2007 October - Part 2

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

30 10 2007

Warner Home Video to support Blu-ray exclusively?

Posted by: in Blu-ray

Don’t etch this one in stone just yet, but for those keeping a close eye on studios and which camp(s) they support, here’s the latest. Reportedly, a so-called Blu-ray Festival has been raging in Hollywood, and aside from BD backers showing up in support of upcoming / existing films, there have also been a few interesting remarks uttered along the way. Most notably, Dan Silverberg, VP of high-definition media for Warner Home Video, stated that “one thing that may be changing is [Warner’s] strategy,” and he continued by proclaiming that hardware prices had reached a point where consumers “no longer wanted to decide” which format reigned supreme. The speech actually got interesting when he mentioned that the “notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something the company was re-evaluating.” Beyond that, egos were simply inflated even more as recent BD vs. HD DVD sales figures were trumpeted about, but we think the aforementioned commentary is far more interesting that hearing about numbers we’re already familiar with.

[Thanks, AG23]

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30 10 2007

Sprint Nextel agrees to start unlocking phones

Posted by: in Mobile Phone

An under-the-radar class action lawsuit against Sprint Nextel is winding its way towards a settlement this week, and it contains a pretty huge concession by Sprint: the company will unlock phones for both current and former customers, and will begin training its customer service reps on how to connect non-Sprint phones to its network. The settlement was tentatively approved by a California judge on October 2, but hasn’t had a final approval hearing yet, according to Sprint — but it’s still a huge win for US consumers, who haven’t been able to buy mainstream unlocked phones from any of the major carriers. Of course, since Sprint’s network is CDMA, unlocked phones will only work on other CDMA carriers like Verizon — and there’s no guarantees those companies will be happy about it — but at this point we’ll take whatever we can get.

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

30 10 2007

Neonode N2 makes its FCC debut

Posted by: in Mobile Phone

It’s been out in Europe for a good few months already, but the Neonode N2 has now finally landed into the FCC’s all-important hands, which would seem to suggest that a US release isn’t all that far off. From the looks of the tests reports, however, the touchscreen-based handset doesn’t seem to have picked up any of those much-desired 3G capabilities in its trip across the Atlantic, although we suspect it’ll still find its share of fans. For those not up to speed on it, the N2 boasts a 2-inch touchscreen that fills up most of the front of the handset, along with a 2 megapixel camera, a miniSD card slot, and quad-band GSM / GPRS capabilities (no WiFi though). Hit up the gallery below for a few more pics courtesy of the FCC, and keep it locked here for any word of a release.

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

30 10 2007

SlySoft claims to have cracked BD+, naysayers fall quiet

Posted by: in Blu-ray

We haven’t broken down the minutes and seconds or anything, but we’re fairly certain that July 10th wasn’t exactly ten years ago. Nevertheless, the so-called “impenetrable” BD+ DRM scheme has reportedly already been subverted, and it’s no shock to hear that the folks behind SlySoft had a hand in it. Regrettably, there’s not a lot of details beyond that just yet, but according to the outfit’s CEO, the software is ready to rock and should be released before the end of 2007. Chalk (yet another) one up to the hackers.

[Via HighDefDigest, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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30 10 2007

HP’s Media Center PC with CableCARD for $1250

Posted by: in HDTV

We didn’t realize this was news, but after we discovered that Sony was selling ATI’s CableCARD tuner for $300 by it’s lonesome, we realized how few people knew that you could buy a Media Center PC with a CableCARD tuner for less than $3000. We agree that $300 for a CableCARD tuner is out of control ridiculous — especially compared to a TiVo HD which sells for the same price and has dual CableCARD tuners — but to go around and pretend like they only work with “expensive” Media Center PCs is ridiculous. Sure it sucks that it costs $300 and that you have to buy it with a OEM like HP or Dell just to get it, but we for one are just glad they are a reality, now if only DirecTV or Dish would make a tuner like this for Media Center.

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30 10 2007

Vero ENB-100 Bluetooth kit offers solar-powered hands-free calling

Posted by: in Mobile Phone

Those that make a habit of chatting it up all day in their vehicle may want to consider Elan’s new Vero ENB-100 device, which the company claims is the “world’s first” solar-powered Bluetooth hands-free car kit. As you can no doubt surmise, it promises continuous charge-free operation as long as there’s sunlight, and it’ll even give you 15 hours of operation on a single charge if the weather isn’t cooperating. Otherwise, you can expect the usual array of hands-free calling features, including a noise-canceling, omni directional microphone, a 1 watt “high-performance” speaker, and a voice dialing feature to let you keep your hands on the wheel. From the looks of it, however, this one’s only available in the U.K. at the moment, where it’ll set you back £60 (or about $120), although there’s nothing to stop you from ordering one.

[Via Crave]

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

30 10 2007

VMIX Adds $16.5 Million in Funding to Expand Video Network

Posted by: in Network-Community-News

VMIX, which powers social networking communities for a number of leading media brands, has raised $16.5 million in Series B funding. VMIX offers is own online community where users can upload videos and create their own channels, but also partners with popular sites including the Independent Film Channel and Media General.

This round of funding comes from ATA Ventures, JK&B Capital, Mission Ventures, and Enterprise Partners.

Vitrue, which also offers private label video services, announced a $10 million round of funding earlier today.

[via PEHub]

29 10 2007

3Skypephone launching November 2nd?

Posted by: in Mobile Phone

We aren’t etching this in stone just yet, but we’ve seen numerous reports claiming that the recent partnership between 3 and Skype will soon lead to an actual piece of hardware. Reportedly, the 3Skypephone will be available on October 29th “for a pre-launch,” and will be officially official on November 2nd. Specs wise, it should feature free calls to other Skype users / 3Skypephone owners, a two-megapixel camera, video capturing and an MP3 player. Interested consumers can supposedly choose from three different colors, and it should be available on the “£12 ($25) Mix and Match 100 tariff which offers 100 minutes or texts or any mix of the two.” Ah well, at least we’ve but a few days left to find out for sure, eh?

[Via UK Phone News]

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