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DirecTV Starts Pimping Their R15 DVR Rather Than TiVo
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Home Entertainment,
DirecTV have finally started making it known to the masses that they are dumping TiVo in favor of their own homegrown DVR unit by way of a $30 million advertising campaign.
DIRECTV, the satellite television operator, is introducing a $30 million advertising campaign on Monday to promote its highly anticipated digital video recorder.
The campaign, created by the New York office of BBDO Worldwide, is DirecTV’s first widespread public effort to distance itself from TiVo. Of DirecTV’s 14.7 million customers, 2.3 million now subscribe to TiVo. DirecTV, which pays TiVo a monthly fee of $1.13 per TiVo subscriber, hopes those users will switch to its own service.
Even better, the unit is free after rebate through a special promotion right now, and even results in a free DVD player as well. The HD DirecTV DVR still seems to be a DirecTiVo unit.
Read More 
| DirecTV
So you got me - I am a waffle lover. While they don’t come close to French toast, they do destroy the pancake in overall tasty goodness. That being said, combining waffles with technology certainly does get my attention. Jesse Klein, from right here in Washington State, has shown his waffle making robot to Arlington High School (from where he recently graduated.) What’s more, in addition to cooking the waffles up, the robot will slather on butter, pour on the syrup, and spray on the whipped cream as well. And people wonder why I love technology…
Read More | HeraldNet
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What in the? Okay, for those longing to be referred to as a “fool” during their bathtime experience, try this Mr. T with rubber ducky body - or is it, rubber ducky with Mr. T’s head and arms? Whatever you refer to this abomination of humanity as, do know that you can get one for a paltry $9 USD at a place called Captain Quack. I think I have seen it all.
Read More | Captain Quack via OhGizmo!
Latest Gear Live Videos
The updated iMac G5 that Apple unveiled today is a nice upgrade from the previous model. While the bump in processor speed isn’t much at just 100 MHz, the lower price ($100 less), thinner bezel (the new 20” model is thinner than the previous 17” version), integrated iSight, and included Mighty Mouse are all nice to see. Even better is the new media management software, Front Row, which allows you to view your media almost like a Windows Media Center PC. Unfortunately, the iMac does not have an integrated way to bring in television, which would be the one thing missing from the otherwise great software. The iMac also comes with the new Apple Remote, giving one the ability to manage Front Row from anywhere in the room.
Read More | Apple iMac
The New iPod With Video Support
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Portable Audio / Video,
Steve Jobs has done it again, and has come out with a product that is simply going to sell a ton. While many of us expected an addition to the iPod line, Apple has instead opted to make what we might have referred to as the iPod video, simply - the iPod. The new iPod is available in 30GB and 60GB models and has a wider 2.5-inch color 320x240 TFT screen. Apple is also making the new standard iPod available in what we like to call “nano Black.” All other features of the iPod remain the same, with the addition of the ability to play MPEG-4 and H.264 encoded video. The price point is not too shabby here either, with the 30GB model costing $299 (holding 75 hours of video) and the 60GB model hitting $399 (holding 150 hours of video.) The new iPods are thinner than the previous models, with the 30GB being 31% thinner than the 20GB iPod, and the 60GB version being 12% thinner than the 20GB iPod (Thank God!)
Read More | Apple iPod
Here is an image snapped from the artwork up at the Apple event that is set to go down in just under an hour - obviously, this is a new iPod. It sports a wider screen than the current version, and the headphone jack has been moved to the right. Wider screen for video? Time will tell.
Read More | iLounge
Nice - the term “Wi-Fi” has officially made it into the dictionary. If you need a definition, here you go:
abbreviation - Wireless Fidelity, a group of technical standards enabling the transmission of data over wireless networks.
verb - convert or adapt for Wireless Fidelity compatibility : what type of electronics will be immune from being Wi-Fied?
It’s always great to see emerging technologies make enough of an impact to gain mainstream recognition.
We are very much looking forward to the Archos Gmini 402cc. Yeah, we have seen so many DAPs come and go from a multitude of different manufacturers, but Archos seems to do a good job while remaining low key about the whole thing. When we got our hands on the older Gmini 220, there were a few things we wanted to see improved. Archos met the challenge with the Gmini 400, and now looks to have improved it even further with the 402cc. How so?
Well, for starters, the Gmini 402cc can record 50 hours of video on it’s 20GB hard drive in MPEG-4 SP format, with five different recording modes at your disposal along with a 2x digital zoom. That being said, the Gmini 402cc is also a 1.2 megapixel digital camera. Not the highest end in photography, but definitely a value add. Of course, you can listen to audio (MP3, WMA, Windows DRM), display images, play video, and even game on this thing. The video out ports allow you to play your movies and photo slideshows on a screen larger than the 2.2-inch Gmini display, and the video in allows it to act as a PVR. Look for it to drop soon.
Read More | MobileWhack
Okay, we know we have been jerking your chain about October 4th just a tad, but it finally seems that we will be seeing a new iPod that will be capable of video display and output, along with some sort of iVideo/iMovie/iTunes Video Store. Now we wait and see.
Stanford’s VW Touareg “Stanley” Wins DARPA Challenge 2005
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Transportation,
So, Stanford’s Volkswagen Touareg ‘Stanley’ is the winner of the DARPA Grand Challenge 2005, bringing home $2 million in cold, hard cash. In case you don’t know what I am talking about, the DARPA Grand Challenge is a race where cars must autonomously go from start to finish without any human input. The Touareg finished the race in a matter of 6 hours and 53 minutes, with an average speed of 19.1 miles per hour.
Read More | DARPA Grand Challenge via I4U
