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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-04-07-mignon-diy-game-kit.html | 2005-04-07 17:40:50+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Mignon DIY game kit | In direct contrast to the philosophy of buildinglocked, proprietary gaming systems, the Mignon game kit has as its core philosophy that of the DIY designer/hacker/programmer. The kitset was created by Olaf Val to allow console owners to develop highly individual and personal relationships with their devices through the process of construction and self-production of a minimalist "gameboy"-like unit. Ideal for first time forays into micro-electronics as well as advanced game programming, the Mignon kit is incredibly reasonably priced, starting at about $37 for a bare bones kit on up to $89 for the deluxe version.[ViaNear Near Future] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-04-07-the-digiblast-personal-media-center-for-kids.html | 2005-04-07 19:05:17+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The digiBLAST personal media center for kids | Absolutely no useful details on what exactly they've got cooking, but check out this teaser page for the digiBLAST, a new personal media center for kids. The rendering they have posted isn't exactly confidence inspiring, but we did find this live product shot from the Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair. Should be out in mid-September[Thanks, Jeroen] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-04-08-napster-users-sharing-accounts-common-practice.html | 2005-04-08 17:44:36+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Napster users sharing accounts: common practice? | So, there are thelow-techmethods and then there are the even lower-tech methods: why not just give out your Napster password to your friends in exchange for cash/barter/whatever? That's what some London teens contacted by UK's The Register are reporting is relatively common practice. Although Napster states that it is not possible to keep the same account logged in on two machines simultaneously, MusicAlly, a music industry analysis firm, found that in practice quite the reverse was true. They ran several test, during which they were able to both download and stream songs simultaneously from four different computers across two different internet connections without too much trouble for long periods of time. Other online music services, in contrast, automatically log the first user out when a second user logs in with the same username/password combination. Considering Napster just raised its revenue expectations yet again, it's clear they're attracting new subscribers — although it looks like not quite as many as they could be. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-04-09-the-nabaztag-the-wifi-enabled-ambient-bunny.html | 2005-04-09 22:57:14+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The Nabaztag, the WiFi-enabled ambient bunny | From Violet, the designers of thatUSB-powered fragrance diffuserwe mentioned last year, comes the Nabaztag, a cutesy competitor for the Ambient Orb that connects up to the Internet over WiFi (instead of an FM subcarrier network) and uses changing colors on its belly(or move its ears) to let you know whether you have new email, or what the weather's like outside, or how the stock market is doing, etc. There's also something or other about one Nabaztag being able to communicate with another, but it's not clear exactly what they mean by that. Anyway, goes on sale in France later this month with a retail price of €95.[ViaPopgadget, also tipped by PRCman] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-04-13-report-sharper-image-purifiers-actually-make-air-worse.html | 2005-04-13 11:29:38+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Report: Sharper Image purifiers actually make air worse | We wouldn't want to be in customer support atThe Sharper Imagethese days. With the company's lawsuit against Consumer Reports thrown out by the courts, the purveyor of overpriced and uninspired gear now faces new charges related to the same product that led to the suit in the first place: its Ionic Breeze air purifiers. And this time, it's not just that the Breeze doesn't work, as CR charged in 2003. The magazine's latest study charges that the units actually make air qualityworse, by releasing excess ozone into the air — something that can cause serious respiratory problems, especially for asthmatics or other people with breathing concerns (who, not incidentally, are among the biggest purchasers of air purifiers). Not surprisingly, Sharper Image's stock has plummeted, and it released a statement calling the report "an unfair assault." Meanwhile, we imagine the company is desperately retooling to come up with another hit product, and that we'll see their ever-popular electric nose-hair trimmer on the cover of their next catalog. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-04-17-the-pop-station.html | 2005-04-17 19:45:17+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The POP Station | A note to all the parents in the house: Sure, maybe you'd save a few bucks by buying your kid a POP Station Value Pack instead of aPlayStation Portable(we know it can be tough even finding a PSP in some parts of the country), but you better be prepared for the look of crushing disappointment you're going to receive when you give them this janktastic knockoff.
P.S. - Scarily enough, this is actually the 4th PSP clone we've spotted, you might also recall theGM-219, thatLenovo cellphone, and some otherrandom Chinese onethat turned up in January.
[Thanks,Robert G.] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-04-18-secoms-rfid-kid-tracking-now-enforced-by-the-secom-robot-x.html | 2005-04-18 16:43:27+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Secom's RFID-kid tracking now enforced by the Secom Robot X | RememberSecom'sRobot Xrobot security sentry? The one that goes all crazy on people and rams at them really fast and shoots smoke and fires blinding lights? Well, looks like they've integrated RFID into the bot, so the Robot X can be used to guard Japan's precious SecomRFID-tagged youth. Say goodbye to your days of heady power as hall monitors, kids—like many jobs in the real world, a robots going to do what you do,but better.[ViaRFID in Japan] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-04-20-the-libretto-u100-toshibas-new-ultralight-laptop.html | 2005-04-20 13:30:18+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The libretto U100, Toshiba's new ultralight laptop | It's been on vacation for the past three years, but Toshiba's bringing back their much-loved line of ultralight libretto laptops. They're claiming that they brought back the libretto to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the introduction of their very first laptop, too bad the U100, the first model in the revived line, looks a bit like it was inspired by boxy mid-Eighties laptop design. Snotty aesthetic concerns aside, they do manage to squeeze a lot into the U100, which weighs 2.16 pounds and has a 1.2GHz Pentium M processor, 7.6-inch widescreen LCD with a resolution of 1280 x 768, built-in 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, 512MB of RAM, and a 60GB hard drive. Retail price: $1,999 (pictured at right with its optional dock).[Thanks, anonymous tipster] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-04-25-mini-polystation-2-ps2-knock-off.html | 2005-04-25 04:30:14+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Mini PolyStation 2 PS2 knock-off | Some companies ride on the coattails of a hot device byaccessorizing the hell out of it. Other companies take a different tack: manufacturingridiculouslyblatantknock-off versionsof thesame device. The Mini PolyStation 2 has as its precedent thePolyStation 1, and we're glad to see that this upstanding company has managed to somehow dodge legal action long enough to put out the sequel. But do you think they'll be forced tostop selling the dual-shock controllers?[Thanks,Robert] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-04-26-happy-slapping-increasingly-slap-happy.html | 2005-04-26 15:00:57+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Happy slapping increasingly slap-happy? | So apparently it's all the rage in the UK for groups of teens to run amok slapping unsuspecting kids or passersby, documenting the whole charade on cameraphones and sending it around via 3G (the article actually nonchalantly says "slapor mug" which seem to us quite different practices not lending themselves to being lumped together so willy-nilly). "Happy slapping" has apparently spread from the UK garage music scene to school playgrounds (as most fads do) and is now taking the nation by storm. The Guardian reports attacks are growing more violent as perps take on adult victims in parks and public places. Let's pause for a reality check and remember how the media loves to sensationalize this stuff, so it may be happening and it may be growing, but you can probably still walk out of your home and make it to the corner market without getting happy slapped. We hope.[Viapicturephoning] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-04-28-styletap-platform-lets-you-run-palm-os-apps-on-your-pocket-pc.html | 2005-04-28 13:29:36+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | StyleTap Platform lets you run Palm OS apps on your Pocket PC | Haven't had a chance to fire up one of our old iPAQs and test this out first-hand, but a company called StyleTap has announced a new emulator called StyleTap Platform that'll let you run Palm OS apps on your Pocket PC. They claim that the software is compatible with thousand of different applications written for Palm OS 5.2 and earlier, and that you don't have to run programs in a separate emulation window—supposedly they'll show up as native programs on your Pocket PC and you can use them just like you use Windows Mobile apps (that includes being able to cut and paste text back and forth, too). No support for Bluetooth, at least not yet. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-05-10-nokia-sensor-app-enables-bluetooth-social-networking.html | 2005-05-10 19:32:26+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Nokia Sensor app enables Bluetooth social networking | Social networking via cellphone is now a lot cheaper and easier, with the release of Nokia Sensor — at least for users of supported Nokia phones. Using Sensor — Nokia'sMoSoSoapp for Bluetooth phones — you can send free messages via Bluetooth to other Sensor users in a radius of about 30 feet. The software lets you create a "folio," or mobile home page, which can include a photo and personal info; once you hit the Scan button in the app, you'll get access to all folios within range, and can then decide who you want to chat with. Seems like it could be a useful way to track down friends (and make new ones) in a crowded, dark, noisy nightspot (which seems to be the way Nokia's marketing it), though like other MoSoSo apps, it could lead to a certain amount of cyberstalking, albeit at a very short range (the program allows block lists so you can hide from known creeps, though the default mode initially lets everyone in).
[Thanks, Ruth & Giorgio] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-05-10-apples-patented-the-tablet-mac.html | 2005-05-11 03:05:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Apple's patented the Tablet Mac | Looks like US Design Patent No. D504,899 is one for the Apple history books-it's been rumoredfreaking forever, we lastheard about this last August, but it became substantiated today when Apple's secret plans for a tablet PC were not-so-ruefully revealed. We're not sure how Microsoft is going to feel about this, but perhaps the heated competition will spur sales ofPC tablet devicesfrom their current, sluggish pace. At least one thing's for sure: once this device comes out, tablet devices are officiallyin. And yeah, if you live in the greater bay area, that loud noise you're hearing right now is the sound of Steve Jobs chopping people's heads off.[Viaslashdot] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-05-12-google-buys-dodgeball.html | 2005-05-12 11:03:08+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Google buys Dodgeball | Well, what started as a service for interactive mobile social networks grew up a lot today; that's right,Dodgeball, thelittle projectthat could borne ofNYU's ITPprogram got bought by Google today for an undisclosed sum of money (we'll just assume they'll be able to pay off those student loans). For those of you who don't remember Dodgeball, they were started as a service wherein a registered phone can "check-in", and anyone in your registered circle of friends (or their friends as well) in the area will be notified of your proximity (and vice versa), so you can, you know, do lunch or whatever people do. It pretty much goes without saying that this is just begging for use with Google maps mobile and Google local (why do they keep building technology to make it easier to get out of the office and have a social life, anyway?), not to mention the obligatory Orkut integration we're likely to see. Now quick Dodgeball guys, cash out now and live like kings in the Balkans forever! |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-05-16-engadget-amp-joystiqs-live-coverage-of-microsofts-xbox-360.html | 2005-05-17 02:03:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Engadget & Joystiq's live coverage of Microsoft's Xbox 360 E3 event | Hey everyone, we up in the Shrine Auditorium to give you complete live coverage of Microsoft's Xbox 360 E3 event. We know they formally announced the devicelast week on MTV, but hopefully we'll all get some of these burning questions answered this evening. Stay tuned: we're live!
While we're waiting to get this show on the road, here's a quick recap of what's gone down. Today'sSony PS3 unveilinghas opened up a world of questions regarding how Microsoft expects to maintain a competitive edge against a system that will supposedly have more than double the raw processing power, a next-gen media drive (Blu-ray, in this case), two-generation backwards compatibility, and even support for 1080p hi-def. We also still don't know how much the Xbox 360 is going to cost, an exact release date, what kinds of configurations it will have, and, of course the big question: will it have backwards compatibility?
Ok, we're getting started. Let's roll!
Kim's here to "start us on a journey". Man, Microsoft, hyping this at all?They're showing what appears to be a commercial for the device. A commercial eh? Feels a bit like that's what this whole event happens to be.
We've got three execs up on stage, including Xbox posterboy J. Allard. They're calling this the "most powerful entertainment system in the world". Ok, we'll let them prove it to us then, yeah? They're talking up their successes with the original Xbox—"over 20m customers", and a $125 million in sales in one day with Halo 2. Yes, yes, we know. Now they're chatting up new Xbox 2005 titles. Can we hit the 360 yet, s.v.p.?
Two words: backwards compatability! That's right, everyone. It'll play Xbox games! (Well, some of them, anyway)
They still aren't giving up any specific date, but we can apparently expect the Xbox 360 to hit stores this year. The interesting part? It'll be a simultaneous launch for the US, Europe, and Asia—something we've never really seen anyone attempt (successfully) before.
They're showing off a rather long, elaborate demo of Dead or Alive 4 for the 360. Showing off cutscenes and video shots this way makes it hard to tell how much is prerendered—so we're assuming it all is. But if most of it isn't, well, we're more than a little impressed by these visuals.
J. Allard's back up. He's claiming that we can expect between 25 and 40 game titles for the 360 this year, and there are more than a hundred additional titles yet in development. He's talking up "the HD-era", and how they're going to "reach one billion people with our medium."
J's showing off the new dashboard system, and talking up Xbox Live Silver, their free level of out-of-box service. This will include the bread n' butter online gaming, as well as video messages, player matching, tourneys, music and photo sharing, the gamercard and gamer achievements, the Live marketplace, and more.
He's talking about Xbox Live Arcade, targeted at "non-gamers", which is a simplified "old school/retro" gaming experience. It appears to be free to Xbox 360 owners. Hmm, hardware margin.
They confirmed it! iPod and PSP integration! How much? We dunno, but we're definitely going to find out for you exactly what we can expect.
Uh, they're showing a total nonsequitur video of Gates and Ballmer hanging out in line in the Star Wars line to try and understand their demographic. Ballmer says, "HD! HD! HD!" Man, no one else here found that funny. But Allard got it right: "Billionaire software moguls attempting to be funny." Um, yeah.
Peter Moore comes on to yammer on about the zen of running. He wants to deliver "the Zen of gaming", and he's introduced a demo vid of Lost Odyssey, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi's latest masterpiece. Looks totally hot, very classic Japanese RPG drama. They're also showing off in-game vids of Ghost Recon 3, which looks unbelievably hot. They are also showing off NBA 2K6 and Kameo. Their Call of Duty 2 demo was a little choppy, which is a little unexpected. Oblivion—the sequel to Morrowind—is being narrated by none other than Patric Stewart. Patric freaking Stewart, dude. Now Gears of War, which will apparently "literally make you afraid to lift up the controller."
Don Mattrick, Pres of EA studios worldwide came onstage. He looks a lot like a (very) poor man's Tom Cruise—let's say Risky Business era—and he also brought with him Oakland Raider Robert Gallery, who's only about 800 times larger than both of them put together. He's claiming this is the largest EA dev commitment in their history with 25 titles in development. At least 6 will be out this year, including Need For Speed: Most Wanted, The Godfather, Fifa 06, NBA Live 06, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06, and, of course, Madden 06.
Microsoft brought out Yoichi Wada, President of Square Enix, to announce their partnership and in developing for the Xbox 360, specifically Final Fantasy XI with Xbox Live integration.
Well, that's it! They're wrapping up here, so be sure to get up early (if you're on the left coast, anyay) for our live coverage of what Nintendo's got up their sleeves. We out!
FYI indie rock nerds: they're outroing with the Kaiser Chiefs. FYI everyone else who wassooexcited last week about the Killers playing music in promotion of the new Xbox 360. They're playing live here tonight, and yeah, we're gonna heckle them like bigs. "Play Worked Up So Sexual!" Ok, maybe not. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-05-18-the-engadget-amp-joystiq-interview-steve-ballmer-ceo-of.html | 2005-05-18 17:00:00+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The Engadget & Joystiq Interview: Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft | Yesterday afternoon Joystiq editor Ben Zackheim and I sat down with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to discuss theXbox 360. We talked with him about what he thinks it's going to take for the Xbox 360 to be a success (he thinks they're going to swipe the top spot from Sony), his take on the PlayStation 3, why we might see one or more new versions of the Xbox 360 next year (hint: never say never to a next-gen optical drive), Microsoft's plan for backwards compatibilty, some more details about the new console's integration with the iPod and the PSP, and how all of this fits into Microsoft's living room strategy.Also present for the interview was Chief Xbox Officer Robbie Bach.
The first question is one of the obvious ones, but are you a gamer?
Am I a gamer? Casual. I'm the father of three boys who are not as casual as I am.
What do they have?
I've got three different age ranges. I've got a thirteen year old, I've got a ten year old, and I've got a six year old, and they're all in different phases of life. The thirteen is kinda classic. He's sort of a first person shooter guy more than anything else. The second is a sort of a massively multiplayer game type guy, mostly PC-
Yeah, you're talking PC so far, huh?
No, no, no, my first guy is almost all Xbox. My second guy is almost all PC, with a little bit of Xbox. And I've got a six year old and he's actually a little PC-these sort of lightweight kind of cheap games you get online on the PC. And there are a few games he likes on the Xbox.
Do you play with your son on the Xbox?
Yeah I do a little bit. I do a little bit. But, you know, I have nowhere near the agility or capacity to learn which I should at my advanced age, I'm afraid.
Have you gotten any time with the 360?
Well, with the box itself? Yeah. Obviously we're not sort of in full play, but production mode...
But did they let you bring one home?
No. Well, actually that's untrue. I have the silicon at home. I was with the silicon team last week during this MTV thing and they gave me one of each of the chips to take home in a little case, so I do have those. My sons were kind of impressed, I'll say.
Pulled some strings, huh?
Yeah.
How are you going to define success for the Xbox 360?
Well, I mean in the simplest of ways. I'll start very simple. If Peter Moore (who runs our marketing) was here, he'd tell you about brand and positioning and image. I just want to sell more consoles than anybody else in the next generation. And in the simplest of ways, you know, the number of units we sell is really important to me.
So you have to grab at least 50% of the market for this to be defined as a success?
I wouldn't go quite that far, but I think we will. I think we're going to have market leadership in this round. The big question is how well do we do in Europe. I feel quite comfortable we're going to do well in the US. Sony's going to outperform us in Japan. We're sort of doing well in all of the other markets relatively. And the question is how well will we do in some of the big European markets. And how well do we do broadening out the base? We're not going to abandon in any sense, the hardcore, the faithful gamers that have brought us here, but you know, as I think we made clear in the session last night, we are going to try to broaden out and get a new class of people involved with the console this round.
Yesterday Sony unveiled the PS3, and at least on paper it seems to outclass the Xbox 360 in terms of teraflops and support for 1080p, and it's going to have a next-generation optical drive which the 360 isn't going to have—
No... we just haven't announced anything yet. Sony may have announced a non-standard drive last night. We just haven't announced anything.
There are going to be some more surprises on the hardware end?
Could be! Look, for us to say we're going to go through a whole generation without an HD capacity drive—I think that would be naive to assume that we'll be sitting here at the end of the Xbox 360 generation and no such device will have shipped. On the other hand, we haven't announced anything, Sony's announced something, and who knows? You know, they could have announced support for Beta instead of VHS. We're trying to watch and really be agile on our feet, relative to the issues between HD DVD and Blu-ray. As a platform provider we're trying to make sure our software standards are well-supported in both places. As the provider of the Xbox, we're sitting there saying, "Look, we're shipping NOW." This was not an option. Neither one of these things were an option for our first shipment, so it's kind of a moot point. Sony's saying, "Who knows what the standards are, but we're going to commit to what we're going to commit to." I think we can be nimble and agile and that'll be important.
So there's a possibility of an Xbox 360 Mark II coming along?
I won't hypothesize on how we get there. I just think it's just wrong-minded to think that somehow we'd go a whole generation without this. We're not going to be sitting here five years saying, "Oh jeez, we don't have HD DVD-type storage." But we're going to out perform Sony in a lot of things. We're faster on integer than they are, they're faster on floating point than we are. To sit there and just take a look and say "Well, they're just faster..." Well, we've got three cores, they've got one core. Actually, we were pleasantly surprised by what they announced. They're later, and yet we think we're going to outperform them on a bunch of stuff. We think we've got better balanced system performance than they do. Now, when you're the second guy of course you're going to be faster. We sit there and say "There are some things [on the PS3] that are faster... [whispers] but there are some things we're faster on, too."
How much of an advantage does being first this round give Microsoft?
If we execute well, we think quite a bit. Just as being first gave Sony something of an advantage the last round. If we execute well, we're first to critical mass. And that matters a lot with the publishers, that matters a lot in terms of consumer word of mouth broadening out interest. We think we're going to be very, very competitive. We think we've got the fastest system even despite the fact that we're coming out first. We think there are a lot of advantages in being first. We've been targeting to come out this holiday, the holiday of '05. In the game theory of things, we assumed there was some probability Sony would match us, and probably a higher probability Sony would come later. And we said, "I hope they come later," because we'd see all the advantage of being first.
What has Sony done right?
Sony's a great company in many ways, and they're going to engineer something that's got some decent capability. There's no doubt about that. They have partners that have succeeded with them. I think we're doing a really good job of nurturing some of their partners. Their box didn't look bad, it looked ok—but I like our better. It's a little bit hard for me to laud the competitor, but Sony's a good company, and we have to assume that they're going to execute some things quite well. I was shocked that they didn't have more to say about online [gaming]; I just think of online as pretty fundamental at this stage. They didn't have much to say about online, and what they said was more than what they've said before, which I think is an interesting thing. We're both pretty keyed up on HD games—you can take the format and the disc aside—but we're both pretty keyed up on HD games. Of course we love what we're doing with personalization, but they were mostly about performance in their discussion last night.
Have you seen the game clips that they've released?
I haven't because I just came down today, but I'm sure competitive intelligence will be sharing those as broadly as they can. [laughter]
Regarding backwards compatibility, it seems like that's going to be on a kind of a selective basis from what we gather—is that correct?
We are working very hard to get compatibility. Of course the prioritization in our technical work is in the leading selling games from the first generation, just like the PS2 didn't run all PS1 games, it is unlikely we'll ever be able to say the 360 will run all Xbox 1 games. I think there are some games if we get them to run that means many, many other games will run, and I think rather than give some statement that is either too conservative (because the engineers can do better), or a bold statement we can't live up to, we thought we'd make our strategy clear that as we get further down the road and as our engineers do more work, the execution will speak for itself.
And there's also the possibility of patching over Live to allow for more games down the road—is that something that's being looked at?
Robbie Bach, Chief Xbox Officer: Sure, there's a number of different ways you can distribute the capability. The thing you have to recognize is we got to a point at E3 that we said look, there's so much speculation about this even though the work is ongoing, we should just deal with it and get people focused on the right thing rather than on the wrong thing. We wanted people knowing we're doing the work, but you don't want to say we're going to do every single game, because we don't know that to be a fact today.
Ballmer:We've actually dealt with this issue more than any other company in the world (with every Windows release). The truth of the matter is we run a high percentage of apps, and every Windows release we hear about the apps that don't run. But because there are fewer console releases than there are Windows releases, it's even more of a front and center question. But I think we have a pretty good sense of how to do this. Live gives us another asset to go after this, of course—we have a strong Live base, but it's still only a few million people at this stage, it's not all of our installed base, so we can't count on it as the only mechanism to try to get the strongest backward compatibility possible.
