CrunchGear |  |
- Japan gets LTE next-generation mobile services next year
- Daily Crunch: Runaway Cannonball Edition
- Olive launches the 4HD Hi-Fi music server
- Redneck rampage: a truck with a jet engine
- AMD giving away 10 360s, 10 Wiis
- This tiny sun-activated cannon would be a twee way to go
- Viewsonic joins the HTPC fray
- Loaner Tesla used by excited game designers to get sweet road noises
- Condé Nast will officially be Apple tablet ready in 2010, apparently without Apple’s help
- Comics about video blogs. Dr. Horrible hits shelves today.
- Last Minute New York Meet-Up: A bit of Holiday Cheer with Cali Lewis and CrunchGear
- OCZ Colossus finally hits retailers
- Intel vs. AMD: the battle will continue as AMD pays down debt
- IBUYPOWER announces Chimera 2 to celebrate 10 years of bling
- Review: ContourHD wearable 1080p camcorder
- The TS Mini Server is Asus’ first entry in the Windows Home Server game
- DIY: A wood induction charger based off of a Powermat
- The Google Phone May Be Data Only, VoIP Driven Device
- Do video game publishers misrepresent their games in order to get lower ratings?
- Everything old is new again: Microsoft MinWin attempts to modularize Windows
| Japan gets LTE next-generation mobile services next year Posted: 19 Nov 2009 04:03 AM PST  Faster data access with virtually no latency: LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobile broadband networks are coming, at least in the world's most advanced mobile market, the nation of Japan. The country's biggest cell phone carrier, NTT Docomo, said yesterday at GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in Hong Kong it will go fourth generation as early as December 2010.
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| Daily Crunch: Runaway Cannonball Edition Posted: 19 Nov 2009 12:00 AM PST
Last Minute New York Meet-Up: A bit of Holiday Cheer with Cali Lewis and CrunchGear
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| Olive launches the 4HD Hi-Fi music server Posted: 18 Nov 2009 10:30 PM PST
The Olive 4HD does more then just play your media though. The self contained server inside the black (or silver) box will rip your media using Olive’s proprietary DAC, and then store it on the 2TB drive contained within. Reportedly, the sound quality delivered by the Olive 4HD is 250 times the resolution of a standard CD. The Olive 4HD retails for $1,999 and comes with 12 free HD audio tracks from their partner, Chesky Records. from the press release:
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| Redneck rampage: a truck with a jet engine Posted: 18 Nov 2009 09:30 PM PST
That’s right, some good ol’ boys installed a GE J85 7,000 hp jet engine in the back of their truck. Dubbed “The Frictionator“, this jet powered and street legal monster truck is available for parades, birthday parties, and bar mitzvahs. Just don’t give them an Oscillation Overthruster. Wouldn’t want to send anyone into the 8th dimension. [via Neatorama]
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| AMD giving away 10 360s, 10 Wiis Posted: 18 Nov 2009 08:30 PM PST
That’s right, here’s your chance to win some gaming goodness for the holidays. Specifically, Xbox 360 and Wii consoles. How do you win? Apparently, all you have to do is become a fan of AMD on Facebook. One winner is chosen every week for four weeks, with the contest ending on December 18th.
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| This tiny sun-activated cannon would be a twee way to go Posted: 18 Nov 2009 08:00 PM PST
[via Neatorama]
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| Posted: 18 Nov 2009 07:30 PM PST
Viewsonic is launching two models now; The VOT530, and the VOT550. Both come with Windows 7 Home Premium, Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz processors and 802.11 b/g/n wifi. Both systems have six USB 2.0 ports, along with DVI, LAN, and eSATA ports on the back. The systems come with a remote standard as well. The VOT530 PC Mini has 2GB of RAM, and a DVD drive. The VOT550, comes standard with 4GB of RAM and a Blu-ray drive. The VOT530 will be selling for $749 MSRP, and the VOT550 is expected to sell for $949. Both are available now. [via eHomeUpgrade]
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| Loaner Tesla used by excited game designers to get sweet road noises Posted: 18 Nov 2009 07:00 PM PST
What if someone hits the clutch while their tires are squealing? Less engine, more squeal. But if you recorded the tires squealing in the real world, chances are that the engine noise is inseparable from the squeal. Even if you can deconstruct the sound, it’s a lot of work and the end result isn’t as good as the real thing. So it’s no wonder that some game designers from Microsoft jumped at the chance to use a Tesla for recording game audio. No engine noise and careful mic placement means you can get tire squeal, or any other audio component of driving, almost completely isolated. Now, I know you guys aren’t really that hot for the details of audio production, but I know you like fast cars. And it actually is pretty entertaining to see a Tesla with so many big hairy mics on it that it looks like a pussy willow.
