Gadgets

Microsoft Recalling Xbox Power Cords

February 17, 2005

Microsoft is recalling power cords on 14.1 million Xbox consoles worldwide, following reports of injuries due to defective electric components.

The company announced the recall today, saying it is aimed at protecting the consoles from electrical component failures that can pose a fire hazard. So far such failures have been reported in 30 consoles worldwide, causing minor injury or property damage, Microsoft said. Seven customers reported burn to their hands. In rest of the cases, the defect caused smoke damage or minor damage to a carpet or entertainment center.Â "In almost all instances, any damage caused by these failures was contained within the console itself or limited to the tip of the power cord at the back of the console," Microsoft stated.

The recall covers Xbox consoles manufactured before Oct. 23, 2003 in all regions except continental Europe.

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Samsung Writemaster TS-H552U DVD Burner

February 17, 2005

My Plextor 708a DVD burner died a few months ago - like the day after the 1-year warranty expired - Murphy's Law... It was a Christmas gift from my wife and if I recall it cost like $350 two years ago. I've been hesitant to replace it since I just assumed they were still pretty expensive, but a recent trip to CompUSA and I find some, shall we say "generic" Taiwanese "no name" brand DVD burners for like $75. I've experienced bad things when trying to buy cheap CD burners, like buffer overruns, buffer underuns, etc.

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Logitech ViewPort AV 100

February 16, 2005

Logitech ViewPort AV 100

Logitech's new ViewPort AV 100 includes a VGA video camera, integrated microphone with acoustic echo cancellation (which I found out today uses Global IP Sound) and a Bluetooth wireless headset, connected via USB. Logitech's ViewPort AV 100 seems squarely targetted at the business enterprise, as a video conferencing solution, which is new to Logitech since they are best known for their webcams targetted at home users. The specs include: VGA CCD sensor with 3x digital zoom, 50-degree field of view, 30 frames per second and near-CD quality sound, even over low bandwidth connections.

Other features of the Logitech ViewPort AV-100 include:

Automatic face-tracking â Viewers see you, not your office,
even if you move around the room
Integrated BluetoothÂ® headset â Move around your desk and
keep your hands free for writing or explaining:
Audio range: 300Hz â 3.4 kHz
Talk time: Up to 7 hours
Conference mode â Place the headset in the cradle and sound
is automatically routed through your PC speakers
Acoustic Echo Cancellation â For crystal-clear sound when
using your PC speakers to listen to a call
Automatic video privacy shutter â Covers the camera lens
when you need time to work
Adjustable height and tilt â Adjust the camera for optimum
viewing position
ViewPort SDK â Create custom video calling applications
with these standard call features, as well as many others, by using the Logitech
ViewPort SDK (available as a separate
download
)

As I mentioned, this product uses Global IP Sound (GIPS).

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New Tech Kills DVD Ripping & DVD Copying

February 15, 2005

According to ExtremeTech, content protection company Macrovision plans to announce on Tuesday that it has developed a way to eliminate the vast majority of DVD copying - that is using DVD "ripping" software. I'll be honest, I've "ripped" DVDs to my Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) 2005 PC's hard drive.Â

The reason I "rip" to my hard disk is two-fold.Â For one, it lets me play a movie using the MCE remote control without getting up from the sofa and inserting a DVD into the player.Â Secondly, I've learned from experience, that not everyone treats DVDs/CDs with the same care that I do.Â I've lent CDs and DVDs in the past to friends/family and they've come back with scratches that cause the music to skip/stutter or the DVD movie to jump to an entirely random location of the movie.
Â
Should I be forced to go out and purchase the same movie I already have in my movie collection and that I've paid for? Doesn't the Fair Use Act allow me to make reasonable backups of my CDs and DVDs?Â Apparently, not...Â Or at least the Fair Use Act is at odds with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.Â The DMCA was used to help bring down 321 Studios which offeredÂ DVD ripping/DVD backup software program.

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3G Video Telephony

February 15, 2005

Very interesting release from Radvison which involves Microsoft's upcoming intergrated communications client code named Instanbul as well as Microsoft's Live Communications Server...

RADVISION BRINGS 3G VIDEO TO
MICROSOFTâS DESKTOP MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATIONS OFFERING AT 3GSM WORLD CONGRESS

RADVISION 3G Video Telephony Gateway and iVIEW Desktop Conferencing Platform Bridge PC Desktops and 3G Video Phones into Seamless Multimedia Communications Architecture

3GSM World Congress, Cannes, France (Hall 2, Stand E23) and Fair Lawn, New Jersey, February 14, 2005 -- RADVISION (Nasdaq: RVSN) today announced that it is publicly debuting its powerful 3G video services solution for the Microsoft desktop multimedia communications architecture in a live demo in the Microsoft stand in Hall 1 at the 3GSM World Congress.

This integrated RADVISION/Microsoft demonstration will feature real-time video calling between 3G video handsets and PCs running Microsoftâs upcoming integrated communications client, code named Istanbul.

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TiVo vs. Media Center Edition

February 11, 2005

TiVo may get all the headlines and they certainly have a rabid following, including geeks who modify their units, add additional hard drives, and perform other tweaks. But I'll tell you, I would not trade my Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2005 PC for a TiVo. I'm hooked baby!

Especially when you consider that TiVo decided to betray their customers by ADDING their own commercials -- check out the storm of controversy in the tivocommunity.com forums. I believe TiVo adds popup ads AS YOU FAST FORWARD through commercials.

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Smartphones Up, Handhelds Down?

February 2, 2005

Compare this quote from an analyst firm today:
"The global handheld market continued to slide in 2004, with shipments slipping to below 10 million for the first time since 1999, according to a new IDC report."
with this quote from another analyst firm from 2 days ago:
"A research firm says device manufacturers shipped twice as many smartphones last year as in 2003"

The first quote was from a Cnet article citing an IDC report titled, Handheld market free fall continues , while the second quote was from Canalys, an analyst/research firm which was cited here.

I find it fascinating that one research firm claims handhelds are slipping, while the other claims that smartphones are growing when essentially smartphones are handheld/cellphone hybrids. Smartphones and handheld PDAs are essentially the same market. Of course, maybe that's the point.

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SkipJam iMedia Controllers

January 31, 2005

SkipJam Touch Panel

Whoah! now here's a cool product! Check out the release & feature-set. With SkipJam's controllers, parents can pause their kids' video and tell them to come to dinner through the TV speaker â¦ without ever leaving the kitchen.

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Verizon & Microsoft

January 28, 2005

According to Light Reading, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ - message board) has selected Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT - message board) as the software provider that will power its fiber-based television and video service offering, FiOS TV, both companies are expected to announce later today.

I bet the set top box will eventually embed a Windows thin-client terminal and then Microsoft will let you "rent" software (i.e. Microsoft Office) that you can view on your TV. Think WebTV reincarnate!

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Streaming TV to Mobile Phone

January 11, 2005

In my Streaming Live TV blog entry from November, I talked about how I was able to stream recorded video files across the Internet to a 2nd PC. I did have some difficulty accessing my Sony VAIO's proprietary MPEG encoder card, so I couldn't stream live TV, but I was able to stream .AVI files and even DVDs. Cool stuff.

Well, today I received an email from a company claiming they can stream TV programs to your mobile phone.

Check it out!

Posted in Gadgets

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