Panasonic to Show Full HD 3D Home Theater At Cable-Tec Expo 2009

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Panasonic will demonstrate prototype Full HD 1080p 3D televisions and will exhibit an expanded range of tru2way solutions, including tru2way-based broadband cable set-top boxes and its tru2way-intergrated consumer VIERA HDTVs at this year's Cable-Tec Expo beginning today through October 30th at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.
Panasonic has already been showing off its 3D TVs since CES 2009. The latest news was in September when Panasonic announced the development of a 50-inch Full HD 3D Plasma HDTV And Active Shutter Glasses.
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Posted on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Pace Set to Launch Multiroom DVR with Cable Operators

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Earlier this week a company called Pace announced a very cool new multiroom DVR that used a central storage device to send simultaneous streams to all connected TVs in the home. The cool part is that the DVR system could send nine streams at the same time.

The device also somehow recorded more simultaneous shows than its two tuners would normally allow. Pace has announced that it is set to launch the multiroom DVR with cable operators including Buckeye Cablevision, Inc., Mediacom, and Sunflower Broadband. Read more

Posted on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:00:00 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

The Octopus Cable Charges Everything

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Okay, so you've got your smartphone, your netbook, your optical drive, your media player, and your PSP. That's quite a preponderance of gadgets. More than you can conveniently carry chargers for everywhere you go. Unless, of course, you own an Octopus cable (thanks Gizmodo!). Then you're free to heedlessly suck down power until you go bankrupt.

The Octopus cable is a USB connector with ten different plugs that feed into it. It has a 2mm and 3.5mm Nokia jack, a PSP jack, a USB Mini 5 pin jack, a MicroUSB jack, an LG jack, Samsung 20P s and M jacks, an Ericsson fast port, and (of course) an iPhone/iPod jack. There is one caveat with this product; you can only plug one gadget in at a time. That said, it's still convenient as hell.

Posted on Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:55:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Time Warner Saves Cable, Partners With Comcast

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While the recording industry still has yet to adapt to the changes the Internet has wrought upon the world, the television industry is proving to be slightly more sensible. Time Warner has just announced their plan to partner with Comcast for the cable giant's “On Demand Online” service. The first test of this service will start in July, and involve some 5,000 Comcast subscribers.

The basic idea behind the new service is simple; allow paying subscribers to access the cable they pay for online as well as on TV. This new service will bring full-length television shows online for all of Comcast's national subscribers in the fourth quarter of this year. Time Warner's stock rose 29 cents at the announcement, and it's not hard to see why.

Posted on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:20:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Verizon Smacktalk's Cablevision's Faster Service.

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On Tuesday we reported that Cablevision's Optimum Online was now offering the fastest connection speed in the country. For $90 a month you get 101 Mbps down and 15 up, which is half the price and twice the downloading speed of Verizon's best plan ($150 for 50/20).

Verizon couldn't stand being upstaged by some young pups from New York, so they lashed out publically at Cablevision through the Internet. First Verizon claimed that Optimum's 101 Mbps speed was nothing more than a 'parlor' trick that could only work in small areas.

Posted on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:00:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Iomega DVR Expander Certified for Pace Cable Boxes

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Iomega has announced that its DVR Expander eSATA DVR expander called the DVR Expander has been certified to work with Pace set-top cable boxes and DVRs. The DVR Expander adds 300 hours of SD programming recording and up to 60 hours of additional HD recording capability.

The Expander also allows Pace set-top boxes that lack a hard drive to be used like a full featured DVR. Iomega says that Pace is the latest manufacturer to certify compatibility with its storage device. When installed the Pace box will stream either to the Iomega drive or the internal HDD depending on which has more space. Read more

Posted on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Clickfree Transformer Cable Automates Backup to Any USB Drive

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External hard drives are a great way to backup your important data to keep it safe and secure in the event of a computer failure. A new cable from Clickfree can transform any external USB hard drive into a Clickfree backup solution instantly making the drive an automated backup device.

