Hey, all! Thanks for entering the contest, but as they say: many will enter, few will win. In this case only one: James, who “Did my first backflip snowboarding off a 20 foot cliff, luckily it was all powder I landed in, because i landed pretty much on my head, and my friends had to dig me out of the three feet of powder. It was great.” Watch your email, James. My random number… → Read More
You like music, right? How about CDs? Do you still have CDs? Don’t have any cash this week? Did you spend a lot of money on presents for the kids already? Do you want one of these Olive No 4 Hi-Fi? Am I asking too many questions? Yes? No? → Read More
Update: It’s overrr! Someone won, and he’s very excited. Thanks for playing, and keep an eye out for other giveaways. ‘Tis the season. Did you see my review of the ContourHD 1080p? Well, go check it out so you know whether or not you can make use of this sucker. It’s basically a compact HD camcorder stripped of everything but the lens, sensor, and storage, stuck inside a… → Read More
Boobledee ooh ooh woo woo ha lala! We’re coming at you with a fancy Monster Miles Davis Headphone pack. The kit includes Monster Miles Davis Tribute Jazz In-Ear Headphones, three albums, and a sassy print.
Take the A train past the jump to figure out how to win. → Read More
Finally. We’re done. All you have to do is comment on this post and, presumably, all the other posts in this series, and then you’ll be eligible to win a SMART Board for your home, office, or school. Sorry for making you guys jump through so many hoops but I thought this would be a good idea to make it a little harder to win a nice, classy prize like this. → Read More
Sure, all the cool kids are ditching cable and satellite these days, but us normal folk still pay for our TV. If that’s you, then you need a DVR and Arris wants you to have a brand new Moxi HD DVR this holiday season. And yup, you get the new triple-tuner model that allows you to record three cable stations at once. The Moxi HD DVR doesn’t have any subscription costs, can record up to… → Read More
Short Version: There’s a whole lot of convergence going on with the $200 Chinon AVi. You’ve got an iPod dock, 7-inch digital TV that doubles as an iPod video screen, music player, FM radio, and alarm clock all contained within something the size of a toaster. As with all heavily converged devices there’s the risk of being a jack-of-all trades, but master of none. Does Chinon’s product… → Read More
This week we’re going to go a little crazy. We’ll have daily giveaways but we’re going to offer you the chance to totally go nuts and win a SMART Board 685ix short throw magical whiteboard with installation included. What’s that you say? What will I do with a whiteboard? Good question! → Read More
The folks over at Astro Gaming wanted to share some holiday cheer and are giving us one of their new Astro A40 BxR SE Audio Systems to hand out to one lucky CrunchGear enthusiast. The new BxR system comes with a headset, in either red, blue or military green (we’re giving the green one away), and a MixAmp.
Details on how to win inside! → Read More
The design of the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin mini is a thing of beauty. Not as much so as the $800, full-size Zeppelin, but that’s fine. It’s sort of like how da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man might not be the Mona Lisa, it’s still a work of art. But as good as it looks, it can be very frustrating to use. It’s not the Zeppelin mini’s fault though; iTunes is to… → Read More
Want a nice mic for recording your podcast? Talking on Skype? Laying down tracks for your magnum opus, Concerto for Swine and Dancing Girls? Get you a Go Mic. We’re giving one of these mics away to one lucky commenter. → Read More
So this is how the other half lives, huh? It must be nice to have a house full of $1200 remotes customized with user profiles and home automation controls. Yes, this remote costs $1200 and that doesn’t include installation and yes, you need it to be installed professionally. This isn’t a Harmony remote that can be set up in 10 minutes. But once it’s installed, holy cow, it’s effen amazing. → Read More
It’s Sunday and I want you to be happy. That’s why I’m offering you your very own Vue Personal Video network so you can keep an eye on Santa as he sneaks up to your back porch and steals your garbage cans. We reviewed this kit a few months ago and were impressed. It’s completely wireless and the cameras are battery powered. → Read More
Stop! Turn that car around! Roku is selling the HD-XR for half-off. There’s no reason to go to the store! The Roku is one of my favorite living room devices and it just got better. Now it’s $64.99 plus shipping and lets you watch Netflix, Amazon, and MLB content along with Facebook and Blip.tv videos. Good, good stuff. Click through to figure out how to get the deal. → Read More
Black Friday is almost here. It’s a great time to score some deals, but don’t go at it willy-nilly. Follow these 5 simple Black Friday rules to avoid the scams and wasting time. → Read More
Your Roku box just got a whole lot more interesting. Roku, if you remember, makes the Roku player, a small device that sits next to your TV and plays Netflix, Amazon Video, and MLB selections. Roku has just added ten new channels to that line-up and built a fascinating platform for adding more down the line. The current channels will include: blip.tv, Facebook Photos, Flickr, FrameChannel… → Read More
