CrunchGear |  |
- Full Thor Trailer Leaks Online. And It’s Awesome.
- Toshiba To Release Four 3D Blu-ray Recorders, Introduces “3D Upgrade Kit” Concept
- Video: ItchyClips Will Sell Your Music To Musicians
- Amazon Reveals New Kindle: $139 For Wi-Fi Version, $189 For 3G
- R/C Millennium Falcon Lets You Play Out Your Han Solo Fantasies
- New NVIDIA Optimus Drivers Sport Handy New Features
- StarCraft II Pirates Stung By Malware
- Tandem USB Connector: Good Idea, Bad Idea
- Could This Be the Eve Of the Kindle 3?
- Russian Megageek Shows Off His Immense Processor Collection
- Will the asteroid known as 1999 RQ36 destroy all life on the planet, thereby preventing you from dinging 80?
- Review: uebo M200 Media Streamer
- Look At All The Fun People Had At The StarCraft II Launch
- Jetpens: Japanese pens for fun and profit
- NZXT’s Phantom case does a whole lot but doesn’t look completely ridiculous
- Video: A quick look at how computers, phones have affected our eyesight
- Review: Dell Streak
- Apple, Time, Inc. Fighting Over Ability To Sell Digital Subscriptions?
- REGZA ZG1 And F1: Toshiba Announces Another Five (And More Affordable) 3D TVs
- Samsung Pumps Out Two Cameras
| Full Thor Trailer Leaks Online. And It’s Awesome. Posted: 29 Jul 2010 04:31 AM PDT
Thor opens in the US on May 11 next year. Here’s the trailer:
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| Toshiba To Release Four 3D Blu-ray Recorders, Introduces “3D Upgrade Kit” Concept Posted: 29 Jul 2010 02:20 AM PDT
As if the eight 3D LCD TVs Toshiba yesterday announced for the Japanese market weren’t enough (three CELL Regza and five conventional REGZA models), the company also showed [JP] a 3D powered and Blu-ray recorder and another three that can be upgraded to 3D via a “3D upgrade kit”. All devices have an additional HDD on board. First the RD-X10, which is the flagship model with a 2TB HDD and allows you to play 3D movies out of the box (pictured above). It will go on sale in Japan in September for $2,500. Then we have three models that can be upgraded to 3D via a “kit”, which Toshiba is still tight-lipped about at this point (for example, regarding the price). But the basic approach seems to be that consumers, when deciding to go for a Toshiba Blu-ray recorder, can decide to pay a higher price to get the 3D ability.
The kit will be available for these models when they hit Japanese stores:
No word yet from Toshiba Japan regarding overseas sales plans. Via AV Watch [JP]
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| Video: ItchyClips Will Sell Your Music To Musicians Posted: 28 Jul 2010 11:00 PM PDT Music is like little parts of music put together, right? Now you can sell these little parts – Scratchpacks – on ItchyClips, a brand new site dedicated to sell music to musicians. I bet there are other services like this out there. This one however looks quite capable because you can sell your Ableton Live packs. Maybe one day there will be a website to sell snippets for bloggers. You know, little building blocks of posts. If you are more interested how ItchyClips works, check out their business model.
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| Amazon Reveals New Kindle: $139 For Wi-Fi Version, $189 For 3G Posted: 28 Jul 2010 05:07 PM PDT
They say they’ve updated the web browser, which is nice, I suppose, but the idea of an E-ink web browser still leaves me cold. Focus on the reading experience and leave the browsing to iPads. There is a new voice navigation option, though, which sounds handy — I look forward to barking “next page!” at my e-reader in a crowded cafe. Personally, I think this is a nice little improvement. The streamlined, lighter body plus the new E-ink screen make it a legitimate step up from both the old version and other e-readers on the market. We’ll have a full review as soon as we get our hands on one. The 3G version will sell for $189. For the UK, the prices will be £109 and £149. You’ll be able to pick one up at your local Amazon.com as soon as they go live.
