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Home Entertainment

Sling Media SlingCatcher and Slingbox PRO-HD Available

September 10, 2008

The new Sling Media SlingCatcher and Slingbox PRO-HD (Sling Media Slingbox PRO-HD SB100-100) are now available for pre-order from Amazon and SlingMedia.com at $299.99 each. Just in time for the Christmas holiday season! Woot! Ok, Christmas is still 3 months away, so I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

Lost TV Satellite Signal, Couldn't watch Rudy Giuliani or Sarah Palin, Streaming TV to the rescue!

September 4, 2008

I was watching the Republican National Convention (RNC) speeches last night, toggling between CNN and FOX News, when a major rain storm hit Connecticut causing a lengthly loss of satellite signal. It was the middle of Rudy Giuliani's hard-hitting speech when I lost all of my TV channels. I have to get my nightly politics "fix" or I'm a grumpy blogger in the morning.

The highly-anticipated speech from Governor Sarah Palin was still to come and it looked like I wasn't going to be able to watch it live.

Text-To-VoIP Plug-in for MorphVOX Pro

August 8, 2008


Found a cool Text-To-VoIP Plug-In for MorphVOX Pro that allows you to speak over the Internet or soft-phone using customizable text-to-speech voices. Essentially it lets you type phrases/words, it converts the text-to-speech, and then plays it over your PC's audio connection.

This plug-in allows you to type text messages to your friends over voice clients such as Ventrilo, MSN, Skype, softphones, World of Warcraft Voice Chat, Counter-Strike and other VoIP-enabled games. They claim the plug-in is helpful for people who cannot speak with their own voice or who would like a text alternative to communicating with voice.


Teaching an Old Blockbuster a New Trick

August 5, 2008

Blockbuster to roll out DVD rental kiosks!  Yes, in another tactical shift, Blockbuster will begin testing 50 DVD rental kiosks to compete with Redbox, which rents DVDs for $1 per night.

According to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, Blockbuster plans to roll out 10,000 kiosks over the next 18 months. The kiosks are designed for DVD rentals, but could include digital downloads and sales of movies in the future.

In related news, Netflix is reportedly testing charging a premium for Blu-ray movies. This service would allow users to order Hi-Def movies from its Blu-ray library for a premium.



Dynolicious for your Apple iPhone or iPod Touch - Coolest Apple App ever!

July 31, 2008

Dynolicious utilizes the accelerometer built in to your iPhone or iPod Touch to sense the motion of your vehicle to calculate performance statistics including 0-60 acceleration, 1/4 Mile Elapsed Time, Lateral G's, and Horsepower. Is this not the coolest Apple App ever? I would have headed over to the Apple App Store to buy this app pronto, except I no longer drive a high-performance Dodge Viper - I now drive a pokey Volvo.

Here's a photo of my beloved 2001 Dodge Viper at a Cape Cod motel before it was totalled by a 24-year old pharmacist one month after I sold it to him.

Dymo DiscPainter Review

July 30, 2008

Printing CD and DVD labels can be a chore. It often requires special labels and only certain printers can accept CD/DVD labels. Certainly burning CDs and DVDs has become more popular so users are looking for quick, easy, and fun ways to label and decorate their CD/DVD collections. I have an Epson printer at home that doesn't print the size labels I need, so I resort to using a black Sharpie pen and hand scribbling on the CD or DVD.

See All the IP Devices at Home?

July 22, 2008

Can you believe that shipments of Internet-Protocol (IP)-enabled consumer electronics reached 64 million units in 2007 -- a growth of more than 70%?

However, the market continues to be dominated by Internet-enabled video game consoles.

While many of these game console IP interfaces remain unconnected, the enormous developing installed base represents a "Trojan horse" with enormous potential for online gaming, music and video downloads as well as for a variety of Internet-based value-added services.

Already, in late 2007 Activision announced that more than 2 million songs associated with Guitar Hero were accessed through Xbox Live over the previous five months.  

All this comes from MultiMedia Intelligence. And there's much more to delve into to see where this is all going. 

(Thanks to Wired.com for the image.)









Inside, Really Inside the Lego Factory

July 21, 2008

Anybody want to guess how many Lego bricks are made every year?

How about a clue? Let's say more than 50 million a day?  

Sounds like a lot. And yes it is!



"Why Blu?" Sweepstakes could land you a Sony PS3

July 16, 2008

Animal Crossing: City Folk adds VoIP & SMS

July 15, 2008

According to BetaNews, in Nintendo's E3 keynote this morning came not only the official announcement of Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii, but also something unexpected - VoIP functionality (voice chat) and native SMS/e-mail interactivity.

Animal Crossing: City Folk is the third in the Nintendo Animal Crossing series - a life simulator game. Sounds like Second Life to me. This follows-up the lauch of Animal Crossing in 2001 and Animal Crossing: Wild World in 2005. You assume a anthropomorphic character (resembling both human and animal) and in the open-ended life simulation game you live in a village but there is little preset plot or mandatory tasks.

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