The audio guys are working on the new Forza and Project Gotham Racing titles, and I wouldn’t be surprised if those games will be praised for their audio. A few good samples and they can tweak them to their hearts’ content. I don’t know whether the Tesla will be in either of the games, but adding the sound should be easy if they decide it should be. The details of this Roadster’s little adventure are at the Tesla blog, where you will be regaled with all the tidbits about mic placement, clapboards, and that sort of thing. Sounds like it was a lot of fun. Thanks to Tom Burt for offering up his Tesla.
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| Condé Nast will officially be Apple tablet ready in 2010, apparently without Apple’s help Posted: 18 Nov 2009 06:20 PM PST
Of course, it’s not so strange to want to streamline your product for tablet access. Make sure column flex doesn’t break the layout, don’t put critical links in rollover menus, that sort of thing. But if the Apple tablet is anywhere as interesting as people hope it will be, I doubt you’re going to be reading Wired in a browser anyway. Quixotic would be too kind a term for what they’re doing; not only are they tilting at windmills, but the windmills don’t officially exist.
Apple’s not really the only target of this initiative, though. HP has released some tablet specs that Condé Nast is working with, and an Adobe Air-based platform for magazine-type media is in the offing as well. A real magazine-style layout with embedded videos (and ads of course) is the goal, but it’s whispered that the NY Times is working with Apple on just that sort of thing. You better believe they’ve got their own framework set up, with the NYT perhaps advising, and of course Apple will force content creators to fit in that box. It’s a “something stirs in Mordor” situation: whatever you do to prepare can’t possibly be enough (that is, if the tablet lives up to the rumors). All you can do is rely on a plucky hobbit. I don’t know how Frodo is represented in this Apple-Condé thing, though. Note to self: avoid fantasy metaphors. Here’s another snag in Condé’s plan, not Apple-specific but Apple-applicable:
In all likelihood, we will indeed be paying good money for virtual Condé Nast publications in a couple years. After all, if we don’t, the poor fellows will go out of business. But I think prices for subscriptions will likely stabilize far below what we’re paying for 12 glossies. Think 99 cents an issue. Sorry guys, but that’s probably what it’ll take. But I’m making a big deal out of very little. Condé Nast wants to jump the gun a bit, okay, I admire their moxie. In the end, this rather depends on whether the Apple tablet is a revolutionary device or merely a sexy one. Sexy devices sell because they do what other devices do better; that’s the iPod. Revolutionary devices sell because they do something entirely new; that’s the iPhone. I’ll be happy with either one, personally — as long as it doesn’t use iFrame.
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| Comics about video blogs. Dr. Horrible hits shelves today. Posted: 18 Nov 2009 06:10 PM PST
Comic books seem to be quite the staple in the Whedonverse bag of tricks. Buffy comes to an end? Comic books. Firefly gets cancelled? Serenity just isn’t enough? Comic books. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is done? Bam. Comic Books. Today is no exception, as the prequel to Dr. Horrible went on sale in full-color glory. If you were looking for some origin story on the Dr. Horrible / Capt. Hammer feud, you’ve probably already read the three digital prequels Zack Whedon did. If not, you can still find them on the Dark Horse Comics myspace page. This one however, is the first physical version released, so go get your copy anywhere that retails Bad Horse Dark Horse comics. This one-shot issue will set you back $3.50, but its oh so worth it.
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| Last Minute New York Meet-Up: A bit of Holiday Cheer with Cali Lewis and CrunchGear Posted: 18 Nov 2009 05:38 PM PST
I’m teaming up with Cali Lewis of GeekBrief.TV for an impromptu CG meet-up in New York. We’ll be meeting at 7pm Friday at Heartland Brewery, 35 Union Square West, in Manhattan. We should be able to commandeer the back of the pub for our purposes. I’ll be there with a Droid and the HTC HD2 if you guys want to take a gander and we can grab a brew before we all head out to points home for Thanksgiving. RSVP with a comment below so we can judge the turnout.
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| OCZ Colossus finally hits retailers Posted: 18 Nov 2009 05:00 PM PST
Available in 120GB, 250GB, and 500GB and 1TB capacities, the Colossus marks the first time that SSD drives have reached the storage sizes that users have come to expect these days. The bad news is you can expect to spend a small fortune for these drives. The 1TB sells for $3397, the 500GB for $1530, the 250GB is $820, and the 120GB will set you back $438. Ouch!
