Hasta La Gadget!

Sure VIZIO only just showed off new updates in its high end XVT series, but it’s already planning the next generation of LCDs with VIZIO Internet Apps included. Packing widget functionality, 802.11n wireless networking and slider QWERTY Bluetooth remote, the SV422XVT, SV472XVT and VF552XVT Connected HDTVs are coming home in November, October and December, respectively. Already on deck to serve up content for your widgets are Vudu, Revision3, Facebook, Twitter, Rhapsody, Blockbuster OnDemand, Showtime, Flickr and more. The biggest surprise? There’s apparently no price premium planned for these features, with the 55-inch clocking in at the same $2,199 price as the model it’s replacing, though the 47-inch jumps $200 over the previous edition to $1,699, while adding the local dimming LED backlit technology previously reserved for the 55-inch. The 42-inch will be the first and cheapest available at $1,199 (sans LED) — we’ll see if that bar is low enough to get viewers to jump into the internet-connected display future.

Read – VIZIO Announces High Performance XVT HDTV Line Up with 240Hz SPS(TM), TruLED(TM) and Smart Dimming(TM) Technology, VIZIO Internet Apps (VIA), and Slim Line(TM) 120Hz LCD HDTV Models
Read – VIZIO Unveils Rhapsody Digital Music Service for VIZIO Internet Apps (VIA(TM)) Connected HDTVs
Read – VIZIO Reveals Dynamic New Content Partners for VIZIO Internet Apps Connected HDTV Feature

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

VIZIO Internet App HDTVs launch later this year, for less than you might expect originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Icron‘s PC-on-TV solution has been out and about since late last year, but we’d venture to say that adoption in the consumer market has been minimal at best. ‘Course, the bevy of internet-to-TV set-top boxes that have emerged in the meanwhile certainly haven’t help its cause, and the whole “wired Ethernet” requirement was also a real deal-breaker, ladies. Now, it seems as if the company is looking to leapfrog those who leapfrogged it by showcasing a wireless (802.11n) solution at the Connections Digital Living Conference. The product is still based around its ExtremeUSB technology, which passes along VGA / USB signals from a PC to a TV so that your computer can be fully seen and controlled on your den’s HDTV. Unfortunately, two critical data points are still missing: first, there’s no expected release date, and second, there’s no independent reports on how well all of this works sans cabling.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Icron’s ExtremeUSB-based PC-on-TV tech goes wireless originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 May 2009 11:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The dream of owning a keyboard embedded with a full-blown PC running XP on an Atom N270 processor and 5-inch, 800 x 480 pixel touchscreen display/trackpad is nearly upon us. A dream, quite honestly, nobody had prior to seeing the reveal of the 2-pound Eee Keyboard prototype at CES in January. Engadget Chinese has it on authority that this oddball all-in-one will ship in June with specs that should include a 32GB SSD, 802.11n, Bluetooth, HDMI-out, stereo speakers and mic as we saw during our hands-on with the Eee Keyboard back in March. With any luck, ASUS will also be embedding some form of ultra-wideband HDMI as promised in January alongside one of those UWB monitor prototypes they had on display at CeBIT. One thing’s for sure: all will be revealed at Computex in Taipei in just a few weeks. Can you wait?

Filed under: Desktops

ASUS Eee Keyboard to launch by end of June originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 May 2009 04:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yeah, we think you should make the switch.

Let’s come right out with it — you should be running a dual-band 2.4 and 5GHz WiFi network. Why? Because the 2.4GHz spectrum is cluttered with everything from other networks to Bluetooth to cordless phones and microwaves, and all that RF interference slows everything down, making file transfers interminable and HD streaming nearly impossible. On the other hand, 5GHz 802.11n is clean and incredibly fast — we’re talking almost hardwire fast. But you can’t just move up to 5GHz without leaving your phones and other legacy devices behind, so you’ve got to keep 2.4 around as well — which is really easy if you’ve got a simultaneous dual-band router like Apple’s new Airport Extreme or something like the D-Link DIR-825, and only slightly harder if you don’t. And, as luck would have it, Apple just sent us a new AEBS to play with, so we thought we’d show you how to configure both kinds of setups. We promise you’ll thank us.

Continue reading How-to: set up dual-band WiFi (and juice your downloads)

Filed under: Networking

How-to: set up dual-band WiFi (and juice your downloads) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 May 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Leave it to the good ole FCC to uncover more hidden rumors about Apple’s purported launch on March 24th. According to AppleInsider, new regulatory filings have been approved by the FCC, revealing diagrams of what looks like the Apple Time Capsule and the Airport Xtreme. Since the Time Capsule is basically a NAS drive, larger capacities than those of the current 1TB and 500GB options are to be expected. As for the Airport Xtreme, it’ll likely be 802.11n still, possibly with improved throughputs and hopefully with a different design than the polished white ones. If the new Macbook Pros are any indication, we might even see a “Unibody” Aluminum version

via AppleInsider