Enjoy your Apple TV? Not so fond of your data picking up and vanishing whenever it darn well pleases? Then you'll probably want to force your Apple TV to update to 3.0.1... assuming you've already upgraded it to 3.0, of course. According to the engineers in Cupertino, this update prevents content "from temporarily disappearing until re-synced," and we're guessing that most of you would rather keep your content around if possible. Tap the read link for all the instructions, and whatever you do, don't make any sudden movements.

[Via TUAW]

It's been almost a full year since we heard a peep from the fine folks at Myka, but it looks like we could be talking about 'em a lot more often judging by the specs list on its latest contraption. The simply-titled ION is an Atom-based media PC that relies on NVIDIA's Ion graphics set and a customized interface that brings Hulu, Boxee and pretty much any other web content you can stumble upon to your television. Within, you'll find a 1.6GHz dual-core Atom 330 CPU, up to 4GB of RAM, ten USB 2.0 ports, VGA / DVI / HDMI outputs, an eSATA connector, Ethernet and plenty of audio outputs. The fanless design ensures that things remain quiet, and for those oozing cash, a Blu-ray drive, HDD and WiFi module can be implanted. It's up for order right now starting at $379, but you'll be stuck waiting four to six weeks for delivery.

We won't cancel our trips to Vegas just yet, but Boxee is planning on giving users an early peek at its new beta release -- with all new UI, queue, navigation and search features -- December 7 at the Music hall of Williamsburg. Beta Unveiling visitors will be the first to get their hands on the new version and see new applications being launched by partners, leading to early access beta testers giving it a four week shakedown run before the planned wide release January 7 at CES. Any ideas what form Boxee might take in this next step on its road to commercial viability?

Back in late July, we weren't aware of when Onkyo's fancy ND-S1 iPod dock would ship. Now, we're not only certain that the £144 ($235) digital media transport is shipping across the pond, but we've stumbled upon a critique for those wondering if such an outlay is justified. After slamming their iPod touch into the device and connecting it to their reference speaker system, they came away duly impressed; in practically every scenario, using the external DAC in this box led to clearer, more precise audio compared to signals coming straight out of the iPod. In fact, reviewers went so far as to call this unit "peerless," though they did mention that it's really only good for those already satisfied with their existing speaker setuip. Of course, you could just opt for an audiophile-approved media player, but then you wouldn't be able to experience the joy and elation that comes with relying on iTunes. Right?

Flip Video remote, meet your family. One of Cisco's latest FCC filings happened to keep its user manual outside the seal of confidentiality, giving us a pretty good look at FlipShareTV, a setup for streaming recorded video from the computer's FlipShare software, out the USB dongle transmitted wirelessly to the receiver connected to the TV... and that's about it. Nothing too thrilling here, and there's no indication of price or release date. More pictures below -- any Flip enthusiasts actually excited by this?

[Via Zatz Not Funny]

Eying a Popcorn Hour device, are you? We know Patriot isn't exactly the first name you think of when pondering your next media streamer, but the $129.99 price tag affixed to the black box shown above definitely piqued our interest. Like most of its rivals, this one features a 2.5-inch HDD slot (though you'll need to bring your own drive, obviously), a trio of USB sockets, 10/100 Ethernet for content streaming, UPnP support, a rather decent file support list and a bundled remote. There's also an optional USB WiFi adapter for those not keen on running 80 feet of Ethernet cabling through their den, and while the GUI won't revolutionize your life, it certainly ain't bad given the low barrier to entry. Too bad it's still stuck in that painful-to-watch "pre-order" stage, huh?

[Via thegadgetsite]

Timely, no? Exactly a year to the day after the CEIVAlife and CEIVAshare went on sale, the creator of those has decided to out its first digiframe since, and we've got to say -- the Pro 80 is a refreshing change of pace in the drab digital photo frame world. Aside from accepting images via the traditional means (USB, memory cards and telepathy), this one can also take in new pixels via a cameraphone or computer... wirelessly! The built-in WiFi module enables networked PCs to pass along slideshows, while PicturePlan customers ($6.95 per month) can send photos in from their mobiles. In case that's not nearly enough to excite you, there's also free CEIVA Channels (ABC News, ESPN, etc.) to keep you occupied. She's all yours for $179.99, or $147.99 if you snag it this holiday season.

We'd been hearing that Western Digital was about to update its WD TV set-top media player lineup, and it looks like that leaked WD TV-2 has turned into the WD TV Live on the way to Best Buy. Nothing here too out of the ordinary -- wide codec support, Dolby Digital and DTS decoders, HDMI out, and an Ethernet jack for DLNA streaming and accessing YouTube, Flickr, and Pandora make this one a solid buy at $119 if you need it, but it's not going to blow up the world, you know? We're still saving up for monster Windows 7 / CableCARD Media Center rig.

[Thanks, Keith D.]

Hey, you -- yeah, you. Remember that O!Play HDP-R1 media player that ASUS teased us with back in June? Remember how you dedicated a calender to it so you could count down the days 'til its arrival? Time to stop all that madness, as said box is finally on sale and shipping right now within the US of A. For the surprisingly reasonable price of $99.99, users can utilize this very device to stream and play back an array of formats with 1080p resolution support. Heck, there's even an eSATA and Ethernet port there, just waiting for your love. So, will you show it? Or is life still worth living knowing what you've neglected?

[Via Slashgear]

It sure took 'em long enough, but QNAP has finally come around and delivered its NMP-1000 Network Multimedia Player here in the States. If you'll recall, we actually toyed around with one way back at CeBIT, and while those camped out in Osaka have been enjoying the spoils for months now, the Yanks in attendance have been forced to wait. According to QNAP, the DLNA-compliant media streamer is now shipping in America, though a quick look around our favorite web stores has turned up nothing. We're sure that'll be remedied in short order, though.

[Via HotHardware]

Popcorn Hour's latest all-accessing all-playing media device has finally made its way into our hands, and while we haven't had nearly enough time to put the C-200 completely through its paces, we did spare a moment to take some pictures and play a movie or two. Other than using RF (no line of sight needed here) the remote is mostly unchanged from the earlier A-110, though we have had some issues with the box not responding to inputs, tightening the antenna seems to have made things better for now. Slipping a SATA hard drive in requires only the lightest tug on the drive bay door, it really couldn't be easier -- we'll have to see how a Blu-ray drive fits soon. With the exception of slight noise from the HDD we put in, the C-200 is nearly silent in operation, and home theater nuts will be glad to know that bright blue display up front can be dimmed all the way to off. An extra USB port front and back hasn't hurt usability either, though it would have been nice if it recognized a keyboard when we were setting up new RSS feeds. Thanks to DLNA support, Windows 7 Play To functionality worked sufficiently playing media, but we couldn't get the titles to display properly on the C-200 whether initiated from the PC or on the box itself. So far it's played everything we've thrown at it, from legitimately downloaded trailers to less MPAA-authorized material. Anything you want to see tested as part of our full review? Leave ideas in the comments while you check out the pictures.

It looks like Popcorn Hour's C-200 media streamer is making its way into end-users' hands, so prepare yourself for a flurry of reviews. Our friend Brent over at GeekTonic should be jumping into the fray soon, and has kicked things off with a preview. Yeah, the C-200 is bigger than its sibling A-100, but it brings so much to the table that we'd say Popcorn Hour has packed in just as much -- if not more -- goodness per cubic inch. With space available for a hard and/or Blu-ray drive, wired and wireless networking, and USB ports to round out the input connectivity, the C-200 then adds a smorgasbord of codec support just to make sure your bits will survive the translation back into entertainment. With the "it plays anything" kind of capability the C-200 is promising, we've got a feeling that a positive review or two might be the only thing standing between us and a $300 dent in our credit cards.

[Via ZatzNotFunny]

Sure, your heart may be aflutter with thoughts of gaming cloud services like OnLive and OTOY, but quietly making its debut this week is Spawn Labs with its "Bring Your Own console" HD-720 video game streamer, due out this November for $199.95. In a nutshell, the device works as a Slingbox for your Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS2, or GameCube and lets you play those consoles over the internet on your Windows PC (a Mac client is said to be in the works). The AV cables -- component or composite, no HDMI at this point -- are connected and can be then passed through to a TV as normal. A USB connection is used to sync up the controller, and there's also an IR signal for turning the connected system(s) on and off. On the computer, you can log the Spawn Labs website and play either your own system or jump onto one of your friends' systems for some faux-local co-op or to be a spectator.

We had a chance to take a look at the streamer and talk with some of the minds behind it at TechCrunch 50 to fill in some of the missing details. In a fairly controlled environment -- the device hooked up via ethernet to a private router on the show floor -- we were able to competently play Soul Calibur IV with what we were told was around 100ms audio / video and 5ms controller lag. Under ideal situations, it streams 720p / 30 frames per second in H.264 video with AAC-LC audio, but that can automatically downscale when the connection slows -- should we decide we're too lazy to make it from our bedroom to the couch to play Halo (an all too frequent scenario), it'll clearly work fine over a local network, but it's gonna be how well it works across that internet that's the real deal-breaker, and we weren't able to test that. Cross-continent play isn't recommended, but you can have spectators from all over the world and it won't at all affect your latency. Any PC controller can work and be custom-mapped, including just keyboard and mouse, although if you're wanting to use a PS3 pad you'll have to find the drivers for it yourself. The game window itself has buttons along the bottom for pulling up the system's specific guide menu or recording the video for upload to YouTube. What's impressive to us is that it's said to work with any computer that can handle a 720p video stream, and so far in the labs they've apparently got it working well on an ION-based netbook -- but we didn't get to see that for ourselves, so we'll hold applause until we can put it through its paces ourselves. See a video demonstration for yourself after the break.

Much like Sony's PlayStation 3, Spark's VTube clearly wasn't designed to sit nicely in-between a 7.1-channel AV receiver and a cable set-top-box. Engineered in some backwoods lab about 30 kilometers south of Shenzhen, the so-called VTube looks to be a pretty standard media player outside of its unorthodox design. The unit packs HDMI / component / composite video outputs, an Ethernet jack and a Toslink optical audio output, and those who dig internal storage can slap a 2.5-inch HDD within to keep those old Office clips handy. Predictably, it also supports pretty much every file format known to man, and the built-in USB port ensures that you can add external storage if need be. It'll only run you around $130, but the chances of seeing this on US soil are slim.

[Via Cloned In China]