Grandparenting isn't just about babysitting your grandchildren and spoiling them. No oh. It's also about spoiling yourself for a job well done with your own kids.

Nintendo is dubbing Saturday, September 9 as Grandparents' Day at the Nintendo World Store in Manhattan. Grandparents' Day will feature a "Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day tournament", where grandparents can face off with each other in the popular game Brain Age.

The best gaming grandparent will earn the title of "Nintendo's Coolest Grandparent of the Year" and will win two Nintendo DS Lite systems and 10 games for the DS. Sweet!

And just so grandchildren don't feel left out, the Nintendo World store will offer a "Spoil Your Grandchildren" discount of 10 percent off all purchases on Saturday as well, between noon and 5 p.m.

But hurry! In order to be eligible for the contest, you must RSVP by tomorrow.

Registration and practice begins at noon, and the competition is from 1 to 3 p.m.

Good luck!!

Thanks to Associate Editor Kyle Monson for the tip!

Many of you have heard about the $100 laptop program, in which the geeks at MIT are aiming to provide laptops for children in developing countries as well as impoverished children in our own country. There are many challenges to this proposition including cost, timing and shipping logistics. But another concern is once we get these laptops children in say, a remote village in Africa, how the heck are they going to connect to the Internet?

One group, the aptly named Green Wi-Fi, has a solution: solar powered wireless. The company has built a wireless router that runs on solar power, which, if successful, would be much less expensive than setting up a wired network, due to rough terrain and unreliable electricity. Green Wi-Fi is partially funded by the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative.

The device, which is a modified Netgear WGT634U router (below), would provide a literal "hot spot" using a weather-proof solar panel. This would potentially bring all sorts of information to remote parts of the world both practical (weather and health) and entertaining (movies and celebrity gossip). Of course, the company is still working out the kinks--like what to do if it rains for a long period of time--but a few solutions, including powering down the unit during low usage periods, are already being tested.

In any case, it's a great step forward for the $100 Laptop initiative.

More Information:

Green Wi-Fi: How it Works

Green Wi-Fi Pamphlet

Solar power may soon bring the Web to remote areas

Related Articles:

$100 Laptop Effort Gains Momentum

'One Laptop Per Child' Pilot Set for September

A Computer for Every Kid

Now this is what Blogging Molly calls "geek chic". The Yalos Diamond is a TV set made with 160 real diamonds. That's 20 carats, people! It costs 100,000 Euro, or $127,240 USD.

It was on display at the International Fair of Berlin earlier this month. But I'm sure celebs everywhere will be trading in their grill for this.

Thanks to PJ Jacobowitz for the tip!

Sirius Satellite Radio held a media event a few weeks back, where it showed off its latest players. The star of the show was the Stiletto, the company's first portable player with a built-in receiver, so it can play live streams. It also has built-in WiFi! Despite the fact that lots of device details are already all over the Web and Crutchfield is taking orders right now, the company doesn't want to publicize the Stiletto yet. At least in part, this is because the company is locked in a legal battle with the RIAA to determine exactly what the Stiletto will be able to do. 

Like the Sirius S50, and XM players like the Inno and the Helix, the Stiletto can record songs off the radio and store them on the device. This is a great feature, but it goes somewhat awry of conventional radio licensing. So the RIAA has raised a fuss and is essentially negotiating this key feature into--or out of--the product. Sirius seems intent on releasing the Stiletto for the holiday season, and the XM players are on sale now, so it looks good for some kind of compromise. I would suggest, however, that all the parties involved go one step further.

I live in New York City, and world-class musicians are playing live within a mile of my apartment on any given night. Nonetheless, most nights I can be found at home, listening to Sirius' Left of Center  and writing down the names of cool tracks and little-known artists. This is how, despite my impending middle age and resolute uncoolness, I've discovered "new" acts like Art Brut, Stellastarr*, Interpol, and the delightful Lily Allen. (I had a list of more than one hundred great tracks on my Treo before it was cruelly wiped clean by our I.T. department during an GoodLink installation, but that's another column.) Anyway, right now I need to take those names, walk over to my computer, and either buy them from iTunes or put everything that is good and decent aside get them via Limewire. This is where Sirius and XM can step in.

