CrunchGear

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• Daily Crunch: Bathroom Party Edition
• The HP DreamScreen: Not So Dreamy
• Tetris Tiles Hit The States, Showers Forever Changed
• Paramount proprietor polemicizes poorly on piracy at public policy presentation
• Turn your $500+ DSLR into a $95 point and shoot
• It may be business time for the Flight of the Conchords on Rock Band
• Rumor: Europe not getting a Wii price cut but rather a MotionPlus bundle pack
• Radeon 5800 series arrives with no pomp, no circumstance, but major improvements
• This Microsoft Windows 7 launch video is, if possible, worse than that musical one
• Rumor: Is this the Jabra Stone?
• Ancient Nintendo Othello cocktail arcade cabinet, no reserve, AS IS
• The Viliv S10 breaks cover sporting Windows 7, 10 hour battery life
• KAUST has an obscenely large display system
• Today on the CrunchGear Live Podcast
• The Audiovox VOD10PS2 uses a PS2 to babysit ADHD kids on roadtrips
• Review: Bose QuietComfort 15 headphones
• Poken gets a Pulse
• Hands-on: I have held the IREX DR 800SG, and it’s not half bad at all
• Ecko Halo 3: ODST Master Chief Hoodie – yes, you want it
• Jabra wants you to be excited about their Stone headset

Daily Crunch: Bathroom Party Edition Posted: 24 Sep 2009 12:00 AM PDT Tetris Tiles Hit The States, Showers Forever Changed This Microsoft Windows 7 launch video is, if possible, worse than that musical one Poken gets a Pulse iPod nano banned by many gyms R2D2 features 8 consoles, projector

The HP DreamScreen: Not So Dreamy Posted: 23 Sep 2009 07:29 PM PDT Last week I saw some coverage of this new HP device called the DreamScreen. And more than a couple of blogs were comparing it to the elusive Apple Tablet. Given my extreme interest in this space, I thought I should get this new DreamScreen in my hands as soon as possible and see if HP had indeed beaten Apple (and us) to the punch in delivering the first high quality tablet computing experience to consumers. The press: "Want a hint at how the much-anticipated Apple Tablet might be shaping up? Take a look at the HP DreamScreen," said one of those blogs, adding "this certainly looks like what we're expecting from the Apple Tablet." Another site: "Hewlett Packard has beaten Apple to the punch in coming up with a beautiful tablet-like computer." Engadget called it "something special." The reality: I can't repeat here what I wrote on Twitter because of the sensitive nature of the TechCrunch audience, but I will say this. The HP DreamScreen is possibly the biggest piece of crap to ever grace my desk. Which is saying something.

Tetris Tiles Hit The States, Showers Forever Changed Posted: 23 Sep 2009 07:00 PM PDT The anxiety ridden addiction that is Tetris, is now available… in your shower. A tile supplier based in the UK is currently producing ceramic, indoor/outdoor tiles that allow you to create your own Tetris mosaic or order a pre-designed mosaic. You can choose seven different colors, one for each of the Tetriminoes shapes. The colors are taken from Pantone colors and all orders come with an installation manual and grout spacers. At first you might wonder why you would want to be reminded of painfully incongruous shapes and colors falling from the sky, but for all those who claim Tetris makes you smarter, you’re right. Various studies show Tetris increases the size of your cortex and, as a result, critical thinking, reason and language and processing all increase in activity. Three to four week shipping time for a larger cortex? I’m in.

