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Is It a Ski or a Snowshoe? – Hybrid snowshoe/ski that lets you climb up a hill and glide down it
Love the backcountry, but not sure you’re ready to tackle triple black diamond terrain on skis?
A German company has developed a hybrid snowshoe/ski that lets you climb up a hill and glide down it, promising a more leisuriely snowsport than backcountry skiing and snowboarding.
The snowshoe-skis, made by Hive, have a sliding binding: spikes and toe crampons provide traction on for uphill trekking; then slide back and swing away to provide the downhill glide. The promotional video, featuring two postcard-perfect models trekking up a sunny slope in pristine alpine country, makes the transition from uphill to downhill look simple (but we haven’t seen any independant reviews yet). More
Ticketmaster Taking Heat for Paperless Tickets
Most dads probably wouldn’t opt to go see Justin Bieber in concert. But, say Dad decided to buy his teenage daughter and her friends a few tickets to see the pop star live, and planned to have the kids pick up their tickets at will call.
If these tickets are paperless, and dad isn’t in the flesh to show his ID and credit card—no Bieber for the girls. They can’t get in without the purchaser accompanying them.
So, it looks like Dad is going to see Justin Bieber. And this hypothetical has one consumer watchdog ticked off.
Paperless tickets offered by Ticketmaster require the purchaser’s credit card and identification as proof of purchase to enter an event. They are not e-tickets that can be printed out by the buyer, or a digital ticket that can be viewed on a smart phone. Some say the model is restrictive and anti-competitive, and are calling for government intervention to protect consumers from this small, but growing, ticket purchasing option.
According to Ticketmaster.com, the selling of such tickets will vary by event, depending on whether the artist venue or provider designates the paperless ticketing delivery option for the show. More
Is Verizon readying a family data plan?
Verizon Wireless may soon introduce a new service plan that allows families to share data among multiple subscribers across a single account, according to a post on Engadget.
The gadget blog said today that it has received employee training material from a source that indicates there is a new version of the data plan that will soon be introduced. In a screen shot on the blog, there is a section labeled “account level data plans” and a charge of $9.99 charge per additional line.
Engadget said it doesn’t know when Verizon will introduce the new billing option. But Verizon executives have been talking about such a plan recently.
Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said on the company’s earnings call last week that the company is looking at how to implement a smartphone family data plan.
“We need to make sure it’s a win-win for customers and for us,” he said. “So we will continue to work on that. But it’s important to note that we are a premium priced service in the market. And we will continue with that strategy, and we’ll continue to win.” More
