We couldn't record today's Podcast without spending a little time on Gizmodo's big unveiling of Microsoft's secret tablet PC. The blog is reporting that even though our first inclination is to call it a tablet, it's really more of a booklet, with two 7-inch(ish) screens with multitouch, a 3MP camera on the back, and a fancy stylus for clicking, writing, dragging, and drawing. In typical 404 fashion, we have to poke fun at the fact that while a long plastic pen is very innovative, we wish it had fully functioning voice recognition, but as we've seen from the Google iPhone app, that technology will likely never be perfected. In the meantime, it looks like the Microsoft booklet will materialize before the fabled Apple tablet.
Speaking of Apple, Wilson and I are very psyched for Google to finally release push e-mail support on Google Sync for the iPhone. This means there will always be a connection to Google's servers to keep your mailbox up to date. There's no additional application necessary, just head to m.google.com/sync from your computer and follow these instructions.
If you're a long-time 404 listener, you'll remember a few months back when my iPhone camera stopped working and the Apple Genius at the store told me that my phone had somehow been submerged in water, judging by the indication on the external water sensor. Well as it turns out, that liquid sensor is a filthy liar. There are actually two liquid sensors on the phone, an internal and an external, which more often than not, tell contradicting stories. If a Genius sees the external one is triggered, the official Apple protocol tells them to report that the warranty is now void and Apple is no longer responsible for fixing the damaged phone. More importantly, the protocol says not to open iPhones and check the internal sensor. If you've had a similar experience, we want to hear about it, but you should also head back to the Apple store and ask them to open up the phone and double-check it. Who knows, you might leave with a brand-new iPhone.
EPISODE 430
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Rovi's Liquid media guide will provide access to broadcast TV, broadband Internet content, and personal media.
(Credit: Rovi)Macrovision, best known for its digital rights management software, officially changed its name today to Rovi. To celebrate, the company announced a new media guide, code named "Liquid." According to the press release, Liquid will merge television, Internet, and personal multimedia content into a single, sleek graphical interface. Rovi plans on releasing the guide to consumer electronics manufacturers in early 2010.
The media guide is broken up into three basic areas. First off is a FiOS-like interactive guide to broadcast TV, which appears to offer extensive information and playback options. The second major component will offer broadband services like Slacker Radio, Roxio CinemaNow, and YouTube XL, the large-screen-friendly version of the popular video streaming site. Rovi also announced that it is working with Blockbuster to integrate its OnDemand service for access to full-length movie rentals. Finally, the guide will be able to access and share personal media, such as a digital photo collection (although it's not clear how exactly you'll incorporate or share your own media). Liquid will also personalize your experience with recommendations from social networks like Flixster and by learning your preferences and tastes and incorporating them into user profiles.
In terms of design, the guide looks very impressive, but there is a visible error in the TV guide, as one Engadget commenter points out. In the featured image, 48 Hours Mystery, a CBS program, is also mistakenly listed under ABC. (Crave is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.) If this isn't a mock-up image, then Liquid is probably using preset data instead of pulling real guide data. It remains to be seen what the guide will actually look like in action.
Rovi is also rather vague about what exactly Liquid will be able to offer beyond the few announced features. For example, the press release says that the guide will provide access to "full length television and movie content for both free and paid services, as well as additional content including Internet video, popular music, social networking, and other Internet destinations." While the announced content certainly fits under that description, so does an extensive list of other destinations on the Internet, so we'll have to wait and see what else Liquid will support.
As of now, Rovi hasn't announced which companies or models will support Liquid, so we don't really know yet when (or even if) the guide will actually see the light of your TV.
Just a cup of water and a bit of detergent. That's all that needs to be added to a virtually waterless washing machine from British company Xeros that's poised to hit the North American market.
The dirty job is done by small nylon beads that pull stains off garments and lock them into the nylon's molecular structure. The beads don't even seem to suffocate easily--they can continue to absorb dirt over hundreds of washes.
Nathan Wrench, program manager at Cambridge Consultants, holds the nylon beads used in Xeros' washing process.
(Credit: Xeros)The technology builds on research out of the U.K.'s University of Leeds and has been applied in a concept washing machine with the help of Cambridge Consultants.
Now, after three years of testing, Xeros, a University of Leeds spinout (forgive the pun), has struck a deal with Kansas City-based GreenEarth Cleaning. It aims to start reselling Xeros washing machines throughout North America next year. (The concept device is being demonstrated Thursday at the Clean Show in New Orleans.)
