Author: Dan Nosowitz

Sony is making a big push with Playstation Network, finally bringing their breadth of media ownings and hardware together. We’re talking PS3, Vaio, Blu-ray, Bravia TVs, everything—it’s all going to play nice now.

Sony just announced the Dash (or as they call it, the “dash”) is a crazy convergence of what we think of as a tablet with a stand-up widget device like the Chumby. It looks badass. Update: Hands-on!

It’s pretty interesting—not just a slab like a giant iphone, but an angled screen that stands upright, sort of like a Chumby with the power of a true tablet. Here are some more details on the tablet.

Update: So I got to play around with the Dash, and it’s not bad at all—but it’s almost disturbing how much it’s just a “Sony Chumby”—in fact, after asking the reps, we’ve confirmed that it actually runs a somewhat flashier version of Chumby OS. The screen is bigger and better than the Chumby One, and it must have a little heftier processor to be able to handle full-screen streaming video. It works almost exactly like the Chumby (makes sense, since it runs the same OS)—it’s got a homescreen with a clock and some basic info like weather, in which a large rotating screenshot progresses through your apps (weather, Facebook, Twitter, NYTimes headlines, email, music, whatever). You tap on the app you want when it’s pictured, and it opens up. It retains Chumby’s best features, like being able to set just about anything as an alarm (music, Pandora, and now YouTube, if for some reason you want that), although it is significantly bigger. I like it, but it doesn’t have any of the vintage cutesy charm of the Chumby, instead looking big (comparatively), black, sleek, and, well, Sony. It costs $200.

SONY’S NEW “DASHTM” PERSONAL INTERNET VIEWER OFFERS PERSONALIZED WEB EXPERIENCE AT A GLANCE

New product provides instant access to news, weather, Internet radio and other applications

LAS VEGAS (CES Booth #14200), Jan. 6, 2010 –Sony confirmed its commitment to providing consumers with innovative networked products with the introduction of the new dash™ Personal Internet Viewer.

Featuring a vivid 7-inch color touch screen (measured diagonally) and access to over 1,000 free Internet apps, including news, calendars, weather, sports, social networking and more, dash utilizes an existing home wireless connection to continuously deliver Internet content to its viewers.

“In today’s connected world, Sony continues to look for ways to help enhance consumers’ entertainment experiences throughout the home” said Brennan Mullin, Sony Electronics’ senior vice president of the personal imaging and audio business. “dash empowers consumers with a fun, interactive way to stay connected with their news, entertainment, interests and ultimately, their lives.”

By bundling favorite pieces of the Internet together, dash provides always fresh, personalized content at a glance. The new product offers free access to all apps from chumby industries, inc. as well as the robust audio and video content from Sony’s Bravia™ Internet video platform, including YouTube™, Pandora® Internet radio, Epicurious, Crackle, Livestrong™, Blip.tv and much more.

Other content includes a NAVTEQ® app for easily accessible traffic updates on a customized route, and a Cozi™ app for simple management and synching of family calendars. Further, Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment will be contributing exclusive dash apps for movie trailers, music videos, custom user themes and more, including an app from Dr. Oz offering daily health and exercise tips.

In addition, Sony dash can run multiple sources of content simultaneously, so for example, Internet radio can be enjoyed while browsing through online photo albums. Or, the alarm clock can be set to play selected online videos from music, sports and other news feeds. The device also allows users to choose apps either directly from the device or online through a PC, and new content for dash will continue to be added moving forward.

Within the device, an internal accelerometer supports vertical flip, allowing for two optional viewing angles: upright, ideal for a table or nightstand; and tilted, perfect for a countertop. It also supports multiple user profiles and channels, allowing several members of the household to create and maintain their own customized view of the Internet.

dash also features built-in stereo speakers as well as a USB port for simple connection to a variety of external electronic devices. An headphone output jack gives users the option to listen privately through headphones or through external speakers.
Sony’s dash will be available this April for about $199 at www.sonystyle.com, Sony Style® retail stores and a variety of authorized dealers nationwide.

Sony introduced a whopping 17 new cameras and camcorders today, in the Handycam and Cyber-Shot lines, and as was hinted, they support SD and microSD cards. Even better, the new TransferJet lets you share photos between cameras, wirelessly.

