Bridging the Gaps between blogs on the Net
Written by Jose Castillo on January 25, 2008.
Circuit City has a cobalt blue/black DS Lite for preorder on their website. Considering three minutes have passed since the last time the DS got a costume change, this makes perfect sense to us. No word on the release date, but as always, it’s $130. Get it now to complete your collection and make Nintendo a few more dollars.
[Via Gizmodo]
Written by Jose Castillo on January 25, 2008.
The fixtures at Apple Stores are very physical manifestations of Apple’s legendary attention to detail. They are amongst the best designed consumer experiences I have ever had in an electronics store (many high end boutiques offer up the same attention to detail, but they are also not selling computers and iPods). Therefore, it makes sense to me that some people might want to buy similar things for their own and now you can. OOBject has compiled a list of all the materials that go into an Apple store (OK, if not everything in an Apple store, then lots of things that you might find).
[Via TUAW]
Written by Jose Castillo on January 24, 2008.
We knew Dell and Microsoft would be giving some of their gear the Bono treatment this week, but the two companies and the AIDS-in-Africa relief project unveiled their partnership in style today at Davos. Just like we’d heard, the XPS m1530, m1330, and XPS One machines are all going crimson, as well as the 948 AIO printer. Microsoft’s kicking in a special (PRODUCT) RED-themed edition of Vista Ultimate to keep things special on the OS tip, and obviously you’ll feel better about things with donations of $50 - $80 of each machine’s purchase price going to RED, and $5 on the printer (hey, those margins are low enough as it is). All the new stuff should be available by the end of the week in the States, and by January 31 in 30 additional countries — or right now for your viewing pleasure in the gallery.
Written by Jose Castillo on January 24, 2008.
One obvious and debated question on a lot of potential buyers’ minds: okay, I’m dropping nearly two large on this here machine, but will the external optical drive even work with one of my other laptops and/or desktops? The answer: no. Regular USB simply doesn’t support the power draw an optical drive needs, which was evidenced as plugged the SuperDrive into a stock MacBook Pro and it came up bupkis. It wouldn’t even let us insert a disk without forcing it down the drive’s maw. Of course, it worked just fine on the Air. Seriously though, how many machines do you have that need an external optical drive, anyway? For inquiring minds: yes, the USB port looks identical to your stock port. Apple is obviously just jamming some more amperage down the line. Also, no this won’t work with a powered hub.
Written by Jose Castillo on January 24, 2008.
Recent announcements on iTunes rentals certainly caused a stir amongst the neglected Mac-masses, but it looks like the online rental game is about to get a little more cutthroat for fanboys and fangirls everywhere. According to a new report (and backed up by an earlier blog post), streaming content for Netflix subscribers is headed to Mac screens in 2008 — if everyone has their way. During the company’s Q4 earnings call this week, the snail-mail service hinted that this would be the year that streaming rentals would come to Mac users due to the advent of DRM options that play nice with Apple’s gear (namely, Microsoft’s Silverlight technology). Combine this with news that the company plans to offer all-you-can-eat online rentals for $8.99 a month, its intentions to bring a STB to market with LG, and a possible game console partnership — well, it all adds up to stiff competition for Apple and other challengers, despite what they say.
[Via Engadget]
Written by Jose Castillo on January 23, 2008.
As expected, Sir Richard Branson has just unveiled the final designs of SpaceShipTwo and White Knight Two, Virgin Galactic’s planned commercial “spaceliner” and its corresponding carrier plane. At today’s American Museum of Natural History launch event, Branson once again reiterated his lofty expectations for space tech in general and the six-passenger vehicle in particular, promising to promote privatization and more widespread research by offering outside organizations access to its launch system schematics. So far, Virgin has reportedly signed up 200 committed passengers willing to pay $200,000 for a 2010-or-later suborbital flight, but for now, all they can do is look at the pretty pictures in the gallery below.
[Via BBC]
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