Instead of merely recording a song off the radio, why not tag it and put it in a shopping basket? The next time I connect the player to the Net, via dock or WiFi, the player can simply file the request for the track and download it to the hard drive. I don't mind paying $1 for the track, if, of course, it is free of DRM restrictions and I can burn it to a CD, play it on my iPod, or do anything else I want to do with it. Having those unrestricted copies of songs floating around will irk the record labels, but seriously, folks--they are already out there. Besides, the increased sales from this kind of one-click music shopping would be huge.

Radio has always been a demand-generation engine for the music industry; why not let it work as efficiently as possible? And the model isn't limited to satellite sadio. Internet radio stations could do the same thing. Sites like Pandora are already starting, but with the DRM strings attached. I say, cut them.

This kind of feature is probably a generation beyond the Stiletto, but I think it could work. Sirius has already partnered with Zing to offer a lot of this functionality. First, however, we have to see what the RIAA has to say about merely recording streaming tracks from the radio. Perhaps the RIAA will embrace these new technologies and put consumers first. But I doubt it.

[[Update 9/7: Turns out, XM does offer tagging via the XM + Napster service on its latest players, albeit with DRM-strings attached.]]

Dan Costa is the Consumer Electronics Editor at PC Magazine and a host of Gearlog Radio; check back every Thursday for his take on the world of consumer electronics.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that the more advanced Inrix features are still being tested by BMW and Clear Channel, the service provider.

Real-time traffic information (RTTI) took a big leap forward in accuracy today: BMW announced that it will offer RTTI as a service on most 2007 BMWs equipped with a navigation system. BMW is the first automaker to prepare to use the so-called Dust Network, created by Microsoft spinoff Inrix Traffic Services BMW touts the service as free (it is), but has raised the price of its optional navigation systems by $100 for the 2007 model year.

The Dust Network service differs from others in several ways: It allows dynamic routing (automatic rerouting around traffic jams), it uses a larger network of "traffic flow sensors" (moving vehicles), and it can predict future traffic flow based on past patterns. This represents a step forward for navigation services in recent months, which also includes OnStar Turn-By-Turn and Mercedes-Benz Destination Download, which use an operator to look up and download mapping information, and the transition from DVDs to hard disks for navigation data on cars from Chrysler, Infinti, and Mercedes-Benz.

Other vehicles already can get real-time traffic reports, most commonly through XM Satellite Radio NavTraffic, which costs $4 a month. The reports are culled from embedded traffic sensors, traffic helicopter reports, highway department reports, and some automated moving-vehicle feedback. BMW has announced a partnership with Clear Channel Communications, which in turn licenses data from the Inrix Dust Network, whose name derives from the idea that communicating sensors may become so cheap and ubiquitous, they could be attached to every speck of dust).

In this case, it's not every speck of dust; it's 625,000 commercial fleet vehicles, delivery trucks, and taxis (as of September): probe vehicles, as Inrix calls them. These provide anonymized data that can't be tracked back to an individual who's perhaps speeding or stepping out on a spouse. Inrix President and CEO Bryan Mistele says competing services that incorporate moving-vehicle reports base their information on thousands rather than hundreds of thousands of vehicles. Still, using mathematical modeling, Mistele says the greater New York area can be accurately covered with about 5,000 or 6,000 vehicles; a city like Phoenix would need 1,500 to 2,000. More vehicles would mean more coverage of secondary roads.

Clear Channel's delivery of Inrix-based data will come in three phases and blend with Clear Channel's existing traffic reporting. The first phase, now available on most 2007 BMWs, uses Inrix technology to clean up data coming in through other sources, such as roadway sensors (which can fail, then start working again), police reports, and traffic helicopters. The second phase will integrate the 625,000-plus Dust Network vehicle reports. BMW and Clear Channel say they want to be sure it works before making the Dust Network part of the real-time traffic feed. Cars that get the Clear Channel traffic feed now, such as BMWs and dashtop portable navigation devices, will be able to receive that information with existing products. The third phase, predicting traffic flow along your route, will likely require new hardware, and is a year or two away.

