Is Windows Media Center Not Dead After All?

When Microsoft dissolved the eHome team that developed Media Center and renamed the MVP program to Windows Entertainment and Connected Home, there was some serious questions about the future of the product. While that question won't really be answered until September, when Microsoft is expected to reveal the feature complete beta at the company's Build Conference, a few leaked screen shots at TheGreenButton.tv show the same old Windows 7 Media Center running on Windows 8. 

In terms of compatibility with Vista and 7, so there's really no reason for Microsoft to pull it. We're not the only one who'd be surprised to see new features though, as everyone we know seems to agree it would be silly to think otherwise.

 

 

Why Do These Shake Weights Cost Over $1000?

Shake Weights were found to be pretty useless in the past, but BodyVib's weights could change that: they vibrate 2,160 times per minute, which is 10x faster than traditional ones.

A 30 - 50 minute charge is apparently good for 2.5 hours of lifting, and according to the company the 1.2mm amplitude is enough to amp your training by up to 50 per cent. I'm not too sure about those claims, but if you want to test them out yourself, go ahead—they cost from $1,060 to $1,190 for the 1.5kg, 2.8kg and 4.6kg pairs. Get them here.

 

 

Is This the iPhone 5 Slim?

On the right, you can see the iPhone 4. But look on the left! There's an iPhone 5 slim just like the one leaked in France! Or is it?

It looks real, but it is not. The fact is that it only took me ten minutes to make that image in Photoshop. It looks even more real than the alleged iPhone 5 image captured in France. Of course, that one is fake too.

That image was originally posted on Twitter by user Robin P, it was reposted on MacRumors Forums.

 

 

World Wide Web Turns 20

Happy birthday, World Wide Web! Hard to believe you're turning 20 already. It seems like just yesterday we were hearing the pitter patter of little dial-up, delighting at the words "you got mail," and getting frustrated when calling our friends and receiving that dreaded busy signal. You're all grown up now, helping people learn how to farm and become overnight pop sensations.

 What, we wonder, will the next 20 years bring? At the very least, you'll eventually have to move out of your parents' basement, get a real job, and settle down. It's hard to pay attention to that kind of stuff, though, when you've got another year of sneaking beers ahead of you. So go ahead, World Wide Web, enjoy yourself tonight -- just make sure to be home by midnight.

 

 

Pioneer’s SC-57 AV Receiver Wirelessly Blasts Your iTunes With AirPlay Using the Most Powerful Amp Around

Pioneer has announced their newest flagship digital AV receiver, the 9.1 channel, 140-watt Elite SC-57. It uses the most powerful amplifier of any multi-channel A/V receiver on the market. And yes, it runs Airplay.

The SC-57 uses proprietary D3 digital amplifier technology to drive nine channels at 140 watts each, simultaneously. The amount of powered supplied to each channel of traditional analog amps drops precipitously as more channels are connected. The SC-57 loses virtually none, meaning that you can listen to HD multi-channel Dolby soundtracks as ear-shatteringly loudly as you like. What's more, the amp uses fewer parts (causing less electrical leakage and ringing), a more direct signal path (for faster response times), and an advanced 3600 thermal dissipation circuit board to minimize sound distortion.

The SC-57 wirelessly streams your entire iTunes library and, if you don't use Apple, also features DLNA certified 1.5 streaming via an Ethernet connection. It even connects with Bluetooth to stream content from Androids and Blackberries.

One the video side, the SC-57 uses Marvell Qdeo™ processing technology to not only convert analog video signals to HDMI but also scales video signals up to 1080p/24fps. It will even optimize the video signal depending on what kind of TV you have—Plasma, LCD or Front Projection. Get it here.

 

 

Carzor Razor Scrapes off Your Beard, Then Folds Back Into Your Wallet

The Carzor (credit card-shaped razor) can actually be bought—and for only $17, too. The razor/mirror tucks into wallest for scraggly-faced emergencies in the office or public bathroom.

Bizarrely, you can also choose to "scent" your Carzor, choosing between mint, sandalwood, lemon, ocean or orange strips to moisturize and freshen you up. I suppose there's no harm in smelling like mint when ditching the homeless/hipster look, but ocean? Get it here.

 

 

Philips Wins DOE's $10 Million L Prize for 60W Incandescent Kller

Put your pig-tail light bulb aversions aside, because Philips has just won the DOE's $10 million L Prize Competition for the creation of a decidedly non-curlicue 60W equivalentLED lighting solution. The company was named the first winner in the 60W replacement bulb category at a Washington DC event.

