Today marks the first day of the second week of our CrunchGear HiFi series. We have a few more reviews and features coming so stay tuned for all of that. In addition to some great content, we’re also running an audio inspired reader response series. What is on the line, you ask? Good question: → Read More
Update: Listen to our podcast interview with Silverlight product manager Brian Goldfarb at TalkCrunch. Today at Mix07 Microsoft made a number of major announcements, mostly around the recently-released Silverlight (formerly known as Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere). Microsoft presented both new products and a new vision for how services and software will interoperate in the Microsoft and Silverlight ecosystems. Microsoft is providing not only the tools and software but they are complementing it with new services from their Live division. Microsoft have also demonstrated today that their vision is for all browsers and all web users, not just users of Internet Explorer, as a common theme during the keynote presentations was inter-operability with both Firefox and Safari, and working with the Mac OSX platform. During the keynote the new Expression Studio applications were demonstrated to great effect. These are applications targeted at designers rather than the traditional Microsoft developer crowd, and Microsoft seems to have done a good job of providing a great suite of applications that designers can use to build powerfull web applications on Silverlight. Today also marks the official gold release of Expression Studio. When Silverlight was first announced two weeks ago, it was all about a platform that could run a subset of XAML to provide graphical and event-driven applications for the web – in short, a competitor to Flash. Today, only 14 days from the original announcement, Microsoft has officially announced that Silverlight will also contain a compact CLR, allowing developers to build desktop like applications on the web in a number of supported programming languages. The CLR The biggest part of the announcement today is that Silverlight will now include a mini-CLR (Common Language Runtime) from .NET. What this means is that a subset of the full .NET platform that runs on desktops can be accessed from within the browser. As with the usual .NET runtime, with Silverlight you can code in a number of supported programming languages. At this time the languages supported are C#, Javascript (ECMA 3.0), VB, Python and Ruby. The Python and Ruby interpreters were built by Microsoft and have been released under their shared source license meaning that developers can get access to the code and are able to make contributions to it. The most remarkable part of the CLR are its speed and its size. First of all, the full Silverlight download with CLR and everything else will weigh in → Read More
Already bored with your Wii games? Afraid you might actually have to go outside this summer? Fear not, your pasty-white skin is safe from the sun. Nintendo worldwide president Satoru Iwata announced today that 45 new Wii titles will be ready for purchase in the second quarter of 2007. And then there’s the online gaming! Pokemon Battle Revolution and Mario Strikers Charged are the first two titles kicking off the launch of the Wii’s online gaming platform this summer. (Who doesn’t love Pokemon and Mario, right? Maybe Nintendo can launch new Metroid or Zelda online titles to beat those franchises closer to death as well.) With Nintendo finally boosting production of the console you might actually get your hands on a Wii this summer and be able to play more with it, too. UPDATE: Just straightening “my” facts a bit with this piece from an IGN story. Seems not all the games will see a summer release or hit the shelves at all: The president clarified that he’s not sure if all these games will necessarily see release. However, the number does include some of the big Wii games that are set for release between the end of summer and fall, including Super Mario Galaxy and Smash Bros. Iwata hinted that these are real gamer games, rather than the casual stuff that we’re seeing a lot of on the DS. Nintendo boss says 45 Wii games headed this summer [tg daily] Iwata Meets the Press [ign] → Read More
Google’s personalized home page, Google IG, has been rebranded as iGoogle and will relaunch tomorrow at igoogle.com. A number of bloggers were brought in to Google HQ today and are reporting the details. iGoogle is Google’s entrant into the crowded customizable Ajax home page space, where My Yahoo is the clear leader with over 50 million monthly unique visitors. iGoogle currently has just over 7 million monthly unique visitors. But Google has never promoted iGoogle, and it has a number of superior features to MyYahoo. The most important is that Google’s personalized home page supports widgets (they call them gadgets). Yahoo has stubbornly refused to integrate the My Yahoo property with their Konfabulator widgets platform. Through Google widgets, users can bring Gmail, Gtalk and other services right to their home page. Finally, Google allows users to customize the template of iGoogle – they say that 30% of users choose to do this. Google is now offering a “personalized home” link on their main home page, which will drive significant numbers of new users to the site. Look out, Yahoo. → Read More
