Mens Plaza

I like the Kindle, but after reading about its price and limitations, i’m pretty sure it’s not for me. Can you look past its pasty white shell (last year’s cool color), slanted keyboard and $400 price tag and love it for its free EVDO connection, paid-for subscription RSS feeds and DRM’d up approach? Wait, those last two are bad. Did you notice how it looks like a snowspeeder?[How to Comment]

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If you have a computer, I’m sure you’ve had to make copies of DVDs or CDs at one point or another in your life. But what if your job and/or profession requires you to make lots of copies of discs? What if you’re an indie musician and you need an affordable way to make copies of your latest album without paying a company thousands of dollars to make the copies for you? What if you’re a photographer and you need to make copies of photo discs for your wedding clients and all 45 family members? What if your computer just can’t handle that heavy of a workload?

Enter The One-Step DVD/CD Duplicator. I could go on and on about the features, but the website says it best:

At the touch of a button, this standalone duplicator makes an exact replica of a DVD or CD in just over six minutes without the need for a PC. Simply place the source DVD in the top tray and a blank DVD in the bottom tray, and this duplicator takes care of the rest. At 16X DVD and 48X CD drive speeds, this device can back up an entire library of home movies and allows you to easily copy a child’s piano recital for a distant relative. An ample internal 8MB buffer (with 2MB drive buffer) ensures that large files are copied seamlessly and without error. Supports all DVD technology platforms.

Note that this product is not intended to make duplicates of copyrighted material. But who makes physical pirated copies anymore in this digital world? But for those of you who have a legitimate use and have a lot of copying to do, you can pick one up for $349.95

[Hammacher Schlemmer via Gizmodo]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We’re not even going to pretend like we know exactly what the players who gather to play Blitz Play Hero III are attempting to accomplish — with with phrases like “level 2: DRAW with CHALK within certain subjectively chosen (psychogeographic) WiFi areas and PLACE RFID-tags - all analogous- old school tagging!” sprinkled liberally around the website, it seems likely that we don’t really even posses the necessary chemicals to understand what’s happening here. Regardless, the game features RFID light up Christmas tree badges connected to modified Nintendo DSs running a homebrew “game controller,” a little creative warchalking, and an system of scoring that appears to center around graffiti-ing Nintendo D-pads everywhere. That sounds like a little slice of awesome, no matter what the rules — but if anyone can tell us how all this will somehow result in “the LIVE concert is simulated over Bergen: A BLACK AND WHITE MOVIE with a virtual RFID SOUNDSCAPE concert!” in the spring of 2008, do please let us know in comments? Thanks.

[Via Make]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

As part of Walmart’s Thanksgiving madness, you can get an 80GB Playstation 3 plus 10 Blu-ray discs (under $30 in value), plus the 5 free titles you can get with mail-in rebate. That’s the biggest deal we’ve seen on HD discs since the $99 HD DVD players. This bloody format war, we call it the digital Vietnam. [Walmart via Crave’s Erica Ogg]

Filed under: Peripherals, Storage

While it won’t let you burn DVDs without a PC altogether, Samsung’s new SE-S204S DVD burner will at least cut your hard drive out of the equation, with it simply using your PC as a go-between between your still or video camera and your DVD media of choice. That, Samsung says, should “dramatically” cut down on the time it takes to create a DVD, with the usual pre-mastering, multiplexing and hard-disk buffering no longer needed. That speed is further aided by the drive’s 20x DVD+R and DVD-R writing, with it’s dual-layer writing lagging only slighlty behind at 16x and 12x for DVD+R and DVD-R, respectively. If that’s just the time-saving measure you’ve been looking for, you should be able to pick one of these up now for $160.

[Via Electronista, image courtesy of CDRLabs]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Pioneer’s launched an invite-only beta of its online TV download service, SyncTV, which has unlimited downloads in channels for $2 to $4 a month per channel. Shows outside of your subscription run $2. The selling point is that everything’s in at least DVD quality, and in HD w/ 5.1 Dolby surround when possible. And it’ll run on Windows, Macs and Linux. [SyncTV via Electronic House]

An internal Dell document for the Latitude XT Tablet has surfaced, more or less confirming previously-leaked specs, while revealing a few new ones.

The internal document shows the XT will have a 1.2 GHz Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage processor, 1 Gig of RAM (expandable to 3), Bluetooth 2.0 and built-in mobile broadband. Other cool features include a biometric reader, ambient light sensor, digital array microphone, and a score of quick control macros along the screen bezel. The media bay can also support a dual-layer DVD burner, or an additional 80 GB HDD.

