There’s a lot of speculation about the next iPod release. It’s been a couple months since Apple threw out the iPhone, the new iMac is official and hittin’ it and current iPods have seen a price drop (something that only comes strictly mandated by Apple HQ). Retailers are continuing to say that Apple is slowing down iPod shipments, strongly suggesting the company is running out its current stock to make room on shelves for new product.

I can’t say what specific technology Cupertino’s got brewing behind the scenes. It’ll be OS X-based, and should use more flash, but whatever it is, I’ll wager on the release in September or October.

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Sony has just gone public with something I’ve been waiting on for a couple years. There have been rumors and leaks about TFT (thin film transistor) for flexible displays combined with OED, (organic electroluminescent display), but this is the first I’ve seen of it headed for the public market.

Imagine a color screen with LCD quality that you can bend, twist, roll up like paper, even drop and it never breaks? It could be worn as a t-shirt or wrapped around telephone poles for ads. How long will it be before boys have this tucked into their history notebooks so they can watch last night’s episode of whatever or even some good skin flicks while it looks like they’re reading?

The future just looks more and more distracting and cool as hell.

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Every once in a while, I get chills down my spine when I see yet another invasion of our already fragile liberties with a satellite-tracked black box that somebody’s trying to pass off as innocent. “It’s for keeping your car from getting stolen, it’s for making sure your kids don’t go where they’re not to, nobody would ever use it for _________.”

A company called GoPass has come out with a new device called the AVL-900. It definitely ups the ante by not only allowing the installer to track the vehicle’s every turn via GPS / GPRS, but it also has an integrated microphone to let whoever’s curious listen in. This portable tracking system packs a SiRF Star III GPS receiver, supports quad-band GSM communications, and can report positions on a timed interval or send an alert to your cellphone if the vehicle is moved while you’re away.

As if seeing a moving dot wasn’t close enough to being in the backseat, you can simply text the device or ring it up to turn the microphone on and listen in on what’s going on inside. The AVL-900 will even let you monitor the movements from your smartphone (if you’re in Europe, Asia or with the Government in the US). Thankfully, this box isn’t commercially available yet, but it will be within 3 months.

If that doesn’t creep you out…what does?

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This robot has human-like eyes, a sense of touch, recognizes human faces and voices and can even handle coffee beans. How cool is that?

Learn more here

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I’d be really upset if this company tanks, considering that I have two Vonage lines here in Central America with US numbers. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to toss them in my bag and plug them in around the world in hotels, offices or anywhere else with a broadband connection and have the same Vegas number ring there like it would in the US. It’s equally great to pick up the Vonage phone and call from the Philippines, Australia or Italy like I’m calling from Vegas for unlimited long distance to the US, Canada and pennies for LD anywhere else in the world. The voice quality is almost perfect and it’s only $30 /month per line.

Check this out -

In a series of events sure to stir things up at a company that many analysts have already written of as dead, Vonage CEO Michael Snyder has resigned on the same day that the pioneering VoIP provider announced a series of cost-cutting maneuvers, including operations consolidation, a reduction in marketing, and layoffs. Formerly president of ADT, Snyder led the company since February of last year, when he replaced founder and current Chairman of the Board Jeffrey Citron in that role — the same man who will once again hold the CEO title while replacements are scouted. The shakeup seems to have buoyed investors confidence somewhat following the courtroom setbacks in that Verizon patent suit, with Vonage shares up as much as 13 cents in premarket trading; however, it’s a rather hollow victory when you consider that the ~$3.00 stock went for as much as $17.88 this time last year. So while it’s good to see Vonage making some proactive moves in the face of what can only be considered a deathwatch, there’s only so much the company can do to affect its own fate, and at this point we could only be a ruling or two away from the end.

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Popular Science does what they do best in their latest “How it Works” by tearing apart the Nintendo Wii and its controller to show you the guts and explain how they work.

The piece includes some nifty animated images, a gallery of a Wii torn-down, and a quick explainer on the physics of the Wii remote’s accelerometer technology.

How it Works

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My friends are talking about the stunning 2.35:1 video format and it reminded me of this cool projector screen we haven’t covered before. It’s the Epson’s Duet, and instead of a vertical scrolling screen, it unfolds side to side, expanding from a 4:3 ratio’d 65-inch screen to a 16:9 screen that measures 80-inches from corner to corner. Neat. It also happens to work as a wall mounted solution. I haven’t had any first hand experience with this screen yet — I don’t mind using a white wall — but I hear it’s sweet. The only problem is that without a rigid top frame, the projector can sag in the middle. You know, like a volleyball net after one too many sloppy spikes. At $199, I can live with that.

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The buying of large-screen TVs has absolutely skyrocketed lately. It seems that everyone wants one – and with good reason. The large-screen TV has come a long way from those faded-out behemoths of old that took up half your living room and never really produced a picture of decent quality. Now, however, especially in combination with HDTV, you can get not only a nice, large picture, but a crisp, clean one too.

Plasma TVs were first on the scene, but the recent mass production of LCD TVs by major manufactures has put LCD TVs pretty much on equal footing with plasmas. That said, you will still have to make a choice.

If you’re like most people, you not only have no idea how the two differ, you don’t even know the areas you should be considering in order to determine how they differ. But they do indeed differ, and knowing the difference is extremely important if you’re going to get the TV that’s right for you.

