Loaded: Buying Big Macs with RFID Video

Loaded: Buying Big Macs with RFID Video Transcript

>> [Background music] The New York Times is becoming an open platform. Sony's going to beef up it's OLED offerings and you can now order a Happy Meal on your cell phone. It's Tuesday, May 27th. I'm Natali Del Conte and it's time to get loaded. ^M00:00:12 [ Music] ^M00:00:16

>>Sometime this summer, we can expect the New York Times to open an API to let developers take their content wherever they wish. The Time's told Media Bistro that this would be partially completed by summer and widely available within the next six months. This means that websites you know and love could easily pull content from the New York Times in any way that they see fit. This is a progressive thing to do, but not all that surprising considering the Time's has always been forward thinking when it comes to the Internet. They have their own mean, they have their own Face Book application, and their Blogs run on WordPress. This is yet another example of old media deciding to focus on the content and let the community worry about the dissemination.

>> [Background music] Microsoft is ditching its book-scanning project. The company announced that it would abandon the task of digitizing books and archiving academic journals on Friday. A spokesperson said that the project was no longer in the company's plan for a search operation. In other words, we're going to leave that to Google. Sony said it's going to invest approximately $210,000,000 to expand its OLED TV line in the second half of this year. This means that we could see these super-high definition T.V.'s and prototype at CES next year possibly and to market by 2009. Right now the only OLED available is already from Sony, but it's 11 inches and it costs around $25,000. Samsung is reportedly working on getting more OLED's out there soon, so things are about to heat up in this market. ^M00:01:33 [ Music ] ^M00:01:35

>> The new Indiana Jones movie was an undeniable hit at the box office this weekend. Updating a classic is always a risk especially when it comes to a movie that depends so heavily on special effects. Cara Savoy visited Industrial Light and Magic to talk about the visual effects in action. Take a look. ^M00:01:50 [ Music ] ^M00:01:59

>>Cara Savoy: How did it feel to be tasked with working on a classic, a fan favorite, but yet to be building in all this new technology?

>>Well you know, this is really an iconic movie that most of us grew up with so it's really exciting to kind of bring that back to the big screen. You know I think we brought a lot of technology, but for the most part it was all in service of the story. A lot of it you wouldn't even know it was there. Set pieces for example, blowing them apart, things that you could probably never do in real life because they would harm the actors. For example, the jungle chase sequences, they shot those in Hawaii and what most people wouldn't even realize is that the whole clip and everything else in the background has all been replaced."

>>Cara Savoy: Do you ever feel like you're up against an increasingly more sophisticated audience where you really have to get your CG spot on or otherwise people aren't going to buy into the story-line.

>>Yes, definitely, I mean even to us, jaded CG professionals, you go and you watch the trailer and you can't wait to see it. ^M00:02:55 [ Music ] ^M00:02:57

>>You can find Cara's full report at News.com.

>>[Background music] On the heals of rumors of a touch screen one laptop per child, there are now rumors of a touch screen EPC; of course there are. An Australian publication called Current says that we could see an unveiling as early as June 3rd. The new machine would not be targeted toward the super-cheap and super-portable market the way the EPC currently is since touch screens can be so pricey. But, we'll have to wait and see what Acis has up their sleeve.

>>In Japan you can now order a Big Mac with your cell phone. McDonald's Japan has a new RFID payment system that lets customers place orders and pay electronically by swiping their mobile handset on an RFID reader. The system is called Cazazzu Coupon [assumed spelling] - I'm quiet sure I'm saying that wrong - and it means no-contact coupon. It's currently being tested in 175 McDonald's stores mainly in the Tokyo area, but McDonald's does plan to expand the program to 3,800 stores by next year.

>>A few months ago, I called Rock Band the new county fair for has-beens. Apparently, I was right. It used to be that bands of yesteryear would have to travel around to county fairs to keep their music going, but Motley Crue [assumed spelling] has saved themselves the road trip. The band's latest single was launched simultaneously on Rock Band and then also on iTunes and Amazon. On iTunes and Amazon, the traditional downloading channels, it only sold 10,000 copies; on Rock Band, 47,000. Still, the same research points out that catalog songs are the best sellers on Rock Band, so when the band finally does hit the road, they are going to have to sing "Girls, Girls, Girls".

>>Those are all your headlines for today. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Natali Del Conte with CNETTV and you've just been loaded. ^M00:04:30 [ Music ]