Archive for July 26th, 2008

Zune Guy calls Microsoft ‘liars,’ says Zune situation is ‘f***ing bulls**t’

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jul 26th 2008 at 7:31PM


You’ve probably heard by now that the infamous Zune Guy (”Microsoft Zune”) was so disappointed with Microsoft that he’s elected to have his ink removed in place of something more in line with his shifted priorities. In addition to the reconstructive work he’s going to have, ZG claims that Microsoft actually lied to him about his free trip to the Redmond campus, which (as you might imagine) further tarnishes his image of the company. Unfortunately, according to reps from Microsoft we spoke with, the trip was never confirmed — only discussed — and ultimately canceled due to the very reasonable fear that it might lead a lot of “hyper-engaged users” to expect a trip of their own (though they did hook our man up with a free Zune and some related swag). What you probably haven’t heard (or seen) is his sprawling video rant, in which he accuses the big M of dropping the ball on his favorite PMP before going on a general rage-bender. We’ve included the video after the break (careful moms, it’s full of expletives), as well as link to a zunescene forum where the Zune Guy reveals he’s just purchased a new PMP… an ipod.

[Thanks to everyone who sent these in]

Read - Something else I have been hiding….
Read - Bought my new PMP today….

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Yahoo! to compensate DRM-protected Music Store customers

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 26th 2008 at 4:58PM

Hey, both of you Yahoo! Music Store customers, listen up. Just hours after Yahoo! affirmed that it would be powering down its DRM servers, along comes a spokesperson to alleviate any worries that you two will get screwed in all of this. According to Carrie Davis, customers “will be compensated for whatever they paid for the music,” and she continued on to state that Yahoo “had not yet decided what exactly it would do, but it would take care of its customers.” Some of the possible options include getting cash back for the money spent on tracks or receiving MP3 versions of the jams sans DRM (we’d take the former, thanks). Depressingly, there doesn’t seem to be a definitive time table laid out just yet for the restitution process.

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Filed under: Portable Audio

Wear AirDrives if you love your life

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

If you’re an avid jogger or cyclist who still wants to enjoy listening to your favorite tunes while working out a sweat on the pavement, perhaps it would be more prudent to invest in a pair of AirDrives? These allow you to groove to your tracks without missing out on ambient sounds that could mean the difference between life and death as a vehicle bears down on your six. The AirDrives rest just outside the ear, allowing you to stay alert to traffic, announcements and people around you. Audio from your mp3 player are transmitted using bone conduction technology. You can choose from adult, kids, and iphone versions which retail for £49.99, £39.99 and £59.99, respectively.

Source: Shiny Shiny

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Stainless Steel Hose Nozzle - guaranteed not to break or leak

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

I don’t know why, but I love hose nozzles, maybe not so much for the device itself, but b/c I get to play with water! Probably goes back to being a kid. After all, what kid do you know doesn’t like splashing around or squirting someone else, and it just gets better with a high-powered nozzle!

This nozzle has 5 spray settings, and a 2-way shut-off. It’s heavy-duty, and is guaranteed for life. It’s made with stainless steel, fiberglass, brass threads and has a comfort-grip of santoprene rubber.

Summer is here, and you need one of these to replace that leaking, clunky garden hose nozzle you have now.

Gimme!

Price: $29.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Posted in Miscellaneous

El Tunes gives Linux users iTMS playback capabilities

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 26th 2008 at 4:51AM

It has been a solid tick since we’ve seen a good FairPlay hack, so it’s with great pleasure that we pass along El Tunes for Ubuntu 8.04 users everywhere. Tested to work on Hardy Heron using RhythmBox (but assumed to work on any modern Linux Distro with GStreamer and a media player that utilizes GStreamer), said plug-in enables open-source aficionados to play songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store. As for limitations, the current version has no Pause / Seek support and cannot de-authorize a machine for playback, but a future version should hopefully cure those two quirks and add support for purchased video content and audio streaming to an AirTunes device. Give it a shot and let us know how it treats ya.