Only certain Sony cameras will support TransferJet, and even then they have to use another goddamn new Sony proprietary MemoryStick format, the TransferJet Memory Stick card. Those wireless Cyber-Shots will be available starting in February and roll out throughout the year. [PRNewswire]

Sony just announced that they’re going to focus on live music performances in 3D. They started out with a clip of Hendrix at Woodstock (awesome) and now they’re bringing out the adorable glitter explosion that is Taylor Swift.

They’re going to film them live and convert to 3D, to be broadcast on TV. Right now, Taylor Swift is performing live (just for us! Sparkly guitar and all!) and behind her, they’re showing the performance coded in 3D. It’s pretty f-in’ cool.

We’ve seen IR solutions for the iPhone before, but this is the first we’ve seen for BlackBerry—and the first that also works as a garage door opener.

Unlike the Remote or L5 Remote, Audiovox’s Zentral solution doesn’t need a dongle—it communicates with a base station via Bluetooth, and that base station in turn talks to your TV (or stereo, iPod, garage door, whatever). There are three products in the line: The AV Remote for iPhone and BlackBerry, which works with up to 16 different devices ($60 for BlackBerry, $80 for iPhone); the Smartphone Jukebox, which lets a BlackBerry control an iPod ($70); and the Smartphone Garage Remote for BlackBerry ($50). They’ll all be available sometime this spring. [Audiovox]

Powerline network solutions have been getting better and better, with Belkin’s Powerline HD claiming the current speed title—and Monster is now claiming the top of the line.

When it works (and that’s not necessarily something you should assume), power line communication basically lets you use your home’s electrical system as a wired network, which is a way better option than scrabbling around in walls trying to get ethernet to every room. The problem is speed—even the best powerline adapters can’t reach standard ethernet speeds. The PowerNet 1G uses the AMD AR7400 chipset at 500Mbps, which is indeed about 2.5x faster than the typical 200Mbps adapters on the market today (though in sheer muscle, not as fast as the Powerline HD—but those numbers don’t mean a ton in the real world).

I didn’t get a chance to test out the PowerNet 1G, (release date is still to be decided) but those are some pretty bold claims. We’ll see if they can deliver. It’ll cost $300 upon release. [Monster]

HP’s new TM2 swivelling tablet is an evolution of its surprisingly long-running tablet series, and it’s definitely a worthy younger brother to the TouchSmart 600 all-in-one. BumpTop, the new desktop alternative, is a huge step up for the line.

The TM2 is the next-gen version of the TX2, also a 12.1-inch capacitive multitouch swivelling tablet. The TX2 had some issues—it was one of those “just slap a touchscreen on Windows and now it’s a tablet” tablets, which never really work that well. HP’s TouchSmart software was okay, but was really better for its big brother, the all-in-one. But the TM2 is a huge step in terms of software, not least because Windows 7 is eminently more touchable than Vista or XP. The hardware is a typical bump from the TX2—same sized screen, 9-hour battery life, same chiclet-style keyboard and multitouch trackpad as the Envy line, Core 2 Duo proc and better graphics.

But what’s exciting is the “BumpTop” interface. It’s essentially a desktop replacement that replicates your documents as well as various “places” that you can toss them—toss a photo into the Facebook icon to upload it, or toss a document into the printer icon to print it. It’s intuitive and works well, although it’s tricky to use when the screen is flipped up in “laptop” mode rather than down in “tablet” mode. The TM2 also has the new TouchSmart software for things like music, video, Netflix and Hulu, which is good because they’ve eliminated the optical (DVD) drive. But this is still a Windows 7 tablet—it’s best to think of it as a portable version of the TouchSmart all-in-ones. It’s a normal computer with some fun touch extras built in.

It’ll be available January 7th, starting at $950. [HP]

HP announced three new netbooks in the Mini line today: The 210 (consumer), 5102 (business) and 2102 (both?). They’re pretty standard next-gen netbooks, except for the 5102’s odd touchscreen option.

The new HP Mini 210 is looking a lot better on the outside, with a new design, multitouch trackpad (like a miniature version of the ones in the Envy series) and new island-style (or chiclet) keyboard that’s 92% the size of a standard keyboard. It’s also available in craaaaazy new colors, like blue! And red! They’re packing Intel’s new Pine Trail Atom procs (the N450 at 1.66GHz, to be exact, with an optional Broadcom video accelerator), 10.1-inch screen, larger HDDs (160GB, 250GB and up to 320GB, which is huge for netbooks), and up to 1GB of memory (lame). The 2102 is pretty much the same internally as the 210, but with a brushed metal finish instead of the cute plasticky case of the 210.