Will backwards compatibility be determined on sales if you proceed with the plan as you have? Will it just be the best-selling platinum hits?
I'd say it a little differently. I'd say what we will do is pick a set of titles and do all the technical work to get those to work. The truth is when you do some of those titles, you do get dozens to hundreds of other titles because you take any game that pushes the system and exercises it. If you can make backward compatibility happen for it, you'd handle any game that has a subset of what it does. So it's wrong to say it's about individual games, it's right to say we're going to prioritize the general purpose technologies based upon that which is in that league of games.Bach:The other thing you can say is you can assume Halo and Halo 2 are fairly close to the top of the list... [laughter] for both the reasons Steve states. Because they're top selling games and they're some of the most technically complicated games...Ballmer:...so if you get those two, you'll get a lot of other stuff.
J. Allard touched on the issue last night on synchronization with the iPod and the PSP that the Xbox 360 is going to have, but he didn't really explain much about what form that would take.Let's say... music, MP3s... if you have any music in AAC format there's not much anyone can do with it because Apple doesn't want anybody to do anything with protected AAC, so you take anything that's not in protected AAC format. We want you to be able to get that music over to the Xbox and enjoy it while you're gaming. So we're doing the work—whether it's with iPod or some of the other handheld devices—to move appropriate content back and forth. It's a nice thing. I think it shows our openness. It's good value for the consumer. I don't think it's big time rocket science.Bach:Basically, anything that's unprotected. You know on the iPod, most music is unprotected, it turns out. So as long as it's not proprietary, based on something Apple's done, or any other music player for that matter, we'd like to be able to play it.Ballmer:Yeah, 90% of the iPod music is unprotected, ripped legitimately (or illegitimately).We wouldn't know anything about that [laughter]. Were there any mistakes made with the original Xbox that you learned from when it was time to start work on the Xbox 360? And if so, what were they? Give us the top three. Besides the design, that is.In a way, yes. And in a way no. [chuckles] Sure, I actually think that in a way the design really worked for us in generation one. I mean everyone knows how to criticize the design. But in terms of really establishing us with the hardcore, our design was not all liability. It gave us a certainje ne sais quoiI would say. But we learned from the design, and we certainly learned financially about what sells, what doesn't, what drives value, what doesn't. So we were able to think that through in a different kind of way. So we know now what the value is of each component that we put in the system. Generation one, we just put components into the system because we were trying to get to market fairly quickly. So I think, you know, when we made the decision to go wireless we kind of knew what that cost would be and we could anticipate the benefit. We had a lot more judgment about that than we would have in any decision of that kind that we made. We had to decide how much memory. The decision to go to 512, that was a big, expensive decision that frankly was not where we were 3 or 4 months ago. So when we made those kinds of decisions I think we were a lot smarter. With 20/20 hindsight, maybe we would not have made all decisions the same. But I know we're making them smarter. That would be number two. Number three, the kind of content and content mixes that we need for different people, different geographies. I think we're a lot smarter about that. I mean we did a great job in the US and the English speaking countries like Northern Europe. I think we know we need a little bit different mix of content, and probably a little bit different marketing approach in France, Germany, Italy, and some of those countries. We certainly learned a lot about that in first generation.Bach:The role of first party.Ballmer:Yeah. That's right. What is the role? Our whole economic model and thesis, at least the one that got sold with the original business plan, has changed. Which is fine. I'm confident we'll have much higher unit volumes in the second generation and we'll also make a lot more money. We'll make money. And it will be a lot of money! As opposed to not making any money! We will make money, and a lot of money in this next generation! So [we learned] a variety of things.You mentioned that you're probably not going to beat Sony on their home turf, but is there a specific plan to grab a bigger slice of the Japanese market?You bet! This generation has given us real things to think about in Japan. We'll build some share in Japan and I think we're quite enthusiastic about that. We certainly have more good content lined up for the Japanese market, both first party and third party. That's exciting. When I say I think we can be number one this generation—and will be number one this generation—it's not because we're assuming we're going to get 45-50% market share in Japan. We'll get there with strong US performance, strong performance in Europe, and let me just say all the other markets except Japan. And we'll do better then we did firstgeneration in Japan.
Will you be distributing double A, triple A titles through Xbox Live? Not just arcade stuff, but actual titles?I think current course and speed, titles are just getting bigger and bigger. So, the question is what will even be the consumer convenience? I talked to some publishers today who will tell you [in a "dude" voice] "Gosh man within two years we really do need massively more storage." And you know, which gets you back into the HD DVD format question, and when are we going to have the capacity? So, I can imagine more things getting sold directly. We're certainly going to support the consumer. Whatever the consumer wants at the end of the day we and our partners—retailers and publishers— we will figure out how to deliver to that consumer.I think that those who predict that there will be a radical shift in distribution itself in the next few years, that's unlikely. The way games get played may shift quite radically. The importance of that online connection I think is just going to skyrocket! It will be because it changes the way the games are played and the way you work with other people. I think it will be important to some kinds of buying but I don't think it's going to dislocate today's existing model. I think there is still a lot of convenience to a GameStop, or a Target, or a Best Buy, or whatever your favorite choice is in terms of the experience.Are there going to be multiple configurations for the box? Will there be version with a built in TV Tuner and an expanded hard drive?
[laughing] We love the one configuration we've announced and we're creative guys and I think you're creative guys and so the notion that there might some day be other configuration is eminently possible. It's a little bit like the discussion about HD DVD type storage. Will we have it? Sure. It's not like by the next generation there won't be a way to get massive storage on an Xbox. You'll get it. And there will be other configurations that come to market. When and how and exactly which ones... when there's news I'm sure we'll be happy to trumpet those. Right now we love our one configuration that we got in market for this Holiday.So just one configuration is targeted for the Holiday release?Yeah, given that we know we're going to have to hustle to produce all that people are going to want, that kind of keeps life a lot simpler for the retailers. If you said, "Look we're coming to market with three configurations, and we were in short supply, and we got the wrong mix of configurations," it would just compound all the problems. We're really quite excited about the proposition for having just the one configuration in market particularly for this holiday.
There's a lot of talk about innovation on the 360, but the titles you showed Monday night were platformers, shooters, RPGs, nothing new. How can Microsoft help developers innovate?Well, let me give sort of two completely different sides of the coin. Number one: we have to give an environment in which people can really do innovative things. Certainly the publishers I talked to today think we're doing a pretty fantastic job of that in what we have coming in Xbox 360. The live environment, the XNA environment, the hardware environment—I heard a lot of enthusiasm about that. Let's call that standard, normal stuff. The other thing we have to do, frankly, is tell the story. We've got to be there telling the story and showing those things which are more interesting. Whether it's a Spore or Kameo, which is a different kind of a game for the console world.I think there will be other things that matter, and we gotta be willing to put our money where our mouth is both in terms of our own development and the promotion that we do with third parties. Not only are we very willing to do that, in a sense we have an incentive to do that. We have an incentive for people to understand that our platforms—because we have two of them, the Xbox and PC. Our platforms are the platforms where people are doing the most innovative games, some of the things you mentioned are clearly as PC centered as anything.
Bach:The other thing, think about things that are interactive entertainment that you might not think of as traditional video games. Take something just to pick a generic example, like video chat Texas Hold 'Em. Is that a video game? I don't know? Is that a broad game that a ton of people know how to play that would be really exiting and fun to do? The answer is yes. You get into the world of things that are completely new and have never been done before, and things that are just not thought of as video games that the environment really enables in addition to all the stuff Steve mentioned creating a canvas for people to innovate on.
Ballmer:Take today's passive video content, add a little interactivity to it. Take today's interactive content, games, and add a little bit more video sequencing to it. It gets harder and harder to tell what's what, but we want to facilitate the delivery of a variety of different forms across all our platforms, today with the Xbox more than anything else, but with Longhorn—and some of the investments we're making around Longhorn Windows and Xbox—again, I'll think you'll get an evolution in the set of genres that are interesting, whether it's because of Media Center and greater integration of the TV experience or because of some of these other things.
Bach:Just to give you a specific example, wouldn't it be cool to have the game that has the person on the PC being the general who is driving the strategy and the person on the console on Xbox Live executing the strategy. That is a completely new genre, not sure what you would call it, but that's a completely different experience, and it leverages everything that steve talked about that we're putting in place. That's the kind of thinking that we're going to get people to, whether it's first party or third party.
Look past the gaming aspects of the console, how does the Xbox 360 serve as Microsoft's beachhead into the living room. A 20GB hard drive isn't a lot of space for storage, but since it does have this broadband connection, how is it going to integrated with IPTV, streaming video, and streaming audio?
Three things: Number one, who knows what configurations will be there by the time we're done. I think that's important to say. Number two, because you do have the network connectivity, whether you have a Media Center PC or not. You can put an awfully big hard disk on a regular PC and plug into this ecosystem, we have plenty of extensibility in terms of storage. And then number three, you take the IP TV work we're doing, and that technology can run on a PC, on a set top box, it can run on an Xbox. So there will be, in conjunction with the work we do with the video delivery companies, particularly the telcos, who have tended to be our strongest customers for our IPTV stuff, there will be yet another way to acquire and use video content. So you have set tops, you have the set top experience, you have the Xbox, you've got a big hard disk, you've got networked to the PC in the home, so I think there will be a lot of ways to get that media onto the Xbox.
Is there a plan for people to be able to purchase TV shows or movies via their Xbox even if they don't have a Media Center PC?
Right now we're working hard with a number of partners, like SBC, like Bell Canada, a number of others, to get IPTV to critical mass. As IPTV gets to critical mass, you will find that those partners are anxious to have as many people monetizing their investment as possible , and the Xbox community will be one of them.
They're looking at Xbox as a distribution channel?
I think so, we're certainly talking to them about all of these things. Until there is some real business deal to announce I won't announce it, but we're set up technoliogcally, but it does require some sort kind of business relationship.
Thanks very much for taking the time to meet with us, we really appreciate it.
Thanks, I appreciate that you guys were able to take the time today. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-05-19-sony-e3-live-playstation-3-shots.html | 2005-05-19 20:10:28+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Sony @ E3 - Live PlayStation 3 shots | It took a little wrangling since we didn't have an appointment, but we managed to blag our way into the backroom where Sony had three genuinePlayStation 3consoles on display. Click on for a bunch more pics.
Note that the controller is just a ?Conceptual Design?. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-05-19-tdk-announces-100gb-blu-ray-disc.html | 2005-05-19 23:29:05+00:00 | [] | Donald Melanson·Guest Contributor | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | TDK announces 100GB Blu-ray disc | Just a few days after Toshiba introduced a45GB HD-DVD, TDK has gone all crazy on us and announced a 100GB recordable Blu-ray disc. TDK's disc has four layers and apparently doubles the writing speed of 50GB Blu-ray discs. No word yet on when these'll hit the market, or what sort of per disc cost we're looking at. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-05-23-ultimate-baseball-online-mmog-sports-game-in-beta.html | 2005-05-23 16:02:18+00:00 | [] | Ben Zackheim | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Ultimate Baseball Online - MMOG sports game in beta | I'm going to say up front that I'm working on this title, but I feel it's newsworthy (and fun) enough to post here. The PC hasn't exactly been the platform of choice for sports games. Consoles have been the go-to platform for all the major American sports, and that won't change. Whatmaychange is the character of PC sports games.Ultimate Baseball Online promises to be the first massively multiplayer online sports game. Build your character, manage a team, join a quick pick-up game for some xp, or play in a league game. It's an ambitious project and so far it seems stable and fun. Standing on the field, waiting for the ball to come to you while you talk trash to the base runner is as much fun as being up at bat. But the real appealing part of the game to me is that superstars will be built. Those who play the most will be recognized for it, taking the premise of cyber-athlete into a new direction.UBO is in beta right now, and anyone can join. Just click on the "Read" link. You'll have to become an ESPN.com member, which is also free. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-05-24-hands-on-with-the-apple-tablet.html | 2005-05-24 11:55:00+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Hands-on with the Apple tablet? | By this point you're probably getting immune to/annoyed by all the endlessApple tabletrumors, but if you can handle one more round of unverifiable speculation, Rob Bushway relays a report from a source who claims to have actually played with a prototype. His source says that the Apple tablet prototype he handled had instant on, a touch screen, and was running on a stripped down version of OS X. We're not even going to pretend that any of this is even close to confirmed, but Rob's source also says that the report from yesterday aboutApple meeting with Intelwas (at least in part) about them getting some sort of customized version of Intel's power-savingSonomachipset for use in a new Apple tablet. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-05-27-burn-dual-layer-with-idvd-using-your-unsupported-dvd-burner.html | 2005-05-27 15:45:12+00:00 | [] | Laurie A. Duncan | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Burn dual-layer with iDVD using your unsupported DVD burner | The boys atMacBidouillehave done it again.iDVD 5.0.1 already has support for the burning of double-layer optical media -- DVD+R DL discs, letting you burn projects requiring up to 4 hours of video on discs virtually double the size of single-layer DVDs. The latest G5s have SuperDrives that support DL media. Not everyone has the latest G5 or a DL-capable burner that iDVD officially supports. But why should we let a little thing likethatstop us?FromMacBidouille's English sister-site,HardMac:"It took us more time than the other times to overcome the arbitrary iDVD protection. But after several days of intense concentration and hard work, we did it! We modified iDVD so that it accepts to burn in double-layer mode on a non-supported DVD-burner."Go here for the instructions- and don't come crying to us (or Apple.. duh) if you break something. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-06-03-how-would-you-change-the-sidekick-ii.html | 2005-06-03 21:12:22+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | How would you change the Sidekick II? | Aight, peeps, it's time for this week's edition of "How would you change…" where we get to re-imaginate our favorite (and not so favorite) devices. This week, let's take a look at theDanger Sidekick II:
• Add other chat networks: Yahoo, Jabber, etc.
• IRC client
• Search function in the Notes feature, and more ways to organize notes (by priority, keyword, etc.)
• Have anyone other than T-Mobile carry this, or have T-Mobile miraculously build out a network with better coverage. Please.
• Add WiFi to compensate for point 4.
Yer up: go! |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-06-06-apple-goes-intel-its-true.html | 2005-06-06 18:09:55+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Apple goes Intel: It's true! | Steve's just finished up delivering his keynote, but it looks like all those years PC nerds spent debating Apple fanboys about x86 vs. PowerPC performance weren't exactly for nought—at today's Apple WWDC in SF, Jobs declared the PowerPC has been "living a secret double life." We know it's more than just getting 15 "integer perf units" per watt to Intel's 70—like, say, having consistant troubles getting to that magical 3.0GHz marker, or those pesky heat issues. Steve's solution? Go Intel. And just as everyone had been expecting, a secret Intel build of OS X had been kept in house for the past half decade, just waiting for a reason to be loosed upon the world. They expect the full transition to Intel-based machines to be complete by 2007,as speculated, but we're still in the dark about how Mac is going to make OS X beige-box PC-proof—or if they even are. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-06-07-the-origins-of-the-joystick.html | 2005-06-07 10:27:02+00:00 | [] | Thomas Ricker | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The origins of the joystick | Joysticks are truly ubiquitous as an interface between humans and machines — be it in the pilot's cockpit, game controller, or that little red nub on your IBM keyboard. So The New York Times decides to dig deep in hopes of discovering where the word came from and who invented it. If you thought its etymological roots were x-rated then please, please cleanse your mind 'cause they are probably much less wicked. Some researchers feel its origins are the result of "the exhilaration felt by an early pilot's journey into the air," (a stick that makes you happy) while others believe it is named for a Missouri pilot and inventor, James Henry Joyce (the Joyce stick). As to who invented it, well, that's not clear either. It was thought to have its origins in aircraft until a Confederate-era submarine containing a sophisticated single-stick steering device was surfaced off the coast of South Carolina in 2001. So what does the New York Times conclude — they have no idea, but we think they really enjoyed printing the word "nub."
[Thanks, Ryan] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-06-08-the-treadmill-workstation.html | 2005-06-08 14:05:20+00:00 | [] | Thomas Ricker | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The Treadmill Workstation | Dr. James Levine (obesity researcher, disliker of chairs) of The Mayo Clinic wants to replace your cubicle with a treadmill. Simmer down, simmer down…he's got good reason. Seems "thin people" are on their feet an average of 152 minutes a day more than their fleshy foes. So he's developed workstations (not yet available to the public) that combine a computer, desk and treadmill into a single $1,000US unit. Keeping a 1 mph pace, he is able to work as usual (yes, email too) while burning an extra 100 calories per hour. For him (10 hours per day…on a treadmill for crissake!) he estimates 50 pounds of weight loss per year if his eating habits remain the same. As a public service, we thought you'd like to see how these other exercises-you-can-do-at-the-office stack up bycomparison: chopping wood (436 calories per hour) —hunting(360 cph) — sitting (76 cph) — sex-foreplay (104 cph) — sleeping (66 cph). We're going to start out slowly and just sit, twice as hard.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this one in] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-06-08-mod-group-turn-pro-get-fired.html | 2005-06-08 15:23:46+00:00 | [] | Steve Parsons | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Mod group turn pro, get fired | Mod making seems to be a fast track into a full time job these days. We've lost count of the number of mod groups that have released some mods, or in most cases just one, and then turned pro. The race sim community alone has had three groups do it in the last 3 years.Well, it's not all sunshine and caviar, as the creators of the Desert Combat mod for Battlefield 1942 found out today. They were part of Digital Illusions, the creators of the game. Dice were recently purchased by everyones favourite evil overlord, Electronic Arts. Today, in a move apparently not made by EA according to the release, but DICE themselves, the New York office was closed.The thread on Evil Avatar that has all the info, also has a fair share of cynicism. "Let's purchase this mod group, take their mod, then fire them." Perhaps we're too jaded, but the quote from the chairman of the board certainly seems to imply that was the plan.
Gamegirl Advancecovers the story as well. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-06-11-kicking-it-in-the-uncanny-valley.html | 2005-06-11 20:25:23+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Kicking it in the uncanny valley | Yeah,we've hit this one before(no, notthat way, you dirty bastards), but check out this totally creepy pic of Osaka University's Repliee Q1 bot. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-06-12-os-x-for-x86-already-in-the-wild.html | 2005-06-12 17:09:28+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | OS X for x86 already in the wild? | Wow, now that didn't take very long. Apple had OS X for Intel machines (which we're lovingly referring to as OS X86) under wraps for a half a decade, andnot a week after its announcement, a "developer version" is apparently already in the wild on P2P and IRC networks. Supposedly it can be installed on just about any PC box, and Rosetta and the iLife suite are fully operational; one can assume fairly sketchy hardware support though, and the finer details like updates are probably out of the question without some serious shoehorning. Some are calling this stealth marketing, but if we know anything about Apple (and we'd like to think we do), we've got a sneaking suspicion that they, just like everyone else, just can't keep a lid on their more highly coveted goods forever. Just like we have a feeling no amount of caveat emptor-ing is going to stop a lot of people from giving it a go—you know we aresonot going to install this on all our boxen.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-06-13-rent-a-character-you-lazy-bastard.html | 2005-06-13 20:30:00+00:00 | [] | James Ransom-Wiley | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Rent-a-character you lazy bastard! | If you've got blue hair and a huge chest then you probably qualify for GamePal's new rental service. For $199.99 per month you can rent a leveled-up character in 1 of 14 popular MMORGS. What a deal![viaBoing Boing; thanks,Keith] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-06-20-apple-design-awards-winners-05.html | 2005-06-20 19:30:00+00:00 | [] | Dave Caolo·Managing Editor | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Apple Design Awards winners 2005 | Every year I look forward to the World Wide Developer's Conference, and with it the winners of theApple Design Awards. Here's a brief roundup of this year's winners.First, Panic'sTransmitwas awarded "Best Mac OS X Tiger Technology Adoption." If you often use FTP to transfer files and you haven't yet given Transmit a try, you owe it to yourself to do so. Transmit 3 combines great features like .Mac sync, Automator actions, Spotlight favorites and even a Dashboard widget with a beautiful and very Mac-like interface. This really is a great utility. ReadC.K.'s thoughts on Transmitfrom last month.Next, Delicious Monster'sDelicious Libraywas awarded "Best Mac OS X User Experience" (now that's an impressive sounding category). It's a very beautiful and useful database application for storing and sorting information on your media collection, including DVD's, CD's, books and video games. Track items you've loaned out with iCal and Address Book and (my favorite feature) use your iSight camera to scan product barcodes. Very cool indeed. Read about the other winners after the jump.Scott took a lookat Delicious Library back in April.
The title "Best Product New to Mac OS X" was awarded toComic Lifeby Plasq. Simply put, Comic Life allows you to make a series of your digital photographs look like the page of a comic book, complete with thought balloons, captions and a variety of effects (seeC.K.'s post). Comic Life is closely integrated with iPhoto and, coolest of all, you can publish your final project as an iPhoto book. It's even more fun than you think it is.The wildly popularWorld of Warcraftwon Best Entertainment Product. I haven't played this game myself, but I know a couple of people who just love it. It's a Massively Multiplayer Online Game that takes full advantage of Tiger's Open GL.Medical imaging productOsiriXworks with such devices as MRI, CT, and PET scanners. Used by radiologists, surgeons, clinicians, scientists, and patients, OsiriX is 100% free and fully open-source. It won the award for "Best Use of Open Source.""Best Mac OS X Scientific Computing Solution" was awarded toData Tank, which is used for mathematical modeling and graphics, data mining, and programming. I thought I was a rather geeky guy, but this app is way beyond me. I guess somebody's got to do the math, right?Silverstormwon the award for "Best Mac OS X Server Solution." SilverStorm's high-performance networking and virtual I/O solutions combined with Mac OS X host software provide a 10 Gb/sec, low latency interconnect with multi-protocol support, providing Xserve cluster inter-process communication, storage and networking access through a single server connection."Best Mac OS X Student Project" is one I always look forward to, as I enjoy seeing what young programmers are thinking of and working on. This year, the award went toGraphClickby Simon Bovet. It's a graph digitizer software which allows to automatically retrieve the original (x,y)-data from the image of a scanned graph or from a QuickTime movie. Pretty cool.That's it for this year. A pretty nice group if I do say so. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-06-28-itunes-4-9-with-podcasting-available-for-download-still-no.html | 2005-06-28 08:18:11+00:00 | [] | Thomas Ricker | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | iTunes 4.9 with podcasting available for download -- still no formal announcement | While there hasn't been an official announcement yet, iTunes 4.9 with podcasting support is already available fordirect downloador via software update on the Mac.However, you won't find any podcasts yet as the directory is currently empty.We'll keep you updated throughout the day as we await the official announcement and details about that "big corporate content partnership."UPDATE: the podcast directories are coming online now globally — Engadget is the 4th most popular on the US store — c'mon folks…move it up.
