A mockup of what a Boxee box could look like.
(Credit: Boxee)
Boxee was approached by several hardware makers at CES earlier this month about embedding the Web content streaming software directly into a dedicated set-top box, the company said Thursday on its official blog. And it’s actually considering …
Netbooks have captured the hearts of consumers and are driving PC sales during a lean economy. But could the boom in these inexpensive, tiny notebooks be a sign of a much more dangerous trend?
Cheap netbooks could end up killing PC innovation and turn off many consumers, argues Rahul Sood, chief technology officer for HP’s Voodoo Business Unit on his blog.
"Consumer expectations are very high and when a
product they perceive is a fully functional notebook doesn’t perform as
well, they could set themselves up
for disappointment," says Sood on his blog. "It’s a vicious cycle."
Netbooks started out being designed as companion devices to larger notebooks or desktops. But with their full-featured operating systems and software, consumers are increasingly considering inexpensive netbooks as their primary computing device.
Soaring demand and falling prices (an average netbook sells for $400) is likely to make it tougher for computer manufacturers to offer better quality products, says Sood.
"Assuming you get caught in this cycle, how do you
differentiate the higher performance machines from the netbook equipped
systems," he says. Its one reason that Apple may be holding out from selling netbooks in a bid to avoid cannibalization of sales of its higher priced notebooks, suggests Sood.
Some companies seem to realize this. At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month Sony launched a $900 8-inch laptop that it prefers to call a sub-notebook rather than a netbook.
Sood suggest companies look towards designing a netbook with software that makes it into an "awesome supplement rather than a
ho-hum replacement." If Microsoft doesn’t take up this gauntlet, can anyone else?
Photo: Asus S6F vs. Eee 1000h (Adriaan Bloem/Flickr)
Evidence that the economy has been ground to a fine powder continues to pile up, and today’s brought another batch of bad news. Tales of woe abound, but looming largest is Sony, which announced its 2nd quarter earnings yesterday, then warned today that they expect to post a $1.7 billion loss this year (though we’ve seen other reports that are now putting the number at well over $2 billion). Additionally, Samsung is expected to post a first-ever quarterly loss when it reports its earnings Friday, which are expected to run somewhere in the neighborhood of a $67.7 million net loss. Moving on, Seagate’s also announced an unsuprising cut of about 6 percent of their workforce in Thailand. Finally, LG has reported a $487 million loss, while TomTom announced a “cost cutting program,” meaning they’re cutting about 7 percent of their global workforce. Seriously, does anyone have a light-hearted Dilbert strip or something to ease some of the pain? Sheesh.
Read – Sony, Warning of Annual Loss, Escalates Cost-Cutting plan
Read – Samsung may report first ever quarterly loss
Read – LG Electronics Posts $487 Million Loss
Read – TomTom Cost-cutting programme
Read – Seagate to lay off up to 800 local workers
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Recession roundup: Sony warns of $1.7b loss, other companies not doing much better originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
This Seagate tool determines the model of the installed hard drive.
(Credit: Seagate)
After releasing a bug-fixing firmware that actually caused havoc by potentially rendering some drives seemingly dead, Seagate on Thursday offered this statement:
Seagate has isolated a potential firmware issue in limited number of Barracuda 7200.11 hard …
Stop the presses: President Obama has his BlackBerry.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed at Thursday’s press briefing that Obama has held on to his beloved smart phone, though he did not provide details on what kind of BlackBerry the president is using.
President Obama will use the device to communicate with select staff and a few friends, Gibbs said. He did not elaborate on who is allowed to e-mail Obama.
There were reports that Obama might use General Dynamics Corporation’s Sectera Edge, a phone that is NSA-certified to protect wireless voice communications, but that has not been confirmed.
Speculation about the fate of the president’s BlackBerry has been swirling since Election Day. Presidents have traditionally given up access to electronic gadgets for security reasons. President Bush, for example, e-mailed friends after his election to inform them that he would no longer correspond electronically.
