We heard you loud and clear, last time we asked, most preferred the comfort of their custom home theater setup to a day at the ballpark, and teams must have too, as they have have responded accordingly. A New York Times story about the new Meadowlands notes new stadiums have made massive high definition scoreboards, smartphone apps and other enhancements a part of their business, along with everyday-sized HDTVs everywhere you go within the concourse and luxury suites. The USA Today wants to know what you think gives the best angle on gameday, and so do we. Is new technology enough to bring people back to the ballpark or at least ease the trend of fans staying home? Let us know if you’re tailgating this season, or just plopping down on the couch for a few hours.
After being announced in early June, Anandtech recently put the Western Digital WD TV Live Plus through its paces and discovered the Netflix enhancement works as advertised. Like many Netflix-enabled devices though, the TV Live comes up short compared to the full PC experience since access is limited to only the Instant Queue. Its presence also sacrifices firmware hackability — a quality which previously made up for the WD TV Live’s lack of versatility as an HTPC. The ability to move, copy, and manage locally stored media files via the interface, on the other hand, was praised as a unique advantage over competing models — exciting, we know. Sadly, video quality was docked as being “significantly less than the HTPC counterparts they’ve seen so far.” However, it’s possible this could be improved in the future via firmware updates, since its Sigma Designs processor features noise reduction and deinterlacing algorithms that strangely aren’t currently enabled. File format-wise, DVD ISOs worked flawlessly, while Blu-ray ISO and some WMV video formats experienced issues that users may want to read up on before buying. Gripes aside though, Anandtech was still willing to place it “around the top of the list” for media player devices, thanks to its wide file compatibility and robust features. For more details, hit the review source link.
Don’t have the NFL Network but still want to catch every single pre-season NFL game in HD? Well you finally have an option with NFL Preseason Live. It’ll cost you $40 for the over 50 live broadcasts, as well as on demand access, but what is particularly cool is access to either team’s radio broadcast (we assume it is synced up to the video) as well as enhancements like Big Play Markers — whatever that is. If you click through you can get a taste of what it’s like by watching last year’s Super Bowl, looks good up to 3Mbps. Now before you get all excited about the idea that this is a prelude to regular season games coming to the internet, just hold on there. The pre-season games are night and day when compared to regular season when you’re talking licensing rights. While the regular season rights are part of some of the biggest TV deals ever, the pre-season rights are usually sold to local affiliates; which always makes it fun to see the quality of the broadcast with considerably smaller budgets.
Discovery (1080i) has Man, Woman, Wild at 9 p.m. and Dual Survival at 10 p.m.
MyNetworkTV (720p) has WWE Smackdown at 8 p.m.
Syfy (1080i) has Eureka at 9 p.m. and Haven at 10 p.m.
History (720p) has the season premiere of Modern Marvels at 9 & 9:30 p.m.
TLC (1080i) has the season finale of Say Yes to the Dress at 9 p.m., series premiere of Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta at 9:30 p.m. and the season finale of DC Cupcakes at 10 & 10:30 p.m.
HBO (1080i) has the season finale of The Neistat Brothers at 11:59 p.m.
The Microsoft Xbox360 250GB video game console Photo: Microsoft
The Xbox 360 250GB, priced at $300, is mainly an aesthetic change for the video game system introduced by Microsoft five years ago. Microsoft has decided on a much smaller, sleeker look, similar to the approach that Sony took with the PS3 Slim. With its black gloss finish and touch face controls, I feel that it is definitely a more eye pleasing overall design compared to the previous models.
The new design, also referred to as Xbox 360S, adds some functional changes. It has upped the number of USB ports to five and the cooling vents are much more prominently placed on top of the system. This model also has built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi, as opposed to the previous models which required an external adapter (about $100). It also features a dedicated port for Kinect, Xbox’s motion sensing camera which will be available later this year.
Additionally this version has a removable 250GB internal hard drive. To get a hard drive that size with previous models would cost about $130. The issue here is that previous Xboxes used an external hard drive, which isn’t compatible with this slimmer Xbox360. If you already own an Xbox and want to upgrade, you’ll need to buy an Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer Cable (about $20) to carry over all of your data from your previous hard drive.
The new Xbox definitely runs more quietly than the older versions of the system. I had the two running side by side and when I turned off the older Xbox, I could barely tell the new one was still running. When playing a game you will still get some slight noise from the disc drive, however you can install games to the system’s hard drive to minimize the problem.
