Archive | October, 2010
HP Slate to Ship, Sport Humiliating Tag
The much-hyped, strangely-delayed, didn’t-sound-like-a-great-idea HP Windows 7 tablet–the one I prematurely (but not unreasonably!) thought was dead–is alive, Engadget’s Joanna Stern reports. But it sports one feature that makes me want to weep: a slide-out tab with its Windows license and other mind-numbingly boring information which no buyer will ever care about. Apparently, HP didn’t want to ugly up the tablet’s underside with this stuff, but felt that it couldn’t just supply it on a piece of paper. I don’t know who to blame–HP? Microsoft? Lawyers? The Feds?–but it’s the final indignity for a product that couldn’t catch a break. Maybe it was cursed…
Games for Windows: Buy in Browser, With Real Money
22. October 2010
Microsoft will do away with one of its biggest roadblocks to selling PC games by adding purchases directly from the web browser.
Currently, you have to download the clumsily-named Games for Windows – LIVE software to buy games from Microsoft. CNet reports that a new site will launch on November 15, called Games for Windows Marketplace, that lets people buy games without extra software.
Games for Windows – LIVE will still be used for large game files, but Xbox’s group project manager Peter Orullian told CNET that the software will “morph into a tool [consumers] might use for different reasons.” I’d like to see a way to manage friends lists and other online activity. You can’t do that in the existing software.
Hulu Plus Price Cut Coming?
22. October 2010
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Hulu Plus is still doing invite-only previews, but Peter Kafka’s sources say a price cut to $4.95 per month could happen.
Ten Years of Last Gadget Standing History
22. October 2010
For 10 years Last Gadget has played to standing room crowds
Last Gadget Standing, now in its tenth year, made crowdsourcing fashionable before it was even a buzz word. The idea was simple. People know what products are winners. Marketing has its place, the press have their place, but ultimately the product is going to rock your world or not–and the best people to decide which are the rockers are the people who buy products.
In January of 2011 at our live event at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (and online) we’ll re-live a few of the craziest moments of Last Gadget history. Crazy as fox, that is. The products that have been the winners combine the perfect blend of passion, entertainment, education and great products to nab the title.
No ABC, NBC or CBS Web Video for Google TV
21. October 2010
Hulu isn’t the only online video site that’s blocking access from Google TV. ABC, NBC and CBS have restricted their websites too, Reuters reports.
Fox may follow, an anonymous source tells Reuters. Either way, this is devastating news for Google TV. One of the platform’s main draws, I suspect, is the ability to watch any web show on the big screen. There’s still plenty of content on the Internet that isn’t created by a major network, but without the heavy hitters, Google TV has little chance of disrupting cable. It’s certainly less attractive for would-be cord cutters.
AMD Goes the Open Route With HD3D
21. October 2010
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AMD thinks the best way to assemble a stereoscopic 3D PC gaming rig is to pick all the parts yourself.
To that end, the chipmaker is launching HD3D, an answer to NVidia’s 3D Vision technology that takes an open approach to software and hardware support. AMD already supports 3D in some of its graphics cards, but HD3D is more of a philosophy for how AMD will treat the technology. And for the most part, that philosophy comes down to the kind of glasses you’ll use.
Five Questions About This Week’s Apple News
21. October 2010
Apple’s big press event yesterday previewed OS X, introduced iLife ’11 and two new MacBook Air models, and provided lots to chew on–including decisions on Apple’s part that are bound to be controversial. I’m working on some stories about the news (including a hands-on look at the 11.6″ MacBook Air) but in the meantime I’m interested in what you think. So here’s a T-Poll extravaganza with five questions for you.
The Nook in Living Color?
21. October 2010
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Barnes & Noble is holding a press event in New York next Tuesday. (Jacqueline Emigh will be covering it for us.) Here’s an intriguing rumor: Supposedly, the news involves a $249 color Nook.
Gmail? Gmail?
21. October 2010
Hey, I can’t get into either of my Gmail accounts. Looks like I have plenty of company.
Needed: A “Zune Touch”
21. October 2010
With Windows Phone 7 finally out, what does the future hold for Microsoft’s line of Zune media players? I suspect that very few people outside of Redmond are asking themselves that question right now–and that anybody who does care assumes that the Zune HD will turn out to be the final stand-alone Zune. (Like all the other Zunes before it, the HD suffered from a malady I like to think of as “Gee, this is quite a good product, but it’s in a class of devices that people lost interest in a year ago” syndrome.)
Me, I’m hoping for a new Zune soon–maybe several of them. Hold on, hear me out, I’m serious.