The Mini 5102, the “business” model, is a little confusing: It actually offers a multitouch screen like the TM2, but without the software and without the swivelling screen, so I’m not quite sure how useful it is. It has the “premium” brushed aluminum finish and a 95% real-size keyboard, as well as a goofy handle so you can carry your netbook like a lunchbox. The 210 will start at $300, the 2102 at $330 and the 5102 at $400, with the former two available starting today and the latter sometime this month. [HP]

Like the Chumby, I’m not totally sure that the Pure Sensia is meant as a clock radio. But I don’t know what the hell else you’d use it for, and it’d be pretty sweet to wake up to.

Pure mainly focuses on internet radio, releasing little docks and speaker sets and that kind of thing, but this is their first effort with a touchscreen and it definitely looks to best the Chumby One (though not the sorta similar iLuv App Station) in the specs department. It’s got a 5.7-inch capacitive glass touchscreen (the Chumby’s got a 3.5-inch resistive), a 30W sound system (Chumby’s only packing a paltry 2W) and offers weather, Facebook and Twitter apps, with “more to come.”

Now here’s the part where Chumby kicks the Sensia’s ass: The Sensia is far bigger, like dominate-your-bedside-table big; its design is, at best, inoffensive, while the Chumby is damned adorable; it’s got no homebrew community to hack away and make it a great gadget, let alone a huge repository of fun approved apps; and most importantly, it’s $350 to the Chumby’s $100. $350 is super expensive for a clock radio, or a bedside boombox or whatever you’d call this thing. Availability has yet to be announced. [Pure]

Thank God for USB 3.0. I was getting really tired of staring at the progress bar for seconds (seconds!) while my shit transfers. WD just announced their first MyBook external drive with 3.0, and it looks great.

The MyBook 3.0 drive is available in either a 1TB or 2TB capacity, and in either a drive-only or a kit that includes a USB 3.0 card (since, you know, not very many people have one of those yet). They’re surprisingly affordable, really—the 1TB drive is $180, and the kit adds another $20, while the 2TB drive’s (and kit’s) price has yet to be announced. Both drives are capable of getting 5Gb/s speeds, which is significantly faster than USB 2.0 (around 5-10 times faster). It’s backwards compatible with USB 2.0, so no worries about attaching it to older hardware if need be. The 1TB drive is available now, and the 2TB should come later this month. [WD]

“Did you really need that fourth bourbon? And why did you go with the super burrito? Is the cheese and sour cream really necessary?” it seems to ask. “Maybe you should go for a run.”

Well, fuck you, Activa, I don’t need your judgment, and yes, I did need that fourth bourbon. If you must know, the Philips Activa is the next in what’s becoming a trend: The fitness-based PMP. It makes sense—smartphones are replacing PMPs at a rapid rate, and one of the only niches that they can’t (or shouldn’t) cover is workouts. You really shouldn’t bring your Droid or iPhone with you while working out; they’re big and bulky and valuable.

The Activa is a teeny little pocket player, includes a clip like the Sansa Clip+, and in what has to be a first, I have no idea what the capacity is. Either 4GB or 8GB is expected, but it’s not listed in the specs for some reason. It matches your music with your workout by tempo and measures the usual distance and calorie counts, as well as giving audio feedback to let you know what your status is (a nice feature, for sure). It should be available in April 2010 for $130. [Philips]

Big news from Skype: They’re making a push for better video quality, with both new HD webcams and software support, but that’s not the biggest deal here. They’re also partnering with LG and Panasonic for Skype-enabled HDTVs.

The new Skype 4.2 beta can achieve better quality video than ever before: 1280 x 720 resolution at 30fps. They’ve also got a line of HD webcams (hardware from faceVision and In Store) that pack video encoding and processing onboard, so as not to confound your grandma’s crappy old computer. There are two versions from each manufacturer: FaceVision has one with and one without a microphone ($100 and $70, respectively) and In Store has the Freetalk Pro at $120 and the presumably ever pro-er Freetalk Pro Plus at $140.

Now for those HDTVs. LG and Panasonic are the hardware partners here, and they’ve integrated both a webcam and Skype software into their HDTVs. They’ll have just about every Skype feature the computer software has—voicemail, landline and mobile calls, free Skype-to-Skype, all that—as well as a 720p webcam and microphones specifically designed to pick up sound at couch distance. Want to say hello to your kid, niece, nephew, grandkid, whatever, but he or she won’t sit still in front of a computer? Let ’em run around in front of the TV! We’ll get more info from Skype on specific pricing and availability for these TVs this week. [Skype]

I don’t know what’s going on over at Samsung, but as PMPs die, you’ve got to come up with some way to differentiate your product—and I guess a see-through screen is as good a way as any.

