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- Happy New Year from CrunchGear
- Higher capacity Blu-ray discs coming soon
- OmniTread: a terrifying, vibrating, go-anywhere snakebot
- Handheld PS3 device for fanbois to cuddle at night
- Time to Hibernate: Get 100 classic action films for $45
- Acer’s Aspire One officially gets a little spec bump
- Unassuming cap sports hidden camcorder
- TenYears: The Biggest Product Flops of the Decade
- Rumor: Samsung Mobile to launch absolutely nothing at CES?
- Recognizing XM Channel 202’s excellence, 2009 edition
- Gruber on the Tablet
- Mountain Dew and Pepsi Throwback bring real sugar back to sodas once again
- Snuggle Suit: It’s a robe with pants
- ExtraLives Zelda marathon is happening now
- Pine Trail equipped Acer 532h netbook specs leak for all to see
- The Known Universe by the AMHN put to the music of Muse
- Leaked: The Motorola Mirage might just be the best Android phone yet
- In-game item in Entropia Universe kinda sorta bought for US$330,000
- Is Asus killing off the Eee Stick?
- CrunchDeals: Logitech G13 game controller for $50
| Happy New Year from CrunchGear Posted: 31 Dec 2009 09:01 PM PST Welcome to 2010, friends, and thanks for reading. Here’s to the coming decade of great technology, amazing insights, and fun gadgets.
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| Higher capacity Blu-ray discs coming soon Posted: 31 Dec 2009 08:30 PM PST
Hopefully this doesn’t mean you’ll have to buy another drive, and there’s one hell of a lot of science content involved (regarding something known as an i-MLSE), but the gist is that there is new technology coming.
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| OmniTread: a terrifying, vibrating, go-anywhere snakebot Posted: 31 Dec 2009 05:10 PM PST
It’s designed by roboticists at the University of Michigan, and right now there aren’t any production plans. But if it were to prove itself in a quake or other disaster, they might find themselves with a government contract right quick. [via Coolest Gadgets and TechEBlog]
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| Handheld PS3 device for fanbois to cuddle at night Posted: 31 Dec 2009 04:30 PM PST
Essentially, you’re combining a controller with a wireless video device, and a small LCD screen. Sounds simple right? Well, it’s might be simple, but looking at the fabrication quality in the video, it’s obviously something that required quite a bit of time and effort. [via GEARFUSE]
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| Time to Hibernate: Get 100 classic action films for $45 Posted: 31 Dec 2009 04:00 PM PST
Now there's nothing. If you're down with old-school movies, though, Hammacher's selling 100 – count 'em – 100 action films spanning 24 double-sided DVDs for $45. These are movies from the 1920s through the 1990s, when men were men and the women were too. There's also a collection of 100 Westerns available for $45 as well. The 100 Classic Action Films [Hammacher Schlemmer]
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| Acer’s Aspire One officially gets a little spec bump Posted: 31 Dec 2009 03:15 PM PST
Well, as long as you’re here: it seems that the popular Acer Aspire One, a perfectly decent netbook if I ever saw one, is going to be sporting the new Atom N450 processor. This is the newest Atom, and it lowers wattage while integrating graphics. So you can expect slightly better battery life and better performance, although the clock speed is still hanging out at the same old 1.66GHz. Good for Acer, but hold on to your wallets. We expect pretty much every netbook maker have similar specs after the next week or so. That’s not so long to wait, is it? Just chill a bit, watch our CES coverage, and then decide which is the best afterwards. I’m betting Doug is just itching to get hands-on with all these things. He’s like that. Here are the full specs from the press release. Should go for $300 MSRP, less of course on the strizzle.
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| Unassuming cap sports hidden camcorder Posted: 31 Dec 2009 02:30 PM PST
Pardon me, miss? I'd just like to tell you that I think your hat is fly. Dope, even. Too bad you'll never remember my face. Memorize it now and then lose me forever. Unless, of course, you've somehow got a camcorder hidden in that thing! That's unlikely, as your hat is far too stylish to be a technology product. The joke's on me, because this hat DOES have a camcorder hidden inside it. The future! All for $55 from Brando. There's 4GB of storage, 640×480 resolution recording at 27 (???) frames per second, and a keychain remote control. You use the remote to start and stop recording, at which point the hat vibrates to let you know it's working. Yes, it vibrates. Again, this is the future. Spy Camera Camcorder Cap with Vibration and Remote Control [Brando]
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| TenYears: The Biggest Product Flops of the Decade Posted: 31 Dec 2009 02:19 PM PST
We already did the biggest losers in the tech industry but why not talk about the biggest product flops? Here are a few of the biggest failures of the decade, starting with one monster release from a fairly well-known company.
