hughes

HTC One makes video call from summit of Everest

This might not be what the Taiwanese company had in mind when it wanted its HTC One to be on top of the world, but thanks to British mountaineer Daniel Hughes, the high-end Android phone is the first to make a video call from the highest point on Earth.

Hughes, who's trying to raise $1.5 million for Comic Relief -- it's also the highest ever Red Nose -- spoke to BBC News yesterday from the summit of Everest. … Read more

Crave Ep. 117: Escape from Earth to three newly discovered hospitable planets

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NASA's Kepler space telescope has discovered new habitable planets, but don't pack up your house just yet. Plus, we take a first look at Fujitsu's FingerLink touch-based projection scanner, and Project Unity lets you play up to 18 classic video consoles in one box. … Read more

Businessman buys $15 million black-diamond iPhone

What do you do with a 26-carat black diamond that's been in the family for generations? If you're a fan of Apple with a few extra coins clanking around in your pocket, you apparently attach the jewel to an iPhone.

According to CNN and British craftsman Stuart Hughes' Web site, "Joe," a businessman from Hong Kong, commissioned Hughes to turn an iPhone 5 into a shiny $15 million affair.

After crafting a solid gold chassis, Hughes added 600 white diamonds as decoration, and reserved the Home button to be adorned with the aforesaid black diamond. … Read more

Prof strips, shows Hitler, 9/11 images to teach quantum mechanics

It's very rare that taking your clothes off does any harm.

Often, it gets the distracted to pay attention and the numb to get excited.

This might well have been the genesis of the thought process belonging to Columbia University Professor Emlyn Hughes when he considered how to introduce his students to quantum mechanics.

As his audience became increasingly rapt, the professor stripped to his underwear, put on a black t-shirt, hoodie and pants, and curled up in the fetal position.

So all fairly normal thus far.

But then someone came out and put two toy puppies on stools … Read more

The Hollywood sign: An LA story of local kid making good

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- It's hard to believe that a bunch of corrugated steel could be so famous. But when that bunch is nine letters that are 45 feet tall, and that combine to stretch 400 feet across, you get what is likely the world's most recognizable sign.

This is, of course, the Hollywood sign, a universal image representing the entertainment industry, and a monument that literally towers over Tinseltown.

But with its 90th anniversary coming up next spring, it may surprise some to learn that the sign has had its global status for only a fraction of its … Read more

Verizon leaps into connected car biz with Hughes buy

Verizon has agreed to buy Hughes Telematics for $612 million, bolstering its efforts to hook cars up with wireless service.

The New York telecommunications company said today that the all-cash deal would expand its ability to serve the fleet and automotive telematic industries. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter, and Verizon said it plans to retain the existing management team and its headquarters in Atlanta.

The connected devices -- or machine-to-machine -- business is increasingly seen as the next growth area for the wireless industry. The opportunity to connect cars with entertainment, safety, security, and maintenance … Read more

$9.4 million iPhone 4S is one garish gadget

Anyone who bought this $2.5 million iPhone should consider upgrading to the latest lavish technology, the iPhone 4S Elite Gold from bling king Stuart Hughes.

Stuart Hughes already dazed the world with an $8 million iPad. The only way to top that was with a $9.4 million iPhone 4S. For that price, Stuart Hughes should be offering an iPhone 5.

This is what you get when you plunk down that chunk of your rock star salary:… Read more

Off the grid? No cat videos or Netflix for you

NICE, Calif.--The ads promise high-speed satellite Internet with "speeds that leave dial-up in the dust." What they don't tell you is that if you want a truly 2011 Internet experience--including a steady diet of cat videos and movies streamed from Netflix--you're almost certainly out of luck.

Having spent some time recently at my mother-in-law's mountaintop property in a very remote part of Northern California, I found myself snowed in and unable to return home. And that forced me to confront the reality of what Internet is like for those who live off the grid. … Read more

Hughes to power Volkswagen telematics

Audi's may be some of the most connected cars and have one of the slickest infotainment platforms on the market, but it doesn't offer the telematics capabilities that you can find in a defunct Pontiac Aztek.

Parent company Volkswagen is remedying that shortcoming, and will partner with Hughes Telematics to bring telematics services to its family of vehicles starting in 2013.

Hughes will provide safety, diagnostics, and convenience services, such as navigation and accident response, for Volkswagen. The telematics company powers Mercedes Benz's MBrace technology, which provides similar capabilities to GM's OnStar service.

Like OnStar's … Read more

HP giving away (some) TouchPads

HP's TouchPad tablet became a blazing success at the end of the summer when the company announced it was giving up on its WebOS devices. Inventory quickly sold out when the price was slashed to $99 for the soon-to-be-estranged tab. Now, the TouchPad is one of the first discontinued items in recent memory to be offered up as a hot Hollywood prize giveaway.

You may recall rumblings of one last TouchPad production run after the success of the fire sale, but it appears most of that batch was swallowed up in a special offer for HP employees.

So one of the absolute, honest to god, totally, like, for reals this time, last chances to snag a TouchPad may be a promotional contest for the latest Hugh Jackman flick, "Real Steel." HP touch screens are also some of the stars of the film, which is set in 2020, a time when TouchPads are more likely to be a distant memory.… Read more