Crave

The Sony Dash is due out in April for $199.99.

(Credit: Sony )

LAS VEGAS--If you've been following Chumby Industries at all, you know the company was more interested in licensing out its Internet miniapps than in making actual hardware devices. Yes, there's the recent Chumby One, but it's good to see that Sony's now enlisted Chumby's services to help power its upcoming Dash personal Internet viewer, which arrives this April for $199.99.

The Dash features a 7-inch color touch screen (measured diagonally) and has access to more than 1,000 free Internet apps, including news, calendars, weather, sports, social networking, and more via your existing home wireless connection. On top of that, you can tap into audio and video content from Sony's Bravia Internet video platform, from sources like YouTube, Pandora Internet radio, Epicurious, Crackle, Livestrong, and Blip.tv.

According to Sony, other content includes a Navteq app for traffic updates on a customized route and a Cozi app for simple management and syncing of family calendars. ... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

Has the promise of easy in-car Internet radio finally been fulfilled?

(Credit: Pioneer)

LAS VEGAS--Pioneer unveiled the latest addition to its AVIC line of in-dash navigation solutions and its first Pandora Internet radio-enabled car stereo, the AVIC-X920BT, during its CES 2010 press conference.

The X920BT's navigation features enhanced ECO routing functionality.

(Credit: Pioneer)

One of the most notable changes to the AVIC's software is Pandora Link, which adds the ability to stream audio and display metadata from the Pandora Internet Radio app on a connected iPhone with a 3G connection. Users are also given access to album artwork and controls such as skip track, thumbs up and down, bookmarks, and station changes from the X920BT's touch-screen interface.

The X920BT bumps the AVIC-X chassis' screen size to 6.1 inches with a WXGA resolution and a new touch interface. Features such as voice recognition, Bluetooth hands-free calling/audio streaming, and USB connectivity for iPhone/iPod carry over from our current Editors' Choice title holder, the flagship AVIC-Z110BT, as do an updated version ... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

(Credit: Gizmodo)

LAS VEGAS--Just announced at CES is Popbox HD, the latest offering from Syabas, the company behind Popcorn Hour. The device can stream digital media from almost any source you can throw at it in addition to offering media from new Internet channels.

With the Popbox, you'll be able to directly receive content from Netflix, Twitter, IMDb, Clicker, FunSpot (gaming), Crunchyroll (Asain entertainment site), and SHOUTcast.

But perhaps the most notable advancement in regard to the Popbox is the device's brand new user interface overhaul. Promising a much more seamless experience, the Popbox goes on sale in March for $130.

(Credit: Gizmodo)

Check out all the specs and details after the jump.... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

The Pure Sensia headlines the company's lineup of Internet-connected radios.

(Credit: Pure)

Late last year, Pure, a global company based in the U.K., released a family of Internet-connected radios overseas. Now it's bringing them to the U.S. market.

While the company is offering several products, including the Evoke Flow, Sirocco 550, Siesta Flow, and Oasis Flow, it's highlighting the distinctly designed Sensia, which features a 5.7-inch color touch screen and costs around $350.

The company says its digital and Internet-connected range of radios work together with Pure's proprietary radio and media portal, the Pure Lounge, which "enables a two-way flow of information between the radio, the portal, and the broadcaster." While the radios and the Lounge function on their own, when combined they enhance the user-experience by enabling "the organization of favorite stations into shared folders and automatically syncing content choices on both the radio and the portal."

It's also worth noting that the Pure Lounge also contains custom content such as Pure Sounds, a library ... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

(Credit: Time Warner screenshot by All Things D)

The nightmare scenario for cable companies is that customers drop their TV subscriptions and grab their video directly from the Web, turning the cable guys into mere providers of "dumb pipes."

But here's a comprehensive set of instructions from a big cable company showing its customers how to do just that. It suggests that they head to the likes of Hulu, Fancast, or "any search engine"--weird for it not to call out Google, no?--to find their favorite shows.

Time Warner Cable's instructions on "How to Connect Your PC to Your TV" can be accessed by clicking on the image at the bottom of this post. And here's a helpful video (sorry for the clumsy screen grab; the video kicks in at about the five-second mark, and there's some unpleasant coughing around 2:30. Yikes!):

The instructions (Time Warner Cable promised to provide them last week) are part of the company's game of chicken with News Corp.'s Fox, which is supposed to come to a head Thursday night. If you believe the posturing so far, Fox and its associated cable channels (Fox News, FX, etc.) will disappear after midnight because the two sides can't agree on a new rate.

Story Copyright (c) 2010 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.

DARPA says the balloons will be in readily accessible locations and visible from nearby roads.

(Credit: DARPA)

Update at 10:56 p.m. PST: The MIT Red Balloon Challenge Team (PDF) has won the competition.

You may have heard about that DARPA balloon challenge, where the first team to identify the latitudes and longitudes of 10 moored weather balloons across the continental U.S. wins $40,000? Well, as of Saturday, the balloons are up in the air. If you don't have a team yet, here are some places to report a sighting.

