In a world where money can be swiped easily with the movement of a little plastic card, there is a feeling that money can not be spent fast enough.  Rather than spend laborious seconds forcing a credit card through a machine, why not send a radio signal and be rid of your money that much faster?

Credit card companies are very happy with the idea of “no-swipe” cards that can automatically read a signal from the moment the customer enters a store.  According to New York Senator Charles Schumer, so are technologically advanced thieves.  "These cards may be convenient, but they're a double-edged sword," Schumer tells MSNBC.   

The Senator says thieves can easily acquire the radio signals being transmitted.  The consumer might as well as write his or her credit number on the back of their clothing, Schumer says.  Credit card companies say the signals are encrypted, and therefore not easily readable.

The operative word of course is “easily.” 

Posted by Barbara

Recently had a reader email in and ask about HDMI in response to an article I did for MSN on buying an HDTV. Seems this poor soul was doing his research and stumbled across two TVs that both carried HDMI connections. But one of them carried HDMI 1.0 while the other carried HDMI 1.1. Since he didn't want to miss out on anything, he's wondering whether he's okay to buy the HDMI 1.0 TV since it's priced a little differently.

 

So here's the skinny on HDMI. First, it's a near 'future-proof' connection technology, designed to hook your TV to the newest (and best) DVD players, surround sound receivers, hi-def cable and satellite boxes and similar equipment. HDMI has a whole marketing and industry consortium working on it--check out their Consumer FAQ here for more info.

 

HDMI standards: Obviously, 1.0 was first and 1.1 came second. There's a 1.3 in the works, but I haven't yet heard of an actual TV that supports it. One of the key differences between 1.0 and 1.1 is that 1.1 supports DVD-Audio, which is a standard designed for hi-def audio run off of DVDs. Only thing is that this isn't a new technology--been out for a while.  And the problem with that is that pretty much nobody cared that DVD-Audio exists. They're all sticking with CDs.  So in the end, there's not real practical difference between 1.0 and 1.1.

 

Even when 1.3 comes out, basing your TV purchase on which version of HDMI is hooked to the TV would be a mistake. Resolution, size and price are far better criteria. Plus, remember that content providers (cable companies, DVD makers, etc.) that take advantage of HDMI will aim for the most popular selling version of the standard (1.0 for now and the foreseeable future). So, get the biggest, brightest, most hi-rez HDTV you can afford and don't worry about the HDMI version. Just make sure that it's got some version.

 

And if you really want more information, check out this site from an old friend of mine from PC Magazine and Computer Shopper, Alfred Poor. He's become the HDTV Professor, so any more questions you might have, you'll get answers there.

Engadget just did a mini-review of the TiVo Series 3. This is the long-awaited ultimate TiVo box that supports, HD recording, does THX and has dual CableCARD interfaces. The software interface is updated and even more intuitive if that's possible. The box can hold up to 30 hours of HD content on an internal 250GB hard disk--but there's also an eSATA port which means you should be able to add an external hard disk for future expansion. Neat. The CableCARD stuff means you can actually replace your exisiting cable box with the TiVo, but no one recommends that unless your cable company first comes out and says they support it.

 

(via Engadget)

In the continuing war between the Blu-Ray and HD DVD standards, Sony has just fired the latest salvo. The company has officially begun shipping 50GB dual-layer Blu-Ray discs. For a change, we lucky sonuvaguns in the US are going to get them first with Europe and the rest of the planet getting them later this year.

 

Each $48 disc can handle HD-quality video recordings at a transfer rate of 24Mbps, which boils down to about 4 hours of hi-def video per disc. So if you've got a HDTV, and a Blu-Ray recorder hooked to your HDTV cable or satellite box, and one of Sony's Blu-Ray-equipped VAIO notebooks, you can start watching recorded HDTV on those long plane rides. If transit security lets notebooks back on planes, that is.

 

(via UberGizmo)

With the killer PMP gadget still up for grabs, the guys at Doghouse Electronics, backers of RoverTV have thrown their weight behind a gadget all their own. The RoverTV Big Screen and the RoverTV Wide Screen are two handheld PMP players with 3.6-inch and 4.125-inch screens, respectively. They do everything you'd expect from a video Nano or a Zen Vision, but they also provide a line-in. That means you can record video directly onto the gadget. Even better, they have their own RoverTV programming service, so you can use the device to schedule recordings just like you can under TiVo. Even better, the service is mostly free and the device supports playback of other content, including general media file formats and TiVo To Go as well. Figure $299 for the Big Screen and $349 for the Widescreen.

 

(via Techie Diva)

ATI's well known for it's All-In-Wonder video cards which include not only a decent gaming video GPU, but TV tuner capability as well--hence the name. But the company also does dedicated TV tuners, and it does them well. Especially now that it's really in a fight for it's life with nVidia.