Another point of interest is that the document had the XT lined up for release last month. I’m curious as to what caused the delay on this, seeing as it would have been popular this holiday season. [istartedsomething]

With the upcoming What Happens in Vegas…, the Friends episode where they all go to Vegas, the TV show Las Vegas, the commercials touting that events happening in Vegas don’t count towards your regular morality, and countless other glamorous depictions of the “Sin City,” I’m getting a bit bored with the concept of “Woo! Look at all the crazy shit that happens in Vegas!”

21, the semi-true story of MIT students counting cards and making millions under the tutelage of a professor, looks to add little to the genre, and even leaves out the requisite shotgun wedding, seating it one crucial element below The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. I think they’d have been better off sticking closer to the real-life story instead of a film school student’s vision of Good Will Hunting-meets-Ocean’s Thirteen.

Trailer below the cut.

Dell matches the economy class XO and Asus Eee laptops by permanently chopping its $700 Vostro 1000 to $399. It’s got superior specs to both: 15.4-inch screen, 1.7 GHz dual-core Athlon64 X2, 1GB RAM, 256MB integrated ATI gfx card, 8x DVD burner and 802.11g Wi-Fi card, running XP Home. The super-cheap laptop market’s getting nicely competitive. [Dell via Valleywag]

1. Beowulf - America shows an exceptional tolerance for frightening, not-quite-human, animated beings, as long as one of them is basically naked, by donating $28.1 million to the cause.

2. Bee Movie - After taking in another $14.3 million, bringing it to $93.8 million total, something tells me Jerry Seinfeld is already hard at work on commercials for Bee Movie 2.

3. American Gangster - $13.2 million isn’t too shabby, but imagine what it could be making if Denzel Washington were (a) computer-generated, (b) an insect, (c) both, or (d) Will Smith.

4. Fred Claus - $12 million seems like a lot to pay to rid yourself of any and all early Christmas excitement.

5. Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium - If Mr. Magorium were truly magic, he would have erased Willy Wonka from the public consciousness before this was released, possibly giving it a chance to earn more than $10 million.

Weekend Box Office [Box Office Mojo]

Man, there are gaming chairs, and there are gaming chairs. This particular one, known as the HotSeats 723 Flight Simulator TRX Game Chair might very well be the ultimate.

It really has it all. It comes packed with a 23-inch HDTV widescreen LCD monitor as well as a high performance 1.8 GHz Dual Core processor PC. Also with the PC is a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse. As for the sound, that is also covered with Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound speakers and subwoofer unit. This speaker system supports up to 3 devices such as DVD, MP3, or old-school VCR.

The stereo also has a remote control, which I don’t see a need for. After all, aren’t you sitting up close to it anyway?

As for the frame itself, it is made of welded steel and has an aluminium frame. It comes in three colors and has a cupholder plus swing-away console. Apparently you can fold up the Game Chair for easy storage, and you can even detach the equipment for other uses.

You should be able to pick up the HotSeats 723 for about $5635. That may sound expensive, but other sources have said you can end up paying up to $8,049 for this. That’s a pretty high price to pay for playing the new Flight Simulator game in all its glory. By the way, Flight Simulator comes pre-loaded onto the equipment.

Via Born Rich

Taking what I think was as an episode of Who’s the Boss? and expanding it to over three times its natural life span would be a tough task for anyone. Most would never attempt such a feat. That is, unless your standards for comedy fall somewhere between playing a modern time traveler, bringing much-needed sassiness to the Dark Ages, and dressing up like a fat woman.

Such is the case of Martin Lawrence, whose latest bout of hammy shouting takes him on a road trip with his daughter (That’s So Raven!) to find a college, hence the appropriately descriptive title.

As much as the “I’m an overprotective dad!” comedy falls flat–and it definitely does–I was surprisingly amused by the not-so-subtle comparisons drawn between Raven and a piglet. (Why else is it there?) And with several taser jokes scattered throughout, I was even more surprised that they fought the overwhelming urge for a “Don’t tase me, bro” joke. Or at least they’re saving that for the full movie.

Take your own hilarious college road trip, under the cut. And thank Kyle for the tip.
College Road Trip

It’s interesting how, knowing Wall-E is Pixar’s latest outright attack at dominating your child’s mind, heart, and Underoos with overwhelmingly adorable characters, this image of the titular character looks cute and unassuming. Whereas, say it came with the tagline “Sexual predation has a new face… and it’s made of metal,” the robot suddenly expresses a new look of desperate wanting and confused lust that reaches out of the screen and finds your child on the playground, grabbing him or her with his powerful pincer grip.

