[MobileRatty] tag: beast

The Mystery of iPod Nano Spy Photos [Rumors]

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:46:00 +0000

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.Yesterday we said that the leaked iPod nano shot looked real to us. After all, Apple seems to be going through its curved surfaces and tapered edges period. This new shot of this old-green-lime colored one however is a completely different beast.

• First, the proportions in the green one are all wrong compared to the orange one. Even counting the perspective, the first unit seems to have a much smaller wheel, with a bigger middle button. It's also farther away from the bottom of the iPod. Finally, the screen doesn't seem so elongated as the green unit.

• The surfaces are also different. The orange nano is clearly curved, while the green one is clearly flat. The button in the orange one follows the curve of the surface, while the button in the green one is clearly receded, like in the old nanos. With that side lighting, a curved surface would be obvious in the image. This one is clearly flat.

• The rounded corners on the orange iPod screen are bigger and more obvious than in the old one.

• Finally, the faker of the green iPod forgot to put a short ended iPod cable in the shot, using the old style one.

Our theory is that:

a) The original MacNN shot, which they obtained, may very well be the real McCoy.
b) The J.R. guy removed the MacNN watermark and reposted it in some forums, looking for some kind attention.
c) The same J.R. guy tried to keep the attention by faking this shot, but failed to realize the obvious physical differences between the two iPods.
d) J.R. is a loser.

Update: This just in. We just got a higher resolution image of the iPod without any water marks:

At the end, however, remember our basic rule about rumors: don't trust any of them. We all will have to wait for September 9 to see what's really rocking in Cupertino. [Engadget]

Ostentatious and Overblown, the Parmigiani Bugatti Faubourg Watch

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:15:28 +0000

The typical watch with a house-sized price tag looks pretty cool, but I have to say that the Parmigiani Bugatti Faubourg really doesn’t do it for me. It is a massive chunk of heavy metal to be wearing on your wrist that quite frankly doesn’t hold a candle to the other $233,900 watches on the market. This smacks of something that Kevin Federline would wear. The good news is that there are only twenty of them going on sale. [Parmigiani via Born Rich, DVICE]

The 50-Foot Mechanical Spider Awakens [Clips]

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:20:00 +0000

The 50-foot robot spider known as "La Princesse" has awakened from hibernation to explore the streets of Liverpool. This £1.5m beast is supposed to aid tourism and spur the local economy—which will just mean that La Princesse has more goodies to eat. We're not quite sure what strange marching bands and snow have to do with taming giant arthropods on a rampage, but we're not ones to judge the miracles of science. [BBC]

Hands-on: Sony shows off prototype 400-disc Blu-ray Mega Changer

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:10:00 +0000

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Once again, Sony's booth was front and center upon entering the CEDIA floor, and while most everything there was as advertised, this one particular unit stuck out. Yeah, maybe it just caught out eye because it's around the size of a small refrigerator, but upon speaking with a company representative, we learned that it's actually a 400-disc Blu-ray Mega Changer. The unit on hand was simply there for demonstrative purposes, but Sony intends to launch the BD-Live-capable, RS-232 port-packin' beast in early 2009. There's no word on whether it will ever interface with HTPCs, but we wouldn't count on it. Head on over to Engadget HD for a closer look.

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TiVo HD XL Review: The Same Great TiVo Taste, Just More Of It [Tivo Review]

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:00:00 +0000

The TiVo HD is a good, cheap alternative to the recently de-listed TiVo Series 3 for people who didn't need all that much storage and all that many fancy features. But what if someone wants even more built-in storage than the 20 hours of HD that the TiVo HD provides? They've now got the TiVo HD XL.

This beast offers 150 hours of HD recording, plus it's THX certified; it's always been a technicality, since the HD doesn't have it but had the same AV quality as the TiVo Series 3. The XL also has the same dual-tuner HD recording as the previous models, plus all the same expanded non-TV features: photos, YouTube, Amazon Unbox, Rhapsody and Music Choice, the music video service. The only downside to all this increased storage is that the box costs $600, the same price as the TiVo Series 3 after the first price cut; but it does come with a Series 3 backlit remote.

The Install: Super easy. Comcast was great about getting a guy down to our house that was experienced with CableCARD installs, and the installer (who shall remain nameless) did an excellent job getting the card in and active. It's pretty much exactly the same as the TiVo HD in terms of the install, and provided your local cable provider has them, one M-Card is enough to get both tuners working. Otherwise you'll need two standard ones. Great job to both Comcast on TiVo on this part.

The Experience: For those of you who are familiar with TiVo, the XL is the same user experience you're familiar with in previous HD models. Not much UI change here except for the fact that you're going to be scrolling through a lot more shows saved up on your big drive.

The Verdict: Very good. We extend our recommendation of the TiVo HD easily to the beefier TiVo HD XL, which despite the 2x price point, still offers a great DVR experience for the money.

The Recommendation: If you had to pick between the TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL, what would we recommend? It depends on your watching habits. If you can make do with only having 20 hours of HD sitting on your machine at once, because you clear out shows shortly after watching or you just don't have all that many shows to record, the regular HD is fine. If you're like Brian Lam and horde shows like they were being cancelled the next week, or like Mark Wilson, who records and saves every show with the word "dance" or "dancing" in the title (he claims it's for his wife), we'd recommend the XL.