If you ever sit next to me on a plane you will notice that I have a small ritual that I prepare every time I reach cruising altitude. I begin by pulling out my iPod touch and then my Movie Wedge. The Movie Wedge is a little bean bag with a lip for holding up MP3 and video players. That’s it. It’s amazingly great. We talked about the Movie Wedge a while back and we’re happy to… → Read More
Short Version: You want to listen to Fergie in the kitchen. Don’t worry, I understand. Fergie and cooking eggs just go together well. If you’ll be piping Fergie off an iPhone or iPod, you’ll probably want a compatible speaker system. Like anything in the audio world, the price tag on dedicated speaker systems for the iPhone or iPod can be surprisingly cheap ($30-40 bucks), or… → Read More
If you prefer warm, indoor shopping to cold, outdoor, middle-of-the-night Black Friday shopping, then you may be happy to hear that Best Buy “is bringing the excitement of Black Friday a week early this holiday season.” How is this possible? How can one retail store bend the fabric of the time-space continuum in such a way? → Read More
So there you are, standing in front of Best Buy’s wall o’ HDTVs. Which one do you buy? There are just so many different factors and terms: LCD, LED, plasma, 3D, DLP, 1080p. No worries. Follow these five rules and you’ll end up with the perfect HDTV for you. → Read More
I’ve suffered much when it comes to digital photo frames. I purchased a number of frames from multiple manufacturers for multiple members of my family with the expectation that I would, for time immemorial, be able to email said frames images, thus allowing family members the opportunity to see new photos without having to drag them over from the computer. Alas and alack each one of these frames… → Read More
[tab:Intro][flagallery gid=6 name="CrunchGear Gift Guide 2009"] So you’ve taken the plunge and bought (or are going to buy) a sweet new personal media player. iPod, Zune, Walkman or other, they’re all capable of holding all your favorite music. But what’s the point if it sounds like garbage on that chintzy pair of included earbuds? Every pair of white headphones you see… → Read More
Short Version: The Alesis DM6 drum kit is a full set of electronic drums that is extremely accessible, yet just as difficult to master as the real thing. In un-packing the box it came in, one thing was immediately clear; this is no kid’s toy. This is a nine-piece set (10, if you include the drum module that makes the magic happen), weighing in at around 40 pounds. → Read More
To paraphrase my favorite Jack Handy quote, “If the Vikings were around today, they would probably be amazed at the number of wireless audio solutions we have.” Hopefully said Vikings would read reviews of said wireless audio solutions here at CrunchGear, since we’ve covered a fair number of these things. Today we’re taking a look at the Eos wireless audio solution. “Named for the Greek goddess of… → Read More
Short Version: Western Digital’s newest addition to its growing lineup of media players, the WD TV Live, essentially picks up where its older sibling (the great WD TV) left off. With the newly added networking capabilities via a built-in Ethernet port or USB Wi-Fi adapter (sold separately), the WD TV Live has taken Western Digital’s little black box to the next level. Be it photos, music, video… → Read More
I love my keyboard. It is actually a synthesizer, an Alesis micron but I use it as a midi controller. The only problem is I have it in the rehearsal room(s) all the time. So what if I have to work on some music at home? I have to carry that big bunch of plastic from the rehearsal room to the flat and back three times a week. Why not buy a midi keyboard just for home use? No money, no space, no… → Read More
How often have you said to yourself “If only there was some way I could use a small stylus to create odd rap beats using samples from known beatboxers along with with the sounds of drum and bass?” If you’re like me, every day. Thankfully, there’s the Stylophone Beatbox. First, a sample of what you can really do with this thing if you try. → Read More
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years of tech reporting it’s that you should never say Bose makes good products. Bose, like Apple, is a lightning rod for informed and uninformed attacks from both the pro and con camps and to say they do things well – or poorly – is a dangerous proposition. That said, I’m here to tell you that if you travel a lot then you… → Read More
The Harmony 700 just works. It doesn’t look as fancy as the 900, but I don’t care. What I care about in a remote is the most functionality for the lowest price. And let me tell you that this remote scores high in that area. I don’t care if I spoil the review, I just have to say that I love this remote. → Read More
Mid- and high-end headphones are everywhere these days. AKG, previously known for recording and broadcast equipment, just added to the bunch by outing a slew of headphones, including these totally acceptable $119 K 340 in-canal buds. I’ve spent some good listening time with them, and I have to say that they are solid performers once you get over the somewhat awkward design. → Read More
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