Star Trek XI teaser trailer beams onto web: A teaser trailer for much-anticipated new Star Trek film has finally found its way onto the web. Directed by JJ Abrams – the man behind Lost and more recently, the mysterious and virally marketed Cloverfield – Star Trek XI will detail the early days of James T [...]

Star Trek XI teaser trailer beams onto web:

A teaser trailer for much-anticipated new Star Trek film has finally found its way onto the web.

Directed by JJ Abrams – the man behind Lost and more recently, the mysterious and virally marketed Cloverfield – Star Trek XI will detail the early days of James T Kirk and his crew and will chronologically sit after the TV series Enterprise, starring Scott ‘oh boy’ Bakula.

Due for release in December of this year, the cast includes Winona Ryder as a young Spock’s mum (she’s responsible for his human half) the little-known Chris Pine as James T Kirk and Simon Pegg to play the young Engineer Montgomery Scott.

Click through to the article to view the teaser trailer.

I may have teared up just a little bit watching it. Okay, not maybe.

No, not the least-popular Star Trek series; this is about Enterprise car rental. The Infiniti is at Mathews Carlsen having some minor body work done and USAA‘s rental reimbursement is for Enterprise. I dropped the Infiniti at Mathews Carlsen, who called Enterprise to pick me up. No answer. They called again, got someone who said [...]

No, not the least-popular Star Trek series; this is about Enterprise car rental. The Infiniti is at Mathews Carlsen having some minor body work done and USAA‘s rental reimbursement is for Enterprise.

I dropped the Infiniti at Mathews Carlsen, who called Enterprise to pick me up. No answer. They called again, got someone who said they’d be right over. Some time later, with no sign of Enterprise, they call a third time and are told that there is only one person at the rental desk so no one to come get me. MC details a person to drive me over to Enterprise at the Palo Alto Municipal Airport. This is great, because it’s much closer to MC than the office I’d been to previously in Mountain View. There is indeed one Enterprise employee at the airport desk, plus one other customer waiting for a car, but there are no cars. We’re assured that cars are even now being delivered from other Enterprise offices.

A few minutes later, Enterprise employee #2 arrives with other customer’s car and he is sent on his way. Employees #1 and #2 confer and then tell me they will wait for employee #3 to arrive, and then the four of us will go to Enterprise office #3 with a stop at office #2 to drop off employee #1. All clear so far?

Employee #3 arrives and the four of us set off. Employee #1 is dropped off at Enterprise office #2, which happens to be the Honda dealership right next door to Mathews Carlsen. Employees #3 drives #2 and me to Enterprise office #3, the one I’d been to once before. We get out, I wait around a little while more and then am finally shown to the car that will substitute for my beautiful Infiniti for the next three days: a white Kia minivan.

The sole saving grace of this runaround is that the Enterprise employees were perfectly aware of how ridiculous it actually was. Everyone was good-natured and friendly, there were no harsh words, dirty looks or mutterings under breath. Just the same, I think I will request a different rental company next time, if there is a next time.

Nokia / Avvenu press release Nokia acquires Avvenu for Mobile Access and Share Technologies Provides anytime, anywhere access to personal and office files Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Nokia and Avvenu today announced that they have signed an agreement under which Nokia will acquire Avvenu. Avvenu provides Internet services that allow anyone to use their mobile [...]

Nokia / Avvenu press release

Nokia acquires Avvenu for Mobile Access and Share Technologies

Provides anytime, anywhere access to personal and office files

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Nokia and Avvenu today announced that they have signed an agreement under which Nokia will acquire Avvenu. Avvenu provides Internet services that allow anyone to use their mobile devices to securely access, use and share personal computer files, even if their host computer is turned off. By acquiring Avvenu, Nokia plans to further enhance its portfolio of solutions for mobile operators, as well as deliver a secure file access and share service direct to mobile workers. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and has not yet been completed.

Nokia believes that anytime access to PC content is a missing ingredient to mobile productivity. Smartphone adoption is growing faster than previously estimated and surveys confirm that many people are using mobile devices to view, process, and edit content. Easy access to existing pc content will fuel mobile computing convenience and productivity.

“This acquisition is another step toward delivering on Nokia’s business mobility strategy,” said Mary McDowell, executive vice president and general manager, Enterprise Solutions, Nokia. “Avvenu’s ‘digital locker’ file access and sharing technology allows users to search, access and share PC files remotely, using their mobile or other connected devices, even when their PC is turned off or not connected to the Internet. With the integration of Avvenu’s technology, Nokia will further extend its business mobility solutions beyond email to add collaboration tools that enable greater everyday productivity through access to a user’s own content anytime, anywhere, from any connected device.”

“We share Nokia’s vision of quickly and easily connecting people with their information and content regardless of where they are in the world, and whether their PC is with them or not,” said Richard French, CEO, Avvenu. “The combination of our experienced team and our patented technology platform will help realize this vision, while access to Nokia’s extensive technology and market resources will accelerate our time to market for new mobile Internet services.”

Founded in 2004, Avvenu is a privately-owned start up headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Avvenu will be integrated into Nokia’s new Services & Software unit as a part of the company re-organization that will take effect on January 1, 2008.

This is what we’ve been working on for the past several months. I’m going from a 25-person startup to a 65,000-person multi-national. I haven’t been really happy with big companies in the past; hopefully this will go relatively smoothly. The money is good, the benefits are good, the commute is only a bit longer (Mountain View instead of Palo Alto, but all freeway). On the other hand, based on the first day, the hours are a bit harsh. We’ve been here at the Nokia campus all day rolling out the updated version of the Avvenu service and now, at a bit after midnight, I think we’re done and almost ready to head home.

The “Service Engine Soon” light came on as I was driving home Tuesday night in my ’99 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP, so I made an appointment for this morning at my local GM dealer to have it checked out. The light stayed on through my commute to and from work yesterday, but was mysteriously dark [...]

The “Service Engine Soon” light came on as I was driving home Tuesday night in my ’99 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP, so I made an appointment for this morning at my local GM dealer to have it checked out. The light stayed on through my commute to and from work yesterday, but was mysteriously dark this morning (and was lit during the normal systems check upon starting the car, so I know the lightbulb is not out). Not knowing what to think, I kept the appointment and dropped the car off this morning. Apparently this can be caused by any number of problems from trivial to major, though there has been absolutely no sign of trouble–the car sounds normal, runs fine, isn’t leaking anything, etc. They didn’t have (or weren’t offering) a free loaner, but did have an Enterprise rental desk in the showroom. I asked for a basic car to get me to and from work while mine is at the shop, and the car rental guy asked me, “As long as you pay the economy price, do you mind what you get?”

I parsed that sentence and didn’t see any danger, so I answered in the affirmative. What I got was a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GT. “And this is for the economy rate, right?” I asked, oh-so-casually.

“Yep.”

“Okay then.”

Wow. I haven’t enjoyed driving a car quite this much since I bought the Grand Prix itself six years ago. The weather today precluded lowering the top (and I’m not much for the windblown hair look anyway) but it hardly mattered. And I spotted the CHP car near SFO before he spotted me, so I was lucky there too.

I always wanted a 4-door for passenger and cargo capacity, but now that Jen has her Subaru Forester 2.5XS (4-door, tons of cargo space) I’m thinking something a little sportier might be nice. I don’t know that I’d go for the Eclipse itself–I’d really prefer an American-made car–but it is causing me to look in a different direction for my next car.