[Thanks, Jörg] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-06-30-sonys-gonna-lose-100-on-each-playstation-3.html | 2005-06-30 16:15:49+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Sony's gonna lose $100 on each PlayStation 3? | We probably won't ever know for sure (or at least not anytime soon) what their real numbers are going to be, but Merrill Lynch Japan Securities has calculated the cost structure of putting a SonyPlayStation 3on the shelf, and they're expecting Sony lose $94 per unit selling each at an estimated $399 at launch. (In case you're curious, they're estimating $101 apiece for the Cell chip, RSX, and BD-ROM drive, and all the rest of the costs). They go on to predict a net loss for Sony of $1.18 billion the first year—way, way more than the $458 million they lost the first year on the PS2, but we know Sony's got deep pockets (and apparently a whole lot of faith in their platform). How did Kutaragi respond when asked how they'll be able to justify the huge cost of the device on launch, even despite their cost-slashing? "Our ideal [for the PS3] is for consumers to think to themselves, 'OK, I'll work more hours and buy it.' We want people to feel that they want it, no matter what." Ok, fair enough. Now get back to work, people.[Thanks, Julien] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-07-01-condemned-criminal-origins-to-be-delayed-past-xbox-360-launch.html | 2005-07-01 12:30:00+00:00 | [] | Conrad Quilty-Harper | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Condemned: Criminal Origins to be delayed past Xbox 360 launch day | The anticipated Xbox 360 horror game Condemned, from Monolith and Sega, has had its release date pushed back past the launch day of the next-gen console. The title was originally speculated to be a launch title but now Xbox Circle is claiming it won't be out in time due to the official release date being announced as the winter of 2006.The game has been billed as having a "heightened level of psychological tension" with the use of the first person to give "maximum visceral effect". This basically means it'll be a scary game with plenty of hacking and slashing. Rather than using your brain, you'll be trying not to get it shot/eaten/smashed by sociopaths that have more in common with zombies than humanity. Sounds like Sega are giving us gamers a break whilst we mentally prepare ourselves for the game over Christmas.[Thanks, Casper]
Update:Looks like somebody somewhere slipped up as the Condemned section on the Sega site has been altered. It now shows Condemned as shipping "Holiday 2005". Prepare to be scared! (Thanks to Joe Waters over at Monolith for the correction) |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-07-06-sony-wants-you-to-earn-that-playstation-3.html | 2005-07-06 20:00:14+00:00 | [] | James Ransom-Wiley | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Sony wants you to earn that PlayStation 3! | During a recent interview with Japanese economic website Toyo Keizai, ever-charmingKen Kutaragihad this to say about Sony's goal for the PS3: "for consumers to think to themselves 'I will work more hours to buy one'. We want people to feel that they want it, irrespective of anything else." In other words:Get a job! Get two jobs, ya lazy bums!Seriously though, is that their marketing plan? As tipster KD suggests, someone should start compiling all of the absurdities that fly outta this guy's mouth.
That being said, Kutaragi's comments continue to make us nervous. Just how much is the PlayStation 3 going to cost? What's the average gamer's breaking point?
[Thanks, KD] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-07-11-mobiblu-dah-1500-reviewed-disassembled-and-still-not-worlds.html | 2005-07-11 11:33:47+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | MobiBlu DAH-1500 reviewed, disassembled (and still not world's smallest) | The MobiBlu DAH-1500 may not bethe world's smallest MP3 player, but that doesn't mean the little cube isn't pretty darn small at just 24 mm per side. Anything But iPod has a review of the DAH-1500, which they declare to be a "great on-the-go player." More importantly, they've gratuitously disassembled it, showing that it is possible to take apart even the (almost) tiniest gadget, if you're careful (of course, we don't know if they were ever able to get it back together again). |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-07-12-atari-to-offer-plug-n-play-induced-retro-flashbacks.html | 2005-07-12 19:00:07+00:00 | [] | James Ransom-Wiley | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Atari to offer plug-n-play induced retro flashbacks | Atari plans to launch the Flashback 2 plug-and-play console this August for just under $30. The system will include two authentic replica controllers and vintage wood paneling—which we're guessing will actually be plastic. The Flashback 2 will come pre-installed with 40 games, ranging from old classics to unreleased gems to homebrew standouts. It's all shaping up to be a bargain package for retro-fiends. Be on the lookout.[viaVirtuashack] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-07-14-optimus-wireless-keyboard-wears-its-functions-on-its-keys.html | 2005-07-14 07:30:14+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Optimus wireless keyboard wears its functions on its keys | Yeah, and it's about time someone shook up this stagnant keyboard market, already. Good old QWERTY day in, day out — we love ya — but this wireless offering from Optimus gets a little funky on us. Designed by Art Lebedev Studio in Moscow, the device's keys light up to indicate each associated function. There's a dedicated bank of keys on the left for switching applications and modes, and the keys in the regular QWERTY bank can change to display any number of languages as well as numbers, symbols HTML codes and mathematical functions. Unfortunately, this doesn't look like actualware quite yet as they're still waiting on a patent. Ain't it always the way?[Thanks, Andrew andpseudo] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-07-14-the-engadget-guide-to-how-palm-became-palm-again.html | 2005-07-14 16:15:26+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The Engadget Guide to How Palm Became Palm Again | Dammit, we knew that getting the palmOne logo tattooed on our asses was going to be a huge mistake:palmOne officially changed its name (back) to Palm, Inc. today, capping thirteen years of name changes, acquisitions, spinoffs, splinterings, and mergers for the Palm brand. Since you can hardly be expected to keep track of all the twists and turns of the saga that is Palm, we've thrown together this little timeline of events that should hopefully help you keep track of who is who now.1992- Palm Computing founded by Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky.1993- Palm Computing's software turns up on the Zoomer, a $700 handheld made by Casio and sold at Radio Shack that didn't do so well, which is why you've probably never heard of it.1995- Palm Computing is acquired by U.S. Robotics.
March 1996
- Palm Computing introduces its first successful handheld, the Pilot 1000, which (originally) sports a whopping 128KB of RAM. The Pilot 5000 (pictured at right) follows soon after.
May 1997- 3Com buys U.S. Robotics, discovers that they?ve also purchased Palm Computing.September 1997- Pilot Pen sues Palm Computing over the use of the name ?Pilot? in its products.December 1997- Palm Computing decides to start licensing the Palm OS to other manufacturers. IBM?s WorkPad becomes the first manufacturer besides Palm to introduce a Palm-powered handheld.
March 1998
- 3Com/Palm Computing sue Microsoft for its proposed use of the name ?PalmPC?. Settlement allows Microsoft to use the term ?Palm-sized PC?. They eventually go with ?Pocket PC?.
June 1998- Here?s where it starts to get hairy: Dissatisfied with the new direction 3Com has taken Palm, original founders Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky, along with Ed Colligan, leave to launch Handspring.September 1998- Palm licenses the Palm OS to Handspring.June 1999- Qualcomm introduces the pdQ (pictured at right), the first Palm-powered cellphone. It disappears pretty damn quick.September 1999- 3Com announces that they?re spinning Palm Computing off into its own separate company.September 14, 1999- Handspring introduces its first handheld, the Handspring Visor Solo.Novemeber 1999- Sony announces that it has licensed the Palm OS.March 2000- Palm Computing goes public as Palm, Inc.August 2000- Sony introduces its first Palm-powered handheld, the Clie.June 2001- Palm, Inc. creates a new subsidiary for its hardware business called Palm Solutions.
July 2001- Palm, Inc. announces plans to create a subsidiary for the Palm OS.October 2001- Handspring introduces the Treo 180 (pictured at right), its first smartphone.March 2002- Palm, Inc. announces that their new OS subsidiary will be known as PalmSource (Trivia: PalmSource was originally the name of the Palm OS developers conference).August 2002- Just like how old people start sleeping in separate beds, PalmSource and Palm Solutions move to separate campuses.October 2002- Palm, Inc. introduces the Tungsten T, their first Palm running on Palm OS 5.October 2002- Sony invests $20 million in PalmSource.
June 2003- Palm, Inc. announces plans to acquire Handspring, the company founded by the original founders of Palm, and spin off PalmSource as a separate company which will develop the Palm operating system.August 2003- Palm, Inc. announces that after spinning off PalmSource and acquiring Handspring, the newly combined company will be known as palmOne.October 2003- Palm, Inc. shareholders formally vote to spin off PalmSource and acquire Handspring.May 2004- Sony announces that it will no longer sell Palm OS-based handhelds outside of Japan.
December 2004- PalmSource acquires China MobileSoft and begins porting the Palm OS to Linux.
May 2005
- palmOne drops $26.7 million to acquire sole rights to the Palm brand name from PalmSource.July 14th, 2005- The circle of life is completed when palmOne officially becomes Palm, Inc. again. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-07-17-gta-hot-coffee-controversy-summary.html | 2005-07-17 16:30:00+00:00 | [] | Conrad Quilty-Harper | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | GTA "Hot Coffee" controversy summary | The whirlwind of controversy surrounding the "Hot Coffee" mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is reaching boiling point as multiple high profile critics toss their opinions into the fray. With the anti-violent gaming lobbyists on one side, and with Rockstar on the other, keeping track of the argument isn't easy. The linked article includes all the important quotes from both sides, as well as a new statement from anti-GTA attorney Jack Thompson. Perhaps not surprisingly he thinks Rockstar won't be around much longer stating; "Take a good look at Rockstar. They won't be around in three years." He also thinks that Rockstars parent company, Take-Two, will be in trouble due to its monetary dealings. Whilst that'll be good news for the anti-violent games lobbyists in the short term, Rockstar isn't the only company producing violent games. The issue of violence in games should be addressed as an industry wide issue and should be compared to other types of entertainment (in particular violent movies). Otherwise there'll be a constant stream of shock followed by knee-jerk reactions as the latest version of 'GTA: Sadomasochism' is released.
More on Hot Coffee:Clinton joins GTA 'Hot Coffee' debacleSan Andreas sex hack found in PS2 game, UK version not affected by controversySan Andreas sex scandal spreads down under |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-07-18-the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media.html | 2005-07-18 19:20:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The Engadget Interview: Blake Krikorian, CEO of Sling Media | For this week's Engadget Interview, veteran journalist J.D. Lasica spoke withSling MediaCEO Blake Krikorian about the rollout of the Slingbox, its disruptive effects on Hollywood business models, the notions of place-shifting and personal broadcasting, and an announcement he's making right here on Engadget about support for a new operating system.
This week I'll be combining my questions with a few that our readers have posted on the site.
I saw those, and I was like, "Wow! Pretty impressive."Let's start with the basics. How many employees do you have, where are you located, and when did Sling Media get started?We have 30 to 40 folks. We're headquartered in San Mateo in the Bay Area, as well as in Bangalore, India. We merged with DiTango a year ago.How did you get interested in this space personally?Myself and several other folks on the team have been in this digital convergence space for about 15 years. I started out in this field at a company called General Magic-a spinout from Apple-back in the early 90s. We were out to create an operating system and programming language for a variety of devices as well as a new electronic marketplace. This is before the Web came along.Where did the idea for the Slingbox come from?Five years before founding Sling Media, I had a company with my brother Jason called id8 Group Holdings. We were advising many large, established companies in this convergence space: Microsoft, Samsung, Toshiba. We helped them define new products. We were traveling quite a bit in the summer of 2002 and we were pretty diehard San Francisco Giants fans. That was the year they finally wound up going to the Series, before falling apart in the sixth game. We were on the road and just dying to watch the ballgames.
I signed up to hear the Giants on Real before I discovered that the fine print said you couldn't listen to your local teams. Then I was on CNN.com and once again there was a virtual hand reaching out to ask for another $10 a month. Then I got a new mobile phone with video services for another $10 a month. But none of them gave me what I wanted to watch: the Giants, orComedy Central, or any of my shows.I said, you know, I'm paying $80 a month for cable, and for high-speed data in and out of my home. I've got a TiVo and all these display devices — laptops, PDAs, cell phones. Why can't I just watch and control my living-room TV wherever I am? So the Slingbox was born out of consumer frustration.We created Sling Media, and our view is that, with a lot of hard work and a little luck, we will be able to scale the business and create families of products for the digital media lifestyle.Can you describe what the Slingbox is in 20 words or less?It's a $249 box sold at retail that lets you place-shift your living-room TV experience to wherever you happen to have a broadband Net connection.The Slingbox place-shifts that TV experience—whether it's cable TV, a TiVo, satellite receiver, anything. It will redirect your TV signal to a laptop or desktop PC now. Eventually we'll have other handhelds and platforms. You can be halfway across the world in a hotel room in China, or in the backyard in the hottub with a wireless laptop.What do you need for this to work?You need a home network—and a lot of consumers say, "I don't have a network but I have a wireless router." So OK, you have a broadband router. You also need a TV signal, and a Windows XP laptop or desktop computer.So what Tivo did for time-shifting, you hope to do for place shifting?Exactly right, couldn't have said it better. The DVR, especially pioneered by TiVo and Replay, delivered on the original promise of the VCR, to allow you to time-shift and watch when you want. We're just taking that and extending it to the next level, so you can watch TV wherever you want to be. Importantly, it doesn't have to be pre-recorded, it could be live TV.Can you explain "personal broadcasting''?We needed a term to explain this new category. We call it a Slingbox personal broadcaster because it place-shifts your TV experience, but it can also be used for a variety of other forms of redirecting content. Maybe you want to personally broadcast some of your own content. I may want to film my daughter at her swim meet and broadcast it to my parents halfway around the world.With the notion of place-shifting and the core technologies in the Slingbox, we have visions for where this can go beyond the TV application. But at the start, it's important for us to focus on one or two core scenarios to help people get their arms around it. Given that people absolutely love television and their TiVos, we wanted to focus on that solution first.Can you sling your personal video to friends or family today?Technically, it's possible to do that now, but it's a pretty kludgy solution. We've seen people who wanted to immediately use the Slingbox to broadcast a live amateur rock band. You need a video camera, a Slingbox, and you need to configure it manually, but it can be done. But we want that functionality to come with utter simplicity. The people who read Engadget have the sophistication and they'll probably go start using the Slingbox for uses like this now and start demanding that we accelerate some of our development efforts.
How are early sales going?They've been overwhelmingly brisk, we've been blown away. It's still early, but the sales are bordering on insane. We launched the product on June 30 nationwide at CompUSA's 300 stores. BestBuy just brought it out on July 11. Within the first four or five days, we were sold out.[Note: The interview was interrupted for a few hours while Krikorian appeared on the TV program "Access Hollywood."]Welcome back. How did the TV taping go?Man, it's been insane today. We were taping right next door to Jay Leno's show, with a whole bunch of crazy people running around. The thing that's interesting is how mainstream the interest in our product is. Typically you'd think it would take a long time for the non-geeks to get excited about something like this. But for whatever reason, I think people kind of get it.With DVRs or TiVo, you're talking about time-shifting, something that's abstract. But people know their TV experience and they can visualize themselves in some place other than their living room. They just go, ah ha!Who are you targeting at the outset?Clearly the overall market is large. It's people who just love television and have broadband. Yes, there are the heat seekers who love doing cool stuff with their media, and they'll be there no matter what. There are also the mobile professionals who are on the road frequently and want to watch TV.But we see two other core groups: There are also people who are TiVo or DVR users who are interested in having that experience in other rooms in the house. There's another set of people who are tethered to their desks at work and they have a keen interest in television, whether it's news junkies who want to be tapped into world or financial news, or avid sports fans at work, or those who want to watch their local team on their laptop while barbecuing in the back yard. We've gotten emails from people who say they love it because they can watch their team in the bathroom. There are also those who may be living abroad for an extended period.Mike Langberg in the San Jose Mercury News wrote the other day, why wouldn't you just burn your recorded TV shows onto DVD and watch it on your laptop?Sure, that could be done. The Slingbox isn't the only way of enjoying media. But there's something about having the instant gratification, not having to worry about planning ahead and burning a DVD. People want instant access to stuff, they don't want to have to deal with it.You mentioned TiVo. Why would TiVoToGo be a better solution than buying a Slingbox?No. 1, I'm a huge TiVo fan. Unfortunately, TiVoToGo applies only to the Series 2, which is like 15 percent of the TiVo market. Besides that, TiVoToGo is a solution that's good for planning ahead. It takes hours to dump the stuff over. So while it's useful, it doesn't address the kind of instant gratification the Slingbox provides.But the two are pretty complementary. In the future, you may see TiVoToGo functionality built into the Slingplayer client. We don't have a religious issue about it — we just love TV and we think there's a lot of different ways to watch it.Let's talk business model briefly. Without subscriptions, are you depending just on sale of the boxes to make money?That was a major decision for us, and consumers are responding positively to it. There's subscription fatigue out there, and it's a barrier for products to be adopted. When we set out we said, we need to hit a certain price point, and we need to create a business model where we can make money selling a box. That's counterintuitive, especially if talk to the VCs on Sand Hill Road, but we said, "It's time to get back to basics and keep it simple and sell a device."Over time there could be additional features and applications we could add to a Slingbox for incremental revenue. It's hard to tell. After people start buying our boxes, we'll make a bunch of other products, some hardware, some software, some service.It sounds like you're willing to take the Slingbox places that TiVo fears to tread, but perhaps not quite as far as ReplayTV. Tell me about that delicate balancing act you're doing with Hollywood.When we set out to make this product, you can bet we did a whole lot of homework up front to make sure that what we were doing was under the fair use provisions of copyright law. After all our analysis and the functionality we introduced and the limitations, we feel really, really comfortable. Some of those limitations include making sure the Slingbox is not a one-to-many device. Certainly it will stream to multiple devices, but it will only do so one at a time.The very first fear you heard from the folks in Hollywood was, my God, now J.D. is going to serve up television to 50,000 of his closest friends with one Slingbox in his house. When they started to dig into it, interestingly the discussions we've had have been incredibly positive, and the light starts to go on when people see this is additive and not a cannibalistic application.Let's take the television networks. We recently had a sit-down with one of the national networks. One of the execs said, "You're tripling the number of television sets on the planet. Look, we've got our decades-old distribution model, where we have the content, it goes through the pipes into people's homes. What you're doing is selling this $250 device to a consumer to let him watch our programming more often than he used to and helping extend our reach. The TV business and ratings have been hemorrhaging for the past 20 years. This is an opportunity for us to regain those eyeballs."Yet, a recent article in the Hollywood Reporter quotes a CBS executive as saying they see you as a threat.Historically, when you look at how the television industry came about, the industry was built on a notion of exclusivity for certain geographies. You had these affiliate stations and you had the right to get "Oprah" for this part of the Bay Area while another station aired it in Carmel. But the Internet has changed our notion of geography and boundaries.Look, any time a new technology comes about, it disrupts old business models. Any time there's a new technology that empowers the consumer, some people in the industry get nervous because it's all about control, and there are a lot of people in the industry who don't want to see the consumer have control. But you gotta deal with this. Let's look at the benefits that come out of this.In a lot of ways, a DVR is much more disruptive than the Slingbox, because the DVR empowers consumers to skip commercials. That's not really what we're doing.We hear complaints that it's possible for someone on the West Coast to get a friend on the East Coast to beam them "Desperate Housewives" three hours ahead of time. But you could do that today without the Slingbox. With a DirecTV account, I get a Vonage account with a New York area code and I can watch it early in high definition.We don't condone piracy, and we're not out to say, "Screw you" to the broadcast community. Our focus is: we know who our customer is—the end user—and we're not going to forget that. We think there are win-win solutions, but we've also seen companies that are more concerned with serving the industry than solving the consumers' problems.Fred von Lohmann of the EFF fears that after Grokster, companies like Sling Media will begin putting DRM, or "hobble-ware," into your products. Unfounded?We haven't had any requests by anyone saying, "Please do this or make the product in a different way." Who in their right minds will stand up and say, "You the consumer don't have the right to watch a television program you're paying for"? You ask the man in the street and they'll say yes 100 percent of the time.I think Fred's right that there's a battle going on and it will only heat up further. It's going to be about control and does the consumer get control, or does the industry get to decide everything? It concerns me. Those are battles that need to be fought. If we start going down the path of hobble-ware, no one knows what implications that has for us in the future. It could start to stifle innovation. We could get surpassed by other countries who start out-executing us. Or new technologies are not going to come to market.Does the Slingbox have fast-forwarding and skipping-ahead capabilities?All we want to do is give you the exact TV viewing experience of your living room. If I connect to my TiVo, the Slingbox's virtual remote control comes up on my wireless laptop and the remote looks exactly like my TiVo remote. Our UI is fully skinnable, so you'll see more of these customized UIs that will evolve. We now support 5,000 devices out there — tons of DVD players, set-top boxes, cable and satellite receivers, DVRs, VCRs.If you happen to have a 30-second skip button on your remote control, we'll give you the same experience. If on your TiVo you've figured out how to create your30-second easter eggthing, we'll do that. You know, I think DirecTV blows it out every week.That happens to you, too?Yeah! They're sending something over the airwaves to delete it. I've been going online and haven't seen anyone report or blog about this. It's weird. Why is this being deleted?The other thing I've never figured out is, the Microsoft Media Center has a 30-second skip built into it, and why don't they get shit about it? You record shows on your Media Center, those suckers are in the open. You can take those MPEG-2 files and email them to people. Why hasn't there been a big uproar about that?One of our readers asked how much bandwidth you need for a satisfactory viewing experience with the Slingbox.You definitely don't need a T1 line, though it would be sweet. One of the core requirements for us was we had to make sure that the product works with the existing infrastructure. To watch TV over the laptop over your home network, all you need is 802.11b. Some people say that's impossible, but we've created some proprietary algorithms and optimization technologies, which we call Slingstream. It dynamically will adjust your video stream to work within whatever bandwidth conditions you have, which change in real time. The same thing applies with your upstream bandwidth outside of the house. It's subjective, but I think you really need a DSL or cable service with a minimum of 256K up, which most people have these days. If you're watching it on a smaller screen, then even 100K looks pretty darn good.Will you be bringing the Slingbox out in the UK market soon?Yes. We'll probably have it by the end of the year. We're soliciting feedback from consumers to determine how we want to roll out in that market.We made our first delivery to a UK customer last week. We had a guy in a forum who was dying for it, and he got some NTSC-to-PAL converter and figured it out. Our VP of operations was flying through Heathrow, so I had him bring a unit and he met the dude in Heathrow and the guy's going crazy on it. We'll have a PAL version in the third quarter. We might just sell it online at first.When will a Windows Mobile and Palm version come out?We're looking to have Windows Mobile in the next few months. It'll clearly be there by the end of the year. Palm is an interesting one, I'll be getting together with members of their executive team later this month. The first Treo sucked in terms of video performance, but the new 650 has actually got a lot more horsepower and it's pretty sweet. No date on that yet, but it's looking like we'll support the Palm sooner rather than later.What about a Mac version?We don't have any announcement yet. We intend to release it in the next few months. Sometimes working with Apple involves getting our Slingstream technology to fully work on a Mac, which means we might need some cooperation from the company that holds the keys to that. That company is not necessarily the easiest to partner with. But it's great to see the demand from the consumers, because that gives us a lot more ammunition when we approach them. So I actually love the Mac guys complaining and pounding on it, so I urge them to keep it up.Would Virtual PC be a solution?I've tried to run Slingstream on my G5 iMac with Virtual PC, and the performance is terrible, but I've heard from others who run it on Powerbook, and they say the performance with Virtual PC is pretty good.Is there a way to know if someone else is watching the TV while you fiddle with the Internet-connected version of the Slingbox?What happens is, the N on the front of the Slingbox lights up when it's slinging, so you can look at it and say, "Hey, man, someone's watching my TV, what's going on?"Can I watch U.S. television when I'm in Europe, or vice-versa?Today you can be traveling in Europe or anywhere in the world and watch your U.S. programming, no problem. Now, to use the Slingbox in your home in the U.K., if you want to plug it in and use the built-in tuner, you need a PAL tuner. The Slingbox currently uses NTSC only.If you're in the U.S. and wanted to watch programs from your home in the U.K., there are no requirements on the player side, it's all about that Slingbox back in the U.K. needs to support the PAL video standard, so there's a PAL-to-NTSC converter you can get.Can one Slingbox stream to multiple desktops in a corporate setting?Right now, because of the limitations we've imposed, the Slingbox does only one-to-one, but we've gotten a lot of requests, and we're considering building a corporate box that would allow multicasting inside a local area network.Is it possible for a ground-breaking technology to find acceptance in the U.S. marketplace without a BestBuy distributorship or a name brand like Sony?We're really proud of the fact that, from day one, we've launched in over 1,000 stores at BestBuy and CompUSA. Companies like BestBuy will typically not take your product if you're a new company and if they do they'll work with you on a trial basis. Here, they've rolled it out nationwide, and that's a pretty rare thing. They're one of the few retailers that do their own user testing before they decide to carry a product.What about OEM relationships?In the convergence space, it doesn't make sense to plant a religious flag. One day you're a product, and the next day you're a feature. You can't take a religious stance, you have to embrace where the market goes. Should this technology be a feature that's embedded into a set-top box someday? Sure, why not?From day one we've basically built it as a core place-shifting engine in the Slingbox and a core set of software that can be applied to a variety of other features and products.What about the ability to place-shift other media like images, jpegs and music on a home network?Video, from a technical perspective, is the real hard one. So then if you decide you want to support other forms of media, by all means we can go do that. I want to hear from the users and consumers on whether they want that. When I hear of things like place-shifting your audio or pictures, there are a lot of great ways to do that already. I have all my pictures on my laptop and my music on my MP3 player. I don't want to start supporting all these features that will confuse the heck out of consumers. You want to do one or two things really, really well.What about supporting high definition?We have stuff in the labs right now. It's a question of when is the right time to do so and at what price point. It's dangerous for a startup company to make a product that costs $1,000 from the get-go. You might see a hi-def version from us sooner than you might think.One of your readers asked about connecting 1394 from an HD cable box to the Slingbox. That's really cool, because then you could take the native HD MPEG-2 and the Slingbox can be a real-time transcoding engine. Technically, it's absolutely possible. The question is, what's going to happen with the broadcast flag with copy-once, copy-never content, which is still tied up in the courts.This is where it gets scary. There is a law out there, the DMCA, that states very clearly that you cannot circumvent encryption schemes, and if you do you've violated federal law. Depending on how some of these battles play out, consumers may not be able to do what they'd like with their media. Today, we're taking in analog video so we're not violating that law.Why did you decide to use the Windows Media format rather than a video codec like H.264?That was a funny question. If anything, Windows Media is the most open of those standards—it has the best quality, performance and has the most straightforward licensing. H.264 we might support in the future, but licensing H.264 is kind of a nightmare because there are several patent holders and it's not clear who do you pay.What's ahead for Sling Media?First, we'll take direction from our customers and let them know we're responding to their needs. For example, when we initially shipped the product, we were getting tons of requests for Windows 2000. Our VP of software spent a few all-nighters, created a new build, and as of tonight we're going to release a new beta that supports Win2K.As a company we'll be focusing on better video quality on a Slingbox, some new upgrades coming soon will improve the codec, supporting more clients. But besides that, our vision for Sling Media is we want to become a brand that people expect great products from. We want to create a family of products that address the digital media lifestyle. With a little luck and a lot of hard work, we'll have some other interesting products that could be quite different from the Slingbox, but that will empower the consumer to enjoy that lifestyle.Any chance you or one of your managers can stop by and post answers to some of theother questionsour readers have asked?Absolutely.
