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I want to record high def cable TV, at full resolution. So there are only a few choices: TiVo Series 3, a Vista Media Centre PC with Cable cards, or a rental box from the cable company. I realise that this list has a price spread of a few bucks a month to rent the cable company DVR to several thousand dollars to get the PC, but let’s ignore that for a second.
I compared the TiVo and Vista machine with Cable Card this week. And I think you’ll be surprised to know that the Media Centre PC has a better user interface when it comes to recording shows, channel surfing, and watching TV. And playback of music, videos, and photos. The TiVo’s OS just feels aged compared to the slick Vista Media Centre interface. Did that surprise you? I just wrote that Microsoft’s interface is better than the TiVo’s. Madness, I know.
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The Media Centre is better my almost all measurements. But for reasons I don’t fully comprehend, I used the TiVo more. It’s mysterious, but maybe I can shed some light on why:
Nicholas Negroponte has started a bitch-fight against Intel because, according to him, they are trying to drive him out of business by underpricing their OLPC rival, the Classmate. He says that Intel “should be ashamed of itself” arguing that by bringing a low-cost laptop to developing countries, they hurt “his mission enormously.” His mission. Intel’s Chairman Craig Barrett calls the notion “crazy.” I’m going to go a step further and say that Negroponte’s arguments are absolutely stupid. Clickity-clack on the jump to see more about the OLPC vs Classmate clash.
Right now to enter the American wireless market, you pretty much have to go through of the Big Four wireless providers, who, as Columbia professor Tim Wu puts it, “tend to approve only established partners whose devices fit their business plans, which is why we have yet to see all those wireless devices that were supposed to be in our future.”
His solution? Mandate that future owners of chunks of the 700Mhz spectrum being auctioned off when analog TV goes kaput in 2009 make their networks neutral, allowing any “safe” device to attach to them, kind of like landlines.
iRobot, of Roomba fame, has come out of the woodwork and announced that they will be unveiling two new consumer robots this holiday season that will not be floor cleaning robots. Helen Greiner, co-founder of iRobot said “We are going to launch them from our Web space, and they are not floor-cleaning robots. They are different types of robots with mechanical features.” So, what do you folks think? They are going to be consumer robots that don’t clean.
I personally think one will be some kind of a pet-aide. Like a robot that can dispense food on a schedule and maybe even scoop a cat box. If you remember, iRobot announced the Create back at CES, but this supposedly isn’t it. Hit the comments and let us know what you think it will be or should be. –Travis Hudson
iRobot: New home bots for the holidays [News.com]
If you’re using a S60 phone from Nokia, watch out. Kaspersky Labs has just discovered the first trojan, Troja-SMS.Symb.OS.Viver, that will affect the S60 OS. If you mistakenly download this from the internet and install this on your phone – which is easy to do, since it’s mislabelled and disguised as a useful photo editor or video codec pack—the virus will start sending out SMS messages like nobody’s business.
Why should you care? Because these SMSes are sent to premium ringtone downloads and other services, which will cost you between $1 and $10 per message. Ouch.
If you really want to keep your phone safe from Trojans, check out the video above from our time at CeBIT. – Jason Chen
First Trojan-SMS virus for S60 Smartphones [Unwired View]
The MemoryFrame MF-8104 Premium from Digital Spectrum is a 10.4-inch digital picture frame that might just finally be pushing all the right buttons. With its built-in Wi-Fi, it lets you communicate with your home network, letting you snag pictures from photo sharing sites such as Flickr, Windows Live Spaces and Webshots without shelling out for a paid subscription service. Plus, it can play a variety of sound and video files, and includes a remote control.
Hey, this is looking good! Are there any drawbacks?
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Quick reminder: we launched our first competition yesterday. All comments posted anywhere on the site over the next two weeks put you in the running. It ain’t random either. The best comment wins, so find something insightful to say and win yourself the XtremeMac Luna. Good times! -Seamus Byrne
This device from Seiko easily falls into the “Why didn’t I think of that?” category. The Seiko EM-49 is simply a power strip for the 12V power adapter in most vehicles. It also includes a USB port for charging your MP3 player, cellphone, etc. It goes for a cool $19, if you can find a way to get one over here from Korea. –Travis Hudson
Product Page [Via AVING]
The Smoking Jacket is a conceptual work by Fiona Carswell. It includes a giant popped collar where smoke can be blown in to. There is a pair of lungs on the front that kind of act like a warning system to others and filters the smoke. Over time the lungs will darken from the cigarette smoke and eventually turn black. I like it. This jacket gets rid of secondhand smoke and tells me what people to avoid chatting up. Not bad, Fiona. –Travis Hudson
Smoking Jacket [WMMNA]