But you won't be able to save water at home with the Xeros machines yet--the target market consists of commercial dry cleaning and laundry operations.
GreenEarth Cleaning will add the nylon bead technology to its proprietary dry cleaning method based on liquid silicone, or decamethylpentacyclosiloxane if you prefer the scientific name. Commercially, it's simply called D5.
Liquid silicone is a dry cleaning alternative to good old perchloroethylene, which is thought to produce toxic waste and is also classified as a probable human carcinogen.
Another recent alternative is washing with carbon dioxide under such high pressure that it becomes liquid--and no, it doesn't add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere as existing CO2 is used, but the downside is the high expense of the machines.
The upside with both CO2 washing and the British nylon beads is that garments are virtually dry immediately after being washed.
It's easy to think these almost-dry-cleaning processes would wear and tear the garments more than traditional laundry, but GreenEarth Cleaning insists there's no difference.
"The testing completed to date has indicated no appreciable difference in wear between garments processed in the Xeros technology versus the traditional laundry process," Tim Maxwell, president of GreenEarth Cleaning, told CNET News. "Extensive testing with silks, embroidered garments, and other delicate items have shown no ill effects."
Liquid TV is a DVR for your PC.
(Credit: Nero)Note: Congrats to Robert M. of Emeryville, Calif., who won this week's prize.
For this week's Crave giveaway, we've got Nero's LiquidTV, a DVR package for your Windows PC that features TiVo's software interface. The retail package includes the software, a TiVo remote, a USB IR receiver, a one-year subscription to the service, and an HD-compatible USB tuner. That's a lot of stuff packed into one box!
So, how do you win yourself a free Nero LiquidTV? Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test.
- Register as a CNET user. Go to the top of this page and hit the "Join CNET" link to start the registration process. If you're already registered, no need to register again.
- Leave a comment below. You can leave whatever comment you want. If it's funny or insightful it won't help you win, but we're trying to have fun here, so anything entertaining is appreciated.
- Leave only one comment. You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter more than one comment, you will be automatically disqualified.
- Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) Nero Liquid TV Approximate retail value is $150.
- If you are chosen, you will be notified via e-mail. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
- Entries can be submitted until Monday, May 11, at 12 p.m. EDT.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 UNITED STATES OR D.C., 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Sweepstakes ends at 11:59:59 a.m. EDT on May 11, 2009. See official rules for details.
Note: A bug in our comments system is preventing all of the comments from showing, but those entries remain viewable to CNET administrators and still count as valid entries.
Good luck.
The prolonged death spiral of its retail stores have been well-documented (not least by our undercover spy shots of the so-called liquidation sales), but the Circuit City story seems to have added yet another chapter.
Computer vendor Systemax has agreed to purchase the bankrupt company's trademarks and domain names for $6.5 million, according to the Houston Chronicle. The actual sale is part of a May 11 auction of assets, and in court filings, Circuit City said, "The sale of the intellectual property and Internet assets would bring significant recovery for the sellers' estates and creditors."
If the Systemax name sounds familiar (and you've missed the handful of Systemax desktops we've reviewed over the years), that's because the company snapped up the remains of the CompUSA brand last year after that chain folded. They're also the parent company of online retailer TigerDirect.
When it decided to go out of business, Circuit City employed 34,000 people at 567 retail stores. Want to remember the good times? Check out the gallery below.
In case some of you missed this Thursday, Ritz Camera--and by association Wolf and Kits Camera among others--is shutting down more than 300 stores around the U.S. as part of a court-supervised bankruptcy reorganization. This of course means stock liquidation sales, which will begin Saturday, April 4.
As with the Circuit City liquidation, I wouldn't expect huge discounts despite a senior VP at one of the four LLCs handling the sale saying we'll find "quality, brand-name merchandise at greatly reduced prices." (I'm willing to bet his idea of "greatly reduced" and mine don't jibe.)
Though it's sad to see more stores shutting down, at least Ritz isn't going away entirely. The company as of right now plans to keep more than 400 stores open.
Click here to see the full announcement and view a PDF of all the stores shutting down.
Years ago I worked at a Circuit City-like big-box retailer in Washington state called Future Shop. I was there through the bitter end when they shuttered the U.S. stores, and I worked through the liquidation. Toward the end there wasn't much left. Employees would hide things they wanted so they could get the larger discounts later in the sale, but for the most part we treated the customers well.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
Apparently not so at some Circuit Citys, like one near Boston. According to a local news channel, Gina Reis thought she was getting a good deal on a large-screen Samsung HDTV at $1,100. Signs posted at the store advised buyers not to open the merchandise, so she didn't. Signs also said all sales are final.
