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Last Gadget Standing: Digital Entertainment - Home and Auto
Akimbo: Internet-Based On-Demand Video for Your TV/AP Akimbo delivers digital-quality video on demand to any television via a broadband Internet connection. It offers more than 10,000 programs to suit a wide variety of interests including films, music, news, and sports. All of the programs are protected by Windows Digital Rights Management. Programs are selected from an on-screen program guide that includes previews and other editorial information, such as parental controls. Akimbo says that "it's opened the floodgates to viewer choice in video and motion picture content—similar to the way that iTunes has for music." For more information, see www.akimbo.com.
Read the full review: Akimbo CarChip: The Digital Mind Reader in Your Car Wish you could read your car's mind? The CarChip can. It tells you what's happening behind the wheel and under the hood. It'll improve your life—and may even save a life. The CarChipE/X records 300 hours of driving, from jackrabbit starts to hard braking; it can even record an accident report. The CarChip plugs instantly into the OBD-II connector in your car, where it continuously collects and stores data from the car's computer control system. Then you can unplug the CarChip from your car and plug it into your PC to download the log, which contains such information as time and date, distance, speed, idle time, hard accelerations and decelerations, and engine diagnostic trouble codes. If you don't want to wait to download the information, you can get a version of the CarChip with an audible alarm to alert your teenager, spouse, or employee about potential driving problems. Interested in what's happening under the hood? The CarChip monitors four of 23 engine parameters at any given time. You pick. You can even turn off that pesky Check Engine light! For more information, see www.carchip.com.
Read the full review: CarChipE/X HP Digital Entertainment Center: Beautifully Entertaining HP is busy introducing a new line of consumer electronics that include plasma TVs, wireless routers, and more. These are designed both to look good and to work well in your digital living room. Combining the form factor of a consumer electronics device with the power of a PC, the HP Digital Entertainment Center lets you store and access all of your digital media: TV, music, digital photos, and home videos. The unit includes a digital video recorder so you can record, pause, and replay television. And it's fully wireless, with a wireless keyboard and 802.11g. For more information, see www.hp.com.
Read the full review: HP Digital Entertainment Center Logitech Harmony Remote 676: An Internet-Powered Universal Remote Control Everyone is always looking for the ultimate remote control, and Logitech's Harmony Remote could be the one. The remote connects to your PC via a USB cable and downloads remote-control commands form a master database of product codes on the Internet. It can control any electronic component that uses an infrared receiver, and each remote can control as many as 15 devices. The remote always knows what input the components are set to and whether they are on or off. Interchangeable, colored faceplates—in silver, red, and blue—are designed to suit individual tastes and match the decor of any living room. For more information, see www.logitech.com/harmony.
Read the full review: Logitech Harmony Remote 676 Motia Cross Country: Real Time, In-Vehicle Entertainment via Satellite The fastest-growing automotive accessory category is the back-seat video system, but most are relegated to playing DVDs or CDS. Motia offers a unique in-vehicle system that relies on a satellite antenna to deliver live TV while your car is motion. Early satellite and broadband solutions have been plagued by many limitations: weak signal reception, a size too large and bulky or too high for typical vehicles, and they've been too expensive and difficult to manufacture, install, or purchase. Motia's Cross Country mobile direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) reference design puts a formerly high-cost smart-antenna technology into low-cost silicon. This reference design creates a compact antenna system that tracks a live satellite signal from a moving vehicle without having the antennas raised above the roof line. For more information, see www.motia.com. Roku SoundBridge: Networking Your Music The Roku SoundBridge is a network music player that lets you play digital music anywhere in your home, connecting your computers' music libraries to your stereo systems. The SoundBridge's stylish design has built-in Ethernet and integrated Wi-Fi for both wired and wireless connectivity. It's ideal for listening to digital music in the kitchen, living room, or even the garage. The SoundBridge plays digital music in MP3, AAC, AIFF, WAV, and WMA files, including proprietary WMA files purchased from music services like Napster and Wal-Mart. Since it works directly with iTunes, Windows Media Connect, and Windows Media Player, consumers can begin using their playlists instantly to enjoy their tunes. For more information, see www.rokulabs.com.
Read the full review: Roku SoundBridge Slingbox Personal Broadcaster: Time-Shifting Your TV Experience Feel like watching your favorite program on TV but don't feel like carrying your TV with you? The Slingbox Personal Broadcaster, by Sling Media, is a breakthrough consumer electronics device that transforms today's television viewing experience by allowing you to watch TV programming anywhere, anytime. The device connects to any cable box, satellite receiver, or personal video recorder (for example, the TiVo), then "place-shifts," or redirects, the signal to your device and location of choice. It turns any laptop or Internet-connected device into a personal TV. Under the hood, the Slingbox uses a high-performance digital signal processor from Texas Instruments and builds on top of Microsoft's latest Windows Media technologies. In addition, Sling Media has implemented its proprietary stream optimization technology, code-named Lebowski, to enhance the consumer viewing experience over a wide range of networks and devices. For more information about Sling Media and the Slingbox, visit www.slingmedia.com. Sonos Digital Music System: The Digital Stereo of the Future—Today The Sonos Digital Music System consists of two components, the Sonos ZonePlayer and the Sonos Controller. Combined, it represents the digital stereo of the future. The Sonos ZonePlayer allows music to be distributed, played, and amplified throughout your home. It has a highly efficient and powerful built-in amplifier to produce excellent sound in every room. Every ZonePlayer is Ethernet-enabled, and the first ZonePlayer installed is connected to your PC, router, or network-attached storage (NAS) box. Thanks to a secure, wireless mesh network called Sonosnet, all other ZonePlayers can be placed almost anywhere—inside or out—and simply connected to a power source and speakers. The result is an aesthetically pleasing system with no need for those towering racks of traditional stereo systems in every room of your house. The Sonos Controller acts as the system's command center. It's a wireless, handheld device with a full-color LCD screen and an intuitive scroll wheel that provides control over all of your ZonePlayers. You can access music that's stored on any number of PCs in your house, as well as Internet radio and even analog audio sources, like CD players. Because it operates on the Sonos secure wireless mesh network, it can control the music in any room from anywhere. And you can decide just how many controllers you want, depending upon the layout of your home and your own needs. For more information, see www.sonos.com. Viewsonics' WMG120-B1: A Wireless Media Network for All Your Entertainment Devices The Viewsonics WMG120-B1 Media Network is a wireless media adapter that lets consumers store digital content in one location and distribute it wirelessly to one or more home TVs, PCs, or stereos. Designed for home entertainment enthusiasts, the WMG120-B1 consists of a WMA100 wireless digital media adapter and a WMG120 wireless media gateway. The gateway combines an integrated 802.11g router, a four-port switch, a network-attached storage device with a 120GB hard drive, and a USB print server—making the unit a fully functioning media server and home networking device. It will accept all of the popular media formats: MPEG-1/2/4, MP3, WAV, unprotected AAC and WMA, as well as JPEG, GIF, and PNG. Stored digital pictures can be turned into instant slide shows for display on your TV. Because the content is playing from a hard drive rather than streaming, the quality is excellent. The wireless gateway has 120GB of storage and distributes the content to the wireless router with just the touch of a button on its included remote control. The router outputs to any display using composite video, S-Video, Component Video, VGA, or DVI, and to audio systems via analog audio or digital audio with coaxial S-PDIF. Using advanced scaling, decoding, and decompression technology, the WMA100 optimizes the photos, music, or video content for your TV, stereo, or full home theater settings. The software interface for storing, searching, and playing your media is easy to master. For more information, see www.viewsonics.com.
Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in PC Magazine.
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