to take the time to see where some of this will take me, and where I might turn up, Because, you know, I now have the time to maybe get into some interesting places. We’ll just have to figure it out.”

 Sun., Sep. 20, 2009 8:29 PM PDT by Brandi Fowler and Lindsay Miller

Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images

Trouble at the Hoff’s house.

Paramedics responded to a 911 call just before 3:30 p.m. Sunday at David Hasselhoff‘s digs in Encino, Calif.

“We sent an ambulance and a person was transported to a local hospital,” says Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Deparment. He declined to divulge the identity of the person or the reason for the hospitalization, citing privacy concerns. 

The 57-year-old America’s Got Talent judge has not shied away from discussing his struggles with alcoholism. He was hospitalized for alcohol poisoning back in October 2007, just months after his daughter infamously videotaped him on the bathroom floor in the throes of a bender.

“Unfortunately, I did have a brief relapse, but part of recovery is relapse,” the erstwhile Baywatcher said in a statement upon release of that tape. “I am a recovering alcoholic.”

Genius, land lines are the 1 thing that pretty much any can get in any part of the country. This gives everyone in lesser technically advanced parts of the country to catch up. Of course AT&T is going to make a few extra dollars, but hey I’m sure most people will agree that it’s a lot better than waiting for new tower to go up. Just wish I would have thought of it first.. -Greg

Posted: 21 Sep 2009 05:45 AM PDT

The advent of femtocells is nothing short of fantastic. Think about it: A carrier has terrible service where you live or work, so what do you do about it? You get a device called a femtocell that will let you use your land-based broadband internet connection (that you pay another company for) to make calls and use data on your phone. Of course you don’t get a discount for using land-based broadband instead of your carrier’s cellular network, but you just mutter under your breath and fork over the cash anyway. The best part? Word on the street suggests AT&T — the final among the big four to bring a femtocell solution to market – will be charging $20 per month for the privilege of using another company’s land-based network as a band-aid for its crappy cell coverage in your area. Awesomeness. For those dying to fit into this scenario, the MicroSite is now live and a launch is imminent.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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So I am the Toby Keith Concert last night, not a bad show. He starts out with American Ride, which it hadn’t occurred to me before, but Lynn points out a verse in the song, “Got herself a record deal, can’t even sing a note.” Now I can’t say for sure, but I think it’s safe to say who he’s talking about, Taylor Swift. Honestly I had never been a huge Toby Keith fan, but at that moment I like him just a little more! You know last time he said something bad about some gals, the Dixie Chicks, they pretty much fell off the planet. Let’s just see how far it goes, thanks Toby! -Greg