Paramount proprietor polemicizes poorly on piracy at public policy presentation Posted: 23 Sep 2009 06:00 PM PDT In what was ostensibly a meeting of the majors last week to advise the FCC on broadband policy, the COO of Paramount was allowed to wax ignorant for 10 minutes on piracy and file-sharing technology. As a major content provider, they should certainly have some input, but this was sheer soap-boxery. Sure, peer to peer and torrent traffic (legal and otherwise) is going to be a major driver of broadband adoption and major consumer of the resource, but Paramount’s contribution to the discussion didn’t limit itself to germane observation and reasonable speculation. On the upside, we have a fabulous new quote on the level of Ted Stevens’ “series of tubes” that demonstrates how utterly out of touch people like Paramount’s COO are with actual Internet terminology and capabilities. Behold: “We are uploading it essentially to a ‘cyber locker,’ which is nothing more than electronic locker on the Internet.” Mr. Huntsberry, we are in your debt for this immortal chestnut of cyber-wisdom. That’s nothing more than electronic wisdom on the Internet, for those of you who don’t know. Here is his presentation. It has an air of Reefer Madness to it. It’s an excellent study in how the RIAA and MPAA are able to show a service solely in the light of illegality. I like to imagine them showing a picture of a hammer. “This is what’s called a hammer, it’s essentially a heavy rock on the end of a stick. This allows the user to beat people with said rock over and over without losing it. The stick portion can also be used to dig up other people’s gardens.” As far as they are concerned, there is no legitimate application for a site like Mininova or, incredibly, something as simple and practical as Drop.io. Interesting that he’d look at something like Drop.io and not Megaupload or another such widely-misused site. Note that the free accounts at Drop.io are limited to 100MB. Frederick, if I may: Clearly Drop.io is not at the cutting edge of piracy, however useful it may be for sharing home videos and other medium-sized files. It’d all be the usual fun and games if this weren’t a public hearing, advising the FCC on broadband policy. It was neither the time nor the place for copyright issue grandstanding. As if that weren’t bad enough, Paramount decided that its own portion of the hearing, a public policy meeting you understand, would be private. Its explanation for asking for this was that the content of the presentation was unpalatable for public consumption. And, disappointingly, the FCC agreed to this ludicrous condition. Luckily, the concerned citizens at Public Knowledge found a copy of the presentation and put it up on YouTube. They had to snip it from the FCC’s Real Video stream (!) and I’m sure they’re fielding takedown notices as I type this. There’s a fairly obvious conflict of interest going on here, among other things. Public Knowledge has an excellent breakdown of the issues involved, and Techdirt has a nice follow-up as well, so I’d rather not duplicate their content here, even if I were capable and informed enough to do so. I have to say, though, the bubble Huntsberry speaks from is pretty entertaining. “This is a site that is clearly an illegal website” indeed. I understand you have to speak for your company’s best interest, but you might want to take your foot out of your mouth first. [Update: Title changed to have more Ps in it.] This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Turn your $500+ DSLR into a $95 point and shoot Posted: 23 Sep 2009 05:20 PM PDT There’s a certain enthusiastic group of photographers out there that love to use really cheap and unpredictable cameras to create amazing pictures. The problem is, most of them use film, which is becoming harder and harder to find these days. Admittedly cameras like the Diana+ or the Holga can create amazing pictures, but there’s no way of being sure exactly what you’re going to get when you push that shutter button. Sure, you can take an image from a digital camera and tweak it in photoshop, but that takes away the spontaneity. Now you can take pictures that may or may not come out with your DSLR. The Diana+ company has made a series of adapters that will allow you to attach any number of their lenses to your expensive DSLR. The basic adapter will set you back a measly $12, so if you already have some of the Diana+ lenses, you’ll be set. Otherwise, you’re going shopping. The 20mm fisheye will set you back $55, the 110mm telephoto is $50, the 55mm is $60. It just depends on what exactly you’re looking to do.

It may be business time for the Flight of the Conchords on Rock Band Posted: 23 Sep 2009 04:52 PM PDT I think Bret is lying here but it’s funny to see the FotC boys with mustaches. I also like the cutaway to Jimmy Kimmel or whoever that guy is at around minute 1:30. Such charming lads. My favorite song after the jump. via Giz

Rumor: Europe not getting a Wii price cut but rather a MotionPlus bundle pack Posted: 23 Sep 2009 04:10 PM PDT The Wii is getting cut down to $199 this Sunday. We know that. But European gamers might not be that lucky. GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that instead of getting a price cut, Nintendo will bundle MotionPlus along with Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort and sell it for the same price. Actually, that’s not that bad as MotionPlus really does improve the gaming experience and every Wii should have it. But none of this is official just yet. It’s just another one of those wild Internet rumors.

