CasaTunes Debuts Low Profile XL Music Server

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CasaTunes has been offering its line of music servers for whole home music systems for a while now and has unveiled a couple of new models. The new models include the XLi and XLe models with multi-streaming capability. The Xli can stream up to five streams at one time and the XLe can stream up to nine independent feeds at once.

Both of the music servers use a hardware-based multi-zone switch to stream to one or more rooms. Each zone gets its own volume control and EQ settings. The switch also ensures that each room using the same feed has synchronized sound with no delays or echoes. Read more

Posted on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Netgear ProSafe WNDAP350 Dual Band Wireless-N Access Point Debuts

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Today Netgear has unveiled its latest Wireless N access point for businesses called the WNDAP350. The access point is a dual-band 802.11n device with up to 15 times the speed and ten times more coverage than legacy networks.

The access point is designed to allow for wireless networks inside a business and provide the bandwidth needed for things like VOIP, video conferencing and other high-bandwidth applications. The access point supports both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint configurations. Read more

Posted on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Toys ''R'' Us Promises Holiday Gaming Deals

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Back when I was a kid, Toys "R" Us was where you went to pick up the latest action figures, lego sets, and nerf guns. Now the most popular toys have changed. Kids still buy other things, but nothing is quite as popular among the little ones as gaming. That's why Toys "R" Us just sent out a press release promising "aggressive" video game, console, and peripheral deals throughout the holiday season.

First off, from now on video game hardware will be included in the "Big Gift" layaway plan. This way customers can reserve a popular console before the rush hits and make small payments on it instead of a big chunk at once. Putting a console or other piece of hardware on layaway requires a deposit worth 20% of the item's value, and a $10 service charge. Items must be paid in full by December 6th.

Posted on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:29:22 CST | by Robert Evans

CEPIA Produces 220,000 Zhu Zhu Pets Per Day And They Are Still Out Of Stock

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The Zhu Zhu Pets are the hottest holiday toy for 2009. I have not seen anything like this since Furby. The Zhu Zhu hamsters are very basic electronic gadgets far less advanced as the Furby was way back. That is why a Hamster does normally not cost more than $8 to $10, but the demand drove the prices up for a Zhu Zhu Hamster to almost $50 on Amazon.

Bloomberg has today an interesting story that looks a bit behind the Zhu Zhu Pets success and it makes it even more amazing. CEPIA LCC, the creator of the Zhu Zhu Pets has only 16 employees n the United States. The company has 30 more employees in China where four factories produce 220,000 Zhu Zhu Pets per day.
In August Cepia started the production with the first 600,000 Zhu Zhu Pets and they hit the jackpot as kids fell in love with the little hamsters.
Read more

Posted on Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:42:22 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Fujitsu Makes Smartphone With Modular Pico-Projector

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It's finally happened. Ever since the first ultra-tiny pico-projectors started to hit, I've been waiting to see one stuck on a smartphone. Now, according to Akihabara News, Fujitsu is about to make this wonderful dream a reality. At least for people who live in Japan.

The F-04B is like no smartphone you've ever seen. It's modular, and consists of up to three layers that slide together to make a Bluetooth-connected smartphone sandwich. This device has a display unit with a 3.4" touchscreen and a keyboard unit, each with its own Lithium-Ion battery. The full QWERTY keyboard can be removed, allowing you to use the phone as a thin touchscreen device. On its own, the keyboard acts as a microphone, speaker, and gamepad.

Posted on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:20:21 CST | by Robert Evans

Casio EX-FS10S Camera Aimed At Improving Your Golf Swing

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Casio unveiled a point and shoot camera designed for golfers. The new Casio Exilim Hi-Speed EX-FS10 features special features to analyze your golf swing on the camera.
Special lines displayed on top of the footage of your swing are aimed at helping your improve your movement.
Casio bundles a book with the camera, guiding you on how to improve your golf swing with the Casio EX-FS10.
To capture your swing the Casio EX-FS10 has up to 1,000 frames per second video capture.
The resolutions for the different video modes are 224x64px at 1000fps, 224x168px at 420fps, 480x360px at 210fps-30fps.
Read more

Posted on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:47:13 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Project Natal: November 2010 Launch?

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Good news, gamers. We might finally know the rough launch date of Microsoft's paradigm shifting Project Natal camera. MCV claims that sources close to the matter have released to them that Project Natal is currently set for a November 2010 launch. This all came out after a Microsoft tour of several UK publishers. Apparently Microsoft has been showing off their new hands-free camera and letting developers in on their timeline.

