Vivitar is responsible for dirt cheap video cameras and the like. Their latest offering, which hasn’t received a detailed specification list, doesn’t look too bad at all; the DVR565HD will be a SD-card camcorder that will support recording in H.264/MPEG4 high definition at 720p, with a 30fps frame rate. Additionally, the video camera will be able to play back at 1080i, and with an HDMI cable included in the asking price for HD TV connectivity, this looks like a fun shooter for peeps looking for a decent, low-cost camcorder. Though the price hasn’t been announced, Vivitar are known for their wallet-friendly marketing, so be assured, it shall be reasonable. If we’re wrong, you can make fun of the interns. [Pocket-lint]

Via [gizmodo]

Share This

Popularity: 4% [?]

Share This

Miami Device: Police To Use Hovering Spy Drones
We hate the idea of Miami spying on its citizens with flying autonomous drones, but as you can see in the photograph, these things have a absolutely cool Judge Dredd look to them. The16lb drone, called the Honeywell MAV (Micro…

We hate the idea of Miami spying on its citizens with flying autonomous drones, but as you can see in the photograph, these things have a absolutely cool Judge Dredd look to them. The16lb drone, called the Honeywell MAV (Micro Air Vehicle), is a pilotless flying automobile loaded with infra red and optical sensors.

Juan Villalba of the Miami Dade Police Department told Reuters that “Our intentions are to use it only in tactical situations as an extra set of eyes” – a kind of snake-o-scope to help SWAT teams see around corners.

We doubt it. The drone is set to go live in the Everglades, which makes us think that these things will be buzzing around searching for drug smugglers and other ne’er-do-wells.

Spy-in-the-sky drone sets sights on Miami [Reuters]

Pic: Reuters/Honeywell

Share This

Popularity: 4% [?]

Share This

Comcast, BitTorrent Promise to Play Nice
Comcast, which prevented the BitTorrent file sharing system from working properly on its network and lied about it, will now “work together” with BT as part of Comcast’s reinvention, reports the Wall Street Journal. “The companies are in speaks to…

Comcast, which prevented the BitTorrent file sharing system from working properly on its network and lied about it, will now “work together” with BT as part of Comcast’s reinvention, reports the Wall Street Journal.

“The companies are in talks to collaborate on ways to run BitTorrent’s technology more smoothly on Comcast’s broadband network, and allow Comcast to transport video files more effectively over its own network in the future, said Tony Warner, Comcast’s chief technology officer.”

Comcast ultimately confessed to interfering with the bandwidth-sucking protocol, but presented its misbehavior as a form of quality assurance and management— which was precisely the kind of network engineering newspeak that Network Neutrality nerds always stated they’d end up excusing anticompetitive behavior with.

The new deal will have Comcast slowing traffic only for specific users who guzzle too much data, but they won’t stop messing around with BT until the end of the year. BitTorrent will work to “optimize” its software to run more effectively on Comcast’s network, which will be interesting to see in practice.

I keep thinking of what cellular networks are getting themselves into with these newfangled high-speed networks. Google offers no genuine results for “WiMax Bittorrent”,” a phrase I’d like to see more of.

Comcast, BitTorrent To Work Together On Network Traffic [WSJ]

Share This

Popularity: 4% [?]

Share This

If you’re looking to drop a few Gs on a watch, might we advocate an alternative to Rolex or Tag Heuer? How about the Mr. Roboto Watch by Azimuth? While not plated in gold, it does capture the gloriously retro style of 1950s tin robot toys. Constructed from steel (otherwise known as “fuck you, gold”), the timepiece features automatic winding and up to 50M of waterproof fun. For a shot of its inspiration robot, hit the jump.

The Mr. Roboto Watch will sell for $4,800 when it’s released this September. [watchismo via gizmowatch][image]

Via [gizmodo]

Share This

Popularity: 4% [?]