J.D. Lasica's new book about the digital media revolution isDarknet : Hollywood's War Against the Digital Generation(Wiley & Sons). |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-07-21-the-clicker-hdcps-shiny-red-button.html | 2005-07-21 20:05:08+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The Clicker: HDCP's Shiny Red Button | Every Thursday Stephen Speicher contributesThe Clicker, a weekly column on television and technology:
REN: Now, listen, Cadet. I've got a job for you. See this button? DON'T TOUCH IT! It's theHISTORYHDCP eraser button, you fool!STIMPY: So what'll happen?REN: That's just it! We don't know! Maayyybeee something bad?... Mayyybeee something good! I guess we'll never know! 'Cause you're going to guard it! You won't touch it, will you?So you read last week'scolumn on OPMand you thought, "That's not fair! That's just evil – pure evil." You subsequently traversed the twelve different stages of DRM grief (eleven of which appear to be anger) and you happily arrived at step 12, hackery.The next day, you, as a loyal reader, returned to Engadget and were greeted by the apparent answer to all your DVI/HDMI/HDCP woes. There in front of you stood Spatz-Tech's DVIMAGIC. "Take that, you evil HDCP doers. You can't keep me down."
For those unaware ? Spatz-Tech?s DVIMAGIC, while sold and marketed as a DVI amplifier, is attracting attention among the consumer crowd as an HDCP stripper. The device is placed between your playback device (e.g. computer, cable box, HD-DVD player, etc) and your display device. The DVIMAGIC then pretends to be a secure device. Once the DVIMAGIC convinces the playback device to send the signal, it receives the signal, decrypts the signal, and sends a bit-perfect copy of the signal out the other end to your monitor. The result is a pristine restriction-free copy of your content.Oh, sure ?- used like this, these devices fly in the face of the DMCA. But that?s a small price to pay for a working display. Besides, as many proudly proclaimed, ?We?re not from the US. They can?t touch us.?Well? there?s a bigger problem looming ahead. Unfortunately, the good people behind HDCP weren?t complete idiots. If you thought that the idea of OPM was a little scary, you?re going to love Key Revocation Lists. Consider revocation HDCP?s version of the History Eraser Button.So what is revocation? Let?s first start with a brief look at HDCP.There are three main parts to HDCP?s security system. First, there is the cryptographic Authentication and Key Exchange (AKE). When a company wishes to produce an HDCP-compliant device, that company requests a set of keys from the HDCP licensing body. After the licensing body has determined that the company?s product has been designed in a manner robust enough to withstand attacks and that the keys will be protected, the company will be given a series of unique secret keys.AKE is the cryptographic method that uses these keys to determine a mutual value with which to encrypt the data traveling between the playback device and the display device.Once both the playback device and the display device have settled on a value with which to encrypt the content, all the video content will be encrypted using this mutual value (this is the second part). Additionally, the system will check every couple of seconds to ensure the integrity of both the keys and the link.So far, that seems reasonable. However, what happens when rogue devices start to appear on the market? What happens when a company?s design wasn?t as robust as first thought or, worse yet, a company?s secret keys are leaked ?into the wild.?This is where key-revocation lists come into play. The third aspect of HDCP security is ?device renewability.? This is the ability for media, streaming content, or even other devices to invalidate keys known to be a problem. For instance, let?s assume that you?ve purchased a DVIMAGIC. That little device is sitting between your cable box and your television. Everything is going fine. Then, one day, you wake up to discover that your television is no longer working with all the channels. What happened? Your cable box just used System Renewability Messages (SRMs) to invalidate the keys used by your DVIMAGIC. From that point on, your cable box will treat your DVIMAGIC as a rogue device. As such, it will not allow it to pass AKE.Will your DVIMAGIC work with a HD-DVD player? That depends: what discs have you tried to play? Revocation lists are encoded onto the DVDs. The newer the disc is, the larger the revocation list will be, and, once you?re ?caught,? that playback device should never pass AKE.For a ?hack,? this might be annoying. However, what happens when legitimate keys are ?in the wild?? For instance, let?s assume for a second that a large plasma-television company was the victim of a break-in/angry employee/etc. The result is that said company?s keys have landed in the hands of a DVIMAGIC-type dongle maker. When that dongle-maker is caught, will the powers-that-be revoke its keys knowing that, in doing so, there will be legitimate customers caught in the crossfire?The answer isn?t 100% clear. Content owners might very well say, ?Too bad ? Company X didn?t properly protect its keys.? The result? Unclear.What we do know is that with HDCP there is shiny red button that can be used to retroactively remove functionality.And did Stimpy press that button? You betcha!Column note: there is no guarantee that the DVIMAGIC device will be added to any revocation list. The DVIMAGIC product is simply used to demonstrate the general type of product which could, in theory, be revoked.
If you have comments or suggestions for future columns, drop me a line [email protected]. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-07-25-yahoo-buys-konfabulator.html | 2005-07-25 05:14:29+00:00 | [] | Scott McNulty | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Yahoo! buys Konfabulator | And I am not talking about just one license here, I mean thewhole darned company. It seems that the search engine giant is looking for more ammunition in its fight with Google, and thinks that widgets are just what the doctor ordered.Konfabulatorwill now be free (anyone who purchased 2.0 will be issued a refund) and will be tailored to draw information from a variety of Yahoo related services. Is this a big deal? Well, for the makers of Konfabulator it sure as heck is.I wonder if they will discontinue the Mac version now, or if it will become as buggy as Yahoo Messenger is on my Mac?Update: Mark Perton, ofDownload Squad,linksto a MacCentralarticlein which Arlo Rose says that Mac development will continue, and they are looking at becoming even more cross platform (widgets on your TIVO).The real question is, now that Konfabulator is free are you going to download it, or are you happy with Dashboard (if you're running Tiger)?Thanks, Clint! |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-03-around-the-web-mighty-mouse-roars.html | 2005-08-03 13:00:12+00:00 | [] | Scott McNulty | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Around the Web: Mighty Mouse Roars | Whenever Apple releases a new product into the world tongues start wagging and theMighty Mouseis no exception. Sadly I was unable to lay my hands on one today. My local Apple reseller,Springboard Media, doesn't have them in stock and Eric, the fellow who helped me, said that they hope to have them in stock by the end of the week or start of next week. However, other folks were about to get their grubby paws on a Might Mouse.Here is what the good old blogosphere has to say:
• Kevin Limgives us his review in the form of avideo
• Ars Technicareviewsthe Mighty Mouse, and they like it though they don't think it is revolutionary
• Emily Hambridgefell inlove at first sightwith her Mighty Mouse
• Gear Livethinks Apple hasimproved on the mouse
• Engadgetthinks his Steveness is getting risky in hislater years
• NSLoglikes it,but will he give up his MX-700?
• Mike Davidsonisdigging the scrollball
• Macworldhas anice overviewof the Mighty Mouse, as well as a picture of it with some of its mouse relatives
• Russel Beattiehas ahands on reviewof the Might Mouse including some shots with an iSight for size comparison
• Command-Tabis going through thetypical Mac user dilemna, 'I want it but do I need it?'
• Random Eyeshas anice run downof several interesting issues including the positioning of the Mighty Mouse at the Apple Store
I now want one more than ever. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-04-mod-an-atari-flashback-2-into-a-full-fledged-atari-2600.html | 2005-08-04 09:58:32+00:00 | [] | Donald Melanson·Guest Contributor | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Mod an Atari Flashback 2 into a full-fledged Atari 2600 | We're not quite sure of the necessity of this mod since any self-respecting geek already has an Atari 2600 (even if it's at the bottom of their closet), but for the more adventerous among you, Atarimuseum.com has the deets on how to turn your retro-coolAtari Flashback 2system into a full-fledged and even more retro Atari 2600. As you may know, the Flashback 2 is based on real 2600 hardware, so the mod mostly consists of getting the console to accept cartridges. You'll have to figure out the cosmetic touches yourself though, as they literally left the carts hanging. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-05-sprint-ppc-6700-is-the-htc-apache.html | 2005-08-06 00:01:15+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Sprint PPC-6700 is the HTC Apache | So thePPC-6600will still begetting its EV-DO upgrade, but it turns out that theSprint PPC-6700is actually going to be theHTC Apache, itself a CDMA version of theHTC Wizard. Pardon the crap photos, but that's the beast above (and below — click on for one mo').[Thanks,Christopher] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-07-doom-ported-to-the-ipod.html | 2005-08-07 15:45:05+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Doom ported to the iPod | It's a little sluggish on the framerate side, and definitely clumsy on the input end of things, but you bet yer sweet potatoes the iPod Linux guys got Doom ported to the little white MP3 player that could. Sure, it's not quiteDoom on the Nokia 770, but you take what you can get.[Thanks to J and Bramt] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-09-voipbuster-beats-skypeouts-rates.html | 2005-08-09 11:30:42+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | VoipBuster beats SkypeOut's rates | There's a new kid in town in the VoIP game, and it's hittingSkypehard in the wallet — if you open an account and buy a single Euro ($1.27) worth of credit, you can place calls absolutely free to all points in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and a slew of other countries, plus low calling rates to a far larger list of nations. The client itself cannot be construed as feature-rich — there are no bells and whistles, no chat, no conference calling, presence information or other of the niceties that Skype provides. It's definitely stripped down calling, but free is a darn good price, although no one is quite sure how they're doing it or what the business model will be. The service is in beta (as all such things are these days), and call quality is reportedly excellent. If you try it out, let us know your experiences in the comments.[Thanks, Jim] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-09-tales-of-eternia-enters-beta-phase.html | 2005-08-09 16:31:11+00:00 | [] | Ross Miller·Associate Editor | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Tales Of Eternia enters beta phase | This is a game that has something I've always wanted to see: a MMORPG done in the style of the old-school console RPG's. Back in the Super Nintendo days, every RPG had this Japanese artsy feel - the main characters had spiky neon hair and the creatures inhabiting the worlds were either cute (moogles) or disturbing (Lavos). Since that style has gone away in lieu of all things very detailed and intricate, it's very refreshing to see this. Tales of Eternia Online has just begun its closed beta session in Japan, which means the game seems to be coming along. No release date announced, but if it's finished enough to be beta tested, expect to see it (in Japan) sometime before next summer. I have no confidence that this will be released in the US, but if it does well in Japan hopefully we'll get some of the TOE love our way. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-10-podcast-added-to-oxford-dictionary-of-english.html | 2005-08-10 20:30:34+00:00 | [] | Laurie A. Duncan | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Podcast added to Oxford Dictionary of English | Let's endthis discussiononce and for all, shall we?"Below are some of thenew wordsto enter our most recently published dictionary of current English: the Oxford Dictionary of English (Revised Second Edition)."podcast
• nouna digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar programme, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player.
—derivativespodcastingnoun.—originearly 21st century: from iPod, a proprietary name for a personal audio player.Then again, this is from the Brits, who use words likeprogramme. (I kid...I love the Brits, I truly do)[viaMacDailyNews] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-11-mass-outbreak-of-the-cabir-virus-in-finland.html | 2005-08-11 17:39:49+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Mass outbreak of the Cabir virus in Finland | A few dozen visitors to the world atheletic championships in Helsinki went home with a little souvenir of the game: a cellphone infected with theCabirvirus. Mobile viruses haven't been quite the plague that computer viruses have been, but apparently at least one person went to the games, which were held at Helsinki's Olympic Stadium, with a handset infected with the Cabir virus. The virus was then able to wirelessly jump from Series 60 phone to Series 60 phone via Bluetooth, with each newly infected phone automatically searching for other phones to infect. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-12-nba-2k6-promises-quality-tunes-the-latest-trend.html | 2005-08-12 16:00:24+00:00 | [] | James Ransom-Wiley | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | NBA 2K6 promises quality tunes -- the latest trend? | This year's NBA 2K6 soundtrack is shaping up to be a classic, seriously. With new and exclusive tracks from quality hip-hop acts like The Roots, Common, Aesop Rock, Aceyalone, Lyrics Born, RJD2, Zion I, Jean Grae, & Hieroglyphics, this looks to be one of the best video game soundtracks ever assembled—at least on paper. It's no wonder that the soundtrack will also be available on CD, with a promotion tour, the "2K Sports Bounce Tour", backing it.Will video game soundtracks ever become as popular as movie soundtracks? Do you think developers should start using pre-existing songs (i.e. not specifically composed for the game) to enhance key moments in a video game—rather than have a soundtrack that plays randomly? Have you ever bought a game soundtrack on CD? Would you? |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-16-sed-technology-explained.html | 2005-08-16 15:22:06+00:00 | [] | Kevin C. Tofel | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | SED technology explained | We all know that SED sets are planned, but what the heck are they and how do they work? Better yet, how will they compete with current HDTV television technologies like DLP, LCoS, LCD and Plasma? Here's a quick overview of what you need to know.First things first: we'll get the SED acronym out of the way to make sure we're all speaking the same language. SED isn't "Super Extraordinary Definition"; in fact, it isn't a resolution definition at all. SED is a type of display technology and it stands for "Surface-conduction Electron emitter Display". While it sounds like something out of "Star Trek", it's actually a technology thatCanon helped to develop in 1986.
SED is probably the closest concept to the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) that is predominant today. However, it also provides the flat-panel benefits we gain from Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and Plasma Display Panel (PDP) technology as well. Consider SED to be the best of both worlds: bright, high-quality images with less bulk. Let's see how it works to better understand this.
Similar to a CRT, the display is created with electrons that collide with a phosphor-coated screen. CRTs use a single electron gun to emit the particles that create the display. The one electron gun essentially draws the screen by passing all of the electrons to the screen. Since the electron gun has to cover the entire screen, the set tends to be deep, although some slimmer sets are coming to market. Additionally, since the electron gun is constantly sending particles to the entire screen, it tends to be a heavy consumer of power.
SED technology applies the electron-phosphorus concept, but radically changes one key element: the electron mechanism. Instead of a single electron gun, SED sets have one electron emitter for each pixel. This brings two key CRT advantages to the flat panel world. Less power is needed because the electrons don't need to travel as far. Since the electrons are close to the display surface, the set is much slimmer than a CRT set, as well. Ifthatdoesn't get you as excited as a charged electron, then just wait, there's more!Here's the key reasonthat SEDs are likely to gain a stranglehold over other flat-panel technologies in the long run: brightness and contrast. Currently, there isn't a flat-panel or microdisplay technology that can compete with CRTs for either brightness or contrast. Therealbeauty of SED technology is that it has the same brightness and contrast qualities of a CRT because the same electron-phosphor display approach is used; it simply does so more efficiently and in less space!There are plenty of additional technical details on SED technology, but at least this provides the basics. The real question is: now that you know what SED is,how likely are you to consider an SED purchase in your not-so-distant future? |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-16-how-to-make-a-nokia-pop-port-to-female-mini-jack.html | 2005-08-16 18:20:00+00:00 | [] | Fabienne Serriere | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | How-To: Make a Nokia Pop port to female mini jack | When Nokia announced their music player capable phones they neglected to mention the lack of support for external headphones. Since the release of the 6230 and its related family with mp3/aac playback support, many disgruntled users have made their own home-brew cables to plug in headphones. Today we will show one such mod for the Nokia HDS-3 cable. This cable ships with the 6230 and other Nokia phones capable of stereo playback.
Before starting, a quick rundown of some other Nokia models of pop port headphones and audio adapters include:
Nokia HS-3"Nokia Stereo Fashion Headset" white or black, smaller push to talk unit than the HDS-3, headphones are still of an inferior audio qualityNokia HS-8"Nokia Activity Headset" ugly and bad audio quality headphonesNokia HS-6"Display Headset" lcd display and controls for audio and calls, but yet again no port to plug in your own headphonesNokia HS-23"Nokia Stereo Headset" includes volume control, lesser quality headphonesNokia AD-15"Nokia Audio Adapter" allows you to plug in your own headphones, unfortunately this is achieved with a big box on the end of the cable, there is no mic, and as far as we can tell no button to switch tracks.
Even headset models that are not available on the market yet don't allow for the consumer to plug in their own headphones. Why Nokia? Why! For a few weeks we assumed that the audio quality coming out of our 6230 was just as dismal as the headphones in the HDS-3 headset led us to believe. The astonishing part is that no, the audio quality of the 6230 is comparable to most mp3 players on the market once you manufacture your own adapter cable.
The second mistake by Nokia is the misinformation as to how much memory can be recognized on the mmc cards. Themanualfor the 6230 states the mmc card can be up to 128 mb. In reality the phone can recognize mmc cards up to 1 gig. To see if your phone's firmware is up to date enough to work with that much memory, in the 6230 type: *#0000#. On the screen you should see something similar to:
Nokia 6230V 05.2425-11-04etc.
The important information in this is of course the firmware version on the second line, in this case 5.24. If your phone is not up to date you can have the firmware flashed at most cell phone provider stores. Note that firmware upgrades will wipe the memory of the phone, so be sure to save important info before upgrading. The firmware of the 6230 starting with version 4.44 should correctly recognize 1 gig of memory on the mmc, but may not search the subdirectories on the card for music files to include in the playlist. Before loading audio on the mmc card, we suggest you format it in a card reader on your computer rather than on the phone. Format the card, re-name the card, then fill that 1 gig of happiness with a playlist of mp3/aac and/or mp4 if you have a Nokia model that supports it.