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| R/C Millennium Falcon Lets You Play Out Your Han Solo Fantasies Posted: 28 Jul 2010 04:39 PM PDT
Mini R/C helicopters are really fun to play with, and this model of the Millennium Falcon is no exception. Made from foam and built around a double bladed helicopter motor, this toy will let you reenact all of your favorite scenes from the original Star Wars trilogy. You can pre-order one now from the Star Wars shop for $44.99, and the expected ship date is August 1st. [via Technabob]
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| New NVIDIA Optimus Drivers Sport Handy New Features Posted: 28 Jul 2010 03:00 PM PDT
Visibility of the GPU’s role in the system is important, since power draw and GPU needs are increasing all the time, yet batteries aren’t getting much bigger. [via PC Perspsective]
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| StarCraft II Pirates Stung By Malware Posted: 28 Jul 2010 02:30 PM PDT
Nefarious pirates looking to, um, pirate StarCraft II are running into a bit of a problem: one of the more popular torrents that purports to be the game is actually nothing more than a conduit for a nasty bit of malware. I know $60 for a PC game may seem a little expensive to many of you, but would you rather pay the money (and earn Light Side points) or try to pirate it (and earn Dark Side points) and have to deal with cleaning out your system? Microsoft has warned gamers about the dangers of trying to pirate the game:
Nearest I can tell there does exist a legitimate pirated copy of the game available online, released by one of the prominent release groups. No names here, of course. The crack is more involved than the usual replace-the-exe-with-another-exe, according to the nfo. The point is, putting aside the morality of piracy, that you're playing with fire if you try to find a pirated copy of the game online, particularly if you're downloading it from a public BitTorrent site or one of those shady release blogs. Beware!
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| Tandem USB Connector: Good Idea, Bad Idea Posted: 28 Jul 2010 02:00 PM PDT
And of course, while it’s not nearly as cool of an idea, a good USB hub will do the same job with fewer complications.
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| Could This Be the Eve Of the Kindle 3? Posted: 28 Jul 2010 01:58 PM PDT
It seems that all Kindle orders have been frozen and, it seems, that Jeff Bezos is hanging around New York right now and will speak on Charlie Rose tonight. While I seriously doubt that Bezos will whip out the Kindle 3 on the Charlie Rose show (he’ll probably talk about ebooks outselling hardbacks) it seems there is definitely something afoot. Thoughts? What could Amazon do to improve the Kindle? [Thanks, Kevin]
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| Russian Megageek Shows Off His Immense Processor Collection Posted: 28 Jul 2010 01:30 PM PDT
[via English Russia and GearFuse]
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| Posted: 28 Jul 2010 01:00 PM PDT
Not to alarm you, but we only have 172 years to live, so better ding 80 (soon 85) while you still can. Scientists have spotted an asteroid that, if all goes well (er, bad), will smash right into Planet Earth in the year 2182. There's a 1-in-1000 chance that the asteroid, called 1999 RQ36, will strike the planet. (The next most likely asteroid has a 1-in-250,000 chance to hit the planet.) They've even pinpointed a specific date that this will all go down: September 24, 2181. Barring some sort of scientific breakthrough I'm pretty sure we'll all be long gone by then, so there's not an awful lot to worry about. Future People, now they could have something to worry about. 1999 RQ36 is big. Like, really big. The best measurements put it at more than 1,800 feet across. That's approximately the length of five NFL football fields. Something that size hitting the Earth at any sort of speed—and it would smash into the Earth at a remarkable rate of speed—would certainly cause destruction on a wide scale. Maybe even mass extinction. Basically, what happened to the dinosaurs would happen to us—maybe another species will rise up from the ashes to take our place? That would be exciting! Dr. Michio Kaku often talks about these type of Hollywood scenarios. Provided we have enough time, the best course of action would be merely to nudge the asteroid off its trajectory. Accomplish that however you want to accomplish it, perhaps by landing a small device on the surface that has tiny booster rockets on there. What you don't want to do is blow it up since that will only put several destructive objects on a collision course with the planet.