You can essentially boil the differences between plasmas and LCDs into twelve basic points. In some areas, plasmas will win out. In other areas, LCDs will win out. In yet other areas, it will depend on your own personal taste in order to decide who wins out.

The twelve ways plasma TVs and LCD TVs differ are the following:

1. The first is a technical issue, and may seem a little boring, but it really does affect other areas. Plasmas TVs are made of chemical compounds called phosphors. LCD TVs use millions of liquid crystals.

2. The next section is related to how big the TVs are and the availability of larger sizes. You have a wider selection of larger-size TVs with plasmas (though LCDs are catching up).

3. The next section is “small size,â€? which is also important. Plasmas don’t come in smaller sizes, which you will need for places like the kitchen.

4. Next is viewing angle. Plasmas tend to have a wider viewing angle (though, again, LCDs are catching up).

5. Although the manufacturers may not like to admit it, each “canâ€? suffer from certain problems. Plasmas can suffer from burn-in effect; LCDs don’t.

6. Another problem area, but for LCDs, is “delay.� LCDs can produce a jagged figure when in motion. Plasmas tend to do better. HDTV improves this dramatically for both.

7. The next area is life span. You can replace the light source with an LCD, thereby bringing your original picture back. With plasmas you can’t.

8. In the next few sections, the theme of “picture quality� is considered. First, color: LCDs produce sharp, lively colors. Plasmas produce warmer and more accurate colors.

9. Next is brightness levels and the TVs ability to handle different lighting. LCDs tend to do better in bright-light conditions.

10. Also related to picture quality is “black levels.� Plasmas tend to produce blacker blacks.

11. Another area to consider is contrast range. Plasmas, “technically,” produce a higher contrast range.

12. Last, and certainly not least, is price. At the moment, plasmas tend to run a little cheaper, but this is changing rapidly as LCDs flood into the market. By the time you read this, in fact, there may be no difference at all.

Essentially, which one is right for you will all comes down to taste: What potential negatives will you not really notice? What positives do you want more of? What do you really want the TV for – movies, sports, news, regular TV shows?

Both plasmas and LCDs have strong advocates in their corners. Both have deliriously happy customers. But those happy customers are only happy because they knew what they wanted before they made their purchase. If you want to make the right choice, you’ll have to decide what it is you want and which of the two TVs can best give you that.

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The World’s first, best and easiest to use digital video recorder - that is TiVo in a nutshell. When it was first introduced, TiVo quickly gained popularity and became a smash hit in the world of home entertainment. Millions of American households are now enjoying the convenience and freedom that TiVo offers. In a huge way, TiVo has revolutionized digital video recording and made it more accessible to the public. This article discusses what TiVo is, as well as the advantages and disadvantages it offers.

What is TiVo? TiVo is a brand of digital video recorder or DVR that allows user to capture television programming and record it to internal hard disk storage for later viewing. The TiVo basically functions just like video cassette recorders or VCR. The big difference is that TiVo uses a high memory, non-removable hard disk storage and has much more sophisticated software to record programs. In addition, live programs can be paused or rewound to repeat a sequence and unlike tape based recorders, a program that is on the process of being recorded can be viewed from the beginning. TiVo is powered by a 50 MHz PowerPC chip, IDE controller and specialized MPEG encoding and decoding hardware. A Quantum 13.9GB IDE hard drive (14 hr) provides the memory used for recording programs. There are newer units that offer 20, 30 and 60 hours of recording time. Meanwhile, TiVo software is Linux-based which has encouraged some to hack TiVo.

Advantages of TiVo

Convenience - Now, you have total control of your entertainment. With TiVo, people will no longer have to schedule plans around a favorite TV program. Instead, they can set TiVo to record that particular program for later viewing and can be watched over and over again. With TiVo, you can select your favorite programs to record either by time, specific program title, as well as by genre, actors, directors and many others. The TiVo memory is massive allowing you to accommodate all your preferred programs which remain intact for viewing until you manually delete it.

Excellent User Interface - The TiVo interface is easier to use in many ways compared to a VCR. Even technophobes can easily get the hang of TiVo and will soon consider TiVo as a best friend. One great feature that TiVo has is the thumbs up/thumbs down button which is basically a user rating system that allow viewers to score television shows. Users can rate TV shows in a scale of three thumbs ups and three thumbs downs. These ratings are then used to determine the user’s preferences to suggest some shows and programs that are similar to the user’s interests.

Great Features - Aside from the great convenience and ease-of-use, TiVo offers a host of other exciting features TV addicts will love. Season Passes allow TiVo to record a show each time it is aired regardless of when the show begins. TiVo also feature Wish List searches and online scheduling which have made the TiVo a household necessity. All theses plus TiVo’s various home entertainment innovations make people wonder how they went for so long without this exceptional piece of home entertainment.

Disadvantages of TiVo

Privacy Concerns - Some users are concerned that TiVo’s capability to collect usage data may intrude into the privacy of its subscribers. However, TiVo assures its consumers that no information about individual viewing habits are being collected.

Ads - TiVo began including pop-up advertisements to explore it as an alternative source of income. Apparently, as the user fast-forwards through certain commercials, instead of seeing a blur of broken video stream, they will see a static image. This drew negative response from its subscribers who have previously enjoyed TiVo’s ad free viewing experience.

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