CrunchGear

CrunchGear

Link to CrunchGear

The Lego Robotic Hand: Do not get any ideas

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 05:00 AM PST

Some nice Polish boys made this clever robotic hand that is built to human scale and, interestingly, has a thumb and four working fingers. Did we mention it was made using Lego? That truly kicks ass.

But here is my very simple and direct question: Are these really the lengths young men will go to in order to give themselves a stranger?

New Prince of Persia trailer looks awesome

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 04:22 AM PST

In November last year, we’ve shown you not one but two trailers for the Prince of Persia movie, and both turned out to be quite decent. And this third full-length trailer (courtesy of IGN) for one of this summer’s blockbusters doesn’t look too shabby either.

The movie’s full title is “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” and it’s scheduled for release (by Disney) in the USA on May 28. This is the official synopsis:

A rogue prince (JAKE GYLLENHAAL) reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess (GEMMA ARTERTON) and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time—a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

Here’s the new trailer:

Via IGN

Review: POD X3 Digital Guitar Amp Modeler

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 04:09 AM PST

As immature as it sounds, I was originally suspect of Line 6 products because I did not like the name of their Variax guitar line. (Whew, glad that’s off my chest). But while working on an audio project a while back, I picked up a Line 6 TonePort UX2 amp simulator/tone modeler in order to record some guitar parts. I bought the TonePort because it was cheaper than its competition and because it had cool, old-school analog meters. Not expecting much, I was quite impressed with the versatility of instrument tones and ease of use. I was eager to try it in a “live” situation, but the TonePort is really more of a recording device since it requires a computer to be present for its UI. I really didn’t want to lug my laptop out to a gig and set it on top of my amp—that’s just not very “rock and roll”. Besides, I would have inevitably spilled beer all over it and the MacBookPro only gets a 5 out of 100 on the Beer Spillage Scale (read on for more detail on the Beer Spillage Scale). Anyway, while contemplating this, a little research pointed me instead to the Line 6 POD X3 which has pretty much the same functionality as the TonePort, except the UI is built in and it can operate as a standalone unit. I therefore figured it would be my chance to hear the tones coming through an amp without looking like a douche. So how does it sound?

The bottom line is that it can sound really great!

Actually, I can sum up the Line 6 POD X3 this way; in a live situation, it won’t make a great amplifier sound any better than that amplifier sounds on it’s own, but it sure can make a piece of junk sound like a whole new amp (especially if the junker is a tube amp). When it comes to distorted effects to layer on top of an existing amp tone, it is very functional. And for computer-based recording, it’s awesome! It makes it easy to record simple demos or even full-on, layered scores.

I therefore like to break its use into two categories: use in a live sound situation and use as a recording device. But first I’ll let you know my thoughts on the hardware design, usability and tone. Then I will describe how it worked for me live and for recording.

Hardware Design
In general, the POD X3 hardware design is solid. The device mostly feels like a professional piece of sound equipment. The die-cast metal outer shell feels good and “dropable”. The main knobs are large and solid and never seem loose. All the labels are descriptive and readable in low light. There are a few smaller knobs and buttons that unfortuantely have a toy-like feel but they are still passable. It also weighs enough to stay anchored on top of an amp or stationary on the floor and the rubber feet on the bottom really “grip” and keep the unit from moving about. Also, I would give the POD X3 a 75 out of 100 on the Beer Spillage Scale, meaning that if you spilled beer all over it, there is a 75% chance the device would survive the event.

This is important. I’m serious.

The center “On/Off” and “Home” buttons are the only real achillles heel where beer could get to the inside of the unit. It is comforting to know this as you line up an evening’s worth of pints next to it on the floor.

Also, the device is fairly small and self contained. Perfect for practice yet capable for live use. The distinctive metalic-red coloring of the body is nice too.

Usability
My first test to define greatness is usually this: “If I turn the thing on and, without reading the manual, can figure out how to master it in about 5 minutes…it’s a brilliant device”. (See iPhone)

The POD X3 is no iPhone. I was forced to read the manual and believe me, to read the manual is a sign of weakness. Alas, I cracked. The manual helped though and cleared up most of the confusion for me but the the POD X3 is fairly complex and I would be lying if I said I still understand all of it’s functionality. I will describe the basic setup.

The device has 2 zones of interaction: The outer ring of larger “amp-like” knobs and the inner ring which houses the screen and smaller controls and buttons. It’s probably an over-simplification to say that the outer ring is like the normal power amp section of an amplifier and the the inner ring is like the pre amp section, but that is how I imagine it. When you boot up the POD X3, the first thing you see on the monochrome, orange backlit screen in the center is the depiction of the basic signal chain, effects and virtual hardware components you can place in that chain to model your instrument tone. There are rows of buttons and knobs just below the screen. The soft, rubbery buttons correspond to the virtual signal chain (double click to get to a virtual device’s properties) and the small knobs edit those properties.

The good news is that even though setting up a guitar tone on the POD X3 can be a little confusing using the on-board controls, the engineers at Line 6 are pretty clever and made the device also configureable with their desktop software called GearBox. You take a USB cable and connect the POD X3 to your laptop or desktop machine running GearBox and Voilà—you can easily set all your presets through the much nicer computer interface. And truly that would be my recommendation; set up all your presets from the computer interface and save them to the device. The beauty of the POD X3 is this design model: it can be controlled by a computer but it also has everything you need on-board for in-the-field edits.

Tone
Besides writing for CrunchGear and doing mobile strategy work at the day gig, I am also one of the touring upright bassists for Nashville Honkey-tonkers Bucktown Kickback. I can safely say that in the 25,000+ van miles I have logged touring around the U.S. with that group, I have seen every conceivable live sound situation. From “hey, the sound guy called in sick tonight and you guys are on your own” to “would you like 3 or 4 monitor mixes tonight sir, oh and shrimp cocktail or caviar?” The reality for a touring musician is anything but predictable when it comes to live sound and it is for this reason that I’m really not that picky when it comes to instrument/amplifier setup. I’m not a vintage gear whore nor a purist requiring the exact same set up every night. I am fairly pragmatic and can usually roll with the punches. More than anything I search for warmth of tone when possible. Despite this intended flexibility, I’ll admit I’ve never been too keen on effects processors (these days they call them “modelers”). I always thought they sounded “wanky” and tried to stay away from them. Well, a lot has changed in the 15 years since I last used one.

Line 6 has extensively sampled many, many classic amps, cabinets and mic setups for their products and, as I noted earlier, have done so with great results. This is evident on the POD X3 as it lets you mix and match classic/modern amp and cabinet sounds for custom instrument tone and it replicates these well for recording and studio use. Their website accurately and somewhat overzealously describes the POD X3’s capability this way:

The desktop-friendly POD® X3 represents the exciting evolution of the classic bean-shaped digital guitar amp modeler, with an expanded array of 78 guitar amps, from high-wattage heavyweights to boutique beauties and vintage treasures.

Guitar amp models are just the beginning: With 24 guitar cabs, 98 stompbox and studio effects, 28 bass amps, 22 bass cabs and six vocal preamps – POD X3 comes complete with the all-around sonic firepower of a top-tier major-label studio, ready to tackle guitar, bass vocals and beyond. What's more, its larger LCD and smart new editing workflow pages make it easier than ever to find, tweak and save tones.

Live Rehearsal
I tested the device on two different physical amplifiers: A 300 Watt Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout bass amp and a 1965 30 Watt Univox 305R guitar amp. The Mesa is a great amp. The Univox…well, lets just say it’s unique. (Actually, it’s not necessarily a bad amp, but is just very one dimensional in tone). It will howl in its own distinctive way, but that’s all it’s got. I actually liked how the POD X3 colored that amp’s tone quite a bit.

When testing the POD X3 with an Epiphone Alleykat 6 string guitar through the Walkabout, it first seemed to lack a bit of the warmth that the Mesa normally has on it’s own, but I later found out that I didn’t have it dialed in very well. You need to make sure you set the outputs to preamp and not studio to get the cleanest “live” tones. Despite the headroom the Walkabout has, I was able to simulate that “amplifier-breaking-up” sound pretty well with a couple of tweaks to the presets. With the Univox, I think I achieved a nice ballsy guitar blast as well. I was impressed with results. I wondered if the fact that the Univox is an all tube amp, helped “humanize” the digitalness of the POD a bit, but I didn’t dive much deeper than that because I liked the sounds, especially the American Punk tone model.

BUT…I’m a bassist, not a guitarist, so naturally when I ran an American P-Bass through it, I found the bass tones a little thinner than the guitar tones. Maybe Line 6 spent more time on their Guitar models? Or maybe this because I simply have more experience with bass tones and I just don’t know any better when it comes to guitar? I tend to think the later is true because I did read reviews by some guitarists out there on various message boards citing that the POD X3 had too high of a gain or was “metally” or was lacking nuance. It might just be a perception issue.

However, please don’t misunderstand me though because while I said the bass tones were a little thinner than my regular amp, the POD still sounded really, really good and in fact for some styles of music was perfect. Many of the distorted bass tones were cool and perfect for mimicking a fuzzed out hardcore sound. So in the end, it has a lot of usefulness and could be part of the traveling toolset for any guitarist or bassist.

Also, it can be used as a Mic pre-amp for vocals, but I don’t currently have a mic that would do it justice, so I declined to test that out much.

Recording
Since I had already done quite a bit of recording straight to my computer using the TonePort, I found that the POD X3 behaved identically. Using it with GearBox was a sinch to port directly to GarageBand. As a recording device, I read that it will work with Ableton, GarageBand, Logic and Cubase. Interestingly though, Line 6 products will not work with ProTools.

Other Notable Features
One cool thing about the POD X3 is that it has two channels. So it can operate like a traditional amp where you could set one channel to a clean tone and the other channel to a distorted tone for the classic SOFT/LOUD sound. It has a jack in the back for a footswitch, however Line 6 did not send a foot switch, so I can’t really tell you how well that works. While messing with the channels though, I kept thinking to myself “what if I could use this thing as a ’splitter’ and send one tone to one amp and the other tone to a second amp, simultaneously”? Gadzooks—you can! You can send both channels to different amps or conversely, you can send both channels to the same amp and mix between them without any loss of signal strength. That is a pretty neat feature. There is a nice little demo at line6.com that illustrates this.

Additionally, the Line 6 website is a pretty powerful resource. There are some fairly active forums for technical answers and their administrators seem attentive and helpful. Also, they have a unique section of their site called CustomTone. This section is where users can upload and share tone preset files they have created with various Line 6 products. These “tones” are exported as an info file and can be downloaded and used by other users. These services, coupled with their Line 6 Monkey desktop application (for updating drivers and tone packages) make for an interesting, collaborative and fun way to approach playing guitar or bass—especially for gadget minded folks out there.

The Real Live Test
I did decide to put the POD X3 to the real test and take it to a gig intending to run it as my sole preamp for my bass cabinet that evening. Unfortunately, it was causing my power amp to create a hum in the PA system. I was unable to eliminate the noise during the allotted sound-check time slot and was forced to revert to my regular amplifier. I plan on giving it another test soon because the reason for the hum could have been related to a specific issue with that single PA system and not necessarily a problem with the POD X3.

What Is It Missing?
I was unable to figure out a way to truly “bypass” the POD X3 while still keeping it in the regular amp signal chain and therefore could not get it to act like a normal effects pedal, which I thought was a bummer. It might be possible to run it through an amplifier effects loop, but I did not give that a try.

Bottom Line
The POD X3 is a fine little amp simulator and works great in the studio for both simple and complex recording projects. It’s built well and has many unique features. I had enough issues with it as a “live amp” solution that, at this point, I probably would not rely on it as my sole rig at a gig. It is small enough that I would still want to take it with me to every gig just to have it on hand, and that is worth noting. I don’t think the goal of the POD X3 is to act like a modular effects processor for sporadic use, but rather is built to operate more like a complete amp replacement technology. That is a bold concept, however I still think if it could be truly bypassed and therefore capable of acting as either an effects processor OR amp modeler/simulator, that it would be more useful and find its way into more setups. But that’s just my wishlist for it. While purists may not like the sounds or the style of the POD X3, it is still a very convenient and functional tool for achieving some great digital instrument tones, and at $399 is a cheaper solution than buying multiple physical amplifiers.  I can see where it could be used by working studio professionals or home prosumers for many kinds of audio projects.

AT&T’s CEO (of all people): iPad will be driven by Wi-Fi, not 3G

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 03:22 AM PST

As everybody knows by now, Apple ships the iPad in the Wi-Fi version this month, with the 3G subscription-based model following in April (probably). And as it’s AT&T that has secured the right to provide 3G connectivity to iPad users in America, you’d think Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s CEO, would be the first person to promote sales of the 3G model.

But it’s Stephenson who is now quoted as saying that he doesn’t expect “(…) a lot of people out there looking for another subscription (…)” and that the iPad wil mainly be a “Wi-Fi driven product”. He made the remarks during a webcast of an investor conference yesterday, adding the iPhone, on the other hand, will continue to play an important role for AT&T “for quite some period of time”.

