While I’ve managed to finally rid my entire house of CRT monitors (with as many monitors as I have, it seemed like quite an accomplishment when I did) I still haven’t upgraded to a flat-screen TV. I’m hoping to pick up a nice LCD TV in the next few months, however, even it would look gargantuan when compared to this latest OLED display from Sony.
Toshiba has begun to ship its SpursEngine SE1000 image processor - while that might not ring a bell with you, it is actually a similar processor that is found in your PS3, which also translates to having this images processor offering superior performance where MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC/H.265 hardware encoding/decoding is concerned. Samples have already started to ship, and Toshiba is pretty optimistic about sales, projecting around half a dozen million units moved within the first three years of the SpursEngine’s release.
As much as I can’t stand that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition show, I wouldn’t mind if Ty and his buddies came to my house and whipped it into shape with a few sledgehammers and new furniture.
There is one thing that I never see the Extreme Makeover team do: connect all electronic devices in the household together, seamlessly. In other words, all the electronic devices (TV, PC, etc.) are all wired or shared together seamlessly in a true Digital Home Makeover.
It appears that Microsoft wants to fill that homeowner’s need with the launching of their Digital Home Makeover Contest. To enter, you have to make a video of yourself creatively explaining why you need a Digital Home Makeover.
And around $100, it may be the most expensive too! But come on, it’s R2D2, man! The only thing that would make this cooler is if it doubled as a trash compactor with swiss army knife attachments.
A couple of years ago (it doesn’t seem that long ago…) I waxed lyrical about the advantages of using a modded Xbox with XBMC as a living room media adapter.
Unfortunately technology moves on and my trusty Xbox just didn’t have the horsepower to play back high definition content. The next gen consoles can do it but they still aren’t as flexible as I’d like (although kudos to Microsoft for finally enabling DivX playback on the 360).
So what do to? The Mac Mini stepped in to fill the gap nicely; the new Core Duo models are fairly powerful, it’s tiny and it’s almost silent running. It’s also surprisingly good value for money - I can’t build a PC that ticks all those boxes for the price of a mini.
It seems like the developers of the original XBMC software had the same thought and they’ve been porting the media player software to OSX. Over the past month or so I’ve been watching the OSXBMC project with interest and it looks like it’s finally become solid enough for general use.
Read the rest of this entry »
Considering that we are less than one year away from the big HDTV switch, it is not surprising that Sharp/AQUOS is prepared with the SE94 Series.
The SE94 series is designed with a “Cornerstone design” with detachable bottom speakers and a slimmer and lighter design. The SE94 also has terrific picture quality with 1080p resolution, as well as a Dynamic Contrast Ratio of 27,000:1. As for colors, the 10-bit ASV panel and 5-wavelength backlight system provides vibrant red and truer greens. In short, it is simply a better picture.
Ever since Apple came out with the Mac Mini, PC manufacturers have been scrambling to come out with a “Mac Mini Clone” that will run Windows yet still have that “cool” factor that the Apple product has.
Hot on the heels of their great success with the Eee PC, Asus has come out with the Nova P22 series of computers to compete with the Mac Mini. Like most Windows PCs that try to compete with the tiny Mac Mini, the Nova P22 is just a bit larger. It weighs just over four pounds (a pound heavier than the Mac) and when you lay the Nova flat it measures 2.1 inches tall (just a hair taller than the Mac), 9.8 inches wide and 7.25 inches deep, making its overall volume larger (compared with the Mac Mini’s 2×6x6 inch measurements).
Sure it’s larger than the Mac Mini, but the Asus Nova P22 gives you a little more setup flexibility thanks to an included metal stand lets you stand it upright. Otherwise, your customization options are limited, as Asus offers no upgrade options for this system - what you see is what you get. Although nobody had a problem upgrading their Eee PCs, so the do-it-yourselfers out there can breathe a sigh of relief.
The system also comes with an IR Microsoft Certified Remote Controller, thus making it a potential machine to tie to your home theater equipment. Read the rest of this entry »
While I love my tech toys, I’ve not taken the plunge and purchased an HDTV. I can’t really justify such a purchase, as I don’t spend a ton of time in the living room watching TV. I have a 22-inch monitor in my office that I’ll play movies on and watch the occasional show on, but that’s about it. Thanks to Asus, I’ll be able to use that same monitor to enjoy HDTV if I choose.
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