GadgetReview

Later this month marks the release of the Sony PlayTV, a Tivo-esque HDTV recorder that hooks to your PS3 and records television to the PS3’s hard drive.  They’ll be asking $169.95, at least in Australia, and can actually be used to record TV while the Playstation is actually playing games or Blu-ray discs.

Even more interesting, the PSP will work like a remote for the system, similar to how Apple uses the iPod touch or iPhone as a remote on its own stuff.

This has actually been something of a bit of vaporware for the Aussies, who’ve been waiting on this one since the start of 2009, but Sony made a bit of a splash when they put the announcement that this would come out in the second half of 2009 in writing.  Will it actually make it to market?  Time will tell, but not much of it.

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Just in time for the holidays, Roku has announced an all new Roku Player…sort of.  Actually, the HD-XR model just adds a USB port (not enabled) and support for 802.11n to the HD version of the box.  You can grab one now for $129.99 or opt for the now discounted SD version for $79.99.  For some the $30 for the HD-XR version might not be worth it, but for those streaming users that want to move their box further from their router it might make sense, and who knows, maybe that currently disabled USB port will actually facilitate not only local play from an attached hard drive but enable it to be a NAS.

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Over the summer I saw a bunch of cool expensive looking RC jets and helicopters.  This one dude was even flying his RC helicopter upside down and doing all these cool stunts.

The “not a toy” SkyShutter Helicam RC Helicopter will allow you to capture some seriously sick aerial footage and is quite the technological marvel.  Two people are required to control this thing properly, as one person flies the copter and the other controls the camera.  The electric powered helicopter weighs 30lbs and is capable of carrying up to 6lbs of camera gear from SLR’s to decent HD cams.

Once the camera is affixed to the helicopter it can tilted and panned to produce some truly professional shots you’d often associate with real helicopter footage.  Just don’t ask for this for Christmas as it costs $9,000.

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Strap in and brace yourselves all over, kids, because I got a HOT list of deals here for the upcoming Black Friday sales!  Seems that Office Max dropped the dime a bit early on what they’ll be offering up for cheap the day after Thanksgiving (early?? It’s not even HALLOWEEN and they’re talking Black Friday!), but their incredibly gauche behavior brings you a whole lot of deals.  Check THIS out!

How about an Acer netbook for $150?  I know, you’re probably blinking rapidly and reading that again, but it’s true.  And it’s not where the deals end…but where they BEGIN, my friends. How about a Compaq Presario AMD Athlon II dual-core CPU for $240?  Maybe you like the DVDs…well, you can get a Memorex portable DVD player with seven-inch screen for $30.  Start hunting for couch change now and by Thanksgiving you should have enough for even a Magellan RoadMate 1440 GPS.  Just $70!

It’s enough to make even the most hesitant shopper think twice about clutching the wallet in a death grip.

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Redefining quality Star Wars products seems to be a top priority these days for Marc Ecko.  The newest entry is his line of Star Wars inspired watches from Timex and they actually look pretty cool.

These pictures are merely serving as a teaser and pricing and availability has yet to be announced.  I’d expect that there are more pictures to surface soon, cuz you know there’s a hairy Chewbacca watch for sure.  An R2D2 would also be an easy one too. …Continue reading: New Star Wars Watches By Marc Ecko And Timex

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.

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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.

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Remember how the digital TV switch left most portable TVs useless?

Well, the folks at Flo TV have developed a portable television device that laughs at the digital divide, the Flo TV  Personal Television.

No waiting.  No buffering.  No nothing–just start watching and use your fingertip on the touchscreen to move the image back and forth.  Even better, the Flo TV gets fifteen channels, including Comedy Central, MTV, MSNBC and NBC News.

Of course, this doesn’t come free–you’ll have to shell out a whopping $8.99 a month with a three year commitment, and the device itself will run you an extra $249.99.

Pricey, but if you’ve ever wanted to easily carry cable content around with you, this is exactly the device you want.

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Being fond of several Griffin products I couldn’t help but notice how cool this one looks.  It’s been awhile since I’ve seen screens on Airplane seat backs but I know they still exist.  If you are an iPhone/iPod owner seeking a bigger screen during air travel then the Griffin exPort In-Flight Video Cable will help you get there.

Using the Panasonic developed exPort cable standard to connect to the airplane’s entertainment system, it allows you to view all your media/content from your iPhone/iPod on the aforementioned separate screen.

This cable connector type is now being licensed to Airlines to hopefully we’ll soon start seeing these in action across all Airlines.  Right now the only Airlines that have this connector type installed is in 1st class through United Airlines and on the Continental Airlines’ new Boeing 777s.  No word on price or release.

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Aren’t we excited!  Video game to movie translations can be an iffy thing at best, but it appears as though Activision is looking to take it’s hugely successful franchise to the silver screen.  Do we think it will be comparable to other video game movies?

News of this had recently been contrived from Infinity Ward community manager Robert Bowling’s Twitter feed stating:

First round of meetings in Paris wrapped. Grabbing lunch with Xavier Gens, director of the Hitman film while in town. Talking game films.

Take what you will from that,  nothing has been officialized yet but is has the blogs surmising for sure.  How will they translate multi-player into the movie I wonder?

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