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Plex Inks A Deal With LG, Could Be The Start Of Something Huge For Both Companies

Matt Burns — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:12:05 +0000

Plex is about to get big. The offshoot of the XBMC project just announced that LG will be using its media platform in upcoming Netcast HDTVs and Blu-ray players, in turn, making these devices about the best media streamers imaginable -- even better than the upcoming Boxee Box or just-refreshed Apple TV. After all, Plex already works with Netflix, Hulu, BBC's iPlayer, and supports playback of just about every media format ever created via the best interface in the business. There's even an iOS remote viewing app coming soon. Forget about having an extra box sitting on your TV stand just to stream random content, it's going to be built into your HDTV. Welcome to the future, ladies and gentleman.

Stealth’s rugged USB keyboard is extremely badass, extremely pricey

Joseph L. Flatley — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:03:00 +0000

There are no hard and fast rules in the gadget game, but there is one bit of wisdom we generally stand by: everything benefits by being ruggedized. Sure, we know this speaks to a deep-seated need to smash things, drown things, run 'em over in a truck or shoot them -- and we're not making any excuses. Housed in vandal resistant stainless steel, the Stealth KYBX-400-DT-BL-TB-USB keyboard feature an optical trackball mouse, and NVIS-compliant red adjustable backlighting (just the thing for when you dig out the night vision goggles). If that weren't enough, the whole thing is environmentally sealed to NEMA 4, 4X, IP65 specifications (whatever that means). Yours now for $695! Get a closer look below.

Gallery: Stealth Desktop Industrial Keyboards

Stealth's rugged USB keyboard is extremely badass, extremely pricey originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Merger Made In High Heaven: US Cannabis To Buy WeedMaps

Robin Wauters — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:53:00 +0000

Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson fame may be too chicken to invest in WeedMaps (think Yelp for pot), but that isn't stopping other companies from sniffing around the startup, looking to score. In fact, a company called LC LUXURIES LIMITED, or rather its most recently established subsidiary, US Cannabis, is very close to buying WeedMaps. According to this press release, the Nevada corporation has entered into formal negotiations with the startup to acquire the domain name "weedmaps.com" as well as the current operating website.

Sony Bloggie Touch preview: an actually simple ‘simple camcorder’

Paul Miller — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:31:00 +0000

Maybe we're a bunch of idiots, but while the Flip and its ultra-simple camcorder ilk have certainly made shooting video simpler and more accessible for the masses, we still find many of these cameras surprisingly unintuitive or just "blah" at doing what they do (Kodak's otherwise excellent Zi8 and PlaySport cameras come to mind) when it comes to UI. After playing with the horrendous Flip Slide HD, we were almost sure touchscreens would act as another obstacle to using these things, but of all people, Sony has come to the rescue. We found the original Bloggie line very unimpressive, but this new Bloggie Touch crop is exactly as easy to use as you'd imagine a one button device would be.

That big record button on the front? You press it, and it records stuff. The responsive touchscreen UI takes care of secondary issues, like playing back that stuff you recorded, swapping resolution (it shoots at up to 1080p), setting a timer, and more detailed settings, with four well placed icons, while a touch slider operates the digital zoom. If you hold the camera like a still camera and tap the camera shutter button now naturally placed on the top you can take 12.8 megapixel stills (okay, we lied, there are two buttons, three if you count the on / off button). Despite the slim, sexy design of the camera, Sony still worked in a pop-out USB plug and a full sized HDMI jack. Even the $180 / $200 price (for 4GB or 8GB of storage) is surprisingly good. Just a reminder, in case you'd forgotten: the Bloggie Touch is built by Sony. We'll be looking forward to its October launch.

Gallery: Sony Bloggie Touch preview

Sony Bloggie Touch preview: an actually simple 'simple camcorder' originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Galaxy Player 50 hands-on

Chris Ziegler — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:47:00 +0000

Remember how Samsung downsized the Wave to make the Wave 723 and killed off the pricey, fancy Super AMOLED display in the process? Yeah, well, the same rule applies to the Android-powered Galaxy line -- so if you were hoping to see some mind-blowing contrast ratios on Sammy's new PMP... well, you can just keep on hoping (and besides, even the mighty Tab has gone the TFT route for now). The Galaxy Player 50 is pretty cute in the flesh, featuring a 3.2-inch WQVGA LCD with multitouch capability, Android 2.1, and your choice of 8GB or 16GB worth of internal storage with microSD expansion up to 32GB. It's also packing a 2 megapixel cam on back and support for 802.11n -- and heck, like the Philips GoGear Connect it's even got a mic, basically putting it just one spec sheet line item shy of being an actual smartphone.

For all intents and purposes, the PMP feels like a midrange Android smartphone when you're holding and using it; it's reasonably responsive, and we were happy to see that it has Google Maps Navigation on board (along with the Android Market and all the other standard "Google Experience" Android apps). We found the keyboard a bit cramped, but there's only so much you can do with a portrait virtual QWERTY keyboard on a 3.2-inch display, and we imagine we could get used to it with time. Needless to say, the total package feels more put-together than the GoGear, and if we were rocking a dumbphone, wanted to keep our music compartmentalized, and couldn't stand the thought of adding an iPod touch into our lives, we imagine the 50 would be on our short list. Follow the break for Samsung's press release -- and don't forget to have a gander at the gallery!

Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Player 50 hands-on

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Player 50 hands-on

Samsung Galaxy Player 50 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Hopeful Of 2010 Launch For iTunes Rival Despite Lack Of Signed Label Deals

Robin Wauters — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:45:40 +0000

We all know Google Music is coming, it's just a question of when - and what it'll look like, of course. According to Reuters, Google hopes to launch the service as early as December 2010. Citing unnamed 'people familiar with the matter', Reuters says Google's VP of Engineering Andy Rubin (which we likened to a Steve Jobs-caliber product fanatic in the past) is spearheading talks with music labels on plans for a digital music download store and cloud-based song locker service, which he hopes will see the light of day before year's end. Only thing that could get in the way of a pre-Christmas debut: the company has yet to sign a single licensing deal with the music labels, those same sources told Reuters.

Plex announces paternship with LG, pledges to beat Boxee Box and Apple TV for free

Tim Stevens — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:26:00 +0000

We're excited about the Boxee Box, and the new-look Apple TV is intriguing, but no single box is as good as a box that doesn't exist yet does the same stuff. Confused? Sit down, let us explain. That's the point Plex is making in announcing its new partnership with LG, which will integrate Plex software into its 2011 Netcast HDTVs and Blu-ray players. Plex enables the same sort of functionality as those smart little boxes mentioned above, letting you serve content from a machine running OS X and push it to your TV or to a mobile device (iPhone and iPad right now, Android coming). Plex also supports all the major online streamers, like Netflix, Hulu, and even the BBC iPlayer. Lack of PC support is something of a bummer, but a Windows version is said to be coming, so even your beige box can soon get in on the box-free fun.

Continue reading Plex announces paternship with LG, pledges to beat Boxee Box and Apple TV for free

Plex announces paternship with LG, pledges to beat Boxee Box and Apple TV for free originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Project Dance Party: Facebook’s Secret Twitter-Like Follow Feature

MG Siegler — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:44:38 +0000

Yesterday, news broke about a new feature Facebook is testing out called "Subscribe." For a second, I thought it might be the equivalent of Twitter's "follow" ability -- that is, a feature which would let you follow the updates of someone that you're not technically "friends" with on Facebook. Sadly, that's not the case. Instead, this is simply a way for you to more closely follow someone you are already friends with (or fan pages), by getting alerts when they update. But that doesn't mean Facebook isn't working on the follow idea. In fact, last year, they definitely were. Twitter had a secret project last year that involved testing how best to implement a Twitter-like follow feature on Facebook, multiple sources have confirmed to us. The name of the project? Project Dance Party.

Lacie MosKeyto streamlines portable storage, invites bad puns

Vlad Savov — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:43:00 +0000

Lacie's keeping up its eccentric branding strategy today with this pest-inspired new USB key. Measuring a mere 20mm in length and 10 grams in weight, the MosKeyto is ready to all but disappear once you plug it into your computer, and it'll outdo its physical counterpart by not only sucking data down but pushing it back out should you want it. Basically, it's yet another miniaturized USB drive and can be owned today, starting at $18 for the 4GB version. 8GB will set you back $28 and there's a 16GB variant to come as well. Got all that? Good. Now buzz off.

Gallery: Lacie MosKeyTo press images

Continue reading Lacie MosKeyto streamlines portable storage, invites bad puns

Lacie MosKeyto streamlines portable storage, invites bad puns originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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YC-Funded Cloudant Launches Its NoSQL Cloud Database Platform

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:38:22 +0000

YCombinator-funded Cloudant, a database platform built around Apache’s open source CouchDB framework, officially launches after three years of hard work. Cloud-based like Cloudera and Amazon Web Services and part of the NoSQL movement, Cloudant scales your database on the CloudDB framework but also provides hosting, administrative tools, analytics and support so "You don't have to think a lot up front about what your database is going to look like." Going up against Goliaths like Oracle, Cloudant focuses on scalability, flexibilty, and high availability. Its method of data storage is ideal in any situation in which data is generated in a distributed way, such as with sensor networks, web servers, and mobile device services, in essence "small companies with big data."