Categories Archives - Page 79 of 101

All Kinds of Sirius

Sirius unveiled a whole slew of new devices and services yesterday. Three in particular caught my attention:

I’m a gadget guy and I like portables, so the WiFi-enabled Stiletto appeals to me. I found the first generation slightly too large, so this 25% size reduction has resulted in a sleeker package. Both Stiletto models outshine my XM Helix in the beauty department, and more importantly, they offer a couple of home docking solutions. Interestingly, Steven Chalker, the only person I know who regularly used a Stiletto intends to sell it and stream Sirius to a TMobile MDA instead. (Was Zing was involved with v2? Surely not v3…) Expect the Stiletto 2, with souped up Altec Lansing headset, to ship this fall @ $350.

Dave’s New Ride: XM Everywhere

I finally got around to upgrading my car, though my driving is way down since I started working from “home.” But having recently picked up XM’s portable Helix, it was a no-brainer to add the $7/mo for a family plan unit. Let me tell you, it’s so much nicer to have built-in satellite radio without … Read more

Mari Goes on Vacation

Vacation is always a good thing, but it’s made even better with every technology advance. Here are the top five ways tech will be improving my trip to the beach this week: Portable DVD player to keep child happy in the car GPS to the beach rental Wi-Fi at the beach (no kidding – it’s … Read more

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs. Why is FiOS TV Such a Threat: Connected Home 2 Go Stage6 Traffic Explodes, Every Dream Has A Price: Davis Freeberg HBO Uses Moto for HDTV: Connected Home 2 Go AT&T to Clamp Down on Data Leechers: TechLore America’s High Fiber Diet: Connected Home 2 … Read more

Sprint Samsung UpStage Giveaway

As promised, here’s your chance to win the ~~schizophrenic~~ multi-talented Samsung UpStage for use on the Sprint network. And if you end up feeling like I do about this phone… well, these things are moving for over $150 on ebay.

On the last two giveaways (Tendon, Monster) I had the distinct impression that some non-regulars stumbled in looking for freebies. Perhaps they compulsively search Technorati for blog contests? Who knows. While I obviously appreciate new folks checking out the site, I prefer to save the goodies for those who’ve invested a bit more in the success of ZNF. So…

Leave one comment saying you want in on the giveaway. The catch is that you must provide a link to a previous comment you’ve left here, other than prior contests. (The comment date stamp is your permalink.) And if you’ve never left a comment, now you’ll have some incentive going forward. Let’s see how this experiment works out…

Digital Media Bytes

A periodic roundup of relevant news… Netflix Watch Now Movie Archive Hack: Brent Evans Third Generation HD DVD Players Get Official: Engadget Watch Out For Wireless High-Def TV: CNET OpenMoko Neo Dev Kit Unboxing: Gizmodo Billboard Hot 100 Chart To Include Online Streaming: paidContent

Dell To Acquire Zing

Guess Dell isn’t done making portable multimedia devices after all, and has announced plans to acquire Zing: In a move that reflects the renewed interest and energy being directed at its Consumer business, Dell plans to use ZING and its capabilities to continue improving the entertainment experiences it provides its customers. What makes this doubly … Read more

Slacker vs. Pandora

Knowing my love for Pandora, Dave sent me a link to Slacker a couple weeks back with a little nudge suggesting I try it out. The service has been getting ridiculously positive press reviews, and apparently the company will be launching its own hardware devices in the near future.

So how does Slacker stack up? The Web application is fabulous. It is extremely easy to set up customized radio stations based on any range of musical artists. Any artist in your list also brings up recommendations for other artists in the same genre that you can choose to add to your station. Then there’s a nifty little function called fine tuning. Fine tuning lets you decide the levels of music discovery you want to include in your channel, as well as how popular the songs should be, how often your personal favorites should be included, and what musical eras can be referenced. It sounds complicated, but in reality the fine tuning function is simple, fast and very powerful.

I’ve had some issues with Slacker crashing on me, but not enough to deter me from using the beta application. My bigger issue is that right now, I’m addicted to the Squeezebox and being able to access customized radio without my PC. We’ll have to see what happens when the Slacker hardware comes out later in the year. Whether I think it’s worth converting to Slacker will probably depend on two things: