Archive for May, 2008
Some Thoughts On Netflix Watch Now, And Re-tasking An Old PC
Posted by Joe on May 28, 2008 · Comments Off
I’ve got an older Windows XP computer hooked up to my home theater. This re-tasked veteran is used mainly to store and play ripped DVDs and other video files. However, I’ve also been playing around with streaming video from the internet to my TV. The results are hit and miss. Hulu, for example, is generally pretty good but sometimes suffers from a very low frame rate that results in jerky playback. It’s still a great place to catch free video content, but it’s not as good as it could be.
Netflix Watch Now, on the other hand, is almost flawless. We watched the full length [...]
Filed in: SL
Unimpressive $10 Cell Phone Now Available
Posted by Joe on May 28, 2008 · Comments Off
The awkwardly named Hop-On Hop1800 is now available for $10. The mobile phone has no display and is being touted as the “anti-iPhone” because of it’s simp[licity and lack of features. According to Hop-On, “the pre-paid HOP1800 is ideal as a backup cell phone, when traveling abroad, or for anyone looking for a super affordable cell phone that does one thing extremely well: make phone calls.”
The Hop1800 can be used with over 40 US carriers including AT&T, Cingular and T-Mobile as well as through Hop-On’s own Graffiti Wireless(tm) network.
The media [...]
Filed in: SL
Asus 900 Mini Notebook
Posted by Joe on May 28, 2008 · Comments Off
Hitting the Sweet Spot? Glenn Reynolds has posted a review of the 9″ Asus EEE
Filed in: SL
Borders Is Back
Posted by Joe on May 27, 2008 · Comments Off
Borders abandoned their web presence years ago, ceding the space to Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. But it now looks like the brick-and-mortar bookseller is back:
For the past seven years, brick-and-mortar mega book retailer Borders has farmed out its online presence to Amazon, but the company is finally setting out on its own with the launch of Borders.com.
The retail site is designed around the Magic Shelf homepage, a feature designed to make the online book-shopping experience a bit more like its real-world counterpart. Visitors can browse books, music, and movie titles with the feature.
It’ll [...]
Filed in: SL
Windows 7 – More of the same
Posted by Joe on May 27, 2008 · Comments Off
In light of the widely held negative perceptions regarding the quality of Windows Vista, will Microsoft make radical and innovative architectural changes to the next version of Windows? Nah:
…the long-term architectural investments we introduced in Windows Vista and then refined for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 will carry forward in Windows 7. Windows Vista established a very solid foundation, particularly on subsystems such as graphics, audio, and storage. Windows Server 2008 was built on that foundation and Windows 7 will be as well. Contrary to some speculation, Microsoft [...]
Filed in: SL
Extreme Makeover, Webapps Edition
Posted by Joe on May 23, 2008 · Comments Off
Give the bland Gmail user interface a sleek new look with Gmail Redesigned. It would be nice if Google provided some alternative styles, but until then Gmail Redesigned fills the void nicely.
In the same vein, Better GReader does the same thing for Google’s other must have but equally bland application, Reader. I especially like the sharp OS X skin.
I’m not sure why Google is so indifferent to the look and feel of their otherwise awesome apps, but be grateful to cool 3rd party solutions like these.
Here’s Gmail Redesigned in action:
And here’s Better GReader’s [...]
Filed in: SL
Napster — Still Legal, But DRM Free Again
Posted by Joe on May 20, 2008 · Comments Off
Napster is now selling DRM free music playable on any device that can handle MP3 files. The former file sharing site is the latest music seller to drop DRM (digital rights management), following Amazon, iTunes and even Wal Mart.
Napster is selling individual tracks for $.99 and albums for $9.95, which is comparable to other music sellers. Napster has a catalog of about 6 million songs.
Filed in: SL
$99 Netflix Player Arrives
Posted by Joe on May 20, 2008 · Comments Off
As I mentioned yesterday, Netflix makes thousands of DVDs available for online viewing. Today the company announced a $100 set-top-box that lets customers easily stream those movies to a television. The Netflix Player is made and sold by Roku. Featuring standard RCA jacks, S-video, component video, and HDMI, the device will work with almost any TV or home theater system. The included remote control is minimalist, but it offers all the buttons needed to select and control movies, and to even rate them after the credits roll.
