Books, Music and Movies

Mvix updates Ultio media player – Ultio Pro can now record with DVR

2 Comments / Audio/Video, Home Theater, Books, Music and Movies, Gizmo of the Day, Networking & Internet / By /

mvix ultio pro mx-880hdMvixUSA has updated their flagship media center product, the Ultio, to now include DVR (digital video recording) capabilities. The Ultio Pro plays back Blu-ray quality 1080p hi-def video, photos, and music on your high-def TV via HDMI and stores it all on its internal hard drive which you can get as large as 2TB.

And now, the Pro can record video on the fly from your cable/satellite TV, your camcorder or from DVDs, instead of acting just as a repository. The Ultio Pro is a virtual Swiss Army knife of video, image and audio formats including: mp4, avi, iso, asf, wmv, flv, mkv, rm, ts, mpg, vob, mp3, wma, aac, ogg, flac, jpg, bmp and gif. To see the full list, download the Formats PDF from MvixUSA.

And of course, the Ultio Pro plays back media from your network and the Internet, including from your computer and from services liks Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and more.

Buy now!
Price: $169 without hard drive; $384 with 2TB drive. (You can buy the barebones version and insert whatever sized drive you’d like.)
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Novation’s Launchpad is a next-generation musical instrument/DJ

1 Comment / Books, Music and Movies, Gizmo of the Day / By /

novation launchpadThis was too colorful, interactive and cool looking not to feature – the Novation Launchpad built together with Ableton is a 64-button grid that you use to create and control music. The buttons can be set to do anything really – play notes, trigger sequences and much more.

Launchpad comes with Ableton Live 8, but can be used to control other music software as well. You’ve got to take a look at the video to see what we’re talking about here: …

Novation’s Launchpad is a next-generation musical instrument/DJRead More »

Western Digital’s WD TV Live plays/streams full 1080p HD, music and photos and Internet radio

1 Comment / Audio/Video, Home Theater, Books, Music and Movies, Gizmo of the Day / By /

wd tv liveWestern Digital is still in the media player game, and their latest model improves upon the last one. The WD TV Live plays back HD video, music & photos whether they’re on your computer, your USB drives, or the Net on your TV.

It still comes in an ugly little black box with what looks like an elf’s remote.  One nice feature is that you can connect as many USB drives as you want to it for practically unlimited storage.

WD TV Live can connect to the Net to play back YouTube videos, Flickr photos and stream music from Pandora and Live365.com.

Like the Netgear EVA2000, this is a pretty inexpensive media player, and would be a decent introduction to the media streamer gadget.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: $119.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

CES 2010: Blio eReader is Free Software-Only Reader – Why It May Be Important

1 Comment / Books, Music and Movies, CES / By /

While we were inundated with hardware eReaders at CES, Blio took an intermediate step and made a (free) software eReader than can run on laptops, netbooks, desktops, tablets and even iPhones and iPods.

blio bookstoreDesigned in part by inventor Ray Kurzweil, the Blio is a free piece of software that you can download for your Windows machine, and that opens up and displays eBooks in full-color with options such as 3D page turning, text only mode for smaller displays, read aloud (text-to-speech), and note annotation. The Blio reader also supports audio, video and interactive media when embedded eBooks.

Blio will also be accompanied by the Blio Bookstore allowing you to add titles to your own virtual personal library that is accessible regardless of where you are or what device you’re on. The Blio Bookstore boasts over 1.2 million titles which they claim is more than any other eBookstore.

Blio reminds me a great deal of Zinio‘s excellent software reader for their electronic magazines.

Our Take
I think they’re onto something here, as well as multi-screen eReader manufacturers like Spring Design (Alex) and enTourage (eDGe), because want fewer devices, not more. Of course, peoples’ needs differ, so in my case when I travel I’m never without my laptop, so I would much rather my laptop be able to read eBooks. Blio fits the bill here.

On the other hand, my laptop is still a tad bit heavy and warm to hold open in bed, but I’m always wanting to surf the Web, but doing so in grayscale isn’t as satisfying which is why I feel those dual-screen readers are appealing and have potential. In the end, it does boil down to your own personal preferences, and you may still elect to walk around with both a laptop/netbook and a thin eReader.

CES 2010: Plastic Logic and Skiff Join the eReader Club

Books, Music and Movies, CES / By /

Two more vendors join what promises to become a crowded field this year – Plastic Logic and Skiff.

Plastic Logic who had previously announced their QUE proReader, premiered it at CES and says it’s aimed at business professionals. The QUE has a shatterproof 8.5″x11″ plastic touchscreen display, is 0.33″ thick and weighs 1lb.