What's cool is how most of the balloon-hunting communities I've found are working toward selfless goals. Both DARPABalloon.com and this MIT group are proposing to gather a huge number of participants, and rather than give each contributor a measly cut, the 40 grand will be donated to charity.

DARPA is holding its Network Challenge to mark the 40th anniversary of the Internet. The competition is meant to explore the roles the Internet and social networking play in the timely communication, wide-area team-building, and urgent mobilization required to solve broad-scope, time-critical problems.

So, good luck to everyone involved. If you happen to stumble across one this weekend, consider reporting it to a group that's playing for charity. Just make sure it's not a red balloon some kid let go of first.

This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.

Parental Advisory: Explicit Content!

(Credit: Jeff Bakalar/The 404)

If you've ever sat around with friends and mourned the death of the mixtape, you'll certainly appreciate the first half of today's episode of CNET's The 404 Podcast. While Jeff was at home for the break, he stumbled upon a a collection of old cassette tapes including the Cool Side/Awesome Side mix you see up there. It's got a solid collection of '90s hits including "Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows, Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun," and, of course, "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

I spy "Crazy" and something that starts with "Livin...," which I can only assume to be Britney Spears and Ricky Martin. Just kidding, Jeff, but seriously--we've all pulled some pretty embarrassing stunts in a pathetic attempt to win a girl's heart, so stick around to witness the humiliation.

(Credit: Tech Crunch)

Speaking of death, we're (kind of) sad to see the demise of the CrunchPad. The brainchild of TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and Fusion Garage, the CrunchPad was supposed to be an aluminum tablet computer with a 12-inch LCD screen running Ubuntu Linux and Webkit browser. Unfortunately, Arrington reported today that the CrunchPad project is officially dead. We're disappointed that we'll never be able to test the product ourselves, but we're sure that Arrington has something else up his sleeve.

We imagine that a lot of you guys will be traveling by plane for the holiday season, but what if you were forced to hand over your iPod to security agents to check it for pirated music at the airport? Sounds like a nightmare, but Wilson tells us that the Australian government is apparently proposing a plan to search iPods and other MP3 players for illegally downloaded songs, punishable by heavy fines or even jail time!

From a technological stand point, we're not even sure how the government plans on checking for purchased vs. bootlegged music. At the end of the day, it's always comforting to know that you'll NEVER get busted for listening to The 404, and isn't that the most important thing?

More mobile carriers are offering Netbooks as a way to lure new customers--a trend that's likely to surge and encompass notebooks as well.

Hewlett-Packard Mini 1151NR via Verizon Wireless.

Credit: Verizon Wireless

By 2013, more than 60 percent of all mobile devices, including Netbooks and notebooks, are expected to be sold directly by wireless carriers, according to research released Wednesday by In-Stat. Almost 31 percent of notebooks alone will be sold through carriers, In-Stat predicts.

Bundling an inexpensive Netbook or notebook is a small price to pay for a carrier, which can then charge customers for a monthly data plan.

"In the U.S., carriers are charging up to $60 per month for a two-year contract with the subsidized purchase of a Netbook," In-Stat analyst Jim McGregor said in a statement. "While the subsidy costs the carrier $50 to $100, it generates $1,440 or more in service fees over the life of the contract."

Carriers such as Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint have already been dangling Netbooks as carrots to attract more mobile customers. Verizon is selling Netbooks from Hewlett-Packard and Gateway. AT&T is selling Dell, Acer, and Lenovo Netbooks, as well as a Nokia Booklet 3G. Sprint is also selling a Dell Netbook.

Thanks to the success of low-cost Netbooks, U.S. carriers are further testing the waters by bundling full-size notebooks along with a two-year contract. The strategy isn't just limited to the United States, noted In-Stat. Carriers in Europe and Asia are giving out Netbooks with a data plan, but often at lower prices than in the U.S. Asian carriers have also been offering the kissing cousins of Netbooks: mobile Internet devices and ultramobile PCs.

This trend will intensify as carriers boost the number of services offered and cut prices on those services due to higher competition and better bandwidth, In-Stat said. The mobile market itself is also expected to become more attractive, with richer content and increased bandwidth.

These days, there is a plethora of audio content available to stream over the Internet. Even traditional terrestrial radio often offers content streamed over the Web, diversifying the choices for how consumers can enjoy music and other audio. Although the legality is questionable, there are--and will always be--ways to record these streams. Streamed audio recordings for music are not going to offer the same sound quality as a ripped CD or even a purchased MP3, but it's a good option for talk programs and mixes that might not be available in other formats. This tutorial will show you how to record streamed audio as an MP3; just be sure to read the usage rules for any recording source before beginning.

Editors' note: This tutorial was completed using Windows XP.

Cost: Free

Time commitment: Varies

System Requirements: Windows

How to record streaming audio