Bob Caswell – Page 18 – Media consumer, tech enthusiast, and gamer

HD DVD Still Winning Price War vs. Blu-ray: Player & 10 Movies $219

December 12, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 16 Comments

HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray (*Update* The deal mentioned in the title is over, but Amazon has an even better deal: HD DVD player & 7 Movies for $132.)

Today I came across this article by Joel Hruska at Ars Technica in which he links to this Blu-ray deal on Amazon and says the following:

“Samsung is hoping to tilt the scales in favor of Blu-ray; as of right now, Samsung’s BD-P1400 Blu-ray player is selling for $279 on Amazon, down from a $499 MSRP. That’s not so much a discount as it is a steal, and it drops the BD-P1400 squarely within the price range for an HD DVD box.”

I couldn’t help but respond with all of Amazon’s concurrent HD DVD deals, which happen to be much better than the above mentioned “steal.”

Amazon, Do-It-Yourself Tech, Just For Fun, Media, Shopping, Sony

Internet Video & TV: Can they ever join forces successfully?

December 12, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 1 Comment

Sony TV We here at TechConsumer are no strangers to trying new ways of getting quality entertainment onto our living room big screens. Regular old cable TV doesn’t cut it, what with frequent commercial breaks, horrible selection, and inopportune timing. Surprisingly (at least to us), though, cable TV is what most of the free world uses (the part of the free world with TVs, that is).

To recap, Logan reviewed using Amazon Unbox on TiVo without a computer, Paul reviewed using both CinemaNow and Vongo on the Xbox 360, and each of us took a turn at pointing out why Netflix is amazing. But each service has its disadvantage ranging from “too complicated” to “inconvenient” with “too expensive” and “too slow” somewhere in the middle.

Amazon, Apple, Do-It-Yourself Tech, Media, Microsoft, Netflix, Tech Reviews, Web 2.0

RSS Explained: A Really Simple Summary

December 11, 2007February 26, 2011 Bob Caswell 9 Comments

For those uninitiated, RSS is generally thought to stand for “Really Simple Syndication,” a name that’s almost as useless as the acronym in explaining what it is. In short, it’s an online technology that allows you to read headlines/articles from news websites, blogs, and other sources all in one place (see example pictured below).

Do-It-Yourself Tech, Internet, Web 2.0

LinkedIn Releases New Features, Wants You to Visit More

December 10, 2007 Bob Caswell No Comments

A few months back we asked the question, “LinkedIn – What’s the big deal?” TechConsumer author Marion Jensen hadn’t signed up and was excited to get started, only to find out that the site offered little to do. It seemed like Facebook without the fun factor, a social network for professionals. You create a profile, describe your professional history, and connect with others. In turn, you can see who your “friends” (or is that business associates?) are connected with. The idea is to build your professional network. But to what end?

Internet, Tech News, Web 2.0

WiFi in the Sky: In-flight Internet Almost Here

December 7, 2007 Bob Caswell 1 Comment

In-flight Internet Plenty of buzz is a flutter today on the news that airlines will soon have in-flight Internet access. Back in April of this year, the same buzz existed. Here’s a quick summary of what’s new today plus an overview of other details released earlier this year:

Gadgets, Tech News, Yahoo

Best Buy Will Now Sell Dell Computers Along with Wal-Mart & Staples

December 6, 2007 Bob Caswell 6 Comments

Dell Logo Starting within the next few weeks, Dell computers (notebooks and desktops) will be for sale in more than 900 Best Buy locations in the U.S. After this move, Dell’s products will be available in almost 10,000 stores worldwide. This seems ironic considering Dell pioneered the low cost, online, skip-the-middleman model. But the company lost the “world’s largest computer maker” trophy to HP, and the retail distribution channel is one area where HP shines.

Computers, Tech News

Microsoft Hopes to Release Windows for $100 Laptop Next Year

December 6, 2007 Bob Caswell 1 Comment

OLPC The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program started at MIT was developed with the intention of getting $100 laptops to kids in developing nations. While the price tag is almost twice that, they’re still working to get it down.

The laptop, currently called the XO Laptop, has had some success with the recently announced “Give One, Get One” program. For just $399, the deal buys both yourself and a child from a developing nation new XOs. The non-profit is reporting about $2 Million worth of donations each day.

Now the latest news has Microsoft coming out with a statement saying it is trying to rework Windows XP to run on XO laptops. The company has outlined the challenges (a good rundown of them can be found here) it faces in this unusual project. The biggest challenge cited is the fact that the XO laptop uses flash memory rather than a traditional hard drive, which is what Windows normally needs.

Internet, Microsoft, Tech News

HD DVD’s New Feature: Watching Movies Together But Not In the Same Place

December 3, 2007August 20, 2008 Bob Caswell 35 Comments

Perhaps in an attempt to differentiate itself from Blu-ray, HD DVD tech wizards will launch the HD DVD version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with a new feature called “community screening.” The movie takes advantage of the fact that all HD DVD players are equipped with an Ethernet hookup (unlike Blu-ray, which has players that do not include network connectivity). “Community screening” is a way to watch a movie simultaneously with your friends while you’re each in the comfort of your own homes. Here’s how it works:

Gaming, Media, Sony, Tech News, Web 2.0