Christopher Grant   Year:by , posted Jan 10th 2007 at 9:36AM   Source Site:engadget

MediaREADYs budget-friendly MC home theater PC is fine, if youre into that sort of thing, but what about the folks looking for something more? Instead of letting those folks find solace in the arms of their many competitors, MediaREADY decided to offer them something a little more high end and thus, the MC-PRO was born. The unit features an AMD64 Dual-Core processor, high definition and analog television tuning, home automation controls, built-in 802.11g, and "superior" audio decoding courtesy of D2Audios Intelligent Digital Amplifier. We dont know half as much about the MC-PRO as we do the MC, but we assume itll cost a good deal more than the MCs $899, what being "PRO" and all. ...

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Omar McFarlane   Year:by , posted Jan 10th 2007 at 9:36AM   Source Site:engadget

Considering that it has been made explicitly clear that iPods are not meant to be eaten or chewed on, the popular DAP is pretty much ruled out as a contender for the ears of our wee young ones. Thankfully Hasbro-subsidiary Playskool and Creative have teamed up to make sure that baby Apple isnt left out of the loop (you could be missing a key demographic, Steve). The "Made For Me" line of MP3 players is pretty scarce on details, but what we do know is that it comes preloaded with 50 songs, has a voice recorder, and can be used with other appropriately labeled "Made For Me" toys (sounds familiar). The device should be available come fall and is expected to retail for about $80. While wed personally just stick a stereo in our kids room and call it a day, we will reserve judgement and leave t...

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Thomas Ricker   Year:by , posted Jan 10th 2007 at 9:36AM   Source Site:engadget

Philips are showing off their latest home audio Streamium solution at CES today. Meet the WAS5000 and WACS3500 multi-room solution for streaming music wirelessly throughout the house. The WACS3500 (top) is a three-piece configuration with 80GB hard disk and the ability to up to four additional stations to enable advanced features such as Music Follows Me, the ability for music to turn on and off as you travel from room to room; Music Broadcast to annoy the family everywhere in the house; or My Room, My Music for personalized playlists on different stations in different rooms. The WAS5000 is aimed at extending your existing audio system by connecting UPnP back to your PC and enables the same advanced features as the WACS3500. The WACS3500 should be set to roll in the first half of 200...

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Darren Murph   Year:by , posted Jan 10th 2007 at 9:36AM   Source Site:engadget

Sure, theres more than a few ways to get HDTV and PVR technology over on the Mac side of life, but Miglia is giving us one more alternative by updating its MiniHD to deliver tuning / PVR functions to your Mac over USB 2.0. Apparently the company isnt worried about the ole Apple TV stealing all the thunder, and most notably due to its missing tuner, we dont think it will either. The MiniHD+ doesnt seem to outdo its predecessor in most areas, as it still tunes into ATSC, ClearQAM, and OTA broadcasts, and pumps the data to your Mac via USB 2.0. This portable gizmo provides the usual pause, rewind, and scheduling functions youd expect on a PVR, but it also reportedly allows you to "consult an integrated electronic programming guide to locate shows and edit recorded clips to remove advertiseme...

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Barb Dybwad   Year:by , posted Jan 10th 2007 at 9:36AM   Source Site:engadget

Question: whats the most common complaint about USB speakers? Answer: they suck. And why do they suck? Theyre woefully lacking in power because of the limitations of the USB port, which only outputs 5V/0.5A. Yamaha claims to have gotten around this hurdle by developing its flux capacitor "Charged Capacitor Amplifier" that, via the magic power of technology, throws out 10x the normal power to achieve 10W x 2. And to turn it up to 11, Yamaha added its SR-Bass technology to produce the "deepest bass ever" in proportion to its size. The speaker sports a stereo mini-jack and can also be battery-operated for those rare moments when you and your laptop need some "separate time." Youll be able to pick up the NX-U10 early this year for ?149, or about $193 USD....

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Donald Melanson   Year:by , posted Jan 10th 2007 at 9:36AM   Source Site:engadget

With Vista fast approaching, it seems only natural that the folks at Gyration would tailor its gyroscope-packing, motion-sensing Media Center Remote to the new media-centered OS on the block -- and thats just what theyve done, announcing the strikingly familiar-looking Vista Media Center Remote at CES. Apart from the new paint job, the remote appears to be pretty much in line with its earlier Media Center incarnation, giving you full mouse control courtesy of its trademark "Motion by Gyration" technology, with a range of up to 100 feet and plenty of buttons to accommodate your non-point-and-click needs. Look for this one to be available at all the usual locations come March for $150, or in a bundle with a wireless keyboard for an even $200. ...

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Thomas Ricker   Year:by , posted Jan 10th 2007 at 9:36AM   Source Site:engadget

Those two ear buds may not look very interesting but they are mister, they are. Those little buds represent the very first, truly wireless headphones weve seen capable of stereo sound without that goofy strap or string running between the cans. No, not Bluetooth wireless, that pirate wont be ready to splice the cans until 2008 or so. Aaarg! RCA turned to Kleer technology instead to pull off this minor milestones of miracles while allowing the battery to last 10x as long as Bluetooth headsets. Better yet, they sound awesome. Really. Even on the densely populated CES showroom floor flooded with RF, these headphones provide excellent sound quality when paired with the RCA Jet Stream MP3 player. Range was a bit short compared to Bluetooth -- about 5 or 6 feet from the player -- but the a...

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Christopher Grant   Year:by , posted Jan 9th 2007 at 11:56PM   Source Site:engadget

Were guessing the singular product shot of Axiotrons ModBook wasnt enough to sate your insatiable appetite for all things Apple and all things tablet. Our friends at The Unofficial Apple Weblog were on hand for the products official unveiling at MacWorld today and theyve got the photo gallery to prove it. Theyve even got a box shot so you can imagine getting your own in the mail....

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Christopher Grant   Year:by , posted Jan 9th 2007 at 11:56PM   Source Site:engadget

Even though Samsungs SP-P300ME never made it stateside, their SP-P310MEMX Pocket Imager LED projector will, for an MSRP of $799. The 1.5-pound projector isnt the smallest LED projector weve seen but thats okay. The device features a DLP panel to up the resolution to 800 x 600 SVGA, an LED light source expected to give up 10,000 hours of life at 50 ANSI Lumens, and a 1000:1 contrast ratio perfect for outputting computer displays. Roll all that up into a diminutive 5" x 3.7" x 2" package, with an optional battery capable of delivering 2.5 hours of battery life (just enough time to watch a movie), and youve got yourself a pretty potent portable projector....

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Peter Rojas   Year:by , posted Jan 9th 2007 at 11:56PM   Source Site:engadget

The long-promised FlipStart mini PC has been on the vapor tip for a ridiculously long time, but could Vulcan be finally close to launching it? To be honest, were not sure whats up -- weve been hearing about this thing for so long now that they may as well call it the FalseStart -- but they have put up a new teaser page for it. With any luck it means theyre getting close to rolling something out, lets just hope its not that hunk of junk they were beta testing a few years ago. [Via Carrypad]...

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Thomas Ricker   Year:by , posted Jan 9th 2007 at 11:56PM   Source Site:engadget

No surprises here, but following the launch of the Airport Extreme this morning, Apple came clean about the existence of 802.11n draft-spec hardware in their iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro lineup of computers. So just like we thought, Apple will indeed provide a software update for your Mac. Only thing is, youll have to purchase their Airport Extreme first, since the "enabler software" ships with new base station. Now that you know for sure what your hardware could do (with compatible draft-n hardware), we wonder if you can really wait until February for your update? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]...

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