At least I think it’s interesting.

WALL.E Poster [IGN]

The HotSeats 723 Flight Simulator TRX Game Chair has a very long name. It also has a long list of features.

It comes equipped with a 23-inch HDTV widescreen LCD monitor, a high performance 1.8 GHz Dual Core processor PC, LCD mount, Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound speakers with a remote control and subwoofer unit, Logitech wireless keyboard & mouse, cup holder for your drinks, and a swinging away console. Available in 4 vibrant colors, the HotSeats 723 touts adjustable video game controller holder, adjustable sliding seat, and the speaker system that supports up to 3 devices, including DVD players, VCRs and MP3 players.

The damn thing runs $5,635, which is steep. Now I’m not saying you could build something cooler for cheaper, but what I am saying is the cardboard car I built for playing Gran Turismo is way awesomer. Racing stripes and flames, baby. Those alone took two cans of spray paint, so you know it’s bad-to-the-ass.

HotSeats 723 Flight Simulator TRX Game Chair Is A Sweet Deal [uberreview]

AMD has just announced their Spider platform, which they claim is the best PC gaming platform out there. Spider combines AMD Phenom quad-core processors, up to four ATI Radeon HD 3800 cards and the AMD 7-Series chipset, with CrossFireX, HyperTransport 3.0, AMD OverDrive, AMD AutoXpress and Nonobtanium-Enhanced Flux Capacitors to provide massive acceleration for high definition 3D graphics. The experts, however, disagree: while strong, especially in the graphics department, the Phenoms are falling short on the frequency front compared to equivalent Intel processors.

AMD Introduces World’s First Comprehensive, Cutting-Edge PC Platform

AMD Platform Codenamed “Spider” Extends AMD Leadership in HD Technology, Energy Efficiency and Scalable Performance; Introduces True Quad-Core Processing

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Rewriting the rules for enthusiast computing, AMD (NYSE: AMD) today unveiled its new platform codenamed “Spider”, with the first true quad-core processor supporting scalable graphics for The Ultimate Visual Experience™. The AMD Spider platform combines the introduction of AMD Phenom™ quad-core processors, ATI Radeon™ HD 3800 Series graphics processors with Microsoft DirectX® 10.1 support, AMD 7-Series chipsets with CrossFireX™ and AMD OverDrive™ software. The AMD Spider platform is a major milestone on the path to Accelerated Computing, AMD’s vision for platform-level acceleration through co-processing.

“AMD is the only company committed to delivering The Ultimate Visual Experience across all the screens of your life,” said Dirk Meyer, president and COO, AMD. “The AMD Spider platform embodies our approach to platform-level innovation and delivers a highly-advanced, feature-rich enthusiast computing experience. Our commitment to energy-efficient design and manufacturing excellence drives an unprecedented performance-per-watt at an amazing price point, putting enthusiast-class platforms in reach for more users than ever before.”

AMD’s Spider platform advances enthusiast computing by delivering the most sophisticated multi-GPU enthusiast platform ever with ATI CrossFireX technology. The combination of the energy-efficient 55nm ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series of graphics processors and the increased system bandwidth of PCI Express® Generation 2.0 and HyperTransport™ 3.0 technology, provide optimal processing power for a scalable HD multi-GPU experience. AMD design and manufacturing innovation has enabled the AMD Spider platform to easily scale to three or four graphics processors and deliver a true gaming supercomputer.

“Falcon Northwest is particularly impressed with the quad ATI CrossFireX potential of the new AMD Spider platform,” said Kelt Reeves, president of Falcon Northwest. “Running four graphics boards in one system has been a dream of gamers, but could be a nightmare for a system builder to get all those graphics cards proper airflow. The cohesive nature of the Spider platform design allows the AMD 7-Series chipset, high-performing AMD Phenom quad-core processor, and the already cool and quiet ATI Radeon HD 3800 graphics cards to all be placed for maximum airflow and cooling. AMD has made massive multi-GPU performance easy to build, and affordable.”