It didn’t sound like a very techie story when it first made the news last week in the United States: bees are disappearing throughout the country, seemingly abandoning their colonies. OK, this might not seem like such a big deal either, but keep in mind that most of the world’s crops depend on pollination by bees… and this becomes a more serious issue. Albert Einstein only once said that if bees disappeared, “man would have only four years of life left.” Now scientists claim that the cause be radiation from handsets. The theory is that the radiation given off by the mobile phones and our other beloved gadgets could possibly be interfering with the bees’ navigation systems, preventing the works from finding their way back to their hives. One recent study even found that bees refused to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Maybe the bees are also annoyed by rude people who endlessly chat on their phones. Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? [The Independent] → Read More
There is no actual confirmation from Sony that the PS3 will see a price cut anytime soon, but increased output of blue-violet diodes hints at future price cuts. Production of the diode — a key ingredient of the PS3′s Blu-ray drive — is currently at 1.7 million a month and Sony is now prepared to up that to 5 million which will decrease Sony’s materials cost which should result in price cuts for the PS3. Michael Pachter, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst, told GameDaily Biz that once the cost to manufacture each console is below $499, the price cut is inevitable. He goes on to say that the introduction of the Xbox 360 Elite will ensure we’ll see a cheaper PS3s this year. I’ll believe it when I see it. Sony Increases Blu-ray Laser Production; Cheaper Diodes Promised [DailyTech] → Read More
I’ll agree with Nicholas on the fact that the Elite doesn’t deserve an 8.5 rating just because it’s black, has a 120GB HDD and HDMI. Microsoft is continuing its quest to screw us from all sides and pinch us for money every chance it gets. Ben over at Ars Technica learned just how bad the situation is first-hand. → Read More
Former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel partnered up with MediaGraft to launch a new music service on Sunday offering music downloads that are free of DRM and cost you nothing. Free music that’s free of DRM and the artists are getting paid? There has to be a catch, I mean, this is too good to be true, isn’t it? Of course it is, but it’s a step in the right direction. The music from We7 is free, but you’ll have to listen to some “grafted” personalized messages from advertisers. → Read More
Skype (my favoritest Internet communications service for voice, text and video owned by eBay) and Intel (my favoritest chipset company that starts with the letter “I”) are teaming up this Mother’s Day (May 13, 2007), giving users in the U.S. and Canada free SkypeOut calls to any landline or mobile number around the world. The “Gift of Gab” promotion, as they’ve dubbed it, runs 24 hours. Use the time to apologize for not calling last year, or for her birthday, or coming home for Thanksgiving, or for that time you wrecked the car/burned the house down/puked on her shoes after drinking way too much Jägermeister. Oh and while you’re at it, convince her to sign up for Skype. More information about the “Gift of Gab” is available here. → Read More
It stands to reason that the larger your TV set gets the more power it sucks from the socket and the higher your electric bill will be. Of course this also raises your cost of ownership, something few people take into consideration when buying a new TV. As you can see in the chart I swiped from CNET’s TV power consumption quick guide, running your average plasma TV requires 328 watts of power. Pair it with an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 and a cable/satellite box, and god knows what else you’ve got plugged in running in standby mode and it’s easy to see how you can rack up the charges. CNET compares the power consumption of 54 TVs in the story. The cheapest to operate is the 27-inch Envision A27W221 LCD costing $33.62 annually. The worst? The Sharp LC-65D90U, a 65-inch LCD pulling down 583 watts when on, 76 watts in standby and costing an average of $223 annually to operate. → Read More
I really love the Interwebs. It makes my day go by so much faster. A few Notebook Review forum members did some digging around the European Sony site and uncovered the latest VAIO laptops. Five different lines will be unveiled for July and they sure sound great. An 11.1-inch TZ, 13.3-inch SZ5 and two new 15.4-inch FZ are set to debut along with rumors of a 13.3-inch CZ and 14-inch CR series laptop. There is some speculation that the TZ series will be completely overhauled inside and out. The new chassis design will include a built-in Webcam and redesigned keyboard. If only I were in the market for a new laptop and willing to go back to a Window’s machine! Jump for the full deets. → Read More