You will need for this how-to: a soldering iron, a knife of some sort, a multimeter, a round file, a Nokia stereo headset (we will be using the HDS-3, but you should be able to extrapolate to another on the list above), a cable with a female mini jack (3.5 mm) connector on one end, or if you have only a cable with a male mini jack connector you will also require a mini jack female to mini jack female adapter. You may also need a small philips screwdriver depending on the model and make of your Nokia headset.
The Nokia HDS-3 (ships with many Nokia models including the 6230):
The HDS-3 has several flavors: the older models have four screws on the back of the push to talk module. If you have this model, first remove the screws. Now for both models, we are ready to pop open the connector. We use a knife to carefully separate the front from the back of the push to talk unit in the middle of the cable:
Once the unit is open, check to see if the speaker is on the front or the back of the unit. Chances are if you have a model with screws, your solder points for the headphones are already visible. If you have the newer model without screws on the outside, you must now carefully pry up the circuit board and flip it over.
If you have the newer model your circuit board should resemble this:
Note the connections on the circuit board. The headphones Nokia supplies are attached to (from left to right) L-, L+, R+, R-. These are the points which we are now going to de-solder:
Your de-soldered circuit board will now look something like this:
Next prepare your female mini jack cable by cutting it to the desired length (we chose a length of about 8 centimeters). This length will be how long the mini jack cable extends out from the push to talk unit. Denude the cables leaving a half centimeter of shielding over the two audio cables. Split the grounding wires into two separate bundles and twist each so they are to the outside of the audio cables:
Determining which is right and left in the mini jack cable is easy if the colors of the cables are red and white. Red is right and white is left. If, like us, you found yourself with a creatively colored cable, notably orange and yellow, bust out your multimeter and a male mini jack connector on a cable that has been similarly denuded. Test the male mini jack connector with a multimeter and note the wiring, for example our male mini jack connector was (where tip is the tip of the connector, ring is the middle, and sleeve is the base):
TIP orangeRING yellowSLEEVE ground
This meant that our mini jack female connector would have the same pin-out because the female and male mini jack in this case were cut from the same cable. Let us assume for a moment that your male mini jack connector came from a different cable and had this pin-out:
TIP whiteRING redSLEEVE ground
We would then simply plug the male mini jack into the female mini jack and test the cable with a multimeter to determine the pin-out. In the example noted above:
TIP white === orangemale RING red === yellow femaleSLEEVE ground === ground
Now we can extrapolate from the fact that on a tip-ring-sleeve style connector the pin-out for L/R/ground is:
TIP leftRING redSLEEVE ground
This leaves us with the wiring to the circuit board as follows:
TIP left orangeRING right yellowSLEEVE ground ground
So to solder to our circuit board we will have:L- ground (remember we have 2 grounds which we split above)L+ orangeR+ yellowR- ground (here is the second ground)
Your diagram may be a bit different depending on the colors of your female mini jack cable. A common example would be:L- ground (remember we have 2 grounds which we split above)L+ whiteR+ redR- ground (here is the second ground)
As noted above, we split the the grounding cable into two parts. Next tin your cables (prepare them with a bit of solder on them) and trim them down. Solder them onto the points on the circuit board of the push to talk unit following the diagram you have made yourself with the tip-ring-sleeve explanation above:
Now file a rounded notch to let the cable exit out of the top center of the push to talk unit. You only need to file the notch into the backside of the unit (the side without the button):
Next gently push the circuit board back into place. Nudge the new mini jack cable into the notch you've just made:
If you have the older version of the HDS-3 with the four screws on the back, your completed circuit will look like this before you close it back up:
Now snap the two side of the push to talk unit back together, and if you had screws, replace the screws. Alternately, if you wish to change the fugly beige color of the unit, do so before you close the unit. Tape off the button and the base cable. Bust out that black nail polish from your goth phase or some black hobby model paint from that black hawk helicopter you never finished. Alternatively you can pick a more vibrant color to match your colorware computer. Give the unit two coats of paint, leaving time for it to dry between coats. If you don't dig paint, you can also go for the ghetto black electrical tape look (see below for an example). Here is the completed unit (unpainted) with a pair of not-so-stellar sony in-ear headphones and a Nokia 6230:
Version 01 with ghetto black electrical tape, a male mini jack connector and a female to female mini jack adapter and the same not-so-stellar sony in-ear headphones:
The completed new version cable with a delicious pair of Sony pro headphones:
If you are feeling adventurous and in need of analog volume control on the push to talk unit, hop over to hack-a-day to read theadvanced How-To. Nokia, if you are listening, please include ports for standard headphones on the phone itself and if not, at least in the cables that are provided with the phone. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-17-gamepark-xgp-handheld-game-console.html | 2005-08-17 09:29:53+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Gamepark XGP handheld game console | Gamepark is a company that apparently only releases products that areanagrams involving the letters G, P, and X, for on the heels of theirGPX2 media playercomes the XGP game console. It looks a little bit like the bastard child of aPSPand aSidekick, so if you happen to own both of those devices, you might consider breeding them and seeing if you can make one of these. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-17-xbox-360-made-in-china.html | 2005-08-17 17:00:10+00:00 | [] | James Ransom-Wiley | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Xbox 360: Made in China | No surprises here. Both Flextronics and Wistron, veteran manufacturers of the first Xbox, will be churning out Xbox 360s, along with newcomer Celestica. All three companies have plants in the Pearl River Delta region of Southern China. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-17-google-buys-cellphone-software-company.html | 2005-08-17 22:00:28+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Google buys cellphone software company | We only have the faintest idea why Google just bought Android, a stealthy startup that specializes in making "software for mobile phones," but we do know that trying to guess Google's next move recently replaced digging through Steve Jobs' garbage for clues about the next iPod at the top of our weekend activities list. It's no secret that Google's getting ready to a move into wireless (witness Monday's story that they were thinking about launchingsome sort of free WiFi network), we just don't know exactly what it's going to be yet. They launchedSMS searchlast year and then scooped upDodgeball, that sort-of-Friendster-for-cellphones-thing that we've mentioned a few times on the site a few months ago, but what really gets our speculative juices flowing (disgusting as that sounds) is that Android was founded by the same guy who started Danger, the company which makes theT-Mobile Sidekick. For now Google's keeping quiet about what they're working on, they would only tell BusinessWeek that they, "acquired Android because of the talented engineers and great technology." |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-18-sonys-walkman-bean.html | 2005-08-18 12:18:39+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Sony's Walkman Bean | Someone alert Mr. Atkinson, Sony's answer to the shuffle—wait, didn't they kind of already have a number ofanswers to the shuffle?—is here, and we kid you not, it's called theWalkmanBean. The device features a 1 line OLED display, fast-charging li-ion battery (which they claim will pull 3 hours of playtime from a 3 minute charge—probably for ATRAC), multiple colors, a 512MB (NW-E205), 512 +FM (NW-E305), and 1GB (NW-E207) versions, and the usual ATRAC/SonicStage crapolla we're uneasily used to.[Thanks, Colin] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-18-advent-rising-cancels-million-dollar-contest.html | 2005-08-18 22:00:00+00:00 | [] | Ross Miller·Associate Editor | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Advent Rising cancels million-dollar contest | I always wondered how they were going to make this contest fair, but I guess they never figured it out, either. One of the marketing campaigns for Majesco's Advent Rising game was "Race to Save Mankind," which would give one talented Xbox-live player $1,000,000. Unfortunately, news comes out today that Majesco is canceling the contest due to "no technically feasible solution that would allow the contest to continue in a fair and secure manner" (in other words: fear of hackers). Bummer; not that I bought the game, but I know people who did and solely because they thought they had a chance at winning the million dollars.
For those who did try the contest and want something for their efforts, Majesco is offering a choice of 2 free games for those who send in their game's UPC and a copy of the user's Xbox Live Gamertag. The games you can choose from are BloodRayne 2, Guilty Gear X2 Reload, Psychonauts, Raze's Hell, and Phantom Dust. I would choose Psychonauts and Guilty Gear, but that's just me.[viaNetJak] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-19-okuda-to-serve-as-design-consultant-for-star-trek-online.html | 2005-08-20 02:00:00+00:00 | [] | Dan Choi | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Okuda to serve as design consultant for Star Trek Online | As a longtime fan of all things Trek, it almost pains me to write anything about it, whether from the classic series or its numerous game adaptations, due to its steady decline and eventual TV production hiatus starting this year. Fellow fans may receive some type of interactive outlet for their geekier impulses, however, whenStar Trek Onlinefinally rolls onto computers in a few years' time. (Development is expected to take at least two years, and the beta will probably begin in 2006.)
At any rate, the best news I've heard so far is that veteran Trek staffer Michael Okuda — trusted fount of technical knowledge and creator of the computer interface used from TNG (The Next Generation) on — has signed onboard as a design consultant for the MMO's development team at Perpetual Entertainment. His job will be to integrate the look-and-feel of his well-worn LCARS (Library Computer Access and Retrieval System) interface into the game, and "to help visualize the future of the Star Trek universe," as the game will be set twenty years after the last Star Trek film (i.e., Nemesis). Not only will new Starfleet uniforms be used in ST Online, but an updated version of LCARS will be featured as well, which is why I've posted the interface concept above that Okuda unveiled at last weekend's Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas. A non-interactive Shockwave demo can also be found at Perpetual's media pagehere.
Visual fidelity to a film or television property has never been a guarantee of a game's success (witness the first two games based on The Matrix franchise), so that may not change with Star Trek Online. But it is comforting to this closet Trekkie that the computer screens will at least be in good hands. Now if they started making a trulynext-gen Battlestar Galacticagame, I'd be a very happy man.[viaNext Generation] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-25-t-mobile-getting-the-htc-tornado-in-october.html | 2005-08-25 14:55:14+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | T-Mobile getting the HTC Tornado in October | We've received confirmation from several different sources now that T-Mobile is going to be the first (and possibly only) US carrier to get its hands on theHTC Tornado(aka the Qtek 8310), that new Windows Mobile-powered Smartphone that comes with built-in WiFi and a QVGA display. Better yet, they're aiming for a $200 price point (with a one year contract, natch) and probablywon'tbe crippling Bluetooth on the phone. Not sure what it'll be called when it turns up on T-Mobile (it definitely won't be called the Qtek 8310 or the HTC Tornado), but we did have a chance to play around with this phone for a few minutes yesterday. All we gotta say (for now) is that the QVGA display is totally slick. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-29-a-dozen-fundamental-rights-that-every-game-must-respect.html | 2005-08-29 17:32:29+00:00 | [] | Vladimir Cole | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | A dozen fundamental rights that every game must respect | Ernest Adams has posted a "dozen fundamental rights that every game must respect" with regards to players. The list (which is reproduced below in short form) extends a conversationbegun by blog Tea Leavesand[MC]Daschandewith their own demands for certain inalienable rights.
• The Right to Play
• The Right to Win
• The Right to Instructions
• The Right to Feedback
• The Right To Motivation
• The Right to Make Decisions
• The Right to a Swift Death
• The Right To Control Cut-Scenes
• The Right to Quit, Pause, Save and Resume the Game
• The Right to Choose Not to Save the Game
• The Right to Reconfigure the Input Device
• The Right Not To Be Insulted
Is this stuff even on the right track? Does art have any obligation to provide its consumers with any of this? Marcel Duchamp's famousNude Descending a Staircase(pictured here) caused a ruckus in 1913 because unsophisticated American art consumers at the time expected certain things of their art and this work confused them (Where's the nude?). Why should game designers be subject to any demands made on them by the unwashed gaming public?
If the game is good, it will sell. Isn't a game designer's own interest in seeing his game become widely played enough incentive for him to do what he feels is right for his game? If that means long, slow deaths and inescapable cut-scenes, then that's his prerogative. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-08-30-creatives-latest-the-zen-patent.html | 2005-08-30 14:46:20+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Creative's latest: The Zen Patent | Still waiting to see whether they patent their unique process forputting worms on MP3 players, but in the meantime Creative just scored a patent for its user interface for portable media players. To make things simple for us they're dubbing this the "Zen Patent", and, surprise, surprise, they're already making some noise about how the patent covers the UI used in the iPod and iPod mini. You probably already know how dim a view we take of the USPTO these days, but c'mon, a patent for a UI that "enables selection of at least one track in a portable media player as a user sequentially navigates through a hierarchy using three or more successive screens on the display of the player"? Isn't that sort of obvious? No matter, we're counting down the minutes until Creative files suit against, well,everybody.[Thanks,Dave Z.] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-06-how-to-upgrade-the-processor-on-an-older-macintosh-g4.html | 2005-09-06 21:15:00+00:00 | [] | Fabienne Serriere | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | How-To: Upgrade the processor on an older macintosh G4 | We began this story by buying an older graphite 400Mhz G4 tower from ebay.de some months ago. The motherboard and the manufacturing of theAGP G4 series, codenamed "Sawtooth", are in our opinion quite good (i.e. there weren't huge amounts of AGP G4's that failed in weird ways over time). After doingsome preliminary readingwe found that doing a processor upgrade for a G4 can sometimes require messy heat sink paste. Some other mac proc upgrades use the same heat sink provided with your original proc. We decided on a choice that does not require thermal paste and has a larger new heat sink and fan included: the PowerLogix PowerForce47 G4/2.0GHz with 512K 1:1 L2 Cache Per Processor. (note: we were not remunerated by Powerlogix nor did we receive free merchandise for this how-to nor is this article a review of comparable mac proc upgrades). After some trials and tribulations with the processor upgrade, we simply wanted to put this information out there to help who it may, after all we never enjoyseeing macsinthe trash.
To start with, we did read the documentation shipped with our Powerlogix upgrade. This being fairly basic in some ways, we were reassured and jumped right in. To save yourself the same hurdles we met, read on.The documentation's summary of a powerlogix in an agp upgrade:1. Upgrade the apple firmware of the motherboard (the boot rom) to 4.2.8 or higher.2. Upgrade the firmware again with Powerlogix's proprietary software.3. Remove the old processor.4. Install the new processor.5. Boot.Now the actual summary of our difficulties not being the point of this article, we will keep the updated summary short. To be certain, the list above is correct, but rather vague.Summary of a powerlogix in an agp g4 upgrade should be:0.7 Make sure you have OS 9 installed on a partition or a harddrive.0.8 Make sure the harddrive is bootable (harddrive is master not slave) and at least os 9.1.0.9Download the apple boot romupdater for boot rom 4.2.8 and copy it to the desktop of os 9.1. Launch the boot rom updater and reboot in programmer's mode.2. Upgrade the firmware again with Powerlogix's proprietary software.3. Remove the old processor.4. Install the new processor.5. Boot.What follows is our step by step instructions. You may also want to refer to Powerlogix's documentation.Before starting, in OS X, install the CPU Director software from the Powerlogix CD included with your processor.You must have OS 9 installed and bootable on the machine, even if you only want to run OS X on the computer later. This is because Apple never released a firmware upgrader for the AGP G4 and many other models of the G4 line for OS X. If you only have one harddrive in your computer and that harddrive only has one partition and that partition has OS X installed, you are out of luck. OS X's Disk Utility can not repartition a disk that contains the startup volume. For us, this required that we install OS 9 on a second hard drive. Our computer did not want to install or boot OS 9 if there were any other harddrives in the machine. Also, the single harddrive with OS 9 should be set to master (pictured is our 160 gig hitachi deskstar, check the pin diagram for your harddrive):
Now if you had trouble installing from an official OS 9.2 installer cd as we did, try installing OS 9.0 and upgrading to 9.1. Realize that youmusthave at least 9.1 installed for the firmware upgrade. When you install your first OS (be that OS 9.0, 9.1 or 9.2), be sure todownload the firmware upgraderfrom Apple's site and copy the Power Mac G4 Firmware Updater and the Power Mac G4 Firmware to the Desktop:
You may now upgrade the OS if you are in OS 9.0. We had trouble with the 9.1 upgrade as well and had to boot without extensions by holding down the shift key when booting. Now because you've already downloaded and copied the firmware patches to your desktop, you don't need to worry about missing extensions for the net or any other way to get those files to your computer. Double click on the Power Mac G4 Firmware Updater. It will now walk you through the installation and will finally ask you to reboot the computer in programmer mode. When the computer is off push in the programmer key and press the power button. The programmer's button has a -v- symbol inside a circle and is the concave button on the right under the power button on our G4 AGP. Release both buttons immediately after the long programmer's beep has stopped.
The computer should now show the progress of your firmware upgrade. When it has completed, eject the CD-rom drive and put in the Powerlogix CD (in our case this cd is labelled "Product Manuals & Installation Videos", but it is also the firmware updater CD). Once again push in and hold the programmer's button and the power key. Immediately after the programmer's tone stops, release the programmer's button and the power key and then press and hold down the C key on the keyboard. You will hear the computer chime the boot sound now. When the green Powerlogix firmware upgrader screen comes up, choose "4: Install all patches". (note: This picture shows "Remove all patches" because we have already applied the patch, but yours will be "Install all patches.)
When the Powerlogix firmware updater has finished and the computer has shut down, unplug all cables on the G4 and open the case. The processor is under the large silver heatsink.
Pop up the heatsink clips carefully and remove the heatsink by gently pulling straight up.
Remove the screws from the processor's card (we had three screws). Set aside the screws, you will be using them in two steps. Gently remove the CPU card by carefully pulling straight up (a bit of a jiggle may be necessary, but don't force).
Place the new processor and heatsink (all connected) on the processor connector. Line up the processor connector carefully (this may require having the G4 at eye level) and gently push down until you hear a click (a bit of a jiggle/rocking motion may be necessary, once again do not force).
Screw in the two screws you set aside into the new CPU. Try to drop the screws straight down, the cavities in the heat sink are tall.
Connect the power cable of the fan to a free connector on the 12V power of your computer.
Replace the OS X harddrive on which you installed CPU Director above and boot your machine. If all went well with your install, OS X will boot. Open the About This Mac window in the Apple menu to verify that your new processor is recognized correctly:
The Powerlogix card we use includes temperature monitoring among other things. Temperature monitoring is quite important since in our case we went from a 400Mhz to 2Ghz processor. Launch the CPU Director software and choose the "Thermal" tab to see the temperature:
Without the proc upgrade we couldn't run arealtime audiosynthesis engineand with the upgrade we can. Nuf' said. We hope your installation process was less painful than ours! Go enjoy your new speedy mac. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-08-its-official-rokr-e1-itunes-phone-can-only-store-max-100.html | 2005-09-08 11:45:32+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | It's official: ROKR E1 iTunes phone can only store max. 100 tracks | Motorola and Apple were masterfully oblique about this during yesterday's press conference, and oddly enough there's zero mention of the issue at all in any of the press releases we've seen, but we double checked with Motorola last night and got them to officially confirm that no matter big of a memory card you have, you can only transfer a maximum of 100 tracks to the newROKR E1 iTunes phone. Our sources at Moto tell us that Apple had originally insisted on a completely ridiculous 25 song cap because of "licensing issues", and that the current 100 song limit was the compromise number they settled on. We prodded Motorola CEO Ed Zander about this at last night's launch event and his response was simply, "Ask Apple." Ironically, the ROKR E1 has a generic, non-iTunes, Java-based media player that can play as many MP3s as you have room for on your card. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-08-hitting-sonys-tokyo-walkman-press-launch.html | 2005-09-08 16:00:55+00:00 | [] | Gareth Edwards | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Hitting Sony's Tokyo Walkman press launch | Completely by accident, if you can believe that, we found ourselves at Sony's press launch for their new Walkman players in Tokyo this evening. Eschewing the Jobs approach of building things up with a presentation before whipping out the goods at the end, Sony simply had a troupe of models walking around from the get-go showing off the new hard disk players, the NW-A1000 and NW-A3000. Unfortunately for them, it seemed like most of the several hundred guests were music journalists more interested in the chance to see Franz Ferdinand play some songs from their new album, and Franz rather stole the new Walkmans' thunder.
Read on for a few shots of the festivities.
[UPDATE: Seems we maligned Sony by implying they hadn't done a launch presentation—we had cadged an invitation from Sony Music to the Franz live performance and didn't get wind of the Walkman launch, so, er, seems we just turned up too late. We've apprised SME of our interest in gadgets for next time.]
Franz Ferdinand, who were in Tokyo for 28 hours to film a commercial for Sony, play six songs, and get asked a few daft questions by the MC.
The NW-A3000 in its two colour variations.
The NW-A3000 clutched in our hot little hand. It?s a pretty solid piece of kit, at 182g, and that finish is going to show fingermarks even worse than a PSP.
The NW-A1000. Oddly, it felt impressively small even though its dimensions on paper wouldn?t suggest that. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-08-the-ipod-family-cemetery.html | 2005-09-08 17:12:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The iPod family cemetery | We're hard pressed to say the iPod family's fallen on particularly hard times, but being under such excruciating public scrutiny can take its toll on any dynasty; especially in a year like 2005, the family shaken to its core by so many tragic deaths. From the humble beginnings of the iPod that began the legacy so many years back, all the way up to the tragic loss of the iPod mini just yesterday, we felt it might be time to take a visit to the iPod family cemetary on this early autumn afternoon.
The first generation iPodOctober 2001 - July 2002The iPod head of the family.
A homely child of more meager means than its descendants and the first born in the New World, the iPod had only 5GB of storage to its name-though unprecedented at the time, it was immediately rebuked for its price of $399. It had with it a mere monochrome 160 x 128 LCD, 32MB of RAM and 32MB ROM, but included two things then widely unheard of, a 1.8-inch hard drive, and the mechanical scroll wheel. Alas, the iPod didn't know how to work with Windows, was FireWire-only at first, and only sold 125,000 units in its first two months. In March of 2002 the iPod went to 10GB, but passed on peacefully in July of 2002.
The second generation iPodJuly 2002 - April 2003Survivor of the lean years.
But a few mournful months after the passing of the 5GB iPod and the birth of the 10GB iPod, came a new 10GB iPod and the 20GB, which started at $499. Perhaps one of the least well-remembered of the iPod family, this iPod included the first non-mechanical (solid state) scroll wheel, though the center and circumference buttons remained tactile. Perhaps most groundbreaking was the official Windows support (via Musicmatch Jukebox, ironically), though the wired remote, calendar, and artist search were all significant as well. Eventually this iPod would undergo tattoos by Beck, No Doubt, Madonna, and Tony Hawk before being committed to history in April of 2003.
