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HD For The Holidays

GeekSugar — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 10:37:55 -0800

Nothing says I’m a chic geek like an awesome HDTV set, and now that prices for hi-def sets are actually falling, you’ll be able to get a great wall mount TV with amazing picture quality without breaking the bank.

Philips 26" Widescreen Flat-Panel LCD HDTV
This widescreen LCD HDTV Philips is slim, trim and perfect for everyday use. What it lacks in size, it makes up in function: Just add a HD-capable antenna to its built-in HDTV tuner and receive over-the-air high-definition broadcasts. You can also connect your digital camera through the USB port and share your favorite digital images with your guests - sweet! Buy the Philips 26" for $900.

Two more options, so read more

Sony 46" BRAVIA LCD
Sony's campaign for the Bravia claims it's the world's first television for men and women, and I think they're right on the mark. It offers 1080p HD picture, Dolby Digital surround sound and a small but powerful speaker design. It's perfect for all those Superbowl and Sex and the City parties you've always wanted to host and stylish enough that you won't ever look at it and think "do I really need this?" All in all it's worth the investment. Get the Bravia at Sony Style for $3,500.

Pioneer Elite 60" PureVision Plasma Television
This giant HD Plasma gives you something to aspire to. It offers amazing resolution, a 60” Diagonal screen with 16:9 Wide-Screen Aspect Ratio and independent HDMI inputs with the ability to accept a 1080p/24Hz signal. In the HDTV world, it's close to the holy grail. Let's just say that any guy who sees one of these in your house will be drooling. Get the Pioneer Elite for $7,500.

Geek tip: Once you purchase your new TV, make sure you contact your satellite or cable subscriber to get a high-def cable or satellite box.

Daily Tech: The HTC HD2 Is Coming to the US Early Next Year

GeekSugar — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:18:52 -0800

The latest from HTC, the HD2, is expected to the US earlier next year - Gizmodo
Wal-Mart confirms that the Xbox 360 will go on sale for $199 this Saturday, and it even comes with a $100 gift card - Kotaku
Did you suffer from a T-Mobile service outage today? T-Mobile says everything should be restored now - Engadget
The iPhone App Store has just surpassed 100,000 apps - The Silicon Alley Insider
A court in South Korea has just ruled that cab drives can continue to have televisions on their dashboards - BBC News
It's giveaway time on GeekSugar! Log in for your chances to win one of these AT&T Smartphones - GeekSugar

Daily Tech: Nokia Dishes Details About Its Booklet 3G

GeekSugar — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:05:46 -0700

Nokia's upcoming Booklet will offer 12 hours of battery life and have WiFi and a SIM card slot for 3G access - Engadget
Lexmark has just unveiled three web-connected touchscreen printers - CNET
California may start banning environmentally unfriendly televisions by 2011 - Unplggd
With the new Zune HD coming out on Sept. 15, Microsoft has decided to discontinue all other Zunes - Wired
A recent survey showed that more people watch Hulu than Time Warner Cable - Switched
Here are 8 great game documentaries, which will teach you more about the history of gaming - Green Pixels

Cool Idea: An Easel as TV Stand

CasaSugar — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Since I don't watch much TV, updating my hefty idiot box to an ultra slim HD flatscreen is not very high on my list of priorities. But if I did own the latest and greatest in television technology, I would love to use an artist's easel as a stand, like this one featured in House Beautiful. Tech gadgets are always difficult to coordinate with décor, but that's especially true when your design scheme is earthy and traditional. The wood construction of the easel makes for a near seamless integration. And better yet, it allows you to change the height and angle of your TV - something that few standard media centers can do. Would you try this in your home?

Casa Verde: MetroShip

CasaSugar — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:00:27 -0700

Do you want to get away for a weekend, but don't have the land or Summer cabin to flee to? Consider taking to the seas instead. The MetroShip, a new houseboat design that favors modern aesthetics and high-efficiency materials, makes it possible.