Radeon 5800 series arrives with no pomp, no circumstance, but major improvements Posted: 23 Sep 2009 03:30 PM PDT The more my games stutter and the more my HD content skips frames, the more I think about that wonderful day when I shall put together a beautiful new system with all new hardware. The trouble is that Intel’s got the processor thing locked down and AMD has the lead on graphics. I don’t really want to mix and match, but the pull of the Radeons might prove to be too strong. That new 5800 series is looking mighty fine, sir, mighty fine. They didn’t drop all of a sudden as some hardware is wont to do, and the rumored specs have been around for a while, but of course, we don’t comment on rumors here at CrunchGear. Too much integrity. The new flagship card runs at the same core clock speed as the old one, but it has twice the stream processors and texture units and a much-improved memory clock speed. Judging from the transistor count, it looks like the new 40nm process basically just allowed them to fit a huge amount more of the same stuff on the same card without worrying as much about heat or power draw. So this is less a revolutionary step and more a dangerously turbo version of the old 4800 series. Of course, they’re also DirectX 11-compatible, and they’re at least working on making the most popular GPGPU protocols work with them as well. OpenCL and such, you know. Anandtech’s review of the 5870 suggests that while this is certainly the fastest single GPU solution available today (for gaming and such at least), it’s not the leapfrog that was expected, and you can get more performance from putting a couple older cards into crossfire. At any rate, I’m not interested in the flagship models. The 5850 is the sweet spot: $260 MSRP for a huge improvement over the last flagship design, and you’ll probably be able to get it for much less once the novelty wears off and prices drop. Do I have my next video card picked out? Very possibly. Update: The Inquirer has a pretty exhaustive list of reviews if you want to get dirty.

This Microsoft Windows 7 launch video is, if possible, worse than that musical one Posted: 23 Sep 2009 03:02 PM PDT Either Microsoft’s sense of humor has gotten almost British in its sophistication and dryness, or this is the worst promotional video I’ve ever seen in my life. Yes, worse than their Songsmith video. I’m beginning to think Microsoft’s marketing department really is a thousand monkeys with a thousand high definition cameras. Or are we being punk’d? This is seriously too surreal to comment on. But don’t let that stop you.

Rumor: Is this the Jabra Stone? Posted: 23 Sep 2009 02:44 PM PDT Well, that didn't last long. Jabra barely started their mysterious campaign to hype up the Jabra Stone this morning, and it looks like the beans have already been spilled.

Ancient Nintendo Othello cocktail arcade cabinet, no reserve, AS IS Posted: 23 Sep 2009 02:30 PM PDT Are you a collector of rare video game ephemera and weirdo hardware? Then today is your lucky day! A weathered, half-functional, and almost completely unknown piece of Nintendo history has surfaced on eBay, and right now the bidding is at a low, low $1250 (plus $400 shipping & handling). Computer Othello is one of Nintendo’s earliest productions, and their first arcade game. Like it says, it’s computer Othello, but the weird thing is that there were supposedly no US versions of this game made. And yet this one has a US power adapter installed originally. A rare bird indeed! Too bad it doesn’t work. [via BB Gadgets]

The Viliv S10 breaks cover sporting Windows 7, 10 hour battery life Posted: 23 Sep 2009 02:08 PM PDT Well don’t I feel like a chump. Here I am, chilling with what I thought was the latest and greatest Viliv on the market when somewhere in the world, there is the S10! And it has Windows 7! Damn. The pictures floating around the Interweb show a similarly designed bezel. The trackpad seems to be located in front of the keyboard now, and it looks thinner if that’s at all possiable. Plus, the resistive touchscreen has been enlarged to 10-inches from the S7’s 7-incher. The CPU will range from 1.33GHz to 2.0GHz depending on the configuration and a 64GB SSD will be an option along with a 3G modem. Best of all, Viliv is stating that this guy will get a 10 hour battery life. According to the report, the S10 will start out at $500 which will put it in the S7 range. However, don’t hold back your purchase of the S7 if you like it. (I do)  It might be months before Viliv imports the S10 to the States. The Korean market generally gets first dibs at Viliv products for a while before we get ‘em here.

KAUST has an obscenely large display system Posted: 23 Sep 2009 01:40 PM PDT You thought Eyefinity was pretty cool, huh? What could be cooler? How about a gigantic 10×4 setup of seamless monitors, for super-high resolution visualization. That’s what you’ll find at KAUST! I’ll let this video speak for itself. Note the resolution values being shown in the bottom corner

Today on the CrunchGear Live Podcast Posted: 23 Sep 2009 12:45 PM PDT Here are some of the topics from today’s podcast… Microsoft Courier IREX DR800SG wireless e-book reader Intel shows off four-display laptop Bose Quiet Comfort 15 headphones LISTEN: Show Link | RSS Feed | iTunes Link

