Monday, May 14, 2007
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Cisco Super-DVR On The Way?
11:50PM Seamus Byrne | Cisco is finally getting its Linksys and Scientific Atlanta armies in lockstep, and is devising a home-theater assault that could actually gain ground, according to BusinessWeek. At the vanguard is a mystery “souped-up” set-top box that combines DVR functionality and wireless networking for one-box, whole-house distributed video. The boxes would also likely include software from another acquisition, KiSS Technology, to retrieve media files from PCs and also the Internet. (Might even have a browser….a slight feeling of déjÃ¥ vu is coming over me.) Word is that there may be some editions distributed by cable companies, which makes sense. What’s weirder is that Cisco may also sell one in stores under the Linksys brand. Would the Linksys boxes require Cable Cards? If so, wouldn’t that put them at an unfair disadvantage (hobbled technology and presumably higher price) to their cable-co cousins? One final question: Why should I believe in this initiative, when I myself have experienced not once but twice the way decent Scientific Atlanta technology gets adulterated by Big Cable? I like the sound of a Cisco Super-DVR, but when I close my eyes to think of it, all I can picture is the Cablevision Cripple-DVR sitting next to my TV. Good luck, Cisco—we’ll be watching. – Wilson Rothman Cisco Steps Up Consumer Push [BusinessWeek] More »
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Connect360 Updated: Let Your Mac Play With Your Xbox 360…Again
11:41PM Seamus Byrne | For those of you new to this application, it lets the Mac users out there get in on the music, photo and video streaming fun that Windows users have been experiencing on their Xbox 360’s for a while now. This latest update, v3.0, not only lets your Mac properly connect to a 360 that has the latest Spring Update installed, but also has added codec support for H.264 and Mpeg-4 video, even in HD. Too bad it can’t decrypt iTunes DRM. But it does make the idea of spending $300 for an AppleTV a little harder to swallow, especially if you already have a 360 and aren’t that into iTunes video downloads – Ben Longo Product Page [Connect 360]-Link Fixed More »
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AMD Rolls Out Phenom X2 and Phenom X4 Processors, FASN8 Platform
11:32PM Seamus Byrne | Now it’s official, AMD has bumped its Athlon processors off the high horse and replaced them with Phenom X2 (dual core) and Phenom X4 (quad core) processors, and the company says these new chips will be part of its enthusiast platform it calls FASN8. The company’s saying that when you lash these chips together with its DirectX 10 ATI Radion HD 2000 series graphics cards shipped today, you’ll get, well, some serious graphics performance. We’ll believe it when we see it, but the ability to have two of these quad-core processors on one motherboard will surely make for some serious eight-way action. AMD added lots of bluster along with the announcement, too: With this announcement, AMD also unleashes some world-class marketing guff, calling these Phenom X4 chips the first “true quad core” processors, accusing “other products” of “packaging two dual core chips to form their quad core processors.” Accusations such as this volley directed at Intel signal a hot chip war on the way. It’s going to take a lot for AMD to catch up to Intel, though, but the enhanced performance per watt of these chips, along with their Dual Socket Direct Connect architecture, 128-bit FPUs and shared L3 cache might just put a bit of heat on Intel for a while. We can’t wait to see the benchmarks on these chips, because until we see the performance numbers, this just sounds like a lot of mumbo-jumbo. – Charlie White Press Release [AMD] More »
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ATI Radeon HD 2000 Series Launched, from $99 to $399
11:02PM Seamus Byrne | As expected, the ATI Radeon 2000 series have been launched, starting at less than $99 for the 2400 series, $99 to $199 for the 2600 series and $399 for the ATI Radeon 2900 XT. The new cards come with 65-nm GPU, 512-bit memory bus, second generation Unified Shader Architecture, new Unified Video Decoder for HD multimedia playback and obligatory DirectX 10 support. Also as expected, none of the models come with the belly dancers that were at the AMD press event in Tunis. Too bad, because maybe that would have distracted us from the fact that the latest Radeon cards seem to get spanked by their NVIDIA counterparts, which apparently offer higher performance and lower consumption while compared to sample cards provided by ATI. In any case, you will find the belly dancer after the jump, along with complete official specs for the 2900 XT. More »
