indie developer shows us what we’ve been missing: Proof that in a games publishing world dominated by multi-million dollar projects and prolonged development cycles, one person can still churn out an interesting game, and at a very attractive price too. New Star Grand…
water cooled AMD based games system: Here’s a rare beast: an overclocked gaming system that doesn’t use an Intel processor but instead uses a watercooled AMD one. But don’t let that put you off, as YOYOTech’s Water Dragon 940 is a capable,…
The CNET New York listening room, set up for the Dolby Pro Logic IIz.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
Recently, Steve Guttenberg, our resident audio guru, took a listen to the first AV receiver to offer Dolby Pro Logic IIz. And he wasn’t impressed.
Pro Logic IIz is the latest surround format from Dolby Labs. This one utilizes “height speakers” placed above the left and right front-channel speakers. The configuration Guttenberg tested utilized a 7.1 configuration (a standard 5.1 setup, plus 2 height speakers), but Pro Logic IIz is designed to support 9.1 as well (7.1 plus 2). That will presumably be supported in future According to Dolby’s Web site, the advantages of Pro Logic IIz are as follows: With Dolby Pro Logic IIz, rain in a movie now seems to be actually falling on the listener’s roof, concert videos bring a more intense sense of being at the performance, and orchestral works deliver more palpable depth, power, and connection.
In games, the added dimension increases the realism and immerses players more deeply than ever in the action.
Because it processes only nondirectional sounds for the height channels, Dolby Pro Logic IIz maintains the integrity of the source mix and the effects are always appropriate to the material. The added dimension complements the sound from the rear-surround speakers, adding spaciousness while honoring the original intent of the content creator. Alas, Guttenberg could barely hear a difference when Dolby Pro Logic IIz was engaged: “The height speakers didn’t make a discernible difference. I couldn’t hear them at all, so I increased the height speaker volume by 3 decibels. Still no difference.”
Needless to say, Dolby and Onkyo (the maker of the TX-SR607, which is the first IIz-compatible hardware) weren’t too happy with that evaluation. So, we told them we’d give it a second chance, with more ears in the room. For Round Two, Steve Guttenberg (again), Executive Editor David Carnoy, Senior Associate Editor Matthew Moskovciak, and I crowded into the CNET audio room. …
Like most folks, I’m eagerly awaiting the Hulu app that’s rumored to be heading to the iPhone. (I need my daily “Daily Show” fix!)
Of course, if and when it lands, it’ll require a live Internet connection to stream content–and those are still pretty hard to come …
Originally posted at iPhone Atlas
Happy to announce that BuddyPress is now available to the world. BuddyPress is a package built on top of WordPress which transforms WP into a social network complete with profiles, friends, messaging, groups, and even activity streams. Of course it’s 100% GPL and Open Source. It’s built on top of MU (which can be tricky to install) so still not for everybody yet, but this is a major milestone in the WordPress world. Check it out. Congrats to Andy and the whole BuddyPress team. 
Here’s Andy’s official announcement post.
HP's new MediaSmart Server LX195 has only one hard drive and comes in a more compact foot print.
(Credit: HP)
I just got my hands on the details of Hewlett-Packard’s upcoming MediaSmart Server, the LX195. Originally, HP had planned on announcing the new network storage server on …
Amazon's marketing to a more youthful audience, but the older set are the early adopters.
(Credit: Amazon)
Back in March, I did a post titled, “What’s the average age of Kindle owners?” I cited a thread in Amazon.com’s forums discussing Kindle owners’ ages.
Well, I …
We’ve released Carrington Blog version 2.0, a significant update to our advanced end-user blog theme (built on the Carrington theme framework).
Major changes since 1.x include:
Check it out - hope you like it.
No matter how long your iPhone or iPod’s battery life is, it’s never long enough. (In the case of the iPhone 3G, it’s not even long to begin with). So, it’s natural that you’d want to get a juice pack, which will provide extended battery …
This new alarm clock is the black helmeted head of Darth Vader, where you can see red LED numbers in its eyes. It has three alarm sounds to wake you up and a snooze button. Additionally, there is a speaker on one of the helmet?s side and you will hear some sounds while awakening. Moreover, the clock features AM/FM radio and an audio jack for plugging your portable media player.
After seeing these red blazing eyes pointed on you, I am sure, you will get up very quickly.
