Gadgets

Vizio Dumps Yahoo For Google?

Vizio’s begun dropping details on their 2011 lineup, including what could be a defection from Yahoo connected services in favor of Google’s broader ecosystem… which corresponds nicely with a Vizio expansion into mobile gear. This year Vizio Internet Apps (VIA) will become or be augmented by VIA Plus, their take on Google TV. While the … Read more

Lenovo Launches New Laptops in ThinkPad Line

Lenovo made a lot of noise at CES last year, only to disappoint when the company scuttled the Skylight smartbook and delayed the Ideapad U1 hybrid tablet/laptop. But Lenovo’s back again with some new goodies to share. The embargo lifted today on the latest products in the ThinkPad line. The ThinkPad E220 and E420 run … Read more

The Year in Review

As the year winds down, it’s only natural for us to reflect back. And I’d like to think my early thoughts from CES 2010, captured on video (above), mostly panned out.

Despite industry hopes, it seems that the majority of my peers aren’t that fired up over 3D TV. While many have acquired 3D capabilities through HDTV or Blu-ray player upgrades, I’m not aware of anyone buying in specifically for that reason. Nor am I aware of any catching 3D content on any sort of frequent or even regular basis. As for me, my interest level remains close to zero. We’ll be picking  up a new HDTV (50″ – 55″ range) in the next month or so and I’ll actively seek out non-3D models as a way to save a few bucks.

Tablet-esque products gained considerable momentum in 2010, led by the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad. Of course, these sorts of devices aren’t new. But the lightweight OS-es and custom UIs combined with favorable pricing, are — and what pushed this product category into the mainstream.

Read more

The Gadget Christmas That Was and Wasn’t

Christmas gadgets 2010

For several years I’ve run a gadget postmortem after our annual Christmas extravaganza. 2010 is no different, except that the gadget volume is noticeably lower. Here’s the tally:

I’ve had little hands-on time with any of these gifts yet, particularly as my car radio has to be installed before I can use it. However, I can report some initial impressions. My father, a self-professed Microsoft fanboy, is wildly excited about his LG Quantum C900 Windows Phone 7. I’m planning to play around with it later today, but for the few moments I held on to it, I have to say I was impressed with its lightning-fast response times. That’s either a testament to the LG phone, or to the comparative lagginess of my aging Droid Eris. My brother, on the other hand, was not terribly enthusiastic about his Samsung Captivate. A variant of the Galaxy S line, the Captivate is possibly the best Android option currently available on AT&T. Unfortunately, it only has a soft keyboard, battery life is lacking, and my brother found integration with his primary Google apps to be maddening. He’s keeping the phone, with the hope it will grow on him.

Read more

Fun Amazon.com Christmas Stats

We generally try to stay out of the press release regurgitation business, but Amazon’s delivered a series of fun holiday sales stats worth sharing. Here’s a sampling: Kindle (Wi-Fi) and Kindle 3G were the best-selling products on Amazon.com this holiday season On Christmas Day, people purchased more Kindle books than on any other day in … Read more

Logitech Halts Revue Google TV Production?

Rumors suggest that Logitech has halted production of the Revue, one of the inaugural boxes providing the Google TV experience. Supposedly, this is a mere manufacturing suspension while Logitech awaits more polished Google software. Which seems to line up of with yet another rumor of new Google TV hardware delays. However, if accurate, the key … Read more

Got a Roku for Christmas?

Given its low price point, wide array of content “channels”, and easy operation, I suspect quite a large number of folks are unwrapping Roku Christmas gifts this weekend. And we’re here to help.

Based on incoming search traffic, some are having difficulty finding and linking Netflix. First off, the Roku consists of two main areas – your channel list or dashboard and the “Store” of all blessed content. Netflix should appear on your dashboard by default. In terms of navigation, the left directional button doesn’t send you to the prior screen as seen on many other boxes. Instead, use the up button to return to a previous area or menu or, alternately, try can the new back button symbolized by an arrow. Additionally, the OK button in the middle of the remote is equivalent to ‘select’ or ‘enter’. So you’d scroll towards the right using the directional button to highlight Netflix and then click OK. Once the Netflix apps comes up for the first time, it’ll walk you through linking your account – you’ll want to have computer handy to enter an authorization code into Netflix.com.

In addition to the Channel Store, “private” channels also exist. These are often content offerings that have yet to be approved or are inappropriate for a wider audience to stumble upon (think adult or corporate training). Two in particular may interest you…

Read more

VuPoint and the Art of Digitizing Old VHS Tapes

I’ve been playing with the VuPoint ST100B Digital Video Converter for several days now, and so far I’m pleased with my impulse purchase. Digitizing old analog media is more an art than a science, but one that at least has gotten easier over the years.

Set-up with the VuPoint converter is quick and painless. It comes packaged with cords to plug into your TV and VHS player, and once you insert an SD card, hit power, and switch over to the right TV input, you’re good to go for recording. Your choices at this point are limited, but in this case, that’s a good thing. There are only four buttons on the VuPoint box – Power, Record, Play, and Next. Hit Record once to start recording, and again to stop. To enter playback mode, hit the Play button once, and then press it again to view your latest recording. If you have multiple videos recorded, use  the Next button to cycle through your library.

And that’s it.

Read more