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| Review: uebo M200 Media Streamer Posted: 28 Jul 2010 12:09 PM PDT
Short version: The uebo M200 is a fine enthusiast media streamer. It played back every file I tried from either a local or network source, works well with UPnP services like PlayOn, and even has a few built-in Internet services. The interface isn’t Boxee-awesome, but it’s more than enough to get the job done. I like it. Features:
Pros
Cons
Full Review
Now, this isn’t a mass-market device. It’s not a Roku, which I totally feel is well within my parent’s technical skill set to operate. The M200 is clearly for you and I. It’s for the person that’s comfortable with different types of media files, navigating network shares, and would be able to figure out how to install a hard drive in this thing without documentation. Think of it as a direct competitor to the WD TV, Seagate FreeAgent Theater and Popcorn Hour. In fact I actually like it better than the current reigning media streamers because of its interface. The navigation paths are bit more natural and it takes less time to locate media either from the local storage or network shares. The Media Browser with is auto-selected when the device is started up; just hit OK on the remote and you’re already halfway there. It just feels like the people that made this device actually understand how media streamers are used and thought about the user experience before overall design.
The online media services are limited to Internet radio, Flickr, Picasa, a basic weather app, and a RSS reader preloaded with CNN, NPR, and BBC. Other online content can still play nicely such as Hulu but only through the UPnP service of PlayOn, which doesn’t exactly have the pretty interface. But it gets the job done. That basically describes this device. It gets the job done nice and efficiently. There isn’t much flash, just the right amount of eye candy to enjoy while you’re searching for your media. That’s all I want anyway. Hardware
The backside houses all the standard A/V ports and this thing is stacked. It has everything: HDMI, component, composite, Toslink, digital coax, and Ethernet. WIN. The only thing that could be improved on is the remote. It’s not the best. The buttons are oddly placed and it looks straight-out of a Black Friday cheap DVD player. But it does get the job done. At least it isn’t missing any buttons. The big question is: do you buy the M200 over a WD TV or Seagate FreeAgent Theater. I think so. It has the best interface out of the three, a reasonable price and does the same thing. The optional internal hard drive could be a big plus for locations without network access or even gives the device a bit of portability. I dare say that the Popbox and Boxee box might suck up a lot of uebo’s customers, though. The uebo M200 might be the best of the current generation, but I think that generation is about to be phased out rather quickly.       
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| Look At All The Fun People Had At The StarCraft II Launch Posted: 28 Jul 2010 11:21 AM PDT
As every life form in the Milky Way knows, StarCraft II came out yesterday. I've heard stories—anecdotes, if you will—about people pulling out of World of Warcraft raids in order to play the game. Blizzard held a big launch to-do in California, and we have a few pictures of the event. Not a lot, but a few. How did I celebrate the launch of the game? Oh, you know, spending about an hour rolling back my graphics card's drivers. I wanted to throw my computer into the Arctic Ocean. My own insanity aside, did any of you go to midnight launches? The official one was near Blizzard HQ in Southern California, but I know stores were open all over the world, selling the game right at the stroke of midnight.      
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| Jetpens: Japanese pens for fun and profit Posted: 28 Jul 2010 10:22 AM PDT
The pens are pretty pricey – about $3 per – but these are the greatest pens in the world (TM) so you could do worse.
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| NZXT’s Phantom case does a whole lot but doesn’t look completely ridiculous Posted: 28 Jul 2010 10:00 AM PDT
How do you guys feel about PC cases these days? Are you a fan of the over-the-top styling that so many of them feature, or would you like something a little more staid? I ask because NZXT has a new case called the Phantom. (There’s like a thousand photos of the case there.) It's not too crazy—there's no spinning lights or any of that jazz—and it's a full tower. That's key in case you want to rock dual video cards or want to add a bunch of PCI cards. The case is stacked. There's seven cooling fans in total. There's space for seven hard drives and space for five, 5.25-inch bays. Screwless installation, too. There's top-mounted USB, Audio/Mic, and E-SATA ports. Not too expensive, either: $140.
