Get ready for an eyeful of ugly this week.
We count down the worst-looking tech products, as judged by an impartial panel of me and a bunch of people on Twitter and Facebook. …
Originally posted at CNET TV
With the launch of the Zune HD and the CEDIA show just around the corner, we’ve been hoping this could mean an all new integrated future for Windows Media Center and other Microsoft platforms — until now. As a few commenters pointed out yesterday, the corrected spec sheet received from Microsoft indicated HDTV and protected Windows Media Center DVR-MS (the files used by Vista Media center) recordings were not supported. We reached out for clarification and received the following:
“Zune HD, and the forthcoming Zune 4.0 PC software, will support and transcode Windows Media Center recorded TV file formats from Windows Vista or Windows 7 that contain MPEG-2 video, in either the DVR-MS or WTV formats. Support is limited to unencrypted SD and HD recordings. HD Files with AC3 audio are not supported by Zune.“
As you may or may not be aware, at least in the U.S. , and most other countries, any high definition broadcasts you snag from antenna, ClearQAM or otherwise use Dolby Digital AC-3 audio, meaning the Zune software won’t be able to convert them. Current workarounds for bringing Media Center recordings on the go should still be a go, but all we can see is the missed opportunity to tie the two platforms together with easy one click transcoding support. Hopefully Microsoft still has something up its sleeve to pull together Zune and Windows 7 Media Center, but portable DVR recordings ain’t it.
Filed under: Handhelds, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Portable Video
Zune 4.0 software won’t play nice with HDTV Media Center recordings originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Sid Meiers does a thing; Duke Nukem makes an appearance, exactly as you remember him; social conspiracies are aired; eBay!; and a thing called “e-mail.” All this and more in your unusually 90s-centric weekly app dump, after the jump.
Civilization Revolution: Real-time strategy doesn’t really suit the iPhone—it can be a little frantic, and controls aren’t perfect. So how about an iPhone adaptation of one of the greatest turn-based strategy games of all time? $10 is right at the acceptable ceiling for non-professional iPhone apps, but this is real, true-to-form Sid Meier stuff, right here.
Duke Nukem 3D: Oh, by the way, everyone who likes strategy games is a nerd, right guys? Because real men play DUKE NUKEM’, with the boobs, and the cursing! This is a fairly direct port of the classic game, but with crappier—though not terrible, for the iPhone—controls, and sadly, no iPod Touch 1G compatibility. Three dollars for a reasonably long, surprisingly playable game.
eBay: eBay has updated their app to support two pretty awesome things: Push notifications, to tell you when you’ve been bidsniped, because that’s pretty much all that shopping on eBay is about nowadays, and PayPal payment support, so you don’t have to log onto a PC every time you want to seal a deal. Still free, OBO. (via)
reMail 2: iPhone mail search is fine. reMail iPhone mail search is actually good, if it works for you. Two things: there’s no Exchange support (sorry suits!), and there’s only support for one account at a time. But within that one IMAP or POP account, reMail archives all your message text as far back as you want, letting you search full text—not just subjects—without a network connection. The five dollar price is a little shameful, though.
Pastie: Lets you make a list of preset text snippets that you can quickly send as emails or texts, rather than having to type out a unique message. It’s a timesaver if you’re the kind of person who responds to everything instantly and succinctly, or if you just like having a large clipboard on your phone, but beware: it doesn’t work on iPod Touches, at all. (via)
My Gay Agenda: Are you gay? Do you have a well-formed sense of irony? Would you like to spend three dollars to make everyone is totally aware of these two facts? Great! Though in all seriousness, this faux-pernicious calendar/to-do list is pretty funny, and a portion of the proceeds go to charity.
This Week’s App News on Giz:
• Qik Video Sharing Application Now Available for iPhone 3GS
• iPhone App Developer Uses Fake Tablet Video to Promote their Crappy Game
• The 10 Most Expensive iPhone Apps
• Apple’s Phil Schiller Continues Quelling Faithful’s App Store Unrest With Polite Letters
• Sex Offender Locator Back in the App Store For Some Reason
• CourseSmart Dumps 7,000+ Textbooks Into the iPhone App Store
This list is in no way definitive. If you’ve spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our Favorite iPhone Apps Directory and our original iPhone App Review Marathon. Have a swell weekend everybody.
InFocus has signed on to use ultrawideband technology in conjunction with its line of digital projectors, although it’s still unclear what it will cost.
Company representatives emailed a press release to PCMag.com reporters this week, explaining that a new DisplayLink Wireless System is currently compatible with the InFocus IN1100 and IN3100 series, and will be available soon on the IN1500, IN5300 and IN5500 series as well as future DisplayLink-enabled projectors.