The Transformer USB cable plugs into your computer USB port and then the external USB drive plugs into the other end. The cable then searches your computer, organizes the data, and backs it up without any interaction from you. Read more

Posted on Mon, 5 Jan 2009 09:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

HDTV Cable Kit for Dummies

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Cables to Go has announced a couple of complete cabling kits for HDTVs to ensure that shoppers this holiday season get all the cables they need. Two kits are being offered and they are called the HDTV Premium Cable Kit for Dummies and the HDTV Cable Kit for Dummies.

The kits provide all of the cables a user needs to get HDTVs up and running. The standard kit retails for $99.99 and offers a pair of 8-foot 1080p HDMI cables, one 8-foot component video cable, one digital coax audio cable and three cable management ties as well as a book called HDTV cables for Dummies. Read more

Posted on Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Belkin Switch-to-Mac Cable Makes Going Mac Easy

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Mac sales are booming and Apple has moved up swiftly on the top selling computers chart. That means that there is a higher than ever amount of Windows users changing to Mac computers. As difficult as it can be changing from one Windows machine to another, the move from Windows to Mac is even more nerve racking.

Belkin has announced a new product called the Switch-to-Mac cable that retails for $49.99. The USB cable connects to your Windows machine and the Mac at the same time. A migration assistant will move default folders and applications to default Mac folders and applications and provides a summary of transferred content. The cable is compatible with Windows XP and Vista as well as Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5. Read more

Posted on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Gefen Technology Cuts HDMI Cables with UWB

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Gefen has announced a new wireless HDMI extender that uses UWB technology from Tzero Technologies. The no cable extender delivers wired quality HDMI from Blu-ray and other HDMI sources to the TV or projector.

The extender features built-in interference elimination technology for optimal picture quality. The device can stream full 1080p with 5.1 surround sound up to 10 meters across a room. The extender offers dual HDMI ports, component video, and analog audio. Pricing and availability are unknown at this time. Read more

Posted on Thu, 4 Sep 2008 13:00:00 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

EchoStar and CableLabs Sign tru2way Host Device Agreement

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EchoStar and CableLabs have signed an agreement that gives EchoStar the rights to implement OpenCable Application Platform middleware and the CableCard interface on devices using true2way technology. This agreement will allow users to take advantage of two-way, interactive cable services.

Tru2way technology is a national software platform that allows cable's interactive services to be delivered to two-way plug-and-play TVs, set top boxes, and other devices. The true two-way service also creates a national footprint for creators of interactive services to develop products that operate on cable systems in all markets across the US. According to EchoStar, major cable operators are committed to supporting the tru2way platform on cable systems covering over 90 million homes in the United States by the end of 2008. Read more

Posted on Tue, 12 Aug 2008 07:08:49 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Time Warner Cable Lets Users Share Pictures via Set Top Boxes

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Time Warner Cable in North Texas has announced a new service for all of its subscribers that have digital cable and Road Runner High Speed Internet. The new service allows people to shoot pictures on their cameras, send them to their PC and then enable the pictures to be shared via any Time Warner set top box.

The service is called PhotoShowTV and once users set up their online albums they can be viewed by family and friends on channel 699 on the cable box. Personal PhotoShow's will be available within 48 hours of being posted by the user. It’s not clear how the PhotoShow limits access to users not approved to see the photos. Read more

Posted on Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:28:23 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Canon PC Announces Media Center with 6 Cable Cards

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Media PCs are all fine and dandy, but the big problem for most of us is that your typical home theater PC can’t record HD content from your cable provider. You can opt for some solutions that allow the use of cable cards that can record programming from your cable pay channels. Even then you can only record one or two programs.

Cannon PC has announced a new home theater PC that allows you to record a whopping six programs at one time. The PC runs on windows Vista and uses Vista Media Center which normally only supports a pair of cable cards. Cannon PC has modified the system to work with six cable cards and still not use all the PCs available resources. Pricing and availability of the machine are unknown at this time. Read more

Posted on Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:46:16 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Monster Cable Adds Entry Level Price Cables

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Monster cable adds entry priced cables to its line up with the addition of a standard speed, value line. The 1-meter MC 500HD cable has a retail price of $49.95. That’s still a lot of money for an entry level cable, you can get 6 meter cables from other brands for less money.

