Archive for October 23rd, 2005
The alleged tendency of the iPod nano screen to scratch has landed Apple with a class-action lawsuit in San Jose, California.
nano owner, Jason Tomczak, claims he managed to scratch his screen simple by wiping it with a paper towel. Although, the temptation is there to believe that he must have previously used the paper towel to wipe up some iron filings, the flimsiness of the nano in general has been the subject of much online discussion since it was unveiled last month by Steve Jobs.
The law suit itself is fairly vague about the nature of the complaint. iPod nanos “scratch excessively during normal usage, rendering the screen on the Nanos [sic] unreadable, and violating state consumer protection statutes… and causing Plaintiff class members to incur loss of use and monetary damages.”
The plaintiffs are, quite reasonably, asking for their purchase price to be refunded, damages and attorney fees. INcrediblty they are also asking for a share of nano profits, but on what grounds is unknown.
October 23rd, 2005
Sony’s entrant into the digital living room category breaks all boundaries by managing not only personal and downloaded multimedia content but pre-packaged audio CDs and DVD movies as well.
The VAIO XL1 Digital Living System brings all of your entertainment into the living room and lets you manage it with a remote control.
Two sleek components comprise Sony’s Digital Living System: a high-end multimedia PC and a 200-disc media changer/recorder. Both are designed to fit into a home entertainment rack and the elegant silver and black casings are sure to complement the rest of your home entertainment system. The PC connects to a television via an HDMI cable, the emerging standard for digital connectivity, to output high-definition video and multi-channel digital audio in a single connection.
Close collaboration with Microsoft and tight integration with the Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 operating system ensure unique functionality only when using the XL1 system’s disc changer. Discs inserted into the changer are automatically detected by the PC which downloads (over a wired or wireless network) available metadata on each one, including jewel case covers and artist information. For movies, an in-depth synopsis is also downloaded in addition to the star, director, producer details and more. All of this information is easily sorted and accessed using the included wireless keyboard or remote control.
“Sony has innovated once again by introducing a product that is a monumental step forward in defining the way consumers enjoy digital entertainment,” said Mike Abary, vice president of VAIO product marketing for Sony Electronics in the U.S. “With the XL1, users can still manage all their meaningful entertainment content such as downloaded music, home movies and personal photos. But the really groundbreaking functionality is the additional ability to easily organize, sort, and access packaged content — all of the DVD movies and audio CDs that have been traditionally relegated to a bookshelf.”
“The Sony VAIO XL1 Digital Living System combines an innovative and cost-effective CD/DVD changer with a state-of-the-art Windows Media Center Edition PC, offering consumers a very cool, high-quality living room entertainment experience,” said Joe Belfiore, general manager of the Windows eHome Division at Microsoft Corp. “The XL1 is a result of close collaboration between Sony and Microsoft, and our two companies will continue to work together on future products that extend the Windows Media Center platform.”
With the XL1 Digital Living system, you can consolidate your music library by backing up your music CDs to your hard drive to be stored along with all of your downloaded music. With the touch of a few buttons, you can automatically and sequentially record up to 200 audio CDs from the media changer to the hard drive along with available album covers and track information. You can also record a series of television show episodes to the hard drive and easily transfer them to blank DVDs stored in the changer. The system alerts you to how many discs are needed and you can burn a whole season of your favorite TV program to DVDs to take on your next road trip.
In addition to being the ultimate home A/V entertainment center, the XL1 system is a powerful PC delivering robust performance for running multiple applications simultaneously. With its Intel Pentium D dual-core processor, ample DDR2 memory, PCI-E graphics and room for up to three SATA hard drives (RAID ready), the VAIO XL1 system is well-equipped to tackle your most demanding tasks. Internal PC components are liquid-cooled to ensure quiet operation worthy of a living room. Advancements such as Sony’s Sound Reality technology boost audio performance for high-quality digital sound.
Web browsing has been especially designed for an engaging living room experience. With the touch of the remote, you can quickly expand your favorite web pages for comfortable reading from your couch.
The Digital Living System will be sold as a package and will be available next month for about $2,300 online at SonyStyle.com
October 23rd, 2005
Eskape Labs, a division of Hauppauge, today announced the release of myTV.PVR, the company’s first combination TV tuner with built-in MPEG encoder designed for Macs.
With myTV.PVR, Mac users can watch live TV on their screen, plus pause and record their favorite TV programs any time they want, on notebook or desktop Macs.
As an external unit connected via USB 2.0, myTV.PVR is flexible and convenient enough to instantly turn any Mac into a full-fledged Personal Video Recorder. Users can watch live TV in a window or full screen, pause live TV with instant replay and schedule TV recordings on a daily, weekly or once-only schedule. myTV.PVR includes a built-in hardware MPEG encoder, so the Mac does not slow down while watching, recording or pausing TV. myTV.PVR also includes composite/S-Video and stereo audio inputs so users can connect to cable or satellite TV boxes, VCRs, camcorders or DVD players. Users can also record home video tapes to disk in an MPEG-2 format.
“myTV.PVR is possibly the most valuable accessory Mac users can buy. With myTV.PVR, the need for separate TV, PVR and DVD recorders are eliminated,” said Scott Naylor, Macintosh Product Manager for Eskape Labs. “College students, business people, even home users will enjoy the way myTV.PVR adds convenience and value to their Macs. For multitasking or simply to conserve space, myTV.PVR is a terrific solution.”
myTV.PVR provides dbx-TV stereo audio for quality TV sound and incorporates an hardware MPEG-2 video recorder for fast video on the Mac’s hard drive without compromising overall computer performance. Video is compressed using a Conexant 416 MPEG-2 chip, compressing TV shows or home videos at a variety of transfer rates ranging from 1 to 12 Mbits/sec.
To ensure programs are recorded when desired, myTV.PVR supports Titan TV, the Internet electronic program guide. Programs can be stored on the hard drive or burned to DVD or CD (writing hardware and software not included), making it easy to transport or store favorite videos.
Eskape Lab’s myTV.PVR is housed in a smooth, clean case that will complement any Macintosh. myTV.PVR is immediately available through the Eskape Labs web site as well as CompUSA and other leading online and offline computer retailers worldwide for $149.00 USB (MSRP). For more information or to purchase the Eskape Labs myTV.PVR USB Tuner/Recorder, visit www.eskapelabs.com.
October 23rd, 2005