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You might be able to squeeze a little more storage into those Blu-ray discs soon. Sony and Panasonic have been working on increasing the maximum capacity per-layer from 25 to 33.4GB, and the new version might be ready for market in the near future.
So here’s a somewhat interesting gadget. Instead of converting a PS3 into a hand-held device, a crafty modder named techknott built a custom transmitter. The transmitter allows a player to not only control their PS3 remotely, but also to view the output on a small video screen.
If you live in a northern climate, tomorrow marks the first real day of hunkering down for the cold, cold winter with nothing to look forward to until spring. We used to have the new season of Deadwood starting up in February, but HBO killed it.
 OLPC The One Laptop Per Child project was supposed to change the world. By sending cheap technology into developing nations, you would offer kids a ticket out of ignorance and poverty. Sadly, however, corporate infighting and the glare of reality made the sub-$100 laptop idea a failure. Will we ever see something like the OLPC project come to fruition? Sure, but manufacturers will have to stop with the posturing and pony up some cash for the future. |
 HD DVD Poor Toshiba. They were so excited about HD DVD a few years ago but then one day – one CES, actually – the entire product just went up in a puff of smoke. Competing high definition DVD standards were were silly and Sony’s deep pockets and connections won the day. But don’t count your laurels too soon, Sony: streaming and downloads will eat your Blu-Ray lunch with a quickness. |
 N-Gage Admit it: when you first heard of N-Gage you wanted it to work. You wanted engrossing, good games on your cellphone. You wanted to go into a store and buy games like you’d buy Nintendo cartridges. You wanted EA et al. to amaze you. Sadly, Nokia messed things up with garbage hardware then even more garbage service offerings. In the end, the side-talking N-Gage was a joke when it launched in 2003 and then the iPhone took over mobile gaming. End of N-Gage. |
Our take
Devin: How about the AppleTV? It was in a position to really take on other set-top boxes, but Apple just blew it. Not really on the scale of these other flops, but worth mentioning. And although it pains me to say it, the Zune to some extent was a major flop. I love the Zune HD, but the original was poorly marketed… and brown.
Greg: The Cybiko. That thing was supposed to be awesome. I’d be able to talk to chat with all of my friends during class, and my teachers would be none the wiser. We’d crack jokes! We’d play games! It would be a little electronic party, each and every day. And then no one bought it, and I was the weird kid that had a calculator with an antenna on it.
Matt: Let me set the scene: A company previously unknown at the beginning of the decade quietly releases a hit cell phone after a hit cell phone. This company can seemingly do no wrong and constantly reinvents itself to stay one beat ahead of the trend. Then RIM launches the BlackBerry Storm, which will go down in history second only to the N-Gage as the worst cell phone in history.
Nicholas: HD DVD only “flopped” after Warner decided to back Blu-ray. Prior to that it was doing just as well as Blu-ray, which is to say not well at all. Maybe the Dreamcast?
Doug: This is a tough one since there are always plenty of flops compared to good products. I guess the product with the biggest crash and burn factor in my mind would be the Gizmondo portable gaming system. So much hype, so many promises broken. The amazing part was that it actually launched. But it was overpriced, there were no games, and everyone and their mother involved in the project went bankrupt. Even more amazing is that there was supposed to be a Gizmondo 2 launched in 2008. Why launch a successor to a failed product? No matter, as a series of delays, arrests, and a high-profile car crash had doomed the project from the start.
Rumor: Samsung Mobile to launch absolutely nothing at CES?
Posted: 31 Dec 2009 02:07 PM PST
Remember the last time Samsung went more than a few days without launching a new phone? Yeah, neither do we. When we got word that Samsung Mobile was holding their CES press conference at the ungodly hour of 7:30 A.M on the Day 2 of CES (otherwise known as Day 1 of being hungover), my curiosity was piqued. I mean, who the hell launches a new phone at 7:30 in the morning, halfway through a show? Not Samsung, it seems.
Recognizing XM Channel 202’s excellence, 2009 edition
Posted: 31 Dec 2009 01:30 PM PST
Last year’s Satellite Radio Awards were a smashing success, so let’s do it again! Only this time I’m throwing out the idea of handing out awards to the whole of satellite radio (and these awards are obviously just for fun), and instead will focus my energies on the channel that I spend 99 percent of my time tuned into: XM Channel 202 The Virus. If It weren’t for 202 I would have killed my subscription some time ago.
This year will be a little more organic, too, and the awards will be spread around different “moments” or whatever that made the $15 per month (or whatever it is) totally worth it. You’ll see what I mean.