The modules contain chips from Wisair, one of the few remaining UWB technology providers. Users shouldn’t have to worry about data loss, as long as the projectors are in the same room as the source: the adapters are rated for 99 Mbits/s, within distances of 30 feet.
Palm seems to be making an active, conscientious effort to say as little as it can about the GSM version of the Pre, possibly in an effort to give Sprint as much spotlight as possible before its exclusivity expires — but as we all know, it’s real and it’s coming. Thing is, Palm has always implied that it’s being limited to European duty with a 3G radio that fails to cover bands that are of any interest to North Americans, so what the heck is this noise all about? Multiple certification bodies are now reporting the existence of a Pre model number P100UNA, as opposed to the P100UEU that’s launching in Europe — and it doesn’t take a lot of detective work to gather that those codes on the end stand for “North America” and “European Union,” respectively (for the record, the CDMA version on Sprint is P100EWW, so it ain’t that). One distinct possibility is that Palm’s preparing a version to cover Bell’s new HSPA network since the carrier is Palm’s exclusive Pre launch partner in Canada and they’re smack in the middle of a transition from CDMA — and needless to say, if that’s the case, there’ll be an unprecedented effort to get that sucker unlocked on the double.
[Via PreCentral]
Read – WiFi certification [Warning: PDF link]
Read – Bluetooth SIG
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Palm prepping Pre with North American GSM, but for whom? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Good news, everyone! If you’ve been stuck in a time loop using Windows XP, which is nearing eight years old, or Windows Vista, which is just annoying, you can finally break free: Windows 7 is almost here. Microsoft delivers a slickly designed, vastly improved OS that will warp you to the world of today. This upgrade is big, and it’s hugely recommended for Microsoft users.
When we say big, we mean really BIG — so we’re not going to bombard you with an epic overview covering every single aspect. Rather, today we’ll guide you through an early look at some major new features and enhancements we tested in the almost-final version released last week. And in the weeks leading up to the Oct. 22 launch of Windows 7, we’ll continue posting our impressions, testing more features of the OS on various types of hardware.
We’ll start with interface, move on to performance and usability, and then we’ll conclude with the “funner” stuff. Let’s begin exploring, shall we?
Revamped Interface With Improved Presentation
Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 will be like ditching your old Toyota Camry for a sexy, new Nissan GT-R. Everything from the typography to the icons, and from the toolbar to the windows, has been refined with some extra detail, polish and shadows. Finally, Microsoft creates a clean, modern look that competes with Apple’s finely designed Mac OS X Leopard.
To accompany the new look, there are three new features that make the Windows 7 interface pretty groovy: Aero Peek, Aero Snap and Aero Shake. They’re window-management tools, similar to Apple’s Exposé in Mac OS X. Aero Peek is the most significant: When triggered, the feature displays outlines of all your open windows behind your active window; each outlined box contains a thumbnail previewing its corresponding window to help you choose.
Aero Snap (see screenshot above) is pretty cool, too: Drag a window to the right side of the screen, for example, and Aero Snap will automatically adjust the window into a rectangle that takes up the entire right side (same happens if you drag to the left). And Aero Shake is a cute feature: You click and hold onto a window and give it a shake, and any visible windows behind it will disappear (minimize, not close).
A major change appears in the main toolbar glued to the bottom of the screen. Rather than clutter the bottom of your screen with annoying rectangular tabs, your open applications are instead contained in a small square displaying only the icon of each active app. With AeroPeek activated, you can also preview thumbnails of the activity of apps by hovering over their corresponding taskbar icons. That’s certainly a welcome change now that many of us multitaskers enjoy running a multitude of apps at once
If Internet Explorer 8 is your browser of choice, there’s a bonus: Hovering your mouse over the Explorer icon, you’ll be able to preview all the tabs you have open in a stacked view, letting you go directly to the tab you wish to browse.
Then there’s the Start button at the bottom left corner — a feature Windows fans have grown to love. It’s very similar to the old one, functioning almost exactly the same. The main difference is the addition of a gradient to give it a fresher aesthetic. As for functions, a very useful addition to the Start menu is a search bar that instantly appears at the very bottom. This will make finding and launching files a snap.
Performance and Usability
You’ll immediately notice Windows 7 feels a lot faster than its predecessors, and that’s because memory management has been smartly re-engineered. In older versions of Windows, every application you have open is sucking up video memory, even if the windows are minimized. This isn’t the case in Windows 7: The only windows and apps using video memory are those visible on your screen. Windows users are accustomed to closing applications to boost performance, but that’s going to be unnecessary with Windows 7.
