Google Preps Android Digital Newsstand

Photo via Slashgear Over the last few years, digital books have taken off — with publishers hoping the next big thing will be digital newspaper and magazine sales.You can already grab subscriptions to some content using an eBook app like the Kobo Reader and Kindle apps for iOS or Android, and Apple offers subscriptions to iPad-specific magazine … Read more

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

CES 2011 – Where’s Dave?

For the first time since the blog really got rolling, I won’t be attending the Consumer Electronics Show. CES, of course, is the largest tech trade show in the US and where a wide array of companies preview their wares. As with most years, early on I debated attending. Last year, for example, we had record traffic … 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

VidTrim: Simple, Free Video Editing on Android

Say you used your Android phone to shoot an 8 minute video of your cat playing with a toy, or a half hour video of your baby kind of lying on the floor doing nothing but looking cute. Now say you actually want to watch the video from time to time, but don’t have the free … Read more

This Old House: Goodbye SDV, Hello FiOS

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The backstory… We moved into our new (old) home about three weeks ago. And, to be efficient, merely transferred our Cox cable and Internet services. Unfortunately, the migration wasn’t quite as seamless as I had hoped – including blown scheduling by Cox and several days without service at both the old and new locations (without restitution). Additionally, regular readers should be familiar with my ongoing switched digital video pain and Cox’s restrictive CCI Byte implementation… leading to severely crippled TiVos. So no one should be surprised I’d want to give Verizon’s FiOS a try. Given reader encouragement in the comments and an upcoming siding project, we accelerated the plan.

My original goal had been to run both Cox and Verizon services simultaneously, reserving the right to terminate the install at any time, but within 10 minutes of the technician surveying the landscape he started severing legacy coax – which is when I realized there was no turning back. The installer (Matt W.) very patiently and expertly accommodated every request and performed outstanding, detailed work during his 6.5 hour visit. Not only that, he refused every offer of a beverage and a generous tip.

Now I did inform Verizon ahead of time that I’d ordered service, but I’m not sure I received any sort of special treatment. In fact, it could have worked against me…

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Skifta Soft Launch: Stream Your Media to DLNA Devices

Now that we own digital content in a lot of different places, several companies are working on the problem of making it accessible everywhere. Skifta, owned by Qualcomm, is one such player with a new Android app, and an affinity for DLNA. The Skifta set-up is reasonably simple. Download the app on your phone and … Read more

Seeya, Rhapsody

As I’m wont to do, I regularly cycle through all sorts of content subscription services. And earlier this month, I returned to the Rhapsody fold. Unlike my Slacker and XM subs, Rhapsody provides more control; instead of listening to someone else’s playlists, I can create my own or even playback specific albums on demand. Indeed, … Read more