Personality of the Year: Chris Stanley, also known as Pepper Hicks, from Ron and Fez. Of all of the guys on 202, Pepper is easily the most entertaining of the bunch. It’s not that he’s necessarily as quick as Jim Norton or Anthony Cumia, or, I don’t know, ridiculous (and I mean that in a good way) as East Side Dave, or as thought-provoking as Ron Bennington, or as level-headed-despite-the-management-shit-storm-surround-him like Opie, but there’s something about Pepper that puts a smile on my face every time he says the word “yeah.” He has also single-handily brought the word “clusterfuck” back from the dead. He could read the phone book and it’d be tremendous. In short, Pepper Hicks is the man.
Shock of the Year: Bobo’s arrest for stealing $10,000 from Mel Karzastan’s office. Let’s get this out of the way: Bobo is an acquired taste at best, so putting up with him for many, many months was something of a chore. The boys were right to tease 92.3FM for its “fugitive” radio bit, which led to Bobo inserting himself into the bit. Fine, it happens. But on November 20, when The Fugitive was finally captured and brought to justice, well, it made up for all those months of near-torture. The boys’ handling of The Fugitive is the definition of a bit that paid off. Bravo to all parties involved.
Feelgood Story of the Year: Sam and East Side Dave getting their own slot on Saturday nights. I like Special Delivery, especially when Sam and Dave talk about things they’re clearly passionate about. (Invariably that’s WWE for Sam and film for Dave.) They’ve been using the “pop culture experts” gimmick for a little while now, but I’m not sure how much the world needs to hear more wacky dolphin news.
Most Annoying Moment(s) of the Year: Sirius XM’s interference with Opie and Anthony. I, for one, love it when Opie “goes inside” and tries to explain the radio business and why it’s falling apart, but that only happens when Sirius XM manage to upset the balance of the show. (I don’t know if I’ve ever heard Ron and Fez complain about management; that’s just not the show’s style.) The most glaring example was the Homeless Shopping Spree. Yes, management somewhat salvaged it by turning it into a talent show but it simply wasn’t the same. I wanted to see Homeless Fez make a comeback! I’d say that management is sucking the life out of the show, but let’s keep things positive. Honorable mention (I guess that’s what you’d call it here) goes to all the message board drama that was brought to the Ron and Fez show earlier in the year. Yikes was that hard to listen to.
Bit of the Year: East Side Dave vs. Fez in the Siren Series. I seriously cannot hear a siren anymore without half-expecting Ron to whip out some questions and have Dave and Fez try to outsmart (well, sometimes) each other. Batman, Star Wars, other topics I can’t remember because they occurred months ago—all brilliant, all worth sitting through endless Pajamagram commercials for. Honorable mentions go to Bill Burr’s Yankees rant (”just a bunch of knock-around guys”) and when Ron and Dave sang U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” at the top of their lungs during one of Fez’s live reads. I still laugh at that just thinking about it.
Posted: 31 Dec 2009 12:30 PM PST
Good old John Gruber. While the rest of us are panting, he sits in the corner, calmly stroking his luxurious beard. He thinks the Tablet is real, the “leaks” and “mock-ups” aren’t real, all of his best sources say Apple’s best designers are incognito, and that Steve loves the project.
From his long, worth-reading post:
Do I think The Tablet is an e-reader? A video player? A web browser? A document viewer? It's not a matter of or but rather and. I say it is all of these things. It's a computer.
And so in answer to my central question, regarding why buy The Tablet if you already have an iPhone and a MacBook, my best guess is that ultimately, The Tablet is something you'll buy instead of a MacBook.
So what are we looking at? It’s another Mac. Straight up. It’s not a better iPod or a better Touch or a better Tablet. It’s a new computer from Apple.
Here’s hoping.
Mountain Dew and Pepsi Throwback bring real sugar back to sodas once again
Posted: 31 Dec 2009 12:11 PM PST
They’re baaaack! I just spotted the greatest beverages on Earth in my local Rite Aid while shopping for New Year’s Eve refreshments. The last I heard, Pepsi discontinued the Throwback line after a brief early summer run. But according to Wikipedia – who’s never wrong — the HFCS-free sodas are back for a limited time. Why, oh why, did I give up soda a few days ago. Who does something like that before New Year’s anyway?
The original Mountain Dew throwback was a love it or hate it sort-of thing. I adored it and teared a bit when I couldn’t find it anymore mid-July 2009. But the Mountain Dew Throwback recipe is slightly different this time around. It still uses real sugar instead of HFCS, but now contains more caffeine and orange juice, among other items. So how does it taste? I don’t know. I gave up soda four days ago and I’ll be damned if I give in now.
Snuggle Suit: It’s a robe with pants
Posted: 31 Dec 2009 11:30 AM PST
If you've been following Snuggie news as closely as I have, you'll definitely have noticed that most, if not all, Snuggie knock-offs are far superior to the original. Take this Snuggle Suit, for instance. It's $20 and you could wear it as an actual outfit around many parts of New Jersey without getting a second look.
