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Apple TV review (2010): 5 Things We Like
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Product Reviews,
We know you’ve been waiting for our Apple TV review, and we’ve been playing with Apple’s second try at a home theater set top box for about ten days now, and figured it was time to report back with our thoughts. The thing is, it really is a lot of the same in terms of usability and interface. There aren’t many changes (yet!) to that side of things, despite things being very different under the hood. The new Apple TV is a lot smaller, and runs iOS 4, and is priced at just $99. It’s centered around a focus on renting movies and TV shows rather than purchasing them. It’s also got Netflix integration and the new AirPlay functionality that allows you to fling video and audio content from your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch right to the Apple TV with ease.
Rather than go into this as a full review, we figured we’d focus instead on five aspects of the new Apple TV that we like, and five things about the Apple TV that we hate. So let’s jump into five things we like about the Apple TV:
Click to continue reading Apple TV review (2010): 5 Things We Like
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Apple TV review (2010): 5 Things We Hate
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Home Entertainment, Product Reviews,
We’ve already given you the first portion of our Apple TV review when we gave you five things we like about the Apple TV. Now it’s time we dig into the things that we straight up hate about Apple’s second try at a living room set top box. There are some things that were omitted or ignored that we kind of can’t stand, and other decisions for sub-optimal experiences that were seemingly made just because Apple felt like they could get away with it. Read on for our list of five things that we hate about the second generation Apple TV.
Click to continue reading Apple TV review (2010): 5 Things We Hate
Weekend Reading: Wonder Woman, Alex Toth, NYCC and Star Wars
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Editorials, Interviews, Reviews, DC Comics, Independent, Marvel Comics,
Doesn’t everyone who’s not there wish they were at the New York Comic Con this weekend? Or is it just me?
Big announcements all across the board. Marvel and DC are cutting prices which won’t boost sales enough for the Big Two to make the same amount of money. But it’s good news for non-Big Two publishers who can try to tap into the money customers are saving and steer it their way. I’m looking at you Boom!, Dynamite, Moonstone and IDW.
DC’s also cutting the story count down to 20 pages. Since there aren’t that many paid ads anymore, anyone want to wager on when the $2.99 printed comics go from 32 pages down to 24 to further reduce costs?
And in the wake of his supervisor stepping down, Bob Wayne‘s been given a promotion and stays in New York. Well played.
At Project Child Murdering Robot, Ricky Sprague has some thoughts about the new Wonder Woman TV series in development by David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal; Boston Legal). His advice: “Please don’t shy away from her glorious bondage past.”
Toasting Toth: Who doesn’t love Alex Toth? John Kricfalusi posts panels from a really nice story and breaks down his love for it.
Toth II: Daniel Best at 20th Century Danny Boy has some great information of Alex Toth and the artist’s time in Australia. Bonus: lots of Toth artwork.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: Wonder Woman, Alex Toth, NYCC and Star Wars
Unboxing Live 064: Apple iPod nano (2010)
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, Portable Audio, Videocasts,
Apple completely redesigned the iPod nano for the 2010 holiday season, eliminating the click wheel altogether, opting instead for a touchscreen device that is almost as small as the iPod shuffle. We got our hands on the multi-touch orange iPod nano and give you a look at it in this episode.
Back thanks to JackThreads for sponsoring this episode - be sure and grab a free $5 credit from JackThreads now!
Bleeding Edge TV 366: Xbox 360 Fall 2010 dashboard update review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: High Score, Features, Microsoft, Podcasts, Video Games, Videocasts, Videos,
The next major Xbox 360 dashboard update happens in November, and we’ve got a look at all the new changes and additions in this episode of Bleeding Edge TV. This is a big update that brings another big redesign to the Xbox 360, similar to what they did a couple years ago with the New Xbox Experience. Things are a lot more flat and boxy, like what you’d find on Windows Phone 7, and the synergy is understandable…plus, it makes things a lot more user-friendly as it pertains to Kinect.
What else do you get? Netflix search and DVD queue management, along with a Netflix app redesign. ESPN brings 3,500 live sporting events per year (close to 100 per day!,) Zune finally brings music to the Xbox 360 with Zune Pass integration, and more. Get a look at the video above for the full scoop.
Weekend Reading: DC Comics And Warner Bros.
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Image Comics, Marvel Comics,
So did you hear the big news? Marvel’s moving to a new office building in Manhattan!
Not to be outdone, Warner Bros. decided to shake things up with a large scale corporate shift. This interview with Diane Nelson from Comic Book Resources actually sheds very little light on the nuts and bolts of it.
And the lack of real answers has caused Tom Spurgeon to raise some questions he’d like to see answered about the situation forward-going.
Naturally, and because I sometimes can’t keep my mouth shut, I have my own take on the matter.
