Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

You've been waiting for this moment for a long time now, so we're not gonna get all mushy and backlinky here, instead letting you feast your eyes on the first unboxing pics of the almost-mythical TiVo Series 3. Keep reading for a few key shots, then head over to our sister blog PVR Wire for the whole glorious ritual...

[Via HDBeat]

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

If one of your stoner friends is planning on emulating something they might see in Jackass 2, and they'd rather not have a camera involved that happens to be as fragile as their spine, you might want to recommend the new SUV-Cam from Elmo. Not only is the camera unit waterproof, but it snakes away from the recorder unit for easier positioning and extra durability. The recorder features a 2.2-inch LCD and stores vids via SD card, but only boasts two hours of battery life, so we suppose Elmo figures you'll either be dead or worn-out by you xtreem tasks before you use all the juice. The best news is that the camera features a 440,000 pixel CCD, and records 25fps at a 704 x 480 resolution, so you won't have to trade off as much quality as usual to bring your camera to the action. Unfortunately, the SUV-Cam has a price to match its feature set: ¥88,900, about $761 USD. The device should be available (in Japan) on September 29th, so start planning your nefarious deeds accordingly.

[Via Digital World Tokyo]

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Nope, this isn't a virtual machine a la Parallels or VMware for Mac, this is the real deal: CodeWeavers released the beta of CrossOver Mac, a WINE environment port to OS X that allows you to run Windows apps without actually running Windows. (Sorry everybody, Intel Macs only!) We kicked the tires on this sucker, and can definitely report back that it works -- well, mostly. Click on to check out what the CrossOver Mac beta is like!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Yep, there it is, all 80MB of it.


It needs the quartz-wm library, though supposedly it will run without. We didn't try for this Q&D run, but c'mon, give it what it needs.

Obviously the first thing we wanted to see was IE6 on OS X. So what if we're gluttons for punishment! (P.S. -Did we mention how much we love Opera?)

Creating a new bottle (get it -- WINE, bottle?) takes a long ass time, and for some reason it defaults to Win98. We redid our install with an XP bottle, though we didn't see any difference.

Then it has to grab the IE installer from the web. That was an automated cinch.


Ah, how many times we've seen this dialog. IE, we missed you so.

Just your usual install, went very quickly.

Not bad for a beta!

Chortlegigglechuckle.

Yep, you guessed it, IE didn't work. Well, it started, but it wouldn't load any pages (including this one).

So then we wanted to try something that wasn't supported -- our favorite Windows FTP app, Filezilla.

We downloaded it and selected it with the installer wizard, not too difficult.

Despite the warnings we installed it to our XP bottle along with IE6.

Things went pretty fast on this one, too.

Yep, just the usual Filezilla installer.

Worked like a charm, no errors or nothin'.

And there we have our long lost FTP app. It even let us drill down into Mac .app files. Now that's compatibility!

But alas, we got a startling reminder that yes, this is still a beta. Good luck!

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Nope, this isn't a virtual machine a la Parallels or VMware for Mac, this is the real deal: CodeWeavers released the beta of CrossOver Mac, a WINE environment port to OS X that allows you to run Windows apps without actually running Windows. (Sorry everybody, Intel Macs only!) We kicked the tires on this sucker, and can definitely report back that it works -- well, mostly. Click on to check out what the CrossOver Mac beta is like!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Yep, there it is, all 80MB of it.


It needs the quartz-wm library, though supposedly it will run without. We didn't try for this Q&D run, but c'mon, give it what it needs.

Obviously the first thing we wanted to see was IE6 on OS X. So what if we're gluttons for punishment! (P.S. -Did we mention how much we love Opera?)

Creating a new bottle (get it -- WINE, bottle?) takes a long ass time, and for some reason it defaults to Win98. We redid our install with an XP bottle, though we didn't see any difference.

Then it has to grab the IE installer from the web. That was an automated cinch.


Ah, how many times we've seen this dialog. IE, we missed you so.

Just your usual install, went very quickly.

Not bad for a beta!

Chortlegigglechuckle.

Yep, you guessed it, IE didn't work. Well, it started, but it wouldn't load any pages (including this one).

So then we wanted to try something that wasn't supported -- our favorite Windows FTP app, Filezilla.

We downloaded it and selected it with the installer wizard, not too difficult.

Despite the warnings we installed it to our XP bottle along with IE6.

Things went pretty fast on this one, too.

Yep, just the usual Filezilla installer.

Worked like a charm, no errors or nothin'.

And there we have our long lost FTP app. It even let us drill down into Mac .app files. Now that's compatibility!

But alas, we got a startling reminder that yes, this is still a beta. Good luck!

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Filed under: Networking

In case you haven't been following the exciting world of telecom regulation lately (and really, why would you?), the FCC recently mandated that DSL providers no longer have to pay into the Universal Service Fund that's meant to subsidize rural and low-income phone service (and that may induce all kinds of pork-barrel spending, but that's a whole other story right there). Anyway, the elimination of this surcharge was supposed to be passed along to consumers in the form of lower monthly bills -- and many companies, including AT&T and Qwest, did just that -- but the sneaky suits over at Verizon and BellSouth decided to keep charging customers almost the exact same fee, though for different reasons. Verizon claimed that it had "developed new operating costs" in the previous year, justifying this so-called "supplier surcharge," while BellSouth began calling theirs a "regulatory cost recovery fee" -- even though the USF contribution regulation no longer existed. Both companies offered up some confusing doublespeak as to why these new, identical fees came into play at the exact same time that the USF fee was withdrawn; ultimately, however, pressure from consumers, the media, and the FCC forced them to retract the charges from customers' bills and issue credits where applicable. So in conclusion, we're really starting to see an encouraging trend here: first Dell implements a massive battery recall following tons of negative publicity, then Foxconn stops picking on those "slanderous" journalists in the wake of a massive public outcry, and now the telcos have been forced to mend their greedy ways after everyone got wise to their shenanigans. Therefore, that old adage actually seems to be true: a lot of the time, it's the squeaky wheel that really does get the grease.

Read- Verizon's fee
Read- BellSouth's fee
Read- BellSouth caves
Read- Verizon caves

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Filed under: Displays, Portable Video, Wearables

Cheap wearable displays are usually just a headache waiting to happen, but we'll give VideoMagi's vMagi X1, which appears to be a rebadge of 22Moo's VG-SD, the benefit of the doubt until we actually get our hands on one. Obviousness sci-fi-ness aside, the vMagi X1 sports two tiny displays that they claim will make it seem as if you're staring at a 35-inch TV from over 6.5-feet. Too bad its paltry resolution (a mere 320 x 240 pixels) makes it hard to believe that anyone would want to use it for any extended amount of time, at least not with anything that outputs at a higher resolution (like a laptop, DVD player, game console, etc), which is why they're probably making a wise move by also pimping it as an accessory for cellphones and iPods (something which we've seen before). Starts shipping September 15th with a pre-order price of $249.99.

[Via I4U]

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Filed under: Peripherals

It's actually pretty hot that MSI's new StarReader USB flash memory card can handle something like 52 different formats, including CompactFlash, MicroDrive, MemoryStick Pro, MemoryStick Duo, MemoryStick Pro Duo, SD, miniSD, microSD, MMC, RS-MMC, MMC mobile (when you click on the link and read the full list you'll see they're being a little shady and counting even slight variations in formats as different card types), but what we're really digging is that it can handle SIM cards, too, something that's still relatively rare in an all-in-one card reader.

[Thanks, Oliver]

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Robots, Wireless

We literally see a new iPod dock hit the streets every single day (when you can find ten of them at Target, it would seem that the market is already a bit oversaturated), however, Japanese manufacturer' ZMP's Miuro is the first one we've spotted that will actually follow you around the house and shake its groove thing at your behest (well, except for maybe the KNG DJ dock). A not-quite-accurate acronym for "music innovation based on utility robot technology," Miuro is a 14-inch wide, egg-shaped device that can either pump tunes from your docked 'Pod or wirelessly from a PC through its Kenwood-built speakers. The 9-pound bot -- available in either white, black, yellow, or red -- responds to your commands via the included remote, and can gain a little more autonomy with the addition of optional cameras and sensors. Miuro goes on sale in Japan today for a rather pricey $930, and should be making it Stateside sometime in the second half of next year. This will certainly be a boon to us lazy Americans, as soon we'll be able to shed our hefty 'Pods and let a little robotic slave tote them around for us -- until the eventual uprising, that is, when swarms of these things will repeatedly attempt to crush your jugular in your sleep while almost unoticeably piping out "Killing Me Softly."

[Via The Raw Feed]

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

As Photokina looms ever nearer, camera manufacturers continue their stream of announcements, and BenQ seems to think today's their lucky day. They've got three new ones to show, and there seem to be plenty of megapixels and piddling feature sets between them. Headlining the trio is the C1000 (pictured), which packs a 10 megapixel CCD, 3x zoom and 2.4-inch LCD. There's also 24MB of built-in memory, an 8 second shutter night scene mode, and quick 4 continuous shot mode -- exciting, we know. Next up there's the C540 and C740, which bump the LCD size to a whole 2.5-inches, and manage 5 and 7 megapixels respectively. Both of the cams feature a "Shake-Free" mode, along with 1000 ISO sensitivity for extra nighttime fun. Yeah, not a whole lotta excitement to be had here, but at least these three cams should be fairly cheap when they drop in September. Keep reading for pics of the C540 and C740.

Read - BenQ DC C540
Read - BenQ DC C740
Read - BenQ DC C1000

DC C450


DC C740

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Filed under: GPS, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

We're a bit miffed that Maxtek chose to go soft on one of the three pillars of Korean gadgetry: PMP playback, but their new MNT-4300DMB device has plenty to love all the same. First off, there's a 4.3-inch touchscreen, which can handle picture-in-picture just in case the GPS isn't enough of a reason to keep your eyes off the road. Navigation is powered by a SiRF III GPS module, and TV is of the T-DMB variety. The device can also handle MP3s and photos with its unmentioned amount of storage, but there doesn't seem to be any PMP functionality in sight. Not too terrible for 349,000 won ($363 US), but if PMP is your thing there will always be plenty of other choices.

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