When Gina got home she was shocked to find the screen shattered. Returning to the Circuit City, she was told the store wouldn't take the HDTV back but that it included a full manufacturer's warranty.
Warranties on Samsung HDTVs, of course, don't cover shattered screens.
There are state laws in Massachusetts that protect consumers against such purchases, but they're superseded by federal liquidation and bankruptcy laws that actually say all sales are final.
Thankfully, Reis' local TV station contacted her credit card company, Citizens Bank, which agreed to drop the charges. The moral of the story is that if you're looking for a great deal at your local closing Circuit City, it's buyer beware, and check your purchases.
Related story:
Last days of Circuit City: Lousy bargains, rumpled salespeople
(Credit:
Shuttle)
If you're a hard-core gamer who hates monster computer boxes, Shuttle, the maker of custom built small form-factor PCs, now offers another choice.
The company unveiled on Friday its newest liquid-cooled SDXi Carbon Extreme gaming solution.
Shuttle's Liquid I.C.E. cooling solution.
(Credit: Shuttle)The SDXi Carbon features a cream-of-the-crop quad-core Intel Core2 Extreme QX9770 processor, dual-slot Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 graphics card, and up to 16GB of high-speed DDR2 memory.
With these specifications, the box is designed to deliver the best possible experience for the most demanding applications and games.
Normally, this kind of powerhouse will generate a ton of heat and noise. This is why Shuttle equipped the SDXi Carbon with its Liquid I.C.E. cooling solution.
The company claims this new liquid cooling solution delivers the most efficient performance in an extreme small-form-factor system, while at the same time keeping it quiet even during the hottest gaming section.
Cosmetics-wise, the SDXi Carbon looks decent as it's painted in a unique-looking premium automotive level finish.
The Shuttle SDXi Carbon is available now as a pre-configured complete solution, starting at $2,599.
At the risk of beating a dead horse, we dropped by our local Circuit City store this weekend to see if the oft-derided liquidation sales had picked up any steam. Hopefully, a couple of weeks into the CC death spiral, the discounts would ratchet up and we'd finally see some good deals.
While others have been prevented by store managers from getting actual in-store shots of the liquidation sales, we ninja'd our way through with the help of the iPhone's built-in camera, much as we did when sneaking pics of Wal-Mart's iPhone kiosks.
Many items were still listed at 10-percent off -- and that's 10-percent off the MSRP, not Circuit City's normally discounted prices, a distinction that has been noted repeatedly by reporters and bloggers. A few categories went up to 30-percent off (time to stock up on video game-hint books!), and even the 10-percent is worth checking out for items that normally don't get any kind of list price discount.
Check out the gallery below for a quick survey of what's on sale. We've even tossed in a few direct price comparisons for laptops and video-game gear to test just how liquid this liquidation sale really is.
After exploring other options, Circuit City said Friday it will begin liquidating all remaining stores.
Circuit City calls it quits.
(Credit: Circuit City)About 30,000 employees face layoffs as the rest of its 567 stores are closed. The fates of outstanding warranties, its Firedog repair service, and Canadian stores are still to be determined, according to the company.
The nation's second-largest consumer electronics retailer filed for bankruptcy in November and initially closed 155 retail outlets in an attempt to get its roughly $2 billion debt under control. Just a week ago, Circuity City announced it was in talks for a sale with two "highly interested" parties. After the talks broke down, the company said, it had no choice but to liquidate all remaining merchandise and shut its doors.
"We are extremely disappointed by this outcome. The company had been in continuous negotiations regarding a going concern transaction. Regrettably for the more than 30,000 employees of Circuit City and our loyal customers, we were unable to reach an agreement with our creditors and lenders to structure a going-concern transaction in the limited timeframe available, and so this is the only possible path for our company," James Marcum, acting president and chief executive officer for Circuit City, said in a statement.
The disappointing, recession-weakened holiday season likely sealed the retailer's fate, although the real problems began before the economic downturn. The retailer had posted several huge losses late 2007 and early 2008, but the rash of bank failures in September and October proved disastrous for it.
The resulting global credit crunch hit Circuit City hard. The retailer buys TVs, stereos, laptops, and other gadgets on credit, usually at a good rate from vendors with the promise to pay them back once the company sells the goods in its stores. But as the company racked up huge losses, and credit became suddenly more expensive, vendors stopped giving Circuit City reasonable financing rates.