Samsung’s PMPs are among the best out there—I love the P3—but their design has been only slightly quirky in the past. All the crumbly gingerbread cookie widgets in the world wouldn’t compare to the utter Korean weirdness going on in the IceTouch (which recalls the SE Pureness) and the MyFit.

The IceTouch is a 16GB player with a 2-inch AMOLED touchscreen, but what a freaking weird touchscreen it is. First, it looks like it has a sliding blue sheath of some kind that covers the touchscreen. Why? Who knwos? But Samsung didn’t stop there—the screen is transparent. The player itself isn’t made of plastic or metal, but tempered glass, and features Samsung’s usual sound enhancements and top-of-its-class video compatibility. It also has (eep) a brand of Samsung’s TouchWiz UI called Sweep. You might remember TouchWiz from when it thoughtlessly murdered any hope the Omnia II had. Samsung’s PMPs have mostly escaped TouchWiz’s sinister, all-reaching grasp, and hopefully the IceTouch survives as well.

Pricing and availability haven’t been announced yet. [Samsung]

IceTouch 16GB Transparent AMOLED Touch-Screen MP3 Player

In addition to the full-color transparent AMOLED touch screen, the IceTouch features a high-performance CPU and Samsung’s own “TouchWiz Sweep” interface, which is designed to provide a comfortable grip and give users new options for interacting with their player.

Audio purists will appreciate the device’s new 5.1-channel sound enhancement technology and support for the MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, AAC, M4A, WAV and MP3HD audio codecs, and video hounds will love being able to playback MPEG4, WMV, H.264, Xvid and Divx files. The player also continually analyzes and adjusts audio levels to reflect the producer’s intended sound.

The AMOLED screen casing is constructed using a dual-injection molding process and tempered glass and results in a smooth, durable and scratch-proof surface that is aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable to the touch. The IceTouch, which comes in white, can also be individually customized through separately sold color skins in pink, blue, purple and gray.

The MyFit is a pretty good idea taken unexpectedly to the extreme. A workout player, sure, that’s a good idea. But wait, this doesn’t just count calories, it measures your fat and forcibly tells you to drink water.

The MyFit is an 8GB workout player, and while it likely won’t be cheap or durable enough to displace the Sansa Clip+ as my workout player of choice, it’s definitely more feature-packed. It has fat and stress sensors, a customizable exercise management program that selects music based on workout, calorie counter and jogging control—all great. But it also has a water intake manager to tell you when to take a water break, and something about “smoking cessation,” presumably to yell at you for smoking. How does it know if you smoke? Who knows? As a PMP, it’s got the usual attributes, including an FM radio and decent codec support. It’ll be available sometime in the first half of 2010, and no price has yet been announced. [Samsung]

MyFit Wellness Promoting MP3 Player

As the world’s first portable media player to integrate wellness management tools, such as stress and body fat levels and customized workout guides, MyFit helps users achieve wellness while enjoying their favorite music tracks. MyFit transcends basic playback of music and videos and enters the realm of wellness information and monitoring. Its unique features reflect the functional and stylistic nature of music enthusiasts while incorporating important applications and information for a fully-customizable device that encourages a healthy lifestyle. Music can be collected into a jogging playlist and a simple Tapping Control Jogging mode makes it easy to change to the next song without interrupting a workout.

Breaking ground with the world’s first fat and stress sensors located on the top of the player, MyFit measures a user’s wellness indicators and contains an exercise management program to keep people on target with their fitness goals. A built-in accelerometer automatically tracks calories burned while jogging, and users can record their caloric consumption per meal with the included food calorie database. Additional wellness applications built into the MyFit include a water intake manager and smoking cessation utility.

But more than helping to make consumers healthier, MyFit is a full-featured portable music player that features an FM radio tuner and Samsung’s DNSe 3.0 sound enhancement technology, which helps to overcome the inefficiencies and limitations of compressed audio files and generate a more realistic stereo sound. Media playback includes high quality compressed and lossless audio formats, such as MP3, WMA, OGG, and AAC, as well as MPEG4 and WMV video formats.

Traumas the ioSafe Solo solid-state external drive can survive: Building collapse, 1550-degree fire, 30-foot submersion in salt water, and a 5,000-pound “crush force.” So you might say it’s durable.

