Gadgets Archives - Page 31 of 78

Iomega’s Boxee Box Headed To Europe Next Month

Just the other day we were asked whatever happened to that Iomega Boxee Box announced at CES. Of course, the anticipated February ship date has long come and gone. But all is not lost however, as their NAS-endowed Boxee Box variant is expected to hit retail next month. From Iomega’s head of Product Marketing. We … Read more

Netgear Takes On Roku With NeoTV

Former Roku licensee Netgear is now taking them and Apple TV on as they go solo with their latest digital media streamer. The new NeoTV 200, which we first learned of last month, “turns your TV into a Smart TV” for all of 80 bucks. Like Roku, the requisite Netflix app is present, but Netgear … Read more

Third Gen Vulkano Placeshifters Poised For Launch

Monsoon Multimedia’s third generation of Vulkano placeshifters are nearly upon us given this FCC filing. While the current Flow, Lava, and Blast model names will be retained, the Vulkano 3 enclosure has been entirely redesigned. Dispensing with their elongated Slingbox-esque plastics, Monsoon is going with a square footprint this time around – perhaps in the … Read more

Chumby Preps NeTV Internet TV Ticker

Chumby, the Internet widget platform, pretty much telegraphed their move from dedicated info stations into connected television products nearly two years ago. And we’ve finally started seeing the fruits of their labor, such as that Best Buy TiVo television and the Pace cable set-top. But, beyond licensing their platform, Chumby will also be rolling out … Read more

Still Looking For A HP TouchPad?

Still looking to pick up a HP TouchPad? While it may very well be the tablet deal of the year, especially if a reasonable Android port is made available, I’m still saving my pennies for Amazon’s imminent entrant. But, being geeky, that remains subject to change… and I had signed up for HP’s email inventory alerts. Today, some mostly non-news arrived:

Thank you for your interest in the HP TouchPad and webOS. The overwhelming demand for this product in recent days has made it difficult to fulfill your request at the present time, and we are working to make more available as soon as possible. While we do not yet have specific details, we know it will be at least a few weeks before we have a limited quantity available again. We will keep you informed as we have more specifics that we can communicate, and we encourage you to join the conversation here for the latest information.

In light of this and other recent HP news, we want you to know that we remain committed to you. We will continue to honor our warranties now and in the future. We will continue delivering products that make a difference in your life and we will continue to provide the best possible service to you every day.

So we’ll keep our eyes on HP.com and their updated TouchPad FAQ. Having said that, you may also want check in with your local Best Buy. As of last week, they were still receiving shipments – a coworker spent about 6 hours in line Saturday AM and managed to walk away with one of 40 units.

Will The Best Buy TiVo TV Find An Audience?

It’s been nearly four weeks since the TiVo-powered Best Buy Insignia HDTV launched. Yet all we’ve heard is crickets. How bad is it? To my knowledge, not a single owner has stepped forward on the TiVo Community. Being a Best Buy house brand, I assume they’re the ones responsible for marketing. And we just haven’t … Read more

What Would Make Me Buy a Kindle Scribe

The blog Fusible discovered earlier this week that Amazon has registered the domain names KindleScribe.com and KindleScribes.com, prompting speculation that the next Kindle will include note-taking capabilities. Jared Newman over at Time’s Techland went on to pair that possibility with the fact that Amazon recently started a textbook rental program, which could certainly benefit from a virtual scribbling … Read more

To TouchPad or Not To Touchpad?

I gotta admit, I was pretty fired up when I first heard TouchPad tablets were dropping to $100. In fact, I was second person into a local Best Buy yesterday with intentions of picking a unit up. Unfortunately, the sales clerk quipped that they aren’t Best Buy Canada and wouldn’t be offering discounted hardware. I was left with the impression that units were headed back to HP, who’ve essentially buried this product and webOS. Yet, given demand and perhaps by working a deal with HP, Best Buy has changed course and will be offering HP’s discounted pricing. Although… they will not be accepting returns on the steeply discontinued TouchPad hardware and inventory is limited.

A $300 – $400 discount on a modern tablet is a heck of a deal. Even one that’s not an iPad and doesn’t provide the most responsive experience. I figured $100 for purely a 10″ capacitive web browsing device would be a great accessory to have around, picking up slack when our iPad is in use. As you can’t really count on continued app development at this point. Related, the inability of the Amazon Kindle Cloud Reader to support webOS is a major factor in why I may pass on a purchase today. And apply that saved cash to Amazon’s upcoming tablet. At least until I see some sort of sign that we can run Android on the TouchPad.

Are you in? If so, you can probably avoid the brick & mortar shopping frenzy today and wait until HP.com resumes sales (once the servers are back up). I’m quite certain they’ll continue to clear inventory as efficiently as possible to put this multi-billion dollar debacle behind them.