In all the hoopla over Apple’s boring, lame, pointless “Music Event” today “Ooh, .99 Cent TV Downloads, iOS Update, OMFG!!!” Don’t forget Netflix’s new deal with Paramount Pictures kicks into gear today, now on Instant Watch you can watch all the Paramount Hits including: The Godfather Trilogy, G.I. Joe, Star Trek, The Transformers and more coolness. But when are we going to get Paramount TV Shows like Numbers, Ghost Whisperers, NCIS? I’m still waiting for the day users get the supposed benefits from the Warner Home Video screw job from earlier this year. Remember the line at the time was Netflix signed the deal to delay DVD/Blu-ray releases because it meant more Content from Warner Brothers would be available for Instant Streaming? I’m waiting……..
Tags:
Cool Tech,
Movies,
Netflix
Several months ago Adobe unleashed Adobe Creative Suite 5, their latest and greatest collection of tools to fit all sorts of creative people – Web Developers, Video Editors and Publishers. Initially one of the main selling points for the new collection was their support of Apple Products through the creation of an iOS conversion tool. Uncle Stevie put the kibosh on this neat tool prior to release. While the functionality is still there, there’s no guarantee Apple will let any of your creations into it’s Walled Garden. I’ve been playing around with the Super Bundle – Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection for the last few months now and while there have been little tweaks here and there, from an end user stand point there doesn’t appear to be a whole lot new here. Or anything that makes you go “Wow, I must have this!” What it does do well is fix most of the issues with previous versions, adds just enough to keep you interested and it’s now really fast and stable. Hasn’t crashed on me once during any of my tests.
This is how Adobe wants it, sure they’ll spout off about all the great new features – “oooh, look at this great brush stroke in Photoshop,” “Or how about these nifty 3D Capabilities,” “Or DreamWeaver has more CSS Features than you can shake a stick at,” but really this release feels like more of an under the hood spruce up than a full blown product revision. Adobe has the Microsoft problem where at some point, there’s but so much you can do to really improve a product – at least from an Feature standpoint. It’s why I’ve had a lot of problem wrapping my head around this year’s review. If you are in the business and you aren’t using Adobe’s tools, what’s wrong with you? They are the leaders for a reason.
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Grade: A-
Tags:
Adobe,
Adobe Creative Suite 5,
Adobe Story,
InDesign,
Premiere Pro
They really are pushing the 3D TV “revolution” this fall – too bad there’s no 3D content to actually watch. Sony is adding 3D to it’s new midrange NX800 Seriesof Edge LED lit HDTVs that came out earlier this year. The 3D will add $200 to the price tag and will include two 3D Blu-ray movies and a voucher to download free 3D games on the PlayStation Network. The televisions will include an ambient light sensor and Sony’s Bravia Internet Apps. I don’t know, every time I’ve seen a Sony 3D TV display it’s been pretty substandard compared to Mitsibushi and Samsung’s 3D TV Offerings and Sony is crazy with their pricing – 46Inch will set you back $3,000, 55 inch – $3,700 clams and the monster 60 inch will set you back $4,700 and they don’t even give you a free set of Glasses!
Tags:
Cool Tech,
Sony,
Televisions
Last year I reviewed JVC’s pocket camcorder, Picsio, while I liked the overall experience it needed a lot of work. Today JVC has announced two new pocket camcorders, the GC-FM2 and the GC-WP10 (a waterproof version). Both feature Full HD video, improved low-light performance, a three-inch touch screen for easy operation and playback viewing, and compatibility with Eye-Fi cards for Wi-Fi connectivity. Let’s hope they didn’t recess the Power Button again and include a weird HDMI port. Based solely on the Press Release, I’m optimistic about this new camera. Check out the full press release after the break.
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Tags:
Camcorders,
Cool Tech,
JVC
I’ve never understood the popularity of Hulu. It gets praised from users, media, and analyst for being so easy to use but frankly the few times that I have tried the website, I found the navigation to be horrible and very rarely found full episodes of programs – just lame promo clips. I love Netflix Instant Watch, so I was intrigued by Hulu’s recent announcement of their Hulu Plus service but from the moment it was announced it further proved how amateurish the folks at Hulu are. They announced the service and created the long awaited iPad, iPhone Apps for it, but I had to get on the waiting list for the privilege of PAYING to use a freaking BETA product. And when I say, beta, I mean BETA! Hulu should be ashamed of themselves for making people pay $9.99 to use this garbage. Not only that but I had to pay for a subscription to Playstation Plus just to download this crap. If it was a free trial, I could accept a lot of the major flaws.
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Grade: F
If you have an idea for an iPhone game or app but don’t know how to create one yourself, MEDL Mobile is around to help. The company has a new App Incubator program that lets you submit your idea for your great game. If they like it, they’ll develop it for you. You can submit via their App Incubator app or using their website. They also have a Story Boarding tool (a PDF file) that lets you sketch your idea out frame by frame. They have already achieved success with their new game Jungly Jump, which quickly became a hit and featured selection in the App Store.
Tags:
Apple,
iPad,
iPhone
HP is changing it’s public image, they want to move away from being known as a maker of staid, boring laptops to creating the new hotness that laptop buyers are looking for. In May the company updated their entire laptop design to be leaner, meaner, sleeker and affordable. Last week they sent me one of their newly designed Pavilion lappies and I have to say, on first blush the machine is impressive and comes at a very reasonable price. The configuration they sent for testing retails for under $800 and features a hefty AMD Quad Core Processor.
I’m one of the people AMD is targeting with their new marketing message of “What can a laptop do vs. the Specs.” I’m through with the processor race, who can tell the benefits of one of Intel’s many chips Vs. AMD? All I want to know is can the PC Laptop I buy handle video production, be thin, light, have a large hard drive and do more than 4 hours battery powered of computing. In my initial testing the new HP DV6 is more than capable of meeting my needs, although it fails in two critical areas – pitiful Hard Drive size (320) and battery life (under 3 1/2 hours). This of course is the stock model, you can configure it just about however you want for an additional cost. “It is designed for families and students. Someone who wants performance and capabilities, we’re able to give you a nice quad core processor. AMD keeps on working on improving their processors; they have better power management and enabled us to put multi-core processors into mainstream notebooks” said Kevin Wentzel, HP Product Manager.
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Grade: B
Tags:
Cool Tech,
HP,
Laptops
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