Hasta La Gadget!

London 2012 Olympics
If TV broadcast tape delay and streaming restricted to pay-TV subscribers isn’t entirely ruining your experience, the first week of the 2012 Games has started off with a bang. There’s plenty of sporting action to go around and the world records have already started falling. Live coverage is early in the day for US time zones, while NBC is keeping some of the more anticipated events off TV and only online until its prime time airing later.

For viewers we have a few tips, like using Google to search Olympics + [sport] to get a minute by minute schedule of the events in your local time so you don’t miss ’em on the live stream. Also, check your cable or satellite provider, most have expanded options to help you catch all the sports, while Cox and DirecTV are doing the multiview thing, Comcast has added Olympics specifics filters to its remote apps, and Time Warner Cable has added more channels to its streaming iPad app.
(All week, NBC channels and online)

Total Recall (Mind-Bending Edition)
The Paul Verhoeven / Arnold Schwarzenegger classic is back on Blu-ray and should be better looking this time around. So, why opt for this one instead of a ticket to the remake this weekend? Beyond the obvious reasons, it’s also cheaper, currently listed at $7.99 on Amazon.
($7.99 on Amazon)

NFL Preseason
It’s finally time for football again, and while it’s just preseason action, we’ll be ready to see the Saints take on the Cardinals Sunday night from Canton Ohio. Also worth checking out, the HOF induction ceremony Saturday night as DB Jack Butler, C Dermontti Dawson, DE Chris Doleman, DT Cortez Kennedy, RB Curtis Martin and T Willie Roaf take their place among the other all-time greats.
(August 5th, NFL Network, 8PM)

Continue reading Must See HDTV (July 31st – August 5th)

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Must See HDTV (July 31st – August 5th) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 19:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Technology has improved the way the world watches the Olympics. Super slow-mo replay. The magical yellow world-record line. These are good things. The best part is how technology has made the information immediate, with live streams and instant updates. But the network responsible for delivering the games to America is broadcasting a tangled, discordant mess—and it’s ruining the 2012 Olympic experience. More »

Owners and stakeholders of Big Media have thick skins. So the persistent trending of #NBCFail, and the riotous reading that the tweet stream provides, is probably bouncing right off their leathery hides. For one thing, the complaints were surely foreseen. They are largely the same criticisms NBC withstood in previous Olympics — over-curating, ill-placed commercials, tape delays, scandalously inane commentary, and a generally inferior Olympics presentation compared to other countries. The unspoken shrugging answer, of course, is financial. The lessons learned from that answer say things about how slowly institutional power inches into the future, the impatience of the digital class, brand ecosystem as a preeminent business battleground, and the ideology breakdown of the International Olympic Committee.

Continue reading Editorial: NBC’s Olympics and the steely grip of old media

Editorial: NBC’s Olympics and the steely grip of old media originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Those residing on foreign shores hoping to experience a piece of England without buying an expensive plane ticket can do so with new high-resolution images courtesy of Google Maps. Google has added a couple of new features to Maps, including the ability to use Street View on Downing Street. Users can now peruse the outside of number ten, the famous residence of the country’s prime ministers, and Google has also started to roll out new high resolution map images for various countries across the world.

Google has added high-resolution images for 25 cities and around 72 regions. That includes the Olympic Village towards the east of London, plus a spectacular view of Bryce Canyon in Utah. Not only that, but the company has added new 45 degree angles for 28 cities. The update adds 21 cities in the United States, plus 7 additional countries across the world.

New cities include Munich, Chicago, and Springfield Illinois, with users able to zoom in on various landmarks at a 45 degree angle. Google highlights the Frauenkirche in Munich, and the famous Trump Tower in Chicago. A full list of cities and regions that have received updates is available on Google’s website.

The company says that the new updates have rolled out to Google Maps and Google Earth, and more cities and countries will be added in the future for both high resolution images and 45 degree angles. Google can also notify users of any new updates via email thanks to its Follow Your World app.

Google Maps gets up close with HQ Olympics tour is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

DOLPH LUNDGREN. COMMUNISTS. STEROIDS. OLYMPICS. More »