HD Technology Leadership

AMD is delivering the only platform that boasts major next-generation, industry-standard technologies to provide unparalleled bandwidth and balance in the delivery of next-generation HD content. With HyperTransport 3.0 technology, AMD Phenom processors have more system bandwidth than ever before with up to 14.4 GB/second of high bandwidth I/O. When combined with the additional bandwidth of AMD PCI Express 2.0 chipsets and graphics processors, the AMD Spider platform enjoys maximum bandwidth to support smooth 1080P video playback, enhanced multi-GPU and high-speed disk and network interfaces. With the only true quad-core processor and infrastructure flexibility with AM2+ socket, AMD processors are designed to be compatible with future 65nm and 45nm AMD Phenom processors to deliver key performance gains.

Video enthusiasts can enjoy best-in-class HD entertainment on AMD Spider platforms with the addition of the powerful visual processing capabilities of the ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series. Striking image quality and power-efficient playback are made possible through the ATI Avivo™ HD video engine and the Unified Video Decoder (UVD). The addition of UVD ensures exceptional platform efficiency and image quality in HD-DVD and Blu-ray decoding for both H.264 and VC-1 specifications. Big screen gaming and entertainment is also made easy with enhanced HDMI connectivity with integrated HDCP and audio for HDMI video.

Scalable Platform Performance

AMD’s Spider platform offers a new class of enthusiast platform scalability, with multiple upgrade options to increase performance and boost compatibility with configurations that can deliver an estimated two teraflops(1) of desktop processing power by harnessing four graphics processors. The multi-core design of AMD Phenom quad-core processors, based on Direct Connect Architecture, features an integrated memory controller designed to support memory speeds up to DDR2 1066(2), 128-bit floating point units and AMD’s Balanced Smart Cache for rapid access to memory, with a shared L3 cache for leading-edge performance on multi-threaded software.

The AMD 7-Series chipsets introduce the world to the latest ATI CrossFireX technology, a new class of scalable multi-GPU performance, supporting three or four ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series graphics processors for unparalleled upgradeability and DirectX 10.1 performance with the industry’s only tri- and quad-GPU solution for Microsoft Windows Vista®. AMD 7-Series chipsets support up to four graphics processors and 42 PCI Express lanes, enabling maximum performance and upgradeability for gamers and PC enthusiasts. AMD 7-Series chipsets can deliver the ultimate in personalized enthusiast platform performance with AMD OverDrive(3) software, the industry’s most powerful and intuitive Windows operating system-based performance tuning utility. Through a simple Windows operating system-based interface, AMD OverDrive software can satisfy the needs of a wide range of performance-oriented users from enthusiast overclockers to mainstream gamers(3). In addition, AMD AutoXpress™ settings can increase your system performance when combined with enthusiast memory modules, ATI Radeon graphics, as well as AMD Phenom quad-core processors.

“AMD has a long history of delivering compelling hardware innovations so that consumers and enthusiasts can enjoy new experiences and take full advantage of the capabilities that our products including Windows Vista deliver,” said John Schappert, corporate vice president of LIVE Software and Services at Microsoft. “The AMD Spider platform adds a new dimension to AMD’s excellence in driving platform robustness and scalability, designed to deliver the utmost in upgradeability and performance with the new tri- and quad-GPU solution for Windows Vista.”

Energy Efficiency

High-performing, energy-efficient AMD Spider platforms provide industry leading platform performance-per-watt, combining energy-efficient AMD Phenom quad-core processors for an improved computing experience, low power 65nm enthusiast AMD 7-Series chipsets, and low-power, high-performance 55nm ATI Radeon HD 3800 graphics. The AMD Spider platform also includes an unprecedented list of computing technology firsts and focus on power consumption, including: ATI PowerPlay™, Cool’n'Quiet™ 2.0 technology, Microsoft DirectX 10.1 support, HyperTransport 3.0 technology and PCI Express 2.0.

In a new initiative to measure real-world processor power consumption, AMD surveyed consumer and commercial users to understand precise usage patterns. AMD measured power consumption for these usage patterns and has found that AMD Phenom processors with Cool’n'Quiet 2.0 technology rated at 95W TDP can consume an average power of 32W for consumers and 29W for commercial users (4). For more information on the power consumption of AMD processors and platforms visit www.amd.com/coolnquiet.

Enhanced features include AMD CoolCore™ technology, support for split power plane motherboard designs and the ability to set independent core frequencies. The AMD 7-Series chipsets are designed using 65nm process technology, a first for chipsets. With a TDP of approximately 10-12 watts, the 7-Series chipset offers world-class energy efficiency, allowing users to focus resources on processing performance. With a flawless transition to 55nm process technology, the ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series can deliver more than two times the performance-per-watt over the previous generation of AMD graphics products. In addition, ATI PowerPlay for the desktop allows for automatic power state adjustments for increased GPU efficiency when under moderate load or idle. All of these features contribute to better power optimization by enabling more efficient performance, lower power consumption, and quiet operation.

