Those who have been to their friends’ pads and discovered the joys of a Media Center PC will definitely go home and break open the piggy bank to see how much money is required in order to purchase a unit for yourself. The majority of Media Center PCs currently run on Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition, but the MediaREADY MC Digital Home Entertainment Center offers something very different. It uses its very own feature-rich software suite that was designed specifically for use on a television set, throwing some conventional computer interfaces out of the window (pardon the pun).

Read the rest of this entry »

Everybody lets loose during the Christmas holidays, and it is no wonder with the amount of delicious food sitting on the table. Nobody but the most iron-willed person will be able to resist such gastronomic delights, which is why we have technology to help us maintain our weight. No, I’m not talking about the Nike+iPod sports kit that encourages you to dress up pompously when pounding the pavement - what we’re look at here is something closer to home. The Talking Plate will give you a dressing down in public when you’ve piled on much more than you can chew on your plate.

Read the rest of this entry »

Looking for a creative way to wind up and manage your headphone cables? The Tetran is a cable wrap for iPods and other portable media players that allows users to wind an earphone cable around Tetran’s body and use her mouth as an earbud holder. Spikes prevent Tetran from rolling away, and a removable ball-bearing style chain is included for attaching Tetran to a belt loop, cell phone strap, or key ring.

According to Tunewear, the product’s manufacturer, Tetran’s 23 rubber spikes can also massage neck, hands, and feet. Really? Sounds like fun but I think I might pass on that idea. Call me crazy, but I don’t really want people massaging their feet with the thing that’s used for holding my earphones.

The Tetran Headphone Cable Winder is a cute and colorful way to manage your earbud cables and accent your lifestyle. It’s available for $9 from Amazon.com. If the Tetran is a little too cute for you, there’s always the cheaper and simpler SmartWrap ($5). The SmartWrap works just like the Tetran, just without the cute spikes. Snap your earphone cord through the top fastener and wrap the length of your cord around the midsection, until you have the desired length.

digg story | methodshop

Still wondering if all the iPhone rumors are true? There has been a trail of clues about the iPhone’s existence all over the Internet for over a year now. But many people still remain skeptical. Perhaps the discovery of the iPhone patent application and a recent quote from Kevin Rose will make the skeptics iPhone believers.

First things first… the iPhone patent pictures. If you go to this page on the US Patent & Trademark Office website, you will find a patent filed by Apple Computer for a “portable computing device capable of wireless communications.” The mystery device is also defined as a “cell phone” and “media player.” Apple filed for the patent on August 7th of this year.

Although the patent page doesn’t include any photos of the “iPhone,” I was able to find several credible looking patent pictures on MYiPhone.com.

Now let’s talk about Kevin Rose. Apparently Mr. Rose, the mastermind behind the mega-popular website Digg.com, has his own “deep throat” informer at Apple HQ. This is what Rose had to say after a couple beers in his Diggnation video podcast.

“I don’t know if I should talk about this or not… I have a little bit of inside information on the Apple phone.”

Despite his initial reluctance, he did go on to talk about the iPhone. According to Rose, the iPhone will come in 4GB and 8GB versions and will feature a touch screen and a slide-out keyboard. This seems to support the credibility of the patent images from MYiPhone.com. Rose also said the iPhone will be ‘carrier independent’ and support both GSM and CDMA phone standards. This means just about anyone can use an iPhone. To quote Borat, “Very nice..”

As you can probably tell, Rose was very forthcoming with iPhone details. But in my opinion, the coolest thing Rose said in his video podcast was about the iPhone battery. According to Rose, the iPhone will have two batteries - one for the MP3 player and one for the phone. Personally I’ve left my iPod on before and killed the battery. I absolutely wouldn’t want that to happen to my cell phone. The two battery system should prevent such an occurrence. Excellent idea and kudos to Apple for such a smart and useful feature.

The phone is to (supposedly) be released in January.

digg story | methodshop

That’s right, you can find out what groups are playing near you simply by delving into your itunes playlists with sonicliving!!

I found out from a good friend, they’re just now opening up to the public (the private beta is over). So it’s all for one and let’s show up at the show where that local band we like is playing a gig with that band that’s blowing up all over and watch a show!!!

I’m sure you’re wondering, what’s this, is it magic? Sorcery? Evil Doings? How could someone know what bands I like?! Well its right there in your playlists silly, these geniuses have found a way to put you where your ears have been for years, live and up front (ok, they don’t pay for tickets but they do let you know when you can get them!)

It’s worth a check and a signup to see what this great new app has to offer.

Most importantly they’ve got a ton of listings for London, which, if I take my bike to the bart station, where I will take a $3.95 ride to the airplane. Then get on a plane and fly to london, in 6 to 10 hours I could be there jamming with all of you!! Then again, maybe I’ll just stay here in the bay area and watch any one of the measly 2,490 shows listed (not the whopping 11,501 events listed for London!)

Either way this looks like the next wave in live music finding (is that a term?!)

It works with a bunch of calendar programs and blogging too: MySpace Profile, Yahoo/Google Calendar, iCal, Mozilla, so like everything! Can’t wait till they link to alerts on your mobile too!
See you at the show!!!

Thanks Dan for the heads up!

In a world of boring shelf speakers that are as fascinating as the wires that connect them, the JBL Encounter draws people towards it with its innovative tongue-in-cheek design and then lavishes them with deep warm sound. JBL proves once again that they know how to box up a brilliant set of speakers. They appear as though they were intended to be fine decor while at the same time hold nothing back when it comes to pure crisp sound. Where most speakers seem to be designed to be hidden, the Encounter defies you to ignore them.

Space Monkeys, prepare for blast off. We took JBL Encounter into orbit and although we didn’t reach Warp 11, the volume at least went that high.

Here’s our full JBL Encounter 2.1 speaker review.

digg it | methodshop

The Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) technology seems to be living its last days. Samsung Electronics just released some statistics confirming the healthy growth on the sales of Liquid Crystal Display television sets and, to a lesser extent, of plasma screens.

The estimated sales of LCD televisions for 2006 is 42 million units, but in 2007 this number will jump to 66 million units, an year over year increase of more than 55%. Plasma screens will also grow annually almost 35%, passing from 10 million units in 2006 to 13 million units in 2007.

It appears that LCD televisions were outselling the old CRT televisions for a long time already, but the surpass materialized only in the third quarter of 2006. All the statistics are coming from the research firm DisplaySearch, and if we analyze the numbers quarter by quarter the growth rates are even greater. Read the rest of this entry »

The TuneView iPod dock is not as ordinary as its other brethren which flood the accessory market at the moment, as it enables you to remotely manage both your music and video on your iPod once it is docked. All you need to do is to connect the TuneView dock to a stereo and/or TV (depending on your iPod’s capabilities) while being connected to an electrical outlet as it doesn’t have hamsters running around in a wheel to generate electricity. Once you’re done, you can then use the included TuneView remote control that uses the 2.4Ghz radio frequency signal to transmit commands as long as you are within the radius of 150 feet.

Read the rest of this entry »