Audio/Video, Home Theater

Top Spy Cameras For Non-CIA Agents

144 Comments / Audio/Video, Home Theater, Cameras and Photo, Gaming & Toys, Gizmo of the Day / By William Appleyard / April 18, 2009

Spy cameras – nothing new here; hidden cameras have been around for years and have slowly made it from the upper echelons of the security services down to ordinary consumers like us. Here we’re going to feature some of the best hidden spy cameras that are available right now for an ordinary person.

Starting off our list is the calculator spycam, this very clever gadget allows you to do some calculations and can also record at a very nice 25FPS into 320×240 resolution on its 128MB internal memory – don’t worry though; it supports SD cards up to 2GB. The camera will record the video in AVI, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, VOB, DAT and ASF with a similar amount of options for photo and audio recording formats! What more could you realistically want in a spy camera? A cheaper price maybe – $349.99 Buy Now or look below for some cheaper ideas to invade your loved ones’ privacy have a laugh with.

Lots more spy camera gadgets after the jump. …

Top Spy Cameras For Non-CIA AgentsRead More »

Google and Universal to partner on music video website

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Networking & Internet / By Khalid Hosein / April 14, 2009

The Universal Music Group and Google are getting together to start a music video website, called Vevo.

Reports are that they’ll share ad revenues, which implies that they will be monetizing the service via advertising and not charging viewers to watch the videos. However, it’s not clear yet. Chances are that’s how it will roll out, b/c by now, most of these companies understand that there are few things that Web surfers are willing to pong up for.

Universal is the largest of the top 4 record companies and of course, Google owns YouTube and Vevo is but another spin-off of YouTube.

4 Top VHS To DVD Converters

4 Comments / Audio/Video, Home Theater, Computers, Gizmo of the Day, Recommended, Software / By William Appleyard / April 13, 2009

I recently got rid of all my VHS tapes, simply because I decided there were only 4 or 5 worth keeping, and I might as well just buy them on DVD if I ever wanted to watch them again, but what if you have hundreds of VHS tapes that you don’t want to throw away? How do you convert those VHS tapes to DVD? Well, over the years we have featured a few solutions that will allow you to copy your VHS tapes to DVDs for a fraction of the cost of buying new ones. Here’s our Top 4 countdown:
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4 Top VHS To DVD ConvertersRead More »

Article Recap for the Week Ending Apr 10, 2009

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Cameras and Photo, Computers, Gaming & Toys, Gizmo of the Day, Portable, Site News, Software / By William Appleyard / April 11, 2009

Here’s some of the notable articles and gadgets from this past week:

A few weeks ago we reported on Legacy Locker asset access scheme in case of death, well now it’s live. Residents in Broughton, UK, decided that they didn’t like Google’s StreetView intrusion, and got a bit angry with the StreetView driver. In some positive Microsoft news, downgrades are going to be available for Windows 7, much like the XP downgrades from Vista.

Back to tangible gadgets: Guitar Hero enthusiasts will like these new Guitar Hero cufflinks (no batteries needed!), and Flip has a new tiny HD camcorder.

We made an attempt to answer the question “What is a Gizmo?” (a.k.a “What is a Gadget?” ).

Last but not least, the Conficker worm has gone live so it’s important to get your computer and security systems up-to-date.

Flip MinoHD

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Gizmo of the Day, Portable / By William Appleyard / April 8, 2009

Huge camcorders are a thing of the past, but now so are HD camcorders. Flip MinoHD presents what they claim is ‘the world’s smallest high definition camcorder’ – just take a look at the photo and see how it compares with the size of the USB connector on the end!

The Flip MinoHD records in full HD 720p and has enough built in memory for 60 minutes of recording (4Gb), but it doesn’t allow for memory expansion. Installation isn’t necessary either, as Flip have designed their very own system known as ‘FlipShare’ which automatically loads the files onto your computer when you plug it in, without the need for lengthy drive installation. For people wanting to upload directly to Youtube HD, it supports one-click uploading to there, Myspace or even via email to your friends – simple drag-and-drop video editing is also included. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come (we hope!).