Smoother performance would be a waste if usability weren’t improved, too. Windows 7 won’t disappoint. Remember in Windows XP when you hooked up an external hard drive and it was unrecognized, requiring you to search the web to find that stupid effing software driver? Windows 7 includes up-to-date files, which should automatically recognize your device, and in most cases it’ll “just work.” If, for some reason, Windows 7 isn’t compatible with your attached device by default, it’ll search a database for you in an attempt to find a file to install.
Similarly, Windows 7 tries to streamline networking of peripherals, such as printers and scanners, with a feature called HomeGroup. Let’s say you’re running Windows 7 on computer B in your household, and computer A is the one hooked up to a printer in another room. If computer B is on the same network as computer A, Windows 7 will search for the printer driver on computer A and share it with computer B. The same networking feature will also allow you to share folders and files between networked computers. There’s a catch to this seamless networking: HomeGroup is an exclusive Windows 7 feature. So if your other machine is running the Mac OS, or Linux, then forget about it.
There are also some annoyances that will remind you, “This is still Windows.” When plugging in a thumb drive, for example, Windows will ask you what you want to do with it: Play audio, play a movie, or open the folder to view its files. It’s a thumb drive, for God’s sake: Recognize it and just open the damn folder! After receiving such notifications you can tell Windows 7 to automatically perform one of the aforementioned functions when a specific type of device is attached (see screenshot at right), but we wish the OS would just know what to do.
We also found the software-compatibility checker to be kind of lame. For example, when we downloaded TweetDeck, a .air file which requires Adobe Air, Windows 7 didn’t recognize the file extension and offered to do a search for compatible software. That search did not discover Adobe Air — a pretty popular format — so we were disappointed.
“Funner” Stuff
Microsoft improves on the entertainment experience, too. Windows Media Center gets a utilitarian makeover that looks a tad like Apple’s Front Row (and we’re not complaining). The revamped program makes it easy to browse your movies, photos, music and so on by tapping a few keys. Nice big thumbnails display previews of your media to make your collection look nice and perdy.
A feature we have yet to test (once we get the proper hardware) with Windows Media Center is the new media-streaming capability. If you have a Wi-Fi enabled TV, you’ll be able to seamlessly stream your Windows Media Center content onto the television set. This should make piracy a blast.
More to Come
We’ll continue exploring the intricacies of Windows 7 in the next few weeks. Coming up next: Windows 7 touchscreen support; an in-depth look at the Windows 7 Media Center, including NetFlix streaming; and tips on multitasking with Aero. Stay tuned.
See Also:
We know you’re jealous of your friends’ ability to charge up their RAZRs and iPhones sans wires, so how would you feel if we told you that WildCharge’s newest solution — the PowerDisc — would allow you to use its WildCharger with literally hundreds of devices? It’s true! All you need to charge your previously incompatible hardware wirelessly is this one little wire that attaches the PowerDisc to the PowerLink adapter for your Nokia, Palm, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Micro USB, or Mini USB device. Available on its own for $19.99 or bundled with the WildCharge pad for $64.99. And it looks like the PowerDisc also includes a lanyard — we know how much you love lanyards! So, have you ordered one yet or what?
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
WildCharge brings ‘wireless’ charging to hundreds of devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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00:03:23 – Zune HD lands September 15th, up for pre-order today
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Filed under: Podcasts
Engadget Podcast 159 – 08.14.2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The Palm Pre has been regarded by reviewers and analysts as possibly the best challenger to Apple iPhone but Apple is still ahead. Pre users seem to be not as enthralled with their phone as iPhone users, according to a recent survey which took a closer look at the satisfaction levels of Palm Pre and iPhone users.
RBC Capital and ChangeWave Research found that 99 percent of the 200 iPhone 3G S users surveyed between were “satisfied” with their phone. Of those 82 percent said they were “very satisfied” with the device.
A separate survey of 40 Pre owners showed that about 87 percent of them said they were “satisfied,” of which 45 percent said they were “very satisfied.”
Still its good news that Palm, says RBC. “It is the highest score ever recorded in our Palm satisfaction
surveys and above all other manufacturers except Apple and RIM,” wrote RBC analyst Mike Abramsky in a research report.
The Pre, launched June 6 exclusively on Sprint’s wireless network, is attracting new buyers. About 82 percent of Pre users surveyed were new to Palm, says RBC.
Check out the graphs to see what iPhone and Palm Pre users said they like and dislike about their phones.
See Also:
[via Apple 2.0]
Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
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