It’s pretty much the most disaster-proof external drive I’ve ever seen. It also has eSATA in addition to USB and a “no questions asked” policy with regards to data recovery (which is good—what kind of horrors are you subjecting this thing to if you need data recovery?). It’ll be available in February in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities for, as expected, the very high prices of $500, $750 and $1250, respectively. [ioSafe]

I’ve never seen this Ericofon design before, because I was -30 when it was released in 1956, but it’s so stylish and cool that I’m glad someone decided to hack it into a Bluetooth receiver.

The project brings a lot of the Ericofon’s charm into this century, with the ringtone replicated and even a dialtone, for anyone who remembers what that is. Instructions and documentation of the process are available on the creator’s site, but you’ll have to find your own Ericofon to do it. [BTEricofon via Engadget]

The DECE, or Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, is made up of movie studios and tech companies, and is trying to create a way to effectively charge for digital movies. They revealed some future plans today, and they’re, um, interesting.

The idea is that when you buy a movie, your rights are digitally stored in a “rights locker,” which should theoretically allow you to play your purchased movie on any hardware that supports the DECE standard. Considering that Sony, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, Best Buy, Nokia, Toshiba, HP and Motorola—but not Disney or Apple—are all on board (and today they added several new members), that could mean a wide range of devices, from set-top boxes to TVs to mobiles—but not iPhones.

There are a bunch of issues with that idea. First, if given the choice, far more people are going to rent a movie than buy one. Movies are different than music, you guys; you rarely re-watch movies, and the DECE proposal has no room for renting. Second, they’re trying to make our lives easier, but since this standard is unlikely to be adopted in full force immediately, that means lots more problems: Where do you get these particular movies, without one retailer like Amazon or iTunes? On which devices can you play them? Do you have to pick a hotel based on whether it supports DECE, so you can watch Fantastic Mr. Fox again? Do you have to replace all your current equipment?

And, of course, any solution that’s harder to use than what’s freely available is not likely to stick around. Ripping a DVD (or Blu-ray) is easy, and you can use the file anywhere—why go to this complicated, proprietary version?

We’ll reserve full judgment until we see exactly what DECE has planned (possibly at CES this week). But for now—just rip your own Blu-rays. Here’s how. [NYTimes]

Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) Announces Key Milestones

21 New Members Join Cross-Industry Coalition to Make “Buy Once, Play Anywhere” a Reality for Consumers

LOS ANGELES —(Business Wire)— Jan 04, 2010 Today the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem LLC (DECE LLC), www.decellc.com, a coalition with support from every industry involved in digital entertainment, announced it has reached key milestones toward establishing the first open market for digital content distribution. In addition, DECE announced that 21 companies have joined the group which now includes 48 members across entertainment, software, hardware, retail, infrastructure and delivery.

The milestones announced today include:

Agreement on a Common File Format, an open specification for digital entertainment, that will be used by all participating content providers, services and device manufacturers
Vendor selection for and role of the Digital Rights Locker, a cloud-based authentication service and account management hub that allows consumers rights access to their digital entertainment
Approval of five Digital Rights Management (DRM) solutions that will be DECE-compatible
Full technical specifications will be available in the first half of 2010.

Common File Format

DECE has agreed on a Common File Format, an industry first in digital distribution. An open specification for digital entertainment, like DVD or Blu-ray, the Common File Format may be licensed by any company to create a DECE consumer offering. Since this format will play on any service or device built to DECE specifications – whether via Internet, Mobile, Cable or IPTV, etc. – it will make “Buy Once, Play Anywhere” a reality.

The Common File Format optimizes the digital entertainment supply chain, benefiting content providers, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and retailers. Content providers only need to encode and encrypt one file type in portable, standard definition and high definition for multiple vendors. CDNs will not have to store different file types to accommodate retailers’ varying needs. Retailers can efficiently deliver content to devices from different manufacturers.

Digital Rights Locker

DECE has selected Neustar, Inc. (NYSE:NSR) as the vendor for the Digital Rights Locker, a cloud-based authentication service and account management hub that allows consumers rights access to their digital entertainment. It will authenticate rights to view content from multiple services, with multiple devices as well as manage content and registration of devices in consumer accounts. DECE will provide an open Application Programming Interface (API) that allows any Web-enabled storefront, service or device to integrate access to the Digital Rights Locker into its own consumer offering.