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer

Price: £169.99 (about $252)
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Verismo VuNow VN1000HD streams Internet video to your TV

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Computers, Gizmo of the Day, Networking & Internet / By Khalid Hosein / April 4, 2009

Mountain View company, Verismo Networks has just rolled out its appliance for viewing video from the Internet on your TV. The VuNow VN1000HD is a tiny device that fits in the palm of your hand and can output (via HDMI if you’d like) 480i, 480p and 720p (HD) video to your TV.

It naturally includes an Ethernet port so you can hook it into your home network. Verismo has also included the ability to play and watch/listen to the media (video, audio and photos) that’s on your PC or NAS as well.

The view Internet video feature certainly sounds like the Sling.com site which is accessible via your Slingbox as well. But essentially, this is a Media Center device a la Mvix, Neuros, AppleTV, Windows Media Center or any of the myriad of other such devices.

Pick up a box for $148 at Amazon.

Gimme!

More info from the manufacturer
Price: $148.00
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

SlingPlayer Mobile for Blackberry is officially out

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Phones / By Khalid Hosein / March 27, 2009

Sling just announced that SlingPlayer Mobile (SPM) for Blackberry is no longer in beta and is now an official product. SPM for Blackberries is $29.99 and you can trial it for 30 days.

For US customers, SPM is currently supported on the following devices:
    * BlackBerry Bold from AT&T
    * BlackBerry Curve 8900 from T-Mobile*
    * BlackBerry 8820 from AT&T*
    * BlackBerry Curve 8320 from AT&T*
    * BlackBerry Curve 8320 from T-Mobile*
    * BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 from T-Mobile*
    * BlackBerry Pearl 8120 from AT&T*
    * BlackBerry Curve 8350i from Sprint Nextel*

The ones that are starred are supported by SPM when used with their Wi-Fi connection.

SPM is available as an over-the-air download from http://mobile.slingmedia.com/

Sci Fi channel changing its name to SyFy

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Miscellaneous / By Khalid Hosein / March 22, 2009

This has been blogged about ad-infinitum, so I’m not going to add to the chorus of cries from geekdom about the horrible new name.

But it did occur to me that this could be the start of something worse – the Sci Fi channel drifting away from its roots, Science Fiction and related material. Yes, I know that it already airs wrestling and gaming, but I can forgive them a few tangents if it helps pay the bills.

What I’m thinking of is best described by an example – MTV. MTV, the original cable channel, has pretty much nothing to do with music any more. So much so, that they had start a new channel, MTV2 just to air the music that they were formed in the first place for.

I’d rather that didn’t happen to the Sci Fi channel. And yes, I’m still going to call it that!

SkyNet Research Needs You!

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Miscellaneous / By William Appleyard / March 21, 2009

Heard the news? SkyNet has just gone public with their new advanced robotic systems that they’ve been working on for many years, and are now open to the general public’s viewing for feedback! Check it out!

Okay, sorry, it’s not true; it’s actually a promotion for Terminator Salvation due to be released this year – but it’s something we thought we’d share with you. Get your fix of laughter for the day!

Bluetooth MP3 Sunglasses

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Gizmo of the Day, Phones, Portable / By William Appleyard / March 15, 2009

Last month we featured a pair of Bluetooth Sunglasses but this new device combines both a MP3 player and Bluetooth connectivity, and for around than half the price of the other pair for the top memory.

Built-in memory ranges from 128MB to 2GB, depending on how much music you want to listen to in your glasses, and battery life is 6 hours after a full charge. Like many in-car Handsfree kits, if you’re listening to the MP3 player and you get a call coming in then the MP3 will shut off and switch to your call. It plugs into your computer via USB and is compatible with the basic audio file formats; MP3/WAV/WMA. Price is a bit uncertain – but if you order in bulk you could get down to about $22 for the 2GB model.

Our thoughts? This product is quite a bit more bulky on the sides than the other pair we featured, and probably isn’t the same quality, but is a lot cheaper. It’s a toss up between MP3 and quality/style, but we recommend you go for the other pair.

More info from the manufacturer

Price: ~$22.00
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)