On the other hand, you could also get a TiVo HD and expand the storage by purchasing a compatible external eSATA drive and just plugging it in, which increases the storage by 65 HD hours with a 500GB drive. See more details here. The plug-and-play eSATA port only supports up to 500GB, but you can hack it to support up to 1TB if you really wanted to. Or, if even the TiVo HD XL isn't enough, you can shove another 65-hour drive on there. [TiVo Store]

Sony VAIO RT All-In-One PC Is A 25.5" Widescreen, HDMI-Filled, Video Editing Monster [CEDIA 2008]

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:00:00 +0000

The VAIO RT is Sony's beast of an all-in-one PC, an "extra-widescreen" (read: 16:9) 25.5" display, created with designers and video editors in mind. It's big feature is that it not only has an HDMI-in port in order to work with HD content, but it also has an HDMI-out, for connecting a second monitor. Other features include a Blu-ray recordable drive and up to 1TB of hard drive space. It also comes loaded with 8GB RAM, a multi-card reader and a built-in digital TV tuner. Of course, you're still stuck with Vista, but with all that power underneath you should do just fine. Unfortunately, the RT has a beastly price tag to match—it starts at $3300—when it arrives this fall. Press release down below. [Sony]

Video-Editing Powerhouse
The VAIO RT High Definition Studio is a one-stop-shop handling all your high-definition video-editing needs on a single machine.
Its 25.5-inch (diagonal) LCD display, featuring XBRITE-FullHD LCD technology, and Blu-ray optical drive enables you to play, record and edit HD video in 1080p resolution.
In addition to the built-in digital TV tuners, an HDMI In port lets you connect compatible HD cable and satellite boxes to enrich your HDTV viewing experience. An HDMI output has also been included, letting you connect to an external LCD display or HDTV to expand your workspace (HDMI cable, LCD, and HDTV sold separately).
The RT series incorporates Intel® Core™2 Quad processors, up to 8GB of RAM and a terabyte hard drive. It is equipped with a high-speed eSATA port, for extra storage, and a CompactFlash® slot.
The unit comes pre-installed with Windows Vista Ultimate operating system. A wireless keyboard with integrated touchpad and mouse are included. It is also equipped with a built-in power supply enabling you to cleanly mount it to the wall.
The VAIO LV High-Definition PC/TV will start at around $1,600 while the VAIO RT High-Definition Studio PC will go for about $3,300. All three series will be available online at www.sonystyle.com/pr/aio. They will also be sold at Sony Style® stores and select retailers around the country starting this fall.

My Mistake by James Richardson

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 10:01:00 +0000

It seems I misspoke, once, an entire roof,
shaded or lit, and unevenly littered
according to the sweep of a slender-needled pine,
and moored by one black wire to a clump of woods
and thence to everything else. I thought it was mine,
and remembered a torrent of birds there
in a morning so early it could have been the first.
But maybe it was the window, heavily in sway,
out of your parents', out of your sisters' way,
you had told me of that I was looking through.
Way up, you could make out a future
in which you would tell someone, as now I realize
you tried to, how the sun fed in the shingles,
all day, that near and nearer beast of heat
you slept against, breathless, all your last summer.
Until you packed softly, as if for one night,
and were gone forever. It amazes me.
But I who decide nothing am too often amazed,
and I should have known that window,
so vividly half sky, half slate,
was yours; since all I have left are these paler things
no one else calls love. Pardon, my mistake.

HTC's Android-driven Dream revealed in glorious spy photos

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:25:00 +0000

Filed under: Cellphones

Sure, we've seen some blurry videos and managed a few stolen glimpses when Andy Rubin demonstrated this beast, but now we've gotten our hands on a slew of pictures showing off a very real T-Mobile-branded Dream in all its Android-running glory. Not only does this confirm the design spied in those FCC docs as well as show off that nearly-done version of Android, but it seems to confirm the fact that this will be headed to T-Mobile, and sooner rather than later judging from the looks of the above device. Needless to say, our inner-geeks are completely geeking out right now. Hit the gallery below for a handful of other views of the phone.

[Thanks, Michael]

Gallery: HTC's Android-driven Dream revealed in glorious spy photos

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Panasonic to Mass Produce 150-Inch TV, Requires Your Own Nuclear Power Plant [Ifa 2008]

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:30:00 +0000

Panasonic is saying that they are going to start mass-manufacturing their 150-inch 2,106 x 4,096 display, which obviously is not directed at consumers unless a) they have their own Quad-HD video material to play and b) they have their own nuclear power plant, since this beast eats 1,500 watts, which in the Michael Phelps scale is 243 pizzas, two roasted pigs stuffed with chicken breasts, five chili burritos and two dozen plates of pasta with veal meatballs. Hmmm. Meatballs. [Engadget]

Bad-Ass Gun Fights Fire With Bullets

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:39:03 +0000

Reaching for a fire extinguisher and putting out a fire swiftly and safely is so old-school. The modern-day firefighter needs to inject a little excitement into a boring blaze. The modern day firefighter needs the In-Danger anti-fire gun from Eunjung Kim, Yangwoo Kim & Junyi Heo.

The gun can be loaded with up to eight carbon dioxide bullets -- rubber canisters containing pressurized gas. As the flames creep higher, you carefully aim, adjust the range via the "distance control belt" and fire. The bullet slams into the base of the now-huge pyre and discharges its deadly cargo into the beast's fiery heart. We like to imagine this happening in slow motion, Matrix-style, with the bullets leaving vaporous trails in their supersonic wakes.

If this concept ever makes it into production, the other people in my building had better watch out. Things are going to get hot around here.

Product page [Yanko via Core 77]