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So this popped up on the FCC website today, and it’s all very mysterious, but it looks like Netgear and Roku may have teamed up to make a streaming media box for the home, not unlike the HP product that was released the other day. The FCC filing shows that the device has HDMI, composite, 802.11 b/g/n, and ethernet connectivity. Of course, this could be something else entirely. Whatever it is, Roku seems to be up to something. This kind of makes me wonder who HP licensed their streaming media boxes from.
I love how Sony pretty much ignores the rest of the world, and does whatever they want. Take memory cards for example. Rather then use the industry standard compact flash or SD cards, Sony creates a new format in the memory stick. No one but Sony uses it, and they continue to use the memory stick to this day. Sometimes, admittedly, they win (Blu-ray) and sometimes they lose (Betamax), but they are never afraid to ignore what other people have done and do their own thing.
That brings us back to the latest example of Sony’s particular brand of crazy: music streaming. Despite the fact that there are other perfectly good music streaming applications out there, Sony has created one of their own. The new service, called Music Unlimited, is designed to work with many of Sony’s existing products to provide access to millions of stored tracks via the internet. I can’t really see a widespread adoption of Music Unlimited, unless they make it the only option to purchasers of their products. Sony announced this new service last night at the IFA show, just hours before Apple announced their latest and greatest. Brilliant.
Gamestop (damn their eyes) has a deal right now where if you buy Metroid: Other M, you can pick up a MotionPlus bundle for $20 off. Total cost: a billion dollars. Well, more like $85 plus tax, but it’s still a fair chunk of cash. Of course, it’s better than the $105 you would have paid yesterday for the same thing.
Ricoh has a sort of aesthetic going on here. I only just realized what it is the recently-released CX4 reminds me of: one of those disposable cameras. This new G700, although it looks like a totally solid camera, definitely looks like you’d throw it away when you were done.
There’s not too much to say: 12 megapixels, 5x optical zoom, ISO 64-3200, 720p video. The main thing, though, is the ruggedness. It looks to be about as rugged as those in our roundup a few months back: 5m underwater, 2m drop, dust and chemical sealed.
Nice touch: you can use the regular rechargeable battery pack, but you can switch to AAAs if you find yourself away from an outlet. I like Ricoh. Not sure why, I just like those guys.
I’ve been aching to get my hands on a Mint ever since it was introduced at CES this year. It’s a little cleaner robot like the Roomba, but created with hardwood floors in mind. Think of the Roomba as a broom and dustpan, while the Mint is like a Swiffer.
I’ve only had this little guy for long enough to charge him for a few hours and give him the run of the living room once, so this is just a quick overview.
So how is it? It’s cute! And compact. I’m always surprised by how big Roombas really are; the Mint is about the size of a big book or a couple netbooks stacked on top of each other. This means it can get into corners and edge around things easily. It’s three inches tall, which means it’ll go under most furniture and some couches. It fits under my couch just fine, but a low-hanging bookcase hits it on the “forehead,” which to be fair it figured out right away and worked along the edge of.
It’s extremely quiet. If you’re not paying attention, you won’t notice it until it’s bumping into you. But it still has enough torque to push my garbage can around a bit (it wasn’t sure what to make of that).
Very easy to set up. It uses little cloths or Swiffer wipes, which are very easy to install. Then just put its little base somewhere in the room and it syncs up and off it goes. I thought it would restrict itself to the room it’s in, but it found its way into my bedroom through a hallway, and came back after a few minutes. Bonus!
I just wanted to put these pictures up with these first impressions; expect a full review once I try it out for a week or so, get a feel for its battery life, shortcomings, and so on. But I like this little guy. It costs $250, which is a lot more than a broom, but hey.
A lot of noise gets made about nanotechnology. “Nano” is a prefix people like to use because it sounds futuristic and everyone knows that really small stuff is awesome. But the physical and chemical laws governing interactions at scales of a billionth of a meter are so far beyond our ability to reliably control them that you may as well just forget about nanomachines altogether. I love future toys, too, but unrealistic expectations of science and industry end up making things worse for everybody.
Skeptical? Enraged? Singularity believer? Read first, then flame.
The pocketcam wars are hotting up. If you’re a consumer that doesn’t particularly care about image quality or lots of options, you have a ton of great choices. Sanyo makes a great compact camcorder (I use their pistol grip CG10 for tons of stuff), and they’ve just released a pocketcam that looks pretty solid.