 

The new Theater 650 may not have dual-monitor capabilities like nVidia's latest release, but it does an unprecendented job of combining digial and analog signals with digital recording capability. The AnandTech guys put it through its paces in this review.

Kingston announced yesterday that it was releasing a new CompactFlash card, called the CompactFlash Elite Pro 8GB. Claim to fame? 8GB that's what. Basically, stick this in your digicam and you pretty much never have to add memory again. Not out on the market yet, so I couldn't get an accurate street price, but figure around $300+ for starters.

 

(via UberGizmo)

The newest version of Sony's PSP firmware has added a new Portable TV option. This feature lets users download TV-type content from Sony's So-Net media provider service. No, don't go Googling it just yet, 'cause it's not out. Should be starting sometime near the middle of the month. (And, yes, much of the good content here is going to cost a little extra.)

 

Seems like this would necessitate an internal storage upgrade, but for now Sony seems to be relying on its Memory Stick technology to provide users with the additional storage space that TV shows are going to require.

This year's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) has been spewing out new technologies and announcements like no other show since CES. Everything from servers to workstations right down to home entertainment.

 

On that front, one of the snazzier demos was Niveus demonstrating the first in-the-flesh Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) PC that uses a CableCARD. What this means to us end users is something with which Windows XP MCE has had a little trouble: Hi-def content. Combine that with an HD DVD burner and you've got a compelling addition to your stereo rack.

 

Bad news: Folks are forecasting initial pricing at around $6000.

 

(via HD Beat)

Since I'm still moaning about turning 40 back in January, I realize I'm also old enough to remember a time when there weren't any CDs. That's the good old days of cassettes. And if you're like me, you've likely still got a box of old cassettes tucked away somewhere with some choice nostalgia tracks that you just haven't gotten around to buying again on CD. Or if you're older than me--or an audio purist--then you've got a wide selection of vinyl LPs up there in attic land, too. Now wouldn't it be great if you could turn all those tuneful treasures into MP3s?

 

Well, check out Spin It Again 1.1 from Acoustica. This is really cool stuff. By connecting the audio outputs from your cassette deck or turntable to the inputs on your sound card, Spin It Again lets you 'rip' old cassettes or LPs to MP3!.

 

You've got to buy it direct from Acoustica (about $35), but there's more on the site than just an e-commerce shop. The company also has instructional material on cleaning your older audio media before recording. Get rid of as many of those analog pops and hisses as possible before rendering in MP3. Plus, there's links to additional equipment you may need to purchase, including intermediary hardware or cables.

 

But if you've got loads of cassettes that you want to preserve, this is definitely worth the investment.

With RIM's recent settling of its patent troubles as the latest example, it's become pretty evident that some laxity in the patent process is going to be exploited ad nauseum. New meat for the legal eagles.

 

Coming up next will be a little patent percolation between Sling Media and any number of television studios. That's because Sling recently posted a number of patent filiings that point to the company eventually releasing a device, called the Sling Catcher. This bad boy is built to receive streaming video content from a Slingbox and play it back on a television without the need for a PC in between the two.

 

No...the TV studios aren't going to like that one little bit. Hope it's a good fight, tho, as I'm of the mind that a little weakening of the TV industry wouldn't be such a bad thing.

 

(via eHomeUpgrade)

Used to be when the weather go nicer people would start talking about outdoor activities. Things like swimming, hiking, golf. You know, stuff you can get tanned from.

 

But thanks to innovation from Frontgate, you can now take your winter living room activities outside onto the porch. For the bargain price og about $17,000, the Frontgaters will sell you an entire deck island complete with a 42-inch JVC plasma screen, a Clarion surround sound speaker system with subwoofer, DVD player, AM/FM as well as Sirius satellite radio and all the inputs you might need for cable or satellite.

 

Better make sure it's under a rain-proof umbrella.

 

(via Techie Diva)

Let's say you've already made the decision to buy an HDTV. Now you're wandering through your local electronics store and you quickly discern that there are two basic options: LCD and plasma. Those looking for the ultimate picture with a sacrifice in terms of TV set longevity tend to stick with plasma. In general, these systems have better HDTV pictures, but have a reputation for only lasting about 7 years on average.

 

But if the ultimate pic is what you're after then plasma may still be the thing for you. For those of this persuasion, here are a few buying tips:

 

Those of us dropping bucks on high-end cable or satellite TV services typically have to take whatever hardware the guy in the overalls and the utility van drops off at our house. Fortunately, digital means data and data means independent innovation--to a degree at least. For advanced TV services, this means the CableCARD standard, which sounds good until you find out that there are a host of limitations and gotchas with this technology. If you want to know what's what in CableCARD land, check out this tutorial from ArsTechnica. Solid read. 

Bumped into this site on my way somewhere else. Calls itself "THE" Online Magazine for Men. But it's only got one entry for online hot model photos, and has category headings called 'Relationships', 'Mind', and 'Body'. Plus, the pub's name is "Shortflip.com'.