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

Mobile Phone Deals with Free Gifts

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

The latest craze to sweep the UK is offering mobile phone deals with free gifts. This represents a very attractive option for both the mobile retailer and the consumer. Not only does the consumer get a free gift that they could not normally afford, but the retailer gets a much needed sale.

Mobile phone companies are offering things like mobile phones with free laptop as well as free Nintendo WII’s and LCD TV’s. The trick is to make sure that you don’t go for one of the more expensive handsets like the Sony Ericsson C902, as you are less likely to get such an elaborate free gift with your mobile phone.

The better thing to do would be to go for something like the Nokia 6300, a budget mobile phone that offers a much better scope for grabbing a cool free gift. So why not check it out today?

WhiteKnightTwo to be unveiled on Monday, space to seem less far away

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 26th 2008 at 1:23PM


Hold onto your dollar bills, y’all — the WhiteKnightTwo is set to be unveiled (and swooned over) on Monday. We knew the fabled space tourism vehicle was set to be unwrapped this month, but knowing that said event is merely hours away just gets our juices flowin’. Richard Branson and “other dignitaries” are preparing to officially launch the ship at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California (a short drive from Zzyzx, we hear), and we’re still being led to believe that test flights should begin as early as this fall. Hey, at least you know what you’re doing next year if your ship comes in.

[Via The Register]

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Filed under: Transportation

Sirius, XM merger receive the official FCC approval

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

Coming in a close 3-2 vote, the $3.3 billion purchase of XM from rival Sirius has been given the official seal of approval from the FCC.

This news will now leave US customers with just one satellite radio service, which initially sounds like not the best of news, however at least some from the FCC think this was a good move.

According to a recent statement from FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, “this merger is in the public interest and will ultimately benefit consumers.” As a consumer and a current Sirius subscriber I can only hope that turns out to be an accurate statement.

While the approval has been granted, this decision does not come without some guidelines, which are being set in place to offer protection to consumers.

To begin with there will be a three-year cap on prices. They will also have to offer a minimum of “8 percent of their channel capacity for minority and non-commercial programming” and also pay a fine of $19.7 million for FCC rule violations that have occurred in the past.

It sounds good so far.

Chairman Martin also went on to mention that this merger would allow customers to choose from smaller, low-cost packages of programming in the future.

Lets just hope that he means a more a-la-carte based system where you can pay just a few bucks a month for a few channels. I am not sure about your listening habits, but while its nice that Sirius currently has lots of available channels, I spend 95% of my time listening to just 4 or 5 of my favorites.

Read [Reuters]

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Pantel readies trio of weatherproof Mirror TVs

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

by Darren Murph, posted Jul 26th 2008 at 9:41AM


Just because you haven’t been remotely interested in seen a mirror TV in, oh, years, doesn’t mean that companies aren’t still interested in exploiting the niche. Take Pantel, for instance, who is totally stoked about debuting a trio of ‘em at CEDIA 2008. Set to launch in 20-, 32- and 42-inch flavors, the Mirror TV line is aimed at folks looking to add a multipurpose display in their bathroom, shower or sauna. The 20- and 32-inch editions arrive with a 720p panel, while the 42-incher checks in with a full 1080p resolution. Price wise, you’re looking at $1,200 for the little guy, $2,755 for the 32-inch sibling and $5,800 for the mack daddy.

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Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

BlackBerry Bold gets delayed again on AT&T, Rogers

Saturday, July 26th, 2008

Things are not looking up for the highly-anticipated BlackBerry Bold. With further delays now expected from AT&T, it is also seeing a slight delay with Rogers in Canada.

The BlackBerry Bold will still be available for Canadian customers long before it hits here in the US, however it was supposed to have been officially available yesterday, July 25 and that of course did not happen. Rogers has pushed that launch back to July 29.

Luckily its just being delayed a week, and not nearly as bad as what we are seeing here in the US.

AT&T, which was originally expecting to have the Bold available in July, has since pushed that back to mid-August and now it looks like it will be delayed even longer with a possible launch coming on September 1. Of course that date is dependent on whether or not AT&T will be able to properly train their staff on the phone.

Via [blackberry News]

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