The VPC-PD2 (or just PD2) shoots up to 1080p at 30FPS, and takes 10-megapixel photos as well. It’s also got a 3x optical zoom, and those little ears on it mean some seriously decent stereo sound. It’s got a 3″ LCD with… not very high resoultion. 150,000 dots means less than 320×240. Boo.
It has a built-in USB thing, which you can use to get your media off it and recharge its little battery. It records to SD cards (including SDXC) and has a mini-HDMI out for putting the signal right on your TV.
Of course there isn’t much we can say before we get our hands on it, but Sanyo has a good track record so I’m going to give this one a preemptive thumbs up.
I just recently lost my favorite pair of sunglasses (a pair of silver Randolph Intruders, if anyone on Capitol Hill found them), so I’m in the market for a new set of shades even though summer’s mostly over. You never know. So it’s fortuitous I came across these gorgeous old-school Porsche Design P’8478 aviators… though at $409 they’re out of my price range by an order of magnitude.
The design of this 8-drive RAID tower is pretty clearly derived from the Mac Pro (and it would look great next to one), but I actually like this thing better. It’s the SansDigital TowerRAID TR8XP, and it’s got room for up to 8 SATA or SAS drives in there, for a (current) max capacity of 16TB and potential data read/writes at up to 700MB/s, depending on your RAID mode.
It’ll set you back $745 without drives, so it’s not exactly an impulse buy, but that’s really not a bad deal.
The Droid 2 hit VZW stores earlier today, but yet the mad scientists over at iFixit already got their hands on one and tore it apart in the name of gadget pr0n. The process didn’t revel any terribly surprising although while the battery is rated at the same 1390 mAh, even though Motorola is claiming twice the battery life. That’s neat. Click through to iFixit for the rest of the gory pictures.
Adobe released the latest version of Flash for the Mac recently, bringing it up to speed with the Windows version, which has built in hardware accelerated video decoding. The version you want is 10.1.82.76, which you can dowload directly from Adobe.
Up to this point, Asus’ US product line has been aimed directly at the consumer. This is about to change, as Asus recently announced that they will be offering their B series of laptops, which were previously limited to the Asian market.
Asus is testing the waters with two models, the B43 (a 14-inch) and the B53 (a 15-inch). You’ve got to love how creative Asus is with their model names. Here’s a few specs to whet your appetite, the two models will be available in four different configurations:
Intel Core i5-520M or i7-620M
Both 14 and 15 inch screens are 1366×768 resolution
ATI Mobility Radeon 5470 GPU or Intel GMA HD
320GB in 5400 or 7200 RPM speeds
“Spill Proof” Keyboard
Fingerprint reader
Asus also mentioned something called a Sonata Long Life Battery. Apparently, this battery is guaranteed to work at at least 80% of its initial capacity for 3 years. Quite impressive. Of course we don’t know how much it’s going to cost, but we’ll let you know as soon as we find out.
We heard about the 4GB Kinect Xbox bundle back in July, with its $399 price and matte finish. Rumors of a 250GB bundle proliferated after a few box shots made it look likely.
That 250GB bundle was recently spotted in Australia and appears to be a shiny, rather than matte bundle. In addition to the larger hard drive, the 250GB bundle will also include a headset, and come pre-installed with demos and apparently a game. No word on pricing of course or an international release schedule but it is probable they’ll have something for us by the holidays.
Tesla has released the details of their 2010 Q2 financial performance, and it looks like things are coming up roses for the nascent auto maker. Sales are up, with nearly $27m in sales coming in — translating to a total of around 250 Roadsters shipped. Their gross margins are up, though; their business is growing, and hopefully cash on hand will suffice to pay for R&D and manufacturing until they start eking out a profit.
Critically, the launch of the Model S sedan is on track, and much of the cost of development is already behind them. With a far lower price and larger target demographic, it is likely the first Tesla car many will actually see on the road, and not parked in some entrepreneur’s driveway in Mountain View. Meanwhile, the Roadster 2.5 will likely boost sales a bit, but it’s not really a bottom-line item right now.
At $50K for a base price, it has no immediate competition; without tax credit, the Volt is at $41K and the Leaf at $32K — but to be honest, they are completely different vehicles and completely different markets. Sales of the Roadster are a poor indicator for potential in the the eco-conscious upper-middle-class urbanite market, but with luck Tesla can take their time.
If your inner tree-hugger cringes every time you get a single book or knick-knack wrapped up in enough packing materials for ten, then this is for you. Oh, and you have to live in Seattle.
Amazon has started a program in which you can get your packages delivered to the Seattle area in these cute reusable tote bags, which they seal with tape (and a kiss) and pick up the next time they come by.
