Condense the mess you carry with you

CES is a great place to hear about the advancements in the world of electronics, but sometimes it is the things without a single circuit that are the most useful. The Earbud Yo-Yo, invented by Julie Johnson Barkley, and licensed to Covington Creations LLC for production, provides a much-needed solution to the present problem of tangled headphones.

I can’t count the number of people I see every morning struggling to untangle the ball of audio wire that their headphones have become. Some of them have the misfortune of having to drop the tangle back into their bag to make their connection, just to start all over again later.

There are the select few who coil their headphones around the MP3 player, but this is not a perfect solution either. The headphones can come loose in your bag and end up tangled anyway. Another issue with coiling the headphones around the player is the stress those hard corners put on the wires.

The Earbud Yo-Yo is designed to avoid all of this hassle and prevent he wear and tear from the hard edges. With a simple design shape of a square yo-yo [hence the name] your headphones stay in place, and the wire is cushioned upon itself.
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Auditory gold from around the world

Tivoli Audio, a leading maker of stereo products, has yet another award winning product to their name. The NetWorks Global Audio system recently received the Consumer Electronics Innovations 2009 Design and Engineering Award. Full press release from Tivoli Audio can be found here.

What does this all mean? Well, I don’t know about you, but standard American radio seems a bit lacking. Sure, you can stream internet radio to your computer, but the audio quality there leaves something to be desired. Even with wires, plugging your audio out to some good speakers or an amplifier the sound could be better.

Tivoli Audio’s NetWorks audio system takes care of the fidelity issues, and then some. Listen to stations from around the world, or stream music files from your computer via a wireless or Ethernet connection.

Another feature to make note of is the SupperBuffer™ which, according to Tivoli, “virtually eliminates Internet radio station dropouts.” That is certainly music to my ears, audiophile that I am.
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High Definition streamed into your home.

With everything going High Definition lately, as innovative as Roku’s Netflix player is, its standard definition is a little behind. At least, it was. Roku, Inc. announced yesterday that they have released support for streaming HD content. Full press release can be found here.

Bearing a price tag of just $99, significantly less than the average Blu-ray player, this advance in Roku’s set-top box is a beautiful thing that will not empty your wallet. Best of all, if you already own the Roku player, the software update will be delivered to you automatically and free of charge. Can it get any better?
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‘They are 14 of 47.’

As announced yesterday, fourteen new companies joined the Open Handset Alliance, a technology and mobile group supporting Android as an open mobile platform. Complete press release, with the names of just who signed on, can be found here.

These forty-seven companies will be working together to provide us, the consumers, with stable and high quality mobile devices, advancing technology every step of the way.

What does this mean for us as consumers? For starters, less expensive handsets since the companies who produce the hardware will already be connected to the ones who make the software and applications.

Speaking of applications, since Android is open source, really any developer can produce useful or just plain fun add-ons. Developers can find out more at the Android SDK site.

Consumers benefit from the innovation by having a more entrhalling mobile experience, and developers can grab a slice of something that shows promise of being huge.
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Etronics.com- ever evolving.

This blog is typically loaded with press releases and reviews of new products that will soon be coming on the market domestically, internationally, or both. However, we would be remiss if we did not mention some of the changes that are occurring on Etronics itself.

Over the passed few months Etronics has added toys to the already extensive list of product categories they sell. These are not your average, everyday toys, but some hard to find items… that is, unless you look on Etronics.

Also, we just recently joined the massive community of Twitter users in an effort to let the populous know of deals and sales offers as soon as they become available. If you’re a Twitter member, check for updates on our profile page. Not yet a member? It’s free to join, and informative to boot!

We now return the blog to your regularly scheduled tech news!
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Zune changes its tune.

Well, more accurately, they are changing how you buy your tunes. Zune, Microsoft Corp.’s digital music and entertainment service, announced today that agreements were made with major and independent music labels, which will add value to their subscription music download model. The agreements will allow subscribers to retain 10 files per month, regardless of their subscription status afterwards. Full Press release available here.

Whether this change in service will add significant value to the program, garnering more revenue for Microsoft, is uncertain at this time. However, this development does demonstrate that the company is focusing more on function than form when it comes to their players.

Since the Zune’s release back in 2006, numerous changes were made to the software and firmware of the players, but very few modifications to the size and shape. It seems the focus is more on presenting the user with the ability to find music they enjoy, than to present the world at large with a trendy fashion accessory that happens to play music.
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Asus competes for business users.

The Asus company announced via a press release on Friday, their newest bid to gain a piece of the business technology pie, the P565.

This entry into the ever-filling market of cell phones that do everything, delivers speed and quality to the consumer. Utilizing Asus’ exclusive touch-responsive user interface, Glide, multi-tasking has never been easier. Quickly switch between applications without cumbersome click wheels, closely grouped controls, or a complex button combination; all that is needed, is to move a finger.

Boasting the fastest processor at present, 800MHz, the P565 is equipped to handle your photo and spreadsheet needs, as well as the e-mail and instant messaging, text documents, and web browsing… all at the same time without slowing down.