It displays PDF, Word, Excel and Powerpoint docs and can check e-mail from Outlook. It connects to the Net via WiFi and 3G. With 2 models starting at $649, Plastic Logic faces a tough battle with the likes of the Kindle, Nook and others.

plastic logic que e-reader

…

CES 2010: Plastic Logic and Skiff Join the eReader ClubRead More »

CES 2010: Spring Design’s Alex – Dual-Screen E-Reader

1 Comment / Books, Music and Movies, CES, Gizmo of the Day, Portable / By /

spring design's alex ereaderSpring Design jumps into the e-book market with its Alex which is another dual-screen reader. It is yet another product running on Google’s Android OS, and features mobile browsing via WiFi and via 3G, EVDO/CDMA and GSM.

The top screen is a 6″ monochrome e-paper (e-Ink) screen while the smaller lower screen is a 3.5″ color LCD. Also included is an SD card slot, earphones and speakers.

One notable and useful feature is the ability to conserve battery life by displaying content on the EPD screen that was originally captured while surfing on the LCD screen with a simple toggle.

Update: Alex now has a release date of Feb 22, 2010 and a price of $399. [press release]

CES 2010: enTourage eDGe – Dual-Screen Netbook and eReader

Books, Music and Movies, CES, Gizmo of the Day / By /

entourage edgeAs we predicted, here’s another eBook reader. The eDGe from enTourage is not just an e-reader, but a netbook, notepad and A/V recorder/player. It is also unique in that it is a dual-screen device.

Includes a SD card, USB flash drive and WiFi. The eReader screen is a 9.7″ diagonal with a resolution of 1200 x 825 pixels, while the color touchscreen for the netbook is a 10.1″ diagonal 1024×600 pixel screen.

The netbook includes an audio recorder to capture lectures for later playback or sharing. It also has a video camera to record still images or movies as MP4s or 3GP files. You can plug in headphones or a microphone or use the built in speaker and recorder.

eDGe™ runs the Google Android OS with 3GB of memory and has future support for 3G using an EVDO or HSDPA mobile modem.

Available in Feb 2010 for $490.

Gadget Gifts – Ideas, Recommendations, Suggestions

Audio/Video, Home Theater, Automotive, Books, Music and Movies, Computers, Gaming & Toys, Gizmo of the Day, Holidays, Home Automation, Miscellaneous, Portable, Software, Sports, Health & Fitness, Outdoors, Tools, DIY, Home, Office / By /

We’ve put together a list of gadget gifts for the gizmo-lover in your life. These aren’t just great for the Christmas holiday season but any time of year. For the most part, we’ve tried to stay away from the usual and obvious electronic gadgets like MP3 players, phones and cameras, but instead bring you a variety of neat electronic gift ideas and in most cases useful items that are still worth their salt as far as gadgets go.

Perplexus

Let’s start with some toys/puzzles/games. Perplexus is a spherical 3-D maze with a ball bearing that you to need to navigate around a maze. Simply to learn, hard to solve and master!
Buy now!

…

Gadget Gifts – Ideas, Recommendations, SuggestionsRead More »

Some Book Publishers to Delay Release Dates of E-Books

Books, Music and Movies / By /

Two book publishers have decided to delay the release of e-book versions of new releases coming out next year. Simon & Schuster will delay the e-book release of 35 titles by 4 months.

This is akin to the delay before the paperback version is published. This is obviously a backlash to the growing popularity of e-books, most likely in large part due to the lower price points they command. It probably won’t last long if other publishers have any success selling as many (or more) total # of books without delaying the electronic version.

via The Wall Street Journal

12 Gizmos for Christmas: #12 eBook Reading Device

1 Comment / Books, Music and Movies, Holidays / By /

Avid readers are turning digital with the latest eBook Reading Devices including Amazon’s Kindle, the Sony Digital Reader and Barnes & Noble’s Nook.  Popularity of eBook Readers has been increasing as thousands of books, newspapers, magazines and even blogs can be read and new features including wireless and WiFi access, additional storage space, longer battery life and even color touch screens hit the market.

Currently Kindle is King but many believe the Barnes & Noble Nook will dethrone Amazon from the top spot with features like WiFi, a color touch screen to view the book covers (like an iPod viewing album covers) and expandable memory.  If you want to give a Nook for Christmas, you’ll have to give a Holiday Certificate instead as the expected ship date is not until January 4th while the Kindle and Sony’s Digital Reader are available now.

Scroll to Top