So much in love with shiny new toys, it's unnatural.
The Wii is great and all, but I think it just slides too easily into my home theater cabinet. I want something more awkwardly shaped and garishly colored, dammit! When will Nintendo listen to my requests? I need to go to modders to get what I want; specifically, this hand-painted Wii mod with a 3D Mario popping out of the side. A little much? Maybe, but you can't hate on this type of constructive fanboyism. I approve. [Hack n Mod]
Hulu, the joint NBC/Fox online video service, may very well be launching any minute now, if sudden attention after months in quiet beta is any indication. We reviewed it last November (along with Joost and Miro), and we're still not sold on it. Our last experience was chock-full o' ads and didn't have nearly enough of the Battlestar episodes and SNL sketches we wanted. Still, as long as NBC holds its convenient little grudge against iTunes, it'll have to be a place for us to check for the latest TV shows. The question is, will we go willingly? [Alley Insider; Hulu]
Pioneer just released a statement that its much-loved North American chairman and CEO, Tom Haga, will "pass on the reins" after 38 years with the company. He is stepping down rather quickly, shifting to an advisory role on March 31, and his replacement, Masao Kawabata, will be moving from Japan. This sounds fishy following Pioneer's manufacturing upheaval this past week, but our company sources tell us it's an "unrelated and unfortunate coincidence in timing" due to the end of Pioneer's fiscal year. [Press Release]
While dogs have been man's loyal companion for many a era, advanced technology has made them obsolete. Thanks to Chassis, the lovable, pony keg carrying R/C beer-dispensing robot, you'll no longer need to learn the defining characteristics of Weimaraners and terriers. Instead focus on the subtle differences between your favorite IPAs, or just stare (in a drunken stupor) for hours at Chassis' blinking lights—before a friend comes by, addresses the phallic nature of Chassis' spout, and your dog has a new crap catcher for long walks. [suicidebots via make]
Read it and weep, Pioneer is done making plasma panels: However, we have judged that maintaining the cost competitiveness of plasma display panels at projected sales volumes will be difficult going forward. Accordingly, we have decided to terminate in-house plasma display panel production and to procure these panels externally, after panel production for our next series of models is complete...Pioneer is currently in discussions on the feasibility of procuring panel modules that may incorporate the Company's proprietary technologies.Translation: Kuro's not going anywhere. More »
According to a new Nikkei report, Pioneer is going to cease plasma production, as we suspected, but will not just become a passive buyer of Panasonic's plasma technology. Instead, it will combine forces with Panasonic (aka Matsushita) to make sure that the hot Kuro line doesn't fall in quality. At the same time, Panasonic benefits even more, getting all that sexy intellectual property to make ultra-black panels. The two firms are expected to combine their strengths to develop low-cost, high-quality panels. Plasma TVs based on a jointly developed panel will likely be added to their individual product lineups as early as 2009. Some Pioneer engineers may be transferred to Matsushita in the process.[Nikkei (Subscription required)]
Samsung just cancelled their $599 second-gen dual format Blu-ray/HD DVD player, the BP-U5500, which was due out soonish. Looks like LG gets the dual player market for HD DVD flotsam all to its self. We bet they're thrilled. [PC World]
This right here is a $100,000 shower. It costs way more than your shower. What do you get for such a ridiculous price? How about 18 showerheads? Judging by the photo, most of them are all around you, but one powerful showerhead looks to be a, well, undercarriage cleaner, just in case you like having a fire hose shot at your taint in the morning. It's all computer controlled and has fancy temperature zones and such, but you know what you're really paying for: the cleanest taint in all the land. Hit the jump to see the most pertinent video I could find on how this could benefit you in the future.
More »
Regarding recent stories that Pioneer may cease manufacturing its own plasma TVs, and presumably in doing so kill off the critically acclaimed Kuro TV line, the company's North American division has this to say:The current press coverage was not released by Pioneer so it may be misleading and contains many inaccuracies.More »
The Dutch have some bizarre taste in desktop speakers. Case in point, this Bbudd Speaker System. Your "little dead desktop buddy" here is a passive or non-amplified speaker—which makes sense considering that you are blasting tunes out of the feet of his lifeless corpse. He will run you about â¬24,95 ($38 USD), so there should be some money left over to pick up one of these to complete your desktop theme. [Kado-Fix via Technabob]
Apparently, home theater systems around the world are falling short of greatness because their owners are failing to hook up their rear speakers (properly at least). Not surprisingly, the main culprits are that many customers who purchase home theater gear and attempt to hook it up themselves either have no idea what they are doing, or aesthetic issues like exposed cords force them into an meaningless existence bereft of sweet surround sound.
More »
By now you have probably heard quite a bit about Microsoft's "Surface" multi-touch table, and now ZDNet is claiming that the company has been showing off a sphere-shaped version of the technology around their campus. We know that Microsoft is pushing to get this technology into homes sooner rather than later, but a spherical device doesn't seem to be all that practical (unless you are a fortune teller or something). However, when it comes to the future of this device, we will just have to wait and see. [ZDNet via Electronista]
We warned you that one reason to hold off on boarding the Blu train is that movies released in the past year without sweet BD-Live interactive features might be re-released. A lot of them. Today, we got first confirmation of this from Fox, which told us it'll be re-releasing Alien Vs. Predator later this year with a suite of new interactive features. And that's just the beginning.
More »
Everybody clamoring for a cheap Blu-ray player now that the format war is over might wanna bide their time with a sweet DVD upconverter—the $200-player Blu-ray cavalry is at least a year away, according to Sony Electronics CEO Stan Glasgow, who we talked to today in New York. "I don't think $200 is going to happen this year. Next year $200 could happen. We'll be at a $300 rate this year. $299 will happen this year."
