10 posts and columns on train

Grand Central Station’s Grand New Apple Store Looks Like … An Apple Store

in News on December 7, 2011 at 9:01 am PT

Apple’s retail store in New York’s Grand Central Terminal, the city’s largest hub for commuters, will finally open Friday, and with it comes new express-purchasing options.
apple_store_grandcentral

Viral Video: "Super 8” and "Portal 2” Interactive Movie Trailer

in News on April 22, 2011 at 12:15 am PT

Though BoomTown was dubious, this trailer for the upcoming J.J. Abrams movie “Super 8″ is pretty cool beans. It is in the style of an interactive video game–in fact, Abrams worked with the creators of the recently released “Portal 2″ to embed it right into the video game.

Don't Rain on Microsoft's Ad Parade (Except It's Raining in Seattle, Natch!)

in News on March 30, 2011 at 1:10 pm PT

BoomTown scrambled the All Things Digital jet (aka, United Airlines, Seat 7A) late last night to get up to Microsoft’s big event for its online advertising clients today. Called “Imagine 2011: Marketing Leadership Summit” and held at its Redmond, Wa. HQ, the two-day event is designed to wow peeps by trotting out a spate of strategery concepts those who buy advertising on Microsoft’s various digital offerings from its Bing search service to MSN to Xbox to Windows Phone 7.

Exclusive: Microsoft Mulls Legally Poking Facebook Over Ad Talent Raid

in News on March 2, 2011 at 4:10 pm PT

Microsoft–furious over a recent talent grab of its top advertising exec by Facebook–has been considering a wide range of options, including legal action to block the move, according to sources close to the situation. While it might not come to that, tensions between the two companies, who have partnered closely in the past, are running high over the hiring of Carolyn Everson. She had been head of global ad sales at Microsoft and has been hired to be VP of global sales at Facebook.

News Byte

Apple Gets a Grammy (Sort Of)

in Media on February 14, 2011 at 6:15 am PT

A tiny bit of Grammy glow for Apple: Last night marked the first time something recorded exclusively for its iTunes store won an award. Train’s version of “Hey, Soul Sister,” which won the “Best Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals” category, first appeared on the group’s “iTunes Session” EP last fall. (Though you can now buy the tune on Amazon, too, via a Grammy compilation).

Viral Video: Harry Potter Takes a High-Tech Leap Into Reality

in News on June 22, 2010 at 12:06 am PT

Apparently, it’s lumos time. Universal Orlando’s “Wizarding World Of Harry Potter” theme park opened this weekend to record crowds, all eager to experience the real-life and decidedly high-tech version of the popular book and movie series.

Viral Video: The Muppets Do "Bohemian Rhapsody"

in News on November 25, 2009 at 12:51 am PT

While BoomTown is trapped on, oops, fully enjoying, an overnight train trip to Portland for the holidays (and just beginning to sweat from not enough broadband), here’s a very funny video of the Muppets doing Queen. The puppets–part of Disney’s Muppets Studio–just got themselves a channel on YouTube and this is one of their most popular posts so far.
queen2

Trn Eng Txting Scnds B4 Crsh

in News on October 2, 2008 at 9:42 am PT

You’d think that with all the text messaging bans and new hands-free cellphone usage laws being adopted these days a motorist would know better than to text while driving, especially if that motorist also happens to be a commuter train engineer. Tragically, that’s not the case.

Kara Visits Joost HQ in London: Restarting the Start-Up (With a Little Help From Its "Friends")!

in News on September 24, 2008 at 10:15 am PT

Well, here’s a good reason not to write off Joost quite yet: When it officially debuts its new Web-based service in mid-October, the London-based company will have some pretty hot content with its half-dozen seasons of the former NBC hit, “Friends.” Also, there will finally be no more irksome plug-ins. There will also be cooler social-networking elements. While all this is not going to make up for the lost time the online video service has wasted with its annoying P2P-based desktop client download, going to a Web-based, all-Flash service with more robust content is certainly the right way to stop rival service Hulu from continuing to clean Joost’s clock.

Reporting Digital Map Errors

in Mossberg’s Mailbox on June 26, 2008 at 12:01 am PT

Walt Mossberg answers questions about reporting errors on digital maps, “virtual private networks” on Amtrak trains and saving Internet Explorer favorites.