An Antidote for Blaring TV Commercials
21. October 2010
Last Gadget Standing nominee: Gefen Auto Volume Stabilizer
Price: $299
Ever notice how TV commercials and movie trailers are decibels louder than the shows? If so, you’ll appreciate Gefen’s use of Dolby Volume Technology to level the volume on TV programs and commercials for a consistent audio experience. A simple solution for home entertainment systems, this tiny device automatically equalizes audio from different sources so everything is heard at the same audio levels. Channel surfers will appreciate the stability. And music listeners will enjoy a consistent level of volume when enjoying random CDs. The Auto Volume Stabilizer incorporates Dolby 5.1 digital decoding and converting to 2-channel audio. It also supports both digital (TOSlink; S/PDIF) and analog (L/R) audio formats. It will work with most popular home entertainment devices on the market, including television sets, A/V receivers, CD players, DVD players and more. Multiple audio sources can be connected at the same time, and accessed with the included IR remote or a tiny selector on the device used to switch between sources.
Ten Years of Predicting the Products That Are Built to Change the World
21. October 2010
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For ten years we’ve been firm in the belief that the consumer always knows best. Trends come and go, but good products stand the test of time. And since consumers vote with their pocketbooks, they know what it takes to make a product succeed.
In 2011, for the tenth time we’ll gather at International CES in Las Vegas to present ten finalists who have the right stuff.
How do we get from here to there? It’s all happening at LastGadgetStanding.com. We’re inviting the best of the best tech experts to join us for this gala year. Harry McCracken of Technologizer will be cohosting the events. His insights and good taste will set a new bar.
Help Us Pick the Last Gadget Standing!
21. October 2010
For a decade, one of the most popular events at January’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has been Last Gadget Standing–a live battle between the show’s niftiest new gizmos to pick a single best-of-CES winner. I’m delighted to announce that next year’s edition is being cohosted by Technologizer. We’ll be working with Living in Digital Times (founded by the creator of Last Gadget Standing, my friend Robin Raskin). And a bunch of tech mavens will serve as judges.
Here’s a cool part: You can help us choose the winner, even if you won’t be anywhere near Vegas during CES time. As nominees for the competition come in, we’ll be blogging about them and asking for your input–and, as we get closer, letting you cast votes. (The posts will show up both here on Technologizer’s home page and at Last Gadget Standing’s site.) That’s how we’ll winnow the field to ten finalists who will face off at CES. It should be a lot of fun–and I can’t wait to learn which product is this year’s big winner.
Dell Launches XPS Laptops with 3DTV Play and Optimus
20. October 2010
Dell is today launching three new laptops which deliver a multifaceted upgrade to its entertainment-oriented XPS series, adding new features that include NVidia 3DTV Play, built-in Optimus switchable graphics, and a Webcam capable of HD video streaming.
With the new 15-, 16-, and 17-inch models, Dell’s XPS family now becomes a trio instead of a duo, replacing the 13- and 16-inch models rolled out in an earlier product line-up refresh in 2009, said Kellie Mater, Dell’s senior laptop merchandiser, at a press briefing I attended in New York City.
At starting prices ranging from $899 for the new 15-inch XPS laptop to $949 for the 17-incher, the upgraded XPSers cost about twice as much as the refreshed Inspiron R models introduced by Dell just a few months ago, which begin at $449.
Starting Over: The Windows Phone 7 Review
20. October 2010
“There’s a kind of freedom in being completely screwed… because you know things can’t get any worse.”
–Clark Kellogg (Matthew Broderick) in The Freshman (1990)
How often does any tech company truly wipe the slate clean? Products usually get utterly reinvented only when they’re in trouble, and even then the reinvention tends to involve radical modernization more than anything else. Apple’s OS X was the operating system that Mac OS wanted to be but wasn’t; Palm’s WebOS is what the Palm OS would be if it was fifteen years younger.
But Windows Phone 7? Other than technical underpinnings and a few semi-recognizable apps–such as Internet Explorer–it has nothing in common with any previous Microsoft mobile OS. To steal Sarah Palin’s lingo, it’s a refudiation of everything Windows Mobile stood for. Until WP7, the whole idea of Microsoft’s mobile OS was that on-the-go users were best served by familiar Windows elements like a Start button, menus, and folders. But you only need to spend a minute or so with WP7 to see that the company has come to the conclusion–finally!–that small OSes aren’t the same as big OSes.
Instead of Shunning Wi-Fi, Starbucks Sweetens the Deal
20. October 2010
While I don’t buy the idea that there’s a movement afoot to oust free Wi-Fi from coffee shops, there is certainly a niche of businesses who don’t want their customers staring at screens all day.
Not Starbucks. The coffee chain, which began giving away unlimited, free Wi-Fi last June, is taking the offer a step further with the Starbucks Digital Network, a content portal that’s only available through the in-shop Wi-Fi.
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22. October 2010
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