“In today’s PC market there is escalating consumer demand for multi-core performance and enriching HD media experiences,” said Toni Duboise, senior analyst with Current Analysis West. “Platforms with enhanced performance features and improvements in performance-per-watt and energy efficiency, such as AMD’s Spider platform, are a big benefit to customers.”

Availability and pricing

AMD Phenom processors 9600 (2.3GHz) and 9500 (2.2GHz) are now available for $283 and $251 respectively in 1,000-unit pricing. The ATI Radeon HD 3850 with 256MB of GDDR3 memory begins at US $179 MSRP and the ATI Radeon HD 3870 with 512MB GDDR4 memory from US $219 MSRP, available from AMD’s selected graphics products partners. For processor pricing details, please visit www.amd.com/pricing. For press collateral pertaining to AMD Spider and its components including product specifications and availability, videos, images and partner support, please visit www.amd.com/spider/presskit.

Hot Hardware

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Portable Video

Pioneer just announced their SyncTV on-line television download service. The ad-supported, subscription-based service costs between $2 to $4 per channel per month or $2 for any show you wish to download outside of your subscription — there’s no mention of streaming capability (though it’s not excluded, either). While details are soft, downloaded video is said to offer DVD-like, “home-theater quality” with surround-sound capabilities and in some cases, hi-def resolution. They will be PC and Mac compatible wrapped in a Sony, Philips, Samsung, and Panasonic (note: not Microsoft or Apple) supported “Marlin” DRM wrapper. As such, expect to see portable players, television, and set top boxes from at least one of these manufactures sometime early next year in support of the nascent service. A private test begins today with a public beta set to launch in January. Unfortunately, the channels and shows available over SyncTV were not revealed today so we’ll just have to wait to see how this develops.

Update: The SyncTV site is now up with more information and beta pre-registration.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

OK, so if Sandee Westgate in sexy lingerie wasn’t good enough for you last week, this week I’m sure you’ll be more than satisfied when you see that she’s stripped down to an itsy bitsy bikini for her review of Ocean’s 13. And it’s a good thing she did, because there was way too much testosterone in that movie for my liking. But enough about me, go check out what Sandee thought.

Sandee Westgate’s Oceans 13 Review

TEAC’s One-Step DVD/CD Duplicator will rip your CDs, or DVDs, without the need for a connection to a PC. That is enough information for us to decide we like it; it is simple and it can copyright infringe in around 6 minutes flat, thanks to the 48x CD drive read speed / 16x DVD read speed. Nice—but don’t use it to copyright infringe, or you shall be hunted down like a dog and be made to pay like a millionaire pooch.

We like it for its law abiding backup qualities, of course. The 8MB internal buffer might mean you have a few error reads, but at $349.95, if you intend on copying media on the regular, give your PC’s fans a rest and grab one of these to do the dirty work instead. [Product Page via Gadget DNA]

Not a wealth of goodies at ridonkulously low prices being tossed at shoppers, but Mr. Walton’s got a few deals up his warehouse-sized sleeves. Weirdly, they’ve split them between the B&M and online stores. Heading up the in-store specials is a 42-inch Sharp Aquos LCD—no model number given, par for the course in this ad—for $866.

There’s also a 52-inch Vizio LCD for $1889 in-store, but you’ll probably get what you pay for, and a usually $250 Samsung DVD camcorder for $200. Online, the Rose and Gold DS bundles are 5 bucks cheaper, and they’re practically giving away the Renegade Game Chair for $180. Oh, and the walk-in wine vault’s a steal for only $20,000. [Sam’s Club, Sam’s Club via BF Ads, Flickr]

The One-Step DVD/CD Duplicator helps you make dupes of CDs and DVDs without the need to have a PC lying around.

Simply place the source DVD in the top tray and a blank DVD in the bottom tray, and this duplicator takes care of the rest. At 16X DVD and 48X CD drive speeds, this device can back up an entire library of home movies and allows you to easily copy a child’s piano recital for a distant relative. An ample internal 8MB buffer (with 2MB drive buffer) ensures that large files are copied seamlessly and without error. Supports all DVD technology platforms.

Bear in mind this is meant for personal use only, and you shouldn’t use this to duplicate copyrighted or encrypted material. The One-Step DVD/CD Duplicator retails for $349.95.

