Thursday, February 10, 2011

Sonos Controller for Android Coming March

My favorite Home Music Server just got better.  Today Sonos has released this teaser video showing off their new Android Controller (much like their very popular iOS Controller) for the Sonos music system.  Like the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad apps this one will be free.

 

According to the Sonos Twitter feed, the Android app will be available sometime in March of this year.  Engadget is saying the Android app will have voice search which is a feature not avaiilable in the iOS version.

Read more about Sonos here.

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Deal of the Day – Logitech Harmony 900 Remote $250

 Logitech Harmony 900 RF Universal Remote Control

Newegg is selling the Logitech Harmony 900 RF Universal Remote Control for $249.99 after $120 instant rebate and $30 Mail-in-rebate with free shipping.

Product Description:  The Logitech Harmony 900 Universal RF Remote Control features RF wireless capability that lets you control devices even when you can't see them. You can control all of your home-entertainment devices with one remote that reduces clutter and complexity in your living room. Recharges in its base station, so you won't be looking for batteries when you want to be watching TV.

Buy at Newegg



VidaBox iPad Frame Giveaway – The Winner Is…

Congratulations to GeekTonic reader Jeremy who goes by the twitter name “GollyJer”.  Jeremy won the GeekTonic VidaBox iPad Frame Giveaway  (Head here for the review of the VidaBox iPad Frame).  I’ve confirmed with Jeremy and it will be shipped his way this week.

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Thanks to all who entered and a special thanks to the VidaBox Team for providing the iPad Frame for review and for the giveaway.

Even if you didn’t win, you can pick up this nice, iPad Frame and many other Home Theater & Automation products at the VidaBox Store.



Monday, February 07, 2011

Kindle Update Coming – With Real Page Numbers

Now this is something those who haven’t adopted eReaders yet will chuckle about:  Amazon let us know today they have a beta preview of the next Kindle firmware that includes real page numbers!  Here’s how Amazon describes this:

“Real Page Numbers – Our customers have told us they want real page numbers that match the page numbers in print books so they can easily reference and cite passages, and read alongside others in a book club or class. “

To be honest, this is an issue some with eReaders have complained about for good reason.  Most times for me it’s fine to only know the percentage of the book I’ve read so far, but there are times you want/need to compare where in the book you are compared to others so this will be a very welcome feature.

The old page location info looked like this on the Kindle:

Kindle Page Location

The new page numbers will display like the diagram below:

Kindle Page Numbers

Depending on the font size and other formatting on your Kindle, you’ll often be on the same “page” of a book through multiple screens so the location number may change, but the page wouldn’t in that case.  Only the corresponding page number for the text displayed at the top left of the screen will be shown.

Another nice part of this update is the ability to “Go-to” a certain page in a book via the menu.  Again this is useful in a class or book club type situation.

Page numbers are only displayed on Kindle (Latest Generation) with software version 3.1 or higher.

 

New Firmware Features Include:

  • Public Notes – This feature lets Kindle users choose to make their book notes and highlights available for others to see.
  • Real Page Numbers – As described above, Amazon is adding “real” page numbers that correspond to paper books.  This will not be on all books at first, but they say: “We’ve already added real page numbers to tens of thousands of Kindle books, including the top 100 bestselling books in the Kindle Store that have matching print editions and thousands more of the most popular books.  Page numbers will also be available on our free “Buy Once, Read Everywhere” Kindle apps in the coming months.”  So it should be on most books right away.
  • Before You Go: When you reach the end of the book, we will now offer a seamless experience that lets you immediately rate the book, share a message about the book with your social network, get personalized recommendations for what to read next, and see more books by the same author.
  • New Newspaper and Magazine Layout: Amazon is updating their layout for newspapers and magazines.  This new layout gives you a quick snapshot of the news and helps you decide what you want to read first.  This will be a welcome update for those that use their Kindle for reading newspaper and magazines but I really feel the tablet format lends itself to these periodicals much better anyway – just as the eInk eReader lends itself more to books.

The official Amazon announcement is at Amazon.com and you can download the update from there as well if you don’t want to wait for it to be pushed out wirelessly.

SageTV gets 3rd Party CableCard Support for Copy Freely Content

Well known HTPC developer Andy Van Til  released his SageDCT program out of private beta this past weekend.  SageDCT allows SageTV users to tune and record digital cable channels using any CableCard HTPC tuner along with HTPC software SageTV 7.  This program doesn’t require the use of Windows 7 MediaCenter at all as it tunes directly using SageTV.  The one, big bummer continues to be the fact that you can only use this with Copy-Freely content which keeps me from trying it since I have Time Warner Cable which is notorious for flagging all channels as Copy Protected except for the over-the-air channels like the major 4 networks and PBS.

Still, for many this will be very welcome news.  Check out the short video Andy made demonstrating how quickly channel changes are executed.

 

 

via MissingRemote

Read more about SageDCT & get the download at Andy’s website



TV Premieres, Finales & Specials This Week 02/06/2011

Time for another round of TV Talk.  The SuperBowl “event” is over and its time for a few new primetime TV series to premiere.  Read on for this week’s complete listing of premieres, finales and specials for the week.

The Chicago Code

                        The Chicago Code Premieres Monday on Fox

 

NOTE: All Times are Listed for EST – TV schedules subject to change

Monday, February 7

The Chicago Code (9pm on Fox – HD) New Police Action/Drama series on Fox.  This one has been getting some pretty positive buzz from the TV critics and I’ll be checking it out.

 

Tuesday, February 8

Pioneers of Television (8pm on PBS – HD) Season finale

Traffic Light (9:30pm on Fox – HD) New sitcom series where longtime friends try to achieve balance in their romantic relationships with their need for freedom.

Top Shot (10pm on History – HD) Season 2 premiere

 

Wednesday, February 9

Live to Dance (8pm on CBS – HD) Season 1 finale

Mr. Sunshine (9:31pm on ABC – HD) New sitcom series starring Matthew Perry as Ben Donovan, manager of a less-than stellar San Diego sports arena who begins to re-evaluate life on his 40th birthday.  Mrs GeekTonic asked me what I’d heard about this one given the friends connection so I checked out comments from the TV critics who have seen the first episode – most reviews were less than positive.

Human Target (9pm on Fox – HD) Season 2 finale

Inside the NFL (9pm on HBO – HD) Season finale

Only in America (9pm on History – HD) New series where comic “Larry the Cable Guy” searches throughout America to find interesting facts about America's history.

Justified (10pm on FX – HD) Season 2 premiere

 

Monday, February 14

Cash Cab (6pm on Discovery – HD) Season premiere

Cash Cab Chicago (6:30pm on Discovery – HD) New reality series.  The cult-classic Cash Cab comes to Chicago

Mad Love (8:30pm on CBS – HD) New comedy series with four single friends (Tyler Labine, Jason Biggs, Sarah Chalke and Judy Greer) living in New York City are looking for love

 

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