tickets

Will Call frees you from the tyranny of choice

Planning ahead? For wimps. If you're out on the town and want to see a show, there's a new service coming, Will Call, that will show you a small selection of events starting later that day, with guaranteed open seats--and with those seats available at a nice discount.

Like the other poor planner's friend, Hotel Tonight (story), Will Call is a smart yield management play. As founder Donnie Dinch said during his pitch at the 500 Startups event on Tuesday, 40 percent of all event tickets go unsold. At the last minute, Will Call puts warm bodies … Read more

The 404 767: Where lady, you're scaring us (podcast)

Today's show title comes from the Sloppy Joe scene in "Billy Madison" and continues our weeklong tribute to Adam Sandler's comedic repertoire. We know how you kids like 'em shloppy!

Jeff uses the first bit of the episode to bemoan the Washington, D.C., legal system for its use of traffic-ticketing speed detectors in deserted 40 mph stretches of road.

Take a look at the video and let us know if you think Jeff's ticket is warranted, taking into consideration his admission of guilt on a live, recorded podcast that is definitely admissible in a court of law. Cool story bro!

Now onto the first of today's stories: game company THQ is organizing an anti-North Korean rally in San Francisco to protest the country's dictatorship and abhorrent human rights violations.

The walk from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Yerba Buena Gardens will feature speeches by economic experts, musicians, and the launching of 10,000 balloons.

But the other side of the story is that THQ is also throwing the rally to promote its upcoming shooter game called Homefront that puts the player in control of an American soldier challenging North Korean forces in a dystopian occupied United States. Keeping with last week's discussion of the violent realism in Call of Juarez, could this be another case of too real, too soon?… Read more

Man uses GPS on Droid to refute speeding ticket

Sometimes, all of Google's wonderfully intrusive inventions can come in useful.

I am moved, you see, more than usual by a story in SkatterTech of a man who got a speeding ticket.

The police accused Sahas Katta of going more than 40 mph in a 25 mph limit, according to the story, which was authored by Katta himself. Katta was a little taken aback. He said he felt sure he wasn't going quite that fast. Fortunately, his Motorola Droid cell phone enjoyed Google MyTracks, according to his account.

This charming software records your GPS tracks and even lets … Read more

Buy concert tix on the iPhone

Suppose you just found out Brendan Benson is playing in your town. You don't have to run scrambling to the nearest computer to buy tickets; just fire up the new Live Nation app. With it you can find concerts in your area and buy tickets on the spot.

If your first reaction is to leave a comment telling us how much you despise Live Nation (and, by proxy, Ticketmaster), go right ahead. In fact, we'll start: if we want to pay a lot of ridiculous fees on top of already overpriced tickets, we'll just book some air … Read more

Live Nation for iOS: Buy concert tix on the iPhone

Suppose you just found out Brendan Benson is playing in your town (he's in L.A. tomorrow, FYI). You don't have to run scrambling to the nearest computer to buy tickets; just fire up the new Live Nation app. With it you can find concerts in your area and buy tickets on the spot.

If your first reaction is to leave a comment telling me how much you despise Live Nation (and, by proxy, Ticketmaster), go right ahead. In fact, I'll start: If I want to pay a lot of ridiculous fees on top of already overpriced tickets, I'll just book some air travel, thank you.

But, hey, it is what it is. If you love live music, you rarely have a choice but to use Live Nation/Ticketmaster--so you might as well get some convenience out of the deal. (Say, maybe this is what all those "convenience" charges are for!)

It's a good app, letting you browse by concert or venue (both based on your location). You can search for artists or choose to see all the shows for a particular day.… Read more

Car Tech Live 191: We unleash the 2011 Corvette Z06 (podcast)

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 191 SHOW NOTES

• What is the least reliable car?

• Which car will most likely get you a ticket?

• CNET tours the new Tesla factory

• Does Ford think the Chevy Volt doesn't exist?

• FerrariWorld--Woohoo!

• CNET LOL Cars

How to buy World Series tix online and not get ripped off (FAQ)

It's World Series time, and if you're a fan of either the San Francisco Giants or the Texas Rangers looking for tickets to any of the sold-out games being played over the next few days, don't despair: You can get in.

Of course, it's not going to be cheap. Since the only tickets that are available are on the secondary market, they're going to cost substantially more than face value. For example, in San Francisco, where tonight's game two, and games six and seven (if necessary) will be held, the average price for all … Read more

Ticketmaster adds actual prices, return policy

This summer's concert season has been brutal for the music industry, with cancellations and discounting galore. Blame the economy, blame the lack of marketable big-name artists on tour, but whatever the reason, concert ticketing giant Ticketmaster (which is owned by concert promoter and venue owner Live Nation) is responding.

In the inaugural post of Ticketology, the new Ticketmaster blog, the company has announced the end of a longstanding annoyance: service charges that get tacked on to the ticket price late in the buying process. Now, when you select a ticket on Ticketmaster's Web site, service fees are included … Read more

NFL games coming to the iPad...for way too much money

I am a Jets fan. Moreso, I'm an NFL fan. And I'm an owner of an iPhone 3GS and an iPad. Naturally, I'm awaiting this season with the hope that there will be some way to watch games on a mobile device that doesn't involve both DirecTV and the expensive NFL Sunday Ticket package.

Well, I'm out of luck there.

Word has broken on this year's Sunday Ticket To-Go package, a follow-up to last year's Sunday Ticket mobile experience that debuted on the iPhone. Last year's edition was free provided you paid … Read more

The future of concert ticketing

Are you fed up with the antics of the big-time concert industry? The continually rising prices? The huge service charges? (Not that this is entirely the fault of the ticket sellers--a percentage is usually kicked back to the artist.) The quick "sell-outs" of all decent seats, followed by the mysterious appearance of marked-up tickets on scalper sites?

Then here's some good news. In June, The Pixies teamed up with digital-music marketing agency Topspin Media to perform an interesting experiment in London. The Pixies--who didn't have an e-mail list before they started working with Topspin--sent an e-mail … Read more