Ethernet and WiFi are built in, allowing easy connection to the internet. [...]
Filed in: SL
Mac Dominates Upscale Retail Sales
Posted by Joe on May 19, 2008 · Comments Off
I find this a bit surprising: “Apple now owns 66 percent of the U.S. retail market for personal computers that cost more than $1,000.”
Of course most computers, including laptops, are now being sold for under $1,000, but that’s still an impressive statistic for a company that’s had one foot in the grave more than once over the last few decades.
The sales figure also doesn’t include corporate sales, which make up a huge percentage of the market — and that’s one area where that dumpy clueless PC guy still reigns supreme.
Filed in: SL
Download Music From Download.com
Posted by Joe on May 19, 2008 · Comments Off
CNET Download.com Music has over 110,000 free MP3 music downloads available in over 20 categories. The selection runs towards the indie and the unknown, but there’s lots of good music waiting to be discovered.
Filed in: SL
Lawnmower Man
Posted by Joe on May 19, 2008 · Comments Off
A bipedal lawn-mowing robot doesn’t seem very practical; it’s much easier to just roboticize the lawnmower itself. This is still cool, though.
Filed in: SL
Netflix Lost Movie Policy
Posted by Joe on May 19, 2008 · Comments Off
Many business models treat penalties and fees as a profit center, rather than as a deterrent to unwanted behavior. Most notorious of these is credit card companies, where late fees and punitive interest rate increases are a significant source of income. But it’s nice to see that not all businesses treat their customers so badly. Last year I lost a Netflix movie. I was charged around $22 for the lost movie, which I thought was reasonable. When the movie miraculously turned up later, I went ahead and dropped it back in the mail, even though I’d already paid for it. Let’s just [...]
Filed in: SL
TV Over IP Is Almost There
Posted by Joe on May 19, 2008 · Comments Off
A few weeks ago, I posted a list of some of the best places on the web for streaming on-demand television programming. It’s great to have these resources available for viewing on a computer screen, but things get really interesting when you hook your computer up to a nice tv. That’s what I did this weekend, and color me impressed.
The tv is a new 37†LCD model from Olevia. There are an abundance of connectors on the back, including component and VGA connections. Unfortunately, the only video output available on the PC I used for this experiment was S-VGA. It’s not [...]
Filed in: SL
Gmail Themes May Be Coming Soon
Posted by Joe on May 19, 2008 · Comments Off
As much as I love Gmail, it’s interface is depressingly bland and boring. For those of us that like a little eye candy, it looks like a little relief may be on the way:
A source is telling me that Gmail will get themes – custom layouts to personalize Google’s web mail client. According to the source, the launch of this may happen within the next months. There will be 12 themes to pick from, according to this information, like a black-and-green “terminal†view, as well as a flowery view.
You can currently skin Gmail using custom style sheets, but the customization [...]
Filed in: SL
Ars Technica Gets Wired
Posted by Joe on May 16, 2008 · Comments Off
TechCrunch is reporting that Wired.com’s parent company, Condé Nast, has acquired venerable tech site Ars Technica:
Condé Nast has acquired popular technology blog Ars Technica, we’ve confirmed. The site will become part of Wired Digital (which in turn is under CondéNet, run by Sarah Chubb). Wired Digital assets include Wired.com and Reddit (acquired in 2006). The acquisition price will not be disclosed, but our sources say it is in the $25 million range, which is what Condé Nast paid for Wired.com in 2006.
It’s a good fit.
Filed in: SL
Guitar Hero III For PS2
Posted by Joe on May 16, 2008 · Comments Off
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Wireless Bundle for the PS2 is only $59.99 at Amazon, with free shipping at the moment. That’s a good price, considering the wireless guitar controller the bundle includes. The Wii version is $79.99, but the Xbox 360 version is also $59.99 (had it at $99 earlier — it’s listed on Amazon twice with 2 different prices).