Where the Snuggie hangs like a smock in a doctor's office, the Snuggle Suit blends the comfort of a bathrobe with the cat-like agility afforded by common trousers.
The fact that it's only available for women makes me downright irate, but maybe I could stuff myself into an extra large.
Snuggle Suit [JCPenney via Consumerist]
ExtraLives Zelda marathon is happening now
Posted: 31 Dec 2009 11:00 AM PST
These dudes are doing a 48 hour Zelda marathon for Free the Children. They’re playing Faces of Evil (the CDi version, which is amazingly bad) right now and are accepting donations at Extralives. Up next is Ocarina of Time. Watch and donate!
You can chat with the guys here and they have some giveaways. If you’re not doing much, it’s a lot of fun.
Pine Trail equipped Acer 532h netbook specs leak for all to see
Posted: 31 Dec 2009 11:00 AM PST
In my humble opinion, conventional wisdom should dictate that any netbook that's still sporting a 1024×600 resolution should be overlooked immediately. We make an exception today for Acer's 10.1-inch 532h, which features Intel's upcoming N450 "Pine Trail" chipset sporting a 1.66GHz Atom CPU (see previous info here).
The main draw of the Pine Trail platform, you'll recall, is a move from a three-chip architecture to a two-chip architecture. The graphics and memory controller move in with the CPU while the I/O makes up the other chip. The end result is more efficiency, better battery life, and cooler running temperatures.
After all that, though, we're still dealing with a small-resolution screen here. Other specs include 1GB of RAM, 160GB or 250GB hard drive configurations and, presumably, some flavor of Windows 7. None of this stuff is officially confirmed yet but I'd be willing to be it'll be outed at CES next week. Pricing would probably fall somewhere in the $299 to $349 range, I'd guess.
[Netbook News (translated) via Gizmodo]
The Known Universe by the AMHN put to the music of Muse
Posted: 31 Dec 2009 10:30 AM PST
It’s New Year’s Eve and you’re stuck in front of a computer. Sorry, bub. You might as well turn your speakers on and zen out to the American Museum of Natural History’s The Known Universe video put to Exogenesis by Muse.
The somewhat boring, but also high-def, original video is after the jump if you want to burn even more of your day.
Leaked: The Motorola Mirage might just be the best Android phone yet
Posted: 31 Dec 2009 10:25 AM PST
Oh, Android - how good you have been for Motorola. It was only months ago that they were teetering on the edge of obscurity; one 350-person Android task force later, they've got the most popular Android handset in the lands and are being name dropped on a nearly daily basis around the rumor mill. A Chinese leakster managed to get his mitts on this (confusingly obscured) shot of an unreleased Motorola handset, and was nice enough to share it with the world.
In-game item in Entropia Universe kinda sorta bought for US$330,000
Posted: 31 Dec 2009 10:00 AM PST
This story is not nearly as interesting as I was led to believe. Some guy bought something in the online game Entropia Universe. He bought it with in-game currency—PED3.3 million, to be exact. It just so happens that that amount, PED3.3 million, can be converted at will to real life currency. At current conversion rates that equals approximately US$330,000. So if you want to say that the guy bought an in-game item for US$330,000, well, be my guest.
The item itself, the Crystal Palace Space Station, is some sort of ship or craft or something that other players can buy things from. So the buyer of the thingamajig can use it as an actual source of income.
You should know that the game isn’t merely a game, but a fully registered bank in Sweden, complete with all the protections afforded to other, “real” European Union-based banks.
Embedded is a video of Crystal Palace, which looks an awful lot like that spaceship from Phantasy Star Online.
via Slashdot
Is Asus killing off the Eee Stick?
Posted: 31 Dec 2009 09:32 AM PST
The Asus Eee Stick might be dead, folks. According to a Digitimes report, the company has slashed the development department down to only 20 team members from the original 100 and more cuts might be coming. Long story short, the department isn’t delivering the goods. I mean, have we ever seen a good use of the Eee Stick? It’s not like the Eee netbooks were ever that great at gaming.
The original idea of turning a PC into a Wii was solid, but Asus never really marketed the products outside of an novelty Eee accessory. Off-the-wall accessories like the Eee Stick rarely stick around anyway. Chances are if we don’t hear anything about the product next week at CES, the Eee Stick will be put out to the pasture to quietly fade away like the rumor suggests.
CrunchDeals: Logitech G13 game controller for $50
Posted: 31 Dec 2009 09:15 AM PST
Best Buy has a pretty good deal on Logitech's G13 game controller at $50. It's backordered for a couple weeks, but patience is a wondrous virtue.
Normally selling for around $80, the G13 features a built-in status LCD, 25 programmable keys and mini joystick, built-in memory for game profiles, and compatibility with PC and Mac.
Logitech – G13 Gamepad [Best Buy via dealspl.us]
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