Click to continue reading Weekend Reading: DC Comics And Warner Bros.
Toshiba BDX2700 Blu-ray player review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Product Reviews,
If you were wondering how Toshiba‘s mid-range Blu-ray player fared when compared to everything else out there, the guys over at TweakTown have put together a nice review of the device.
Toshiba was once a major player in the two-year long “High Definition Wars”, pitting the HD-DVD format against Blu-ray disc. With fans in each camp, the ultimate fate of HD DVD came about when manufacturers began dropping support for that format and switched over to releasing movies on Blu-ray alone, thus cutting HD-DVD off at the knees. Though the format still lives on today in used movie stores all across the country, Toshiba eventually dropped all support for their competing format and began releasing Blu-ray disc players of its own.
The BDX2700 is a replacement to Toshiba’s first generation Blu-ray player; the BDX2000 (released almost a year ago) and is the current top of the line player (the BDX2500 is a cheaper version which lacks built-in wireless connectivity). The BDX2700 is a “basic” Blu-ray player, which is perfect for those who are upgrading from the straightforward DVD disc players and are confused by the myriad of connectivity options and “apps” that are required for so many consumer electronics these days. Video connections are the typical HDMI, component and composite, while the audio side of things drops the coaxial connection in favor of full analog connectivity (in the event that your sound system doesn’t decode the Blu-ray lossless audio codecs).
Click on over to the site for the full scoop.
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| TweakTown
NeatDesk for Mac review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, PC / Laptop, Peripherals, Product Reviews,
If you’re anything like me, you’ve got tons of paper sitting around that would be better served being scanned into your computer and kept in some sort of document management system, rather than in piles around the house or on your desk. A couple of weeks ago, we got the NeatDesk for Mac Desktop Scanner system in for review. The NeatDesk (available on Amazon) is really more than just a scanner, since it also includes the NeatWorks document management software, which in and of itself claims to do a lot, and works with a bunco of other scanners as well (you can buy NeatWorks software on its own.) When the scanner arrived, we were excited to give it a try…but that feeling soon turned to impending doom. If this thing was anything like the NeatReceipts scanner we’ve been using for the past couple of years, it meant that we’d be in for a day full of long, slow scans. You know what? We couldn’t have been more wrong.
Click to continue reading NeatDesk for Mac review
Super: Rainn Wilson Is The Crimson Bolt
The Rainn Wilson superhero movie, Super, is getting closer to theatrical release. Writer-Director James Gunn’s film showed to an appreciative audience at the recent Toronto Independent Film Festival and got picked up by IFC for theatrical distribution.
Wilson, Dwight from The Office, plays the Crimson Bolt (aka Frank D’Arbo) a wannabe superhero with all the power his plumber’s wrench possesses when he hits something with it. Ellen Page as his equally nutty sidekick Boltie, and Kevin Bacon is the villain who’s stolen Wilson’s equally dysfunctional gal, played by Liv Tyler. Even Nathan Fillion (Castle, Dr. Horrible, Firefly) gets into the act and there’s even an appearance by Troma’s own Lloyd Kaufman. [Namedrop alert: I once sat next to Kaufman on a flight from New York to L.A. and is he ever entertaining in person!]
With his wrench and the best battle cry - “Shut up, crime!” - since Ben Grimm’s “It’s clobberin’ time!”, The Crimson Bolt begins a one-man war on all manner of crime, because dressing up as a superhero to win back your girlfriend is always a good idea.
Click to continue reading Super: Rainn Wilson Is The Crimson Bolt
Wynonna Earp Is Coming Back!
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Reviews, IDW Publishing,
What do Bigfoot, Vampire Nation, Yeti, and Russian Immortals have in common? They’re all appearing with Wynonna Earp in Beau Smith’s upcoming original graphic novel, Wynonna Earp: The Yeti Wars illustrated by Enrique Villigran, and published by IDW.
All I can say is “about damn time.” You can quote me.
Wynonna Earp is, in case you haven’t guessed, related to ol’ Wyatt himself. She’s a US Covert Marshal, only instead of hunting bank robbers and “hoss thieves” like her famous relative, she’s after more dangerous, contemporary game: Paranormal lawbreakers. As Beau says, “There’s nothing normal about paranormal crime.”
In this all new graphic novel, debuting in December, Beau and Enrique are dropping Wynonna into the middle of a “paranormal range war” between Russian Immortals and the Vampire Nation. Beau clarifies, “There are four Bigfoot in this book as well as a tribe of Yeti, The Vampire Nation, A Consortium of Immortals and a Mad Scientist that likes to splice animal and human DNA. How’s that for a Monster kitchen sink?”
Click to continue reading Wynonna Earp Is Coming Back!