Stephenson also thinks the future holds higher prices for heavy 3G users in the telecommunications industry as a whole. You can read what TechCrunch thought about 3G connectivity on the iPhone (provided by AT&T) in the past here.

To recap, the most basic iPad will cost $499, while 3G adds $130 to every model. AT&T plans to charge $15.00 for 250MB, or $29.99 for “unlimited downloads” – on a monthly basis, without a long-term contract. And AT&T will let you use their Wi-Fi hotspots free of charge.

Via Reuters

Marantz wants to Roku you for free (with purchase)

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 12:00 AM PST


Yep, Marantz, makers of high end A/V equipment have a deal where if you buy one of their high performance Blu-ray players, they’ll give a free Roku Play via mail-in-rebate. If you want to take advantage of this, you have until March 31st. Details (and press release) after the jump.

Here’s what you do: go to any authorized Marantz dealer before March 31st, and purchase one of the eligible high performance Blu-ray players. That list includes the UD9004 (SRP: $5999.99), the UD8004 (SRP:$2299.99), the BD7004 (SRP:$799.99), or the bargain basement BD5004 (SRP: $549.99). After buying one of these units, fill out the rebate redemption form, and then you’ll receive your very own Roku HD player via mail. Sounds like a heck of a deal to me!

Here’s the press release, or you can just go to the Marantz website for the details:

MAHWAH, NJ – March 2, 2010 – Marantz America, a world leader of advanced home entertainment solutions, today announced that consumers who purchase one of its high-performance Blu-ray players, including models UD9004 (SRP: $5,999.99), UD8004 ($2,299.99), BD7004 (SRP: $799.99) or BD5004 ($549.99), from an authorized Marantz retailer from now until March 31 are eligible to receive a free ROKUâ HD Digital Video Player via mail-in rebate. The popular ROKU HD player allows users to stream and enjoy a wide range of Internet media services in superb high-definition video and audio, including Netflix, Amazon, Pandora, Major League Baseball and much more. Customer rebate redemption forms are available at www.us.marantz.com.

Noted Kevin Zarow, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Marantz America, Inc: "In addition to their unprecedented capabilities to provide high-definition video and audio programming, one of the most exciting attributes of today's Blu-ray players is their ability to give users an easy-access bridge to a multitude of video and audio Internet entertainment services. Marantz engineers have made it a priority in our Blu-ray players to ensure that our customers remain at the cutting edge of this Internet media revolution. Now, by offering people the opportunity to receive a free ROKU HD player with their Marantz Blu-ray purchase, we are significantlly adding value while also bringing attention to the 'entertainment expanding' capability of our high-performance Blu-ray players."

Daily Crunch: Bath Night Edition

Posted: 03 Mar 2010 12:00 AM PST

Doctors learning how to operate using robots

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 11:30 PM PST

You probably haven’t heard about the Da Vinci surgical robot, but it’s been out for a little while. I had the chance to see it last year (and even try it out a little bit) and it’s an amazing piece of machinery. It’s also extremely expensive and in high demand, so it’s difficult for doctors to find time to train in it’s use.

Enter the RoSS Simulator. Using a stand alone simulator it’s possible for a doctor to receive all the training they need on the system without actually using the Da Vinci robot in an operating theater. This cuts down on the training costs significantly, as well as freeing up the real unit for procedures.

[via Medgadget]

You don’t fall for the wallet inspector gimmick, so why fall for its online equivalent?

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 11:10 PM PST

I think I’m getting to the point that, instead of feeling bad for people who fall victim to phishing scheme, or any other online nonsense, I’m actually like, "You know what? Serves you right." There’s a new scam going around that exploits Internet Explorer (in Windows XP, mostly), and it works by tricking users into pressing the F1 key at a certain time. Once the key is pressed, any ol’ code a hackers wants to execute can be executed. Right now, the only work-around is to not press F1 when prompted by any ol’ site. Cool.

The thing is, what kind of person will sit there, see a flashing pop-up that says, "You’ve won a million dollars! Press F1 to claim your prize!," and then actually presses F1? I hate to invoke common sense, but come on, people! We’re not in the Wild West days of the Internet anymore; you should be able to tell a scam when you see one.

Again, if a guy on the street walks up to you, claims to be the wallet inspector, how many of you would hand it over? Not very many! Apply the same concept to your Internet life, and you’ll find it all the more enjoyable.

That, or switch to Firefox, or move to Linux.


Archos 2010 lineup leaks (in Europe)

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 10:30 PM PST

So the latest from Archos leaked recently at CeBIT 2010, the European electronics show. The 2010 Vision line showcases Archos returning to their roots with a series of new audio players designed for the lower end of the price range.