In BMW's case, the service will be on the 3 Series, 5 Series, and 6 Series sedans; the X5 SUV; and the M5 and M6 sports versions that are equipped with navigation systems. Several older models—the Z4, X3, and 7 Series—will not be compatible. The signal will be broadcast as radio data service (RDS) information over Clear Channel's network of more than 1,200 stations. RDS is what lets your radio display the name of the station, artist, and song; it's being used by enterprising third-parties such as Kensington in its RDS iPod charger/transmitter to pass along iPod track and artist information to your car radio.

The traffic flow information Clear Channel passes on to BMW is about current traffic conditions. But Inrix is also able to deliver predictive traffic information. Inrix researchers model traffic flow based on previous experience, such as how long it takes to clear out a football stadium holding 50,000 people and the percentage increase in traffic flow on a road at 5 P.M. on Labor Day, and how that changes if it's rainy or sunny. They also incorporate things such as school vacation schedules. Inrix says it can predict traffic flow up to a year in advance. As a practical matter, on a day-long trip, you could see what traffic would be like in a congested city 200 miles ahead.

Inrix says six of the top seven GPS portable-navigation-device vendors will be offering Inrix services and, eventually, other automakers will too. The competing NavTraffic service is on the Acura RL, RDS, and MDX; the Cadillac CTS; the 2007 Lexus LS; and several portable and in-dash navigation units.

To read more about Inrix's real-time traffic reporting, click here.

To read more BMW's technology, click here.

According to the Financial Times, "the launch of the PS3 in November has been compromised by the company's failure to overcome technical problems in mass producing a laser diode needed to make the product's ground-breaking Blu-ray DVD technology work properly." Ouch.

Sony's next-gen game console has already been delayed once; now the number of units available in the U.S. in November will be reduced to 2 million, and Europe won't see the PS3 till next March. This could prove a major setback for Sony in the console wars, with the Xbox 360 available since last year and the Nintendo Wii on schedule to ship in the fourth quarter this year. The FT says Sony shares closed down 1.6 per cent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after this news broke; the company took a tumble a couple weeks ago too, after the Apple and Dell faulty-battery recalls (both used Sony batteries).

Haiku Review: RIM BlackBerry Pearl

            Camera, music

            video, strong reception

            with MicroSD.

The full length, free-verse version of the RIM BlackBerry Pearl review can be found at PCMag.com.

BestBuy has the Geek Squad. And now Circuit City has the firedog. Starting this month, firedog will provide consumers with personal computer services, home theater installations and integration of home electronics.

Can you trust these people? Firedog technicians and installers are "normal people" with "extensive training to install, repair or optimize consumer technology products."

And the team will help you troubleshoot or install electronics you've purchased from any store, not just Circuit City. However, if you own a Mac, they can't help you with it, sorry!

Rather stay at home in your PJs than travel to the store for PC help? Just access firedog's remote technical assistance for PCs through 24/7.

Why the name, firedog? "We chose the name firedog because it evokes the kind of qualities we intend our technicians and installers to provide: helpful, friendly, knowledgeable and reliable. When it comes to improving consumers' relationship with technology, we want firedog to be your 'best friend."

RIM released the first multimedia Blackberry today, the Pearl, and I'm even more excited about it now than when I was writing the review.

The Pearl is more than just the first Blackberry with a camera and music and video players. It's a platform, and that's why the criticisms in my review aren't as sharp as they may appear. Most of my problems with the Pearl are "Version 1.0" software things -- an immature desktop suite, very basic navigation options in the media players, those sort of things. RIM has said that the Pearl's software can be upgraded by users as RIM fixes bugs and adds features. That means that the Pearl will grow the features it's missing.

More importantly, it has great bones. The music sounds good. The video looks sharp. The camera is excellent. So RIM has a high quality framework around which they can grow the missing features.

Of course, the Pearl's design shows one of the great conundrums of modern phone design: people want small phones with big keyboards. Digit Wireless seems to have found an intriguing solution with their FasTap keypad. I'll be interested to see what readers think of the Pearl's little SureType keys.

I don't have our Pearl any more -- I had to send it to DL.TV for filming -- but is there anything else you'd like to know?

Also, check out Gearlog's Haiku review.