Now, speed is great, but means little to nothing if you are unable to see any of it. That is why this PDA has a 2.8”VGA High-resolution (480 x 640-pixel) touch screen. With such a clear and brilliant display, you will not have to worry about eyestrain and fatigue.

No release dates or pricing have been mentioned yet. View further details, and the official press release here
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Apple Rumor: Macbook Nano/Apple Netbook

New York Times 'bits' contributor, John Markoff, has done some hard-nosed reporting about an unusual occurrence within Apple Computer: Steve Jobs on a conference calls with analysts. I know that doesn't sound too groundbreaking, but considering he hasn't taken part in one in eight years, it's news worthy. What's more news worthy is what was discussed.

First off, the economic tailspin isn't worrying the hipster computing giant. One analyst noted during the call...
Apple currently has "enough money in the bank to hire all of the engineers in Silicon Valley for a lifetime."

Secondly, with $25 billion in the bank, no debt, and a growing army of loyal clientele, Apple is positioned, like no other company in the industry, to develop a netbook computer that will provide the full computing experience for under $500.

And Markoff has some interesting news about this possibility as well; "A" search engine company [contacted Markoff, stating they] "spotted Web visits from an unannounced Apple product with a display somewhere between an iPhone and a MacBook."

Furthering this storm of speculation is Snow Leopard, Apple's latest incarnation of their lauded OSX, said to be optimized for a touchscreen interface; just the kind of interface a 'Macbook Nano' or Apple Netbook machine would be sporting.

I think that battery capacity and lifespan will be a deciding factor in how quickly, if at all, this will come to market. That screen looks like a battery killer to me.
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Amazon slashes Dash Express by $100 for the day

The once $600 Dash Express has hit a very nice price point today, and most likely today only. Amazon's Gold Box deal of the dayhas these formidable networked navigators for a mere $200. The units dipped to the $300 mark in June, but this once in a blue moon, $100 off makes this a unheard of deal, definitely worth looking into. And hey, that’s pretty darn good for a 4.3-inch GPS device of any sort, even if those maps are still ugly.
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Netflix finally brings 'Watch Instantly' to Macs via Silverlight

In a move that is likely to cut into iTunes rentals, today Netflix announces they will finally offer streaming content to their Mac using subscribers.

Though, I wouldn’t boot up the old PowerPC just yet, in order to access Netflix streaming content you must be running an Intel-based Mac loaded up with Microsoft's Flash-type browser plug-in, Silverlight. On top of giving us "breakthrough navigation for fast-forward and rewind," Silverlight, will also maintain the content’s DRM via PlayReady, Microsoft’s content access and protection technology.

By now you may be thinking, “who wants all that evil Microsoft code on their Mac,” especially when you consider this feature is in limited release and is only being offered to newer subscribers, for now. Which, for those of us that have been waiting ages for this feature to be worked out for Mac, is mad disappointing.

I just subscribed to Netflix about two month ago and it definitely doesn’t work for me yet. On the other hand, I can hold off on that Netflix compatible Blu-ray deck, at least until my stock portfolio rebounds.

Press release in expanded article.

NETFLIX BEGINS ROLL-OUT OF 2ND GENERATION MEDIA PLAYER FOR INSTANT STREAMING ON WINDOWS PCs AND INTEL MACS

Based on Microsoft Silverlight, New Player Features Enhanced Dynamic Streaming, First-Time Use for Macs and

Breakthrough Navigation for Fast-Forward and Rewind

LOS GATOS, Calif., October 27, 2008 – Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), the world's largest online movie rental service, today announced it has begun the deployment of Microsoft Silverlight to enhance the instant watching component of the Netflix service and to allow subscribers for the first time to watch movies and TV episodes instantly on their Intel-based Apple Macintosh computers. The deployment, which will initially touch a small percentage of new Netflix subscribers, is the first step in an anticipated roll-out of the new platform to all Netflix subscribers by the end of the year.

Silverlight is designed for delivery of cross-platform, cross-browser media experiences inside a Web browser. It is expected that Netflix members who watch movies and TV episodes instantly on their computers will enjoy a faster, easier connection and a more robust viewing experience with Silverlight, due to the quality built directly into the player. Among the viewing enhancements with the new player is a breakthrough in timeline navigation that vastly improves the use of fast-forwarding and rewinding. The new Netflix player takes advantage of Play Ready DRM, which is built into Silverlight, for the playback of protected content on both Windows-based PCs and on Macs. That had not been possible with previous generation technologies.

"Silverlight with Play Ready offers a powerful and secure toolkit for delivery of dynamic streaming, which offers faster start-up, and higher quality video, adapted in real time to users' connection speeds," said Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt. "Members who enjoy watching movies and TV episodes from the growing library of choices that can be instantly streamed at Netflix will be thrilled with this next generation improvement of access and quality, on a broader range of platforms, including Intel Macs and Firefox."
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