First is the A14VG Vision, a simple player with a 1.4″ display, 4GB of internal memory and an FM tuner. Expect to see it (since this is Europe only) for about 35 Euros.

Next is the A15VS Vision, a slimline player that supports FLAC, with the same 4GB of internal memory. This version will sell for about 40 Euros.


The A30VC is pretty much the same as last years model, except with the addition of a camera on the back. The screen on this until measures 3.0″ and has 8GB of internal memory. Expect to find this one at 90 Euros.


Finally we have the A43VB, a typical PMP. The A43VB has a 4.3″ touchscreen, 8GB of internal memory (but a microSD slot for expansion), and retails for 100 Euros.

Again, don’t expect to ever see these in the US, but isn’t it fun to see what’s coming to Europe?

[via dapreview]

Sears starting to take pre-orders on 3D TVs

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 10:00 PM PST

Get ready, the 3D revolution will be televised. Sears has started offering pre-order pricing on Samsung’s 3D televisions, with some models expected to be available in stores later this month. Sears is also starting to advertise a Blu-ray player with 3D glasses as well.

Initially, the only televisions available will be the 46 inch and 55 inch versions, with the 46 inch priced at $2,600 and the 55 inch at $3,300. Sears also plans on providing education to shoppers via their online presence and in stores. Apparently there are a few misconceptions out there regarding how 3D television works and that 3D televisions are going to be expensive. However they are doing it, this could be a big win for Sears and Samsung if they can leverage the public consciousness into associating them with the new 3D technology.

[via TWICE]

Wii Classic Pro controller showing up at GameStop

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 09:30 PM PST

Here’s some retro gaming goodness, GameStop has all but confirmed the White Classic Controller Pro for the Wii, with a ship date of April 1st. This is of course patterned off of the GameCube controller and has been clamored for by gamers ever since the Wii came out. Hopefully it’ll be worth the wait.

GameStop has them available for pre-order for the very reasonable price of $19.99, and you can have any color you want so long as you choose white.

[via Destructoid]

Indestructible map is indestructible

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 08:30 PM PST

Maps are among the more invaluable travel tools. Android/iPhone apps are nice, but sometimes analog is just the best way to go. Industrial designer Emanuele Pizzolorusso has these Tyvek city maps in the pipes that look like they can handle anything you throw at them.

These maps are waterproof, crease-able, crumble-able, and when you’re done reading one, just stuff it haphazardly into the included pouch. They’re probably more useful to a hitchhiker than his or her towel. Emergency blanket, tarp, hull patch, the uses are endless. I only see concepts for London, Paris, New York, Tokyo and Berlin, and no word on when we can expect to find them in the wild.

[Cool Hunting]

GameStop selling 250GB Xbox 360 drive

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 07:00 PM PST

Well lookie at that, GameStop is selling a 250GB Xbox 360 drive separately from a console. Microsoft has said in the past that they don’t plan on selling the larger drives without a bundle, so I doubt these are a new or official product, but rather GameStop coming up with something on their own.

The listing for the drive popped up on GameStop’s website for $129.99, but the product isn’t available until 3/23. There’s also not a whole lot of details about rather it’s new, used, or whatever. So either someone accidentally leaked some info a bit early, or GameStop finally figured out what to do with all those hard drives they’ve been taking in trade in on the Elite consoles. My guess is the latter, but only time will tell. It does fit their business model, selling the used drives separate from the console sounds very much like something that they would do.

[via Destructoid]

Cadence wants you to learn how to tell time in binary

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 06:45 PM PST

Here’s a geeky watch that won’t destroy your budget. Cadence teamed up with designer John Flear to produce the 4-BIt watch. The geek angle? All of the time indications are shown in 4-bit binary language instead of arabic or roman numerals.

It’s not just a novelty watch either, the 4-BIT is made from stainless steel with a japanese quartz moment. It’s also only $99, so it’s affordable too. I think I might be picking up one of these up for myself when they are released in June. You can sign up now to be notified when they are available for order by going to the Cadence website.


Build (or just buy) your own flying hovercraft

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 06:30 PM PST

Fancy having your own hovercraft? Want one that’ll take off and fly? Well a New Zealand man designed, built, and flies his very own flying hovercraft. The drawback – you have to launch and land from on the water in order to actually be able to fly.