The third generation iPodApril 2003 - July 2004Educated and worldly.
This was the iPod—born of humbler pedigree—that grew up, provided for itself a higher education, and made its own way in the world. The third generation of the family rid itself entirely of mechanical buttons on its body, shed some of its baby fat around the waist down to 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.62-inches, and came forth at $299 for 10GB, $399 for 15GB, and $499 for 30GB. This was also the first iPod child to feature a remote connector and dock connector—which finally enabled USB 2.0. In September the 30GB iPod was priced at $399, and a 40GB model was released for $499.
The first generation iPod miniJanuary 2004 - February 2005The prodigal son.
By January 2004 it was clear the iPod family had many more children on the way, the first of which being theiPod mini. The first iPod family member with a 1-inch hard drive, the 1,000 song 3.6 x 2.0 x 0.5-inch mini carried with it 4GB of space, yet asked $249—only $50 less than its parentage. Critics once again panned, but the mini bounced back anyhow, possibly due in part to its peacockish colors and ornate all-aluminum exterior. Or perhaps it had something to do with its click wheel—the final blend of tactile/mechanical and solid-state control for the iPod family.
The fourth generation monochrome iPodJuly 2004 - June 2005The beginning of the end of the beginning.
The first full-size iPod with a click-wheel, the fourth generation monochrome was prideful in its resplendent minimal glory and improved power-saving features when introduced in July of 2004 at $299 for 20GB, and at $399 for 40GB. Perhaps among the most long running and successful of the iPod family, even the fourth generation's good breeding could not save it from passing on in the wake of the iPod color in the fateful summer of 2005.
The iPod photo
October 2004 - June 2005The family drunk - corpulent, befuddled, andconfused.
When theiPod photowas first introduced to the family in October of 2004 along with the U2 iPod, there was more than a slight amount of confusion. Though the photo was the first iPod to feature a 60GB drive (and among the only of its time, as well), it was not granted the video viewing capabilities that were so longed for, but merely a color screen and limited support for imaging—and not without some fattening up to 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.75-inches. The $499 40GB photo was a full $100 more than its monochrome kin, while the 60GB photo was an astounding $599. To combat this price differential, a 30GB photo was reared in place of the 40GB in February 2005, which went for $350, but did not ship with a dock. The photo would eventually lose its 30GB version as well when its featureset was incorporated into the primary iPod branch of the family tree.
The HP iPodJanuary 2004 - August 2005The legitimate half-sibling.
TheHP iPod's date of birth is to this day debatable, but HP announced it was pregnant with the half-sibling sired by Apple in January 2004 at CES. The carriage went long, however, and HP didn't actually give birth until August 2004. But by then it was quadruplets: theHP iPod photoappeared in April 2005, theHP iPod miniin June, and theHP iPod shufflein July. But HP sought to differentiate its lineage. After somehow befriendingSean "Diddy" Combs, HP went along with "Printable Tattoos," early music-themed skins which wound up somewhat disastrous to the augmented family as they stuck heavily to the iPod's body and left a sticky residue. But the Apple side of the family never seemed too displeased with the coming together—by the time of their unpropitious demise the HP iPod children accounted for 7% of the iPod family.
The second generation iPod miniFebruary 2005 - September 2005The prodigal son returns.
At long last and with a heavy heart we commit thee, iPod mini, to your family's plot. The even more flamboyant aluminum-clad lovechild of its forbears, the second generation mini lost its golden gilding in favor of a more vibrant range of colors, and even cameas large as 6GB. Taken from us so young while, the mini is survived by its younger siblings the shuffle and nano, and elder sibling the fourth generation iPod color. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-09-kawadas-hrp-3p-humanoid-robot-designed-for-risky-business.html | 2005-09-09 09:00:00+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Kawada's HRP-3P humanoid robot designed for risky business | Japanese firm Kawada is no stranger toindustrial robots(and dancing ones, at that). Now they've gone and built what we're affectionately dubbing the Scapegoat Robot, designed to do dangerous work on construction sites and undertake other risky ventures. The HRP-3P robot is agile enough to walk on icy surfaces as well as under heavy rainfall. At 160cm tall and 65kg, the battery-powered robot takes remote-controlled and preprogrammed commands in the line of duty, and we imagine good ol' Scapegoat would take a bullet for ya, too. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-10-will-apple-face-trademark-infringement-with-creative-over-the.html | 2005-09-10 16:01:30+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Will Apple face trademark infringement with Creative over the iPod nano? | Well, you knew this was only a matter of time. The speculations have begun regarding whether Creative will stake a claim on the "nano" trademark, as they popped out theZen Nanoseveral months in advance of Apple's birthing of theiPod nanoin the market (which, in the end, does seem just a tad bit cruel). As such legal mumbo jumbo goes, it's never a cut and dry case — merely because the words in the devices are identical does not an infringement case make. Apple could argue that the term "nano" is a commonly used term (much like, say,tiger) that shouldn't be afforded copyright protection. They could also appeal to the fact that "iPod" and "Zen" are the more salient terms in the product names of the respective devices than "nano." Whatever happens, you gotta know Sim Wong Hoo is stewing in his boots right now.[Thanks, Gabe] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-12-ibm-unleashes-infoprint-4100-the-330-pages-per-minute-laser.html | 2005-09-12 09:30:32+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | IBM unleashes Infoprint 4100, the 330 pages per minute laser printer | You know, it's not terribly often we find ourselves with emergency book printing needs, but we imagine someone's gotta have 'em. IBM's Infoprint 4100 series of laser printers reportedly spits out the goods at an astonishing rate of 330 pages per minute, enough to net you a copy of War and Peace in less than 60 seconds. The catch is that it achieves this by outsourcing the pagination, so on top of the $500K you can expect to shell out for one of these bad boys you'll have to get another presumably expensive paginator or hire a team of machete-wielding office temps. You'll have to clear out some serious office real estate as well, for these things are about as long as an SUV and half as wide (any printer that commands its own parking space is one serious peripheral). The top of the line in the Infoprint 4100 series goes down for a cool mil, which we're sure is worth every penny when disaster strikes and you gotta get endangered folks some Tolstoy on the double.[ViaSlashdot] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-12-rockstars-bully-delayed-because-of-protest.html | 2005-09-12 21:00:02+00:00 | [] | James Ransom-Wiley | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Rockstar's Bully delayed because of protest? | Not likely. Rockstar has cited the need formore development timeas the reason forBully'sdelay, notprotestsorJack Thompson rants. The game is now slated for a February 2006 release on the PS2 and Xbox. There has been no mention of a possible next-gen upgrade forBully, which is likely too far along in its development for that type of overhaul. The game has been called a "Columbine simulator," but early indications suggest thatBullyis a boarding school brawler focused on sticking up for oneself without the use of guns—just good ole' fashionedmano a manobeatdowns.[Thanks,Aaron] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-14-phil-harrison-to-head-up-sce-worldwide-studios-for-sony.html | 2005-09-14 16:45:00+00:00 | [] | Dan Choi | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Phil Harrison to head up SCE Worldwide Studios for Sony | Phil Harrison, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) Executive Vice President—and occasional Sony evangelist—has been named President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS), where he'll oversee game-development operations for studios in Japan and North America in addition to his native Europe.The goal of this amalgamation of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s software-development studios is to "accelerate the creation of global hit games." SCE WWS will also "be responsible for the creative, technical and strategic direction of SCE's games for the various PlayStation platforms" (meaning the "PSP, PlayStation 3, and beyond").KenKutaragiadded that Phil's "strong leadership" will further empower Sony's development studios "to create more new and innovative titles."So what did Phil have to say about his new appointment? "SCE is unique in having innovative development studios in the US, Europe and Japan, that have each created numerous global hit titles. By combining the wealth of creativity and talent of games development we can dramatically change the landscape of computer entertainment. I am honored to be taking on that challenge working alongside the best people in the business." We look forward to many moregreatquotesfrom Mr. Harrison. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-15-xbox-360-launch-date-is-november-22.html | 2005-09-15 04:25:00+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Xbox 360 launch date is November 22 | Well, it's finally official. Mark your calendars for November 22 here in the U.S., December 2 in Europe, and December 10 in Japan for the hat trick release of theXbox 360. The console's price in Japan will be ¥37,900, which is the equivalent of about $342 USD, and will net gamers the core system as well as a detachable 20GB hard drive and these bundled extras: Xbox 360 Wireless Controller, an Xbox 360 Media Remote control, an Xbox 360 Headset, a Component HD-AV Cable for connecting to component and composite television inputs, an Ethernet cable, and batteries. Let the speculation… end.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-15-sonys-vaio-fj-laptop.html | 2005-09-15 12:45:07+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Sony's Vaio FJ laptop | Just when we thought their late summerVaio-volleywas complete, Sony's announced a laptop for those a little displeased that Sony's would-be Powerbook competitor, the FS, is a little too large or unwieldy. Your new thinner-looking mid-range option, the 4.8-pound FJ, sports a 14.1-inch 1280 x 768 widescreen XBRITE display, Intel Pentium M, 802.11b/g, dual-layer DVD±R/W, SATA drive support, and (finally) DDR2 SDRAM. We don't know how much it's going to go for or exactly how thin it actually happens to be, but we do know we're already kind of missing thatSD slotSony's been putting in their Vaios lately, as well as that 15.4-inch display.[Thanks, Stan] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-19-gamepark-gp2x-media-player-finally-on-sale.html | 2005-09-19 12:00:59+00:00 | [] | Barb Dybwad | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Gamepark GP2X media player finally on sale | So thatGamepark GP2Xmedia player running on Linux is finally officially on sale (but is it the GP2X, or the GPX2 as was announced previously? The website's a little schitzo…). For £124.99 including VAT you get the console, a USB cable, CD with games and goodies, 2 AA batteries, and the SDK for making your own games. The console itself has 64MB internal storage, and you can bundle in a 1GB SD for £45 more if you wish. We're still curious how they manage that claimed six to ten hour operating time on those two AAs.[Thanks, bolshiblue] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-19-blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-state-of-the-s-union-s-division.html | 2005-09-19 18:10:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Blu-ray vs HD DVD: State of the Division | Well, as far as HD DVD vs. Blu-ray goes, it looks like we've pretty much passed the point of no return now; with each passing day it seems less and less likely that a compromise will be reached on a next-gen format. The ongoing peace talks between the two camps, which have beenon-again, off-againfor months now, seem to have finally dissolved. It's disappointing, but however you feel about the fact that the HD DVD and Blu-ray factions squandered countless chances to make it right and come together, it looks like in just a few short months they're going to be duking it outmano a manoright in our livingrooms. There may not be a lot we can do to fight back - apart from refusing to adopt either format out of sheer spite of their pigheadedness - but no matter what we might as well at least arm ourselves with the knowledge necessary to understand the nature of the situation at hand.Here's the background:Philips's development of the Laserdisc in 1969 yielded many of the technologies Sony carried over and adopted when they eventually partnered with way back in '79 Philips to create a little something called the CD. Both companies were hard at work together once again in the early 1990s on a new high-density disc called the MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD -- original name, guys), but their format was more or less abandoned in favor of Toshiba's competing Super Density Disc (SD), which had the vast majority of backers at the time, such as Hitachi, Matsushita (Panasonic), Mitsubishi, Pioneer, Thomson, and Time Warner.
The two factions cut a deal, brokered by IBM president Lou Gerstner, on a new format: DVD. Toshiba wound up on top after the dust settled in 1995/1996, and Sony and Philips, who weren't cut in on the standard (and royalties) nearly as much as they'd have liked, immediately started work on a next gen system. The Professional Disc for DATA (aka PDD or ProDATA), which was based on an optical disc system Sony had already been developing in the side, would eventually become the Blu-ray disc. Toshiba, not to be outdone by its rivals Sony and Philips, also started work on a next gen system, the Advanced Optical Disc, which eventually evolved into the HD DVD. But after thirty-five years of optical audio/video disc development we're back where we were years ago: two money-grubbing would-be standards bearers swiping at one another, threatening to wreak havoc on the consumer electronics industry. Apparently history really does repeat itself.So here's the technical nitty gritty before we drop the graphs n' charts on you. Both Blu-ray and HD DVD use the same kind of 405nm wavelength blue-violet laser, but their optics differ in two ways. Since the Blu-ray disc has a tighter track pitch (the single thread of data that spirals from the inside of the disc all the way out -- think: grooves on a 12-inch vinyl single vs. an Elvis Costello full-length album with 40 songs), it can hold more pits -- information -- on the same size disc as HD DVD even with a laser of the same wavelength.The differing track pitch of the Blu-ray disc makes its pickup apertures differ, however -- 0.65 for HD DVD vs. 0.85 for Blu-ray -- thus also making the two pickups technically incompatible despite using the same type of lasers. HD DVD discs also have a different surface layer (the clear plastic layer on the surface of the data -- the part that collects all your fingerprints and scratches) from Blu-ray discs. HD DVD use a 0.6 mm-thick surface layer, the same as DVD, while Blu-ray has a much smaller 0.1mm layer, which enables the laser to focus at that 0.85 aperture.Herein lies the issues associated with the higher cost of Blu-ray discs. This thinner surface layer is what makes the discs cost more; because Blu-ray discs do not share the same surface layer thickness of DVDs, costly production facilities must be modified or replaced in order to produce the discs. A special hard coating (Durabis) must also be applied to Blu-ray discs to ensure they're sufficiently resilient to protect the data that's a mere 0.1mm beneath the surface -- this also drives the cost up. The added benefit of keeping the data layer closer to the surface, however, is more room for extra layers, and way more potential data than HD DVD.Still with us? No? Blu-ray discs are more expensive, but hold more data -- there, that's all.So now that you know why Blu-ray discs cost more and why Sony / Philips and Toshiba are all harshing on one another so much, we can get to the really important stuff: the numbers and who's supporting who.Update (2.15.2008):Obviously a lot's gone down in the past couple of years, specifically with regard to format support. Granted, both Blu and Red have gotten a vast number of bit players to join up as members of their respective consortiums, but content is where it counts, and as of early 2008 HD DVD is officially on the ropes.
[["Blu-Ray", "HD DVD"], ["ROM single layer:ROM dual layer:RW single layer:RW dual layer:Highest test:Theoretical limit:", "23.3 / 25GB46.6 / 50GB23.3 / 25 / 27GB46.6 / 50 / 54GB100GB200GB", "Single layer:Dual layer:--Highest test:Theoretical limit:", "15GB30GB--45GB60GB"]]
[["Blu-Ray", "HD DVD"], ["MPEG-2Microsoft Video Codec 1 (aka VC1, WMV HD, etc.)H.264 / MPEG-4 AVCDolby Digital AC-3, DTS, linear PCMOptional: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD", "MPEG-2Microsoft Video Codec 1 (aka VC1, WMV HD, etc.)H.264 / MPEG-4 AVCDolby Digital AC-3, DTS, linear PCM, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHDOptional: DTS HD"]]
[["Blu-Ray", "HD DVD"], ["Mandatory HDCP encrypted outputROM-Mark watermarking technologyBD+ dynamic crypto (physical layer)Advanced Access Content System (AACS)", "Mandatory HDCP encrypted output (for HD)Volume identifier (physical layer)Advanced Access Content System (AACS)"]]
[["Blu-Ray", "HD DVD"], ["20th Century FoxBuena Vista Home EntertainmentHollywood PicturesLions GateMiramax EntertainmentMGM StudiosNew Line CinemaSony Pictures EntertainmentTouchstone EntertainmentThe Walt Disney CompanyVivendi Universal GamesWarner Bros.", "DreamworksParamount PicturesUniversal Studios"]]
[["Blu-Ray", "HD DVD"], ["BlockbusterNetflixMovie Gallery / Hollywood Video*", "Movie Gallery / Hollywood Video*"]]
[["Blu-Ray", "HD DVD"], ["AmazonBest BuyCircuit CityCostcoK-MartTarget (said to be mostly Blu)Wal-Mart", "AmazonCircuit CityCostcoK-MartTarget"]]
[["Blu-Ray", "HD DVD"], ["Sony CorporationRoyal Philips Electronics", "Toshiba CorporationHitachi Corporation"]]
[["Blu-Ray", "HD DVD"], ["Apple, Inc.Dell, Inc.Hewlett Packard CompanyHitachi, Ltd.LG Electronics Inc.Mitsubishi Electric CorporationPanasonic (Matsushita Electric)Pioneer CorporationRoyal Philips ElectronicsSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.Sharp CorporationSony CorporationSun MicrosystemsTDK CorporationThomsonTwentieth Century FoxWalt Disney Pictures and TelevisionWarner Bros.", "Memory-Tech CorporationNEC CorporationSanyo Electric Co.Toshiba Corporation"]]
[["Blu-Ray", "HD DVD"], ["1K Studios, LLCAcer IncorporatedAdobe SystemsAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc.Allion Test Labs, Inc.Almedio Inc.Alpine Electronics Inc.AlticastAplix CorporationArcSoft, Inc.Arima Devices Corporationashampoo GmbH & Co. KGASV Corp.AudioDev ABAvid Development GmbHB&W GroupB.H.A. CorporationBASF AGBluFocus Inc.Bose CorporationBrickbox Digital MediaBroadcom CorporationCanon Inc.Cheertek Inc.China Hualu Group Co., Ltd.Cinram Manufacturing Inc.CMC Magnetics CorporationCorel CorporationCryptography Research Inc.Custom Technology Inc.CustomFlix Labs, Inc.CyberLink Corp.D&M holdings, Inc.D-Box Technologies Inc.Daewoo Electronics CorporationDaikin Industries, Ltd.DATARIUS Technologies GmbHDaxon Technology Inc.DCA Inc.Deluxe Media Services Inc.Dolby Laboratories Inc.Dr. Schwab Inspection Technology GmbHDreamer Co., Ltd.DTS, Inc.Eclipse Data TechnologiesElpida Memory, Inc.EsmertecExpert Magnetics Corp.Falcon Technologies InternationalFUJIFILM CorporationFujitsu Ltd.Fujitsu Ten Ltd.Funai Electric Co., Ltd.GalleryPlayer Media NetworksGear SoftwareGeneral MembersGibson Guitar Corp.Global Machinery Co., Ltd.Gowell Electronic LimitedHie Electronics, Inc.Hoei Sangyo Co., LtdHorizon Semiconductor.IMAGICA Corp.Imation Corp.Info Source Multi Media Ltd.INFODISC Technology Co., Ltd.Infomedia Inc.Intersil CorporationIwatsu Test InstrumentsKenwood CorporationKobe Steel Co. Ltd.Konica Minolta Opto Inc.Lauda Co. Ltd.Lead Data Inc.LEADER ELECTRONICS CORPLenovoLINTEC CorporationLionsgate EntertainmentLITE-ON IT CorporationMacrovision Corp.Magnum Semiconductor, Inc.MainConcept AGMediaTek Inc.Meridian Audio Ltd.MIT Technology Co., Ltd.Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co.Ltd.Mitsui Chemicals Inc.Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd.Monster Cable ProductsMoser Baer India LimitedMoSys IncorporatedMust Technology Co., Ltd.MX Production ServicesNEC Electronics CorporationNEC Personal Products Ltd.NeroNetflix Inc.Newtech Infosystems Inc.NexWave SolutionsNHK Technical Services, Inc.Nichia CorporationNikkatsu CorporationNTT Electronics CorporationnVidia CorporationOC Oerlikon Balzer AGOmnibus Japan Inc.Onkyo CorporationOnline Media Technologies Ltd.Ono Sokki Co., Ltd.OPT CorporationOptodisc Technology CorporationOrigin Electric Co., Ltd.Osmosys SAPico HousePixela CorporationPlannet AssociatesPoINT Software & Systems GmbHPony Canyon EnterprisePrimera Technology, Inc.Prodisc Technology Inc.Pulstec Industrial Co., Ltd.Q-TEC, Inc.Quanta Storage Inc.Quantized SystemsRealtek SemiconductorsRicoh Co., Ltd.Rimage CorporationRitek CorporationSanyo Electric Co., Ltd.ShibaSoku Co. Ltd.Sigma Designs Inc.Silicon Integrated Systems CorporationSingulus TechnologiesSonic SolutionsSony BMG Music EntertainmentST MicroelectronicsSunextTaiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.,Targray Technology International Inc.TEAC CorporationTeijin Chemicals Ltd.Texas Instruments, Inc.The CanneryTHX Ltd.Toei Video Company Ltd.Toho Company, Ltd.Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.TOPTICA Photonics AGTrailer ParkUmeDisc Ltd.Universal Music Group, Inc.Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.VideACE Inc.Visionare CorporationYamaha CorporationYokogawa Electric CorporationZentek Technology Japan, Inc.ZOOtech Ltd.Zoran Corporation", "Acer Inc.ACSES Co.,Ltd.Ad Seeds Co.,LtdAllion Test Labs, Inc.Almedio Inc.Alpine Electronics, Inc.Altech Ads Co.ArcSoft, IncAudioDev ABB.H.A CorporationBandai Visual Co.BEKO ElektronikBroadcom CorporationCanon Inc.CDN CorporationClariant JapanCMC Magnetics CorporationCorel CorporationCyberLink CorpD&M Holdings Inc.Daikin IndustriesDaiko.co,ltd.Daxon Technology Inc.Dedicated Devices, Inc.DigiOn, Inc.Digital Site CorporationDisc Labo Corp.Dolby Labs, JapanDr. Schwab Inspection Technology GmbHDT Japan, Inc.DTS, Inc.Ebistrade, Inc.Entertainment Network Inc.Exa InternationalExpert Magnetics Corp.Finepack . Co.,LTDFlag,Inc.Fuji Photo Film Co.Fuji Plastic Co.Fuji Seiki Co.Fujitsu Limited.Funai Electric Co.Gear Software, IncGibson Musical InstrumentsGM RecordsHamamatsu Metrix co.,ltd.Hitachi CorporationHitachi Maxell, Ltd.Hoei Sangyo Co.IDE-AVAIMAGICA Corp.Imation CorpInfo Source Multi Media Korea Ltd.Infodisc Technology Co.Intel CorporationItriJp Co., LtdJustsystem CorporationKadokawa Holdings, Inc.Kaleidescape, Inc.Kenwood CorporationKinyosha Printing Co.Konica Minolta Opto, Inc.Lenovo JapanMcRay CorporationMegan Media Holdings BhdMicrosoft CorporationMitomo Co., LtdMitsubishi Kagaku Media Co., Ltd. / VerbatimMitsui Chemicals, Inc.Moser Baer India LtdMPO INTERNATIONALNero AGNetBlender, Inc.NHK Technical Services, INC.Nichia CorporationNihonvtr Inc.Nikkatsu Corporationnixbu Entertainment GmbH & Co. KGOerlikon Japan Co., Ltd.Omnibus JapanOnken CorporationOnkyo CorporationOnline Media Technologies Ltd.Origin Electric Co.Outpost FX (AB) InternationalParamount Home EntertainmentPegasys, Inc.Pico House Co.,LtdPixela CorporationPlasmon OMS SarlPony Canyon Inc.PonyCanyon Enterprise INC.Proboxx, IncProdisc Technology Inc.Protron Digital Inc.Pryaid Records Inc.Pulstec Industrial Co.Q-Tec,Inc.Query incRicoh Co.Ritek CorporationSanken Media Product Co., Ltd.Shibaura Mechatronics CorporationSonic SolutionsSonopress GmbHSumitomo Heavy Industries. LtdSuper Vision, Inc.Taiyo Yuden Co.Teac CorporationTeijin Chemicals Ltd.Toei Video Co.Toemi Media Solutions LimitedToho Company, Limited.tokyo laboratory ltd.Toppan Printing Co.Toptica Photonics AGToyo Recording Co.Transmix Co.Trendy CorporationU-Tech Media Corp.Ulead Systems, Inc.Universal PicturesVap Inc.Visionare CorporationWarner Home Video Inc."]]
