Better Buy Electronics: News Headlines

FCC Tentatively Approves Sirius/XM Merger?

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:30:00 PST

According to reports in The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, the Federal Communications Commission has reached a tentative agreement to approve the merger between satellite radio operators Sirius and XM. Although terms of a deal have not been disclosed, reports have XM paying over $17 million (and Sirius another $2 million) to settle complaints about tower locations and exceeding transmission power limits for ground-based repeaters. Initially

Intel Launches Tolapai System-on-a-Chip

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:10:00 PST

Chipmaker Intel has formally announced its new Intel EP80579 Integrated Processor Family, a group of "Web savvy" system-on-a-chip designs and products that the company hopes will herald a new age of smart, Internet-enabled devices ranging from in-car infotainment to set-top boxes to industrial robotics. Formerly codenamed Tolapai, the new chips and designs represent Intel's first serious effort into the embedded and mobile systems arena (currently dominated by companies like ARM), as well as the consumer electronics and mobile Internet device (MID)

Nokia and Qualcomm Bury Patent Hatchet

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:45:00 PST

For years, Nokia and Qualcomm have been engaged in a series of international legal battles over key mobile technology patents covering everything from CDMA and GSM to UMTS, HSDPA, and Wi-Max. The companies have filed suit against each other in multiple countries, sought to have each other's products banned from markets, and sparred over licensing terms, royalties, and other terms. The battle has been long and ugly, and was just punctuated earlier this week with a German court finding a Qualcomm patent on GSM technology is invalid. Now, the firms seem to have realized the protracted litigation has been hurting their markets and creating uncertainty am

Sony Opens eBook Reader to Other Sellers

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:10:00 PST

The Amazon Kindle might be the e-book reader getting all the media attention these days, but it certainly wasn't the E-Ink-based portable reader on the scene. In an effort to better compete with the Kindle, Sony is rolling out a software update for its Sony Reader that will enable it to handle books published in the growing Epub format, which is already supported by several publishers, including Simon & Shuster, Penguin, and HarperMedia, and others. The upshot is that the Sony Reader will be able to display books purchased from not just Sony's online store, but also from any publisher

Sony Announces DC Universe Online MMO

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:45:00 PST

At this week's ComicCon in San Diego, Sony Online Entertainment is introducing DC Universe Online, a new massively multiplayer online game coming up for the PlayStation 3 that will enable players to create their own superheroes (or supervillians) and fight alongside (or against!) iconic DC comics characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Blue Beetle, the Flash, and Green Arrow…and, of course, bad seeds like Lex Luthor, The Joker, Brainiac, and Bizarro. "The rich, storied world of DC Comics has never been available to players like this before," said SOE president John Smedley, in a

Samsung Innov8 Packs 8MP Cam, HSDPA, Wi-Fi

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:40:00 PST

Whether you know it as the i8510, its old moniker Primera, or the newly unveiled Innov8 label, Samsung finally took the wraps off its latest smartphone on Thursday, and it’s a doozy by any name. The phone guns for Nokia’s position in the high-end smartphone market with an 8-megapixel camera, quad-band GSM radio, and sleek sliding design. Samsung has positioned the phone as a multimedia phone along the same line’s as Nokia’s N96, rolling a legitimate digital camera into a capable smartphone. Coupling an impressive 8-megapixel camera

Microsoft Details Games Changes

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:00:00 PST

At Gamefest 2008, Microsoft has announced it’s making changes to its Games for Windows Live and Xbox Live services, according to a TechNewsWorld report. All members of Games for Windows Live will be able to play all games, as games fees have been removed. The company is also set to bring in a Games for Windows Live Marketplace. The Xbox Live service changes will be a boon to independent developers, as the brand-new “Xbox Live Community Games” marketp

Tour Tracker Catalogs Live Music Events

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 07:00:00 PST

Finding a good show in New York City or Los Angeles can be as easy as wandering down the street on a Saturday night. But when you’re stuck somewhere away from the pop culture nexus of the universe, or looking to see a specific band, things can get complicated. On Thursday, AOL introduced a new Web site designed to aggregate touring information from all over the Web to serve as a one-stop shop for live music seekers. Tour Tracker allows users to enter an artist or city, then plug in a timeframe and search. While it’s not as thorough as a city’s printed music rag and has some glaring omissions, even among major

