Hasta La Gadget!

The 2010 Acura MDX SUV moves upmarket to better compete with the BMW X5 it already outsells and undercuts on price. There are more technology bells and whistles in the 2010 MDX such as active cruise control and a rear camera with three different views. The cockpit has plusher leather and wood. And it continues as the vehicle with the most complicated center stack despite having a cockpit control knob that’s supposed to reduce button count. Here’s what I found on a one-day test drive (after the jump):

(Credit: Vizio)

As Internet-connected TVs become more popular, set makers are looking for ways to stand out from each other. Vizio, which made its name by undercutting much larger names in electronics on LCD sets, is no longer just looking to attract buyers at Costco. It’s now trying to compete directly on the number of bells and whistles with the likes of Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony.

Announced in late June, Vizio’s Via HDTV has some things going for it that its competitors’ sets do not: integrated 802.11(n) Wi-Fi–which means no separate dongle for connecting to the Web–2GB of flash memory, and a well thought-out remote control.

The remote design is almost a no-brainer in retrospect, and makes you wonder why it hasn’t been done before. It looks like a standard model, but with this one, Vizio took into account what the user would be doing with it: interacting with Web applications like Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo Sports, and Flickr. The TV maker put a slideout QWERTY keyboard on the back of the Bluetooth remote, so users can type as they would on some smartphones, instead of keying in letters one at a time. And, it doesn’t seem to add much to the price of the Via HDTV: the 42-inch version will begin at $999 when it starts selling in stores in November.

Vizio is also looking to differentiate itself with developers who will create more applications for the TV. Yahoo developed its TV widget engine last year, which brings a range of preselected applications like Twitter, eBay, Flickr, Yahoo Sports, Showtime, and many others right onto the TV screen. Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, and Vizio each offer it. But Vizio says it wants to appeal to application developers, so it integrated Adobe Flash directly into its Via HDTV. …

On Monday, Broadcom, Cisco, DirecTV and Samsung announced the “RVU Alliance,” a consortium designed to provide “pixel-perfect” graphics to a number of devices around the home.

Bored yet? I can see why. But underneath the rather blasé surface of the press release is an interesting direction for your home media network, especially if you subscribe to DirecTV.

Here’s the key point, according to the Alliance: “[The] RVU Alliance’s pixel accurate RUI technology will provide an identical user experience on all RVU-based thin client CE devices throughout the connected home, including digital TVs (DTVs), digital media adapters (DMAs) and set-top boxes (STBs).”

“Thin client” appears to be the operative word here. Virtually all cable and satellite systems require roughly identical set-top boxes to be placed around the home, in every room that contains a TV — if you want the full-featured functionality of a DVR or other device, I mean.

Zune HD looking good in both black and silver.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Excited about the Zune HD, but worried that the silver finish wouldn’t match your wardrobe? You’re in luck, gadget goths, because new press images have revealed that Microsoft’s upcoming Zune HD will include both black and

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For this week’s Photoshop Contest, I asked you to design some summer gadgets that we’ve never seen before. And they all make me want to go outside.

First Place—Thai Bui

Second Place—Manu Raivio

Third Place—Daniel M.