Bombin’ And Taggin’ With Light Frank Sinatra To Host Sirius Show Second GTA IV Trailer: Yup, the Game Will Be Good Handle-It Begs You To Geek Out Your MacBooks The Great Outdoors: A Bright, Scary Place → Read More
Weiner Dog Accent Lamp MizPee: What It Sounds Like iRiver Mplayer: The Mickey Mouse DAP Baja Motorsports 70cc Dirt Bike Review Parrot PARTY Portable Boom Box: Cue “Ain’t No Party” Jokes → Read More
It’s not all touch screens, accelerometers and Google Maps today, my friends. I’m based at NYU’s Bobst library in order to be within shooting distance of the various Apple stores and AT&T stores for today’s festivities. Plus it’s air conditioned. But in my roaming around the library I found these old school computers. Not only have I never seen anything like these before, but they have nothing to do with the iPhone. I’m trying to maintain our collective sanity here, people. NYU → Read More
Is iDay over yet? Soon enough we can all go back to our daily lives without having to hear about the biggest flop of all time ever again. If you’re on Verizon, then I feel sorry for you. But you’ll be happy to know that the “nation’s most reliable network” just got faster. Everyone in the country now has EV-DO Rev. A coverage, meaning you can now download Justin.tv lightning fast. Who needs the iPhone and EDGE service when you can have a CDMA wonder phone? I really want to know. Press Release → Read More
Say goodbye to Net Neutrality, folks. The FTC just released an NIE of sorts, detailing the whole history of Net Neutrality and why, ultimately, the agency does not support the concept. Yes, our glorious leaders in Washington have decided that it’s a good idea to let The Market decide what’s best for all of us. All bow before the Invisible Hand. The FTC came out against Net Neutrality because: Policy makers should be wary of enacting regulation solely to prevent prospective harm to consumer welfare, particularly given the indeterminate effects on such welfare of potential conduct by broadband providers and the law enforcement structures that already exist This report isn’t law or anything, but it’s kinda lame to see our officials genuflect before the Almighty Telecos. I wonder if it has anything to do with how much money the industry gives to Congress. Nah, couldn’t be. FTC Nixes Net Neutrality [Consumer Affairs via Digg] → Read More
We’re filing this one under insane, creepy, interesting, telling, and WTF. You’ve possibly heard of the WWE murder/suicide of the week, featuring popular WWE superstar Chris Benoit and his family. Yah, it’s not gadgety, but it’s about Wikiepedia, and if you like, then you’ll love! → Read More
Today we take a look at Belkin’s new Network USB Hub which claims to be the most easily configured wireless USB hub on the market — you could probably also say it’s the only wireless USB hub on the market. Basically, Belkin’s software tricks your computer into thinking that it’s connected to a printer or peripheral directly while they are actually hooked up to your router. Sneaky! Sounds simple right? Let’s check it out… → Read More
Helio users are lucky people. Besides not being nickel and dimed to death with extra charges that don’t actually cost the carriers anything, they get badass handsets like the Ocean that do pretty much everything, and rate plans that don’t leave them with self doubt in the morning. And things are about to get better. To be announced Monday, Helio is upgrading its Helio UP service. Currently it’s an online storage locker for photos and video taken with Helio devices. But come midnight tonight, it’s a lot more. Users can upload photos from their phones handsets directly to their Flickr accounts. Likewise, video can be sent straight to YouTube. Coupled with the built-in MySpace support, that is so socially-networkably radical it makes my head hurt like the first time I saw Megafox. Er, Megan. Fox. It’s unofficial until Monday, so we don’t wanna hear about it if it doesn’t work for you on the first try. But the message is this: Helio is making its already strong offerings stronger, and in all the right ways. If the iPhone’s not your bag, look at the Ocean and at Helio. They’ve got the best hardware/network synergy we’ve seen yet, and they’re making it better all the time. → Read More
I guess it’s wireless boom box Thursday here at The CG, what with Parrot’s PARTYand now the Sony VAIO WA1. This little guy works in tandem with your PC and/or Wi-Fi network to spread nothing but house music’s most memorable beats. Sony’s probably thinking that people don’t really want to listen to music on their computer’s crappy speakers nor do they want to string miles of speaker cable along the floor. Like I said, the WA1 can either piggyback your Wi-Fi network, combing it for playable music, or you can use the included USB wireless dongle. Both accomplish the same task: wireless music all over the house. The WA1 supports all the standard music formats and has 128MB of on-board RAM for local music storage. I’m more of a huge audio system kinda guy (well, theoretically) but walking around in a cloud of music is always, um, neat. $350 neat? Well… Sony’s wireless streaming boombox: the wi-fi hi-fi [Gizmag] → Read More
With so many Bluetooth headsets around, I could see where it would be easy to dismiss the Sound ID SM100. The company’s more than likely unfamiliar to you — unlike Nokia, Plantronics, Motorola and Sony Ericsson that are everywhere — and family and friends probably will not have heard of them either. Hell, I didn’t know about them till a couple months ago. Also, having tested a bunch of headsets over the years, I’ve learned not to be overly optimistic about any manufacturers’ claims of echo-reduction and noise-cancellation technologies. So, when the $129 SM100 actually turned out to be a great little headset that not only lived up to its claims, but had a handful of features I haven’t seen on other devices, it was a pleasant surprise. → Read More
