New Home Gadgets

Though many Americans are obsessed with their home “theater-in-the-box” systems and many more are dying to have one, about half of these owners are not installing their rear-channel speakers. If you’re wondering why, it’s because of lack of technical expertise as well as aesthetic issues such as wire visibility. This so-called “surroundaphobia” hinders the great home theater experience. The study conducted by Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and CE manufacturers reveals that 74% of consumers prefer as few wires and connections as possible. Also, 34% said they wanted to improve the “visibility of wires” in their current system setups. (Read the full post about ‘Many American home “theater-in-a-box” buyers neglect the rear speaker setup’…)

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Summary What’s not to like about the Mazda3 5-Door? The Mazda3 replaced the long-running Protégé two years ago, and its increased size, space, and structural rigidity have been used to the maximum advantage. It is available in four-door sedan and five-door hatchback body styles. This sports car offers great ride, comfort and handling at a very reasonable fuel economy. Features With its space-efficient namesake five-door hatchback body style, an energetic 160-horsepower 2.3-liter engine matched to a smooth-shifting five-speed gearbox, Mazda combines sport and utility ideally than any other small ‘’sport utility vehicle”. Its fully-independent suspension provides both comfort and sure-footed handling. (Read the full post about ‘MAZDA3 5 Door Car’…)

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Cheap subnotebooks in the mold of Asus’ Eee PC are coming thin and slow. The GeCube Genie PC has a similar 7" screen, linux-based operating system and lightweight frame. The screen resolution is the same, as is type and general size of storage: 2GB of flash. The GeCube will cost about $450. The problem, if it isn’t obvious, is that it’s a clone of something that already exists, and is very good. The GeCube’s screen is detachable, but the point of doing so really isn’t clear. Specifications need to be improved, as well, to leapfrog Asus. Everex’s Cloudbook, for all its flaws, at least has 30GB of storage, an easy differentiator against these sub-8GB Flash-only models. (Read the full post about ‘More Asus Eee Clones Coming’…)

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Sometimes I have to wonder if there is a limit to eco-friendly gadgets that try to save as much energy as possible. For example, the Benkatine Turbine: a device from Leviathan Energy that allows you to generate electricity when you flush the toilet. The device works using the principles of hydroelectric power. In other words, water flows in (or, in the case of flushing, out) a turbine fan spins, and power is generated. Not only can the Benkatine Turbine generate power from the indoor plumbing, but it can be used outside to generate power from gutter drainage. I have to admit that this is a pretty obvious use for what is essentially wasted energy from our…waste. (Read the full post about ‘Benkatine Turbine Makes Energy While You Flush’…)

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Problem: You have a big music collection, and you want to share it with multiple computers around the home. Ripfactory’s RipServer is one way around this, but it leaves out the essentials in it’s rip’n’store network storage device. The RipServer is a minimalist box containing a CD drive, a 500GB or 1TB hard drive and a small Linux brain. Slide in a CD and it is ripped to MP3 or lossless FLAC formats, whereupon it is available to everyone on the network. The box will also store movies and while it will play DVDs, it won’t rip them. A semi-automatic CD ripper is fine when you first want to convert your collection of discs, but after the initial run, the CD player is somewhat redundant. (Read the full post about ‘Network Box Rips and Serves Your Tunes’…)

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Posted Mar 6th 2008 8:40AM by Ben DrawbaughFiled under: HDTV, Home EntertainmentHi-def and DVRs go together like peanut butter and jelly, but even with all the great DVRs available today, none are perfect. TiVo offers the best overall user experience and features, but lacks a few fundamental features that most cable STBs have — like VOD, for starters. Although this isn’t TiVo’s fault, when it comes down to figuring out what’s right for your family, it really doesn’t matter. During Tivo’s earnings call yesterday, it was reaffirmed that TiVo is working one step closer to making the ultimate cable DVR by including two-way functionality using the latest CableLabs standard tru2way. (Read the full post about ‘TiVo still working on a DVR with two-way features like VOD’…)

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DivX and Philips have sealed a two-year licensing agreement that would enable Philips to continue including DivX video functionality on its electronic products. These products include DVD players, portable devices, digital televisions and next generation consumer products such as Blu-Ray DVD devices. Since becoming the global standard for high-quality digital video, around 100 million DivX certified devices have been made available to the market. DivX flexibility in cross platform movement of video content and interoperability between DVD players has made it the top benchmarking tool of other companies specializing on high-definition digital video. (Read the full post about ‘DivX, Philips agree to bring high-quality digital video on any device or platform’…)

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Posted Mar 6th 2008 11:28AM by Darren MurphFiled under: Robots We’ll be honest — we’ve seen more snake-like robots than we care to count, but a new creature slithering out of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology is noticeably different than most. As you can see above, there’s a distinct lack of treads, tracks or wheels on Aiko, as it actually pushes off foreign objects it encounters in order to creep forward. (Read the full post about ‘Robotic snake moves by pushing off obstacles’…)

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The MagStay does one thing, and it does it well. Unfortunately, that thing might not be something you actually want. The little plastic widget slides into the USB port next to the MagSafe socket on a MacBook Pro, and stops the power plug from disengaging from its magnetic home when on your lap. That’s it. The problem (apart from using up a USB port) is that it looks like it will defeat the whole point of the MagSafe adapter, which is to break free when the cord is snagged, saving your Mac from a nasty tumble. The plug looks like it will still pull out if the tug comes perpendicular to the side of the machine, but anything off center could send your Mac into a floorward spin. (Read the full post about ‘MagStay Widget Finds a Niche’…)

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Sony Ericsson has their hot Windows Mobile 6.1-based XPERIA X1 handset on display at CeBIT and it seems to be giving a nice clue as to what carrier we may be able to grab this on when its released later this year. As seen in the images, there is a clear AT&T logo in the center of the display. While it could just merely be a coincidence or possibly someone making an attempt to build speculation, or even Sony Ericsson trying to drop a hint to AT&T, only time will tell just which it is. As you would expect, there has not been any official confirmation of which carrier the X1 will hit upon its release. Keep reading for a few more images of the XPERIA X1, along with the AT&T logo, the image appears to be showing off a nice shot of the UI in action. (Read the full post about ‘Could Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X1 be headed to AT&T?’…)

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