dreamed

Toy chick joins USB bubble life

Shades of Silent Running. As USB mania has gotten out of hand, everything from coffee mugs to cigarette lighters has found a way to hook up to the ubiquitous port. That's fine for novelty items, but there's something kind of sick about living things attached to it like an artificial umbilical cord.

That's why we were disturbed to see this little chick in yet another USB bubble. OK, so it's not real, but it comes close: In the tradition of the Tamagotchi, Segatoys has created the "Dream Chick," an animated toy that's a … Read more

Another game table, another trip back in time

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Even with all the quantum advances in digital gaming, there's something undeniably comforting in old-fashioned; comforting, perhaps, because we can play them sitting down.

Whatever the reason, Dream Arcades--an outfit that's never been shy to push the envelope--has gone back in time to create its "Dreamcade 2.0" cocktail cabinet. The four-player table has a 21-inch monitor with tinted glass (so '70s) and includes 145 licensed games from the likes of Atari and Midway, according to Engadget.

It weighs in at $1,899, though that'… Read more

Blu-ray camp fires back at latest HD DVD announcements

Ah, the emails and voice mails were flying fast and furious yesterday after Paramount and DreamWorks made their little announcement about going HD DVD exclusive. At just after 4 p.m. in New York, Fox and MGM put out a press release saying they were unveiling "an aggressive global Blu-ray Disc release strategy, including 29 new release and 'must-have' catalog titles that runs through the end of the 2007 calendar year."

The release went on to say that Fox intends to put out "at least one state-of-the-art title per month featuring numerous BD 'firsts'" and highlighted the fact that "Blu-ray was out-performing HD DVD 2-to-1 at retail in 2007." Among the 29 new releases, my eye was drawn to Master & Commander, Ronin, Cast Away, Independence Day, A Bridge Too Far, 28 Days Later, The Day After Tomorrow, and the Die Hard trilogy.

After the email went out, the phone started ringing: All the CNET the home-theater editors were contacted, so the PR folks at GCI Group in LA were working overtime, trying to do a little damage control. The basic message was, they may have this, but we have a whole more of that. And, did you hear that the Paramount deal doesn't include any of Spielberg's movies and that the deal only ran for 18 months? Tit for tat. Tat for tit. The war was raging.

Then, thanks to a New York Times article, word got out this morning that indeed (as I suspected), someone was getting paid off. The article noted that, "Paramount and DreamWorks Animation together will receive about $150 million in financial incentives for their commitment to HD DVD, according to two Viacom executives with knowledge of the deal but who asked not to be identified." Microsoft denied paying anything, but wouldn't rule it out as a tactic in the future. There was no word on who might be paying Universal for its exclusive HD DVD agreement, but you gotta think there's a pretty sweet deal in place there, too.

… Read more

Paramount and DreamWorks give HD DVD a boost

Just when you thought the next-gen DVD war was on the verge of being over, a couple of studios decide to muck things up even further. Today, Paramount and DreamWorks Animation announced that they will exclusively support HD DVD on a worldwide basis.

According to the press release, "The exclusive HD DVD commitment will include all movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films, as well as movies from DreamWorks Animation, which are distributed exclusively by Paramount Home Entertainment."

"The companies each said that the decision to distribute exclusively in the HD DVD format resulted from an extensive evaluation of current market offerings, which confirmed the clear benefits of HD DVD, particularly its market-ready technology and lower manufacturing costs. Paramount Home Entertainment will launch its exclusive HD DVD program with the release of the blockbuster comedy hit 'Blades of Glory' on August 28th and follow with two of the biggest grossing movies of the year 'Transformers' and 'Shrek the Third'."

Until today, Paramount was putting out movies on both Blu-ray and HD DVD, so needless to say, the announcement came as a surprise. Also, all of this comes in the face of reports that on the software front, Blu-ray was outselling HD DVD by a 2-1 margin, and that both Blockbuster and Target would be pushing the Blu-ray format in stores. (Note HD DVD fans: Yes, Target will continue to carry the XBox 360's add-on HD DVD player). Consensus was that things were looking pretty bleak for HD DVD. Is this a game changer?

… Read more

CNET Top 5: iPhone Dream Features

Did a little countdown of the features that should be in the next iPhone and I think it's a pretty comprehensive list. Justin Eckhouse, our CNET TV product manager suggested it, after playing around with our in-house iPhone. But you may and probably do feel differently. Take a look at the video, then come back to this post and lets us know what features you think we left off the list. Come on, you know you want to tell us you told us so.

Wii virtual console releases for this week

Nothing whetting your gaming appetite this week? Well, it's good to know that you can play the back nine with Kirby, attack hordes of monsters with a pinball, or conquer the forces of darkness with this week's three new virtual console releases for the Wii.

Kirby's Dream Course (1994, Super Nintendo, 800 Wii points)--This Kirby adventure has you hitting the links on a number of golf courses inspired from the series. Devil's Crush (1990, Turbografx 16, 600 Wii points)--Devil's Crush is an action pinball game and the sequel to Alien Crush. Instead of … Read more

A projector (and price) fit for a museum

Usually, conventional wisdom would hold that image quality is more important than the appearance of the projector itself. But in the case of DreamVision's latest line, it's hard to look beyond the hardware alone.

Sure, it projects in full 1080 HD resolution and uses something called "Direct-Drive Image Light Amplifier" technology that supposedly does away with flickering, according to Shiny Shiny, as well as an external processor for "advanced video source management." But the real eye-catcher is the "DreamBee Pro" projector itself, which looks like a mid-century piece right out of a … Read more

Arcade machine as household compromise

So you're not willing to share your abode with a full-size arcade machine? Wimp. If you're the type who does things only halfway--or if you just want to stay happily married--you might be interested in this model instead.

The "Katana" from Dream Authentics is a customizable game machine that's intended to replicate the arcade experience of our misspent youth, save for one difference: It sits on a table top. The purist might object to this, as it's kind of like playing craps while sitting on a barstool; but if you're short on space (… Read more

Printing without the printer

We're not huge on scanning devices (especially where our bodies are concerned), but mostly because they aren't always as practical or workable as they might first seem. Still, we're intrigued by PrintDreams' "Xyron Design Runner" for its unique approach if nothing else.

Unlike other handheld scanners that require separate storage (cards, sticks, etc.) that's then transferred to a printer, this gadget scans the images and spits them back onto whatever object you want, not just paper. It's kind of like a digital version of those old handheld label makers, but it prints directly … Read more