Gadgets

Deals Of The Day (but not today)

It just goes to show you, there are penalties to be paid for even the slightest time off the grid. Two pretty awesome deals hit Techbargains yesterday… Yet both are sold out as of this morning. However, I do expect them to come around again and so we must stay vigilant. First up, the Apple … Read more

The Southeastern US GPS PSA

ZNF insider “MethodicJon” caught Engadget’s coverage of potential GPS interruption and suggested we run a public service announcement. And so we are. From the FAA advisory to pilots: The Department of Defense will conduct GPS tests on January 20th through February22nd, 2011. During testing, the GPS signal may be unreliable or unavailable. As you can see from … Read more

Sphero, The Coolest Roly Poly Gizmo of CES

Each CES, there’s some sort of playful gadget that gets my juices going. A few years back, it was Sony’s Rolly. Last year, it was a UFO. In 2011, Sphero takes top gizmo honors. Sphero is essentially a glowing ball, remote controlled over Bluetooth via Android or iOS devices. As to why you’d want it, … Read more

Hands On The Sony Dash v2

It’s a bit strange to be running our third Chumby-related CES post, but as I was cruising off the show floor at I ran into Sony’s revised Dash widget station. As discussed earlier this week, the new models are due mid year and the higher tier unit features enclosures in multiple colors and the oft … Read more

Catching Up With Silicon Dust

My last stop of the day was a visit to Silicon Dust. They’re the folks behind the HDHomeRun networked dual tuner, which has had quite a run… without a refresh. And that’s about to be corrected by the HDHomeRun Dual which will beginning shipping later this month for $130. The Dual essentially provides the same … Read more

Chumby Rolls Its Own 8″ Widget Station

After seeing Sony and Best Buy harness the power of their widget platform, Chumby is following suit with their own dedicated kitchen companion. And given its styling, that’s where you’ll want it — versus the Sony Dash which is equally at home in the bedroom as a super-powered Internet-connected alarm clock. The upcoming “personalized Internet … Read more

Watch Slingbox on Google TV!

slingplayer-googletv-3

It turns out my old friends at Sling Media do have one or two new and notable items to share from CES. And first up is a Google TV SlingPlayer client — eliminating the need for dedicated SlingCatcher hardware (that didn’t turn out so great anyway). It should go without saying that I’m very pleased to see Sling move in this direction… as I assume this is just the first of various television- and set-top-based apps.

The initial Google TV app isn’t actually an app, but rather a Flash website optimized for the platform. As you can see from the pics, they’re logically carrying the Android interface onto the Android-based Google TV. The software and experience look pretty dang complete, with streaming up to 1080i, but all Sling will tell me is that they intend to launch sometime this year. However, it’d make sense to see them ultimate move to a dedicated app if/when Google launches a television-based marketplace – something that seems like an inevitability.

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Intel Doubles Down on WiDi

Intel’s doubled down on their Wireless Display technology, aka WiDi. And while last year they had a single partner in Netgear, v2 will be offered by a variety of hardware manufacturers including Toshiba and D-Link. The WiDi premise is simple: stream anything/everything from your computer display to a television. Of course, this isn’t a new … Read more