More »
As much as Sony is looking forward to the Feb. 2009 analog broadcast cutoff, the opportunity to sell millions of government-subsidized digital converter boxes isn't why. Sony isn't even touching that mess, or the low-end consumers who want them. Talking about the effect of digital converter boxes on the HDTV biz today in New York, Sony Electronics CEO Stan Glasgow told us:
More »
For those who've been considering purchasing an HD TiVo but were hesitant about the price, Woot's deal today is a refurbished TiVo HD for $179.99 plus a reasonable $5 shipping. The first three months of service are free with the offer to delay the inevitable soul-sucking monthly payment scheme of most DVR services. [woot via crave]
Logitech has been dying to get into wireless whole-house audio like Sonos and not a whole lot of others. Now that CNet has favorably reviewed the $400 Squeezebox Duet we told you about at CES, it may well have a shot. In living video, our buddy John Falcone explains the Wi-Fi-powered system, and notes that, aside from DRM protected content, the Squeezebox Duet gets at "any music, anywhere" including stuff from Rhapsody, Slacker, and Pandora, plus internet radio and podcasts.
More »
When we last saw the $25,000 all-singing, all-dancing ITC One, the one component it mysteriously lacked was a Blu-ray player, throwing in its lot with an Xbox 360 HD DVD setup. Stepping to the times, it's been updated to support our new optical overlords with a standalone Blu-ray drive. It's a little bizarre they didn't go with a PS3—it's the most futureproof Blu-ray player on the market since it'll support the 2.0 spec that most won't, plus hello, games. But if you were opening your wallet before that sentence, it's not like it matters to you anyway. [Crave via Kotaku]
Alienware's iconic cases might have the X-Files fanboy segment of the gaming desktop market still swooning, but Asus is refreshing it with a little more evil styling for its first gaming PC that looks more like a Decepticon's head. It almost looks like it'll open up and tell you in a booming robot voice how hard you suck when you get your face rocked in UT3.
More »
About a week ago it was confirmed that Pioneer was killing off its 42-inch plasmas to focus on sets bigger than 50 inches. Now Japan's Nikkei and Reuters are reporting that they're going to cease making plasma panels entirely, and will buy them from Matsushita (Panasonic). This follows a similar consolidation trend in the LCD market. But none of them went from putting out the best TVs in the world to effectively buying their heart and soul from their fiercest rival, either, which makes this a bit more shocking. [Reuters]
When it comes to television programming, there is no one service that does everything right. The number of channels, HD programming, and price are just a few of the weapons companies use to compete for your entertainment dollar. And then there are always downloading options from BitTorrent and the like. So, the question is, which one is really the best and why? Hell, I'll even throw in "Antenna" despite the fact that it is about to be phased out.
More »
Whether or not Monster Cables are worth it is a war that has raged since home theater immemorial. A poster at Audioholics was put in a room with five fellow audiophiles, and a Martin Logan SL-3 speaker set at 75Db at 1000KHz playing a mix of "smooth, trio, easy listening jazz" that no one had heard before. In one corner, Monster 1000 speaker cables. In the other, four coat hangers twisted and soldered into a speaker cable.
More »
Good news for Blu-ray-adopting Netflix subscribers: the movies-by-mail service is quadrupling its Blu-ray library, increasing the number of titles from 400 to 1,500. Bad news for Netflix subscribers: this'll probably jack up the price.
More »
Best Buy just announced that it would pay a portion of customers' DirecTV bills each month for a year. That is, if you spend $999 or more on a high-def TV and switch to DirecTV's high-def package, Best Buy says it will credit you $30 per month on your bill for 12 months. If you are cheap enough to dip below $999 on your HDTV purchase (yeah, Insignia buyers, I'm talking about you), Best Buy still has your back, with six months of payments. It's funny how far a chain will go to not have to give you a free HDMI cable, am I right? Jump for the fine print.
More »
While we enjoyed the Batman home theater and the Star Trek home theater, neither system was really practical for—we'll just say it—normal people. But this rotating home theater with a rotating floor is both amazing and the sort of setup that our wives could get behind...pending we had the necessary endless piles of money.
More »
Macworld did some follow-up on a promise made by Apple in a press release from January's keynote. In it, the company claimed:iTunes Movie Rentals launches today and will offer over 1,000 titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles in stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound which users can rent directly from their widescreen TV using Apple TV.Now that February is over, a "Power Search" on iTunes reveals that only 399 rentals are available. More »
What are you doing today? Nothing. You're sitting around reading Gizmodo. (Not that there's anything wrong with that—thanks for stopping by.) But why not be productive with your day and build this K-3PO papercraft model? (You can F5 Gizmodo in the background.)
Craft Tip: spray paint the finished version gold and everyone will think you built a C-3PO model. And one day, in a fit of rage, you can tell your best friend that you slept with his girlfriend AND that for all those years he was duped into thinking that model on your coffee table was C-3PO when you'd really constructed a paper version of the similar but white robot and just painted it gold. Bwahahaha. [model via neatorama and blog@papercraft]
While Nintendo may have invented one of the most graceful products of the modern era in the Wiimote, such only makes it all the more tempting for third party manufacturers (as well as Nintendo its freaking self) to spoil the fun with extrapolation. Take the Wiimax, it turns your Wiimote into a coveted plastic machine gun or rifle—but it doesn't stop there, my friends.
More »
Gadget addiction. It sounds stupid, but names like "Crackberry" exist for a reason. Think of all the shiny gadgets you own and ask yourself "could I do without?" More specifically, which gadget do you need more—a computer or a cellphone?
More »
Gizmodo
