Computing – Page 5 – Devices View

The XP Media Center PC Experience

August 11, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - 3 Comments.

This is the first in a series on experiences using and enhancing Windows XP Media Center for home theater. When I needed to upgrade my home office PC earlier this year, I chose to buy a Media Center PC because of the endless testing possibilities it offers. At the time, the Orb service, which lets you stream content from your PC to any Internet connected device, only worked on Media Center PCs (it still requires a PC with a TV tuner card to be compelling). Media Center extenders require a Media Center PC as a hub (though I currently use …

Computing / Industry

When the walls are open, Microsoft’s moving in

June 16, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

I was at Microsoft’s Preview Day today in New York, which for me was largely about mobile devices (see my bio). One thing that came across clearly, however, was the centrality of Windows XP Media Center (XP MCE) to Microsoft’s overall consumer plans. This reminded me of an interesting case study in Digital Connect about a custom installer, Silicon East, which has a somewhat unique specialty putting systems into new construction. That’s nothing new – when the walls are open, it’s the best time to put in home networking gear, and the walls are never more open than during new …

Computing / HDTV / Industry

Yes, it was a live demo… also a misleading one

June 12, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

Back in February I wrote about Microsoft’s Lightspeed IPTV demo at CES and linked to BusinessWeek’s skeptical coverage. Well, the magazine was just biding its time and this week they completely skewer the initiative (subscription required), highlighting the endless delays in commercializing it. It seems the impressive demo I saw at CES was real. The problem is that the technology doesn’t work for millions of users at once, which is kind of important for the operators who want to broadly deploy it. Live and learn. Still, TV over IP seems somewhat inevitable. Japan and Korea have DSL service 10x faster …

Audio / Computing

Of non-iPods

May 12, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

I’ve been testing several digital music players and third party headphones – none of them from Apple. It’s not that I don’t like the iPod, I just haven’t gotten one in recently from Apple. My past experiences with iPod suggest that Apple leads the industry with good reason. I prefer SanDisk’s Digital Audio Player to the iPod Shuffle, though I understand the Shuffle’s appeal – particularly the tight integration with iTunes for moving music on and off the device. Still, I prefer seeing the title of what I’m listening to, and the SanDisk has both a screen and a remarkably …

Computing / HDTV

I Want My IP TV

February 1, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

The current issue of BusinessWeek has a nice overview of Microsoft’s efforts in IP TV (sending television feeds to a set top box over a broadband connection). It’s a bit skeptical, and focuses on how Microsoft has bent over backwards to address the needs of partners. For example, Microsoft’s brand does not appear on the set top box, and the boxes don’t even need to run a Microsoft operating system. I saw a demo of the system at CES, and BusinessWeek leaves out an important element of the story: it’s really, really cool. I suppose cable operators adopting this system …

Audio / Computing

Mobile PC-based Theater Speakers

January 27, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

This is such a good idea I wonder why nobody’s done it well before. Altec Lansing sent over their XT1 Portable Audio System for notebooks. A DVD-ROM equipped notebook is essentially a giant portable DVD player combined with an iPod with a larger color screen, but most notebooks have terrible internal speakers. Adding external speakers solves the problem at the cost of portability — even if you did shlep them with you, you’d be dragging along another power brick, too. The XT1 siphons power off your notebook’s USB port which greatly simplifies setup and enables easy portability. Both Windows and …

Computing / Industry

Is technology moving too fast for consumer acceptance?

January 25, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - 3 Comments.

Former colleague Joe Wilcox notes that most computer brands are met with cognitive dissonance when they journey into consumer electronics. Joe is definitely on to something (though his observations are backed by admittedly anecdotal evidence — don’t you think that’s something you guys over at JupiterResearch should be testing empirically?) Another part of the problem, though, is that consumers are slow to fully understand the implications of digital technology – never mind convergence. (OK, I’m working with entirely anecdotal evidence here as well, but bear with me). When I meet new people and invite them to watch a movie in …

Computing / Displays / HDTV / Industry

CES 2005: Trends

January 12, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

I spent most of my time at CES focused on mobile devices, but did note a few overriding trends: The story of the show was definitely flat panels, which were everywhere. LG showed off a particularly interesting integrated plasma/HDTV tuner/DVR, and Samsung showed off a plasma so big you couldn’t get it down the stairs and into my basement even if you took out a second mortgage to pay for it. On the opposite end of the pricing spectrum, there were countless Asian importers with booths at the show displaying large LCD and plasmas at much lower prices. The other …

Accessories / Computing / Industry

CES 2005: New Remote for Custom Installers

January 9, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

UEI launched the Nevo SL "Pronto killer" touch screen remote control here last night in Las Vegas, and it’s got two really interesting features: a better programming interface than Philips offers for the Pronto (not that that’s saying much – the Pronto programming environment is terrible), and built in WiFi. WiFi could be used for just about anything – the remote is based on a version of Windows Mobile – but at least initially the idea is to stream media from one PC to another. Now, that may seem a bit ahead of its time, but according to Current Analysis*, …

Computing / Industry

CES 2005: You want convergence?

January 4, 2005 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

SBC preannounced their big CES news: a set top box that combines satellite TV programming, digital video recording, video on demand, and Internet content. There have been everything-but-the-kitchen-sink set top boxes before (anybody remember last CES? the year before that?), but I believe that this is significant for one reason: distribution. Most of the converged set top box dreams of years past are all about consumer technology value propositions: distributing content around the house, moving photos and music off the PC, and providing Internet access from the TV. That’s nice, but other than increased tech support calls, there’s little incentive …