The Digital Home

When I woke up this morning, I wasn't sure if I would talk about the latest product for the home or the latest trend in the industry. But when I came across this article on Techdirt , I couldn't help but talk about it.

Over the past year, the American Humane Society has been targeting Amazon.com as an accomplice in the sale and distribution of cockfighting magazines and videos. According to Amazon, it wasn't the legal distributor of this material (which is true, a third-party merchant was) and the lawsuit should be brought up against those people … Read more

Starting a new tradition here on The Digital Home, each Friday I will be telling you about my experience with some of the best home products on the market. This week you can read my impressions of the Philips AJ300D and next Friday I will be telling you about the Logitech Transporter. But until then, here is my hands-on evaluation of the Phillips AJ300D.

Ever since the iPod hit shelves, the iPod accessory market has been booming. One such section of that booming marketplace is iPod docking stations. And while the iHome has historically been my favorite in terms of … Read more

As someone who owns an NES, SNES, Genesis, 3D0, every version of the Gameboy, PSP, DS, PlayStation, Dreamcast, Saturn, Xbox, GameCube, Nintendo 64, PlayStation 2 and 3, Xbox 360 and Wii (phew!), I was always a big fan of games and the news that used to come in May at E3. And while my love of video games has cooled over the past few years, the recent E3 coverage has me thinking: what will the next year of gaming actually bring?

Although it isn't nearly as big as it used to be, E3 is still the industry's premier … Read more

According to a report from iSuppli market research, LCD prices may be rising in the coming weeks due to limited supply and increasing demand. And while this may be big news in and of itself, some are suspect of the effect higher prices will have on the marketplace. As far as I can tell, the effect will be minimal at best.

As many are well aware, plasma HDTVs tend to offer a superior picture for sets measuring over 42 inches. For most HDTVs under 42 inches, LCDs take the day. And while there are some nice 50-inch LCDs and beautiful … Read more

Leading up to the Electronic Entertainment Expo, most companies try to release information that will either (1) become a springboard for the show or (2) become lost in the heavy news traffic -- by design. With Sony's announcement of a $100 price cut, it has effectively achieved the former. And while some brushed my opinion aside claiming I was biased or a Nintendo-hater when I told them Sony and Microsoft would take the day, it seems that opinion may not be so far off after all.

Although I still believe the Xbox 360 will take the lead in this … Read more

I recently had the opportunity to meet with two Microsoft officials to discuss Windows Home Server. According to Microsoft officials, this new solution could solve all of your backup problems and help you immediately restore your entire system to an earlier day if your hard drive dies suddenly. Could this be the saving grace we have all been waiting for? Read on and decide for yourself.

Although the product is still in development, the Windows Home Server (WHS) is very much a new category of home products. Accommodating almost 15 million households in the U.S. alone, WHS is designed … Read more

For those of you who are keeping score, last week, the American Medical Association decided to postpone the vote on whether or not heavy video game playing is an addiction.

In a statement prepared by the organization, an AMA spokesperson explained that more research needs to be conducted before a decision is made: "Given that approximately 70 to 90 percent of U.S. youths play video games, the AMA today called for more research on the long-term beneficial and detrimental effects of video game and Internet use."

I can't help but think that the AMA should really … Read more

The term mind share gets thrown around quite a bit these days and the essence of the term is, well, confusing. Some may say that mind share is the amount of mental time given to a specific topic, but I tend to disagree. To me, mind share is the amount of time a company dominates our minds during the buying process. Second to maybe only Apple, Sony commands such a significant mind share in this industry that corporate and device flops seem to be all but forgotten by all of those except the most techie among us.

I don't … Read more

In a recent study conducted by NBC, people were hooked up to sensors and shown television shows. During their time watching the show, researchers took note of changes in heart rate, palm sweat, eye movement and breathing patterns to see how the human body reacts to the program. From there, the researchers showed commercials in fast-forward to measure if the same bodily reactions were present during the commercials. The answer is actually good for everyone involved: they were the same.

Although it evolved out of a series of recording technologies before it, the Digital Video Recorder can be officially traced … Read more