Toys & Gadgets

Verismo Networks may not boast the namesake of a Roku, Sony or LG, but its unassuming VuNow PoD just keeps getting more and more bonny. Priced at $99, this internet-to-TV media streamer makes it simple for simpletons to get web content onto their HDTV, and after snagging YouTube support last December, the box has finally nailed down a partnership that will bring bona fide films into households. Sonic Solutions, which has certainly been on a tear of late pushing its CinemaNow platform, has agreed to let VuNow users purchase CinemaNow programming, which includes material from over 250 content providers. We’re also told that this deal is far from the last we’ll see in the near future, though there’s no word on whether Netflix is next. If so, consider the VuNow game officially “on.” Full release is after the break.

Continue reading Verismo’s VuNow set-top-box finally gets movie streaming

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Verismo’s VuNow set-top-box finally gets movie streaming originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Need a quick way to blow 1,800 bones? Looking to single-handedly jump-start this so-called “economy” we keep hearing about? Look no further, friends, as ATI just did you a solid. Just four months after the outfit dished out its 1GB FirePro V7750, the company is now looking to strike it rich once more with the 2GB FirePro V8750. Obviously designed for the workstation crowd, this CAD destroying GPU is equipped with more GDDR5 memory than our own four-year old Quake III server, but as HotHardware points out, the clock speed remains exactly the same as the entirely more affordable V8700. When pushed, this newfangled card did manage to best every other rival on the test bench, but not by a wide margin. What you’re left with is a cutting-edge device that’s priced way out of consideration for most, and frankly, way outside the realm of sensibility. If you just can’t shake the urge to hear more, give that read link a tap for the full review.

Read - ATI FirePro V8750 review
Read - ATI press release

Filed under: Peripherals

ATI’s $1,800 2GB FirePro V8750 GPU introduced and reviewed originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is it really happening? Is the world’s most thickly settled nation finally getting the iPhone in earnest? If a bold (albeit woolly) report from China’s own national news agency is to be believed, China Unicom has just locked down a deal that’ll grant it exclusive rights to sell Apple’s heralded smartphone in mainland China for three whole years. Unfortunately, most of the nitty-gritty details are absent, but we are led to believe that this will be the first-ever iPhone sold with any branding at all outside of logos splashed on at Cupertino. The “Wo” icon you see just below the speaker signifies that this here device is ready to rock on the carrier’s 3G network, though we still can’t say with any amount of certainty if said image is fully legitimate. We’re also waiting to hear whether it’ll be the iPhone 3G or 3GS (or both) that’s sold, and we’re particular curious as to whether or not these handsets will include WiFi modules.

In related news, it does sound as if China Unicom bent over backwards a bit to make this all come together, with the article stating that it signed on to move between one and two million units per year regardless of how many consumers actually show up to buy one. If you’ll recall, an eerily similar agreement has Russian operators in a world of financial hurt, but we get the feeling the reception in China will be quite a bit warmer. At any rate, it’s noted that Unicom will be snapping up the devices from Apple at a cost of around 3,000 Chinese yuan apiece ($439), with end users being asked to pay an undisclosed lesser amount on contract. If all goes well, the units could hit Chinese shops as early as September, though only time will tell how everything shakes out. Oh, and considering that Apple can hardly keep up with iPhone 3GS demand as it is, we suspect it’ll want to wait a few months anyway before stressing its supply channels further.

Update: A China Unicom spokeswoman has now been quoted as saying that “we have made progress but there are still some problems to be resolved.” Really? Another round of this?

Filed under: Cellphones

China Unicom finally bringing iPhone to world’s most populous country? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 03:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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(Credit: EMC)

Owners of Time Machine-enabled Macs need not apply. But for the rest–especially small businesses that want a centralized backup solution–a href=”http://www.emc.com/?fromGlobalSiteSelect”>EMC has something for you.

The company announced Tuesday the availability of its Retrospect 8.1 backup software for the Mac platform, …

We’ll admit, we’re jealous of this Sina Corporation reporter, who appears to have gotten some hands-on time with LG’s very sexy Chocolate BL40 and its 21:9 aspect ratio screen. There isn’t much said here aside from details we already knew and the occasional compliment on its form factor and display, but it is good to see this in the wild and not just in the FCC’s secret lab facilities. Now if only we can get a better idea of its US 3G capabilities…

Filed under: Cellphones

LG BL40 caught in the wild, given brief hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Google_Voice_iPhone_app_rejected’; Perhaps the big G spoke too soon when it said its new Google Voice service was coming to iPhone. First, GV Mobile developer Sean Kovacs relays a phone call he had with Apple where he was notified of his app being removed from the iTunes store for duplicating built-in iPhone features — an app that was originally and purportedly approved by Phil Schiller himself. Next out the door was GVdialer, and if you thought that was all bad, now comes word that Google’s official Voice app was flat-out rejected by Cupertino. Now it’s hard to say with certainty who’s to blame for these app rejections, but a good many fingers are pointing to the cellular carriers — and given AT&T’s previous statements about the SlingPlayer app, it’s hard to argue with that. For its part, the company hinted at finding a workaround via web apps, much like they did when Apple gave Latitude a cold shoulder — but doesn’t that feel just a little 2007?

