GeekSugar

Get Your HD DVD Money Back From Best Buy

GeekSugar — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 03:15:15 -0700

Now that the war between HD DVD and Blu-ray is finally over, I bet you're still wondering what to do with that dummy DVD player that you sunk your cold hard cash into. Thankfully, there is a silver lining to your HD DVD raincloud. For all you hard core Best Buy customers, rejoice! If you bought a Toshiba HD DVD player from the home of the Geek Squad before February 23, you're entitled to a nice $50 gift card to replace your defunked player. And if you are an Xbox fan and bought your HD DVD add-on, the refund applies to you as well. Best Buy president Brian J. Dunn, hopes that the gift cards will come as a nice consolation prize for choosing the wrong side in the format war:

"Now that the format war is over, we hope these gift cards will reassure our customers that we will help them make a smooth transition into the right technology for their needs,"

This coming on the heels of Circuit City offering full credits for HD DVD players within 90 days of purchase. To find out how to get your Best Buy refund, read more

For Reward Zone members, you don't have to do a thing! You'll get your gift cards sent to you right away. If you purchased the player with your credit card, cash or check, call (888) Best Buy and supply a receipt. What's more, even if you didn't buy your player from Best Buy, the guys in blue and yellow are offering a trade in program. Once you agree on a trade in price, Best Buy will send you a gift card in your agreed upon amount. But then again, maybe you should store it - it could be worth something someday. Remember LaserDisc?

Source

Wal-Mart: Out With HD DVD and in With Blu-ray

GeekSugar — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:43:19 -0800

As the Blu-ray/HD DVD war continues with Netflix and Best Buy recently making the switch to Blu-ray, things are certainly looking gloomy for the future of HD DVD products. The hardest hit came today, with Wal-Mart announcing that it would be pulling the plug on on HD DVD and moving exclusively toward Blu-ray format movies and players.
By June, 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores will offer only Blu-ray movies and hardware machines, as well as standard definition movies and DVD players. In the meantime, Wal-Mart will slowly be selling off the rest of its HD DVD products. If everything looks as good as Beyoncé in Blu-ray, then I may also have to make the switch!

Source

HD DVD/Blu-ray Combo Products to Debut in 07

GeekSugar — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 17:36:51 -0800

The battle of Blu-ray versus HD DVD continues with the two technologies facing off at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next week in Las Vegas. There are however, a few neutral products that bring the best of both worlds together and should delight gadget lovers.

LG Electronics announced that it will launch the world's first dual-format high-definition disc player, capable of playing both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD content. The company said the unit will be released in the United States in early 2007, and that it "expects this technological breakthrough to end the confusion and inconvenience of competing high-definition disc formats for both content producers and consumers."

Warner Bros. followed with the announcement that it would launch a hybrid disc that works in both Blu-ray and HD DVD players. According to the AP, Warner Bros. developed the "Total HD Disc" to help break the stalemate between HD DVD, developed by a consortium led by Toshiba Corp., and rival Blu-ray, backed by Sony Corp.

HD DVD and Blu-ray offer resolutions that are much higher than standard-definition DVDs, and offer brighter contrast and color, sharper sound and higher levels of interactivity.

Daily Tech: The Xbox 360 Gets HD Streaming

GeekSugar — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:01:17 -0700

Start popping the popcorn now: Netflix is going to stream in High-Def on Xbox 360s! - Gizmodo
Thought the HD disc competition died with HD DVD? Think again. Royal Digital Media is planning a competitor for Blu-ray. - Engadget
Motorola is flailing and has decided to turn all their attention and resources to Android. - TechCrunch
Best Buy announced a Black Friday VIP contest that includes a $1,000 gift card. - CrunchGear
It's almost Halloween, and if you don't have a costume yet, check out all these geeky ideas! - CMD Shift

The Practical Girl's Guide to Apple TV

GeekSugar — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:00:00 -0800

Call waiting, cell phones, TiVo . . . all technological conveniences that you told yourself (I definitely did) at first you didn't need; until of course, you had them, and they became indispensable.

This is now how I feel about Apple TV. Our friends at Apple sent me the mighty little movie streamer, and I've been learning to live with this new gadget.