As far as the overall use of the system is concerned, nothing has changed. This is a new design, not a new product. I was surprised that the Xbox 3Ȝ 250GB version still doesn’t include a Blu-ray player. You can still watch upconverted DVDs as well as HD movies and TV shows downloaded from the Xbox Marketplace and through Microsoft’s Zune. Provided you pay for a Gold Membership to Xbox Live (about $50 per year), you can play games online and stream movies from Netflix.
If you’re considering buying an Xbox for the first time, or you want to upgrade to a nicer looking version, then you’re definitely getting your money’s worth here. However, if you already own an Xbox and just want the new features you may want to consider buying the Wi-Fi adapter and a bigger hard drive instead of upgrading to the new system. While these add-ons are a bit expensive, you’ll still end up saving some money overall.
Kick-Ass comes to Blu-ray next week, and it seems Lionsgate has been dropping clips of the special features all over the web in preparation for its release. Not surprisingly for a studio with a rep for pushing the technological limits, it has plenty of Blu-ray exclusives planned, including “Ass Kicking Bonus View Mode” to draw together commentary, background footage and graphics along with the movie, and the “A New Kind of Superhero: The Making of Kick-Ass” documentary. Check out the most recent clip from MovieWeb embedded after the break, along with a few others TheHDRoom has found floating around the net, and check out the movie when it’s released August 3.
Combing through hundreds of blog posts and news articles daily, Dirk Klingner, our technology-trend watcher, sifts through the noise to bring you the tech news most important to consumers. If you have a tip on a story you want to share, leave a comment below.
We want YouTube to be the best place to upload video. Without question, the number one requested feature by our creators is to upload videos longer than 10 minutes. We’ve heard you, and today we’re pleased to announce that we’ve increased the upload limit to ǯ minutes.
Google’s Mobile Search Market Share: An Estimated, Whopping 98.29% (TechCrunch)
…Google currently boasts a mobile search market share of 98.29%, with it closest competitor Yahoo taking up just over 0.8% of market share and Microsoft’s Bing barely touching even half that, according to recent data from StatCounter as relayed by Pingdom.
…Thus, as we sleep on our coil-spring mattresses, we are in effect sleeping on an antenna that amplifies the intensity of the broadcast FM/TV radiation. Asleep on these antennas, our bodies are exposed to the amplified electromagnetic radiation for a third of our life spans.
…The X Prize foundation said: "The goal of the… challenge is to inspire entrepreneurs, engineers, and scientists worldwide to develop innovative, rapidly deployable, and highly efficient methods of capturing crude oil from the ocean surface."
Lighter side: Bear Wrecks Nice Kid's Car, Leaves Gift (Urlesque)
…In fact, a bear trotted out of the woods and into Ben's car, where, after the door slammed shut behind him, "he bumped into the gear shift and put the automatic transmission into neutral, sending the car rolling 125 feet back down a hill," reports The Denver Post.
Remember Panasonic’s DMP-B15? You know, that “world’s first portable Blu-ray player” that was introduced at CES and just started shipping last month? With an $8Ǡ price tag, there’s a good chance you never even let the thing enter your stream of consciousness, but we can only wish you the best of luck as you try to ignore this one. RCA has quietly started to ship its BRC3108 10-inch portable Blu-ray player, which is equipped with a rechargeable battery, integrated stereo speakers, a headphone jack, 1080p HDMI output and bundled car / AC adapters alongside a carrying bag with headrest attachment for in-car use. The mini player lists for $349.99 on Amazon, and it’s already starting to appear in select Target locations. You’ll notice that Amazon still shows the device as being available for pre-order, and even the Target model didn’t have a shelf tag yet. That said, we’re sure someone in the back can pull some strings if you wave your credit card around long enough.
It’s really no surprise that Redbox is going nationwide with its ũ.50 Blu-ray rentals, at every step along the way of its Hollwood dealmaking, the company has pointed out its aim towards procuring a supply of high definition movies, and now the day is finally here. The high definition disc packing kiosks currently number 13,300, and the plan is to have Blu-ray in all 26,000 locations by the fall. While we spotted plenty of Blu-ray enabled locations with a San Francisco zip code, other areas in the Midwest and East Coast weren’t so lucky. The site points out a few of the movies on offer, including Green Zone, Book of Eli and Bounty Hunter, but there’s no way to check which movies are in stock at each box. Of course, at this price, we might be willing to take our chances until Redbox gets things straightened out, or starts offering an online competitor to Netflix.
What we’re watching tonight:
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