November 19th, 2009 9:02 PM | by Christen da Costa
When GlideTV arrived on the scene last month it garnered all sorts of press thanks to its cool design and what appeared to be ease of use factor. If you haven’t heard, it’s a remote/mouse targeted at the home theater PC crowd, you know, the folks that prefer to watch their media on their computer rather than pay the money hungry cable companies. Or you could be like me and do both.
Right out of the box I noticed how light weight the GlideTV remote is. Front and center is your standard mouse touchpad – similar to those found on laptops – which is surrounded by 8 buttons. Beyond that there is a designated GlideTV button that fires up their custom software, a power button (it controls the PC power), volume control, search button (opens up GlideTV’s search which can be designated to Hulu, Google, etc) and media player controls (play, pause, etc). The 8 surrounding buttons each do something different in their respective applications, so a little trial and error will help you figure that out. …Continue reading: GlideTV Review
November 13th, 2009 5:29 PM | by Christen da Costa
Last month Yamaha unveiled their first yAired device and yesterday the company issued the second desktop stereo to include the technology, the MCR-140. If you missed it, yAired is a wireless dock for your iPod or iPhone that transmits the player’s audio back to the stereo sans wires.
This particular stereo, which is also available without the yAired tech (MCR-040), includes an optional wireless subwoofer, CD player, AM/FM radio, front USB port and a top mounted iPod dock. Available in ten different Skittle like colors, both system include a set of “highly responsive 4 –inch speakers” that are said to produce “dynamic bass response for powerful, clean sound from any music library”.
Viewsonic, a company that is probably best known for their LCD Monitors, has entered into the digital media player space with the introduction of the VMP70.
Much like Western Digital’s offering, the tiny black box connects to your TV via HDMI (or component or composite) and can stream movies, music and photos from any network connected computer or a USB stick. It’s compatible with a wide array of video/audio codecs and should boast a fanless operation since it has no on board storage. All the commands are driven by the included remote, so lose that and your SOL.
Sears, determined not to be shown up by OfficeMax, has just announced its own Black Friday deals, and they’re actually pretty awesome. Even better, they’re actually pushing Black Friday ahead to HALLOWEEN. That’s right, the deals start THIS SATURDAY, as opposed to Black Friday.
What’s on tap? Well, how about a Magellan RoadMate 1200 GPS system for $99.99, or maybe a Sony 1000-Watt 5-Disc home theater system with a 1080p upscaling HDMI DVD player for $249.99?
But that’s not where the deals end over at Sears, only where they begin. There’s also a whole slew of deals on televisions and digital cameras and everything in between. Sears is clearly desperate for a sale, and is doing everything short of giving it away to get their deal. I don’t think I’m exaggerating that “desperate”, either: when you start offering Black Friday deals in October, and especially given the financial condition of Sears, it’s not too much of a surprise that they’re pulling out all the stops.
I just got my mitts on the GlideTV remote, which is designed specifically for use with a home theater PC. While I have yet to actually fire it up and use the remote, I very impressed with the packaging and overall presentation.
Form factor wise it fits relatively well in the hand and is pretty light weight. I’m currently charging it – scratch that – I think I’m charging it; I had a hard time telling if the contacts were sitting in the dock correctly and receiving a charge. The backlighting did light up initially when I plugged it in, but then turned off. Anyway…well see later tonight. Tons of pics below and video.
October 21st, 2009 12:44 AM | by Christen da Costa
Logitech’s latest Harmony remote, the 700, is now available for your divine purchasing behavior. Amazon has it for $140 out the door, which ain’t too shabby considering it’s got a half way decent color screen and works with over 200k devices. It’s not equitable in feature set to some of Logitech’s other Harmony remotes, but for those of you with 6 devices or less it should be a fit.
The T3 Gadget of the Year went to none other than the Humax Foxsat HDR, a gadget that even got me doing a double take when I first read about it.
The Humax Foxsat HDR is a set-top box for your home theater, allowing you to access Freesat, a satellite TV network where there are a hundred and forty television and radio channels available entirely for free. There is a downside to this box, though–the HD channels are unavailable ot current users, and when the HD programming (like ITV HD and BBC HD) actually becomes available, users will have to get an entirely new settop box.
I hadn’t even heard of Freesat before this–mostly because it seems like this thing’s big only in Great Britain and possibly only Europe–and the thought of largely free television is definitely an appeal. Here’s a channel listing if you’re considering overthrowing your cable or dish provider for a crack at Freesat.
If you’re looking for media streaming on a very, VERY tight budget, then the Patriot media streamer is EXACTLY what you had in mind. You’ll need to bring your own hard disk drive, but each Patriot comes with a remote, three USB slots, Ethernet support and support for several different file formats.
Sure, it’s not that great that you have to provide your own hard drive before this thing will actually work, but given the price of the unit and the hard drive itself, chances are you’ll be doing all right. They provide everything else–all you have to do is bring your picnic basket and enjoy.
And when I said, “very, VERY tight budget”, I meant it. This sucker retails for a downright reasonable $130. Of course, you’ll have to tack on a little extra for the hard drive, but new ones aren’t so pricey these days.
Finding the perfect iPod speaker system can be a daunting task at best. With so many choices to choose from and seemingly hundreds of new brands emerging all over the place, it can end up being quite the process. What most docks have forgotten however, is old media. While some of us may have totally abandoned CD’s, there are probably more than a handful of us that still use them here and there, depending on the scenario. I actually still use CD’s when taking a shower using and old CD player boombox I’ve had for over a decade stuffed on a shelf in my bathroom. …Continue reading: JVC UX-LP5 iPod/CD Player Stereo System Review
Now here’s an interesting idea for you, folks–you’ve heard of the universal remote before, but now it’s gone to a whole new level with the BluLink remote, a Bluetooth universal remote.
The BluLink can control up to six devices, including the Playstation 3, and even offers onboard memory so that no special PS3 settings are lost, even if you take out the two AA batteries that run it.
So for now, it’ll handle your PS3 remote switching needs, along with tackling the rest of your home theater control needs, without caring a whit what all’s in the way. I say “for now”, of course, because there’s one fatal flaw to the BluLink remote…it only has the Bluetooth profile to control the PS3.
This means, of course, when the rest of the Bluetooth-ready TVs and DVD players and Blu-ray players and DVRs and whatnot come out, your new $49.95 BluLink will still be controlling the PS3…and only the PS3.