Need something to take your mind off work? Check out Gearlog’s deals for Thursday.
1. Oprah just loves giving things away. For today only, until 10 p.m. EST, Oprah.com is letting you download “American’s Song,” written and composed by Will.i.am, David W. Foster, Jean Baptiste and George Pajon, Jr., and featuring the vocal talents of Faith Hill, Seal, Mary J. Blige, Bono, and Will.i.am. Keep up those high spirits with this song celebrating the recent inauguration of our new President. [Via Bargainist.com]
2. Fans of “The Wire” will be happy to know that the complete series is on sale from Amazon for 67 percent off of the original price. Get 23 discs for just $81.99, down from $249.99. The sale ends today, so get to it.
3. Get the Canon PowerShot A590 8MP digital camera (pictured above) from J&R.com for just $109.88. The camera normally costs $179.99, so this deal saves you $70. Also, add an Epson Stylus Photo Printer (models 1400, R1900, or R2880) and get a $100 back with a mail-in-rebate. The rebate ends on December 31.
We’ve received official word from the good folks at Sprint that the Treo Pro wasn’t supposed to be posted today, hence the unceremonious removal of every last trace of the thing within hours of its unveiling. According to the company, the phone will be sold just as soon as it makes it through the “customary testing process,” but it’s any guess how much longer they think that’s going to take at this point. All told, it probably wasn’t the way Sprint had hoped to take the wraps off, but let’s be honest, we knew this was coming for a hot minute now — we just want the Buy link, guys. See the full statement after the break.
Continue reading Sprint Treo Pro officially unavailable again — for now
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Sprint Treo Pro officially unavailable again — for now originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Apricorn’s DVR Xpanders have never been the prettiest bunch, but we would’ve thought a redesign was in order with the introduction of the 1.5TB model. Sadly, our hopes and dreams of a DVR attachment from the outfit that isn’t completely heinous have been decidedly crushed, as the latest edition is just as unsightly as prior models. Of course, it can hold up to 187.5 hours of HD content or 843 hours of SD material, not to mention its ability to connect via USB 2.0 or eSATA. So yeah, if all that matters to you is functionality (and not missing a single drama while out on that month-long vacation), we’d say the $239 asking price is totally reasonable.
[Via PCLaunches, thanks Vinit]
Filed under: Storage
Apricorn introduces 1.5TB DVR Xpander, succeeds at making it ugly originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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(Credit: TX WEA)The gist of backing up is as simple as copying files from one place to another. However, the actual work of getting this done is still a lot more complicated than some people can handle. I’ve met people who make copies of desktop shortcuts, thinking they have backed up their documents, or those who think the computer’s optical (DVD/CD) drive can be used as a retractable cup-holder.
(This might sounds like an old joke, but take a look at the drive; you’ll see that they kind of have a point.)
But now, there’s a new, easier way to back up your files, using a new type of optical media–AutoSave discs–recently introduced by a French company called TX WEA.
In a nutshell, the product is a blank optical media disc that isn’t blank at all. It has backup software embedded that runs as you insert the media into the computer’s optical drive.
AutoRun is not new and can be even annoying sometimes. The difference of AutoSave is the fact that the software automatically saves photos, e-mails, and Office documents on the particular disc you just insert; you even have the option to encrypt the backed-up files.
The product comes in four styles:
…
If a pink MSI Wind isn’t the way to your significant other’s heart, Samsung has an alternative for you in the form of a rose-colored NC10. The similarly-spec’d 10.2-inch netbook sports a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, and Windows XP Home. Additionally, it’s got a suspiciously-long 7-hour battery life and anti-germ keyboard. UK retailer dabs has it listed for £316 ($434) with VAT and a February 9 release date. Let’s just hope she doesn’t lament the color choice come March.
[Via Portable Monkey]
Read – Overclockers product page
Read – Dabs product page
Filed under: Laptops
Forget chocolates, Samsung offers pink NC10 for Valentine gifting originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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