NOVO Coloured Glaze HTPC refracts us into the next century
By Paul Miller 
posted June 27th 2010 3:10AM
posted June 27th 2010 3:10AM
posted June 27th 2010 3:10AM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
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Is that a Wii?
@Jon Rubenstein
I don't think you're grasping the whole "use a celebrity's name as your avatar and comment as they would comment on the off chance that they had the time or desire to read a tech blog and comment on random stories." darth vader, now there's a man that gets it.
back to the story, if they made this black and the block opaque, then they could embed white LED's between the case and the block and when powered on, the entire block would glow white and look really classy. Take it or leave it, no pressure.
@Jon Rubenstein I want an Engadget card like that.
@John Stathakis
You didn't need to type all that, no one is paying you for this.
@tobsmonster2 Nobody is paying you to breath either.
@Jon Rubenstein
It's a Wii2
It CAN RUN CRYSIS !!!
@John Stathakis
Are you kidding? A name like Joe Rubenstein is something that should be quickly declared "generic" for identity analysis purposes. It's like any name with Smith or Kennedy in it.
There's probably 5 of him in LA and another 5 in NYC.
@Jon Rubenstein
1. Gut a Wii
2. Put an atom processor inside
3. Glue a clear block to the front
4. ????
5. Profit!
@jedi
why don't you do yourself a favor and look up rubenstein on wikipedia. Gadget nerds know that that's not a generic name.
@Jon Rubenstein
1973 Pink Floyd called they want their Dark Side of the Moon prism back...
wow, this is the ugliest nettop i have ever seen and the clear block isn't helping.
@GGG
Actually, I think it looks rather bad-ass, especially with the clear block in front. It's the specs which look disgusting.
@tonicboy They don't seem any different from any of the multitude of similair nettops to me. Only 2 gigs of RAM, but these things usually seem to be sold as barebones units that you add your own RAM and HDD to anyway.
@beavertank
Except that it's not being sold as a nettop, it's being sold as an HTPC.
@tonicboy Six of one half a dozen of another, a nettop with a dual core atom and Ion is a good budget HTPC.
@beavertank
Exactly. "budget HTPC" is another way of saying, not very good specs but just enough to do the job.
i'd still buy it for my mom if it's cheap enough though
Price?
Man google translate is painful... But I'm intrigued by the looks of it, is it my imagination or does the picture of it sitting in front of the 50" plasma make it look like the lucite box is lit in some way?
Maybe it's picking up a glow off the TV or something, but that would sell a 10% premium on it over similar nettops for me.
@beavertank I think it's hilarious, especially the comments and the ranking system: "Big Push", "Hush Explosion". Also, I found this comment rather insightful:
albertpkmn @ Jun 26th 2010 9:19 AM (Big Push)
How do you say, although the final results are not very good, but awareness of the establishment of independent innovation is laudable progress.
@iaoth I didn't even think to look at the comments... they need to adapt those labels for the main site. Ten times better.
I particularly enjoyed, "crystal transparent texture is fine and small, living rooms very suitable as decoration ornaments will not be obtrusive". Seems like some sort of very avant-garde poetry.
@iaoth I agree - "Hush explosion" is fantastic!
@RincewindWiz +1 for the Hush explosion.
Looks like how the Wii should have been. sigh
@Trickymaster: If only the Wii were as powerful as this, spec wise.
did anyone notice the highest ranked and lowest ranked comments on engadget chinese?
they are labelled BIG PUSH and HUSH EXPLOSION
how cool is that? :-)
@maelstrom
If you really find machine translation so funny, you may like http://www.translationparty.com/. Although it's Japanese, I'm sure you'll find the results just as hilarious.
I admit, it does look neat, but that's about an inch or two more acrylic than I was expecting.
It also seems that this has no optical drive, or you need to move/remove the acrylic front to insert a disc... and reach around back for USB.
And I'm not sure about the size of the unit, or the hands of the person holding it, but, the new Xbox 360 would look about the same size in my hands.
Oh, and external power supply. Nice, but I'll pass all the same.
At first glance i thought it was second gen wii. :P
It looks quite nice, if you look at it from the perspective that computers have become appliances. But it would be better if the glass block had some function, such as being a detachable aquarium or a giant status led.
GO TO SLEEP PAUL!
Call me crazy, but since when does adding something (in this case a useless piece of transparent glass/plastic) make something more minimalist? Doesn't minimalism imply taking something away and simplifying?
@politicalslug Yes, the general rule of minimalism as a design ethos is to remove anything that is only aesthetic and not functional, and that only essential parts, in terms of function, remain. Adding some random white/transparent block is not minimalist.
@politicalslug
what you refer to as "useless piece of transparent glass/plastic" is actually the power brick with casing made out of metamaterials which bend the light around the internal components and thus provide an illusion of a clear empty box...
@vVv
"Sure, the massive clear block at the front of this Coloured Glaze HTPC from NOVO is completely pointless"
That's what the article said, not me. Blame engadget for not understanding the purpose of that component.
I like it! The frontglass should have been a bit shallower though, in my opinion.
can i have it for 20 bucks?
that looks more like a last century item
It better come with android already installed
Me want! That is slick looking IMO.
You guys need to get a black, white and red one and do a giveaway!
I like the idea of using a business card as the watermark for a picture, as opposed to an actual watermark. It looks classier.
Can I remove the clear plastic thing? Can the factory remove it so I can save on shipping costs?
design aesthetic is important. ie: apple
Engadget China seems nicer for some reason...
Who was first btw?
first off I would like to take a moment to thank google for the integrated web page translate feature in chrome, dang that makes things easy! Okay anyways yea it doesn't look bad and it's specs are... usable,but I just don't think I can trust the durability of the thing.