Now that the Elite buzz is laid to rest with the US launch today, rumors are buzzing around about a possible switch to smaller, cooler, cheaper 65nm Xenos GPUs for the Fall. Now, the source is China-based Commercial Times so I’m going out on a limb and saying this could be the biggest rumor…today. Sources were cited as saying an engineering version had been shipped and that production would begin in May. Does this mean a slimmed down and cheaper version or the next incarnation of the Xbox? Xbox 360 GPU to go to 65nm in fall, TSMC to see side benefits, says paper [Digi Times] → Read More
Gaming via brainwaves is the next logical step in the evolution of gaming, but I didn’t think it was this close to becoming a reality. Emotiv was the first real glimpse I had into the future of brainwave gaming and I was fairly impressed. OCZ showcased the Neural Impulse Actuator at CeBit and that seemed to be the closest thing we’d have to real brainwave gaming for a while, but now there’s NeuroSky. → Read More
Sling Media has announced that v1.0 for Mac users will be available for download today at 3PM EST. Version 1.0 includes remote controls on the side that look so life-like, pretty cool, huh? SlingPlayer for “Mac v. 1.0 is an Aqua® application and adheres to Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines.” Sling gave thanks to the Mac community for helping them mold the overall appeal so that it was more in tune with the simplicity and elegance of Mac interfaces. Less than two hours to go, folks! Press Release → Read More
With summertime right around the corner, I’m sure all you active people will be wanting to enjoy the outside (bloggers have no such luxury), iPod included. iPod accessory maker iSkins has three new Urbany ways to integrate your iPod (or cellphone or whatever) with your wardrobe. The first is the Grooverider, which, apparently, brings you “into the supernatural world of entertainment.” I guess that means tap dancing ghosts. The fabric of the shirt itself is used to control the iPod. Mein Gott, that is spooky! → Read More
My recent switch to a Mac has been a surprising and fun-filled transition from Windows machines. I feel pretty dumb for not having made the switch sooner. But after some time you start to get bored and you need to find new ways to make your toys interesting again and the best way to do that is to mod the living bejeezus out of it. Now, I don’t mod things very much because of my twitch and I’m very zealous about my things being in pristine condition, so here are five cool things to do with your Mac. Feel free to add to the list as I’m sure there are other cool Mac mods that TechEBlog missed. First up is a cool piece of software that turns your MacBook into a MacSaber. I still watch the original Star Wars trilogy on a monthly basis and like most guys my favorite part is the lightsaber fight scenes. I still make the sound effects for some reason, but who doesn’t? Want the software? I know you do, so get it here. → Read More
The Xbox 360 Elite should be rolling into you local video game store right about now, and reviews have already started to hit the many tubes that make up the Internets. CNET’s is just as good as any, but they review kind of weird. At least, not how I would have done it. → Read More
So this might be a bit of a stretch, but the highly respected Wired pontificates that sales on Nintendo’s Virtual Console aren’t as good as they should be. Some 3.3 million games have been sold on the VC since its launch, which is actually up from 1.5 million back in January. The problem, Virginia, is that sales haven’t grown fast enough. With the Wii still damn near impossible to find (remember, though, Nintendo just did a mea culpa and will increase production), you would think that games on Virtual Console would be selling like hot cakes. Hot cakes! → Read More
You may have read about Sony’s recent use of a decapitated goat during a God of War II press event and how people, generally, are anti-decapitated goat used for marketing purposes. Sony now says the event was of “unsuitable nature,”—corporate speak for “we done messed up”—and that the company will investigate what went wrong and how it happened. In the company’s defense, it didn’t decapitate the goat on its own, but bought it from a local butcher. That makes it all better, sure. → Read More
It was bound to happen: a concept piece of electronics that I don’t like. (Compare that sentiment with previous ones, sirs.) This Alpha TV, designed by V12 Design, reeks of Brionvega, an Italian TV manufacturer from the Old Days. First, the color of the Alpha TV is just atrocious—it reminds of the SNICK couch and its metallic accents just look 1950s malt shoppe tacky. I understand that it’s supposed to be retro and all, but to me it just looks silly. I bet it doesn’t even do 1080p. V12 via New Launches → Read More
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