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As we all know, most of what we see in those television infomercials is complete garbage. TVTopTen is a site that aims to pull the wool fromover your eyes, offering the “best” of As Seen On TV products. The site offers reviews on the products, allows customers to post their own reviews, and even offers two-minute clips of the television spots that the products were featured in.
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| TVTopTen
Dan Benjamin shares his unboxing photos of the new Intel powered iMac:
See the whole Flickr set here.
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Volkswagen Gypsy Car PC
Posted by John Goulden Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Google, GPS, Portable Audio / Video, Transportation,
Convergence. It’s been one of the holy grails of the electronics industry for quite some time. The idea is simple enough - empower one device to act as a central point of reference for multiple devices and/or incorporate those multiple devices into one mega unit that does it all. Depending on what portion of the industry you look at, the ideal concept of convergence might be a single point of control or reference, for multiple devices. By approaching convergence as a many-to-one scenario, it allows individuals to choose their own devices according to preference or need. Instead of being forced into using an all-in-one device that may not have all the features desired, a control device would simply make use of what devices the user has brought with him or her.
As a case in point, Volkswagen has been working on an automobile computer that takes devices such as the iPod and Treo, and provides a single point of control for them. The concept, named Gypsy, is a separate project from the in-car media center project that Microsoft and Volkswagen introduced at CeBIT. Volkswagen’s Electronics Research Lab (ERL) is working with Google to utilize Google Earth as the mapping system of choice, and sees the system as being extensible through the use of widgets. C|Net has an interesting, if lightweight, video of the Gypsy product in action. It only scratches the surface of what is possible, but it brings to mind what will one day be possible. The roadblocks to successfully implement such a wide-reaching device are abundant, but given a common set of communication standards, and a lot of luck, we can hope for the best.
Read More | C|Net
Latest Gear Live Videos
Timepieces can be fascinating objects, and they come in an enormous range of styles, sizes, shapes and methods for keeping time. Nixie clocks are quite popular, and Persistence of Vision (POV) clocks certainly have their place, but the crew over at Spark Fun Electronics just had to have something bigger. As in
12-foot widebigger. Using a series of green LED strips, some Ethernet cable, and vast amounts of styrofoam and hot glue, they created a glowing green behemoth that is near impossible to miss. Connected to a GPS, the clock is able to set itself and even keeps perfect time (within 100 nanoseconds).
A tutorial is available should you feel the urge to follow in their footsteps, but be sure to set aside a few days (at a minimum) for the project.
Read More | Spark Fun Electronics via Gearlog
A popular case for the iPod nanos (and shuffles) when they first arrived, was a modified version of the ever handy Altoid’s tin. The size was just right, and they made for a discrete way to cart the iPod around. Of course, not everyone wants to make their own carrying case, and some prefer something with a bit more panache, and that’s where the Tinpod enters the scene. The Tinpods are lined with 3mm of neoprene to protect and cushion your iPod (3G, 4G and 5G), have ports for your headphones, and come in three different graphic patterns. Each pattern is part of a limited edition set with only 5,000 of each available.
Not as inexpensive as an Altoid tin, but arguably more appealing. Available now for $16.95 USD each or get a pair for $29.95.
Read More | Tinpod via Techie Diva
Not long ago we brought you the Bloom! LED Flower Pots that can be used as accent lights around your home. Today, we bring you the singing and dancing (okay, no dancing) Tubthumpers. Tubthumpers are flower pots with speakers in them for use with your home audio system. Far more discrete than the average fake rock speaker, the Tubthumpers are waterproof and can be left outside year round. Granted, the speakers may survive the winter, but will your plants?
Available for approximately $175 USD per pair.
Read More | MJB Audio via T3 Magazine
Battery technology marches on in the never ending quest for the ultimate in portable power. One of the latest entrants is a new technology called Lithium Sulfer (Li-S). Sion Power has been developing the new battery for quite some time, and has shown that it will run an HP TC1000 Tablet PC for an entire day (8 hours). Of course, there’s no indication of the workload on the Tablet PC during the test so the numbers are subject to scrutiny. If indeed it’s a productive 8 hours, Li-S would give fuel cells some competition.
However, with the good, must come the bad. In this case it’s weight (they’re heavier than Li-Ion) and a dismal 60 recharge cycles before the battery is useless. To clarify that last bit, we noticed that other sites reporting on this technology are indicating the 60 recharge cycles figure, but the manufacturer indicates the batteries can be recharged “hundreds of times”. Assuming Sion Power is correct, Li-S has a shorter, but fairly comparable lifespan against Li-Ion products which are typically good for 300 to 500 recharge cycles.
While Sion Power isn’t the only company developing Li-S batteries, they claim they are the most successful. With Intel taking an interest in using their technology, they could very well be right. Don’t expect to see products utilizing Li-S until 2008 at the earliest.
Read More | Sion Power via C|Net Asia
MPAA Spokesperson Verbally Attacked At SXSW
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Movies,
Now, this I love to see. The MPAA’s Kori Bernards faced a firing squad comprised of smart techies who lambasted the way that they implement DRM, made it hard to watch the media you purchase on your device of choice, and didn’t seem to care about fair use. This was a panel hosted by J.D. Lasica on The Future of Darknets, and it is just fascinating to watch the MPAA representative use corporate speak over and over to a group of people who see right through it. You can download the entire audio feed of the panel, as well as check out specific video clips of the talk. We are a ways away from the MPAA cooperating with us commoners.
Listen | Download Audio
Read More | Blogumentary’s Video Clips
Sirius Signs Exclusive Deal with Audi and Volkswagen
Posted by John Goulden Categories: Corporate News, Portable Audio / Video, Transportation,
Regardless of which side of the satellite radio camp you are in, XM or Sirius, competition is always a good thing (for the consumer anyway). To that end, Sirius has signed an exclusive deal with Audi of America and Volkswagen of America. The deal will make Sirius the satellite radio provider of choice for both car manufacturers up through the 2012 model year. Audi estimates that 50% of its vehicles sold are equipped with satellite radio, while Volkswagen expects to have an installed base of 80% of its vehicles.
What was once almost a rout with XM leading by a huge margin, has turned into a fairly equal battle for market share. It’s arguable as to which company offers better technology (XM gets the nod IMHO) and better programming (Sirius I do believe), but either one makes terrestrial radio passe. The war for subscribers is really starting to heat up.
Read More | Sirius via Geek.com
Microsoft Xbox Team Working On Portable Gaming Device?
Posted by Jesse Easley Categories: Portable/Mobile, Rumors, Xbox, Xbox 360,
It seems that Microsoft does have a portable gaming device in the works, and it isn’t the Origami. that’s not the Origami. As rumored, the device will play movies, games, and music - sounds like a PSP-killer to us. Mercury News says that, “Game executive J Allard leads the project, and its director is Greg Gibson, who was the system designer on the Xbox 360 video game console. Bryan Lee, the finance chief on the Xbox business, is leading the business side of the project.” No other details have really been released, but don’t expect to see it until mid-2007.
Read More | Mercury News