MetroShed and MetroShip founder, David Ballinger, writes, “ I wanted [the MetroShip] to be like an updated Frank Lloyd Wright home but with an open New York-loft-condo style mixed with a midcentury Eichler home post and beam style. Using structurally sound lightweight aluminum panels was important. Using a single piece roof was important. Using the very best doors and windows available was important. Design, as they say, is in the details.”

To find out all of the details, and to take a complete photo tour, read more.

The spacious design is 48 feet in length by 12 feet beam and 7 feet interior height, though custom sizes are available. The kitchens feature islands, top of the line Viking appliances, and Iin the open-living area, entertainment is provided for with an HD-TV projector for TV, movies, gaming, and Internet access, while sound is piped in through in-wall Jamo speakers by one of the best Danish speaker manufacturers. The bathroom features a Kohler corner full-size shower, imported Italian vanity with a Sloan touch-free water-conserving faucet, full-size touch-flush toilet an LG Steam Fresh Washer Dryer.

You'll keep cozy in your MetroShip no matter what the season with remote-controlled heat and AC, air conditioning units. Rest assured your heat or AC won't disappear out of the boat's doors or windows, etiher, since the MetroShip is constructed with double-glazed low-E door and windows. The entire boat is built out of UV-coated aluminum grid opaque walls, which are opaque, and cause the MetroShip to glow at night like a lantern. MetroShips start at $239,000.

Are you interested in boating away down the nearest river, lake, or bay? Check out all the photos if you need convincing.

View 30 Photos ›

Source

The Practical Girl's Guide to Apple TV

GeekSugar — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 -0800

Call waiting, cell phones, TiVo . . . all technological conveniences that you told yourself (I definitely did) at first you didn't need; until of course, you had them, and they became indispensable.

This is now how I feel about Apple TV. Our friends at Apple sent me the mighty little movie streamer, and I've been learning to live with this new gadget.

For the uninitiated, Apple TV ($229) is a box-top digital media receiver - basically, a home theater enhancer that functions as a movie or music player. To hear my first impressions, and to whom I would recommend an Apple TV, just read more.

First impressions:

First of all, set up of the Apple TV could not be easier. You plug in the HDMI cable (or component, if that's how you roll), and it's just a few minutes to be all set up. It was truly one of the most painless gadget setups I've ever been through.
The most impressive thing about the Apple TV? Its abilities as a media hoster. That's right, hoster, not player, because player is so limiting. The first thing I did was connect my computer and iTunes account to the Apple TV, and bam, all my photos and music were available. The screensaver slideshow of photos (with several photos onscreen at a time) mesmerized my friends and me.
The movie watching experience is great, but I didn't expect it to be difficult. With no skips for obvious reasons, it's as smooth and easy as using a PS3 for viewing Blu-ray movies.
The 160GB of space is awesome; we watched a DVD the other night, and it skipped, so we ripped it to the Apple TV and watched it from there (effectively saving movie night and my nerves). Not only is it a better way to watch, you can rip your DVDs to the Apple TV's hard drive, and then never have to deal with those discs again.
Watching a movie directly from Apple TV is ideal, and way better than renting or buying from your computer (whether you'd watch it straight from your PC or transfer it from there to the Apple TV). Where downloading a two-hour movie onto my computer from iTunes takes me about an hour, it takes about 20 minutes from Apple TV and we were able to watch it before it had fully downloaded.

Who is the Apple TV ideal for?