[Via Apple Insider]

Read - Official Google Voice App Blocked from App Store
Read - GV Mobile is getting pulled from App Store
Read - Sean Kovac’s Twitter status on Schiller

Filed under: Cellphones

Google Voice iPhone app rejected, current GV apps lose connection with iTunes originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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	Android team member says Donut isn’t 2.0, doesn’t have multitouch Technically, Cupcake wasn’t 1.5, though 1.5 ended up being composed largely of improvements made in the Cupcake code branch. (See also: Early Android 2.0 “Donut” build available, up and running on G1)		Foxconn claims employee who committed suicide had history of misplacing prototypes, does nothing for its case Foxconn has confirmed that Sun Danyong’s family was paid roughly $44,000 and given an Apple laptop as compensation for his death.
	US Sony Walkman X-series unboxing and hands-on Just like the Japanese unit we toyed with a few months ago, there’s no denying the sexiness of the hardware here.	Other news of import WD ships industry’s first 2.5-inch 1TB hard drive Samsung jumps into e-book reader game with the SNE-50K Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA X2 demoed on video
	Windows 7 Media Center review Once you switch to Windows 7 Media Center there is no going back. It might not seem like that much at first, but when you try to go back to Vista or even Moxi or TiVo, it’s like going back in time.		BlackBerry Curve 8520 gets a hands-on, photo shoot The optical trackball-boasting, entry-level, non-3G darling looks pretty brilliant in the photos, despite its stripped down form factor.
Panasonic’s DMR-BW970 Blu-ray DVR squirrels away 2TB of your video Blu-ray reportedly trailing CBHD in China, the second theater of the format war begins		Verizon will run LTE trials in Seattle and Boston later this year Philips’ first Android endeavor, the V808, caught on camera? Verizon reiterates it’ll have the Pre — early next year

The Daily Roundup: here’s what you might’ve missed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s here Sonos fans, finally. The new touch-screen CR200 controller is announced and ready for purchase. After making an appearance at the FCC on its way to being leaked in full, the new CR200 controller for Sonos’ multi-room wireless music system is everything we heard including a 3.5-inch, 640 x 480 pixel (VGA) capacitive touchscreen with on-screen keyboard, beefier processor, and relatively tiny 2.9 x 4.5 x 0.7-inch / 6 ounce footprint with scaled-down charger to match. Those changes make the new CR200 pocketable, faster, and far more useful than the CR100 ever was. Not that the CR100 was a bad device, it wasn’t, but the $399 controller (plus $40 for the charging cradle) was definitely beginning to show its age as the only dedicated handheld controller available since Sonos launched back in January 2005. What really made the CR100 archaic though, was the 2008 release of the free iTunes App Store controller for the iPod touch and iPhone. It was faster, more graphically rich, and offered an on-screen keyboard unlike the CR100.

Fortunately, the price of the CR200 has dropped a bit to $349 / €349 list, a price that now includes the charging cradle. Still, we know what you’re wondering: is it worth it when an iPod touch can be purchased new for $229, or closer to $170 refurbished? Having used the CR200 for a week now, we found that the answer’s not as obvious as you’d think. Click through to find out why.

Continue reading Sonos CR200 review

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio, Wireless

Sonos CR200 review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking to bolster your home surveillance setup with something sure to survive power outages, harsh weather conditions and / or zombie invasions? Then you may want to accept no less than this new All Weather Cellular Camera now available from Brickhouse Security, which promises to provide just about everything you’d expect from a surveillance system in an entirely self-contained unit. That includes a PIR body heat-activated nightvision camera (just 1.3-megapixels, but you can’t be too picky in these cases), 50 infrared flash bulbs, a built-in tactical laser to ensure it’s pointing at just the right spot, a CompactFlash card slot to store images in case the cellular network goes down, and a 6V battery that promises to last for four to six weeks (which can be doubled with an optional second battery), to name but a few features. Naturally, none of that comes cheap and, at $599, you may want to consider a second camera to keep an eye on the first.

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

All Weather Cellular Camera is an all weather cellular camera originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So you’ve seen the ThinkPad W700ds and thought you could do with one of those compact secondary displays, eh? If Century’s earlier Plus One model didn’t exactly float your boat, you may be excited to learn that the company is adding DVI connectivity to the 8-inch panel, while keeping the same 800 x 600 resolution, USB input and 250 nits of brightness. Being able to alternate between two video sources without fiddling with cables is definitely appealing, as is the reduced CPU overhead when selecting the DVI linkup. Sadly, the price still hasn’t climbed down to sane levels, and at $174 before shipping, you’re probably better off scooping up some previously loved 17-inch LCD for even less. Or just cramming all 23 of those IM windows into that fancy cascading toolbar, whichever works.

[Via Akihabara News]

Update: Turns out that DVI port is actually an output, and it seems the product listing has now been changed to reflect that. Thanks, gothamsound!

Filed under: Displays

Century’s 8-inch Plus One LCD-8000UD adds DVI input, character originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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