Bluetooth crazy Parrot showed off two new music playing widgets at the British Invasion-themed Pepcom trade show thing last night. Pictured above, the Parrot PARTY (yes, its name is in all caps; no, I don’t know why) is a small stereo boom box of sorts that hooks up to your A2DP-compatible cellphone or anything else that works with Bluetooth. Once paired with the device of your choosing, the PARTY outputs up to six watts of music per channel. There’s also a line-in jack for your iPod and whatnot. You won’t confuse it with the sound systems from Ibiza’s clubs or anything, but its small size—21 ounces including its rechargeable battery—should make it easy to the beach or park or whatever. May I suggest Armand Van Helden’s Killing Puritans? → Read More
Pentax announced an update to their ever-popular K100D dSLR, which is a simple-to-use, entry-level model that even your mother could use. So what’s new with K100D Super? Building on rock solid features like the Shake Reduction system is a ground-breaking Dust Removal system commingling with SDM lenses. If that isn’t Super than I don’t know what is. Hmmm. How about the 6.1-megapixel APS-C side CCD with an 11-point autofocus mechanism, 2.5-inch LCD and ISO 3200? That’s surely enough to whet your appetite. You’ll have to wait until August to pick one up and be sure to bring your piggy bank because it’s going to cost you $599.95. Press Release → Read More
“Who makes the Apple iPod? Here’s a hint: It is not Apple.” With those 12 words, University of California Berkeley-professor Hal Varian begins an excruciatingly detailed look at where each of the 451 parts that make up the iPod come from and how the countries that supply these parts figure into the United States’ trade deficit. I hate to ruin such a gripping plot line for you, but the end result is that it’s hard to tell where everything comes from because, for instance, Japanese companies like Toshiba — who supply hard drives for the iPod — get the parts for their hard drives from different companies in different countries. → Read More
You may already be familiar with Nielsen, the company that tracks and monitors TV viewing habits. Only they don’t want to be known for just that anymore. No, they want a piece of that sweet, up and coming cellphone business. So it purchased a company—Telephia—in order to track and monitor cellphone use. With Telephia’s technology now its own, Nielsen will be able to tally all the minutes you’ve used, all the Web pages you viewed, music you’ve listened to, et cetera. All this so Nielsen can turn around and say to advertisers,”Golly gee, it seems kids like visiting… Well, wouldn’t you like to know? We’ll tell you, but it’ll cost you…” That presumes, of course, that people, in large enough numbers, do anything other than use their cellphones to make calls and take dumb, blurry pictures. Seeing as though I have no interest in paying anything for HOT RINGTONEZ, well, there’s not much to track I guess. Nielsen Adds to Cellphone Tracking [New York Times] → Read More
I know the PS3 and Xbox 360 users are going to be crushed to find out that Midway will be making five of their hot hot upcoming games just for Nintendo systems. Two of the titles, Cruis’n and Game Party will be exclusive Wii titles, while Ultimate Mortal Kombat, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends: Imagination Invaders and The Bee Game are for the Nintendo DS. See? You’re crushed, right? While at first I thought Cruis’n was a new game about trolling for trannies, apparently it’s just an all new version of the classic Midway arcade racer. Game Party, on the other hand is a collection of classic skill games from around the world, from American sports venues to European gathering spots (darts, table hockey, hoop shoot). Both will be available in November. Details about the other games after the jump. But I warn you, it’s some pretty spicy stuff. → Read More
It’s become perfectly clear how Blu-ray will squash HD DVD and win the ‘war.’ They’re going to be giving away five free movies as a promotion in Q3 when you purchase a Blu-ray player or PS3. I don’t think HD DVD can afford to let this one slide (though they ran a similar promotion a while back). They’ve got 60-90 days to turn things around or they’ll be closing up shop. Toshiba may have an entry-level player for $299, but the five free movies bundled into the promotion discounts any Blu-ray player $100-$150. That’s pretty sneaky, Sony. But during a war I suppose you do whatever it takes. UPDATE:Hit the jump for a list of movies → Read More
Tired of iPhone coverage? Want a safe haven? Click here to read stories with nothing to do with the iPhone. CrunchGear: Always Thinking of You, Our Dearest, Cutest, Little Reader. → Read More
ComputerWorld has rounded up a number of old-timey computer ads touting $12K 80MB disk systems and some sort of new thing called E-Mail. “Your mailbox is the terminal on your desk. Punch a key and today’s correspondence and messages are displayed instantly.” Wow-mazing! It’s been years since I’ve really enjoyed a technology ad — probably not since the Viao ads of the late 1990s where they guy was walking on water dressed in Blade Runner-esque fashion. Ahh, those where the days… when technology was fresh, new and marketers had no idea how to sell it. ’80 Mbytes of storage for under $12k!’ and other ad favorites through the years [ComputerWorld] → Read More
CG got a brief hands on with Nikon’s new, high end, DSLR at Digital Experience yesterday. This bad boy is going to run you about $4,600. Here are some of the key features in case you haven’t read up on it yet. – Continuous shooting at 5fps at 12.4 megapixels, 8fps at 6.8 megapixels – Image sensor with 12.4 effective megapixels – 11-area auto focus system – 2.5-inch LCD display – 37 millisecond shutter lag Click on for a few more shots. → Read More
