Digital Life highlights

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming

Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times

Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials

Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings

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Dan Ackerman

Oct. 14, 2005 12:32 p.m. PT

My highlights, at least. Your mileage may vary. There's a ton of cool stuff to see at the open-to-the-public Digital Life technology show, going on all weekend at the Javitz Center in Manhattan, including few significant products for Media Center and home-theater PC fans.

Akimbo, a company that offers on-demand IPTV, has announced that its programming will now be available on PCs through Windows Media Center. Previously, you needed an external set-top box to use the monthly subscription service. We got a run-through of the service recently, and it seems pretty cool, especially if you're in the market for specialty programming, like foreign language content and VegTV (for vegetarians, of course).

HP showed off a few new systems, including some new entries in its Digital Entertainment Center z500 series. The z556 and the z558 seem similar to the z555 we reviewed (and liked) a few months ago, but the new systems include the new Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

Speaking of the long-awaited Rollup 2, everyone else who has Media Center Edition 2005 can now get the latest update, which was released today and includes Xbox 360 support, support for multidisc changers, and support for multiple over-the-air HD TV tuners.

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