 

Not to be stereo typical, but it sounds more like THE online magazine for men who like spa treatments. And no man wants to read the word 'short' in anything that might talk about sex. Time for a Shortflip marketing makeover.

In yet another example of media companies getting panicky about new digital recording methods, RealTechNews reports that HBO has issued an FCC filing that places all of its content into the category of Copy Prohibited Content. According to FCC rules, that not only means no digital recording, it also means no analog recording (like VCRs). No recording of any kind.

 

I suppose you can sit in front of the TV and try and sketch the show as it moves along, but you'd better not let HBO catch you at it.

 

A mite ridiculous if you ask me.

 

(via RealTechNews)

I'm working on an update post of the LG LRM-519 post I did back in December, as it seems that device may have some trouble. Meanwhile, I got a chance to play with this ultra-sexy stereo rack-based music hub from Olive Inc. Hell, with a name like Olive Inc., I really had no choice.

 

The Olive product I got my grubby hands (well, sort of; once again, someone else owns it) on is called the Musica, and the implications of its name as well as its price tag are my only gripes. The device is entirely designed to make managing your digital music an IR remote operation done in the den rather than the home office.

 

Hardware-wise, the Musica has plenty of muscle. For one thing, it's got the audio chip smarts to make fantastic digital music rips and recordings. You'll find things like gold-plated RCA jacks to hook the thing into your high-end stereo with no loss of audio quality. For the geeks, there's a 160GB hard disk, a 4-port 10/100 Ethernet switch and an 802.11g access point all built-in.

 

On the software side, everything is run off an internal LCD display operated mostly by a remote control. This is where you run into the box's limitations. The interface is certainly usable (though by no means as sexy as, say, the Windows MCE interface), but it's all about managing your music files, updating your MP3 player (lots of concentration on the darn iPod again), burning CDs and the like. You've got enough smarts to see other devices on the network and pick the ones to which you'd like to stream musical content, but that's it.

 

There is no support for video, and the Musica makes no bones about this. So if you're looking for an all-in-one digital hub for the stereo rack, this ain't it. (On the upside, Olive at least didn't make the classic router mistake where they add a firewall, NAT, DHCP and all the other goodies you've already got running elsewhere which means you'd need to take the time to turn all of it off on the Musica.) If you're an audiophile with a deep need for ultra pure digital tunes, then the Musica is a pretty good choice. As long as you've got a spare grand to spend.

 

Price: $1,099

Verdict: Audiophiles with semi-deep pockets, you go! Most others probably want support for more than audio and a lower price tag.

Got a press kit from these guys at CES. Streamload MediaMax (SMM) is an online storage company that seems to be doing everything right. Sharing photos online is a pretty popular concept, but a difficult business to get into because a good chunk of it has to be free. Our own venerated Spaces, for example, has basic photo sharing built-in (witness the large number of blogs here that have no blog entries, just photots). That's because Spaces is free with (I believe) 25MB of online storage for photo albums free as well.

 

SMM does free storage, too, but it's 25GB worth. Yeah, that's a 'G'. That's eye-popping enough, but they haven't stopped there. The company has also developed a media storage software interface desgined especially for home media mavens that includes support not only for general file storage, but specifically for audio, photo and video files. You can upload, manage and even convert video formats server-side within this interface. And that includes not only home movies and your own photos, but collected photos, downloaded movies and TV shows, and all the MP3s your heart desires.

 

And if 25GB is a mite small for all the home movies of the baby, then try $9.95/mo for 250GB. Or better yet: $39.95/mo for a full terabyte. Yes, that would be the big 'T'. Looks like they're also going to setup an email service that'll support really large file transfers--like a full hi-def TV show, for example.

 

Now storage is cheap, but I'm not sure it's that cheap long-term. Guess we'll need to see. But as long as SMM is selling, the service is definitely worth checking into.

Verizon's making a big deal to us press folks about its VCast offering. Got three press kits this morning alone on new 'offerings' to flesh out the service. So I figure I'll break down and check it out.

HP seems to be moving in several directions at once, trying to remain at the top of its game in multiple areas. At CES these guys had all kinds of new goodies to show--though Brian was a little disappointed that they weren't showing any of the new TabletPCs because HP considers those business-oriented and not meant for us grubby consumers.

 

That disappointment aside, they've got a butt-kicking new media PC that combines all the usual hardware goodies (fast components, big storage) with a few of their own hardware touches, like front-mounted audio and video connectors and removable hard disks enclosures.

 

They also had a huge line of new flat-screen plasma and LCD TVs. Most of them are available now, but they've got at least one cool one slated for this summer. That'll be a 37-inch model with built-in 802.11a/b/g connectivity for easy integration into any kind of home networking setup.

 

Not sure how HP will do in the consumer arena over the long run, but given what I saw at CES, they've got a better than even chance based on technology.