Share This

Windows XP Eee PC Available at Ideal Purchase in April, Pricing Stays Sweet [UMPCs]

Our buddies at LaptopMag have just published details about the long-rumored, US bound, Windows XP Eee Computer. The Windows XP version will go on sale at Best Purchase for $399, and you won’t have to wait too long either, as Asus anticipates the systems to ship on April 9th. The system that’ll run the Windows XP OS shall be the standard Eee Computer 4G, which LaptopMag have been putting through its paces for over a month. The machine makes a solid impression overall, however, the disk space is a bit limited to run Windows XP and additional applications on top. Asus are considering dropping in a 4GB SD card to aid in the disk space shortage, but nothing has been confirmed to that end. Jump for the complete spec of the Windows XP Asus Eee PC.

Colors: Pearl White, Black

LCD Size / Type: 7 Wide

LCD Resolution: 800 x 480 (~WVGA)

LCD Type: TFT

Graphic: Intel UMA

Chipset: Intel Mobile Chipset

Processor: Intel Mobile CPU

Memory: 512MB DDR2

S.S.D Storage (Solid Say Disk): 4GB

OS: Windows XP Home Preloaded

Software: MS Works, Windows Live

Audio: High-Definition Audio CODEC

Microphone: 1 Internal Microphone

Speakers: 2 Internal Stereo Speakers

Audio Jack-Out (3.5mm)

Audio Jack-In (3.5mm)

Wireless Included: 802.11 b/g

LAN / Connector: 10/100 Mbps / RJ-45

3 USB 2.0 ports

Memory Card Reader: MMC/SD(SDHC)

VGA Port 1 (D-sub 15 pin)

Integrated Camera

Battery: four-cell 4400mAh

Battery Life: 2.8 hours

AC Adapter Output: 9.5V, 22W

AC Adapter Input: 100-240V AC, 50/60Hz universal

Unit Weight: 2.0 lbs (with battery)

Unit Dimensions: 8.86 x 6.30 x 0.79 ~ 1.26 inches

If all you wanted for Christmas was an Asus Eee Personal computer running Windows XP, then Santa’s delivered. Yes, it’s a tiny late, but like a faltering parachute, it’s superior late than never. Checkout the hands on by clicking through to number two. (Dr Dre, I have the ability to rhyme all sorts of stuff, call me.) [LaptopMag; 1, 2]

Share This

Popularity: 4% [?]

Share This

Oxygen Dog House: An O2 Buzz for You and Your Pooch [Gadgets]

We’ve heard about the potential health benefits of inhaling pure oxygen since the 90’s—but in Japan this fad is still going strong. In fact, they’re getting their dogs involved with products like this new O2 Doghouse. Marketed as a “dog hospital” of sorts, the O2 Doghouse will deliver 100% pure oxygen to your sick pooch while he rests inside. And the best part is that you can hit the generator as well—so both you and your dog can relax side by side. Now that is what I call bonding. [Trends in Japan via DVICE]

Share This

Popularity: 3% [?]

Share This

We know a bunch of you would never use a Bluetooth headset even if your hands were broken and it was the only way you could make a call. Problem is, a bunch of says are enacting handset-only call laws, meaning that you’re going to have to get one whether you want to or not. Here’s a Soyo FreeStyler 500 Bluetooth headset for $0.99 with $10 Google Checkout discount. Purchase it and shove it into your glove compartment. [Buy.com via Gearlog]

Via [gizmodo]

Share This

Popularity: 4% [?]

Share This

Netflix was unavailable yesterday for 11 hours due to a glitch in its scheduled weekly maintenance system, and it will cause users to wait an extra day or two for their rentals. The outage started yesterday at 7AM Pacific Time,…

Netflix was unavailable yesterday for 11 hours due to a glitch in its scheduled weekly maintenance system, and it will cause users to wait an extra day or two for their rentals.