Product Page

Here’s some mental math on an untested theory: Yesterday I ribbed the PS3 for lack of a solid game collection. If you ask the Blu-ray consortium why their disc sales have gone so well, they’ll reply “PS3″. It appears Blu-ray disc playing may be the best use for the machine at this point. A few weekends ago, Variety reported that Halo 3’s launch obliterated box office sales. Home or theater, movies and games compete for similar spaces in our lives. So my thinking is, if PS3 games get a lot better, will that impact Blu-ray disc sales negatively? Or will it be a wash since more consoles will sell? It’s just a thought to ponder on this foggy day in SF.

Putting a full-sized USB port in a phone is such a simple idea, even a caveman could think of it. Yet, until now, nobody has. Vincent Palicki’s design features such a port by the number keys, allowing devices like thumb drives to plug in and transfer MP3s, movies and documents. Cellphone makers, pay attention…this is a good idea. [Yanko Design]

Appropriately, the DVD release of Live Free or Die Hard by Fox next week will come bundled with a copy of the film playable on a computer.

It’s a totally academic gesture, as a program like handbrake can rip a DVD to shreds in minutes, and this one only works on PlaysForSure devices, which excludes “Macs, iPods, and even Zunes”, writes Wired writer and Giz friend Jenna Wortham. But we’re glad to see Hollywood continue to dip their toe into the brave new world where we can actually watch the movies we want to watch, when we want to watch em. Live Free or Die Hard, could be the new warning motto for the industry. How about instead, you bring on the $3 DVDs Paramount and WB are distributing in China? [Wired]

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Portable Audio, Portable Video

J Allard, the mysterious, bedreadlocked, Lex Luthor-ish cat behind the Xbox, Zune and Zune 2 (amongst others) sat down for a Q and A with the New York Times and revealed some deep feelings — as well as future plans. Mainly, Mr. Allard talks about the hardships of dealing with record labels, the failure of the first Zune to penetrate the market, his hopes for the current generation of Redmond-anointed media players to kill, kill, kill, and the fact that a “Zune Phone” isn’t anywhere close right now (though doesn’t seem to be off the table). On the flip side, he hints at a future of merged Microsoft services, where you’ll be able to order up music, games, and videos on demand — all in one, centralized package. Says J, “Today we have Xbox live for $50 a year. We have Zune Pass at $15 a month. We don’t have a rationalized premium version yet. Fast forward a little bit, and you can image a menu like DirecTV. There is basic, there is enhanced, there is movie pack and NFL Sunday ticket.” Of course, right now it’s just a crazy tripped-out dream floating around the mind of J Allard… let’s hope it floats onto our screens soon.

Read - J Allard: Microsoft’s Plan to Be King of All Media
Read - J Allard: The Failures of the Zune and the Record Labels
Read - J Allard: Dancing Around the Cellphone Question

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

I got five words for you: Drag and Drop Netflix Queue. This app by Brent Jensen that supports multiple accounts, downloads thumbnails of movies, lists new and top 100 movies, also has a search function.

What J. Allard reveals when he talks about Microsoft’s (and his) plans for conquering all media isn’t surprising—an integrated, single network for all of its entertainment products and services. NYT’s Bits sums up his spiel in three sentences:

Even though the Zune and Xbox product brands are separate, they are ultimately meant to connect to the same central network. The online services for Xbox, Zune and future products will merge. Video will be a key part of this service.

Allard also shared his feelings about the first Zune—what he calls “failing fast”—and the potentially true rumors of a Zune phone.

“Fast forward a little bit,” and there’ll be an all-in-one setup stratified “like DirecTV,” where there’s a “basic, there is enhanced, there is movie pack and NFL Sunday ticket,” so it’s like Xbox Live Gold and Silver, but with more customization. Customization, in fact, appears to be a core selling point of the service.

Maybe the J in J. Allard stands for Jesus:

What I want to do at E&D [the entertainment and devices division] is build an entertainment service that can connect, that has a screen and buttons and a speaker, so you can watch what you want, where you want, how you want. Maybe you are a commuter, and what you are all about is ESPN. I’ll give you ESPN your way.

In sum, it’s all about convergence, connection and customization—one service that everything’s connected to all the time, and you get to pick and choose exactly how, when and where you consume what media. It sounds almost exactly like a digital convergence advocate’s dream, if only Microsoft could pull it off without turning it into a clusterfuck.