Now this is a DIY project. The craft was built in the inventors garage from parts taken from other vehicles, including the handlebar from his daughters scooter over a period of ten years. Keep in mind, because the the hovercraft is technically a boat, you won’t even need a pilots license to fly it (at least in New Zealand), but I think I’d still be cautious about using it. There’s nothing in the original video to indicate how much the hovercraft is selling for, but a little research shows that it’s being auctioned off and as of this post, the price is at $26,500. The auction ends on the 13th though, so it could go significantly higher.


Upgrade the UI on your shuffle button for $1

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 06:00 PM PST

Do you keep music on your iPhone you don’t listen to anymore? Did you ever wish the shuffle button looked prettier? With Taptivate’s new app, Attic, you get exactly that.

The premise of this app is all of those boxes of albums you have collecting dust in your attic. And this brilliantly attractive interface from across the pond allows you to go listen to them. I’d pay a dollar for something that looks this good.

Valve understands the internet, quietly launches biggest alternate reality game since “I Love Bees”

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 05:42 PM PST


Yesterday, a minor update was pushed out to Portal, which read: “Changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations.” It was noticed shortly after that a new achievement had been added: “Transmission received.” Upon opening the game, people found that there were radios scattered about the game, with red LEDs that would turn green when you brought them to the right place, and played a creepy noise (LOUD). Successfully playing all these noises through what I understand to be a variant of a spectrum analyzer (SSTV) results in a series of images clearly related to Portal and the game world:

Further analysis of these pictures revealed a BBS number that had been scratched out, but also a sort of code, including Morse and simple substitution encryption, which yielded a Kirkland area code (Valve is based in Kirkland). This turns out to be a BBS chock full of ASCII images of various things:

A larger, colorized version is here.

That’s about the extent of the investigation right now. Some savvy commenters have noted that on GlaDOS from Portal is version 3.11, and on 3/11 Valve’s Gabe Newell is scheduled to receive an award at GDC. That would be a nice time to show off a new game.

Portal 2? Episode 3? I’m getting goosebumps.

Really now, the amount of savvy being shown by Valve and the community on this thing is surprising even to yours truly, jaded tech blogger. I can’t wait to see how this turns out.

[discussion at Reddit, on Steam forums]

TiVo Premiere hands-on~!

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 05:01 PM PST

Greetings! Nicholas and Jimin here live from the big TiVo Premiere launch in New York. There was a man guarding the device, which was hidden under a cloak, but when the cloak was lifted, oh dear! The gist: this is a TiVo you’re probably going to want. HD menus (build using Adobe Flash), searching that actually makes sense, a fancy remote control, and other goodness that you wouldn’t mind.

So the UI almost goes without saying: it’s been a long time since you could look at a TiVo and say "Well, that looks good." It’s built using Adobe Flash, so all of the fancy swoops and swishes you’ve associated with Flash over the years totally applies. I’d almost say Zune HD like, which is a prety big compliment considering what I had to do to get my Zune HD to work.

The remote ain’t too shabby, either. It’s exactly like any slider phone you’ve used in the past few years. The "standard" shape has the normal buttons you’d assoiciate with a remote control: volume up down, channel numbers, etc. Flip it open and it becomes a QWERTY keyboard. So, if you’re hankering to watch Lost, just type "L" and all the shows you have on the TiVO beginning with "L" pop up: Lost, Leopards Are Fun (on Animal Planet), etc. I have literally sat here for one minute trying to think of shows that begin with "L" and I couldn’t.


Series 3 TiVo boxes will NOT get the Premiere software

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 04:56 PM PST

Sorry, TiVo owners. Your TiVo HD and HD XL boxes will not be getting the swanky new software TiVo announced today according to an official TiVo spokeswomen we just asked. It probably has something to do with the fact that the Premiere hardware is the same as the current generation and therefore current owners would have little reason to upgrade to the new models.

This isn’t very customer focused, TiVo. Expect a lot of flack for this decision. Here’s hoping an enterprising hacker will figure out a work-around so your current loyal customers can enjoy the new interface, too. After all, we do give you $12.95 a month anyway. A little appreciation and respect would be nice.

Sony’s gaming headset rocks the modern design

Posted: 02 Mar 2010 04:30 PM PST


Sony just launched a new gaming headset line in Asia, and they look nice. I’m not entirely sure how comfortable they are based on the rendering, but they certainly look lighter than most headsets. Expect to see them in Asia this month, and hopefully Sony will bring them over to us sooner rather then later. No word on pricing at this time.

[via DVice]
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)