Archive for January, 2008

MacWorld 2008

XtremeMac reveals updated Tango iPod speaker system

Posted in MacWorld 2008,Speakers,XtremeMac,iPhone Accessories by Nino Marchetti on January 16th, 2008

XtremeMac Tango X2XtremeMac just announced from MacWorld today another iPod speaker system. This time around it is the Tango X2, priced at around $150.

The XtremeMac Tango X2 is described as “a full range speaker system with a subwoofer and AM/FM radio wrapped in an elegant design that delivers big sound from a deceptively compact unit.” Having had hands on experience with the first Tango we have to imagine this will be even a better system.

Basic features include an AM/FM radio with hidden display, a smaller footprint from the previous model and an integrated iPod dock. Get the full details on the XtremeMac Tango X2 after the jump.

Bible inspiration clock: Shut Up Flanders

Posted in Clocks by Conner Flynn on January 16th, 2008

Bible inspiration clock
The bible inspiration clock strikes me as a very useful tool for the religious. It’s not only a clock that has a 5 minute sound chip that plays religious music and quotes from inspirational sections from the Bible, to wake you up, it could also potentially keep evil away from your bedside. We all know that demons and evil entities hate crosses, but what many don’t know is that they hate technology almost as much.

Imagine tucking little Rod and Todd in for the night, saying your final Okaly-dokay’s and sleeping soundly knowing that you’re safe and can be easily preached at first thing in the morning.

MacWorld 2008

ezGear 7-speaker XL90 Sound Bar for iPod

Posted in MacWorld 2008,Speakers,iPod Accessories by Darrin Olson on January 16th, 2008

ezGear XL90 Sound Bar for iPodezGear launched a new speaker system today designed to work with ALL of Apple’s iPod players called the ezGear XL90 Power Bar or the XL90 Sound Bar, depending on which product advertisement from ezGear you’re looking at.

We’re going with the XL90 Sound Bar sine it seems like a better name to us and will have less confusion with energy foods, but either way this speakers system features an iPod dock, 7 speakers and a remote to bring your iPod music to a place you can share with others. The speakers are driven by a 35 watt amp and consist of 2 high-range tweeters, 4 midrange and a seperate subwoofer. The included remote control runs the adjustments of the speaker sounds as well as navigating the docked iPod menu.

Microsoft’s high-tech grocery cart with video ads

Posted in Microsoft,News by Conner Flynn on January 16th, 2008

Microsoft’s high-tech grocery cart with video ads
Microsoft wants to deliver more ads to consumers, so they have found a unique way to do it more effectively. Working with a company called MediaCart, they are building computers that would be mounted on grocery carts. It would allow consumers to navigate the store and then automatically check them out when they’re finished. What would convenience be without revenue? That’s why Microsoft will have video ads mixed with the experience.

The cart-mounted computers will be tested at some ShopRite markets in the second half of 2008. Shoppers can pick up items, scan them with the system and leave them in their carts. The console will provide a running price tally and even check items off the shopping list. The system is also equipped with RFID, so it can track shoppers while they’re moving around in the store, deciding whether they want Captain Crunch or Cocoa Puffs. Shoppers will also be able to bring their list to the store with just a swipe of their loyalty card.(Everybody has a loyalty card, and yet it doesn’t seem to make any of us loyal.)

Kill-A-Watt EZ Plug power meter saves you money

Posted in Home by Conner Flynn on January 16th, 2008

Kill-A-Watt EZ Plug power meter
Do you like to to save money? To qoute Sally Struthers, “Sure, we all do.” Do you like to save energy? To qoute my father when I was growing up, “Turn the damn light off. Were you born in a barn?”…Or something like that. The point is, with all of our Plasma TV’s and many gadgets, it’s nice to save money and energy when possible. But do you have any idea how many kilowatts your gadgets use?

Kill-A-Watt EZ Plug Power Meter measures just how much juice your gadgets and appliances are using, much like the Intelliworks Energy Saver. It will not only measure the power your gadgets are using, but it will tell you how much it is already costing you and what it will cost in the future.