Noel Lee, Head Monster, says: "By making our entry-level HDMI cables even more accessible, we're providing consumers with a more affordable alternative for enjoying high-performance HDMI connectivity. We now offer a wide variety of cable at price points and performance levels for virtually every need and budget, from the MC 500 HD for people who simply want to enjoy the best quality from today's high-def products to MC1000HD for those who want 100% assurance that they'll also be able to enjoy the optimum performance from all in the future pipeline as well. With our MC 500HD value-priced line, we're also giving our retailers what they've been asking for, namely, a lower-priced, high-quality cable that will provide complete satisfaction to their discriminating customers - at a price everyone can afford." Read more

Posted on Thu, 6 Mar 2008 08:09:02 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Keychain Cat 5 Patch Cable Tester

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Any geeky type that has worked in an IT environment has needed a patch cable tester at some point. The need is usually the greatest when you inherit a network closet from a lesser geek at a new job, only to find that the guy punched patch cables nilly willy and left half the workstations without network access. But then maybe that’s just me.

Anyhow, any geeky IT type looking to be prepared to check a patch cable at a moment’s notice will want to check out the small keychain PatchTest Ethernet Cable Tester at ThinkGeek. The little device has LEDs and can test gigabit, 10/100mb and crossover cables. Read more

Posted on Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:11:07 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Powerblock, Uglier than the Cables it Hides

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If you are really desperate to hide all the power cables running around your living room or office the Powerblock can hide them. The geodesic looking block has a normal power strip behind it and a big shield that looks like it came from an Eskimo village hides the mess.

My wife would certainly like to get all the cables around our house hidden away, but this Powerblock is uglier than the cables themselves if you ask me. Read more

Posted on Fri, 28 Dec 2007 13:12:02 CST | by Shane McGlaun

SoundTech's New LightSnake USB MIDI Cable

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SoundTech has been making LightSnake cables for a while now that allow you to connect musical instruments like your guitar directly to your PC for recording via USB.

The most recent addition to the LightSnake family of products was announced today and is a USB MIDI Cable that features the Live when Lit technology that makes the cable glow when connected. Read more

Posted on Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:16:02 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

CableOrganizer Gear put to the Test

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TheTechLounge untangles their cable mess under their desks with CableOrganizer gear.

Quote from the report:
"In this article I’ll be discussing something which really doesn’t get that much attention. It’s something that we all have to deal with. You’ve got them; you hate them. They’re cables, and they’re everywhere. To help me get clean, I’ve enlisted the help of our friends at CableOrganizer.com; if they don’t have what I need for my cabling woes, nobody does. Read more

Posted on Tue, 12 Jun 2007 04:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Cable for first Deep-Sea Observatory on Monterey Bay Seafloor Installed

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Oceanographers have completed an important step in constructing the first deep-sea observatory off the continental United States.

Workers in the multi-institution effort laid 32 miles (52 kilometers) of cable along the Monterey Bay sea floor that will provide electrical power to scientific instruments, video cameras, and robots 3,000 feet (900 meters) below the ocean surface. Read more

Posted on Mon, 9 Apr 2007 01:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Cable Carpet Ugly and Useful...Sort Of

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Any geek out there has had a conversation with their significant other at some point about the mass of cables that comes along with gadgets and electronics. I can attest that nothing sets my wife to complaining faster than trying to run a surround sound system across the living room.

Apparently the sight of two small speaker wires running along the wall is enough to warrant marriage counseling. If you and your spouse have the same sort of cable woes this rug can help, but your wife won’t like it trust me on that. Read more

Posted on Wed, 7 Feb 2007 12:51:17 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Samsung Interactive Digital Cable Ready (iDCR) DLP HDTV and HD Set-top Box

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Samsung, Time Warner Cable and Advance/Newhouse Communications announce that interactive digital cable services are now live on the Samsung HL-S5686C Open Cable Application Platform (OCAP) compliant DLP HDTV and SMT-H3050 High Definition Set-top Boxes.

The new interactive cable service is currently available in NYC and is supposed to be soon coming to Milwaukee (=beer city).

Time Warner Cable's new interactive cable service includes its OCAP Digital Navigator and its in-house developed Interactive Program Guide. In 2007, Time Warner Cable and Advance/Newhouse Communications will continue to rollout OCAP on Samsung OpenCable products in other divisions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. Read more

Posted on Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr