Dave Zatz I’ve recently spent time with a loaner Pogoplug ($99), a device I first encountered pre-release at CES. Combined with your own USB storage (stick or drive), Pogoplug places your content on the ‘net for local or remote access. I was astounded by the ease of setup, compared with say the network gymnastics (port forwarding) often … Read more
NewTeeVee took a look at Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox 360 (Live) Facebook and Twitter apps. And weren’t quite sold on the experience. […] implementing social TV is harder than we thought. My first impression was that socializing felt disconnected from the Xbox experience. This could just be my bias since I primarily use Xbox as gaming … Read more
Announced in March, Blockbuster video on demand service has just landed on Series 2 and Series 3/HD TiVo units. It’s a good move for Blockbuster as they struggle to find relevance beyond their declining brick & mortar existence. (And their prior, somewhat solo foray into this space didn’t turn out so well.) Typical digital movie … Read more
After a decade+ hiatus, Alice in Chains is back in business with William DuVall on vocals. However, I didn’t rush right out to purchase the new ‘album’ Black Gives Way to Blue. AiC may be one of my favorite bands, but I had no idea what sort of music they’d produce as middle aged men … Read more
The highlight of CES 2009 for me back in January was the unveiling of Yahoo’s Internet TV widget platform. Given so many partner announcements (Intel, Samsung, Vizio, Sony, LG) and demos, I was hopeful we’d see a glut of Yahoo Connected TV products, including HDTVs and set-top boxes, by mid-year. Yet Yahoo’s Linux-based SDK hasn’t … Read more
A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our friends at Last100: Adobe Flash seen running on Palm Pre – Netbooks, MIDs, and other smartphones Adobe was already known to be working with smartphone platforms from Palm (WebOS), Nokia (Symbian) and Microsoft (Windows Mobile), along with a raft of content providers, chip makers and consumer electronics … Read more
As I wrote the other day, I can’t say I’m ever happy to see a product or company die. But I just don’t see a place in the world for Spawn Labs. Introduced at TechCrunch50 (video above), they liken their product to a Slingbox for video games. Making them a niche within a niche. The … Read more
After reading rumors of new Macs with integrated Blu-ray drives for the umpteenth time, I posed a query to my Twitter followers: “Would you buy an AppleTV if it had a Blu-ray drive, too?” Because a computer or laptop with a Blu-ray playback capabilities doesn’t do much for me. I prefer to watch HD movies … Read more