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| Intel vs. AMD: the battle will continue as AMD pays down debt Posted: 18 Nov 2009 04:30 PM PST
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| IBUYPOWER announces Chimera 2 to celebrate 10 years of bling Posted: 18 Nov 2009 04:00 PM PST
Instead of getting gifts on their birthday this year, IBUYPOWER is giving them. In fact, IBUYPOWER is giving away one of these new Chimera 2 systems in a Facebook and Twitter giveaway. The real story is the Chimera 2 though, with its custom paint job, and your choice of whichever configuration you want. IBUYPOWER carries the latest in Intel i7 and Core i5 systems, as well as AMDs new Phenom II processors. Pricing on the Chimera 2 starts at $999 and goes up depending on how fast you want to spend.
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| Review: ContourHD wearable 1080p camcorder Posted: 18 Nov 2009 03:20 PM PST
Pros:
Cons:
We’ve seen the ContourHD camera in a few guises before: first as the VHoldR, then as the ContourHD proper, and now the ContourHD 1080p. Does a resolution bump really necessitate another post? Well, it’s a cool gadget and there’s no danger of running out of internet, so why not? Peter demonstrated the ContourHD on his skateboard, and I’ve done the same on my bike. Throwing caution, traffic laws, and my hair to the wind, I raced (-ish) from the top of Capitol Hill (15th) to Cafe Vita on Pike Street. Then we taped this sucker to my friend’s shoe and went for a walk in the park. That part of the footage is nauseating, so I’ve kept it to a minimum. Check out the video below; my comments on quality, exposure, and so on are embedded. [One correction: I say 640x480 in the video, but it's actually 848x480. There's also a "tall HD" mode, 1280x920, which is handy if you're working in 4:3.] I had the camera stuck to the frame of my bike with one of the included flat-surface mounts; we also attached it to a headband-mounted flashlight but the end result was too ridiculous to wear in public. The ContourHD comes with a sticky mount for putting on a helmet or, say, car hood, and also a goggle strap attachment that took me a while to figure out. You can order additional mounts and replacement sticky pads from the site for a reasonable fee, or you can just wrap the thing in gaffer’s tape like we did in order to get it on something new. Build and usability The camera itself is small, as you can see in the pictures; I tried to have some objects in there for scale (the candy corn was not wasted). I put its weight at about a quarter of a pound, and upon checking the specs… yes, 4.3 ounces. I’m really good at ballparks like that. It’s heavy enough that you’ll notice it on your goggles (or shoe), but light enough that you don’t have to worry about it flopping down or peeling off its mount. It’s mostly aluminum on the outside, and it feels sturdy but not exactly rugged. I’m sure it can survive being banged about, but I wouldn’t trust it in a more punishing situation. It’s water-resistant, as you can see when Mike jumps in the puddle there. The lens has a plastic protector over it, so you don’t have to worry too much about what you wipe it with. The rear door just has a power button on it and the record slider above, but it’s quick and easy to pop it up and switch out the MicroSD card or change shooting modes.
The device is meant to be set up beforehand and simply activated on-site. The switches and flashing lights aren’t exactly user-friendly, so keep the user guide handy if you want to be sure you’re doing it right and not trying to record to a full card. Basically you can switch between two recording modes and either record or stop recording. Beyond that there’s nothing to it. Video quality You can activate a little laser level, which is kind of cool, but not really a precision instrument. The two dots, which indicate the horizon of the video, are no more than an inch apart, so if having a really level video is important, be sure to do a test before doing the actual stunt or race. In fact, due to the lack of any kind of feedback or monitor on the device, it’s probably a good idea to do a really quick video every time you set it up, to make sure you’re in the right mode and have the thing pointed in the right direction. My bike video has a lot of sky because I didn’t think to tip the thing down a bit. Video quality is a mixed bag. Obviously 1080p is the star of the show here, so that’s what I tested. At that bitrate it’ll fill a gig in about 15 minutes, which is perfectly reasonable. Its max file size is, I think, only limited by the file system the MicroSD card is formatted in. It’s encoded in Ambarella something something, “minimal” quality, basically an H.264 .mov file. I was pleasantly surprised by image quality, at least during calm moments and still shots. Fast motion, as is the case with every low-end camcorder sensor, leads to skew and jelly effect. You may notice it in quick turns and during bumpy parts of the ride above: objects sort of distort or stretch briefly. Strangely, it also has a fast exposure speed, as evidenced by the individual drops visible when I ride through the mud puddle after entering the park. Slow sensor pull but short exposure… a strange combination. But it ends up looking fine, and certainly no worse than comparably-priced camcorders. Watch the video above to see how it performs in different circumstances, and click here to download a full-res, unprocessed movie file.