Microsoft is planning to have 5 million units made and ready for first day release. These units will be a mix of solo cameras, and cameras bundled with the Xbox 360 console. When sold alone, the camera is expected to sell for just £50. Some sources claim that the price will be set even lower, as Microsoft wants Natal to be something people pick up as an 'impulse' purchase. This could mean US prices of well under $100.

Posted on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:27:01 CST | by Robert Evans

Apple Tops Handset Profits, Samsung & Nokia Struggle To Keep Up

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Despite being in the smartphone business for just two years, Apple is already kicking the pants off of their biggest rivals. Reuters reports today that Apple is now officially the top profit generator in the entire mobile device industry. Analysts estimate Apple's total operating profit at around $1.6 billion in the third quarter. Nokia, the second place manufacturer, only made $1.1 billion over the same period.

It's not hard to see why. The iPhone sells in high volume, has a very solid profit margin for Apple, and generates extremely high loyalty among customers. People who buy an iPhone tend to replace it with another iPhone. There are comparatively few cases of iPhone users dropping their smartphone for another manufacturer's gadget. It does happen, but users of other platforms jumping ship to go Apple is much more common.

Posted on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:07:06 CST | by Robert Evans

5 Belkin Products Win CES 2010 Design & Engineering Distinctions

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Belkin International has had a whopping five products named CES 2010 Design and Engineering Award honorees. These winners will all be displayed at the CES show at Las Vegas in January. Winning Belkin products include the Gigabit Powerline HD Starter Kit, TuneCast Auto Live, Micro Auto Charger, TuneBase FM (with hands-free), and CushDesk.

The Gigabit Powerline HD starter kit allows customers to stream HD movies through their existing electrical wiring. It includes an adapter that will work on a console, HDTV, or computer, a WiFi signal booster, and push-button security. You can go here to learn more.

Posted on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:36:42 CST | by Robert Evans

Best Buy Deal Of The Day Program Starts With Hot Rock Band Offer

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Best Buy launched the Deal of the Day sales on their online store. From now until Christmas (except Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday) Best Buy will feature a deal of the day.
Today you can get the Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band Package for Xbox 360 or Sony PS3 for $129.98.

The deal gets you the Rock Band 2 special edition bundle which includes the game, plus a guitar controller, drum controller and microphone and the The Beatles: Rock Band game, which features 45 songs from the Beatles. Read more

Posted on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Active Media Products Unveils Netbook SSD Upgrade

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Netbook users looking to upgrade to a new storage drive with more space and more speed may want to check out the new SaberTooth SSDs from Active Media Products. The new line of SSDs are replacement drives for netbook computers.

The drives use the Jmicron JMF602B controller and MLC flash memory for transfer speeds promised to be two to five times faster than the standard SSD that shipped in many netbooks from ASUS. The drives are aimed at users of the Asus S101, 900, 900A, 901, and 1000 EeePC. Read more

Posted on Mon, 9 Nov 2009 05:31:30 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Xbox 360 Arcade With A $100 Amazon.com Promotional Code Available 12pm PST

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Amazon is offering at 12pm PST an Xbox Arcade where you get a $100 Amazon.com Promotional Code.
The $100 promotional code is usable towards any future purchases of items at the Amazon.com site.
This is basically the same $99 Xbox 360 Arcade deal that Walmart offers today in stores as an early Black Friday deal.
Read more

Posted on Sat, 7 Nov 2009 13:05:37 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

VIA's Nano 3000 Provides an Atom Rival

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For the last year and change, Intel's Atom processors have basically been the first and last word in ultraportable CPUs. Today, VIA changes that with the launch of their new Nano 3000 series of processors (via Engadget). The Atom line is looking quite aged these days, but these six new Nano 3000 chips look much spiffier. Plus, they have a cool futuristic name. Nano 3000 sounds way cooler than Atom.

These CPUs run from 1 to 2 GHz in speed and each one packs an 800 MHz FSB, in addition to 64 bit support and Windows 7/Linux compatibility. The power ratings of this new line all measure in at about 20% more efficient than previous generation Nanos, and they also promise to have 1080p multimedia playback. Sign me the hell up for a netbook that packs one of these little darlings.

