Logitech has announced the Harmony 1000 Advanced universal remote: With a little luxury and a lot of functionality, it will make your eyes twinkle and your thumbs twiddle. According to the company, you will be able to integrate all your remotes (for the TV, DVD, Xbox 360, ceiling fan... pretty much any device with an IR receiver) into this sexy coffee-table coaster and (hopefully) make your entertainment experience as seamless as possible.
If the slick design isn't enough, the bright, easy-to-read 3.5-inch touchscreen makes all of the functionality of a given remote easily available and programmable. If you can't seem to locate those old manuals to find out the code to program your device, don't worry. Logitech says that you will be able to program the remote over the Web by connecting to a database of (currently) 175,000 supported devices.
Sure, the remote is nice, but is it worth buying if you can only use it in one room? To answer that, and make me look dumb for asking, Logitech also announced the RF-enabling Harmony Wireless Extender ($149.99), which will allow you to control devices all over the home by connecting the remote to the extender.
The Logitech Harmony 1000 looks like the perfect solution if you're one of those who enjoys owning and using cutting-edge gadgets, and watching your friends drool over them.
Yesterday in California, Steve Jobs announced updated iPods as well as the introduction of movies in iTunes. Lead audio analyst, Mike Kobrin, gives us the scoop on Apple's newest offerings:
Apple's updated 5th Gen iPodwill come with improved headphones, a brighter screen, and longer battery life at 3.5 hours for video. In addition, it will feature more pre-loaded games, including Tetris (yes!), PopCap's Bejeweled, Mah-Jong, and Texas Hold 'Em. , Plus, Apple will introduce gapless playback for MP3s, AACs, and Apple Lossless files. A 30GB model ($249) and an 80GB model ($349) will be available.
iPod nano also gets an upgrade, with a new aluminum casing, a 24-hour battery life, and three capacities: 2GB model ($149 in silver); 4GB model ($199, blue, pink, or green); and the 8GB model ($249, black).
And expect a new iPod shuffle, the size of the Apple Radio Remote, with a 12-hour battery, 1GB storage, and will sell in October for $79.
iTunes 7: Ability to view album cover art and sync your iPod without going to the Preferences tab.
iTunes Music Store: TV shows are now encoded in 640 x 480 resolution. For NFL fans: get the 2006 season on the iTunes Music Store for $1.99 per game or $24.99 for a season pass.
Availability of movies in iTunes. Participating studios include Walt Disney, Pixar, Touchstone, and Miramax. 75 movies are available today. Pricing is $9.99 for most titles, with new releases at $12.99 if you pre-order or buy them during the first week, and $14.99 thereafter.
Apple wireless set-top box called iTV. It "will enable you to stream standard and high-def content from iTunes, including purchased TV shows and movies, to your television set wirelessly via 802.11 'wireless component video.'" It will don a USB port, Ethernet port, component video connectors, an optical audio connector, an HDMI port, and analog RCA audio jacks. It will work with the standard Apple remote, too. The device will be compatible with iTunes on Macs and PCs, and it will be priced at $299 come 2007.
Shown here is the new 5th Gen iPod, iPod nano, and shuffle. Aren't they cute?!?!
I know we all miss the days when Napster was a free music service that raised the ire of many an artist, but thrilled fans with the multitudes of music suddenly at their fingertips. Now that Napster is legal, they're trying to win back those fans with a free 512MB flash player. All you have to do is sign up for Napster To Go for 3 months. ($14.95/month)
That $14.95 will get you access to all the music you can handle, rather than charging you per track; of course, if you cancel your subscription, you lose it all. But that's another matter.
If you were thinking about trying a subscription service, now's a good time as any. If you drop $50, in addition to the subscription fee, you'll get a 1GB flash player with a color LCD screen, FM tuner, and support for WMA and MP3 music files.
Both players are Napster-branded. We haven't reviewed these models, but our audio expert has checked out a lot of other flash players.
Still on the fence about subscription services versus pay-per-track stores? Take a listen to Gearlog Radio as our panelists discuss whether to buy, rent or steal their music.
You could think of Carpool Crew as MySpace or Match.com for commuters. This service, which launched September 1st, gives commuters an online network to find others like them looking for fellow carpoolers.
Once you sign up, you're able to search your area for like-minded commuters who share your tastes in radio stations, interest, and similar work start and end times. The site also offers tools keep track of shared carpooling expenses and schedules, and gives you the ability to notify the rest of your carpool group of any changes or news.
Carpool Crew registration is free: Just plug in your personal information, and you're ready to look for carpooling mates.
On a recent excursion to the Palisades Center in West Nyack--the largest shopping mall in the NYC metropolitan area--I came face to face with the iGallop. My friends and I were making our way through four floors of more than 250 stores--including a clothing store for pets and a playground equipment dealer. Not to mention an inordinate amount of candle shops.
My two favorite stores, being the geek I am, were The Sharper Image (surprisingly small space considering the size of this mall) and Brookstone. Both stores were loaded with fun gadgets--waterproof MP3 players, noise-cancelling headphones, yet another glowing ducky!, and a really cool touchscreen remote that I'd like to try out for myself.
(Before I go on, I forgot about my most favorite store--the Lego store! And they even had adorable Lego duckies--see below. I was in heaven.)
But back to reality. . .
It was at the entrance to Brookstone that the iGallop caught my eye. The beast! I approached her cautiously, knowing she's a feisty one. As my friends watched, I mounted the iGallop (wow, that sounds dirty) and pushed the trot button. Oh she put up a fight--she nearly sent me flying into the Fannie Farmer shop across the way. But I held on tight, thinking, wow, this is a great workout for my core and abs!
Unfortunately, I find the iGallop useful only for an amusing diversion at the mall. Paying nearly $600 for this thing? I'm not sold.
In Europe, where radar detectors are generally illegal, there's a new legal option to avoid speeding tickets: navigation maps that list up-to-date locations of photo radar sites. In many cases, the police are even helping to pinpoint the sites.
Navteq (along with TeleAtlas, one of the two major providers of electronic mapping data for roads worldwide), has announced a service called Camera Alert, which lets software providers create applications to tell drivers where photo radar lives along the routes they travel. Photo radar in Europe is well established, unlike in the U.S., where it has a mixed reputation. To the American mind, photo radar (an unmanned, unblinking machine that never touches doughnuts) isn't very sporting, because it may increase accidents when used at intersections: Late-braking drivers in photo-radar towns often cause rear-enders when lights go yellow. Also because it doesn't generate much revenue for municipalities—the photo radar companies get the money.
The first release of Camera Alert, issued early this summer, pinpoints both permanent sites (sniffed out by Navteq) and pre-announced photo radar cameras. Radar traps are geo-referenced, meaning they are given a precise latitude and longitude, and the list is updated monthly. Police typically make the site lists freely available to Navteq, apparently because they're concerned about getting drivers to slow down more than in generating speeding-ticket revenue. An unusual concept.
Navteq says it uses contract drivers to double-check reported photo-radar locations for false positives, which may occur when the photo radar has moved on to a different location, or the locations have been incorrectly geo-referenced.
So far, Navteq Camera photo radar maps have been published for France and Germany. The U.S., right now, is just a possibility.
The long wait for the TiVo Series3 is over. Robert Heron, PC Magazine's HDTV and Video Analyst has been hard at work in the lab (a.k.a. sitting on the couch watching TV) with the Series3 for the last few weeks. There is a lot to like here, dual tuners, cablecard support, HD support, an improved remote, and a 250GB SATA hard drive that can store 25 hours of HD or 300 hours of SD video.
That said, TiVo didn't quite hit the ball out of the park. First of all the menus aren't all in HD. The company also removed its TiVoToGo service from the box, which means there won't be any TV/PC sharing anymore. The real problem is that other than HD-support, this just isn't a big leap forward. Indeed, without the HD functions I don't see much reason to upgrade. The interface has always been the greatest strength of the TiVo, but it hasn't changed much in years. Rival DVR makers are catching up.
The ability to time shift HD content is a great, but is it worth $800? I don't think so. Not when the Series2 is being given away free with a three year contract and a 180-hour Series2 DT will only run you $130. $800 just seems pricey to me, but then again I don't even own a HDTV yet. Although the bank is up to $24. Damn it, $25.
I own both a desktop and laptop at home. However, I rarely ever use my laptop because it's just more convenient to use a desktop instead. Why? Because I rest my laptop in my lap, and it heats up so quickly that it gets to be quite uncomfortable. However, Belkin has announced two products that may change my computing habits.
Belkin announced today its new CushTop and PocketTop for laptops.
The CushTop is a padded cushion that provides comfort between your laptop and your lap. It's made of upholstery and features a storage pocket to keep your power adapter and mouse tucked safely inside. The CushTop can accommodate small or large laptops, and is available in three colors: silver, orange, and green. I need one of these because I usually just use pillows to rest my laptop on, but that never works because the pillows are too puffy.
The PocketTop is both a case and mobile workstation. It features a built-in cooling pad and storage space for your laptop accessories, including a mouse, power supply, even pens or note pads. The hatch that opens the storage space can also be used as a handle.
Both the CushTop ($39.99) and PocketTop ($49.99) will ship in North America in November; Asia, Europe, and Australia to follow shortly.
Due to an ever-growing interest in mobile video, gaming and music, SanDisk today announced a 4GB miniSD High Capacity flash card at the CTIA Wireless Show. The 4GB SanDisk miniSDHC card can store 2,000+ high-res photos, 1,000+ digital songs or up to 8 hours of MPEG 4 video2.
"The 4GB miniSDHC card represents a significant technological breakthrough and highlights the growing need for large-capacity, high-speed storage for the mobile phone market," said Yoram Cedar, executive vice president of handset business and corporate engineering at SanDisk. "SanDisk is responding to the next-generation demands of cell phone makers and users, who increasingly see their phone as their camera, video player, gaming and music devices."
The card is set to release sometime next year, with no price point decided as of yet. Only SDHC-compatible products will be able to accept the new miniSDHC cards.
Thanks to Reviews Editor Brian Bennett for the tip!
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