Podcast Archive

March 15, 2006
Origami, PS3, and the Big Dell-Alienware Rumor!

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Today we break it down news report style! Lots of news we have to catch up on, so here’s the scoop!
 
In the big news department we have oodles. Microsoft releases Origami, or Intel releases UMPC. Whichever it is, it might be a hit. Or a flop. Hear my take, because either way, I’m getting my hands on one! Sony blows their whole “We hate our customers” cover and announces they will NOT down-res Blu-Ray content over component cables. In the same breath they make several interesting PS3 announcements, and a few PSP ones! Is Dell buying Alienware? I know the answer! Okay, I don’t. But here’s my take. The iMac boots XP, then promptly craps its own pants. And LG announces the only high def player that will sell: the dual format player.
 
Audio goodness is abound this week. Sony’s NetJuke asks more questions than the product page answers. Samsung makes an iPod nano competitor truly worth checking out. JVC ships a Dolby Headphone adapter, which totally will rock, if they pull it off right. France may force Apple to open iTunes’ DRM, or Apple will force France to shove it. I’m betting on the latter. Plantronics is showing off some sweet looking headsets. Mobiblu drops the DAH-1900 (I accidentally call it the 1500), complete with a 153 hour battery life!
 
Video news seems to be tech’s darling more and more lately. The MPAA is suing several torrent sites that have banded together. One of which is Pirate Bay, which has this great legal threats section. Blu-Ray movies are due to hits stores May23rd along with the first players. Netflix is now allowing people to add HD-DVDs that don’t exist to their queues. Apple gives us a peek at possible future movie prices from iTunes. $10? Oh please tell me people are smart enough not to buy them! Viliv’s P1 PMP sure looks sweet. Like the iPod and PSP did the nasty. Pioneer shows us that 800GB is not too much space for a DVR. Sling updates their player for the UMPC. D-Link launches a new streaming media player. And Sony does crappily what Neuros did well.
 
On the computer front, Nvidia launches the GeForce 7900GTX and GT. Nice for those quad SLI systems from Alienware and VoodooPC. These will hopefully have the power to run one of Vista’s 6 versions. Logitech shows off the NuLooq, Windows Live Search is up and running (slowly). Intel shows off the kick-ass Conroe processors. Mac mini versus hackers: 1 to 1. Heard about the long awaited update to the Dell LCD monitor line? Yeah, it has a new stand… Ooooooo…
 
Big communications news this week. Like AT&T buying BellSouth. Go read about that on some news site. *yawn* AMD sends legal threats to Skype over their previously mentioned deal to add Intel specific features. Our favorite hacker, Maxxuss cracks Skype wide open, though.The TomTom Go line expands with 3 new models. A funky wrist computer running Linux or Windows is in the works. Fo’ real!
 
In the land of games, things are looking grim-ish. Well, at least weird. A guy gets banned from WoW for using a Logitech G15 keyboard with too many macros. Blizzard is a bunch of jerks. But you won’t go to Dungeons&Dragons Online. The Pong Clock maker has been sent a C & D by the makers of Pong. I guess they exhumed some bodies and forced them to sign the legal docs. And I recount a hilarious romp through the land of game marketing. Okay, not hilarious, but, um, I make a comment about this Slashdot post.
 
And to round out the show we talk about the Yamaha YSP based conference call phone. Sony’s eBook reader gets a price tag, and American auto makers realize no one likes them. Oh, and it’s raining alien blood. In India. Yeah, red blood cells, and this is not a hoax.