I just ordered the PS2 version for my kids — only one week of school left, so we might as well start the summer off right. I even ordered a copy of the Guitar Hero 2 game disk so they’ll have lots of songs to work [...]
Filed in: SL
Nintendo Continues To Dominate
Posted by Joe on May 16, 2008 · Comments Off
The Nintendo juggernaut rolls on. Ars Technica looks at April sales figures:
Surprising absolutely no one, Nintendo took the number one and two slots in hardware sales. The Wii sold 714,200 units while the Nintendo DS moved 414,800 units (third place sales go to the PSP with 192,700 units). This month the Wii outsold the Playstation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, and Xbox 360… combined.
Nintendo also grabbed six of the top ten selling games for April, including Mario Kart Wii at number 2 (outselling GTA IV on PS3 but not on XBOX 360).
Filed in: SL
Indiana Jones And The Rotten Reviews
Posted by Joe on May 16, 2008 · Comments Off
Early reviews of the New Indiana Jones movie — not so favorable:
“During the whole of the movie, there was not a single moment that I thought our hero Mr. Jones (actually Colonel Jones as he was a hero in WWII now) was in any sort of peril or even significant inconvenience.
“In most cases, you were so many steps ahead of the characters that it was really just an arduous wait for them to get through it.”
Not that bad reviews will keep anyone away — it’s Indiana Jones!
Filed in: SL
Good Fuel Economy Didn’t Start With Hybrids
Posted by Joe on May 16, 2008 · Comments Off
Appreciating the Geo Metro, on the Car Lust blog.
Filed in: SL
Real Life Rocketeer
Posted by Joe on May 16, 2008 · Comments Off
Rocket man flies on jet-powered wings:
After one last wave to the crowd the rocket man tipped his wings, flipped onto his back and leveled out again, executing a perfect 360-degree roll that most birds would find impossible.
“That was to impress the girls,” he later admitted.
I’m no girl, but 186 miles an hour with nothing but a jet-powered wing strapped to your back is pretty darned impressive.
Filed in: SL
NBC Direct Gets Facelift
Posted by Joe on May 15, 2008 · Comments Off
Ars Technica takes another look at NBC Direct:
Now NBC is back with a second try (still in beta), powering downloads with P2P technology from Pando and offering 720p HD episodes of The Office. This time around, more episodes of shows like Late Night with Conan O’Brien and The Tonight Show are in the catalog, but the overall lineup of available shows (at least for this relaunch) has actually gotten smaller. We’re going to give NBC Direct another shot, but we aren’t exactly leaping out of our seats to start a bag of popcorn.
Click through to read their review.
Filed in: SL
XP on OLPC
Posted by Joe on May 15, 2008 · Comments Off
Microsoft Windows will soon be available on the XO laptop. According to a press release pushed out today, trials will begin in “key emerging markets as early as next month”. As if third world countries don’t have enough problems.
Read More
Filed in: SL
It was less than 1.8 Billion
Posted by Joe on May 15, 2008 · Comments Off
Ask.com isn’t saying what they’re paying for Lexico Publishing Group, which operates the Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com web sites, but we’ll assume it’s a lot less than CBS is paying for CNet (see previous post). These are good properties, though, and should give a boost to the fourth-ranked search engine’s overall traffic (and ad revenue).
[via CNet]
Filed in: SL
CBS Pays $1.8 Billion for CNet
Posted by Joe on May 15, 2008 · Comments Off
Is CNet worth more than YouTube was when Google acquired it? CBS thinks so. And certainly old brands like Download.com and News.com are very valuable, as are newer additions like Crave and WebWare.
ReadWriteWeb has an interesting take on the deal.
Whether the acquisition will be good for CBS or for CNet remains to be seen (or for loyal CNet readers, for that matter). One thing seems certain, though — the ailing CBS news division would love to get its hands on the News.com domain name. I wonder if there was a provision in the deal to keep that from happening.
Filed in: SL
© 2011 Surflizard. All rights reserved.
Proudly designed by Free WordPress Themes.