Cool Tools archive

Listen to any game
Just in time for football season, Sirius satellite radio has launched a plug and play device, the Sportster. The device will be available in September, and will cost $99.99 for the receiver, and $49.99 for each car docking or home docking station (a boom box is an additional $99). In... August 19, 2004

Sirius launches new satellite radio device
Satellite radio provider Sirius has launched the latest version of its hardware, the Stream Jockey. Also known as the XACT XTR1 Plug & Play Satellite Receiver, the device will be launched this Saturday on the Home Shopping Network (11 a.m. to 11:20 a.m., and 9 p.m. to 9:20 p.m.). The... August 13, 2004

Mini-speakers for your iPod mini
Altec Lansing has announced a portable speaker system that is aimed at providing iPod mini users with a way to play their songs through speakers. The iMmini is based on Altec Lansing's inMotion speaker system, albeit 41 percent smaller. The iMmini (click for pop-up image) measures 7- by 4.4- by... August 11, 2004

Archos launches portable TV recorder
Archos today launched its Pocket Video Recorder AV400, a portable digital video recorder with TV recording and scheduling features, as well as audio, photo and data storage. The AV400 lets you record TV shows and movies directly from a TV, VCR or cable/satellite receiver through its TV Cradle (basically a... June 30, 2004

HP launches Personal Media Drive
In conjunction with some new Media Center PCs, HP this week launched a new device -- the HP Personal Media Drive -- which lets users add up to 160G bytes of storage space to a Media Center PC without having to open up the PC case or even turn the... June 23, 2004

SMC hooks up with Rhapsody
SMC announced this week that its EZ-Stream Wireless Audio Adapter (model SMCWAA-B) now works with Rhapsody, the Internet jukebox software from RealNetworks. The EZ-Stream Wireless Audio Adapter costs $129.99 and works over a Wi-Fi network to stream music stored on a PC to any stereo, the company said. People who... June 17, 2004

Apex Digital launches 8.4-inch portable DVD player
Apex Digital this week added a new portable DVD player to its line with the addition of the PD-840, featuring an 8.4-inch viewable display. The PD-840 will cost about $325 and will be available later this summer, the company announced. The PD-840 has the ability to play multi-format DVD and... June 11, 2004

Stream iTunes to your stereo
I'm always pleasantly surprised when Apple comes out with a new device, and it's no different today. The company today launched its AirPort Express device, an 802.11g base station that acts as a wireless access point, as well as a device that can stream iTunes music from a Mac or... June 07, 2004

PC headphones that do more
I/OMagic Corp., which makes data storage and digital entertainment products, today launched a new line of headphones for the PC and consumer electronics market. The I/OMagic Sound Assault 5.1 Channel Surround Sound Headphone system includes a power amplifier (and control station), eight independent speakers, and bundled software. The $100 system...

Projector/DVD player hybrid
I love it when two technologies converge (or "collide," as the case may be). The latest converged device is an all-in-one Digital Light Processing projector with a DVD player for home theater usage from Pixa, Inc. Instead of connecting your DVD player via wires, check this system out, where you... June 01, 2004

Adventures in networked media players
Find out which networked media player (devices that stream MP3s, photos and videos from PCs to your TV or stereo) piqued our interest in the latest batch of testing...... February 10, 2004

DVD player and speakers for $299
Aspire Digital this week announced the AD-2100PLUS speaker system, which can operate as a receiverless home theater system, as well as a 5.1 surround sound system for a computer. The system is aimed at users who do not already have a receiver or DVD player connected to a TV, but... August 07, 2003

Connect any Ethernet device via 802.11g
D-Link last Friday announced a new 802.11g wireless Ethernet Adapter that can give high-speed wireless LAN connectivity to any device with an Ethernet port, including game consoles, music devices and even regular laptops. The device will be available in mid-August for about $135, the company said. The D-Link DWL-G810 Xtreme... August 04, 2003

DVD player for Linux computers
Lindows.com this week announced availability of its Lindows DVD Player, which includes a fully licensed decoder that lets users play commercial DVDs on LindowsOS computers. The player can also play CDs, VCDs and multimedia files such as AVI, MOV, WMV and MP3 from local disk drives, as well as streaming... July 30, 2003

Charter plans Moxi rollout
Motorola announced today that Charter Communications would be buying 100,000 units of its Motorola Broadband Media Centers that are powered by Digeo's Moxi Service. The Moxi boxes include a digital cable receiver that also includes a personal video recorder, high-definition TV support and a progressive scan DVD player. The Moxi... July 16, 2003

Got $21,000? I’ve got a TV for you
Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America Inc. today announced the “largest-ever” HDTV, the new 82-inch Mitsubishi Alpha Widescreen HDTV. The new television features 1,080 by 1,920 resolution, Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LcoS) reflective LCD technology, super-high precision optics and “the highest performance digital receiver and processing circuits ever created by Mitsubishi Electric,”... April 11, 2003

ViewSonic ships Media Center
ViewSonic said this week it is shipping its NextVision M2000 Digital Media Center, a digital entertainment product with digital video recording features. The M2000 uses Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition OS, and costs about $1,895 (with $100 rebate). The M2000 combines a digital video recorder, CD/DVD player and writer,... March 27, 2003

Sony launches 'lifestyle headphones'
Sony Electronics today announced three new headphone designs based on the types of music that people like to listen to. The new headphones -- A.I.R. (Air), L.Q.D. (Liquid) and S.L.d (Solid) are labeled the "Elements of Style" headphones, Sony said. The A.I.R. headphones (pictured) are designed to boost sound to... February 20, 2003

Free report on big-screen TVs
If you are thinking about buying a big-screen TV in time for the Super Bowl (we're not that excited since the Patriots aren't in it this year), head over to the Consumer Reports Web site. The magazine is offering a free report to help consumers find a TV set. Consumer... January 16, 2003

Blow up your speakers
Ellula announced today it would launch its HotAir Subwoofer system at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The system includes a subwoofer and inflatable satellite speakers that can connect to devices such as portable CD players, desktop and laptop computers, MP3 players and video game consoles. Ellula's blow-up... January 06, 2003

Network your DVD player
SONICblue recently announced the Go-Video D2730, which it calls the "world's first networked DVD player." The D-2730 connects to a home network or computer and pulls photos, music and video clips and can play them on a television. The D2730 has the capability to stream MPEG-2 video files over a... January 02, 2003