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| Video: A quick look at how computers, phones have affected our eyesight Posted: 28 Jul 2010 09:15 AM PDT The friendly folks at VSP Vision Care sent along this quick video explaining how our increased use of computers and smartphones have affected our vision. Remember when you were growing up and you were told not to sit too close to the TV? How many of you now spend nearly every waking hour inches away from a computer monitor, or glued to your iPhone? Mm. As one of the many Americans who spend more than 12 hours in front of a computer—only because I have to; I'd much rather be selling quenepas in Bayamón, believe me—you'd think that I'd constantly be complaining of eye strain. Eh, not really. While my eyesight has been complete garbage since the age of 8 (if humans were still hunter-gatherers, I'd have been eaten by a lion years ago), I haven't noticed any particular problems related to overuse of the computer. Moral of the story is: make sure to get your eyes regularly checked out, particularly if you're hunched over a computer or phone all day long.
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| Posted: 28 Jul 2010 08:32 AM PDT
Features:
Pros:
Cons:
Review The device, when off, is a featureless black slab. When you turn it on, however, three buttons light up on the right edge and the screen really shines. The 800×480 resolution is quite good and there is plenty of room for almost every Android UI element. The device has Wi-Fi and a 3G modem as well as a 5 megapixel camera and replaceable microSD memory. The Streak is a little bit heavy and the battery is hidden behind a large removable panel that, if you’re not careful, can pop off accidentally. The Streak doesn’t know what it wants to be. If you install the Kindle app, it’s an ereader. If you turn on Google Maps it’s a GPS unit. If you play a video that you’ve copied over via side-loading, it’s a media machine. Finally, if you tap the phone button, you’ve basically got a comically large cellphone. These multiple personalities are, in reality, quite a bit of fun and it’s exciting to see the Jack of All Trades come back into the technology space. The Good
The device also suffers from Android refraction. Because it’s running 1.6 – with an expectation that Dell will roll out 2.2 in the next few months – you’re essentially using an ancient version of Android until, well, you’re not. Also, 1.6 doesn’t support Flash or tethering. Feel free to express your outrage by screaming into a Japanese stress jar. I also had some issues with the rear panel. This panel slides off to reveal the battery, SIM card slot, and storage. If you don’t put the panel on just so, it won’t stick and it will fall off. I actually knocked of a little piece of the back panel while trying to install it, although, admittedly, the part wasn’t important. For something so well-made it’s surprising that Dell overlooked this fairly major part. Bottom Line Again, Dell is hobbled here by the version of Android they decided to install. The Android nerds out there will complain that this isn’t Froyo or Yoyo or Miracle Gro, but 1.6 seems stable and strong enough to be quite usable. In short, if you’re looking for a very powerful, very compact Android tablet, this is probably your best and safest bet.
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| Apple, Time, Inc. Fighting Over Ability To Sell Digital Subscriptions? Posted: 28 Jul 2010 08:15 AM PDT
Time, Inc. and Apple are going through a rough patch. Time wants to be able to sell digital subscriptions of its properties, including Sports Illustrated, via the iTunes Store, but Apple won't let that happen. This puts Time in a weird spot: it can either sell its magazines like any company would sell any widget on the iTunes Store (giving Apple complete control in the process), it can negotiate a new situation with Apple so that it can take control of the selling of digital subscriptions, or it can try to strong-arm Apple into getting its way—perhaps by pulling all of its content off the iTunes Store. It's strange that it ever came to this. Time and Apple have had a pretty good relationship in the past, so much so that Apple went out of its way to invite Time to develop an iPad App. A sort of, "Hey, we've got this thing called the iPad coming out. It's going to be a hit. You might want to develop an App for it…" But Time was expecting to be able to sell subscriptions on the iTunes Store like it sells them everywhere else: controlling the transactions, keeping tabs on its readers by maintaining a list of current subscribers, taking it that steady, delicious revenue, etc. Basically, Time wanted to use the iTunes Store just as it uses the U.S. Postal Service, as nothing more than a means to delivering content to its subscribers. Apparently Apple was cool with that, at least early on in the relationship. It was prepared to let Time do whatever, if only because it could then say, "Look at all the great Apps we have on the iPad…" Obviously that changed, and no one knows why. Did Steve Jobs have a change of heart, and if so, why? Does he want to do to the magazine and newspaper industry—which is falling over itself trying to figure out the next play—what he did to the music industry? (Control it, essentially.) Did Apple simply want a bigger cut of Time's digital revenue? It's a mystery, especially when you consider that Apple has deals with News Corp. and Amazon that aren't too dissimilar from what Time wants. Time, to its credit, at some point realized the foolishness of hitching its wagon exclusively to the iTunes Store. "We are working with a number of partners and potential partners and hope to offer in-app subscriptions some time later this year," it says. Exactly who those "partners and potential partners" are, who knows. The names that come to mind include Amazon (the new Kindle DX would be a fine device for magazine reading, provided you don't care to see color photographs, which, unfortunately, are a big part of many of Time's magazine) and Google. Android could easily power some sort of magazine App, but where would you read the App? It's not like Google has an iPad-like device out there, nor are there phones with large enough screens to make reading a long article worth the trouble. Tough times to be in the media business, but like an old professor of mine use to say: the ice business (collecting, transporting, and selling) used to be huge—where is it now?