Posted on Tue, 3 Nov 2009 09:33:06 CST | by Robert Evans

3M 3D Displays Without Glasses Go Into Mass Production

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3M is already in volume production of auto stereo 3D displays.
The 3M 3D technology is actually an optical film that enables 3D display on LCD panels. the film consists of lenses on one side and prism structures on the other to reflect the corresponding imagery to our eyes to create a 3D effect - without wearing glasses. Read more

Posted on Tue, 3 Nov 2009 07:35:02 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Apple To Provide TV Through iTunes?

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I don't have access to cable TV, but I do have the Internet and an iTunes account. If I could pay $30 to get access to a wide variety of TV shows through iTunes, I'd be sorely tempted. Apple is apparently betting that there are a lot of people like me. According to AllThingsDigital Apple is pitching that very idea to several TV networks. And no, before you ask, this service has nothing to do with Apple TV.

There are over 65 million people with iTunes accounts. A potential audience of that size must look very good to the networks. While none of them have bought into the plan yet, it seems likely that Apple will be able to convince at least a few that its service has a future. The All Things Digital article states that Disney is one of the companies being courted.

Posted on Mon, 2 Nov 2009 11:56:57 CST | by Robert Evans

The Acer A1's Snapdragon Processor; Underclocked?

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The Acer A1 “Liquid” made headlines as the first confirmed Android smartphone to pack the badass Snapdragon 1 GHz processor under its hood. Unfortunately, it looks like people who buy the A1 won't actually get to make use of a whole GHz of power. According to MobileTechWorld (via Engadget) the Liquid's processor will be underclocked to just 768 MHz.

There are several reasons for Acer to gimp their own processor. Chief among them is battery life. The A1 boasts up to a week of standby battery life, putting it far ahead of most power-sucking Android handsets. It's also possible the Liquid team underclocked the processor as a way to avoid overheating issues.

Posted on Mon, 2 Nov 2009 11:32:47 CST | by Robert Evans

Flies Used In Awesome Airplane Banner Promotion

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The Frankfurt Book Fair is long over, but besides eBook Readers there were actual flies carrying banners filling the halls.

Well known German ad agency Jung von Matt/Neckar released 200 flies with attached banners to promote the Eichborn publisher. Eichborn has a fly in their logo, so it was not that far fetched, but as you can see in the video below the flies look quite awesome.

I first thought this was a bit cruel, but the ultra-light banners were attached to the flies with natural wax and after a short time the banner dropped off by itself. Jung von Matt said that no fly was harmed.
Read more

Posted on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:30:50 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

ICANN Approves Non-Latin Characters In Domain Names

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The Internet took a big step forward today with an announcement from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers that they would soon start accepting non-latin domain names. (via CNET) Currently all IP addresses and other web extensions must be written using latin characters. This isn't an issue for most of the developed world, but it's something that will need to change before the Internet can become truly international.

Starting November 16th, ICANN will start taking applications from various nations for new top-level domain names based on their country's character set. These Internationalized Domain Names, or IDNs, will only apply to local country codes at first. ICANN hopes to extend them to top-level domains like .com and .net sometime in the near future.

Posted on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:09:08 CDT | by Robert Evans

Samsung's Profit Tripled, Sony Still Makes Losses

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Sony once again reported a loss for the last quarter. The loss was less ($287.5m) than the predictions of analysts though. The issues for Sony are still the high yen, bad economy, but also weak demand for Sony electronics.
In contrast Korean Samsung soars, tripling its net income to 3.72 trillion won for the quarter compared to last year.
Samsung is doing very well in chips and mobile phones, but also its LCD panel and TV business is thriving. Samsung also mentions that their bottom line was improved by increased sales of premium LED and 240Hz TV panels. Read more

Posted on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:35:40 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Nintendo Profit Way Down, Is the Wii's Reign Over?

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Nintendo announced their half year earnings and the profit for the April to September period is down 52% compared to last year according to the WSJ. Nintendo also lowered the forecast for the full fiscal year to 230 billion Yen profit compared to 300 billion yen forecasted earlier.
Nintendo blames the strong yen and the recent Wii price-cut for the drop in profit. Though Nintendo also sold way less Wii consoles compared to last year. Read more

Posted on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Target Black Friday 2009 Promises Their Lowest Prices Ever

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There is a lot of hype around leaked Black Friday ads in the weeks before retailers make the ads official. For retailers this period is a great opportunity for marketing their deals, but only a few of them really work this pre-Black Friday opportunity.
I just stumbled over Target's Black Friday 2009 page. They actually managed to get their place holder page onto the 2nd page in Google for the search term Black Friday 2009. Read more

Posted on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr