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YouTube rebrands TV web portal "YouTube XL"
Whether you call it ten-foot or lean back like Hulu Desktop, putting a TV-ready front end on your website is all the rage nowadays, and after six months of beta, YouTube is relaunching its Wii and PlayStation 3-aimed site as YouTube XL. Now accessible by any browser at www.youtube.com/xl, it's been stripped down to the basics (at the moment, that means no HD, or even HQ viewing option) to make YouTube work on the big screen, plus tweaks allowing control via Bluetooth remotes or some cellphones, like Android devices running Gmote. The HTPC crowd, those living without widgets and other direct access will surely find plenty to love, why not hit up the site right now to try it out?[Via TechCrunch]
ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo for Mac
Until recently turning your Mac into a PVR has generally meant using Elgato's EyeTV (our coverage) with hardware from Elgato or a related vendor. Now, however, AMD is getting in the Mac PVR game with the ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo USB for Mac (say that three times fast!). The Wonder 650 has dual tuner that can receive free over-the-air ATSC high-definition content as well as standard definition NTSC content from cable or antenna. With the two tuners you can "watch analog TV while recording digital TV at the same time" (I take it that this means you can't record one HD stream while watching a different one).In addition to the 650 itself (which includes hardware based MPEG-2 compression) the package includes ATI's tvPORTAL for Mac software. Much like EyeTV this allows you to watch and pause live video as well as set up timed recordings with a programming guide. The ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo should be available by the end of the month for $149.[via 123Macmini]
