Find Our Latest Video Reviews on YouTube!
If you want to stay on top of all of our video reviews of the latest tech, be sure to check out and subscribe to the Gear Live YouTube channel, hosted by Andru Edwards! It’s free!
Free NASCAR Daytona 500 Video Preview on iTunes
Posted by Frank Bisono Categories: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio / Video,
Looks like Apple and the iTunes Music Store might just be getting in on the good ‘ol racing fever this season as they are now offering a free 20 minute video preview of the Daytona 500. It appears that this year will mark the beginning of a new era at NASCAR, and they are starting it off with this preview. In the short flick you will see never-before-seen footage from historical films to a first hand look at the 2006 Daytona 500 test cars. They also include interviews on the track and in the garage, as well as a host of other firsts for NASCAR. As NASCAR fans, we truly look forward to watching how technology will play a major factor in this years events, and for years to come. Welcome to the digital revolution NASCAR Fans! Fire up iTunes and grab your copy of this film today.
Read More 
| NASCAR on iTunes
An Insiders Look at Producing The Olympics In HD from Torino
Posted by Frank Bisono Categories: Home Entertainment,
If you have ever seen a high definition signal, then we don’t have to tell you how absolutely gorgeous the picture looks. Some of the best looking images we have seen to date are coming out of the Olympics in Torino as we speak. In order to accomplish this, it takes a tremendous amount of technology, resources, and - you guesseed it - gear. An NBC Broadcast Engineer has been splendid enough to blog about his job and the details about what makes all this stuff work. The blog is a great read and something any video geek is sure to enjoy.
I can assure you that the HD feed coming out of Torino looks perfect. The US distribution system is complicated and picture quality will vary depending on your source. Digital Cable, OTA, DirecTV ect. all have complex systems that add layers of encode/decode processes. The production on this end is uncompressed at 1.5 Gbps, and by the time it gets to your home it will be between about 5-15 Mbps!!!
For the complete breakdown and additional images, make sure to check out this killer blog.
[ UPDATE ]
Well that didn’t take long. Looks like the blog is no longer active. Way to lay the smack-down on free speech NBC. Sheeesh. We would have thought this was a GOOD thing to boast about, but apparently we were wrong and the NBC lawyers, in their infinite wisdom, thought otherwise. Way to go NBC legal.
Read More | HD Olympics Blog
Advertisement
OSX86 Project Slammed with DMCA Violation
Posted by Frank Bisono Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Software,
So much for freedom of information folks. Looks like the good peeps over at the OSx86 project have been served with a DMCA violation and they have temporarily had to shut down the forums. We suspect it may have something to do with an individual who posted information on how to install OS X on a PC using a restore DVD. But alas, I am sure we will know soon enough.
We’re sorry to report that despite our best efforts, the OSx86 Project has been served with a DMCA violation notice. The forum will be unavailable while we evaluate its contents to remove any violations present. We thank you for your patience in this matter.
We wish them the best and a speedy resolution to this matter.
Read More | OSx86 Project
Latest Gear Live Videos
Motorcycle Rider vs. Honda Civic
Posted by Frank Bisono Categories: Wearables, Internet, Transportation,
In the spirit of all things gadget related, we thought this would qualify as something you would want to see. This Evil Knievel Female just happened to have her video camera running when Mr. Fast and Furious wannabe decided to get sideways in front of her. Needless to say, she didn’t have much room to maneuver and here’s the result. A quick warning - we don’t recommend you try this at home kiddies, it could leave a mark or two if you know what we mean. At least she was sportin’ some leather and a helmet for the ultimate in safety gadgetry. You go girl…
Biometrics do have their disadvantages, but the technology is undeniably cool. Automotive Technology Research and Development (ATRD) has brought biometrics into your car as an aftermarket option to help deter vehicle theft with the Biometric Immobiliser. The premise is simple enough - you have a fingerprint reader that is placed in an easily accessible location and positive identification of your finger is required before the car can be started. The brains of the Immobiliser are in a steel enclosure designed to be hidden away within the car, and the unit is capable of working as a stand-alone device or in conjunction with an existing alarm system.
Read More | ATRD via Coolest Gadgets
For those of you with a swanky Sony PSP, you are going to want to read this. Amazon has a wicked deal on the SanDisk 2GB Memory Stick Pro Duo - grab ‘em while they are hot for a mere $85.19 (after rebate). This bad boy ships for free with Super Saver Shipping to boot!