Zen Mozaic PMP Makes a Square Statement

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:25:00 PST

For those looking for an MP3 player with a design as loud as the music its pumping out, Creative on Thursday launched the Zen Mozaic, a decidedly out-there PMP. True to its name, the Mozaic features a grid-like pattern of colored squares beneath its screen that serve as its controls. Aside from this colorful bit of pixilation built into its face, the Mozaic’s specs are more or less ordinary. It gets a 1.8-inch full-color screen, an FM radio with 32 presets, voice recorder, and support for all the standard audio formats, including MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM 10, and JPEG for photos. On

iPhone Boosts AT&T

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:00:00 PST

AT&T must be very glad they signed up to sell the iPhone. They’ve reported their second quarter revenues as $30.7 billion, which is a massive 54% increase over last year, and the company is happy to credit the iPhone for the success. AT&T is the exclusive iPhone network carrier in the US. AT&T’s wireless unit reported a 52% increase, and initial sales of the new 3G iPhone have been twice those of the original. AT&T’s chairman and chief executive Randall Stephenson said: "In the days following our exclusive U.S. launch of this new device, customer response has been everything we had

Google To Buy Digg?

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:00:00 PST

Technology blog TechCrunch has reported that Google is close to a deal to purchase news aggregator Digg for a whopping $200 million. Or it may not, as Microsoft might step in. According to the blog, the deal might be almost done, or it might fall through, or Microsoft might come in with a bid. But at present a Google deal seems likely, if maybe still a couple of weeks from closing. Founded in 2004, Digg has become possibly the best-known of the news aggregators, a successful example of Web 2.0 – and it has a healthy ad deal with Microsoft. If th

Google Launches Knol

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:00:00 PST

Yesterday Google unveiled Knol, its answer to Wikipedia. Like Wikipedia, it’s a collaborative site, but there are differences: although a collbarotive site, meaning people can add to articles, each Knol, or piece, will have a primary author, who can choose to become a verified subscriber. And, perhaps more importantly, authors can earn money through Google AdSense, although including that with the article is at the discretion of the primary author. According to Information Week, the author will also have to approve cha

UK ISPs Tackle File Sharing

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:00:00 PST

According to the BBC, six of Britain’s biggest ISPs have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform aimed at eliminating illegal file-sharing. The six, who will be named later today, will begin by sending letters to customers believed to be engaged in illegal file-sharing. But that’s only one step, and it’s believed that the companies have signed up to take further steps to eliminate the piracy. The Memorandum reportedly also commits the ISPs to developing legal music download services. To date, BT and

Maxtor BlackArmor 320GB

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:31:46 PST

If you’re the paranoid type or just someone who cannot afford to have his or her data stolen, the Maxtor BlackArmor external backup drive will likely bring you a large dose of piece-of-mind. Data on the drive is encrypted with a key at the hardware level using government-grade 128-bit AES encryption, so if you lose it whoever finds it will have zero chance of recovering the data. Even better, if someone steals the drive and doesn’t have the password, they can reformat the drive but the process destroys the encryption key, making all the data inaccessible even by data recovery professionals. This high level of security comes with a high price tag though, and the drive also suffers a few design drawbacks too, so you should only consider it if data security is a top priority.

Maxtor BlackArmor 160GB

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:15:47 PST

Sooloos Launches Home Media Line

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:15:00 PST

Home media developer Sooloos is one of those companies mainly known to custom installers for its high-end multi-room home music system…and known to customers for their slick 17-inch touch panel control system called the Control:One. Today, the company announced it is expanding its offerings to a full-fledged product line, enabling "entry-level users" to get into the Sooloos world. Of course, a high-end home media developer's idea of "entry level" pricing may not quite match the ideas of a consumer electronics shopper who walks the aisles as Wal-mart…but sometimes it's good to know how the one percent of the population that controls ninety percent of the world's wealth might live.

WHDI Group Working Toward New Standard

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:40:00 PST

WHDI developer Amimon has announced it has formed a special interest group with industry heavyweights like Samsung, Motorola, Hitachi, Sharp, and Sony to form a new special interest group dedicated to developing a new industry standard for multi-room, high-definition wireless media. The group hopes to have the details hammered out by the end of 2008, based on current WHDI technology. "The development of the new standard will ensure that when consumers purchase CE devices and take them home, they will enjoy a fast, easy, and hassle-free wireless connection that delivers the highest quality," said Amimom CEO Dr. Yoav Nissan-Cohen, in