Movie Junkies. This is the obvious one, but very true. Having the Apple TV means you can rent or buy movies and TV shows from iTunes (stay tuned for my impressions of that) anytime - no having to get out of your PJs or into the rain to get a new movie.
People who want to digitize their movie collection. You have 160GB of space to fill up, so you can divide that among quite a few movies and then sell those discs or just consider the file on the hard drive a back up.
People who entertain a lot. My favorite part about Apple TV is not movie watching, but photo viewing and music playing. Normally we play slideshows on our TV, but we either have to burn a limited number of images to a disc, or run it from the PS3, whose slideshow isn't as cool looking. Apple TV runs my whole photo library and looks amazing doing it.
People who are resisting Netflix, but sick of actual movie stores.
People who want a movie streamer. There are other streaming devices, but Netflix's Roku doesn't do anything besides movie streaming, costs $99 plus a Netflix account, and you could do it with an Xbox, but you'd have to have an Xbox and an Xbox Live Pass. No subscription is necessary with Apple TV.
People who are not ready for Blu-ray (or think it won't stick around). If you rent or buy directly from the Apple TV, movies are available in HD, and they look pretty clear.
Gadget junkies. Enough said.

This is just the beginning of my experiences with the Apple TV, so if you have any questions or curiosities about it, let me know in the comments below and I'll try to cover it all in the followup!

Panasonic Creates a Wiimote-Proof Plasma TV

GeekSugar — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 14:11:59 -0800

I love how Panasonic unveils a new line of beautiful plasma TVs at the HD Networking Conference in Valencia, Spain and their biggest selling feature is the fact that they can withstand Wiimotes! According to Gamertell, these televisions can resist up to four joules of energy - preventing your wiimote from shattering your TV screen in a game of Wii Tennis, Bowling, Boxing, and the list goes on and on. I guess if you're a Wii fanatic, this television plus an upgraded Wii strap will do the trick - better to be safe than sorry!

Do You Future-Proof Your Gadgets?

GeekSugar — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:10:40 -0700

When I buy a gadget, I try to act like it's the last version of the gadget I will buy (except for when I'm hypnotized by new iPhones, but that's not my fault. I was hypnotized!). Much like a car, I kick the tires, look under the hood, or do as much as I can to check out something before I buy it, because I want to have quality things so they last a long time. Since tech is so expensive, I think it's more important to spend as much as you can, because you're already going to spend a lot, and you need it to last (AKA "future-proofing"). With my last TV, I did my homework before buying; I compared models and brands, then once I found one I liked, I read or watched other tech blog reviews, inquired from friends who already had that kind of TV, and when it came down to it, sucked it up for the high price tag. My boyfriend and I chose the biggest model we could stand and the highest HD quality that exists because we want to have this TV for the next ten years (hypnotization notwithstanding). But not everyone is like this; things like TVs or cell phones are often not as important to some (shrug), or some people spend a little to have something to tide them over - and just replace as it comes necessary. I think it's an investment, so I justify saving and splurging. What do you do?

Source

Should Having a TiVo Mean You Never See Ads?

GeekSugar — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:33:20 -0700

When I got a TiVo, my motivation was basically wanting to be able to watch TV shows on my own schedule (whether that has made me smarter or cooler is debatable). Not having to watch commercials was a small reason, but a huge bonus - I paid for the DVR technology, so I felt entitled to control what I watched.

Except having a TiVo isn't synonymous with ad-free TV anymore. Not since they rolled out their innovative but slightly annoying pause menu ads to series 3 and HD TiVos (pause menu ads are when you have TiVo paused, and an ad bar shows up onscreen, like the image at right).

So even though you're still watching commercial-free TV, you haven't escaped from the audience of advertisers, which may irk those who have a TiVo specifically for that purpose. On the other hand, maybe you're just happy to be able to watch your shows whenever you want.

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Blockbuster OnDemand Service Is Coming to the TiVo

GeekSugar — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:30:02 -0700

Get ready, get set TiVo owners and subscribers, because BlockBuster OnDemand will be coming to your TiVo later this year.

Similar to the partnership with Blockbuster and 2Wire, TiVo members will soon be able to rent, as well as purchase thousands of Blockbuster movies via their TiVo and instantly watch them on their TV.

No announcement on pricing yet, but the OnDemand functionality will be available to TiVo Series 2, 3, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL DVRs.