Expect iPod Shuffle Speaker

Posted in iPod,iPod Accessories by Conner Flynn on January 16th, 2008

Expect iPod Shuffle Speaker
Speakers for iPod Shuffles are harder to find, compared to speakers for iPods, Nano’s and even iPhones. Expect is here to help, with an update on the Cuby iPod Shuffle Dock. They have released some cool looking iPod shuffle speakers for the 2GB iPod Shuffle. They come in either pink or silver. Enjoy your tunes and charge all at once. It is powered via USB or batteries for a more mobile experience.

It’s made to fit the 2nd generation iPod Shuffle and is designed to be nice and compact. It’s kinda cute too. You just snap the Shuffle into the speaker dock and you’re all set. It will only cost you $27.

MacWorld 2008

MacBook Air SuperDrive

Posted in Apple,Disc Drives,MacWorld 2008 by Darrin Olson on January 16th, 2008

MacBook Air SuperDrive external optical drive for the MacBook AirIn the keynote speech yesterday at MacWorld Jobs brushed over the MacBook Air SuperDrive fairly quickly giving the message that the need for optical drives are becoming less, especially since the new MacBook Air has no internal optical drive. According to Apple it can download what software it needs through the internet and connect wirelessly to the Time Capsule for backing up and storing data. Apple does know that the end of optical drives is still a ways off and created this MacBook Air SuperDrive as an external optical drive accessory to the MacBook Air, and ONLY for the MacBook Air according to the specs.

It connects and is powered through a single standard USB cable that’s built into the drive so the MacBook Air will power the SuperDrive both when plugged in and when on batteries. The slot-loading SuperDrive is not much bigger than a CD case at 5.47 x 5.47 x 0.67 inches, and weighs 1.09 pounds. It also has some decent speeds with writing CD-Rs at 24x and double-layer DVDs at 4x.

Ultimate Ears wants $1,150 for new earphones

Posted in Headphones,Ultimate Ears by Nino Marchetti on January 15th, 2008

Ultimate Ears UE-11 ProHow much would you be willing to spend for high end audiophone earphones? Maybe around $1,150? That’s the asking price for the new Ultimate Ears UE-11 Pro earphones, which sport four speakers in each ear.

The Ultimate Ears UE-11 Pro offers up an in-ear “speaker configuration of four proprietary balanced armatures with integrated, electrically and acoustically tuned passive three-way crossover.” This translates into what the company feels is an extremely pure sound. These speakers are joined by a two-driver subwoofer to better let you enjoy bass in a music or movie experience.

MacWorld 2008

G-Tech unveils portable 1TB external drive

Posted in External Hard Drives,G-Technology,MacWorld 2008 by Nino Marchetti on January 15th, 2008

G-Tech G-RAID miniG-Technology is showcasing at MacWorld a 1TB external hard drive which offers RAID 0 configuration. It is called the G-Tech G-RAID mini and it should be available in March.

G-Technology said the G-Tech G-RAID mini is a full sized RAID 0 solution set into a portable solution. It features a triple FireWire 400/800/USB 2.0 interface and is designed to work right out of the box with Mac OS X systems.

Get more details on the new G-Tech G-RAID mini after the jump.

MacWorld 2008

Digital Copy takes Fox DVDs to iTunes

Posted in Apple,Digital Video,MacWorld 2008,iTunes by Darrin Olson on January 15th, 2008

Twentieth Century Fox and Apple bringing Digital Copy to copy DVDs to iTunesAmidst the new product announcements unveiled during the MacWorld 2008 keynote today Jobs slipped in a message about a new feature that will easily get your DVD content into your iTunes or Windows Media Player library called Digital Copy. Partnering with Twentieth Century Fox, Apple is offering the Digital Copy feature on DVDs from the Fox studio starting with “Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest” which releases today.

Anytime someone purchases a DVD from Fox that has the Digital Copy feature they can insert the disc into their computer, enter a unique code and transfer the movie into iTunes or Windows Media Player. The movie will then be available for unlimited viewing on their computer, iPod with video, iPhone, Apple TV or other video media player. There is of course some restriction on your purchased DVD’s Digital Copy feature however. It will transfer the DVD to only one instance of iTunes, limited by the unique code required.

