Thursday, June 7, 2007
Dell Says Buh-Bye to LCD TV Biz?
11:48PM Seamus Byrne | Reuters is reporting that a Chinese paper is reporting (yep, double, well now triple unconfirmed reporting) that Dell isn’t doing so well at the LCD TV game and plans to get out. Is it true? I think the Reuters report nicely sums up the results of non-TV companies like Motorola and Dell getting into the TV business: …Many of the non-traditional players have quietly de-emphasized the business since then in favor of focusing on their core products. Ah, so it’s actually not super easy to make and sell TVs? You tell us, Dell. (We prefer your core products anyway.) – Wilson Rothman Dell to exit LCD television business: media [Reuters] More »
X-51A’s Hypersonic Engine Firing Test Looks Like Pits of Hell or Doom 3 Scenario
11:47PM Seamus Byrne | Boeing has just completed their firing tests for the stunning X-51A WaveRider Scramjet and if you want to know what hell looks like, this is it. Or at least, this is how the devil’s version of George Foreman’s BBQ must look like. This is the first time the scramjet engine has been tested in a full flight propulsion configuration, simulating working conditions at Mach 5 air speed. Jump as fast for more details, higher resolution image and a pic of the whole aircraft. More »
Onkyo Readying its First HD DVD Player for Autumn
11:40PM Seamus Byrne | Even though they’ve openly said they support both of the new high-def formats, Onkyo is putting its final touches on its first HD DVD player, the DV-HD805. It’ll be based off Toshiba’s HD-XA2, but Onkyo is saying it’ll have some tweaks in the audio and standard def video side. It’s expected out this fall, but no word on pricing yet. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing a universal player from Onkyo a la LG. – Louis Ramirez Behind the Scenes at Onkyo [What Hi-Fi via Format War Central] More »
Discovery Stores Close Everywhere, Geeks Weep
11:27PM Seamus Byrne | This might be a good time to get some great bargains at the Discovery Store, because all 103 of the mall stores are closing their doors, apparently because the company’s big cheeses decided to switch over from the physical bricks-and-mortar business model to one that’s completely online. Sheesh, sure was fun wandering around all those edu-toys and geekster accoutrements in the real world, so now I guess we’ll just have to do some virtual browsing at the online version of the Discovery Store. Another piece of coolness bites the dust. Sigh. – Charlie White Discovery Store [Discovery Channel, via Wired] More »
Tiny Wee Via Mobile ITX Motherboard to Power x86 Smartphones
10:52PM Seamus Byrne | Yes, that’s a technical term: Via’s new Mobile ITX motherboard just presented at Computex is absolutely tiny wee, as you can see here compared to a RAZR. But don’t think it’s underpowered, because this 3 x 1.8 inches PC comes loaded and ready to power all kinds of x86-compatible smartphones. galleryPost('viamobileitx', 4, 'viamobileitx'); More »
Pinnacle PCTV HD Stick Gives You Cheap HDTV Recording on Your Laptop
10:44PM Seamus Byrne | Pinnacle’s PCTV HD Stick just lost a couple of features and got even cheaper. Now you can use this little USB tuner to turn that PC into a personal video recorder for just $99.99 instead of the $129.99 of the PCTV HD Pro Stick that’s still available. What’s the diff? The PCTV HD Pro Stick (What? There are Pro TV watchers? Sign us up), announced late last year, adds a mini remote control and the ability to capture from sources such as set-top boxes and camcorders. galleryPost('pctvhdstick', 3, 'PCTV HD Stick'); So if there are HDTV stations you can receive over the air where you live, now your PC is also an HDTV, giving you that live or recorded 720p goodness just by plugging this doo-dad into a USB port, setting up its mini-antenna, and firing up Pinnacle’s PVR software. Hey, wait a minute. We’ve had some relevant experience with the PCTV HD Pro Stick we can tell you about. More »
Samsung VM-X300: From ‘Off’ to ‘Record’ in Three Seconds
10:02PM Seamus Byrne | Ooh, ooh ooh, all hail Samsung. Our top banana Koreans have brought out a new MP4 ASP camcorder that, although it looks like an electric shaver, can go from “Off” to “Record” (via “On,” of course) in three seconds. More »
HQV Silicon Optix Blu-ray and HD DVD Discs
10:02PM Seamus Byrne | I’ve been using early versions of the Silicon Optix high definition discs to test HDTVs, Blu-ray and HD-DVD gear the last few weeks. The final version is out. They’re good for testing how a video processor handles jaggies, noise, and other factors. More »
YouTube On a Mobile Browser, Please
9:46PM Seamus Byrne | That new iPhone commercial brags about it having a great browser. Mactards have even speculating that the iPhone has Flash support, because the NYTimes website’s video player appears to load up fine. But the commercial also skips over the agonizing 4 minute load time it would take to cache all those ads, images, flash movies, and did they not notice there is weird baby music playing while some disembodied voice narrates? Dropping in a fake placeholder for the video just isn’t out of the question. It doesn’t matter though. What I really want is Flash support plus 3G, so I can watch Youtube on a phone. Any phone will do. Whoever does that first will win some sort of Gizmodo gold star. Think about it: Little Superstar on the Subway. – Brian Lam [Thanks Andre, for the idea..] More »