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| REGZA ZG1 And F1: Toshiba Announces Another Five (And More Affordable) 3D TVs Posted: 28 Jul 2010 08:01 AM PDT
You can’t say Toshiba isn’t following up on its announcement in April to enter the 3D game. Apart from the pretty awesome (but pricey) CELL 3D TVs the company showed today, Toshiba is also ready to roll out [JP] some more affordable 3D LCDs for the rest of us. There will be a 46- and a 55-incher in the REGZA F1 series and three models (42, 47, and 55 inches) in the REGZA ZG1 series. The five models have the following features in common:
The 55F1 is pictured above and below. It’s just 29mm thick.
The main differences between the two series are that the ZG1 TVs also support HDD access over LAN, offer 2D/3D conversion, and come with an IPS panel (VA in the case of the F1 series). In Japan, the F1 models will be rolled out next month (prices: $3,760 for the 46-incher and $4,900 for the 55-inch TV). The ZG1 series will debut in October (prices: $3,200 for the 42-inch model, $4,000 for the 47-incher, and $5,100 for the 55-inch TV). No word yet on international sales plans.
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| Posted: 28 Jul 2010 07:43 AM PDT
Need a camcorder or a Wi-Fi camera? Samsung has you covered. Sadly, these two bog standard cameras come from our friends at Samsung look a little plain but both record in HD and the camera supports Wi-Fi uploads. The camera, the ST80, costs $249. The camera, the HMX-E10, costs $199.
SAMSUNG INTRODUCES THE Wi-Fi ENABLED ST80 DIGITAL CAMERA Sharing Images and Video is Simplified for Today's Well-Connected Consumer Ridgefield Park, NJ (July 28, 2010) – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, today unveiled the ST80, a 14.2 mega-pixel point and-shoot camera that joins Samsung's growing line of Wi-Fi enabled digital cameras. With wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi and Samsung's AllShare™ (DNLA) connectivity, the ST80 makes it easy to share images on the move and keep friends and family updated from anywhere at any time. Beauty and Brains Wirelessly Connected Specifications SAMSUNG INTRODUCES POCKET-SIZED, FULL-HD CAMCORDER WITH SWIVELING LENS HMX-E10 Adds Style and Flexibility to Samsung's Growing Camcorder Family, Allowing Consumers to Picture Themselves in the Fun Ridgefield Park, NJ (July 28, 2010) – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, today added to its point-and-shoot camcorder lineup with the introduction of the innovative HMX-E10. Offering full-HD resolution, the Samsung HMX-E10 is highlighted by a versatile, 270-degree swiveling lens that enhances consumers' creativity and allows them to add their own unique views to their video by being able to record from just about any angle. The HMX-E10's swiveling lens also brings a new sense of fun to recording video, and gives consumers the ability to step out from behind the camcorder and put themselves in the frame with their friends and family. Easy Connectivity and Sharing High-Performance Sensor and Versatile Display Creative Controls Specifications
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My dad has been hounding me to get him some gel pens so when I was in Japan two weeks ago I bought him three of them. I should have just hit up 
Short Version
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