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Propane Gauge Keeps You From Coming Up Short
10:49PM Seamus Byrne | Grilling season is upon us, and this propane gauge from Gaslow has arrived to make our lives easier. Sure, a lot of grills have a makeshift lever-like device that weighs the propane and gives you an approximate idea of how much juice you have left, but those are crap—they’re not accurate, and will let you down every time. Bolt this baby in between tank and hose, and it gives you an accurate reading. It’s not brand new, but this is the time of year to get your grilling chops in shape, and its $24.95 price is a bargain for saving a barbecue. Its leak detector is a nice little bonus, too. – Charlie White Product Page [Brookstone, via Coolest Gadgets] More »
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Nexx X60 Helmet Lets You Wear Your Jeans On Your Head
10:28PM Seamus Byrne | If you’re a motorcyclist who sometimes wears your underwear on your head, now you can wear a pair of jeans on top of that, and have your head protected from massive damage as well with these Nexx X60 Open Face motorcycle helmets. This jeans-like style is just one of a dozen choices, bringing the serious Thermo Resin protection along with anti-sweat fabric inside. A mere $200 protects your noggin from knockin’, and now you can put on a pair of jeans, a jean jacket and this helmet and have that denim look all over. Hey, it gives new meaning to the term “butthead.” – Charlie White Nexx X60 Open Face Motorcycle Helmets [Be Sportier] More »
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Mr P Tape Dispenser Turns your Desk into a Weird Place
10:26PM Seamus Byrne | There’s something a bit fetishy about this Mr P tape dispenser, but I can’t quite put my finger on why he looks so odd. Perhaps it’s because, with the tape stretched between his mouth and his toes it looks like he’s biting the sheet. Which must mean there’s something unspeakable going on beneath the covers. And I don’t want to find out exactly what that is. Or he’s got an unfeasibly long tongue, in which case some of you office workers will be itching to get your hands on him. Mr P comes in black, white, blue and green and he will cost you $25. Mr P tape dispenser at your dispense [Gizmodiva] More »
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The End of the World is Nigh: Cellphone Bed
10:10PM Seamus Byrne | Do you ever worry that you have been overworking your cellphone? Yes, thought so. And since we’re not allowed to send them away on holiday (just think of the chaos an unaccompanied cellphone would provoke on a plane, I’m seeing the movie posters already, dang) then perhaps the least we can do is buy them a bed that they can rest their weary antennae on. This cellphone bed from Fred Flare is a snip at just $9.99. It comes with a pair of slippers that you can use as a screen cleaner, but the bad news is that it has sold out. Shame. I was going to buy one for every single one of my little gadgets—iPod, memory stick, electric toothbrush—and I was going to line them up and then, just like Snow White, I was going to give them all a good-night kiss before lights-out. And then the nice orderly with the rough bedside manner was going to give me my shots, loosen my straitjacket and lock me in for the night. – Ad Dugdale Product Page [FredFlare via Crave] More »
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Haier Sterling Available Unlocked for $199 this Summer
9:23PM Seamus Byrne | Haier’s sister phone to its Elegance (aka the Black Pearl) will be available from July. The Haier Sterling is another beautifully designed teeny-weeny phone (it measures 3.8 x 1.6 x 0.6 inches) and for $199 you get MP3 and MP4 players, full WAP and Web access, 1.3 megapixel camera, 1.8-inch color screen, micro SD card slot and Bluetooth. It’s available from July 7—which, trivia fans might like to know, is Ringo Starr’s birthday. And mine. – Ad Dugdale Haier Sterling tiny mirrored phone coming [i4u.com] More »
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