Product Features
* May be adapted for use in MemoryStick Pro devices with an optional adapter
* High speed data transfer
* 2GB Storage Capacity
* Embedded MagicGate technology for safe transfer of copyright protected content
* Adapter included
This one is too darn good to pass up…on our way to Amazon…
Read More | Amazon.com
Flying cars aren’t exactly science fiction, but they certainly aren’t something you see every day either. While there have been many attempts, and many failures, some concepts have had rudimentary success at least in function if not in sales (Moller SkyCar as an example). A start-up company called Terrafugia is determined to create a flying car that is street legal, flyable as a light sport craft, has practical value, and is marketable to a wide audience. Known as the Transition, the car currently only exists on paper and in the minds of it’s designers, but is slated to be available in prototype form by 2008. With heavy backing from MIT, Terrafugia appears to be aware of the pitfalls associated with the concept of flying cars, and plans on marketing the Transition by telling prospective buyers both the pros and cons.
With the need for a sport pilot license and an estimated street price of $148,000 the Transition won’t be for everyone, but may open the doors to future concepts that are.
Read More | Terrafugia via C|Net
Here’s the situation - you’ve got money to burn and a
need
desire to have an SLI gaming rig, but your requirements of portability aren’t quite met by a desktop system. You want a laptop gaming rig, and while the Dell XPS and Alienware notebooks are nice, that SLI acronym keeps calling your name. To fill that void, SavRow is releasing the AXEN-X1 laptop complete with dual 256MB nVidia go 7800 GTX GPU’s. An AMD Turion 64-bit processor (up to 2.2GHz) provides the necessary power and since you don’t want to miss any of the action the graphic chips churn out, the laptop is also equipped with a 19” widescreen LCD (1680x1050 resolution). Other options abound including a maximum of 2GB of memory and custom paint schemes to fit your personality.
Starting price for this behemoth is $4334 and easily shoots over the $5k mark when fully decked out. If you consider a 19” laptop to be portable, then get on over to SavRow’s website as they’re taking pre-orders now.
Read More | SavRow via BIOS Magazine UK
Mac mini With Front Row Hacked Into Toyota Prius
Posted by Frank Bisono Categories: Apple, Mods / Hacks, PC / Laptop, Transportation,
No, that’s not a go-kart sized version of the Prius, it’s a Mac mini running through the on-board display of a Toyota Prius! Nice hack by a post from a member of the MacVroom forums. Dr. FrankenMac has almost brought this beast to life, but still has a few bugs to iron out…
So my goal was to get a mac working on my Prius’s MFD display, and be able to use it’s touch screen to control the front end (currently Front Row)
I don’t have audio hooked up, figured the video would be the hardest part.
I’m going through a Can-View which normally is just used for display the car’s CAN data http://hybridinterfaces.ca/, but has RGB+S in and outputs the MFD’s touchscreen through a serial cable.
I tried using SwitchResX to output the 640x480 at 15.75khz with no luck (got it working with powerstrip on a pc) Ended up buying a used scan converter off of ebay that outputs RGB+S.
Wrote a perl script to listen to the serial port (keyspan USB->serial converter) and sends Front Row commands through apple script. Broke the screen up into a 3x3 grid (9 boxes) Up, Down, Left, Right, center for enter/play/pause, and left top for menu/escape.
Here is what I have so far. This is just the prototype phase. I need to figure out audio, and then I’ll actually get a mac mini and try to hide all the components.
You can check out some of the images on his website. For the full scoop, check out the post on MacVroom.com.
Read More | MacVroom.com
The Reason Why It’s So Difficult To Get Windows To Boot On Intel Macs
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Microsoft, PC / Laptop, Software,
Microsoft has gone and confirmed the cause of why people are having so much trouble getting Windows XP and beta versions of Vista to boot on the Intel Macs. It seems that while Apple and Microsoft have both stated that they are not going to go out of their way to stop someone from running windows on a Mac box, Apple did choose to make it more difficult than it could have been:
Interest is also growing among Windows users, who cite the operating system’s unparalleled selection of software and want to port it to run on Apple’s stylish hardware. A Microsoft spokesman confirmed that neither Windows Vista nor XP will work “out of the box” with the MacIntels. The reason, said Microsoft, is because Apple decided not to install a piece of firmware optional to EFI called a Compatibility Support Module that was available from Intel.
So there you have it. If Apple had Compatibility Support installed, all of this may have been a whole lot easier. Our take, though, is that a power user won’t want to have a dual-boot Mac/Windows machine. We certainly wouldn’t. We would much prefer the ability to run Windows programs right inside of OS X, be it through WINE or an upgraded Virtual PC.
Read More | Computer World
