News reports from this week and last indicate that the iPad will soon be enriched with a variety of television programming content. The latest report comes from Bloomberg this past Tuesday, indicating that Apple is close to brokering deals that will bring $.99 television shows from several networks including Fox, CBS and ABC to the iTunes Store. The $.99 will reportedly be for a rental of the shows, not a full purchase. The deal with News Corp. (Fox) is said to include 48-hour rentals.
Due to their portable form factor, netbooks are an obvious choice for on-the-go multimedia. There’s only one problem: many netbooks aren’t equipped with graphics capabilities needed to support HD video. If you want HD, then you’ll want to carefully select a device that has a graphics card like the Nvidia Ion or Ion 2. To make your job a little easier, here are some top choices that offer HD playback.
Amazon has long set the bar for e-reader pricing with its $259 Kindle, the most popular e-reader on the market. When Barnes & Noble introduced its Nook device last fall, it followed suit and offered it at the very same $259 price range. Recently the market got a big shake-up when both Barnes & Noble and Amazon slashed prices on their respective e-readers.
Dell has been slowly offering information on its Streak all year, through both official announcements and leaks, and the company has finally announced concrete availability and pricing information. It didn’t give us much time to prepare, either: the Streak will hit the market this Friday (August 13) and will cost $550. If you don’t mind getting tied down to a two-year contract with AT&T, you can get your Streak for $300. Unfortunately, for those trying to escape AT&T, the $550 price will NOT buy an unlocked version; you’ll still be limited to AT&T.
Originally called Project Natal when it was previewed at E3 in 2009, Microsoft’s motion-based gaming package has finally gotten a price tag. It will cost $150 when it goes on sale this fall, just in time for the holiday season.
There has been a veritable swarming of big, publicity-making electronic releases this spring and summer, making for one of the hottest electronics markets in recent memory. From the world’s overwhelming favorite tablet–the iPad–to 3DTV–to revolutionary handsets like the iPhone 4 and HTC EVO, there are a ton of lusty gadgets on and nearing the market. To put your own personal mark on one of these popular devices or take its functionality to the next level, here are some accessories to consider.
Hulu recently announced that it will launch a paid subscription service called Hulu Plus. The service, which bears a cost of $10/month, brings more content and more flexibility to Hulu users. In addition to getting an upgrade to full seasons of a myriad of popular television shows, Hulu Plus moves Hulu off the Web browser and into other places like the living room and daily commute.
Hulu announced this week that it will be launching a paid version of its popular site called Hulu Plus. Before you get upset at the loss of free content, Hulu Plus is complementary to Hulu’s free website, and is not designed to replace it. So you’ll still be able to enjoy the free content that you’ve come to expect on Hulu, but will now have the option of accessing more content via Hulu Plus.
Keeping pace with the light-speed deployment of bigger, newer, faster and all around sexier handsets, Motorola/Verizon have introduced the Droid X, a newer, cuter Droid that will bump the old Droid right off the top of the food chain. Much more than just an extra consonant, the Droid X brings a beefier feature set that will compete with the likes of the HTC EVO, iPhone 4 and other top phones.
All in all, the iPhone gets 100 new features, though many of them will be more interesting to Apple than to customers. Some of the more notable changes include an updated design with glass front and back panels and stainless steel edging; thin, 9.3mm profile that Apple says makes the iPhone 4 the “thinnest smartphone ever;” a Retina Display with four times the pixel density and 960 x 640 resolution; and additional antennas for enhanced 3G and Wi-Fi reception.