But as much forward looking as Allard did during the interview, he also took a look back, to the early days of Zune:

I’m a big believer in failing fast… If we skipped last year, we would have never come out with the product we did this year… We learned that because of the shortfalls in the PC client [software], the device was less useful… People hated that there was no podcasts, that they couldn’t fill their cultural cache [the Zune] with the stuff that was meaningful to them.

Regarding the all-important phone question, Allard opened with a “we’ll never say never” and then went on to say:

A cellphone operator is not best positioned to decide how to lay out a menu. I think the iPhone came out and showed people a great experience, and in some ways got everybody to check their ego at the door.

While the Zune hardware may not evolve specifically into a Zune phone, the software the team is building may trickle into phones that Microsoft helps design:

What you will see from us is more of these signature experiences. When you see the Zune, you’ll say say, I want my music experience on the phone to be like that. Hey, I want my telecommunication experience on the phone to be more like that.

[NYT Bits 1, 2 and 3]

If you want to just play back Blu-ray discs on your PC, this Lite-On branded BD-ROM drive from Philips will do the trick at 4x for $186. Let’s get this straight: You can’t burn Blu-ray discs with this drive. However, for playback, you’d better have enough hardware oomph to handle all that data flowing through your video system. To be first marketed in Taiwan at the end of this month, these cheap players are expected to be launched later in the rest of the world. If all you want to do is play back Blu-ray movies on your computer, there’s no use paying the $300-$500 for a burner. This might come in handy for an occasional flick at the desk, or Blu-ray playback in a PC-equipped home theater. [DigiTimes]

Japanese researchers have come up with a method using quadrature amplitude modulation to cram hundreds of terabits of a data a second through standard fiber optic cable. HD movies in seconds, here we come. [Digital World Tokyo]

Now ain’t this a hoot - a built-in MP3 playing boombox that comes in the form factor of a mini slider cellphone. You can even opt to pop in your SIM card into the back of the Mini Boombox Cell Phone, whereby any incoming calls will result in it ringing, with the option for the phone to read aloud the numbers of incoming calls using voice synthesis.

Features of the Mini Boombox GSM Cell Phone are as follows:

Product Page

The Black Friday madness continues! JR.com has gotten into the swing of things a bit early, offering $3.99 DVDs. Sure you might be a hi-def guy, but four DVDs would go a long way toward stuffing a stocking. Granted, a lot of the movies are crap, but here are a few we either own already or would be happy to pick up:

Enemy at the Gates (2001) - DVD
T2 The Extreme DVD Edition (1991) - DVD
Once Upon a Time in the West (1969) - DVD
Frailty (2002) - DVD
Rosemary’s Baby (1968) - DVD
First Blood (1982) - DVD

See, lots of good “merry Christmas, now die!” titles on the list. Just be careful, as there are a few good movies (Eternal Sunshine, Sideways) that are full frame only. And when we take over the world, such discs will be outlawed (and people who buy them on purpose, shot in a nonlethal manner). [JR via bargainjack]

Filed under: Desktops

Shortly after being leaked, revealed, unclothed and paraded around in public, Dell’s 20-inch XPS ONE is finally available to the masses. Up now on company’s webstore are four pre-configured systems, with the high-ender rocking a Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 processor, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, Bluetooth 2.0, an 8-in-1 multicard reader, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO graphics set, and a 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA hard drive. Additionally, you can snag a built-in Blu-ray burner and a hybrid analog / digital TV tuner to keep the TV / film buffs happy, but expect to throw down between $1,499 and $2,399 depending on options.

[Thanks, Joshua]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

The $40 Chewbacca backpack is what would happen if your MyBuddy grew a pair, took some steroids and helped you conquer the galaxy instead of your backyard. This backpack is a smaller version of your favorite Wookie, stuffable with your favorite books and lightsabers. And seriously, we prefer him to the real thing.

Chewbacca seems like a nice (guy?) and all, but the real prospect of living in close quarters with a flee-covered, boisterous and surely odoriferous animal for extended periods of time is about as close to our personal hell as an iconic sci-fi movie has come. And seriously, he has hair everywhere. Not only would a strand end up in a least one bite of every meal, but the possibility that the strand would be fouled with excrement is enough for us to program HAL to just go ahead and lock the pod bay doors during our next space walk. [thinkgeek via scifitech]

We’ve written about cell phone watches before but there looked to be some delivery and stock control issues, so whilst doing my usual gadget browse today I was very happy see that Think Geek have the new iMobile watch in stock and available to buy.

