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CES 2008: HD booth tours
There aren't many thing more exciting to a geek, then walking around the show floor at the largest electronics show in the US of A, but unfortunately the consumer electronics show isn't for consumers. So we took the time to snap up as many pics as we could of every booth that we thought was interesting. While many of the booths are reused each year, the devices are not. Some of the booths are backed to the point that it's hard to walk around, while others are desolate. So if you want to live vicariously through us, click through and check out all the coolness.DISH Network's CES 2008 Booth tourNBC Universal's CES 2008 booth tourBlu-ray's CES 2008 booth tourHD DVD's CES 2008 booth tourSamsung's CES 2008 booth tourHP's CES 2008 booth tourSling Media's CES 2008 booth tourXStreamHD's CES 2008 booth tourMicrosoft's CES 2008 booth tourSony's CES 2008 booth tourPhilips's CES 2008 booth tourPioneer's CES 2008 booth tourLG's CES 2008 booth tourHitachi's CES 2008 booth tour
CES 2008: The best of set-top boxes
At this year's CES we saw what might be the end of set-top boxes, -- at least for cable boxes -- but there will always be some extra feature that isn't built into your HDTV that you want. The most exciting new set-top box at this year's CES is the Slingbox PRO HD, which means we can finally watch any HD content in our house wherever we want -- including via our high-speed internet connection. The new Moto boxes promise an MPEG-4 future for cable and the new Dish DVR should help bring their HD DVR prices down. Last up, was the VUDU LX, and while we weren't sure who'd pay $400 for such a device, we just can't imagine someone would pay $1000, but hey, at least it has an IR port now.Hands-on with the EchoStar TR-40 and TR-50 converter boxesSling Media's Slingbox PRO HD, SlingPlayer for BlackBerry announcedSling announces SlingCatcher (again), SlingPlayer 2.0 with Clip+Sling, and Sling Cable modemDish's new ViP612 - like the ViP622, but now with lessDirecTV intros dual ATSC tuner AM21 to piggyback HR21Hands-on with Motorola DCX series MPEG-4 cable STBHands-on with the pricey VUDU XL
Nyko's wireless Wii nunchuk wins CNET's CES gaming award
Nyko's wireless nunchuk peripheral was awarded CNET's best in gaming at CES this year. The wireless nunchuk "connects" through a dongle attached to the bottom of the Wiimote (seen above) and runs off two AAA batteries which allegedly provide 30 hours of use; the cost is $30 and should be out by late January or early February.Nyko actually introduced many new peripherals at this year's CES. Coincidentally this would be the second year in a row that Nyko introduced a relatively useful product for the Wii, last year they came through with the Wiimote charge station which we're told has sold very well. Of course, not every Nyko product has to be reasonable, the Wii Party station is still one of the most atrociously awesome things we saw in the past year.%Gallery-12919%%Gallery-4860%
TIME magazine anoints iPhone best gadget of the year
No big surprise here, but TIME magazine has anointed the iPhone as their best gadget of 2007. Their blurb seems just about exactly right: the "iPhone changed the way we think about how mobile media devices should look, feel and perform." And their only complaint? Again, no surprise, it's AT&T. I suspect this is only the beginning of the iPhone's reign across the top of best of 2007 lists.
The Daily Grind: MMO of the Year nominations
1UP wants to know your game of the year (Portal's got my vote still, but my dead Xbox has kept me from playing Mass Effect), but this is Massively, so let's get our own nominations rolling: what's the MMO of the year?Burning Crusade? Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar? Dungeon Runners? Tabula Rasa? Fury? (snicker) What's the best MMO you've played in 2007?Warhammer Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea aren't eligible, of course-- they both come out in 2008. And remember that this is just nominations for an award that we're not actually giving out (or should we? hmmmm), so you can name as many or as few games as you like. And who knows if patches should count, either-- should EVE: Trinity be on the list? But if you were voting for MMO of the Year in 2007 right now, what would be your pick?
Blizzard fan art page redesigned
I was looking through the Blizzard fan art pages recently, with the thought in my mind that I could do a "Best of Blizzard Fan Art" feature for our dear WoW Insider readers, when I found that selecting the "best" was extremely difficult. I kept copying so many pictures into my own "best of" folder that I began to feel like I might as well just link you all to the entire fan art site and call it a day. Most of it is really very fun to look at many many times.So today I went back determined to try again and found that they had redesigned the entire site. It loads much faster, and presents the art to you in a much smoother interface. You can see many more thumbnails per page, and change the size of the thumnails depending on how many you want to see. Once you click on a picture, you can then easily scroll through from one to another very quickly, without having to wait for the entire page to reload again and again. Also, they managed to provide a nice fade effect, so that the transition between pictures is smooth. The only downside is that you can no longer link to a single piece of art.Oh -- and also, you can no longer just click and download each picture to your own computer. I'm sure there must be a way (short of taking a screenshot), but it's beyond me. I'll take it as a sign from heaven, since I can no longer conveniently build my "Best of" folder, that the "Best of Blizzard Fan Art" site is the whole Blizzard fan art site itself. Now, with the tediousness of complicated page-loading removed, you may find browsing through the artwork gives you a whole new experience.
Warner plans 'Best Of' HD DVD / Blu-ray box sets
Typically speaking, artists wait a good while before releasing a greatest hits record, but Warner Home Video isn't waiting around for either format to start falling off the map before unleashing a few "Best Of" box sets. Apparently targeting newcomers to the high-definition film realm, the Best of HD DVD and Best of Blu-ray volumes will consist of four movies apiece, and will include a wide variety of titles from relatively new releases to classics like Goodfellas. Reportedly, three different volumes will be available in each format, and all of the box sets are slated to hit shelves on September 18th (just before holiday shoppers crank up the abuse on those credit cards, no less) for $84.99 each.
Macworld Magazine reveals "Best of Show" list
iLounge was first, and now Macworld Magazine has released their "Best of Show" list from the MWSF expo floor. Their list of show highlights include: Adobe Lightroom The Macbook Pro (didn't see that one coming) iLife '06 Browseback (We took a look at Browseback when it was in beta. It has since reached version 1.0.1) Docktopus (We checked out Docktopus in September) EyeTV 2 by El Gato JBL On Time speakers (which also made iLounge's list) Google Earth (I have not stopped playing with this since downloading it on Tuesday) iSee 360i LightZone 1.0 Marware Project X MemoryMiner Micromat Techtool Protégé Suitcase Fusion
