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The battle between Gillette and Schick is starting to look more and more like the one between Microsoft and Apple. Gillette is scheduled to one-up the Schick Quattro, which features four blades, with the Gillette Fusion. The Fusion features a ridiculous five blades, plus a sixth “trimming” blade on the back of the razor head. The new Gillette Fusion will be available during the first quarter of 2006 in both non-powered ($9.99) and powered ($11.99) versions. Meanwhile, Schick is preparing to launch a powered Quattro.
Read More 
| Fusion Product Page via Shaving Stuff
Windows Vista Netflix Management Application
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Movies, Software,
If applications like these are what’s in store with Windows Vista, then it makes me just a little more excited for the release of the next Microsoft OS. The screenshot is a Netflix management tool built on Avalon which works off of the Netflix RSS feeds. It looks slick, optimizing itself depending on what type of PC and screen resolution you are using.
Today at the Microsoft PDC keynote in Los Angeles, during the Jim Allchin keynote, Darryn Dieken, group program manager for Avalon demo’d an experimental Netflix application built on Avalon using Netflix’s pre-existing RSS feeds. The application was built by the design firm Rezn8 with design direction from two of us on the Media Center team.
Unfortunately, I am more of a Blockbuster Online kind of guy.
Read More | Matt’s Media Center Weblog
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We recently got a peek at Interactive Television Networks (ITVN) service. The box hooks up to your television, and provides broadband television using a high-speed Internet connection. The service was surprisingly seamless when demoed, working just as smoothly as my cable provider. So far there are three packages: Gold, Adult, and Platinum which are priced at $29.95, $29.95, and $49.95, respectively. The network, which has been teased for its mostly pornographic offerings, is finally branching out with content that is more family friendly. The list of channels isn’t impressive since there’s no MTV, CNN and so forth. All stations proprietary channels from ITVN, including a few which are on demand. For example, their music video channel allows you to control which videos you want to watch. ITVN also told us that they have a few more channels to be released by the end of this year. One nice thing about the service is that it includes high definition content. The idea behind this is entertaining, but without the support of more well known networks it doesn’t yet have that mainstream feel which is ready for the public. After all, we can only watch so much Dean Martin.
Read More | ITVN
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Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw Controller for PS2
Posted by Jesse Easley Categories: Accessories, PlayStation 2,
Almost a year ago, Nubytech announced that they were releasing a chainsaw controller for specific use with Resident Evil for the Gamecube. Now that RE4 is making it’s way to the PS2, Nubytech went back to the drawing board to come up with the PS2 version. The custom button layout and control design have been modified for comfort and ease of use. One of the other cool features with this controller is that it contains Nubytech’s N-motion technology (read, a motion sensor) so that if you lift the controller up while playing RE4, the chainsaw in game goes up. The PS2 version also has a ripcord which you pull to make the controller release a chainsaw noise. The controller should be hitting stores sometime in October.
Mattel’s Vidster Digital Video Camera Impressions
Posted by Edwin Soto Categories: Cameras, Home Entertainment, Movies, Toys,
Vidster is a digital video camera marketed toward kids who have bigger dreams than to end up making the next Blair Witch sequel. Incredibly easy to use, it’s ready to go right out of the box. Upon inspection, it looks cheapish and plastic, however keep in mind that it retails for $79.99 and it is intended to withstand the punishment of kids. It comes with 32MB of onboard memory but it is expandable up to 512MB using an SD slot. At only 15 fps, the video quality seemed disappointing and sometimes sluggish. Forgetting that it’s intended for kids, I tried to play around with it but found it difficult to manipulate the buttons with my huge sausage fingers. The camera takes 1.3 megapixel still shots and has a 1.1-inch color LCD with 2x digital zoom. The product seems to thrive once it’s connected to a PC over its USB connection. The editing software used is a version of autoProducer 3.5 designed specifically by muvee Technologies for Vidster. The software is simple enough for kids to use by integrating music into their scenes, emailing their creations, or even burning them to DVD.
Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513 Impressions
Posted by Edwin Soto Categories: Home Entertainment, PC / Laptop,
The Qosimo G25-AV513 notebook had every media lover at Pepcom’s Holiday Spectacular in awe. When you first look at it, you can’t help but love its sleek design. They were playing “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, which looked spectacular on its two lamp widescreen display, which was unbelievably sharp in contrast to the other notebooks sitting beside it. I was impressed with how little glare there was when viewing the screen at an angle. Beautifully designed SRS TruSurround XT harman/kardon® stereo speakers stood alongside. Even inside the incredibly loud atmosphere, you could still make out the dialogue in the movie. One feature that really stood out for me in particular was that you would never need to boot up the Windows Media Center OS to even start playing DVDs, CDs or, watch TV. Here are the full specs:
Qosmio G25-AV513 Product Specifications
Processor:
Intel® Centrino™ Mobile Technology featuring Intel Pentium® M Processor4 760 (2.00 GHz, 533MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache)
Display:
Toshiba Ultimate TruBrite™ 17-inch diagonal TFT display WXGA with 1440x900 native resolution; QosmioEngine for enhanced display
System Chipset:
Mobile Intel® 915PM Express Chipset
Graphics Controller:
NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6 GO 6600 graphics6 with 128MB DDR SDRAM VRAM
Memory:
1024MB DDR2 SDRAM memory3
Hard Drive:
120GB using two 60GB SATA/5400 rpm hard disk drives2
Optical Drive:
Front slot-loading DVD SuperMulti Double Layer drive
Wireless:
Intel PRO/Wireless5 2200 ABG (802.11 a/b/g); Bluetooth® version 2.0+EDR
Ports:
4 USB 2.0, RGB, TV out (S-Video and Component via D-port Connector), AV IN (S-Video and Connector and Composite/Monitor/Line-IN), RJ-45 LAN port, RJ-11, i-Link®1394, S/PDIF Optical Audio Output
TV Tuner:
Integrated Toshiba TV Tuner (US/NTSC)
Input Devices/slots:
QosmioPlayer (instant-on CD/DVD/TV), Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition remote control with numeric keypad, keyboard, mouse
5-in-1 Bridge Media Adapter (Secure Digital®, Memory Stick™, Memory Stick PRO™, Multi Media Card, xD Picture Card); PCMCIA PC Card slot
Battery:
6-cell Lithium ion battery (4400 mAh)
Operating System:
Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005
Dimensions:
15.98- x 11.22- x 1.93-inch
Weight:
9.47 lbs.
If you want it, be prepared to drop $3,000.
Read More | Toshiba Qosimo G25-AV513
Hurricane Katrina has displaced many entrepreneurs, leaving their businesses dwindling - if not destroyed. The SBA has developed a plan to help our fellow small business men and women get back on their feet:
On Wednesday, Small Business Administrator Hector Barreto vowed to be “swift in our efforts” to help small business owners rebuild their lives.
“We’ve been there before, and we’re ready to provide recovery aid again,” Barreto said in a statement.Michael Lampton, a spokesperson for the SBA, said the priority was to help storm victims get to safety and back on their feet.
“Most people are going to want to get themselves together before checking in on their business,” he said.
Adding to their woes, many businesses not leveled by the storm are now facing rising floodwaters. That and continued looting.
- Inc.com
Proof That Apple Is Definitely Planning A Video Store
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Portable Audio / Video, Rumors, Software,
So, the icons pictured above have been found within iTunes 5. Note the ones labeled “Gift Video,” “Buy Video,” and “Add Video.” In addition, the phrase “Protected MPEG-4 video file” has been found within various text strings within the iTunes 5. Now, can we all agree that Apple has just a bit more up its sleeve in regards to what they want to do with their online media store? After all, Steve did say that this is supposed to be the year of HD.
Read More | fscklog
We recently posted a story with sources from IGN that the Xbox 360 would be launching on November 25th. Now some of our industry sources are telling us to expect the Xbox 360 to launch on November 22nd. A resource from a major consumer electronics retailer has informed us that Microsoft has indeed pushed the launch away from the 13th time frame, but has only pushed the launch back an extra week. This is good news for many gamers because you won’t have to fight off Black Friday mobs. We’re waiting on the actual official word from Microsoft though.
For those of you long pining for a way to power your favorite low-voltage household appliances through your computer’s USB port, your dream of USB-powered toast may soon enough be realized. (If you possess a low-voltage toaster, natch.) MAKEblog links us to a fantastic little tutorial showing us how to use Dimension Engineering’s AnyVolt unit in conjunction with a standard breadboard to power just about anything under 5 volts and 500 mA. And, although it warns that attempting to power higher draw devices may “make your motherboard cry,” we figure you’re the strong, stoic type who’ll throw caution to the wind in the name of a USB-heated breakfast. Please let us know how it goes, won’t you?
Read More | Dimension Engineering via MAKEBlog
