home

Sony Computer Entertainment announced Tuesday that it is again delaying the launch of its 3D social-networking gaming service, "Home," for the PlayStation 3.

The PlayStation Home Open Beta service is expected to begin in the fall, nearly a year after its expected launch date. Sony unveiled the concept of its Home service more than 12 months ago and had anticipated at the time a full launch of the service at the end of last year.

Sony, in delaying the service launch, noted it wanted to expand its closed beta program to more PS3 users. The pending Home service … Read more

HTIB speakers, even some of the ones packed with upper end Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony systems don't always have tweeters on all of the speakers, but the Onkyo speakers are two-way, tweeter and woofer designs. If my past experiences with previous generations of Onkyo HTIBs apply, the new HT-S5100 ($579 SRP) 290 watt subwoofer will … Read more

HDMI has certainly had its growing pains, but the connection is finally beginning to deliver on its original promise: a single-cable solution for delivering high-bandwidth, all-digital HD video and multichannel audio. HDMI is nearly universal in the home video market, present on all current HDTVs and Blu-ray players, as well as nearly all HD-capable cable and satellite set-top boxes; DVRs; game consoles; AV receivers; upscaling DVD players and recorders; and network video streamers such as the Apple TV. In fact, you realize just how convenient HDMI is when you come across a product without it--I'm looking at you, Nintendo Wii--and then have five cables (three component video wires plus two-channel stereo) instead of one crowding the back of your home entertainment system.

But one aspect of the HDMI promise remains unfulfilled: wireless HDMI. It's an attractive idea, especially for anybody with a wall-mounted flat-panel TV or a ceiling-mounted projector: have all of your HDMI-capable gear running into an AV receiver or HDMI switcher with a wireless HDMI transmitter, and have the TV equipped with a matching receiver--thus allowing you to have all your AV sources across the room from the actual display. We've been hearing about it for years, but to date, there are few--if any--products that you can actually buy. Here's a quick update on the wireless HDMI products we've heard about to date--including when (or whether) we can expect to see them: … Read more

Windows Live Home is a one-stop place to monitor all your activity on Microsoft's various Web properties. People can get a bird's-eye view on their Hotmail, Live Spaces, and Live Calendar, and easily see who's on Windows Live Messenger, and how much space they're using on their SkyDrive.

Users can also add all sorts of customizable gadgets to their Live Home page, as they would on Netvibes or My Yahoo. That same directory houses gadgets that can be included in the Windows Vista sidebar, or on their Live Spaces or Events pages.

Winner: Windows Live Home (… Read more

Google on Monday invited programmers into a new sandbox that will let them test out significantly expanded possibilities for Web gadgets, small applications that can be hosted on the company's iGoogle personalized home page.

The sandbox, available at Google's iGoogle developer page, lets developers get started with a number of new features that eventually will make their way to the regular iGoogle home page, said lead product manager Jessica Ewing.

Among those new features are a left-hand region of the Web browser that lets users navigate quickly through a list of gadgets, a "canvas view" that … Read more

The OpenMicroServer is kind of an "extreme" use server pushing the boundaries for normal, low-cost hardware. In a 624-day endurance test, the OpenMicroServer performed normally under 122 degrees F conditions. The unit also employs a power efficient AMD Alchemy (MIPS) CPU and precise part placement based on thermo-fluid analysis to achieve semi-hermetic construction. It can handle down to the freezing point (0 degrees C), too. Detailed hardware specs are here. … Read more

Microsoft confirmed that it is planning a subscription service that combines the consumer version of Office with its OneCare security suite.

Code-named Albany, the product has a single installer that puts Office Home and Student, OneCare, as well as a host of Windows Live services, onto a user's PC. As long as users keep paying for the subscription, they are entitled to the latest versions of the products. Once they stop paying, they lose the right to use any version.

The product is aimed at consumers that want a simple way to have access to Microsoft's productivity suite … Read more

The day is fast approaching when a holodeck in our living room may not be so far-fetched. First shown at CeBIT 2008, the Fitness@home virtual training system (PDF) is a first step toward a simulated reality facility, though we can hear Star Trek fans snorting at its baby steps. Still, this brainchild of Berlin's Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Architecture and Software Technology (FIRST) is the closest we've seen in conjuring up some virtual-reality wizardry to place you anywhere you fancy: Mt. Everest, if you plan to do some serious StairMaster climbing, National Geographic-style; the Beijing Olympics, if … Read more