New 2-wheeled "Car" from GM and Segway

General Motors Corp. and Segway Inc. finally annouced the PUMA today. It's not just another hyprid or electric car; it's a "Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility" (PUMA) vehicle. It has only two wheels and two seats, but will get you around at a whopping 35 MPH. The prototype weights 300 pounds, and can run for 35 miles on one charge of its rechargeable lithium ion battery. Larry Burns, the vice president of research for GM says that the PUMA will not have airbags and will only have safety belts for "comfort purposes" only. Why you ask? Well, it's designed to avoid obstacles like pedestrians and other cars. It definitely seems to be geared mostly toward urban travel, so avoiding obstacles like umm... people... is definitely a plus. It might even be quicker than a regular car if you are usually in heavy traffic areas most of the time anyway (provided you won't be required to stay in the normal lanes ... which would only make it a gas saver and not a time saver).

Is this what GM needs? Maybe, but if they are allowed offroad, then I'm not sure how many of these PUMA's will be able to fit on a sidewalk.

Looks like this could be some competition to Panther Motors' Scoot Coupe 2009. We'll se how this super small 2- or 3-wheeled mini-car trend plays out soon enough.

Neither GM nor Segway disclosed a price for the P.U.M.A. yet, but did reveal that the operating cost would be around one third or less than the average regular car. This includes the purchase price, insurance, maintenance, and fuel.

Cheap Pair of Keyring Breathalyzers!

You never know when you might find yourself in a situation where someone's ability to drive is "questionable". Prove it to them with this neat little gadget. Test your blood alcohol content (BAC) in a flash with this breathalyzer from Ashley Collection. Woot.com is currently offering the breathalyzers for an awesome price of $9.99 for two! Yep, you can even give one to a a friend or family member to keep with them at all times.

One cool thing about it is that it's FDA approved. Here are the full freatures from Woot's website:

• Aids in the detection of alcohol intoxication
• Measures the amount of alcohol on your breath
• Oxidized semiconductor measures blood alcohol content (BAC) in seconds
• Blow onto the sensor for at least 3 seconds and it will report if your BAC is low (less than .05%), borderline (.05% to .08%), or legally intoxicated (greater than .08%)
• Accurate for at least 400 tests or 1 year from the first use
• LED flashlight finds keyholes in dark parking lots, streets and garages
• Convenient timer, counting up or down, great to measure time on parking meters and garages
• Compact breathalyzer is lightweight and sports a keychain for easy transport
• Operates on 2 AAA batteries (not included)
• FDA approved

Grab one soon before they sell out! It is certainly cheaper than the AlcoHawk Digital Alcohol Detector Brookstone is selling ...

UPDATE: Wow! ... those sold out quick! Hopefully out of responsibility of course ...

Free WiFi from Optimum Online!

If you are currently an Optimum Online customer, you can enjoy access to WiFi hotspots completely free! Tons of hotspots are located all throughout the NY, NJ, and CT area. With services like Skype for iPhone and BlackBerry, this could prove to be some great news for Optimum subscribers. As for those on Comcast, many people are still without access to their Comcast webmail ... might be a good time to move to an area covered by Optimum!

All you need to do is login with your Optimum ID and password. Find out if Optimum's free WiFi is available near you!

Watch Free Full-Length Documentaries with SnagFilms

Enjoy watching documentaries? Well, a website growing in popularity lately will provide you with a perfect place to watch an increasing selection of over 550 documentaries, for FREE! It's called SnagFilms. The vast selection is guaranteed to have something you'll like to watch. In addition, you can actually gather a collection of your favorite documentaries and put them on your website (including Facebook and MySpace!) in your own 'virtual theater'.

Here's a summary of how it works, courtesy of SnagFilms:

• Find. Whether using our custom search tools, browsing by topic, or tuning into one of the great channels provided by our partners, with a few clicks you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for.
• Watch. By streaming films worldwide, on-demand, 24x7 and with no software installation or downloading required, we have radically expanded the audience for documentary films. All you need is a decent broadband connection. Just click play, go full-screen, and lean back and enjoy our films.
• Snag. Widgets let you take your favorite SnagFilms with you wherever you like to go online. Open a virtual movie theater right in your webpage, blog, Facebook or MySpace page, or just about any other place online you can think of.
• Support. At their best, documentaries don‘t merely entertain us, they engage and inspire us to action. We provide a link for you to a charity related to the topic of each film (many of them selected by the filmmaker) so you can get involved, immediately. And just by embedding our widgets, you’ve donated your pixels and helped support independent film.

The service is technically in beta, but works wonderfully and is available to all. SnagFilms is a great way to watch the kinds of documentraries that interest you the most, and provides a great venue for filmmakers, producers, and distributors to publicize their content. You can submit to SnagFilms by sending an email to submissions@snagfilms.com.

Comcast Email Error Shows System is Down for All Customers

The weekend has brought some serious issues for users of Comcast's email service. Anyone who tried to log in to their Comcast webmail was greeted with an Error code 400. The code simply means that the network is down, but the underlying problem has proven to not be simple to fix. The company initially said the issue would be resolved by 1:00 PM EST today, but later updated that with a 2:00 PM EST resolution time. As of now Comcast technitions are still trying to identify and correct the server problems.

Frank Eliason, Comcast's Director of Digital Care, has been making great use of Twitter. For those of you who don't know, Twitter is quite a useful tool. It allows you to post small, 140-character updates to people who are following you. You can follow others to get their updates as well (follow me on Twitter here). Eliason has been using Twitter to keep customers updated on Comcast's email problems. His latest update, at about 3:15 PM, stated " I will be responding to everyone. Servers are back but some directories are being restored if you are not back should be momentarily." However, another tweet from Eliason just a few minutes later read, " Just received notice that others that were fixed are being impacted again. I am sorry for this trouble and agree unacceptable." Follow Frank Elison on Twitter here (his username is "comcastcares").

How many of you stuck without access to your Comcast webmail are relying on your BlackBerry's more than ever? I know I would be. Get the best of both worlds by using your BlackBerry for email, as well as to follow comcastcares on Twitter, with a great free Twitter program for BlackBerry: TwitterBerry.

More information the Comcast email problems here. Check back for updates!