The Audiovox VOD10PS2 uses a PS2 to babysit ADHD kids on roadtrips Posted: 23 Sep 2009 12:30 PM PDT Tuners and posers have been putting PS2s into cars for as long as the system has been out, but Audiovox is targeting a completely new crowd. Its new VOD10PS2 system combines the gaming system that can also play DVDs with a 10.2-inch 16:9 LCD screen and packs it all into a roof-mountable package. Plus, the system comes with two wireless controllers, two fold-flat IR wireless headsets, two games, and a remote. A built-in 16 channel FM modulator can be used as long as other passengers don’t mind hearing Ratchet & Clank. Sure, the PS2 might be almost 10 years old, but who cares? PS3 games are damn expensive and no one in their right mind would let their kids bring them on a road trip. PS2 games, however, can be had at garage sales nationwide. Or, if you’re traveling and your kids get tired of whatever the hell they are playing, stop at any Blockbuster and you can probably snag one for $5. But the system costs $949 plus installation. Yeah, that’s a lot. NEW YORK, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Audiovox Corporation (Nasdaq: VOXX) announced the delivery of another industry first in rear-seat entertainment, the VOD10PS2 Mobile Video PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system. This category changing mobile video system is an all-in-one, overhead, drop-down that combines the best of Audiovox’s award winning overhead systems with the gaming industry’s #1 selling system, PlayStation 2. The integration of the PlayStation 2 system in the Audiovox overhead video system is seamless. No extra hardware needed, no wires draped across the back seat passengers. “This RSE system allows the consumer to give their ‘restless’ back seat occupants options in travel; watch a DVD or play one of their PlayStation 2 games,” said Tom Malone, president of Audiovox Electronics Corp. “The PlayStation 2 system offers a huge library of more than 1,800 games for all types of interests, and now we’re making it easy to play them all in a vehicle by fully integrating PlayStation 2 into the car’s entertainment system with no wires and no extra hardware.” The VOD10PS2 features a 10.2 inch 16:9 LCD screen with built-in dome light and includes everything you need to start gaming right out of the box two wireless game controllers, two fold-flat IR wireless headphones and two PlayStation 2 game titles (Ratchet & Clank(R): Going Commando and Hot Shots Golf(R) 3). This system (MSRP: $949.99) also includes a remote control, built-in 16 channel FM Modulator with FM transmitter function, and comes with both Shale and Pewter trim rings and snap on covers to integrate the system to the vehicles interior. Malone continued, “PlayStation(R) is one of the most respected brands worldwide and they have built the PlayStation 2 system into one of the leading entertainment choices for people of all ages. Audiovox is the undisputed leader in mobile video and has been since the category’s inception. This combination of industry leaders gives our dealers a winning product while providing the consumer with entertainment convenience that before now was anything but convenient.” This system is being marketed both under the Audiovox and Advent Brands and will be available for sale in North American at all major retailers at car dealerships respectively.

Review: Bose QuietComfort 15 headphones Posted: 23 Sep 2009 11:51 AM PDT If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years of tech reporting it’s that you should never say Bose makes good products. Bose, like Apple, is a lightning rod for informed and uninformed attacks from both the pro and con camps and to say they do things well – or poorly – is a dangerous proposition. That said, I’m here to tell you that if you travel a lot then you should get the QuietComfort 15 headphones. I tested these headphones during three long overseas flights. I’ve been a fan of the QuietComforts for a few years now and always wore the QC3s, the smaller version of the original QuietComfort headphones. However, the noise reduction built into the new model is quite staggering. In an airplane cabin turning these headphones on and off shows you how effectual they are. Instead of the steady, buzzing hum of the airplane you hear silence. The music and audio quality are also excellent. I’ve tested a few headphones in my day and I’ve always gone back to Bose. This model takes one AAA battery which lasts 35 hours, give or take. It has a removable cable and is large enough to cover the average pair of ears. Compared to the QC2 the QC15 noise canceling is strikingly more effective. This is an important point and it may be worth going ahead with the upgrade. Compared with other noise-canceling models I’ve tried I’d say these are the best. Now for the caveats: when the headphones are out of juice, they’re useless. They don’t just pass through the audio. Instead, if the circuitry is off, the headphones are off. This is a huge issue if you run out of battery half-way to Djibouti but has yet to happen to me with either the QC3s or the QC15s. Thankfully this model takes standard batteries. The other caveat is the price. $299.95 is pretty steep for headphones while other noise canceling models cost a third of that. Considering the QC3s are $349, however, it’s not too bad. Bottom Line Bose is a hard nut to crack. They make great noise canceling headphones but I think most audiophiles bristle at their various claims of audio quality, especially in some of their higher-end audio systems. I’m not music nut but I have found the QC3s – and now the QC15s – to be faithful to the source without too much bass and the comfort and noise-canceling seal the deal. If you travel, give them a try.