Other interesting facts:
• The Nichi Corporation, who holds the design patents to the Blu-ray's laser system, sits as an associate member of the HD DVD Promotion Group.
• Even though Apple sits on the Blu-ray Board of Directors, its DVD Studio Pro software supports authoring HD DVD media.
• Blu-ray, unlike HD DVD, requires a hard coating on its discs because it's 0.5m closer to the surface. The polymer coating it uses, called Durabis, was developed by TDK and is supposedly extremely resilient and fingerprint resistant.
• The Java platform is mandatory on Blu-ray as it's the standard for menus/multimedia (i.e. all Blu-ray systems must support JVM).
• Microsoft, of course, did eventually side with HD DVD -- not surprising, given its number of long-standing IP cross-licensing deals with Toshiba. HD DVD systems continue to run Windows CE.
• The first consumer Blu-ray device in the US market wound up being the Samsung BD-P1000, and not the PlayStation 3 as expected.
Version 1.5, last updated 2.15.2008 |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-20-philips-7ff1aw-digital-photo-display-review.html | 2005-09-20 18:13:00+00:00 | [] | Thomas Ricker | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Philips 7FF1AW Digital Photo Display review | So we managed to get our sweaty mitts on a pre-release of the Philips 7FF1AW Digital Photo Display. Let's just say that having seen more than a fewCeivasin our lifetime has left us a bit, shall we say, jaded about these devices in terms of display quality and design. Well, the press photo certainly looks nice so perhaps there is hope.
Philips' push into the digital photo display arena lends some credence to a market which until now has been ignored by the big boys of display manufacturing. Another sign (as if we needed one) that digital photography has truly gone mainstream. What's driving them? Well, Philips' research claims that a paltry 20% of all digital photos and digital scans of old prints ever get pressed to paper. Oh surprise, there's product to be sold!Now, we know that some of you have a raised-floor data center installed in your house and could alwaysmakeyour owndigital photo display out of discarded laptop components, paper clips, and asparagus. But this product is for the average consumer, not you alpha anthropoids, dig?Out of the box and powered onFirst thing we notice — the packaging is very Apple-like with the actual box inserted into a marketing sleeve. Remove the sleeve and the box opens like a book. We like this attention to detail.
Unpacked, you get the 7-inch display, a universal power supply, a sturdy metal stand, quick start guides in multiple languages, a CD-based user manual, and two USB cables for connecting the display to a digital camera or personal computer.
The overall frame design is aesthetically pure and feels rock solid. The design reminds us of the oldswing-arm iMacdisplay or first generation iPod with its combination white and heavy plastic frame. This is probably not by coincidence given the mad popularity of Jonathan Ive designs.
The display is, unfortunately smaller than we imagined from the press photos and marketing collateral. Guess we fixated too much on those, er "7-inches" which in photography patter would indicate a device for showcasing 5 x 7-inch photos. Oh right, Philips manufactures displays so that measurement is diagonal! Thus the actual LCD is 3.6 x 5.4-inches (9 x 14-centimeters) which is still respectable and in-line with traditional frames you'll find in most homes — just not what we had expected.The stand is (refreshingly) made from highly polished metal and is keyed for idiot-proof connection. However, don't be tempted to use it as a handle for passing the frame around to your friends. The off-center connection is likely to disconnect due to the torque created by the frame — something that nearly happened to us as we passed the unit around for closer inspection.
A toggle of the switch to "on" introduced about 2 seconds of (slightly) unsettling nothingness until the display burst to life with the Philips logo, some information about the viewing mode we were currently in, and then a built-in slideshow splashing lots of (really) happy people across the display with lives far better than our own. The slideshow was an effective demonstration of the superb quality of the display and the built-in transitions (which. looked. a. bit. jerky.). It even pointed out where those media cards go which wasn't immediately obvious when studying the back panel. The LCD quality does, as the marketing claims, easily match that of traditional prints.By the way, it is dead quiet — the device doesn't make a peep.SetupIt took a bit of time to get used to the controls for navigating the Setup menu but the fact the physical control buttons located on the top, back of the display...
...are mirrored positionally with their functional icons on the front of the display was very helpful indeed.
All the options we would seem to need are available: language selection; brightness; slideshow orientation (portrait or landscape), frequency (options to change photos every 5 seconds or as infrequent as once per day — with lots of choice in between), transition effect and order of photos displayed; and time functions for turning the frame off automatically or adjusting nighttime (hard coded as 6pm to 6am)brightness. It's a shame the frame doesn't simply auto-sense ambient light conditions and then adjust itself accordingly. The frame can display photos in one of three view modes with a press of the Switch View button: the automatic Slideshow mode we already saw when we powered the unit up, the Browse mode which allows for manual viewing and management of photos one-by-one, and the Thumbnail mode which shows 8 photos at a time.
This is the mode we found most useful (although most sluggish) for managing (adding, excluding, deleting) photos from the slideshow. While we're suckers for the nice graphical transition the selection window makes as it travels between photos in the Thumbnail mode, we'd sacrifice it for some speed improvement, dig? We also noted the occasional delay in response to button presses — this can get a bit annoying especially after you master the navigation and want to zip between options. Thankfully, an audible feedback follows each successful button press letting us know when patience was in order.Finally, we were a bit surprised after rotating a picture in Thumbnail mode only to find it back in its original position in Browse mode. At least the slideshow obediently observed our command. Perhaps this is by design, after-all there's some serious cropping action performed when displaying a portrait photo in landscape view or vice versa. Regardless, it caught us off guard and we can't find this "feature" documented.DisplayThis is certainly the most important feature of any digital photo display and Philips did not skimp on quality. The 5.4 x 3.6-inch (14 x 9 cm), 133ppi (720 x 480) high-resolution 16-bit display with a brightness adjustable up to 200 nits is just stellar. Visibility and brightness even at the most extreme of angles and ambient lighting conditions was very impressive.The display is rated at 20,000 hours at 50% brightness which means trouble in a bit less than three years — make that four by taking advantage of the auto off-and-on capabilities to shut the display off over night. It should be noted that photo displays like Vialta'sVistaFrameoffer motion sensing capabilities to put the display to sleep after an hour of stillness presumably extending the life of the display. This seems like a pretty good idea to us.
And if you're a stalker, you'll be stoked with Philips' claims that the LCD can display the same photo for 1,000 hours continuously without any damage to the display.Memory cardsThe Philips Digital Photo Display supports SD, MMC, Memory Stick and CompactFlash memory cards. We inserted our 1GB SanDisk SD card and up came our photos in Thumbnail mode — fast! The card was initially loaded with just twenty or so 2.2MB photos shot at 2560 x 1920 with our 5-megapixel camera.
Even loading the card down with 250 photos did not impact performance a bit — impressive. Fortunately, if you press-and-hold the keys corresponding to the Preview/Left or Next/Right you get the equivalent of a page up/down mode which is an absolute requirement when working with high-capacity memory cards containing hundreds of snaps. However, this functionality wasn't immediately obvious to us nor was it documented in the Quick Start Guide. In Thumbnail mode, each 8-photo page took about 4 seconds to refresh — in other words, it took us an uncomfortable minute to scroll to the furthest (125th) photo. We'd rate that performance as sluggish.Removing the card quickly sent the device right back to the internal memory store. In fact, popping the SD card in-and-out as quick as we could for about 5 seconds all Walt-Mossberg-like did not cause any problems at all — the frame neatly sorted itself out when all the nonsense stopped.
Copying photos to the display's internal storage was equally zippy taking just a couple of seconds. Pretty good when you consider that not only are the bits moving between media but they are also being scaled to an optimum storage-space-to-screen-resolution ratio before copying. Fortunately, you can select multiple photos on your memory card and then copy them all over in one fell swoop with a bit of a performance gain — nicely done Philips. Likewise, you can select and then delete multiple photos from internal memory as well. Fortunately, you can't delete photos from the memory card.
Importantly, we didn't notice any difference in performance whether running the slideshow off the card or the internal memory.
Copying files from a Mac and PCYes, you can do this but as Philips states (and for good reason) "it is highly recommended to put the photos on a memory card and copy the photos to Photo display from that memory card." In fact, they don't even describe the procedure in the Quick Start Guide — these details are included in the user manual stored on the included CD. Note: the CD is PC friendly with it's autolaunch feature but Mac users will have to navigate the folder hierarchy and find the temp_Index.htm file for viewing the user manual — most Mac owners will never find it.
We gave it a go anyway just to see what would happen. First thing we noticed — there is only 12MB of internal memory! Simmer down folks 'cause it's enough to store 50 to 80 photos at the appropriate resolution for the display. This optimization occurs automatically if you copy your photos off a memory card or into the root of the Internal memory. However, being the digital whiz kids we are, we instinctively copied our 2.2MB JPEGs to the /DCIM/100FRAME directory — bad decision. Although the display presented the photos just fine on the screen, we squashed the internal memory after copying just 4 photos and these photos were not tagged for automatic inclusion in the slideshow. NOTE: Philips assures us they are working on a firmware release that will resize photos copied into the DCIM directory and then tags them for inclusion in the slideshow.
After Philips set us straight we tried again, this time copying the photos to the root of the internal display. We then disconnected the USB cable and voila, the photo optimization began — a process which moves the resized photos into the /DCIM/100FRAME directory and then deletes the originals from the root directory (not your personal computer). The display provides some high level information about the copy process underway and once complete, the photo display comes up in Thumbnail mode with the new photos tagged for inclusion in the slideshow. Ok, but as you may have already guessed, that 12MB of internal memory still limits us to copying four or five photos at a time — something that would have thrown us into convulsive fits of despair had we continued to the estimated 80 (optimized) photo limit.
So save yourself some trauma and just populate a memory card with the photos you want to display. Afterall, if you're in the market for a digital photo display you more than likely have at least one or two old cards lying around just screaming for action.
It's worthwhile mentioning that the Philips display also boasts the ability to copy photos directly off cameras which support direct playback — i.e, a mass storage mode. Our Casio EX-Z55 was set to this mode yet connecting it and then putting the camera in "play" mode resulted in a nearly audible yawn from the display — i.e., it did not recognize the camera and continued playing the slide show unaffected. This was not a feature we were likely to use anyway so we didn't spend any time trying to sort out the issue. A list of compatible cameras could not be found.
Philips also claims that you can connect two of their Digital Photo Displays and copy photos as you would from a memory card. We could not test this as we only had the one display.
BatteryThe battery is rated at 50 minutes of operation and is meant to enable owners to pass around the Digital Photo Display and share their pictures amongst a group of family, friends or colleagues. Our first test gave us about 80 minutes on a full charge. After charging it overnight, we unplugged the power again but this time the device flashed a "low battery" message and simply shut off. So we plugged the power in again until the display came to life and then removed it again — hmmm, things seemed ok. So we took a peak at the Status off the Setup menu which indicated a battery level of 56% charged, no wait 76, er 81... what is going on here!? Nevertheless, the slideshow chugged along for nearly 60 minutes on the battery alone. Then again, after an overnight charging (we thought) we disconnected the power cable and saw yet another "low battery" message before the display shut off. This time, we could not resurrect it on battery alone. A third test after a further 12 hour charge worked fine giving us about 70 minutes of on-battery display life. A fifth test failed after charging for 5 hours. There's something goofy here.
PricePhilips tells us to expect to see their digital photo display hit the shelves globally this month or next at a price between €199 and €229 ($243-269US) depending upon where you live.
A froogle on "photo display digital" gives you an idea who Philips is up against with this offering — tech giants like Svat, MemoryFrame, Vialta, and the yawntastic designs of Pacific Digital. The product that looks the closest to Philips in terms of design, size, and features is the Vialta Vistaframe. Like Philips' offering, it features a contemporary design and roughly the same screen size. However, the 384 x 234 resolution is about half that of the Philips frame, it lacks a battery, and can only hold 8 photos in internal memory. Yet it still sells for about $200US (€163). Philips philosophy here is that if you're in the market for a digital photo display, then quality of the LCD is utmost important. We tend to agree and are willing to pay for that.
What about Ceiva you ask? Sure, you can get a homely (we mean Gertrude McFuzz homely!) looking low-res Ceiva frame for $70 (after $50 rebate, which you'll never send in) plus another $100 per year for the subscription service. But this isn't targeting Ceiva owners. This is for people who actually own a digital camera and want to get those photos off the hard drive and onto the mantel — no provider required.
OtherThis is not a networked solution so don't fantasize about remotely updating photos via a built-in WiFi connection (a laWallflower) or modem-based subscription service all Ceiva-like, k? Philips kept it simple — an approach we agree with especially for a first offering. Having said that, we still dream of the day when we can remotely update grandma's digital photo frame via the Internet without a subscription. Philips, are you listening?
ConclusionPhilips' fledgling foray yields a digital photo display offering outstanding display quality and a swank, intuitive solution for getting those digital photos off your PC and into the living room.
Sure, as angst ridden hacks we always have a few gripes. The inclusion of some auto-sensing (instead of manual) brightness controls based on the ambient lighting conditions and a motion sensing sleep mode to extend the life of the display would be nice-to-haves. And while we're at it, how about a bump in performance to make slideshow transitions smoother and give some pep to the navigation of all those photos on our high-capacity memory cards. The battery exhibited some buggy behavior and the ability to copy files directly from your PC or Mac to the display's internal memory is almost pointless given the paltry 12MB available. And why in the world isn't there a simple hole for hanging this on the wall!? None of these, however, are serious enough to warrant a verbal slagging and do not interfere with the usability or superb quality of the display — and that's what counts in a digital photo display, dig?
Also, for $250 we'd like to see a bigger display. Then again, we'd also like to see the Road Runner give up the ghost in a messy coyote-induced ACME rocket blast — some things are tasty enough to warrant patience and these prices are certain to drop along with LCD prices in general. Regardless, the Philips unit seems priced appropriately compared to the specs of their competition.
Bottom line:If you're in the market for a digital photo display, then this is the new benchmark by which you should measure all other products. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-20-steve-jobs-says-no-bluetooth-ipod-for-now.html | 2005-09-21 01:07:13+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Steve Jobs says no Bluetooth iPod…for now | We know we're not the only ones who have been quietly clamoring for aBluetooth-enabled iPod, but it looks like we're going to have to keep dreaming — in yet another statement to the press at the big Apple Expo in Paris today, Steve Jobs trashed the idea of a Bluetooth iPod, saying that,
The problem with Bluetooth headphones is that it's not just recharging your iPod, you have to recharge your headphones too. People hate it. There are quality issues - the bandwidth isn't high enough, and even if it does get there some day, people don't want to recharge their headphones.
He's dead wrong about the bandwidth issues — Bluetooth 2.0 most definitely has the necessary bandwidth for crystal clear stereo audio, but we'll concede that having yet another gadget to charge can be annoying, even though hundreds of thousands of people who use Bluetooth wireless headsets with their cellphones every day have somehow managed to get over that issue. Anyway, you know how Steve is, once he's made up his mind about something that's it….until he announces at Macworld that he's changed his mind.
[ViaSlashdot] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-21-nokia-crosses-one-billion-mark.html | 2005-09-21 17:40:51+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Nokia crosses one-billion mark | Remember thosecontests Apple heldto mark various iTunes download milestones? In the most recent version, the customer who bought the half-billionth song got 10 iPods, 10,000 free songs and tickets to see Coldplay. So, what did Nokia's billionth customer get for buying a Nokia 1100 phone for about $60? Not even a mention by name in the company's press release touting the purchase (hey, at least he got one of the company's cheapest, most basic phones). According to Nokia, the company sold its billionth phone to a customer in Nigeria, one of the 2 billion cellphone users worldwide, we hear. (And no, that doesn't give them a 50% market share.) But Nokia does hope to have as many as 3 billion customers by 2010; maybe by then the company will be ready to throw a bone to the customer who helps them cross the next threshold. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-26-archos-av500-reviewed.html | 2005-09-26 11:30:00+00:00 | [] | Thomas Ricker | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Archos AV500 reviewed | A hands-on review of theArchos AV500has been posted (in French) to the generationmp3 forum by Edrysark. Lots of pr0n and a few side-by-side shots with the iRiver H320, Archos Gmini 402, and PSP. The author likes the "very luminous" 4-inch screen, industrial design, and finds the ability to record broadcast television "simple" and even offers up a video made by the device fordownload. On the flip side, the included headphones are a bit shabby and there are some problems with DivX playback which he is confident Archos will sort out in future firmware releases. Bottom line: this is the best PMP available until the author gets his hands on theZen Vision. He's probably right. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-26-forbes-xbox-lost-microsoft-4-billion-and-counting.html | 2005-09-27 01:15:45+00:00 | [] | Vladimir Cole | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Forbes: Xbox lost Microsoft $4 billion (and counting) | Forbes takes stock of Microsoft and asks what the behemoth is gonna do about some of its woes. The biggest problem facing Microsoft is its size. At 60,000 employees and $40 billion in revenues, the company isn't as nimble as it once was, and newer products are not yet earning the company much money. The Xbox division in particular has lost Microsoft $4 billion in four years according to Forbes.
Forbes also says that the Xbox division isn't yet in the black, butwe've seen evidence to the contrary. Well, one thing's for sure, the launch of the Xbox 360 is going to cost Microsoft dearly. If the Xbox division managed to eke out a profit in a previous quarter, it's certainly not in the black now, what with the cost ofhiring fly booth babesand all. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-27-pop-station-video-review.html | 2005-09-27 13:00:24+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | POP Station video review | Here's a quick hands on video review of thePOP Stationfor all of you fence sitters out there still trying to decide between thePSPand this shiny knockoff. Go for a view and stay for the snarky comments; the sarcasm is tangabile as the narrator goes over the POP Station's "features". The man in this clip could very well be our next great celebrity nerd ala Andy Milonakis. Guess we'll just have to wait for a showdown involving scathing British sarcasm VS. juvenile interview techniques. There can be only one.[Thanks,Simon,Joystiq] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-27-perfect-dark-scaled-down-to-meet-launch-deadline.html | 2005-09-27 17:00:53+00:00 | [] | James Ransom-Wiley | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Perfect Dark scaled down to meet launch deadline | Rare has been forced to make some last minute cuts to ensure thatPerfect Dark Zerowill be at the forefront of the Xbox 360 launch. Initially, Rare had promised 50-player online multiplayer capabilities; that number has been scaled back to 32, which is still twice the number of standard, current generation titles on Xbox Live. In addition, the DataDyne TV mode was scrapped; a feature that would have allowed players to watch and upload multiplayer matches.
However, Rare has suggested that these cutbacks may be implemented via an Xbox Live download at a later date. No word yet on whether or not this download would cost money. But having to pay extra to enjoy the features we've been looking forward to all along would make for some unhappy gamers. Seriously. Unhappy. Gamers.[Thanks,JamesO] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-09-28-more-to-the-origen-xbox-360-site-than-meets-the-eye.html | 2005-09-28 14:30:00+00:00 | [] | Dan Choi | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | More to the Origen Xbox 360 site than meets the eye? | TeamXbox dug into the Origen Xbox 360 code the other day and discoveredsome interesting secretsnot yet revealed onMicrosoft's curious site, including some of the additional ways to win spots at the Origen 360 launch party, as well as a $10,000 gaming rig which may or may not be the fabled Origen treasure.As each pair of ripening fruit will apparently coincide with a new round of competition for a pair of places at the Origen party, the first round naturally belongs to the question-and-answer folks from Europe who've been eligible to enter so far. Still restricted to select members of the EU, the second round belongs to creative (and prescient?) rumormongers, while the third goes to the top partners on the Halo 2 Double Team leader board. The gaming rig comes next, but the seventh and eighth pieces of fruit may have remained unaccounted for.So what do those MS marketing managers still have up their sleeves? Judging bygamer comments so far, we hope they've saved the best for last (for Microsoft's sake).[Thanks,Jez] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-10-04-an-interview-with-unity-ceo.html | 2005-10-04 12:00:16+00:00 | [] | Victor Agreda Jr | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | An interview with Unity's David Helgason | As I've mentioned before,Unityis a Mac-only game development platform. You can read the full feature listhere, but I have to point out this is a powerful tool. Seriously, there is nothing but time and energy (and a few bills, granted) from stopping someone using Unity to create the next big game out there. Or the next little game, since you can create those nifty widget games...Anyway, Unity fanboy that I am, the CEO of OverTheEdge, David Helgason, was nice enough to answer some of my questions. Yes, I read the FAQ first. Read the full interview after the jump.
