tech

Meet Fitwall, where tech and elite fitness get off the ground

Beautiful, active people with overflowing pocketbooks make La Jolla, Calif., a San Diego beach town, the perfect place for an upscale fitness craze to take hold.

At least that's the gamble Josh Weinstein and his three business partners are making with Fitwall, a branded fitness studio where members strap on heart rate monitors, find their assigned Fitwall, and monitor their workout exertion with an attached iPad.

The Fitwall studio in La Jolla, which opened to the public this week, is the first of 100 technology-driven fitness studios that founders Weinstein, Doug Brendle, Ethan Penner, and Anthony Westreich plan to … Read more

Is this the best smartphone plan ever?

Don't talk on your smartphone much, don't like the idea of a contract, and don't want to pay a lot of money per month yet still have plenty of data? T-Mobile has the plan for you, if you know where to find it.

For only $30 per month, T-Mobile has a plan that offers 5GB of 4G data, unlimited texts, and 100 minutes of talk time. It's the cheapest prepaid plan I've seen from any of the major U.S. carriers.

Verizon's pay-as-you-go plans start at $60 for only 500MB of data; $… Read more

Episode 39: Is the Samsung Galaxy S4 the right phone for you?

The Samsung Galaxy S4 brings a lot of tech to the table. From eye-tracking and gesture control, to its built-in translator and ability to act as a TV remote, the phone is cutting-edge in a plethora of ways. That being said, in today's highly saturated smartphone market, does the S4 have what it takes to be the best? And if it does, is it enough to get people to switch or upgrade with so many good options out there? With these questions in mind, we dished the S4 out to three people, both iOS and Android users, to let … Read more

Apple 1 breaks auction record, goes for $671,400

One of what's believed to be only six still-working Apple 1 computers set a record at auction Saturday, selling for $671,400 in Germany.

The machine, built by Steve "The Woz" Wozniak in Steve Jobs' parents garage back in 1976, was sold along with the original owner's manual and a signed letter from Jobs to original owner Fred Hatfield.

Breker, the German auction house that handled the sale, sold another Apple 1 in December for $640,000, a substantial jump in price from the Apple 1 sold by Sotheby's in New York last June for $374,500.… Read more

The new Pathfinder mixes SUV and minivan capabilities

Nissan's Pathfinder started life as a truck-based SUV, then went to unibody construction in a subsequent generation, becoming a crossover before there were crossovers. That generation was followed by a truck-based model, which gained a little off-road cred. With the 2013 Nissan Pathfinder the pendulum swings back to a crossover design, striving to retain its backcountry capability while adding all the comforts of a minivan. With the Platinum Premium package, Nissan even throws in a rear-seat entertainment system.

What Nissan really attempts with the Pathfinder is to be all things to all people. This effort is, for the most … Read more

Tech 21 shows Impact Shield screen protector

LAS VEGAS -- A press event the first night of CTIA gave me the opportunity to see a new screen protector from Tech21. If you haven't heard of the UK-based company, it makes some pretty durable cases for popular smartphones like the Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 4/4S.

The Impact Shield strips device protection down to the bare minimum with just a thin clear film to lay over your handset's display. It's composed of three materials, including a polymer that's also used in bulletproof glass. Also, since it uses a silica material to affix to … Read more

Flickr's 1TB for photos is great, but how about a smart shoebox?

Last week, Google gave everyone 15GB of space to store their photos. This week, Yahoo takes that to 1 terabyte. You know what? I don't need more space for my photos. I need these tech giants to get smarter about organizing them for me.

I have an entire column I've been meaning to write about my personal journey in trying to organize my pictures. I haven't gotten to it, because like my photos, I haven't sorted it out. It's a nightmare -- and I'm a pretty organized person.

Trusting myself more than software Perhaps … Read more

Google Glass and the men's room urinals

commentary I suppose it was inevitable. The debate about Google Glass has extended into the bathroom. For those who've never experienced the joys of a men's restroom -- generally the women of the world -- here's how Glass might change our glorious experience.

Nick Bilton of The New York Times penned a great piece about how "the future came crashing down" on him as he stood at a urinal next to a Google Glass wearer at the Google I/O conference. I immediately identified, having had a similar close encounter at Google I/O.

In … Read more