Blip
Latest
In Brief: Apple TV part cost pegged at $64
Arik Hessendahl over at Business Week reports that the new 2nd generation Apple TV model might cost $64 in parts (compared to its $99 retail price). If that number is anywhere near right, then the margins on ATV are ridiculously low. In comparison, Apple's iPhone gross margin was estimated near 60%. Apple could be seeing a generous profit from movie and TV rentals above basic sales, making Apple TV a potentially lucrative market.
'Reformat the Planet' chiptune doc on DVD this month, Laserdisc version slated for 2012
It's no secret that we love chiptunes around here, so we'll just go ahead and say that we're super stoked about Reformat the Planet, an in-depth look at one of the few groups of people we can unequivocally say are geekier than we are: those who make music with Game Boys, NES's, and C64's. 2 Player Productions has combined footage from the insane Blip Festival with up-close-and-personals with some of our favorite retro-gaming musicians -- Nullsleep, Glomag, Tugboat and Bubblyfish -- for a thorough portrait of the rapidly-growing scene. A little art, a little science, a lot of awesome. The 2-disc set is out on August 24th, but for now, you can check the trailer (which includes an introduction to square-wave moshing) after the jump.
BlackLine's GPS Snitch tracks straying partner's joyrides
Oh yeah, we've seen GPS devices intended to sit secretively within the confines of a motorcar and beam back real-time tracking data to the powers that be, but typically, they're fairly subtle about their purpose. Not so with the brashly named GPS Snitch, which makes no bones about its intentions of helping you catch that unfaithful SO or your rebellious teenager. As expected, this unit simply hides within one's vehicle and can notify administrators via SMS / e-mail as soon as motion is detected or a pre-determined perimeter is exceeded. Additionally, you can track the vehicle's progress through BlackLine's website, and just in case the week of battery life isn't enough, it can be hardwired to the car battery for logging extra long road trips. Ready to quell your suspicions? Grab one now for $399 plus applicable service plan fees.
NCsoft's Memorabilia Winter presence
For those who are unfamiliar with the Memorabilia event, it's a pop culture convention held in the UK thrice yearly. For the Winter 2007 convention, NCsoft attended with game characters from Guild Wars and City of Heroes/City of Villains on display. Fans were encouraged to make donations to the Draw the World Together project, which offered up notable comics artists who drew sketches of attendee requests all weekend long.If you weren't able to be there last year, there's video to be seen on blip.tv! Personally, I'd have made the trip just to meet Ghost Widow. She's dreeeaaammmyyyyyyy!