Q:Give me a little background on the genesis of Unity. What were the motivations, aspirations, etc.A:Well, first of all there were no development tools available for the Mac, the platform of choice for so many creative people. And on the PC you have a lot of geek-type engines which given enough patience, can be made to work. And then tools which are so outrageously expensive as to be out of reach of all but the big companies.Then we looked at the best creative software out there: Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, that kind of apps. They don't make you beg and bow to get something to work. For a few hundred dollars you get a cohesive experience, a well thought out interface and documented workflows."We can do that," we said. And did.Q:How would you characterize developing ON the Mac platform? Do youuse XCode? And related, but different, how would you characterize developing FOR the Mac platform? Are Mac users good software citizens?A:The Mac is a great development environment. In fact it's so good that for a company like ours that does cross-platform solutions it's important to not be tempted by the many cool technologies. At the end of the day, cross-platform is a lowest-common-denominator thing. And without cross-platform capabilities, it doesn't matter how cool your technology is.As for Mac users? What a creative bunch! And helpful. And funny. Well, at least the people I know are.Q:I see theParsons Schoolis using Unity. Do you plan to encourage more educational institutions to use Unity?A:Game design education is the fastest growing curricular area at the moment. All these schools are looking for tools for their students to work with. Some are using Flash, which makes it possible to whip up stuff in a few hours. Some are modding published games. Others work with industrial engines like Renderware in an attempt to recreate the "real-life" game development situation.Unity bridges that gap wonderfully. The "prototype in an afternoon" that you get with Flash, combined with the high-end technology. All in one system, and without the technical hassles of other high-end engines.Students can start playing around with small projects and ideas, and then develop them into exam projects. They can work in teams using our collaboration tools, and underway share their progress by "publishing" the game to a course website (or wherever).These schools are excited becauses Unity is so easy to get started with and allows them to go wild trying out ideas. We like them because we love to see what these dedicated kids with time on their hands come up with. It's inspiring.Q:I see on Nich's blog that you're using Cg instead of GLSL. I also see the PS3 will be using Cg. There are also rumors the PS3 can run OS X (which I don't really believe). What I'm getting to is this: would you ever consider making Unity capable of creating console games? (Like, say, for the Pippin? Haha)A:Very much. The PS3 is an incredible piece of hardware, and early research shows that porting the Unity runtime (the engine itself) to PS3 would be surprisingly easy.We have our eyes trained on developments in this area. If it's viable, we'll do it.Q:What is your perception of the Mac gamer market, and how do you think it will change in the next couple of years?A:Just like other areas of gaming, casual is going big. We hope that Mac users will keep being receptive to games that aren't just rehashes of last years crop.Q:How is the switch to Intel impacting your plans?We don't think it's much of an issue. People rave and argue and whine, but at the end of a the day it's just a processor. And it's going to have better energy/performance ratio. Well, great.
Q:How has the response to GooBall been?A:GooBall got good reviews and a huge number of downloads. And it forever and ever stays on the "Most Popular" list at Macgamefiles.com. It's been a huge success for us, one that we had never foreseen.It's a warm fuzzy feeling when kids can't be pried the computer because they're so excited about GooBall.And that fact that it acts as a perfect showcase for Unity isn't all bad either.Q:Any plans for Linux?A:No. Not that we don't want to, but there's so many other cool things that come first that I honestly don't know when we should find the time for it.Q:What's the minimum a person should know before using Unity? I see support for JavaScript. Seems like that and some 3D ability would get someone off the ground pretty quickly...A:People who're used to working with 3D modelling apps pick up Unity very quickly. Flash and Director people pick it up quickly. Programmers with some bearing of 3D pick it up quickly.Those people come to Unity from different angles. People who've never done 3D modelling start off with our demo models, then go on to either learn how to model or find models on the net.People who have no grounding in scripting, read and learn from the excellent scripting tutorial that David Janick-Jones of WidgetMonkeys.com donated to the community. It can be found here:http://otee.dk/documentation.html.I think the unmissable "skill" is the drive to create. If you have that drive, Unity will give you back thousandfold.
Q:People seem to immediately try and compare Unity to Torque. Set them straight. What are the three biggest differences?A:Fair enough. Both are game engines. Both are cross platform. That's also pretty pretty much where the comparison ends.Since you only ask for three differences, let's go for the meat of the matter:1. Unity uses the next-generation Novodex physics engine to ensure fast and powerful interaction. In Torque you need to animate all movements, with Unity you get a lot of lifelike interaction for free. And itlooks coolas well...2. Unity has a very powerful graphics engine, where all object rendering is controlled by shader scripts, correctly interacting with dynamic lighting. Out of the box we support the full Unreal3 displacement bump mapping - and you can script you way further. Basically, our users' games don't look 3 years old.3. Maybe comparison is a bit silly in the first place. Torque is big because it was the only solution available for a long time. Unity is the Final Cut Pro of game development. Easy to learn, efficient in use, powerful.Unity has a learning curve of a few hours. Even Torque's evangelist admitted that the learning curve for Torque is "months". In the just three months Unity has been on the market there's already been created a bunch of small Unity-made games out (needless to say, no one had time to do a big game yet). Plus of course GooBall.Torque has been out for years and years and has a huge userbase. Yet only a handful of games have been made with it???David Helgason,Co-founder and CEO,OverTheEdge I/S (http://otee.dk) |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-10-04-gateways-fpd2185w-21-inch-widescreen-lcd.html | 2005-10-04 21:05:00+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Gateway's FPD2185W 21-inch widescreen LCD | The official announcement isn't until Thursday, but a few stores have quietly started selling the FPD2185W, Gateway's brand new 21-inch, 1680 x 1050 widescreen LCD monitor. They're pricing this one at $599 — which means they're more or less going after the2005fpw, Dell's much-loved 20-inch LCD. And even though the FPD2185W doesn't quite have the edge in price (if you dig around you can find a 2005fpw for way less than $599; Ryan paid $345 for his), it does have at least one major advantage over the competition — it just happens to be one of the first LCD monitors to supportHDCP, or High Definition Copy Protocol. HDCP is the embodiment of lameness, but at least having a compatible display means that you won't have an obsolete LCD on your hands when Windows Vista arrives or when all this next-gen high-def gear starts showing up in stores and you want to watch a movie on a protected high-def Blu-ray discs or HD DVD (Stephen Speicher explains it all pretty wellhere). Anyway, the FPD2185W also has a integrated Faroudja chip for enhanced video processing, a built-in 4 port USB hub, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, 178 degree viewing angle (both vertical and horizontal), and an 8ms pixel response time. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-10-05-litter-robot-automated-kitty-litter-cleaner.html | 2005-10-05 12:00:38+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Litter-Robot automated kitty litter cleaner | We all know the future isn't really about technology; in the end it's all about spandex,automation, white bulbous plastic, and a few whooshing noises here or there. Well, along those lines we have the Litter-Robot, an automated litter sifter that disposes of the "clumps" 7 minutes after your cat does its business and leaves. It works by rotating the round part of the unit until everything is separated by the sifting screen, allowing thecolored golf ballskitty doo-doo to land nice and neat into a garbage bag that sits in a drawer in the bottom, leaving thekittylitter clean and you labor free. We just hope your cat doesn't fall prey to the belief that her litter box could turn into a swirling vortex of doom at any time and end up avoiding the place altogether. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-10-05-china-developing-incompatible-version-of-hd-dvd.html | 2005-10-05 13:40:52+00:00 | [] | Thomas Ricker | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | China developing incompatible version of HD DVD | As if the money grubbing battle 'tweenHD DVD and Blu-raywasn't enough to shake the collective will of the sofa ridin' set, now China is weighing in with their own official standard based on, but incompatible with, HD DVD. So what, you might be tempted to twitter. Well, keep in mind that China produces somewhere around 80 percent of all the world's DVD players and these manufacturers must pay licensing fees (estimated to be 40 percent of the total cost for each player) to foreign patent owners. Could this formidable foe bring some unity to the HD DVD and Blu-ray camps who risk losing all? Nah doubt it, both camps should be firmly entrenched with product by the time the Chinese standard hits the market in 2008. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-10-05-brightside-hdr-preview.html | 2005-10-05 14:03:02+00:00 | [] | Richard Lawler·Senior News Editor | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | When you won't be able to tell HDTV from real life: Brightside HDR preview | No matter how much you spent on your HDTV, or what amazing Apple Cinema display you are reading this post on, Brightside Technology thinks you haven't seen anything yet. Aswe reported earlier, they are taking LCD's and displays in general to the next step, by producing greater contrast ratios (200k:1), which will increase the quality of the picture we get from all currently available displays.HDR lighting is quickly becoming all the rage in games, it was used to create the realistic screenshot you see here, and also in Half Life 2: The Lost Coast, andProject Gotham 3. No matter what system or graphics card however, even the best CRT screens are not capable of displaying light throughout the full range your eyes can see, but an HDR display will. Even the1,000,000:1 display ratio LCDthat was recently announced can at it's maximum only get 1/8th as bright as their HDR display.They say by combining their technology with all the moneyinvested in LCD production already, we will have affordable HDR displays within a couple years. Click the link and see what Bit-tech has to say about theirpeek at the future.[ThanksJoefor the link] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-10-06-is-paperdoll-heaven-kid-friendly.html | 2005-10-06 16:30:51+00:00 | [] | James Ransom-Wiley | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Is Paperdoll Heaven kid-friendly? | Getting caught playing digital dress-up with the Olsen twins is a sure-bet way for me to wind up sleeping on the couch tonight, but what if you catch your kids playing?
Paperdoll Heavenmight feature racy versions of celebs, which you might prefer your kids avoid (at least until they're older), but, according to one concerned parent, it also promotes an unhealthy body image—not to mention, the "cult of celebrity." The site is comprised of a who's who of who youshouldknow and offers "digital celebrity models [with] killer cleavage & single-digit body fat." The question Dan poses is: "Is the fun [my daughter] clearly has playing Paperdoll Heaven worth the possibility of the development of an unrealistic body image down the line?" |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-10-12-apples-front-row-and-apple-remote.html | 2005-10-12 18:40:28+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Apple's Front Row and Apple Remote | Yeah, not as big as a newvideo iPod, but Stevie did announce the new Apple Remote, as well as Front Row, a new Mac user interface for navigating your media collection (music, photos, videos, and DVDs) from a distance (like from yer couch, you lazy bastard). The Apple Remote looks a lot like the iPod shuffle, doesn't it? Click on for more images of both Front Row and the Remote. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-10-18-atari-game-sells-for-2-000-on-ebay.html | 2005-10-18 12:00:00+00:00 | [] | Conrad Quilty-Harper | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Atari game sells for $2,000 on eBay | An Atari game cartridge calledPepsi Invadershas sold for $1,825 on eBay. According to Atari Age, Coca Cola commissioned this game to be given to its Atlanta employees. The gameplay is the same as the classic game,Space Invaders, but with the letters "P E P S I" in the place of the alien invaders. The auction's owner bought the game with a bunch of others in a flea market ten years ago, only now realising its value.
The value of rare games and consoles is hard to judge, especially since the majority of retro games are easily emulated on modern day PCs and consoles. It's hard to say what makes people pay so much for games that were created relatively recently, in comparison with antiques and other collectibles. Its certainly not the ability to be able to play the game itself. No self respecting collector would actually play a game more than two decades old, for fear of breaking part of their collection.
If a gamer has some sense of nostalgia about a game, it's not hard to go and find an emulator that will play the game. So does games culture really need game collectors? Wouldn't this $2,000 have made a much more positive impact if it was donated to a special cause or charity? With the internet making games and their emulators easily accessible, it's hard to understand why we crave material packaging for what is essentially non-physical software.
[Viadigg] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-10-18-get-fat-with-ds-wireless-eh.html | 2005-10-19 03:45:00+00:00 | [] | Alan Rose | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Get Fat with DS wireless, eh? | Beer. Hockey. Maple leaves. Rush. Our friends to the north can now add Nintendo DS wireless service to their list of impressive accomplishments. WiFi service provider FatPort is partnering with Nintendo of Canada to supply free DS hot spots at some of the country's trendiest hangouts including Joey Tomato's, Earls, White Spot, Bread Garden, and Boston Pizza (no Molson factory?). I've never heard of these places either, but it gets pretty damn cold up there and people need warm places to hang out, so let's just put two and two together. And how come we don't have a Boston Pizza in Boston??
[Thanks, Vance] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-10-26-xbox-live-marketplace-points-80-per-usd.html | 2005-10-26 17:15:06+00:00 | [] | Vladimir Cole | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Xbox Live marketplace points: 80 per USD | Online retailers are now taking pre-orders on "Xbox 360 Live Marketplace Points." 1600 points will cost $20 USD, which works out to an exchange rate of 80 points per dollar. Points will be used to purchase items in the Xbox Live Marketplace, including (but certainly not limited to) decals, special rims, and other image-enhancers for your racing cars; clothing for your avatars;additional episodes or levels for a game that you already own, and maybe even special swords and armor for your RPG characters. Heck, you might one day be able to skip that whole "grind" thing and purchase a tricked-out level 60 character in the Xbox 360 version of World of Warcraft (merely rumored at this point, but surely under consideration). Most of these items are expected to cost well under a dollar, which is why they're commonly called "microtransactions."
In short, companies are going to do their best to extract additional money out of gamers. They argue that they're providing fun new ways for gamers to interact with their content, so why shouldn't they charge for that? Gamers might argue that the $50- to $60-dollar price on most games is payment enough. No matter: add-on transactions via the Xbox Live Marketplace will be here in under a month.
On November 22nd, games will move much closer to the "software-as-service" model that the traditional software industry has been advocating for a decade and that MMOG makers have down to a science. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-01-how-to-get-tv-shows-off-of-windows-mce-and-onto-your-ipod.html | 2005-11-01 20:50:46+00:00 | [] | Dave Zatz | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | How-To: Get TV shows off of Windows MCE and onto your iPod (with video) | Apple may havesold a million videos, but if you're running Windows Media Center Edition you're sitting on a gold mine of free content. The good news for MCE users? It's ridiculously simple to move your content onto a video-capable iPod.
Videora iPod Converteris my current tool of choice for massaging video into an iPod-friendly format. Like many conversion applications you'll encounter, free or otherwise, Videora simplifies the process by providing a front-end for the command lineffmpeg. Videora iPod Converter and her older brotherPSP Video 9are good choices because they've canned common settings, offer batch conversions, and cost exactly zero dollars.
1.Launch Videora iPod Converter
2.Setup Videora iPod ConverterThe first time you launch Videora iPod Converter, you?ll want to verify your conversion settings and modify the location where it will drop you output files.
1. Click Setup
2. Click Settings tab
3. VerifyOne-Click Profileis MPEG-4/320x240/768kbp Stereo/128kbps
4. Click Browse button to the right ofOutput Videos to:
5. Choose a more convenient folder, such asMy Documents\My Videos, and click OK
3.Convert Video
1. Click Convert
2. Click One-Click Transcode
3. Browse to yourRecorded TVfolder and double-click the show you want to prepare
4.Load iTunes and Sync
1. Launch iTunes
2. Click File > Add File to Library
3. Browse to and double-click your show
4. Click Videos to see that your show has arrived
5. Sync and go!
The video-capable iPod supports MPEG-4 video resolution up to 480x480 though the screen is limited to displaying 320x240. As you poke around Videora iPod Converter you?ll notice a variety of encoding options, but given the iPod?s capabilities and drive space the default settings are sufficient. What youwillwant to explore in Videora iPod Converter is the ability to queue multiple show for conversion. For example instead of buying those five episodes of Lost, repeat step 3c. using your freely recorded copies until all episodes appear in the Transcoding Queue. When you get back from dinner, season 2 of Lost will be ready for syncing.
Before the QuickTime Pro comments roll in, let me state Apple?s QTP ($30) does include an option for creating iPod compliant files but it does not natively support MPEG-2 derivatives such as DVR-MS files. They?re peddling aMPEG-2 add-on($20) though it does not support all MPEG streams ? purchase and use at your own risk.
Addendum:
While Videora works great for many source file formats, it seems ffmpeg is unable to properly capture the audio track from DVR-MS content. Meaning, we?ll need an additional software tool to perform the transcoding or to provide an intermediary conversion prior to running shows through Videora. Using another application may make preparation more costly and less efficient; however you?ll have the additional functionality of editing out commercials and stringing shows together if you so choose. ArcSoft Showbiz DVD and Nero are examples are more full featured video editing and conversion software tools that can handle DVR-MS files. In fact, both Nero Recode and NeroVision Express transcode directly into MPEG-4 files. Though these are commercial apps, they?re often bundled with CD/DVD drives and computers.
The directions for file conversion via NeroVision Express are as follows:
1. Launch NeroVision Express
2. Click Make a Movie
3. Click the magnifying glass icon, then click Browse and Add to Project
4. (if you choose, edit out commercials and/or add additional episodes here)
5. Click Export button
6. Choose Export Template Nero Digital, Profile Memory Stick Video (PSP compatible), LC AAC CBR ? 64 kbit/s
7. Click the ellipse button to specify output file name and location
8. Click Export button |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-01-harvest-moon-enters-the-online-world.html | 2005-11-02 00:00:30+00:00 | [] | Ross Miller·Associate Editor | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Harvest Moon enters the online world | While sure to spark some speculation, Marvelous Interactive, while not too giving on details just yet, announced that they will releaseHarvest Moon Onlineon a next-generation platform in 2006. Nothing else is mentioned, including to what extent of it will be online and for what platform (Xbox 360, Revolution, PlayStation 3). Producer Yoshifumi Hashimoto commented that he has never worked on an online title, so it should be interesting.Could it be an MMO in the vein of the original Harvest Moon series? Could we visit our friend's farms, steal their chickens or destroy their crops? The devious possibilities seem endless… |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-02-nokias-n71-n80-and-n92-media-phones.html | 2005-11-02 13:30:36+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Nokia's N71, N80, and N92 media phones | Introducing Nokia's sweet newN-Seriesmedia convergence phones, we have, from the left, the N71, N80, and the N92. And Nokia isn't kidding around with these 3G Series 60 phones, no sir, they're busting out the WiFi for the N80 and N92, a 3 megapixel camera in the N80, decent music support in the N71,DVB-Hfor the N92, and QVGA or greater resolution displays in all three phones. Both the N71 and N80 should be available Q1 2006, with the N92 following in the middle of the year. They're priced at 400, 500, and 600 Euro (US$490, $610, and $730) respectively, and we've got all the juicy specs, along with more pictures, after the jump.
Starting with the music centric N71, we?re looking at a clamshell with a 2 megapixel camera, along with a second cam for video calls. As far as music playback goes, the phone has a 5-band equalizer, an FM tuner, and support for MP3, AAC, eAAC+, and WMA formats. Sadly there is an unimpressive 10MB of included memory, but it is expandable via miniSD. They also include Bluetooth and USB2.0 for hookups, and there is a 240 x 320 display, along with some external screen action.
The N80 goes for the pixels with a 352 x 416 screen and a 3 megapixel camera. We saw some pics last month and it looks like they were spot on: it is a slider, Nokia?s first smartphone in such a form factor. There is an extra camera for video calls, but sadly all these pictures and videos won?t have much of a home with the 40MB of included memory. Luckily you can upgrade with a miniSD card, or spend your time juggling files with the included USB 2.0, Bluetooth, or WiFi, but some more internal storage would?ve been nice. This guy is also quad band GSM and supports EDGE, so it looks like we just might be seeing it Stateside.
Finally, we have the Nokia N92, which has support for DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting ? Handhelds), along with any streams you might catch with the snazz 3G connection. It?s a dual folder, similar to the SamsungD307, giving you a nice landscape orientation for video viewing on the 2.8-inch, 16 million color, 320 x 240 display. There are once again two cameras available for your snapping pleasure, with 2 megapixels in the high-res one. There is also 802.11g WiFi and the usual Bluetooth and USB 2.0, along with 90MB of storage, expandable through miniSD. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-04-wow-online-funeral-commemorates-death-of-young-gamer.html | 2005-11-04 05:05:00+00:00 | [] | Alan Rose | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | WoW online funeral commemorates death of young gamer | Another tragedy from the virtual battlefields. During China's week-long National Day holiday last month, a young girl died after playingWorld of Warcraftfor several consecutive days. Her nickname was "Snowy" (perhaps inspired by Maggie Cheung's tragic character in Hero?) and her passing was acknowledged in an online funeral service by fellowWoWgamers. A young South Korean boy met thesame fateback in August and there have been other instances of online game addiction resulting in exhaustion, bodily neglect, and death.
While Chinese gamers haveprotestedtheir government's plan to limit online gaming to three-hour intervals starting next year, this most recent tragedy helps make the case for some kind of regulation. It also raises issues of responsibility, both at the individual and gaming community level. What other forms of intervention should be considered to help avoid these accidents in the future, and should the developers and publishers take action? Let us know what you think. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-04-new-nes-console-knockoff-is-a-lemon.html | 2005-11-04 19:59:33+00:00 | [] | Vladimir Cole | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | New NES console knockoff is a lemon | What do you get for $59.99? Heartache, that's what.
The Generation NEX console is a failed attempt to clone Nintendo's classic NES system. Gamers are supposed to be able to plug their Famicom and NES carts directly into the thing and play happily, but unfortunately the console just doesn't appear to faithfully render games, with reports of a mushy controller and abundant graphical and sound glitches surfacing.
Retro gaming is all the rage these days what with homebrew, emulation, ROMs,the Atari Flashback, andcrazy eBay auctions. Let's hope theColecovision resurrectiondoesn't flop as well, or gamers are going to quickly learn to ignore all third-party attempts to revive old consoles and will be trained to think that emulation is the only way to go. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-04-sega-acquires-struggling-gameworks.html | 2005-11-04 20:20:00+00:00 | [] | Alan Rose | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | SEGA acquires struggling GameWorks | In an effort to revive the bankrupt GameWorks arcade chain, SEGA's US Entertainment division has acquired the struggling franchise. A former shareholder in GameWorks along with Vivendi Universal, SEGA is planning to re-launch the chain in the hopes that it will emulate the successful Japanese arcade biz.
For the American market, this means taking the "Chuck E. Cheese for grown-ups" formula and infusing it with more upscale bars, overpriced food and beverages, and expensive games machines you can actually sit on! If I wanted to spend that much money for an evening of entertainment, I'd go to a Red Sox game. Can't we just plop a few quarters into a machine and have some fun anymore?
While they're at it, SEGA can give Gillian Anderson some work as a spokesperson, or token vendor. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-10-apple-shipping-ipod-nanos-with-cases.html | 2005-11-10 21:45:00+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Apple shipping iPod nanos with cases | In what looks like an effort to put the wholenano scratchingissue behind them, Apple has quietly begun shipping cases with iPod nanos. According to reports on various sites, the cases are similar to the thin fabric sleeves included with 5G iPods. The cases are not listed as standard accessories on Apple's site, possibly because the company is still working its way through pre-case inventory. Watch for lawsuits from current nano owners who are bitter over not getting cases with their units. |
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