For the uninitiated, Apple TV ($229) is a box-top digital media receiver - basically, a home theater enhancer that functions as a movie or music player. To hear my first impressions, and to whom I would recommend an Apple TV, just read more.

First impressions:

First of all, set up of the Apple TV could not be easier. You plug in the HDMI cable (or component, if that's how you roll), and it's just a few minutes to be all set up. It was truly one of the most painless gadget setups I've ever been through.
The most impressive thing about the Apple TV? Its abilities as a media hoster. That's right, hoster, not player, because player is so limiting. The first thing I did was connect my computer and iTunes account to the Apple TV, and bam, all my photos and music were available. The screensaver slideshow of photos (with several photos onscreen at a time) mesmerized my friends and me.
The movie watching experience is great, but I didn't expect it to be difficult. With no skips for obvious reasons, it's as smooth and easy as using a PS3 for viewing Blu-ray movies.
The 160GB of space is awesome; we watched a DVD the other night, and it skipped, so we ripped it to the Apple TV and watched it from there (effectively saving movie night and my nerves). Not only is it a better way to watch, you can rip your DVDs to the Apple TV's hard drive, and then never have to deal with those discs again.
Watching a movie directly from Apple TV is ideal, and way better than renting or buying from your computer (whether you'd watch it straight from your PC or transfer it from there to the Apple TV). Where downloading a two-hour movie onto my computer from iTunes takes me about an hour, it takes about 20 minutes from Apple TV and we were able to watch it before it had fully downloaded.

Who is the Apple TV ideal for?

Movie Junkies. This is the obvious one, but very true. Having the Apple TV means you can rent or buy movies and TV shows from iTunes (stay tuned for my impressions of that) anytime - no having to get out of your PJs or into the rain to get a new movie.
People who want to digitize their movie collection. You have 160GB of space to fill up, so you can divide that among quite a few movies and then sell those discs or just consider the file on the hard drive a back up.
People who entertain a lot. My favorite part about Apple TV is not movie watching, but photo viewing and music playing. Normally we play slideshows on our TV, but we either have to burn a limited number of images to a disc, or run it from the PS3, whose slideshow isn't as cool looking. Apple TV runs my whole photo library and looks amazing doing it.
People who are resisting Netflix, but sick of actual movie stores.
People who want a movie streamer. There are other streaming devices, but Netflix's Roku doesn't do anything besides movie streaming, costs $99 plus a Netflix account, and you could do it with an Xbox, but you'd have to have an Xbox and an Xbox Live Pass. No subscription is necessary with Apple TV.
People who are not ready for Blu-ray (or think it won't stick around). If you rent or buy directly from the Apple TV, movies are available in HD, and they look pretty clear.
Gadget junkies. Enough said.

This is just the beginning of my experiences with the Apple TV, so if you have any questions or curiosities about it, let me know in the comments below and I'll try to cover it all in the followup!

Daily Tech: Rock Band Drops $20 at Target

GeekSugar — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:10:51 -0800

From Feb. 17-23, Target will be offering the PS3 and 360 versions of the special-edition Rock Band bundle for only $149. - Joystiq
Alaska Airlines has decided to make the switch from ticket counters to touch screens. - The Gadgets Weblog
Rumor has it that the iPod Touch and iPhone may be taking a $100 price drop within the next two months. - CrunchGear
Toshiba has decided to pull the plug on HD DVD, practically ending the Blu-ray-HD DVD rival once and for all. - Crave
Starting today, the biggest mobile companies will be closing down their analog networks. - Engadget

Tech News Roundup - Elvis Gadgets!