MacWorld 2008

iTunes Movie Rentals bring films direct to your bigscreen

Posted in Apple,Apple TV,Digital Video,MacWorld 2008,iTunes by Darrin Olson on January 15th, 2008

Apple iTunes Movie Rental service brings movies to rent to your computer or TVApple announced the immediate launch of iTunes Movie Rentals today during the MacWorld 2008 keynote speech, allowing iTunes users to get limited-time download of movies from any of the major studios for as little as $2.99. The new service is part of iTunes version 7.6 which is available now and gives a rental download of movies for 30 days, but once you begin watching the movie the rental will run out in 24 hours. It can be watched as many times as you would like within that time. You can even start watching on your computer and then transfer the video to your iPod and finish watching the movie on the go.

Apple appears to have picked up all the major studios with this offer with the list of participants including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema. iTunes plans to have over 1,000 titles available by the end of February with rates of $2.99 for regular titles and $3.99 for new releases. For another dollar iTunes will deliver titles in high-def with Dolby 5.1 surround.

MacWorld 2008

New Targus MacBook bags are eco-friendly

Posted in Baggage,MacWorld 2008,Targus by Nino Marchetti on January 15th, 2008

Targus 15″ radius BackpackTargus is showing off at MacWorld a new line up of “eco-friendly” MacBook bags made of PVC-free material. This product line is known as the Radius family and it consists of several messenger bags, backpacks and top loading cases.

The Targus Radius bags are composted of 100% recycled polyester, recyclable plastic and nickel-free metal, making them pretty eco-friendly. Each bag includes an EVA molded compartment to protect your Apple laptop and they are mostly fit to 15-inch models.

Blue Raven previews cell phone to landline device

Posted in Blue Raven,Mobile Accessories by Nino Marchetti on January 15th, 2008

Blue Raven MobileMate 1380Blue Raven Technology is out with a new phone adaptor device for use at home or in the office which lets you use your mobile to place and receive calls over your land line phone. It is called the Blue Raven MobileMate 1380 and it is set to price at around $100.

The Blue Raven MobileMate 1380 makes use of Bluetooth technology and lets one connect a Bluetooth-enabled mobile to a house phone. It can, by doing this, in effect let you use either phone to place and receive calls over either network. The connected house phone will ring when the paired mobile does as well.

MacWorld 2008

Apple rolls out Time Capsule wireless backup

Posted in Apple,Backup Solutions,MacWorld 2008,Storage,Wi-Fi by Darrin Olson on January 15th, 2008

Apple Time Capsule for backing up data wirelessly from your MacAs part of the announcements at the MacWorld keynote speech today, Steve Jobs introduced the new Apple Time Capsule – a appliance designed to help facilitate wireless, automatic data backups from all the Macs in your home. The device works with machines running the Leopard OS along with the Time Machine software to automatically create back ups of everything on your Mac computer, hourly if you would prefer, and from multiple different Macs.

The Time Capsule coincides well with the launch of the MacBook Air since one of the common needs for an optical drive is to back up data. Since the Air doesn’t have an internal CD or DVD drive the Time Capsule makes a nice solution to provide wireless data backups to the notebook. The integrated software lets users look through history for lost files or even restore the system to a previous point in time.

MacWorld 2008

XtremeMac unveils new iPod clock radio

Posted in Clocks,MacWorld 2008,XtremeMac,iPod Accessories by Nino Marchetti on January 15th, 2008

XtremeMac Luna X2iPod accessory maker XtremeMac announced at MacWorld today a new version of its popular Luna iPod radio clock. This one is known as the XtremeMac Luna X2 and it is priced at around $120.

The XtremeMac Luna X2 offers up an integrated iPod dock and two full range speakers driven by a “hi-dynamic” power amplifier. This radio clock sports dual alarms and will let you be awakened to a buzzer, AM/FM radio or your docked iPod. There’s the ability to adjust the volume gain as well so you can gradually wake up without loud noise making you jump from bed.