What we’re watching tonight:

• Fox (720p) airs the winter finales of Bones at 9 p.m. and Fringe at 9 p.m.
• ABC (720p) has The Deep End at 8 p.m., Grey’s Anatomy at 9 p.m. and Private Practice at 10 p.m.
• NBC (1080i) has Community at 8 p.m., Parks & Recreation at 8:30 p.m., The Office at 9 p.m. and 30 Rock at 9:30 p.m.
• CBS (1080i) has a Survivor special at 8 p.m., CSI at 9 p.m. and The Mentalist at 10 p.m.
• CW (1080i) brings The Vampire Diaries at 8 p.m. and Supernatural at 9 p.m.
• USA (1080i) has Burn Notice at 10 p.m.
• WGN (1080i) has WWE Superstars at 8 p.m.
• TLC (1080i) has American Chopper at 9 p.m. and the season finale of BBQ Pit Masters at 10 p.m.
• Food (1080i) has Ace of Cakes at 10 p.m.
• Spike TV (1080i) airs TNA: Impact! at 9 p.m.
• MTV (1080i) has America’s Best Dance Crew at 10 p.m.
• A&E (720p) has The First 48 at 9 p.m. and Manhunters: Fugitive Task Force at 10 & 10:30 p.m.
• TNT (1080i) has an NBA doubleheader with Heat/Cavaliers at 8 p.m. and Spurs/Trail Blazers at 10:30 p.m.
• ESPN (720p) has a college basketball doubleheader with Purdue/Indiana at 7 p.m. and Cincinnati/Notre Dame at 9 p.m.
• ESPN2 (720p) has a college basketball doubleheader with Georgia Tech/Duke at 7 p.m. and Tennessee/LSU at 9 p.m. at 9 p.m.

HDTV Listings for February 4, 2010 originally appeared on Engadget HD on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The nominations are in, the picks have been sorted, and now it’s time for you, the reader, to help us judge the best in tech from 2009! We’ve put together a long, long list of the top selections below — all we ask is that you cast your vote for the gadgets nearest and dearest to your hearts.

Votes will be tallied until Monday February 20th, 11:59PM EDT. You can vote in this post — the nominees are after the break. After we’ve checked for abuse (just say no!) we’ll publish the results alongside our own Editors’ Choice picks the following week. May the best gadgets win!

Continue reading Vote for the 2009 Engadget Awards!

Vote for the 2009 Engadget Awards! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The giant tree nicknamed “Herbie” — New England’s champion elm — was 217 years old when it was cut down, the Maine Forest Service said Thursday.

Ready to jump ship from your current TV provider? The latest research from Strategy Analytics indicates you wouldn’t be alone if that’s the case, with 68% of U.S. TV customers saying they’re willing to switch for a 20% price discount. However, users getting TV from their phone company like FiOS or U-Verse had the highest satisfaction levels, well above those of cable and satellite. We’re not surprised cutting costs by 1/5 for comparable service would at least give users cause to think about jumping ship, we’re more interested in hearing from the 32% that wouldn’t, and why. Love FiOS that much? Can’t live without Xfinity? Let us know.

Analyst asks how much would it take for you to switch TV providers originally appeared on Engadget HD on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft is often unfairly criticized, says former vice president Dick Brass, but has a real problem creating new things that people care about. Despite having one of the best corporate labs in the world, internal factions thwart one another’s attempts to develop new technologies, wrecking the company’s ability to turn innovations into products. This is what happened when ClearType font anti-aliasing was developed: Engineers in the Windows group falsely claimed it made the display go haywire when certain colors were used. The head of Office products said it was fuzzy and gave him headaches. The vice president for pocket devices was blunter: he’d support ClearType and use it, but only if I transferred the program and the programmers to his control. I wonder who at Microsoft made sure Surface never got out the gates? Brass writes that the vice president in charge of Microsoft Office sabotaged the company’s attempts to develop decent Tablet PCs, by refusing to develop versions of Office that could work properly on them: “To this day, you can’t use Office directly on a Tablet PC.” Imaging would happen at Apple if whoever was in charge of iWork set out to suppress development of an iPad version because he didn’t believe it was real computer. Microsoft’s Creative Destruction [NYT]…

Kelly Clarkson, voicing a strong opinion on the topic of the day? Yeah, we’re pretty shocked too, but that’s just what she did on her Web site this morning.
As you might recall from way back in, oh, about three hours ago, Taylor Swift’s label boss, Big Machine Records president Scott Borchetta, has leaped to the defense of his mega-selling artist, after some critics dared suggest that her duet with Stevie Nicks at this year’s Grammy Awards might have been something less than a golden-throated bouquet of perfect harmony.
In his effort to shoo away the critics, Borchetta sought to distinguish Swift’s…

Filed under: New York Auto Show, Etc.

We couldn’t blame you for thinking that all of the ‘Of the Year” awards were finished for the 2010, but there’s still at least a few key bits of shiny hardware that have yet to be handed out – the World Car of the Year and World Performance Car of the Year. And while we’re not yet sure who will take home the big prizes, we do have a short(er)list of nominees for both accolades.

The field has been whittled down by 59 jurors to 10 possible winners in each category, and the top three finalists will be announced next month at the Geneva Motor Show ahead of the actual award ceremony at April’s New York Auto Show. The nominees are…

2010 World Car of the Year

• Audi Q5
• BMW X1
• Chevrolet Cruze
• Kia Soul
• Mazda3
• Mercedes-Benz E-Class
• Opel/Vauxhall Insignia / Buick Regal
• Porsche Panamera
• Toyota Prius
• Volkswagen Polo

Given the company it’s in, we’re not altogether sure why the Panamera isn’t in the World Performance Car running instead, but we digress. Speaking of which…

2010 World Performance Car of the Year

• Aston Martin V12 Vantage
• Audi R8 V10
• Audi TT RS Coupé / Roadster
• BMW Z4
• Ferrari California
• Jaguar XFR
• Lotus Evora
• Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG
• Nissan 370Z
• Porsche 911 GT3
• Porsche Boxster / Cayman

Lest we forget, there’s also the 2010 World Green Car of the Year award to be handed out, and you can check out that verdant bunch of shortlisters over at Autobloggreen.

For 2009, the Volkswagen Golf and Nissan GT-R brought home the bacon in their respective categories. Which cars would make the best picks for both awards? Have your say in Comments.

[Source: World Car of the Year]

2010 World Car of the Year finalists announced… is your favorite represented? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Haiti attorney says 10 Americans charged with kidnapping for trying to take children out of Haiti.

In a definitive defeat for film studios—and in a first case of its kind worldwide—Australia’s Federal Court has ruled that ISPs have no obligation to act on copyright infringement notices or to disconnect subscribers after receiving multiple letters. If copyright holders want justice for illegal file-sharing, they need to start by targeting the right people: those who committed the infringement.

The ruling handed down today by Judge J. Cowdroy aims to be nothing less than magisterial: in 200 pages, it examines the issue from every possible angle because of the “obvious importance of these proceedings to the law of copyright both in this country and possibly overseas.”

Christa Meuleman is in this month’s FHM (fill in country here – i.e. I have no idea what country this is from). Not only that, she’s on the cover. Therefore she is attractive. Quite attractive. And I share… Wiki says that Christ…