Looking at stills from the above-linked video, it’s clear that the compression hits the wall in areas of intricate detail or very high contrast, and the lens loses a lot of detail at the very edges. That’s really to be expected, though; remember, this is a compact, fixed-focus camera. Compared to, say, the Sanyo I like so much, it’s got nothing to be ashamed of. Exposure is remarkably even throughout; even when I’m pointing the camera more or less into the sun, it retains some shadow detail. A camcorder for all seasons The ContourHD 1080p is a handy little camera. The question is whether it has $50 worth of advantage over its friend the ContourHD “original flavor.” I’d say that if you’re already working in 1080p, the extra dough is justifiable. That said, the physical limitations of the sensor size and lens clarity mean that you’re not really getting that much more detail. It comes down to what format you prefer to work with. And it’s certain that 1080p downrezzed to 720p will look better than the “plain” 720p. As for the camera itself, if you are willing to accommodate the spartan controls, this little guy will be handy for lots of projects. Since it’s pretty resilient, you can put it in situations you might hesitate to put something like a Flip or a nicer 1080p camcorder. Like the high-speed Casio I reviewed a while back, the possibilities really open up once you have the thing in your hand. I’d recommend the ContourHD in either of its forms to any amateur videographer looking to expand their oeuvre a little. P.S. If you’re already a fan of the device, you can vote for it in the Crunchies.
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| The TS Mini Server is Asus’ first entry in the Windows Home Server game Posted: 18 Nov 2009 03:00 PM PST
But I can’t hate on everything. Asus has built-in a couple custom WHS plug-ins that allow for more detailed back-up and restore options, along with an interface for an online storage locker that’s free for the first year. Hardware wise, the TS Mini Server is on par with other offerings. A N280 1.66GHz Atom is at the core, paired with 2GB of RAM and up to a 2TB hard drive. It 6x USB ports, 2 eSATA ports, and, of course, Gigabit Ethernet. The server isn’t shipping yet, but Amazon has the 2TB version priced at $529 and available for pre-order.
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| DIY: A wood induction charger based off of a Powermat Posted: 18 Nov 2009 02:30 PM PST The Powermats are pretty cool. They charge without eff’n wires. But they are all plastic and might not look right in some deco. So why not stuff the guts into something a little more pleasing like a block of wood. It seem to work fine and this Instructable will guide you through how to make one. I’m thinking that you’ll probably void your warranty though.
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| The Google Phone May Be Data Only, VoIP Driven Device Posted: 18 Nov 2009 02:12 PM PST  Yesterday we wrote about the soon to launch Google Phone, a Google branded Android phone that we believe will hit the market in early 2010. Lots of people are saying there's no way Google will enter the phone market directly and compete with all these handset manufacturers who have bet on Android. Daring Fireball, PC World and IntoMobile are among the doubters. And a lot of people are pointing to a Tom Krazit/CNET article last month that quoted Google's Andy Rubin: "We're not making hardware...We're enabling other people to build hardware," and "Rubin, vice president of engineering for Android at Google, scoffed at the notion that the company would "compete with its customers" by releasing its own phone." Normally I'd just point to the fact that many companies deny the existence of products until the day they announce them. Apple scoffed at the notion that they'd ever build a phone until they announced the iPhone, for example. The last thing Google wants is a lot of confusion among handset manufacturers just when those manufacturers are putting the finishing touches on their own Android phones. But there may be another way Google will argue that they aren't "competing with customers" by launching their own device - technically, it may not be a phone. The Google Phone may be a data only, VoIP driven device. And Google may be lining up at least AT&T to provide those data services for the Google Phone, says one person we spoke with today.
