Blogs

Best Buy announced yesterday an agreement with Sonic Solutions to offer on-demand movies in some of their digital entertainment products. Powered by Sonic's Roxio CinemaNow, it will allow customers to buy or rent movies directly from the device.

The Roxio CinemaNow technology will be a standard feature on devices such as web-connected TVs, PCs, Blu-ray players, portable media players and mobile phones, bought at Best Buy stores or online. Specific models will be announced at a later date.

With the new Best Buy service, consumers will have access to buy or rent premium content including new movies, TV shows, independent films, and older catalog movies, which they will be able to access on devices. Best Buy says that new titles will often be available on the same day they become available on DVDs in retail stores.

Now this is something different. How would you like to experience home theater sound without loudspeakers drilled into the walls? BodySound Technologies just unveiled a new line of furniture with "personal surround sound."

Each seat features a wireless 7-speaker surround sound system, powered by a built-in multi-processor and 650 watt amplifier. The system allows you to fine tune it to hear sound the way you like. BodySound technology will then automatically adjust the volume to match your settings. The built-in speaker system also produces vibrations throughout the seating area, which you can also customize with how much or how little you want to feel.Read more

We've told you about a few alarm clocks lately…but how about one that is voice activated? Moshi just announced the availability of their new Voice Control Travel Alarm Clock. This alarm clock features nine voice control commands allowing you to set the time, alarm, snooze, and you can even ask it for the temperature.

Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, the Moshi Travel Alarm Clock is easy to carry with you while you travel, without having to depend on the hotel's alarm clock. It is equipped with Technology That Listens™ which means the alarm clock recognizes your voice command without any setup required. Do you want to set the alarm for 6:00am? Simply say "Set alarm…6:00am" and it's done!

The Moshi Travel Alarm Clock is available now in pink, blue, white, and black at www.moshilifestyle.com for just $24.99. It will be at select Bed Bath & Beyond stores in mid to late November.

Acer just announced a notebook PC with an 18.4-inch display, Intel Core i7 processor, Windows 7 Home Premium and theater quality sound and visuals, the new Aspire AS8940G-6865.

Perfect for multimedia enthusiasts, this PC features 4GB DDR3 dual-channel 1066MHz memory, NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M with 1GB dedicated DDR3 VRAM, a 500GB hard drive, 4X Blu-ray Disc/DVD SuperMulti Double-Layer Drive, Multi-in-1 digital media card reader, WiFi, integrated webcam, 5 USB 2.0 ports, 1 HDMI port, 1 eSATA port, and an 8-cell Li-Ion battery.Read more

The T-Mobile Motorola CLIQ is now available and to help celebrate, T-Mobile has launched the Motorola CLIQ Challenge, a contest to build the largest college fan club on Facebook.

The way the contest works is this: T-Mobile wants college students, alumni, teachers and fans to build the largest Facebook fan club. Visit www.facebook.com/tmobile to vote for the four-year college or university of your choice to win a free concert by the rock band Weezer, who's new album Raditude is out today. T-Mobile will also give the winning school $1 for every vote up to $25,000 for collegiate enrichment.to win the grand prize. The school with the highest number of votes by November 30, 2009 will be the winner!

Pretty cool! So, what are you waiting for? Go to www.facebook.com/tmobile to vote for your favorite college or university. What do you have to lose?

Find out more information on the CLIQ by visiting www.T-Mobile.com/CLIQ.

Back in August I told you about XM SkyDock, the first satellite radio controlled by the iPhone or iPod touch. The company just announced that it is now available at retail stores, including Best Buy, Radio Shack, as well as online at www.xmradio.com/skydock.

With this device you can listen to XM programming wherever you drive and control it with your iPhone or iPod touch. Like a song you hear? Songs can be tagged and then purchased from the iTunes Store. XM SkyDock will also charge your iPod touch and iPhone while you're listening to satellite radio.

Installation is easy, as the device works through the existing car stereo. You can even move it from vehicle to vehicle. An Aux In Cable is included for cars with Aux In capability.Read more

Kodak today announced the new KODAK Pic Flick app that lets iPhone and iPod touch users print and share photos directly to Kodak ESP 5250 printers and W1020 wireless digital frames.

"At Kodak, we believe pictures are meant to be shared and are committed to helping people do more with their pictures by providing solutions to make, manage and move images easily and effortlessly," continues Brody. "With the KODAK Pic Flick App, we are helping consumers to print and share moments in the time it takes to make a simple phone call."

The KODAK Pic Flick App is free and is available now on the App Store. To find out more information, visit www.kodak.com/go/picflick.

Are you looking for a portable radio that is weather-resistant? A brand we have always trusted is Tivoli Audio….and their SongBook AM/FM alarm clock travel radio is housed in a weather resistant cabinet, making it the perfect radio to take with you, wherever you go.

The SongBook fits easily in a backpack or briefcase and features a backlit LCD display, five station preset buttons, and a digital alarm clock. It runs on six AA batteries, and even recharges NiMH/NiCAD rechargeable batteries while the device is plugged in. It can also be used with the external power supply.

The Tivoli SongBook radio is compatible with iPod and other players and includes an external FM antenna and external AC power supply. It comes in seven different colors and sells for $199.99.

MAINGEAR just announced the Shift, what they call "the everyday supercomputer." This supercomputer can speed up everyday tasks like photo and video editing, transcoding videos for portable media devices, and upscaling standard definition video, the company said.

Shift's aluminum housing design includes expansion slots, full eATX motherboard support, full sized 5.25" optical drives, multiple SATA hard drive configurations, and up to 2 2.5" HDD in each 3.5" HDD Drive bay. And it takes a different approach to cooling with bottom to top airflow, aggressive liquid cooling, and a 90 degree rotation of the motherboard.

Another quality that sets MAINGEAR apart is their customer support. If you have any problems with your Shift computer, you are able to talk directly to the builder that assembled your system. You can also get support through an internal remote-desktop setup, as well as on-site support should the situation need it.Read more

Sony Ericsson just launched the Aino multimedia smartphone in the United States. Though not cheap at $599.99, this 3G-enabled phone includes an 8.1 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth headphones, charging base, 8GB microSD card and comes unlocked. It also has a Remote Play feature, which lets you access content from your PlayStation 3 and PC.

The Aino has a 3-inch, 432 x 240 touch screen display, media browser with 3D navigation, and another cool function, Media Home, which will check your PC every 30 minutes for videos, music and photos, and upload them from your PC to the Aino phone.

The Aino is now available at Sony stores and online at www.sonystyle.com for $599.99. Read more