Sony Vaio FW-Series 16.4-inch Notebook

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST

Just when you thought manufacturers had finished carving out enough different laptop screen sizes, someone has to go and scribble another odd one onto the scale. Acer did it earlier this year with an 18.4-inch behemoth that created its own size class, and now Sony has done the same with its very own 16.4-inch laptop, which it claims is the first of its kind as well. Spanning the gap between 15.4-inch notebooks and 17-inch desktop replacements, Sony’s new FW-series notebooks will take advantage of a new screen size, but not just to add another shade of grey between big and small. The FW will actually adopt an unusual wide-screen 16:9 aspect ratio, a number that will be familiar to multimedia hounds as Hollywood’s magic

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CSI's Eric Szmanada Enters the Startup World with eRockster.com

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST

If actor Eric Szmanda seems awfully comfortable in his role as a nerdy lab tech on CBS’s hit crime drama CSI, that might just be because of his real-life obsession with technology. Whether programming his own online radio station or jamming out with friends in a game of Guitar Hero, he’s never shied from his geeky side. You might even run across his naked avatar in Second Life. We recently sat down with Eric to find out more about Eric’s favorite gadgets from the show, his mishaps in gaming, and his online radio project, Erockster. Digital Trends (DT): Your character on CSI is a little bit of a geek. How close would you say that is to you in r

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What if Gaming Went to a Hosted, Subscription Model?

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST

I can probably cover the problems with one long sentence. Each console has unique advantages and disadvantages but no one game plays on all of them (and you often have to buy different versions of the game for each anyway). While PC Games have to deal with a missive diversity of hardware and operating systems with the result being that they typically aren’t as reliable as they need to be and fall well short of cutting edged performance. This increases substantially the cost of developing a new game and reduces the value of that game to us because if we don’t have the right platform we won’t buy it, and if it sucks on the platform we have we’ll likely not buy another. Ideally the game developers wou

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Nintendo Wii Fit

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:17:36 PST

Exercise-oriented video games aren't new, but Wii Fit is certainly the most technically advanced one yet. Fun games like snowboarding, Hula Hoop, and tightrope keep it from being tedious. The ingenious Balance Board tracks your center of gravity, and although we're skeptical about its fitness evaluation criteria, a few weeks of use has noticeably improved our balance. We wish you could save your own workout routines, and we advise against taking it too seriously as a fitness tool, but overall we're impressed with Wii Fit, and the Balance Board has lots of potential as a controller.

Playstation 3 Media Server Setup

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST

My digital media was scattered among various drives, computers, and discs. I wanted seamless central control over all of it, so I decided to use my Sony PlayStation 3 as a media hub, with my 40-inch Samsung HDTV as a monitor. Now I can view or listen to all my photos, videos, and music via my TV screen, no matter where they are. Here’s a guide to building a digital media command center in your living room. LEVEL 1: Connect to your home network In the PS3's main menu, navigate to Settings - Network Settings - Internet Connection, press X on your SixAxis controller and select Enabled. Then go to Internet Connection Settings (also under Network Settings), and select your network name (SS

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Hasselblad H3DII-50 50-megapixel Digital Camera

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 PST

It seems that only a few years ago, cameras with 5-megapixel sensors were the golden standard in digital imaging, with more resolution than some even thought necessary at the time. Since then, resolution has continued to skyrocket, prices have continued to fall, and now even a budget pocket cam might be packing a 12-megapixel sensor. Image Courtesy of Hasselblad But don't think we've hit the ceiling just yet. All that resolution may start to look inconsequential for amateurs who don't expect t

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Toshiba Satellite M300-S1002X

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:39:40 PST

Toshiba’s latest business notebook, the M300, won’t blow your hair back with whiz-bang features and record-shattering performance, but it’s a very solid package that covers all the basics one needs in a laptop that’s somewhere between an ultra-portable and a desktop replacement. This 14.1” notebook is tastefully appointed in a Titanium Silver finish, weighs just 5.2lbs, and has one of the best keyboards we’ve ever sampled in a notebook. Though its trialware issues and long boot time are easily remedied, its lack of security features –either biometric or facial recognition – are disappointing on a laptop aimed at business users. Overall it’s still a surprisingly well-polished machine that is extremely affordable and easy to live with.

Samsung Instinct

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:04:32 PST

The Sprint Instinct from Samsung is one of the hottest new phones on the market, thanks to its slim profile, vibrating touchscreen, and standard headphone jack. It also has features that are now standard fare on midrange phones, like GPS, a Web browser, and a microSD slot. The Instinct's lack of built-in WiFi means prospective iPhone buyers probably won't be swayed, and its live TV streaming pales in comparison to that of the LG Voyager. But Samsung has clearly been listening to consumer complaints about the competition (and its own Glyde) and has made a reliable, satisfying handset with a stellar accessory bundle.