Kindle eBooks Outselling Hardcovers on Amazon

The GeekTonic home has seen it’s share of eReaders including the Kindle, Nook and iPad. But when it comes to reading books, the Kindle is our all around favorite – especially with Amazon’s price drop (down to $189). Now, CEO Jeff Bezos tells us that Kindle books are now outselling Hardcover books on Amazon. For … Read more

D-Link Boxee Box First Look

Boxee Chief Product Officer, Zach Klein gives a low-fi un-Boxee-ing intro video (recorded via iPhone) of the first D-Link Boxee box in its final production hardware. My favorite aspect of Boxee hardware continues to be the IR/RF remote control with QWERTY keyboard on the backside. The Boxee Box is slated for arrival in late October or … Read more

Popbox Arrives (with early firmware issues)

The Popbox ($130) media streamer from Syabas has been one of the more anticipated media players for 2010 and it seems to have arrived a few days ahead of schedule (yet still late). As a matter of fact Syabas, the company that brings us Popbox says they were “surprised” by the early availability on Amazon. Unfortunately, … Read more

Resolving the iPhone 4 Antenna Problem

Late last week, Steve Jobs cut his Hawaiian vacation short so that he could respond to iPhone 4 reception concerns with a press conference. The takeaway seems to be that most smartphones suffer degraded network performance when held in specific ways, but the issue is overblown in real world usage. Yet, to overcome the iPhone’s particular deficiency … Read more

The TV Holy Grail

If there’s one TV feature I want above all else, it’s an infinite on-demand catalog. I don’t want five episodes of Burn Notice, or the second season of Weeds, I want to be able to start at the beginning of a show’s run and have access to every episode that’s ever aired. Such a model … Read more

TiVo Collaborates with Netgear and HP for NAS

Earlier this month when Netgear announced new ReadyNAS products ($900 – $1350) that incorporate TiVo functionality, I reached out to the companies for more info. And, without having seen the feature in action, it sounds pretty much like what we’d expect… Sort of a TiVo Desktop port allowing you to offload shows to the NAS … Read more

Hands On with the Samsung Galaxy S

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Samsung’s making a splash with their new, high-end line of Android “Galaxy S” handsets. And while they’ve already launched overseas, the US variants with custom enclosures and functionality, start rolling out today:

As part of the launch festivities, I was provided a stock Galaxy S to evaluate. Media outreach and spec sheet highlights have led with Samsung’s 4″ 800 x 480 Super AMOLED screen. And while I initially found it oversaturated, even garish (combined with Samsung’s Touchwiz skinning), I’ve landed somewhere else entirely. In fact, I’ve concluded that the Galaxy S utilizes the most pleasing mobile display I’ve encountered — striking an excellent balance of resolution, size, and vibrancy. The Galaxy S obviously isn’t as high res as Apple’s iPhone 4 pixel-dense “retina display” … but with uncorrected sub-20/20 vision, it’s not like I’ve been bothered by aliasing at 18″. So, ultimately, I find myself in the same camp as Harry McCracken of Technologizer:

if all other phone features were equal, I’d take more square inches over more pixels

A common Galaxy S knock has been a plasticy appearance and/or feel. And while the enclosure is indeed plastic, it contributes (positively) to a lightweight feeling device, despite sporting that 4″ display. (And how quickly folks have forgotten iPhone 3GS and 3G’s slippery plastic backside?) There’s no debating that the Samsung’s handset doesn’t pack the same level of materials or symmetry found on the iPhone 4 but, in my week of usage, the Galaxy S has been both comfortable and functional.

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Regarding the Galaxy S’s photographic capabilities, I can tell you the handset captures 5 megapixel stills and 720p video. I haven’t shot enough sample content to pass judgement, other than saying quality’s in about the same ballpark as most of the competition. Two other camera notes… The Galaxy S doesn’t incorporate a LED, or other, flash. Which isn’t a problem for me, as a flash-free photographer, but it’s something you may want to consider. Also, my particular unit houses a front-facing camera. But, sadly, I’m unaware of any Market apps which support the feature (yet) and believe only the Sprint model in the US will contain similar.

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Sirius XM iPhone App Now Supports Multitasking

Sirius XM has launched an updated version of their app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. The biggest change is that the new version lets you play music in the background while using other apps — assuming you’re running iOS 4 on a mobile device that supports multitasking. The Sirius XM app for Google Android, of … Read more