Best New Technology

Posted Feb 28th 2008 3:55PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Home Entertainment

There are a ton of DVRs with media server / streamer features out there, but the new Media Giant from Conceptronic manages to distinguish itself by being one of the more flexible units we’ve seen, at least on paper. The 1TB DVR features UPnP setup with DLNA support, a built-in analog tuner, a Twonky server, component, composite and firewire inputs, HDMI and component out, digital audio out, an optional PowerLine networking adapter, and a laundry list of supported codecs, including DivX, XviD, WMV9, SVCD and VOB. Not a bad little box — but we won’t know about pricing or availability until it gets officially official at CeBit next week.

Posted Feb 28th 2008 10:54AM by Richard Lawler
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Media PCs

Asus continues to crank up its media PC related offerings, its latest are two HDMI equipped sound cards aimed at HTPC users or prosumers. Next week at CeBIT expect to see the Xonar DX sound card, a slimmed-down edition of its Xonar D2X card made to fit any PCI-E x1 equipped computer. Dolby Digital Live and DTS connect support is still part of the package, plus EAX 5.0 compatibility. Next up is the Xonar AV1, complete with three HDMI jacks and Asus’ Splendid HD chip to assist audio and video mastering. Price or release date on these is unknown but we’re sure to get a closer look once the show starts.

Posted Feb 28th 2008 12:48PM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Features, Laptops

We just got our 2.5GHz Penryn / 4GB fourth-gen MacBook Pro. Plenty of power under that hood, but the outward differences are few: it’s got the new, reorganized F-key layout (which we’re not all that fond of), and the trackpad physically the same (with the addition of multi-touch, which works just as well as it did on the macbook air). It’s definitely an anticipated upgrade to the flagship, but whether you think the form factor’s still got the longevity necessary to keep you coming back after, what, more than two years on the market with no major changes — well, we’ll leave that to you. We’ll have some updated benchmarks shortly.

P.S. -It includes the same model 60Wh battery they’ve been selling on these for a while, for those puzzled about the battery life changes made to the Apple’s MBP spec page.

Gallery: Apple MacBook Pro (with Penryn and multi-touch) unboxing

Posted Feb 28th 2008 8:06AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Displays, Gaming

Oh boy, if ever there was a worthy use case for a giant $10k multi-touch table, it’s a serene port of Hungry Hungry Hippos called Firefly, which Microsoft developed as a proof of concept for Surface. Just gather them into your jar. Go on, gather ‘em up, those 100,000 fireflies aren’t going to gather themselves. Video after the break.

Abilene Christian University (ACU) will equip each and every one of its new students with an iPhone or an iPod Touch. The official line is that the students can "receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors’ offices, and check their meal and account balances", amongst other things.

We can make a guess at the unofficial reasons. First, promising the current hottest gadget is bound to scare up some extra enrollments. Second, kitting the kids out with cellphones and iPods is a lot cheaper than providing them with notebook PCs. The University is already well down the road of making software, with "more than 15 other useful web applications already developed". We have one question, though. Who gets the iPhones, and who gets just an ipod?

ACU first university in nation to provide iphone or iPod touch to all incoming freshmen [ACU via TUAW]

Posted Feb 28th 2008 1:18AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Robots

So the military is continuing down the totally inevitable path of computer-controlled autonomous robo-warriors capable of fighting deadly human battles on our behalf — and out come the naysayers like U of Sheffield prof Noel Sharkey, who, at The Ethics of Autonomous Military Systems conference in London, decried the bots’ self-determined killing abilities as “a threat to humanity” — especially if they’re captured and re-purposed by terrorists to do their evil bidding. Sharkey exclaimed that he’s “worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies [him],” but — and we’re just gonna throw this out there — what if being oppressed by a race of automatons run amok were actually an improvement over our corrupt governments of men? Isn’t that a possibility, too? We’re certainly going to keep telling ourselves it is, thankful we’ve somehow managed to not be overthrown by our own creations. Thus far.

P.S. -We dare you, commenters, NOT to bust out the welcoming our robot overlords cliché.

This year at CES was the year of the iPod Throne. Most of the thrones had speakers or chargers attached, but this company, Prosperity Tree had an array of beautiful iPod thrones that were just for show: the iSeat.

There are no speakers, chargers or anything electronic to the iSeat. It is merely a place to rest your ipod, iphone or cellphone when it isn’t in your pocket. That’s part of the beauty of the iSeat. At the Consumer Electronics Show, they were one of the few products that contained no electronics whatsoever.

Their bottom of the line were simple plastic thrones. They can be engraved with your logo or name. They are being heralded as great giveaway gifts for employees or customers. I liked their simple design and their bright colors. It felt a little like 1986 all over again seeing hot pink and bright yellow in one spot together.

With a minimum order of three, these plastic iSeats are about $12 each, so actually ARE an affordable giveaway for customers that you REALLY like, but they weren’t what attracted me to the booth in the first place. I fell in love with iSeat because of their executive series. You can see them here:

They are like glass paperweights with iPod thrones attached. When I saw these at their booth, I had a vision of my grandma with her paperweight collection and my vision instantly transported to the future where I’M the grandma and I have a huge collection of glass iSeats for all of my gizmos. Here is a closeup:

These units are approximately $20 each with an order of three, so they don’t come cheap, but they are a beautiful addition to your desk. They may not be as useful as the iPod thrones with speakers and charges, but they are the loveliest we saw at CES this year.

Chip & Pin Monopoly
The clever chaps behind the legendary and oh-so-British board game Monopoly have given it an electronic spit-and-polish and propelled it kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. And hurrah and huzzah say all of us.

See price

USB Rechargeable Torch

This long life energy saving rechargeable torch has a super bright white LED. It is easily recharged via a computer USB port and has a key ring attachment for convenience.

Now here’s a first from China - a waterproof cell phone known as the WP812. Judging by the touch screen display, it will probably share the same user interface as that of the Nokir E828. Well, at least you can now check your text messages as well as carry on conversations while you’re busy washing yourself down after a long day at the office, although it would be very bad form to do so especially when a formal conversation is going on. Looks a bit like the Nokia N70 to me.