It's taken three years to find a winner that could meet the high standards set forth by the DOE, specifically "ensuring that performance, quality, lifetime, cost, and availability meet expectations for widespread adoption and mass manufacturing."

Requirements further stipulated that the 60W incandescent killer use less than 10 watts of power, and provide energy savings of 83 percent. If Americans replaced all of their 60W incandescents with Philips' little winner, the DOE estimates savings of $3.9 billion in a single year. The bulb is expected to hit shelves as soon as early 2012. 

Vivitar Waterproof Camcorder

Vivitar may have bad-mouthed newfangled digital cameras last year, but that hasn't stopped it from selling them. The company's latest is the 690 HD, a compact, Flip-like camcorder that records 720p video and is rated for use up to ten feet underwater.

 You'll also get an SD card slot for storage and a 2-inch LCD 'round back, but you'll have to make do without other niceties like an optical zoom or HDMI port -- compromises that shouldn't be too hard to take considering the $60 price tag. Get it here.

 

 

Glow in the Dark Jeans Look Rad…ioactive

Naked and Famous, the Canadian jeans company, has remixed their standard pair of selvedge denim by coating it in glow in the dark resin. Wear it and you'll look like you work at a nuclear plant gone awry...or Kanye West.

The jeans are charged up by light (and look great in it too) to become obnoxiously bright in the dark. Even the selvedge edges glow in the dark! The jeans, as quality denim tends to do, will fall, crease and mold into your wear patterns—which will create unique glow in the dark lines and fades tailor made for your bootie. Who cares if you look like the green panted weirdo in the club, you got style man! $240 here.

 

 

Apple's Inductive Charging Patent Application With Earbuds

How seriously is Apple considering the possibility of adding inductive charging to its line of iOS devices? Seriously enough to submit some crudely drawn images to the USPTO, at least. The company's application for "Using an Audio Cable as an Inductive Charging Coil" surfaced today, featuring some interesting solutions to the problem of inductive charging 

Another proposed system also puts the earphones to work -- though without the need for that giant charging post. Instead the headphones slip into an acoustic charger, which cause their speakers to vibrate, creating a current that charges the device. As ever, just because a patent application surfaces doesn't mean a final product will ever see the light of day -- and these methods (particularly that big charging post) do seem like a long way to go to shave off the precious millimeters that inductive charging traditionally brings. But hey, Apple's all about the svelte devices, and stranger things have certainly happened.

Apple’s Been Approving iOS 5 Apps On the Sly Already

It's not expected until this fall, but Apple's already been giving the thumbs up to iOS 5-compatible apps. Mashable's app spells out "iOS 5 compatibility," while Camera+ skirts it with "compatibility with that upcoming OS That Must Not Be Named."

iOS 5's beta 4 has been available to developers since late-July, and the fact that Apple is already approving apps that support the new OS suggests that perhaps we don't have too much longer to wait. (Though obviously these app updates are based on iOS 4.3 rather than the iOS 5 SDK).

With the iPhone 5 expected to launch in either September or October (depending on which rumor you wish to believe), it wouldn't be unfeasible to hope that iOS 5 won't arrive too much later.

Zotac Adapter Turns Your DisplayPort Into Two HDMI Jacks

You can never have enough HDMI ports, what does that gaming rig you just put together have? Two? And that MacBook Pro of yours doesn't have any at all. But, if there's a DisplayPort hanging around, you can add a pair HDMI jacks with an adapter from Zotac.

 This little dongle turns any DisplayPort or Mini Displayport into a dual HDMI hookup, with support for two 1920 x 1080 monitors -- provided your graphics card can handle it and the HDMI group doesn't kill the product first. Price $50.

Toshiba's Qosmio F755 Delivers Glasses-free 3D August 16th, for $1,699

That Qosmio F750 glasses-free 3D laptop has gotten minor makeover for its US debut, and is now the F755. Thankfully, the news doesn't end with a new name -- On August 16th you'll be able to pick up Toshiba's latest 15.6-inch media machine starting at $1,699. The notebook will hit Fry's, Best Buy, and Newegg all on the same day, sporting the same Core i7 processor, 6GB of RAM, 750GB hard disk, Blu-ray drive, and GeForce GT 540M GPU.

 Sadly, it won't be able to convert 2D games to 3D out of the box, but Toshiba is working with Nvidia to deliver that feature by November. Now you'll just have to bide your time till this 8-pound, "portable" 3D rig starts shipping in about two weeks.

 

 

Angry Birds in Convenient Bra Form

I usually shun anything to do with the over-hyped Angry Birds franchise, but this game-inspired undergarment was just too good to pass up.

