Hasta La Gadget!

We were filled with excitement the moment Sony took the wraps off of its Dash personal internet viewer back at CES, but after learning that this was less of a tablet and more a sophisticated widget machine for in-home use, our joviality was understandably squashed. Today, Sony has given the doubters a reason to perk back up and pay attention, as the April-bound device will ship with the ability to stream Watch Instantly content from Netflix. As if that wasn’t enough, Demand Media will also be offering Dash-tailored portals to content from eHow, Golflink and Livestrong.com, and it’ll have no issues streaming “online music videos, television, or film content on-demand” to the 7-inch touchpanel. Still not convinced that this thing is worth $199? It’s just an external battery mod away from greatness, you know!

Sony Dash given ability to stream TVs and movies from Netflix, new lease on life originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FLO TV may not have had the best Super Bowl commercial (not by a long shot, actually), but the fledgling mobile programming service is doing its darnedest to make some waves over in Barcelona. The biggest news is that Qualcomm will be on hand at MWC in order to showcase a FLO-enabled smartbook, a device that will purportedly bring together live television and live social networking updates — something that would come in handy while watching the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, for example. In other, more international news, FLO-EV is being introduced, with Qualcomm describing it as the “next evolution of the FLO air interface.” Finally, Audiovox has announced that an in-vehicle system based on FLO TV is now sweeping the nation, with Advent-branded solutions hitting up showroom accessory departments en masse. Now, if only these guys and gals could convince people to care about TV on-the-go…

Continue reading FLO TV storms automotive lots, FLO-EV gets launched and FLO smartbook apps surface

FLO TV storms automotive lots, FLO-EV gets launched and FLO smartbook apps surface originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look, we’ve all had rough days. Ones that we wish never even happened, in fact. But we’ve yet to be pushed to the brink where the only logical solution to blow off steam would be to take an aluminum baseball bat to nearly three dozen TVs that weren’t ours. For whatever reason (the accused is pleading the Fifth), Westley Strellis waltzed into a Walmart just outside of Atlanta yesterday, where he proceeded to lift a bat from the sporting goods section and then demolish the screens of 29 televisions in the electronics department. Shortly after, he submitted to a pair of handcuffs and 29 counts of criminal damage to property in the second degree, and if the initial tallies are correct, he somehow managed to mar over $22,000 worth of goods. Chin up, Mr. Strellis — maybe you’ll end up in a cell next to this brainiac.

P.S. – Store footage of the rampage is after the break.

Continue reading Walmart shopper takes a bat to 29 TVs, lobbies to join Braves’ spring training squad

Walmart shopper takes a bat to 29 TVs, lobbies to join Braves’ spring training squad originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We may be waiting for the future to arrive today in the form of the Apple Tablet, but for an antidote, may we suggest this gorgeous television from LG, which is almost 180-degrees different from the Moses Tablet.

The beautifully retro Serie 1 television is best defined by what it lacks. No LCD panel (it is unashamedly CRT), no widescreen (the aspect ratio is an old-school 4:3, on a 14″ screen) and, paradoxically, no analog tuner (this baby is digital-only). It *does* at least have a remote control, and a pair of optional, clip on rabbit-ears, and it also features a switch that lets you flip from color to black and white to sepia, for true old-time goodness.

IT’s a Korea-only product right now, but if it came West, I’d snap one up. At only $220, it’d make a perfect (and much bigger) replacement for my tiny, analog only TV set, soon to show its last moving picture.

Product page [LG via Technabob]

Free (legal) TV, minimal advertising and a slick, usable interface… too good to be true? Yes, of course. Boxee‘s solving for the future with its newly announced Boxee Payment Platform, which will arrive this summer. Users will be able to buy shows, movies and channels with “one click on the remote,” with content owners having control over package types (pay-per-view, subscription) and prices. Boxee will naturally be taking a cut, but says it’s lower than the now de facto 30% cut of app stores. Boxee sees this co-existing with free, ad-supported content, authenticated stuff like TV Everywhere, and of course regular Cable, Satellite and IPTV providers. We suppose the real testament to Boxee’s success in pulling this off will be the variety, quality and price of the content it obtains — we can already get a smattering of shows and movies on iTunes, Zune and PSN, but if Boxee can get us more, make it easier, or charge us less, it’s going to be hard to complain about that funky little Boxee Box taking up valuable shelf space in our living room.

Boxee unleashing one-click Payment Platform this summer originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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