Recent Comments:
Disney Keychest to make buy-once view-anywhere movies a reality with Apple's help? {Engadget HD}
Oct 23rd 2009 1:30AM Aren't they saying that even if you buy the blu-ray disk, you'll get a code that gives you access to "your" movie on your other devices?
So even if you want the physical disk, it sounds like you get "for free" the ability to watch the movie on whatever device you want.
If this is an accurate interpretation, then it sounds like Disney is the one media company who actually "gets" what all us consumers want -- we don't want to buy the same thing 37 times, and we want to be able to use it anywhere. Sounds good to me.
Engadget HD's recession antidote: win an Moxi HD DVR! {Engadget HD}
Jul 9th 2009 12:37AM Fix the economy but changing it to one where it doesn't depend on rampant consumption.
The entire economy is based on how much junk gets bought...so somehow, by saving money and not wasting it, people are "hurting" things. Somehow, a "good" economy means most of the population is up to their ears in credit card debt, has zero savings, but buys lots of crap. That needs to change.
2.1 million households let the DTV transition pass them by {Engadget HD}
Jun 26th 2009 2:04AM "Most most broadcasters should be full power by July 1st"
How does one find out which aren't full power yet? Is there any chance my reception could improve soon?
In my area, they really seemed to have borked the transition in terms of reception.
Via analog, with a rooftop antenna, I got very clear reception of all the network stations: CBS (2), NBC (4), CW (5), ABC (7), Fox (11), plus the stations that may not be nationwide: CBS-owned KCAL (9), and MYTV (13). I also got some UHF reception of various PBS channels, etc. And of course plenty of spanish channels.
Before the transition, I got only a few digital channels:
CBS -- broadcast on frequency 60
ABC -- broadcast on frequency 53
KCAL -- broadcast on frequency 43 came in about 50% of the time
and some UHF spanish/korean/PBS stations.
Prior to the transition, all the analog stations went on and on about "make sure you can pick us up digitally now so you can be sure you are ready"...that was especially annoying for the stations that I couldn't get digitally, but thought I would be getting after the transition.
Anyway, post-transition, I get channels 7-13 nicely in digital because they are now on their VHF broadcast stations.
The strange thing is, I have lost CBS entirely. Why would the digital signal get weaker after transition? It's especially odd since CBS is now broadcast on channel 43 -- where KCAL was broadcast pre-transition. And the reception is notably worse (it never comes in in a watchable way).
I also still can't get NBC or CW in digital.
And the reception of the UHF PBS stations has gotten much worse...they were watchable in digital pre-transition, but aren't watchable anymore.
The really odd part to me is that in my area (LA/Orange County) all the broadcasters run their antennas off Mt. Wilson...so there shouldn't be any differences in reception other than the different propagation of UHF vs VHF.
Why could I get ABC just fine on it's old UHF station pre-transition station, but I can't get any of the UHF stations (CBS, NBC, CW) post transition? Why would CBS's old UHF broadcast frequency come in better than their post-transition UHF frequency? Same with the PBS stations?
Star Trek, CSI Blu-ray boxed sets doing BD-Live right with dynamicHD {Engadget HD}
May 3rd 2009 9:34PM "You can check out the website to see who is watching right now and where, set up watching parties and share quizzes. "
Is that supposed to be good? I can't fathom caring to know who else in the country is watching the movie I just popped into my video player. Watching parties (with groups in different places able to chat or something?) sounds useful only for parents out traveling who think it'll let them watch a movie with their kids...but they'll soon find out it's nicer just to talk to the kid on the phone instead of saying something once every few minutes during a 2-hour movie. And sharing quizzes? What is this, Cosmo?
I can see the Trek folks getting into news on conventions and such...and being able to get trailers for upcoming movies from the studio would be nice (instead of having to watch trailers for old movies when the disk is a few years old)...but other than that, I don't see much of value in these BD-Live features. Eventually, it's all just going to boil down to links to stores where I can be encouraged to pay good money for annoying/pointless movie-related ringtones and screensavers....so, we'll all be paying extra (features cost money) for the privilege of getting another sales pitch!
Engadget HD giveaway: win a 5x1 HDMI switch and long HDMI cables! {Engadget HD}
Apr 22nd 2009 11:47PM Fix the world economy by realizing the "real" problem: overconsumption and credit. Half the economy is based on people buying so much that they go into debt, mostly on credit cards...but it keeps the businesses going, because they produce all the stuff we shouldn't be buying, providing jobs so the people can have credit just good enough to keep their credit cards. The other half of the economy is the credit mess where nobody is using money they actually have, but instead money they might have in a few weeks -- governments are spending future tax revenues, businesses take out short term loans to make this week's paychecks with next week's revenues, people buy on credit cards things they know they don't have money for.
We need to re-set everything. No more bail-outs or other crap. Teach people/businesses/governments/politicians that 1) we can't just buy everything we want and 2) we can't spend money we don't have, and we should have something saved for the future. With time, all problems will be solved. Businesses selling luxury products will survive by selling luxuries only to those that can afford the, rather than to everybody with a credit card.
Of course, this won't solve the next problem: soon enough, we will have robots/machines to do just about every human job: from cleaning, to building homes, to designing new technology. There will also eventually be robots to design and repair robots. I'm seeing this within 50 years. It's already begun -- think about car assembly lines, self-check-outs at grocery stores, the robotic garbage truck arms, prototype machines that can build entire concrete houses, and "genetic algorithms" that can make better technological designs than the best engineers. Then we'll all be obsolete...so somebody will have to come up with a plan to deal with that.
CEA rails on California's proposed TV energy standards, rings doomsday bell {Engadget HD}
Apr 12th 2009 11:22PM You are, of course, free to believe whatever you want. But, I hope you at least understand that whether or not human-released CO2 causes "global warming" isn't the issue. The issues are: pollution is bad, waste is bad, and over-using the Earth's resources without thought to what happens when they run out is bad.
If you care about the environment, other humans, or your own financial situation, then avoiding waste and pollution is a good thing. Disagreeing with Al Gore's tactics shouldn't alter that...
And just because I found this interesting: "global warming" is an old-ish term...scientists go with "climate change" now, indicating that some places might get colder, some warmer, some might get more rain, others less. One interesting piece of this puzzle: while it can never be 100% proven, there are strong links between the drought that caused a decade of starvation in Ethiopia, and certain types of pollution from industrialized countries:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2042856.stm
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0721-07.htm
sure, "absolute proof" isn't there, and it probably never will be. There will always be doubt...but too many people don't care at all, and think nothing of wasting energy and other resources just because they don't like Al Gore's beliefs or tactics.
Samsung shimmies three ultra-thin bezel LCDs into its 460UT-series {Engadget HD}
Apr 5th 2009 2:22PM why would the bezel width be different on the left and right? that seems like it'd look a bit funny, and I'd probably prefer it with the full 4.3 mm on both sides.
LED-infused HDMI cables add some light to your home theater {Engadget HD}
Apr 4th 2009 4:50PM The funny thing is, it's actually a reasonable price at $10.
For all the whacked out places/companies selling regular 6-foot HDMI cables for $50-$100, it'll be funny to walk into a store one day and see that the only reasonably priced cable has a useless/bothersome light on it. Perhaps that'll be Best Buy's way of up-selling you to Monster:
"You see sir, if you want a $10 cable, it's gonna have this blinding LED on it. Monster cables, on the other hand, don't emit light and only cost 7 times more!"
Funai aims to bring LCD HDTV / Blu-ray combo units to North America {Engadget HD}
Aug 14th 2008 3:14AM I hope the Blu-ray-equipped TVhas a 4:3 ratio like the one pictured. That'd be hilarious.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending August 3rd, 2008 {Engadget HD}
Aug 13th 2008 12:07AM Didn't Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo feature a lot of naked ladies? Full frontal even? Visually intense indeed!