Poken gets a Pulse Posted: 23 Sep 2009 11:14 AM PDT Poken, those little thingers that you touch together to trade contact info we talked about last SXSW, are now smaller. The Poken Pulse is a 2GB memory key with Poken RFID scanning built in. When you tap your Poken onto another person’s Poken it trades contact information and, um, to quote the website “we're glowin' green, killin' two 'birds,' and savin' trees.” Right. Anyway, the Pulse costs $34.95 and is available at StartPoken.com. I played with the older Poken a while back and if you have lots of friends with Poken, they’re a good idea. Sadly, if you and your friends have one you can only trade with them once. So once you’ve blown your Poken wad, you’re kind of stuck.

Hands-on: I have held the IREX DR 800SG, and it’s not half bad at all Posted: 23 Sep 2009 11:00 AM PDT For the thousandth time: perhaps the last bit of tech that genuinely interests me these days (besides video games, but that’s a slightly different category) is the electronic book. For someone with no real business reading book after book about, say, how bankers have ruined the world, or what makes a person violent, or what really brought down WCW, well, I do, and quite often. These books can be damn expensive, too, which is why I like the electronic book. I can hold so many books inside a book-sized device, and the books are often bought cheaper than what have paid for the "real" version. I save space and money. WINNAR. All that said, today IREX (an offshoot of Philips) announced its very own e-book reader, one that works with the Barnes and Noble e-book store that I talked about a few weeks ago. You can read my reasonably live blog here, but this is a space for my slightly more fleshed out ideas and thoughts. And if you have no interest in reading said thoughts, then may I suggest you, I don’t know, read the latest Dave Meltzer column, or listen to Ron and Fez on Sirius XM. Put simply, I like it, but maybe I’m biased toward these devices. It’s slightly larger than the Amazon Kindle 2—oh how I can’t wait to see the entirely too predictable "Kindle vs. IREX" articles in the coming days—and lets you do the same thing: read e-books. I think it’s safe to say that Barnes and Noble isn’t some two-bit Internet startup, so it’ll have plenty of support from the major publishers and book industry in general. You get the feeling that Barnes and Noble is to Microsoft as Amazon is to Apple: BN’s been around for ages, and is the de-facto place to buy books in the U S of A, while Amazon is the plucky little thorn in BN’s side, selling essentially the same product (books) in a perhaps more attractive package. Why leave the house when Amazon will ship every book found in its warehouse to your door, often saving you money in the process? (Of course, now that Apple has become something of a jerk, and Microsoft is earning street cred, this analogy may not hold for long.) That is to say you won’t be hurting for content to put on your reader. The screen is large (yes, larger than the Kindle 2’s), and is totally readable. I understand that "totally readable" is nothing less than subjective drivel, but what do you want? I could read it in the little display room it was displayed in. The screen is big enough that your not turning virtual pages every 30 words, and the font is legible. I haven’t used, or seen, the device outdoors in the brightness of the sun, so I can’t say whether or not the device would make a good beach pal. My guess is that is would, but who knows. (The Zune HD, as I’ve found out in the past few days, is pretty damn hard to read on a bright, sunny day. So have fun with that one, fanboys.) Presumably we’ll get one before it’s official end-of-October release date

Ecko Halo 3: ODST Master Chief Hoodie – yes, you want it Posted: 23 Sep 2009 10:30 AM PDT It’s almost like this was planned. Halo 3: ODST is here and so is the $88 Master Chief Hoodie from Ecko. Coincidence?

Jabra wants you to be excited about their Stone headset Posted: 23 Sep 2009 10:30 AM PDT Unless it's expensive or otherwise unique, it's tough to get people pumped about Bluetooth headsets. We get press releases for at least 3 of them a day - all of them more or less the same. Looking to generate a bit of hype around their new and as-of-yet unannounced "Stone" headset, Jabra is going with the ol' mystery-and-intrigue routine.

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