Etsy is the place you'll find this hand-painted creation and $35 is the price you'll pay for adorning your gazongas in this jovial bird versus pig attire. Get it here.

Why Stores Price Items at .99 Cents

I always thought it was so unscrupulous store assistants were forced to ring a $9.99 product through the till for the 1 cent change, instead of pocketing the note for a $10 item. But here are some more ideas:

According to the book Life's Little Mysteries: Answers to Fascinating Questions About the World Around You, the professor of marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and Duncan Simester, the professor of management science at MIT's Sloan School of Management claim this is because "some retailers do reserve prices that end in 9 for their discounted items. Comparisons of prices at major department stores reveal that this is common, particularly for apparel." They argue that while $9.99 makes a product look more attractive than a straight $10, some chains feel that discount-style pricing is tacky, and beneath the higher-quality products they sell.

One opinion I love comes from Scot Morris' Book of Strange Facts & Useless Information from 1979, which purports that back in 1876, a Chicago newspaper was priced at a penny rather than a nickle was largely to get more pennies into circulation.

I think the more-obvious connection between an item costing $1 and .99 cents is why Apple chose their particular pricing for the bottom-tier of paid-for apps on the App Store. It's crazy, but .99 cents just seems like a more throw-away figure than a dollar.

 

 

Kingston HyperX SSDs Now Shipping, SandForce-Equipped for Hyperspeed

Brace yourselves speed freaks -- Kingston Digital is now shipping its latest 2.5-inch HyperX SSD drives, equipped with 6Gb/sec SATA Rev 3.0 and everyone's favoriteSandForce SF-2281 controller. You want fast? You'll get fast, alright. This SSD's read / write speeds top out at 555MB/sec and 510MB/sec, which is surely enough to keep your rig zipping through those intense gaming marathons office workloads. You'll be able to pick up the drive itself with 120GB of storage for $270 or 240GB for $520, while the install kit -- which includes such goodies as a SATA cable, desktop mount, torque screws and more -- tacks on an extra $15 and $20, respectively. 

 

 

Toshiba Unveils MQ01ABD HDD Series, Packs 1TB on a 9.5mm Frame

Unveiled yesterday, the company's new lineup of 2.5-inch HDDs offers up to 1TB of storage capacity, thanks to an architecture that squeezes 500GB out of every platter. Standing at 9.5mm tall, the 5,400RPM drives also boast an areal density of 744Gb per square inch, and are designed to maximize energy efficiency, burning just 0.55 watts in idle mode.

Gamers and entertainment gurus, meanwhile, would benefit from the MQ01ABD's enhanced acoustics, which max out at 19dB in idle, and 24dB while seeking. No word yet on pricing, but the beasts are scheduled to go into mass production by the middle of this month.

PhoneGap 1.0 Lets Devs Write Apps for Seven Platforms

Until now, mobile app developers have followed a pretty predictable MO: develop for iOS first, Android second, and everyone else after that. Since last year, many of you code monkeys out there have been tapping into Nitobi's PhoneGap, a project that makes it easier to churn out apps for almost every OS, all at once. It's been picking up steam, with about 40,000 downloads per month, 600,000 in total, and a steady stream of donations.

That all culminated this weekend with the release of PhoneGap 1.0, which lets devs use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to write and deploy apps for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, webOS, Bada, Symbian, and Windows Phone 7.  Get it here

Bedphones Work With Your Android to Lull You to Sleep

There are already plenty of sleep headphones out there, and Bedphones don't pretend to be the most high end out there. They're not supposed to be. It's the app that really sets it apart. It comes with three modes: basic mode; timer mode; and smart mode. 

Basic mode turns your phone into a big play/pause button and timer mode sets a timer for when you want your music to shut off. But smart mode actually shuts the app down by detecting how much you're moving. Pretty cool. Check out the headphones for $30. The Bedphones app is free.

 

 

ViewSonic Reveals 24-inch V3D245 3D Monitor, Ships This Month for $500

Still lookin' for that perfect 3D display, are you? ViewSonic would be absolutely thrilled to make your short list, with the 24-inch V3D245 making its debut this morning. Unsurprisingly, this one's arriving with a 1080p LED-backlit panel, and it'll be joined by an inbuilt NVIDIA 3D Vision wireless emitter and a pair of 3D Vision glasses. 

You'll also get a 120Hz refresh rate, two millisecond response time, HDMI 1.4 socket and 300 nits of brightness, and the three-year limited warranty should help quell any fears about longevity. Of course, NVIDIA would prefer that focused on the 550 (and growing) 3D titles available on its Vision Live website, but at least you've got until "mid-to-late August" to determine if the whole shebang is worth your $499.