The outage started yesterday at 7AM Pacific Time, when engineers noted that the weekly maintenance shutdown scheduled for the middle of the night had instead gone off in the early morning. By the time the site was up again at 6PM, Netflix had gained a few disgruntled customers. The outage caused its 52 distribution centers to go down as well (presumably, they didn’t have access to the customer logs), so DVDs scheduled to go out Monday won’t go out until this day. As a result, the ranting began.

Many of the Netflix users, clearly experiencing movie-queuing withdrawal, used the outage as an chance to speak about the overall lack of open information on the site.

For example, many feel that Netflix isn’t upfront with them about broken DVD’s and waiting times for movies that are heavily in demand (I second this problem: I’ve been waiting for Season One of The Wire for 10 weeks now). When representatives weren’t answering questions immediately yesterday, it caused local newscasts to lead their segments with vague statements like ‘Netflix is experiencing problems due to their technology. We don’t know anything else.’

Basically, people want to know that something is being done to correct the issue of a service they pay for, and would like to know about maintenance sessions in advance (though that would not have mattered yesterday).

So far, there has been no detailed explanation about why the outage happened and why it took so long to come back up. Regularly scheduled maintenance of top websites like MySpace, Facebook, and Netflix usually don’t take more than a few hours.

This is something that the company has dealt with in the past. During an outage last year,
Netflix employees admitted going through a difficult time. That outage lasted almost 18 hours.

The workday flame-out also illustrated the jittery rollercoaster feeling and unpredictability of Wall Street at the moment. Instead of predictably going down because of the outage, Netflix stock went up 9%, up to an all-time high of $39.65, before going down a bit at the end of the day.

Some conspiracy-minded forum users posed the idea that the outage change went beyond the regular technical mishap. A few believe that by taking out the service for half the day, Netflix deliberately slowed down those super Netflix users who watch movies as soon as they get them, thus saving themselves some money on shipping.

Share This

Popularity: 5% [?]

Share This

THX Chief States Blu-Ray Win Is “Too Late”
Blu-ray’s triumph over HD-DVD might be short lived, according to THX chief scientist Laurie Fincham. Speaking to Home Cinema Choice Magazine, Fincham speculates that the format of the future will be… No format. People will use Flash memory for movies,…

Blu-ray’s triumph over HD-DVD might be short lived, according to THX chief scientist Laurie Fincham. Talking to Home Cinema Choice Magazine, Fincham speculates that the format of the future will be… No format. People will use Flash memory for movies, either purchased pre-loaded or via download.

I think it’s too late for Blu-ray. I think consumers will only become interested in replacing DVD when HD movies becomes available on flash memory.

We agree, even though we’d add that it might not be plain old Flash used to carry titles around but instead Flash based media players, like the iPod Touch. One of Fincham’s predictions, though, sounds a little wrong-headed.

In the future I want to be able to […] walk into a store and have someone copy me a motion picture to a USB device. Stores will like that idea, because it’s all about having zero inventory.

That won’t happen. First, who will walk to the store when they have the ability to download? Second, the system is open to abuse. Motion picture companies will never let stores just copy files onto a customer’s thumb drive. How would they count sales? The death of the spinning disk, though, is nearly certainly nigh.

Update: Graham McKenna of THX mailed me to point out that Neither THX nor Laurie Fincham said that Blu-ray is dead:

I just wanted to clarify that neither THX nor Mr. Fincham ever made reference to the “death of Blu-ray.” In fact, THX is supporting Blu-ray with new technologies and other initiatives. He was simply discussing the future of movies on downloads versus optical discs and other emerging media.

The original title of this post read “THX Chief States Blu-Ray Is Already Dead”.

THX Chief Scientist: …it’s too late for Blu-ray [DVD Town via El Reg]

Share This

Popularity: 4% [?]

Share This

The ezSpace UFO Surge Protector Gets Price Drop to $29 [Ezspace]

That ezSpace UFO Surge Protector we reviewed and loved last month got a $10 price drop down to $29, making it even more of a good purchase. [Review]

Share This

Popularity: 3% [?]

Share This