The downside is that the totes are only delivered once per week, so if you’re in a hurry to get your item, this isn’t the best option. I wish I could do this with everything I get in the mail; my storage room looks like a UPS warehouse.
Amazon today unveiled the new Kindle e-reader, though it was not personally revealed by Bezos, as we heard rumored. The new device has a 6″ display like the old Kindle, but is the newer type of E-ink display found in the Kindle DX Graphite. There are other differences, but the main one would be price: the brand-new Kindle will be sold at $139 for the Wi-Fi only version, undercutting even the bare bones readers out there.
In addition to the price and screen change, the redesigned body is 21% smaller and 15% lighter, down to about 8.5oz. If their press release is to be believed, it’s also got twice the storage (4GB) and significantly improved battery life over the old Kindle.
They say they’ve updated the web browser, which is nice, I suppose, but the idea of an E-ink web browser still leaves me cold. Focus on the reading experience and leave the browsing to iPads. There is a new voice navigation option, though, which sounds handy — I look forward to barking “next page!” at my e-reader in a crowded cafe.
Personally, I think this is a nice little improvement. The streamlined, lighter body plus the new E-ink screen make it a legitimate step up from both the old version and other e-readers on the market. We’ll have a full review as soon as we get our hands on one.
The 3G version will sell for $189. For the UK, the prices will be £109 and £149. You’ll be able to pick one up at your local Amazon.com as soon as they go live.
I doubt anybody is going to keep this Firefox plugin installed for very long (the point is made after a few minutes), but big red boxes and airhorns blasting you in the face are a good way of saying “HEY. Your information is being transmitted to Google.” You can get the no-airhorn version, but it’s not quite as exciting.
Samsung’s take on the large-format Android phone, the Galaxy S (with variants the AT&T Captivate, T-Mobile Vibrant, Verizon Fascinate, and Sprint Epic 4G) is going right up against the Droid X and Incredible, the EVO 4G, and of course the iPhone 4. Its features include lots of internal storage, a slim and sexy build, and Samsung’s vaunted 4″ AMOLED display.
While it’s held back by a number of interface issues (which will be of different importance to different users), the Galaxy S line is a powerful and attractive one. Should you buy? Wait for 2.2? Wait for Galaxy S II? Read on for our full review.
Look at me. Now look at the kitchen wall. Now look at me again. I’m on a horse. Look again? Look at the iPad on the wall!
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I’d like to present to you the Wallee, a thingamabob for your iPad that lets you attach it to your wall. That’s right: you’ve just made your own 10-inch Apple TV.
While I’m sure this isn’t what countless pundits meant when they said Apple would make a “TV,” this is pretty nuts. It’s $49 and mounts just like a flatscreen mount. It comes in multiple colors and could be one of the best solutions out there if you want to keep your iPad out of harm’s way in the kitchen. Otherwise, this is totes overkill. Also, I suspect the folks at Wallee will soon be hearing from Pixar.
A recent announcement from Sony researchers revealed the development on a new type of blue-violet ultrafast pulsed laser for optical disks. Sounds like it might be time to change formats again!
To be fair Sony just announced they were developing the laser, they didn’t actually say anything about bringing it to market yet, or even if it was intended to replace the current Blu-ray format. What they did reveal is that the new laser is capable of reading a disk that has 20 times the capacity of the current generation of optical storage. This means that a blue-violet based player could have more then 50 movies on one disk, or (even more likely) fit an entire season of a TV show on one disk. That would certainly help clean up my Netflix queue!
Like glowsticks? Wanna make your own, and put them into whatever container you prefer? The video above will show you step by step instructions on how to make your own glowstick fluid in various colors using chemicals available on the internet. As the person who made the video warns you though, it is cheaper to buy them in a store then to make your own.
One hundred million dollars. That’s quite a lot of money. If you factor in advertising, you’re looking at what is perhaps the most expensive game ever made. It’s not a chump bet, though: the insane popularity of StarCraft means that they can expect a huge return on their investment, to be paid back over what will certainly be a long, long shelf life for this game. Activision may be expecting as much as a billion dollars in revenue to come out of this particular item. I believe it.
I’d buy it. But I’d install it in my secret room, where all my Pac-Man ephemera and cartridge mobiles are hung. $20,000 is a lot for an unofficially Super Nintendo-themed bed, though. Do they think that the SNES generation grew up stupid?!
Even if it does come with two iPad docks and a 250-watt amplifier with four speakers (!), that’s a lot of money. If you’re into it, though, head over to Hollandia to check out the i-Con.
