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Sunny day: 'Sesame Street' accessories arrive

And now, for your dose of morning cute..."Sesame Street" is making its way to video game and audio accessories.

The products, featuring the likenesses of iconic "Street" stars like Elmo, Grover, and Oscar the Grouch, come courtesy of a new partnership between game accessory maker DreamGear and Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind "Sesame Street."

The first officially licensed gaggle of gear, released late last month and selling at Toys "R" Us and Best Buy, includes cases and decals for the Nintendo DSi, DS Lite, and DSi XL; Elmo and Cookie … Read more

Smart stadium TV: NFL FanVision, hands-on

Sports fans can easily find the live stadium experience to be paradoxically out of touch compared with the instant stats, superior commentary, and HD replays available to home viewers. DVRs, HDTVs, and smartphones can't follow you to the live game. At stadiums, it's hard to get any smartphone to work properly. Streaming radio apps black out live game broadcasts, unless you're using Sirius. As for video, unless you've got some portable TV with an HDTV antenna converter box, you're out of luck.

This is the promise that NFL FanVision offers to a seasoned fan. At first glance, the device--a dedicated ruggedized handheld with a 4.3-inch screen formerly used at Nascar events--looks like a castoff from the early '00s, some idea of a personal media player from the early age of iPods. Purportedly waterproof (though we didn't test it) and boasting a 6-hour battery life for streaming, it's a bit too big to pocket and hangs from a lanyard around one's neck. Sure, it's not nearly as elegant as an iPhone. What it does, however, bears consideration. A live TV feed of the current game (plus audio commentary), multiple viewing angles, instant multi-angle replay after every play, plus live video of other games around the league, the NFL Red Zone channel, and stats...it's compelling for a hard-core fan.

How it works Others might ask, why not just watch the real live game in front of you? That's a valid point, but not for me. I'm a New York Jets fan, and my dad has been one for 45 years. We know the players, and we like to know what's happening down to the fine details. FanVision's audio commentary and stats offer more than what's given via the minimalist PA system and the infrequently updated HD megascreens. And instant replay, the killer app for the home user, is offered up at the press of a button.

Even better, FanVision seems to be set up to be overload-proof. FanVision works via a dedicated local UHF channel that's licensed to broadcast in the stadium and the parking lot area. The device is really a higher-tech TV, one that can receive up to 10 channels of digitally compressed video and stat data and cache highlight videos for replays. Once booted up via a small power button, the device locates the nearby broadcast tower and downloads team-specific data and channel programming. After a few minutes of initialization, the device is up and running. By avoiding Wi-Fi or 3G, FanVision's broadcast concept shouldn't suffer from slowdown.

It all sounds great on paper, but we wanted to test it for ourselves.… Read more

Baseball fan jerseys go high-def

Everybody's seen a T-shirt with a digital image printed on it, but Three60 Gear, a company based in St. Charles, Mo., is taking the whole photo-on-garment thing to a new level with its line of baseball player themed jerseys that it calls "high-definition shirts."

Three60 Gear is somewhat secretive about its printing process, but it says each product has been "created by hand using high-quality photo images infused onto fabric through a unique dye-sublimation process." The 100 percent polyester shirts are moisture wicking (quick dry), antimicrobial, and retain their imagery through washing, though it's … Read more

Manta ray mugs cameraman

Travis Matteson was capturing footage on his Canon 5D Mark II underwater rig off the coast of Hawaii last month when a curious manta ray decided to try its fin at a spot of videography.

There was no chase, just footage of the incident taking place as fellow cameraman Johnny Reidt filmed the whole thing.

Luckily, the gear was returned eight minutes later, right near the dive boat.

Read more of "Manta ray steals underwater camera rig" at CNET Australia.

FanVision: A dream gadget for NFL stadiums?

If you're a Miami Dolphins fan, FanVision might not be news. The handheld device, which rocks a 4.3-inch screen, was available to Dolphins fans all of last year, because it's Dolphins co-owner Stephen Ross' company. An attempt to answer back to high-quality HDTV feeds and interactive tools available at home, FanVision is an NFL technology debuting in a handful of stadiums starting with the imminent 2010 season. So far it'll be available in only 12 stadiums (for Cardinals, Bills, Dolphins, Broncos, Browns, Bears, Vikings, Jets, Eagles, Redskins, and Seahawks fans, specifically), in addition to being offered … Read more

Gear Ties: A cord organizer with a twist

Though we give you permission to keep ignoring that messy drawer full of unused cables, we urge you to keep your visible and frequently used cords as neat as Mom would expect them to be.

Gear Ties make it easy to do that. They're made of rubber and can be reused until you've twisted them to death. OK, maybe even then.

Gear Ties come in different colors and five sizes, from 3 inches to 32 inches. And while their design has minimalist appeal, the ties can be used for just about anything.

Smaller sizes come in four-packs and … Read more

preGAME 19: Halo: Reach

This week on preGAME we're getting an exclusive First Look at Halo: Reach, almost two months before the game hits stores! In the studio today is Bungie Community Director Brian Jarrard, who will show us some of the single-player campaign as well as the revamped four-player co-op mode Firefight.

But first, we'll take a few moments to finally put E3 2010 to rest and go over a few things we thought were missing from the show. We'll also chat about the new Xbox 360 slim and figure out why the new console can't red-ring even if it wanted to. … Read more