Approved DRMs

DECE has approved five DRMs that will be compatible with the Common File Format – Adobe® Flash® Access, CMLA-OMA V2, The Marlin DRM Open Standard, Microsoft PlayReady® and Widevine®. Compatibility with multiple DRMs will ensure that content can be played back via streaming or download on a wide variety of services and devices.

New Members

In 2009, 21 companies joined DECE, including: Adobe, Ascent Media Group, Cable Labs, Catch Media, Cox Communications, DivX, DTS, Extend Media, Irdeto, Liberty Global, Motorola, Nagravision, Netflix, Neustar, Nokia, Rovi, Secure Path, SwitchNAP, Tesco, Thomson and Zoran. These companies join DECE’s original members which include world leaders across a wide range of industries.

“The digital entertainment marketplace is on the cusp of a new era of rapid growth,” said Mitch Singer, President of DECE. “The key to unlocking this potential is giving consumers the ‘Buy Once, Play Anywhere’ experience they want. That’s the goal of DECE and one we’re making rapid progress toward today.”

About Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC

The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) LLC is a cross-industry initiative developing the next generation digital media experience based on open, licensable specifications and designed to create a viable, global digital marketplace. The DECE is currently made up of Adobe, Alcatel-Lucent, Ascent Media Group, Best Buy, Blueprint Digital, Cable Labs, Catch Media, Cisco, Comcast, Cox Communications, Deluxe Digital, DivX, Dolby Laboratorie, DTS, Extend Media, Fox Entertainment Group, HP, Intel, Irdeto, Liberty Global, Lionsgate, Microsoft, MOD Systems, Motorola, Movie Labs, Nagravision, NBC Universal, Netflix, Neustar, Nokia, Panasonic, Paramount Pictures, Philips, RIAA, Rovi, Roxio CinemaNow, Samsung Electronics, Secure Path, Sony, SwitchNAP, Tesco, Thomson, Toshiba, Verimatrix, VeriSign, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Widevine Technologies Inc. and Zoran. This new digital media specification and logo program will enable consumers to purchase digital video content from a choice of online retailers and play it on a variety of devices and platforms from different manufacturers.

Take Syabas’ Popcorn Hour C-200, the much-loved streamer of choice for AV nerds. Now make it smaller, add Netflix support and a far superior interface, and cut the price from $300 to $130. That’s the Popbox.

The Popbox isn’t a replacement of the Popcorn Hour, which remains on as a giant hackable tank of a machine, but it does look fully ready for mainstream adoption. Here’s why: Syabas expects to slash the price down to a mere $130, yet it keeps the Popcorn’s stellar codec support and a lot of the online channels the Popcorn was missing, like Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, MLB, and a whole bunch more. (It does lose some things, like the internal hard drive bay and Bittorrent support, but it’s still all open-source so you can install games, apps, or whatever fun stuff the homebrew community can think up). Plus, Syabas’s interface (which Wilson, in his streamer roundup, described as “lame”) has been totally revamped, and actually looks, well, kind of awesome. It’s got great little touches like animated weather and automatic IMDb and AllMusic lookup for movie, TV and music info.

The hardware’s been significantly revamped, too—it’s much smaller than the admitted beast that is the Popcorn Hour, and it’s fanless (AKA silent), but it’ll still pump out full 1080p video over HDMI. It’s also got 2 USB ports and an SD slot for added storage, since you lose the hard drive bay the Popcorn Hour has. It remains to be seen whether Syabas has fixed the problems users found with the Popcorn Hour’s remote control, but we’ll find that out soon enough.

It’s set to be unveiled on January 5th at CES, where we’ll stop in and get some photos and impressions—but I’m really excited for it already. We’ll find out release date there, but they seem locked in on the $130 price point, which is super reasonable—Roku, Asus and the rest should be very scared right now. [Syabas]

Update: Due to a typo in my notes, you may have seen an early version of this story as saying the projected price will be $100. Syabas actually expects the final price to be $130, and I need to practice my typing. Sorry for the confusion.

This is a solution to a problem I definitely have—I often find myself wrestling with coffee and a few gadgets, without enough hands to hold it all. This DIY sleeve takes at least the coffee off your hands.

It’s basically one of those coffee sleeves you get to keep from burning your hands, but with a few strong magnets embedded inside. So if you need an extra hand to tie your shoes, fiddle with a smartphone or PMP, you can just stick your coffee to the nearest streetlamp. And it looks like it might be even more protective for our delicate nerd hands than those wimpy cardboard ones. [Lifehacker]