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| Do video game publishers misrepresent their games in order to get lower ratings? Posted: 18 Nov 2009 02:00 PM PST
There’s some sort of video game developer conference going on in Motreal this week (titled, to use its full name, the Montreal International Game Summit), and an interesting charge was just levied there. The CEO of A2M (the company that developed Wet), Rémi Racine, said that some game publishers will go out of their way to deceive the ESRB in order to get a lower rating for their games. You know how Hollywood tries hard to make sure the summer blockbusters are rated no higher than PG-13 in order to ensure a large audience? Same thing with video games, apparently. Why release an M-rated game, and know that your limiting your potential audience, when you can eek out with a T rating? Of course, this is the opinion of one man, and not to be taken as the gospel truth. But what he said makes sense, at least on the surface:
Again, we have no way of knowing if this guy is speaking truthfully, but it doesn’t seem too far-fetched. Of course, then you run into all sorts of issues that I can just picture some grand-standing politician exploiting i.e. the ESRB has failed us, so we need tighter regulations.
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| Everything old is new again: Microsoft MinWin attempts to modularize Windows Posted: 18 Nov 2009 01:30 PM PST
There’s been work going on inside Microsoft for years to try to pare down the Windows system, to tame the beast so to speak. Dubbed “MinWin“, the effort aims to make a successive series of layers, with each layer depending only on the stuff immediately below it. So one layer might handle file system access and network protocols. The Internet Information Server would depend on that layer, but nothing in any of those sub-layers would depend on anything inside IIS. In a similar way, the Explorer shell and Internet Explorer can be more easily separated, so that you don’t need to have MSIE installed on every single server you run. There are lots of changes associated with the MinWin project, and even though initial efforts are available for public viewing, the long-term payout is still quite a ways away. Some of the elements of that long-term payout include a more customizable installation footprint with an easier-to-update system, since you’d only be updating those components you’re actually using for your server; tighter system security; and enhanced system integrity, since faults in applications ought not be affecting lower level routines. There’s an excellent write-up of MinWin at Ars Technica. It’s definitely worth a read. This quote, regarding system security, really caught my attention:
What’s ironically funny to me is that this entire initiative is, in many ways, a validation of the UNIX mentality that’s been driving Linux development since the very beginning. Microsoft has touted the superiority of it’s GUI, and the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and its snap-ins, as the best and easiest way to manage complex services. I think we can all agree, now, that that’s more than a bit of hyperbole: GUIs and the MMC make some administrative tasks easier, while simultaneously making other tasks much harder. The resurgence of command-line administration in MinWin, and the Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008 (original, and R2 flavors) is clear indication that a GUI is not the end-all-be-all of systems management.
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Olive Media just announced the Olive 4HD. Intended for the audiophile market, Olive’s latest creation plays gold standard 24-bit engineer recordings, as well as audio CDs and DVDs.
Just because you can do a thing, doesn’t mean you should do a thing. Case in point: don’t take your brand new F650 truck and install a jet engine. 
AMD is wrapping up their 40 year anniversary party, and they are finishing it up in a big way. Previously, AMD gave away some processors and graphic cards. This time, they are giving away some consoles. 
Viewsonic, best known for their displays, has just set their sights on the HTPC market. Jumping in with two models, Viewsonic no doubt hopes to make a good first impression in the home theater PC market, and their first entry looks to be a good way to do that.
Maybe that’s too harsh an estimation of Condé Nast’s effort. After all, the tablet may not officially exist, but it doesn’t officially not exist either. And we’re pretty sure it does, so that settles it. Whatever the case, it seems unlikely that anything they do now will be relevant to Apple’s new platform. It’s been said that it runs iPhone OS, that’s it’s this big and uses that processor, but as a content provider the only thing you need to know is it’s Apple. That means they’re going to have complete control of it from the bottom up; they hold all the keys and if they’re not letting you in, you may as well wait. A damn-the-torpedoes approach is the wrong one here.
If Condé Nast thinks they will be able to charge $4, or whatever a Wired costs these days, to have a digital copy all wrapped up in Adobe, HP, Amazon, or Apple’s DRM, they’re going to have a disappointing launch. And although I suppose if consumers did manage to stomach paper prices for pixel periodicals, you might be able to convince advertisers to pay similar rates for ads. But the premise is unlikely, so the conclusion is even more so. As I’ve said, advertising is changing, and Condé Nast (along with many others) must adapt or die. Those really are the only two options.
Sorry for the short notice but I thought it might be fun to toast to Turkey Day and the launch of our our 
Get your wallet ready; OCZ’s Colossus line has finally hit the shelves. We were expecting them 
IBUYPOWER computers aren’t exactly known for being subtle, but it’s worked for them for 10 years and they are still going strong. To celebrate their anniversary, IBUYPOWER is re-releasing the Chimera 2 with all new hardware and a pretty impressive new paint job.
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