The Touchscreen Cell Phone Wristwatch has a great feature set considering it’s small size. Of course you can make and receive calls (dial by pulling the tiny included stylus from the side of the watch and tapping the numbers on the screen) but you can also play MP3 files, watch movies, store hundreds of phone numbers and send SMS messages and enter schedules or notes with basic handwriting recognition.

Unlike the iPhone you won’t need to change contracts to use the iMobile, it comes to SIM but you will need a SIM card from either T-Mobile or AT&T/Cingular to be able to use it. So you can use your normal phone by day but then switch the SIM and go to full geek mode with the mobile watch.

You can buy the iMobile for $249.99, it is in stock now but I’ve noticed before with gadgets like this they tend to sell out quite fast.

SentrySafe has teamed up with Maxtor to create a line of fire resistant and waterproof USB hard drives, the better to protect your data in a disaster. The drives can withstand temperatures up to 1,550° Fahrenheit for 30 minutes and can be submerged in water for up to 24 hours.

They’re maddeningly expensive for the capacity—$260 for an 80GB version—but have undeniable appeal to industrial strength data solution fetishists like myself.

Sentry is also selling a safe with slots of DVDs with a USB cable passthrough to a small drive inside. In fact, it looks like all these units may use 2.5-inch drives instead of full-sized 3.5-inch ones—that would explain the lack of capacity.

Product Page [SentrySafe.com via EverythingUSB.com]

There’s not much this Cambridge SoundWorks i765 radio can’t do. It’s an iPod dock. It’s a clock radio with alarm. Its slot-loading CD player also plays DVDs to an attached TV. It looks like a nice all-in-one solution for small apartments or dorms.

But here’s the thing: it’s $500. And that’s before you buy a little LCD panel to go along with the DVD player. While I’m sure it sounds better than a laptop’s speakers, it seems like it would be almost as cheap to buy a little laptop and some nice speakers. You’d only lose the AM/FM radio, but you’d gain, you know, a computer.

Ah well. It should get much cheaper in a year or so. These sorts of dock/radios always drop to more realistic prices surprisingly quickly.

Cambridge SoundWorks i765: The ultimate all-in-one tabletop AV system? [Crave.CNET.com]

Filed under: Peripherals

Here at Engadget HQ, we’ve no particular issues with superfluousness, but we’re just hard pressed to believe that anyone could find value in a $30,000 remote control. Granted, we’d certainly have a change of heart if said remote could grant a trio of wishes, create a clone to handle our 9-to-5 and serenade us on command, but unfortunately, Lantic Systems’ RC 1 does none of the above. The discuss-shaped device only offers up control of one’s DVD player, TV, CCTV / security setup, audio system, lights, curtains, HVAC and any other standard AV component, all of which can be taken care of for a Toyota or so less. Interestingly, the outfit doesn’t even mention how much gold you’re really getting here, but considering that those signed on to bring one home likely posses more money than sense, that tidbit probably isn’t a dealbreaker.

[Via BornRich]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

News from the Giz is that after a brief beta test, Real Media is set to release a new version of RealPlayer that will allow iPod users to download and play Real Media on their 5th Generation video iPods. As part of the As RealPlayer Plus package, the application will give users the ability to download Web videos to your iPod with a single click.

The near forty dollar ($40) application will also burn those same web videos to DVD, rip, mix and burn CDs and MP3s, contain a 10-band equalizer for music mixing, and an analog recording feature to allow ripping of old album, cassette tapes and voice recordings that can then be converted into digital files.
The later spate of features is nothing new, but the ability to download digital media directly to the iPod is something that has been solely the domain of iTunes. And if Real Media has figured out how to synch and install video onto the iPod, you can bet that they know how to do it for music downloads as well and the web video capability is merely a trial balloon to see if Cuptertino will lower the litigious hammer.
But come on, it’s REAL PLAYER … the hallmark of lackluster audio and video quality. So how much of a threat can it be?

Still, for the option, I’m sure many iPod users will be lining up to give it a go.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Storage

Toshiba’s been demoing a triple-layer hybrid HD DVD / DVD system for a couple years now, but it’s been all unofficial until today, when the DVD Forum steering committee voted to approve the spec as part of the official HD DVD standard. The third 15GB layer bumps the total capacity of HD DVD up to 51GB, matching Blu-ray’s 50GB disks. Of course, we wouldn’t expect to see a flood of content on the new disks anytime soon, what with all those shiny new double-layer players getting sold right now, but it’s interesting to see HD DVD step up in the one area Blu-ray was clearly superior. The stalemate continues!

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!