If you don’t want to spend the bills on a high-quality negative scanner, but do want to get some of those old black and white 35mm rolls backed up digitally, this one’s for you. Basically, all you need to do is get yourself a toilet paper roll or two, stick them together, mount the film at the other end in an old slide mount, and stick the whole thing on the front of your camera.
I’d recommend a short telephoto lens on a crop sensor — around 75-120mm ought to be fine. Get a strong light source behind the film, double check your focus, and start snapping away.
Since the iPhone 4 has come out, there's been reception problems. People have blamed everything from sweaty palms, to carrier problems, to antenna placement. Apple has been fairly quiet about what the root cause is, but now it looks like they might have a simple solution to the problem.
No, you’re not seeing triple — those really are three totally different models of voice recorder from Olympus. Well, they’re not actually that different. Core functionality is largely the same between them: a few gigs of internal storage, rechargeable AAA battery, built-in stereo mics, and a monochrome LCD screen (now bigger!).
People do, in fact, still use these; not everyone can get by with a 99¢ iPhone app for recording important meetings and lectures. Here are the key features of the new models, from left to right:
WS-600S: $80. Bargain bin version. 2GB inside. WS-700M: $100. Value buy. 4GB inside, MicroSD slot, noise cancellation. WS-710M: $150. Fancy style. 8GB inside, MicroSD, noise cancellation, and a directional microphone in addition to the standard stereo one.
They should be available in… September? Man, why didn’t they just wait and tell us then?
Adidas has a hit on their hands, I think — not just with these “Wings 2.0″ shoes designed by Jeremy Scott. The Star Wars line of originals was also a huge hit. Custom, short-run gear like this is blowing up — even mad designs (like these) are going to find buyers (like me). Combine expert curating with the long tail effect and… yeah. Wings on your shoes.
More pics below.
Expect these things to hit the online Adidas store (and select retail locations) on August 10th.
By now you’ve heard about the antenna issues some people are having with the new iPhone 4. Basically, it seems like wireless signal strength degrades if you hold the lower left corner on some, but not all devices. This has been shown on video and there are many reports out there about this issue — something that is particularly troublesome for left-handed people. I’m sure a lot of people have asked Apple about the issue — I have too. So far, I have yet to hear anything back other than they’re looking into it. But one man did hear something back about the issue — from Steve Jobs himself.
So this popped up on the FCC website today, and it’s all very mysterious, but it looks like Netgear and Roku may have teamed up to make a streaming media box for the home, not unlike the HP product that was released the other day. The FCC filing shows that the device has HDMI, composite, 802.11 b/g/n, and ethernet connectivity. Of course, this could be something else entirely. Whatever it is, Roku seems to be up to something. This kind of makes me wonder who HP licensed their streaming media boxes from. 
A lot of noise gets made about nanotechnology. “Nano” is a prefix people like to use because it sounds futuristic and everyone knows that really small stuff is awesome. But the physical and chemical laws governing interactions at scales of a billionth of a meter are so far beyond our ability to reliably control them that you may as well just forget about nanomachines altogether. I love future toys, too, but unrealistic expectations of science and industry end up making things worse for everybody.
Adobe released the latest version of Flash for the Mac recently, bringing it up to speed with the Windows version, which has built in hardware accelerated video decoding. The version you want is 10.1.82.76, which you can dowload 
Up to this point, Asus’ US product line has been aimed directly at the consumer. This is about to change, as Asus recently announced that they will be offering their B series of laptops, which were previously limited to the Asian market. 
We heard about the 
If your inner tree-hugger cringes every time you get a single book or knick-knack wrapped up in enough packing materials for ten, then this is for you. Oh, and you have to live in Seattle.
Samsung’s take on the large-format Android phone, the Galaxy S (with variants the AT&T Captivate, T-Mobile Vibrant, Verizon Fascinate, and Sprint Epic 4G) is going right up against the Droid X and Incredible, the EVO 4G, and of course the iPhone 4. Its features include lots of internal storage, a slim and sexy build, and Samsung’s vaunted 4″ AMOLED display.
A recent announcement from Sony researchers revealed the development on a new type of blue-violet ultrafast pulsed laser for optical disks. Sounds like it might be time to change formats again!
Since the iPhone 4 has come out, there's been reception problems. People have blamed everything from sweaty palms, to carrier problems, to antenna placement. Apple has been fairly quiet about what the root cause is, but now it looks like they might have a simple solution to the problem.