GeekSugar — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:00:58 -0700

It's 30 years today since Elvis (allegedly) shed his mortal coil and went to the Great Jailhouse in the Sky. We all remember his music, but what about his gadgets? Elvis lives (through the power of technology)! The Top 5 Elvis gadgets - Shiny Shiny
Further proving that people can't get enough bling bling, Sony offering up Swarovski crystal-clad E010 DAPs - Engadget
Netflix just lowered its prices on the "three DVDs out at-a-time" plan again, taking it down a buck to $15.99 a month. Netflix Lowers Prices for DVD Rentals by $1 ... Again - Gizmodo
Are you a dork? Do you love TV? If the answer to both those questions is yes, you'll probably want to select HD DVD as your next- generation format of choice, because there are some seriously exciting sci-fi TV shows hitting the format in the next few weeks. HD DVD: Format of choice for geek TV - Crave
Following in the footsteps of Prince, a Chinese couple tried to name its baby the 'at' sign (or "@") used in kajillions of e-mail addresses every day. Chinese Couple Tries to Name Baby "@" Symbol - Switched
Coax Cables are one of the main culprits causing a mess behind our televisions.
How To...Trim your Coax TV Cable - Apartment Therapy
Meet HRP-2, a 5-foot tall robot that uses a video motion-capture system to memorize and imitate dance moves, like these ones performed by ladies in kimonos. Motion Sensor Bots Imitate Traditional Dance Moves - Tokyo Mango

Tech News Roundup - Leopard Delayed!

GeekSugar — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 04:15:39 -0700

For once, the rumor mill was right: Apple will be delaying Leopard, the next release of Mac OS X, until October. Apple delaying Leopard until October - Crave
Toshiba has announced the availability of its new HD-A20 HD DVD player. Toshiba Offers Sub-$500 1080p HD DVD Player - Daily Tech
In 1982, Popular Mechanics reviewed the top six personal computers, noting that, "It used to be that programs were easy to copy and change. But manufacturers began to lose money as many people made copies of software and gave them to their friends. Now, many manufacturers have figured out how to 'copy-protect' discs. Top 6 PCs of 1982 - Boing Boing
Are you a PC and Google Calendar user trying to organize your life? How to make your Google Calendar your PC's desktop wallpaper - Life Hacker
Crazy-cool Dutch brand From the Supermarket have moved up a level from selling water, juice and t-shirts: they've just launched Toni Electroni, a nippy little moped that runs on electricity and makes hardly any noise at all. Toni Electroni: the scooter from the supermarket - Shiny Shiny

Daily Tech: New Nintendo DSi Won't be Making US Debut Til 2009

GeekSugar — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:00:42 -0700

Nintendo's new portable gaming console, the DSi, which comes with a built-in camera, won't be coming to the US until well into the 2009 calendar year since the current DS Lite is still selling like hot cakes. - Joystiq
Coldwell Banker has just launched a new website for potential home buyers that works for both the iPhone and iPod Touch, so that they can easily view property details, value, and location. - Unplggd
In just two days, the Blu-ray version of Iron Man has already sold out, making it the fastest selling Blu-ray DVD to this day! - Gizmodo
Apple's latest update to Apple TV not only fixes bugs and security issues, but it now offers a Genius playlist feature. To access, just hold down the play button while a song is playing! - CrunchGear
CBS has just launched a new HD streaming service called the Social Viewing Room where you can pick shows that are currently on and watch with your friends, etc. - TechCrunch

Be Kind Rewind: Um, What About Blu-ray?

GeekSugar — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:00:39 -0700

Totally sick of hearing about the end of the format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD? And totally sick of having to think about when you'll have to start buying Blu-ray discs instead of DVDs? Escape with Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind - a whimsical film and welcome departure from the high-tech rat race that's going on.

I've long loved Gondry for his use and of high and low-tech in his films - usually in terms of special effects (if you haven't seen Science of Sleep, get thee to your Netflix queue), and this time, for Be Kind Rewind, in subject matter as well. For more on Be Kind Rewind, read more

The movie is about two video store clerks (Jack Black and Mos Def) who accidentally de-magnetize their VHS tapes and must re-record them by acting them out themselves. The shop owner (Danny Glover), meanwhile, struggles with the resistance to make the move to DVD.

Of course, after the film I thought: What about Blu-ray? There's no reference to it at all in this film, even among discussion of switching formats. If this film had been shot a year later, would it have warranted a mention? But this movie retorts, what about Blu-ray, indeed.

Be Kind Rewind chastises us for our quick abandonment to newer and better technologies, and celebrates the films and movie-making, regardless of format. By then end of this movie, I even missed my VHS tapes. Sigh. . . I still haven't replaced Reality Bites.

Photos courtesy of New Line Cinema