Archive | May, 2007

Major League Baseball targets Slingbox and placeshifting

31. May 2007

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With the popularity of Sling Media’s Slingbox growing, more and more Big Content is taking notice, and they are not happy. For instance, check out Major League Baseball’s view of the Slingbox: MLB is of the opinion that the Slingbox violates contracts it has signed with cable and satellite TV companies and that Slingbox owners […]

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Are Pika and Media Center Extenders delayed by Xbox 360?

30. May 2007

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The Xbox 360 will be the only viable media center extender until this holiday season. For those of you not familiar with media center extenders, Microsoft explains them as follows: Windows Media Center Extender Technology (or “MCX Technology”), code named “Pika,” is platform-independent software that will enable home network connected consumer electronics devices to deliver […]

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Consumers are confused about media centers and CableCards

29. May 2007

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Engadget recently had two articles about its writer’s experience with a Vista media center with CableCard support. One writer had a promising installation experience while the other was mired in CableCard hell. While the articles are interesting and worth the read, the comments on the articles left by readers prove to be even more interesting. […]

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Is HD-DVD, Blu-ray Managed Copy Dying?

25. May 2007

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Ars Technica posted a fairly positive story on the future of Managed Copy. For those of you who have never heard of Managed Copy, it is a specification in digital rights management of HD-DVDs and Blu-ray discs that that will allow users to make copies of HD DVD and Blu-ray movies. The article indicated that […]

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Sonos Digital Music System now supports Pandora

24. May 2007

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Sonos has announced that their music system will work in conjunction with Pandora, the online music streaming and recommendation system. With this announcement, Sonos is adding a nifty feature to their already impressive, albeit expensive, music system. The center of the Sonos system is its unique controller, which will now be able to directly access […]

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Engadget: Hand-ons with Vista CableCard Media Center

22. May 2007

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It seems there are a lot of benefits in being the big boys on the block. The writers at Engadget had two Dell XPS 410s (estimated cost of $3,400) with CableCard support delivered to them yesterday.  One installation went smoothly while the other was a comedy of errors, similar to the PCMag.com article. Here are […]

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Copyright Office says no to DVD ripping

22. May 2007

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Arstechnica published an interview with Marybeth Peterson, who is the head of the U.S. Copyright Office. The article is an interesting look into the mind of a major government official and their view on Fair Use. According to Ms. Peterson, consumers have no right to rip DVD’s to a hard drive. From the article: Take […]

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ZDnet reviews VAIO XL3 Digital Living System

20. May 2007

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Reviews of Sony’s CableCard PC are trickling in from the usual suspects. ZDnet recently published their own review on the system, comparing it with Velocity Micro’s CineMagix Grand Theater. From the review: We understand why many people might like a slimmer home theater PC, but Sony’s smaller case also means that you have to sacrifice […]

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OQO shows processing power

20. May 2007

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The OQO ultra-portable computer runs a full version of Windows XP or Vista. The model 02, which is less than 6 inches wide and 1 inch thick, was recently shown running World of Warcraft at VIAArena.com. This is an impressive feat for such a small computer. The game did look slightly choppy but that might […]

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Alienware’s Hangar 18 to be released this week

19. May 2007

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Computershopper.com has a brief article today on Alienware’s Hangar 18 media center. Rumors about Alienware’s latest foray into the world of media center pc’s have been circling the internet the last couple of months. From the Computershopper.com article: A whole lot hasn’t been heard lately from the other married couple of mainstream and performance PCs—Alienware […]

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