Research in Motion (RIM) unveiled its iPad competitor yesterday, the BlackBerry PlayBook. My early take is that there’s a lot to love about this 7″ tablet, but I also have some concerns. In the good column, the PlayBook promises Flash compatibility, video conferencing, portability advantages (very slim and light), a 1GHz dual-core processor, and 1GB … Read more
There are rumors, and even confirmation to a certain degree, that suggest Roku will be getting Hulu Plus capabilities soon.  Depending on timing, this could be a coup for Roku (hardware starts at a $60) and one more online streaming capability they’d boast. GigaOM/NewTeeVee says the deal is done, confirmed via a Roku partner web page for … Read more
Apple has launched version 2.0 of its Remote app for iOS. In a nutshell, Apple Remote lets you use your iPhone or iPod touch as a remote control for iTunes on your computer or an Apple TV set top box. Version 2.0 adds support for the Retina display on the latest iPhone and iPod touch. … Read more
I think we’ve finally found a solid use for Roku’s limited USB support… My buddy Tim has been struggling to find an efficient way to pipe his Flip UltraHD videos to the television and his first stop was the Xbox. And, for whatever reason, his 360 delivered stuttering 720p video when the Flip was directly … Read more
Online rabble-rouser and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban announced back in May that several new Comcast markets would start carrying the HDNET channel this year. Now, reports on several user forums suggest the launch is likely to happen this week in Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle. (The Chicago area reportedly started seeing rollouts … Read more
Muziic is a music-on-demand app, but unlike services from Grooveshark, Mog, and most other mainstream music apps, Muziic doesn’t maintain its own music servers. Instead Muziic grabs audio from YouTube. Here’s how it works. You enter an artist name or song title and Muziic searches YouTube. You can then either add the track to your playlist or … Read more
It’s official… The new DirecTV TiVo, announced in 2008, won’t be available until 2011. Which probably isn’t so surprising as CEO Tom Rogers left the door open for another delay at TiVo’s last quarterly call and the recently revealed beta testing is scheduled to run through January. And now PC Mag has the official word from SVP … Read more
This week in Department of the Obvious, we find Blockbuster filing for bankruptcy. The only possible surprise is that it took this long. As chapter 11 was the inevitable outcome after failing to modernize their operation quickly enough and, in my experience, providing years of poor customer service. Fortunately, for them, they intend to emerge … Read more