Posted 11/06/09 at 04:25:36 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Asus has extended its O!Play HD media player family to include the Air HDP-R3, the first model in the series to feature WiFi connectivity and a multimedia card reader. Nothing else has changed apart from these two additions. The O! Play AIR HDP-R3, as the new media player model is called, features 802.11n WiFi, HDMI 1.3, a multimedia card reader, a USB 2.0 port, one eSATA/USB2.0 combo port and a RJ-45 LAN port. The Air HDP-R3 retains the aesthetics and the dimensions (181x125.3x47.7mm) of the original O! Play player - one without WiFi. The only departure from the original's design is in the form of the WiFi indicator on the player's front. Its price hasn't been revealed.

Read More

Posted 11/04/09 at 08:09:15 AM by Paul Lilly

Sonos has released its new ZonePlayer S5 in the U.S., an all-in-one music sysetem with a built-in wireless receiver and amplified 5-driver speaker. The all-in-one can be controlled with an iPhone, iPod touch, or any Sonos Controller.

"This is the best time in history to love music," said John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos. "The marriage of devices such the iPhone and the Sonos ZonePlayer S5 connects consumers to an entire world of music and gives them an easy way to control it all from the palm of their hand, in any and every room of their home."

Each of the five speakers comes with its own dedicated Class-D digital amplifier. The S5 also includes a 2-port Ethernet switch, auto-detecting headphone jack, analog audio inputs, support for several major music services, such as Last.fm, Napster, Pandora, Rhapsody, and SIRIUS, and the ability to download from any service offering DRM-free tracks, including iTunes and AmazonMP3.

On the social networking side, the Sonos Software v3.1 integrates Twitter into the Controller interface, allowing users to tweet the name and artist of whatever track they're rocking out to.

The ZonePlayer S5 is available now direct from Sonos for $399.

Read More

Posted 10/19/09 at 02:30:35 PM by Bart Salisbury

In a move to celebrate the holidays, and possibly to keep your mind off just how cramped in coach you really are, Google and Virgin America have partnered to offer free in-flight WiFi on all Virgin America flights from November 10, 2009 through January 15, 2010.

To take advantage of the offer you have to live near a city serviced by Virgin America, which much rules out everybody between the Appalachians and the Rockies. Still, for those lucky eligible few, a chance to browse the internet while you fly might be the thing to take the edge of holiday travel.

Read More

Posted 10/01/09 at 09:30:20 PM by Ryan Whitwam

After years of seeing draft-n wireless products, the IEEE finally ratified the standard this summer. Now the Wi-Fi Alliance has created a new certification program complete with new logos. "Wi-Fi CERTIFIED n builds on the success of our draft-n certification program and marks a point of maturity in 802.11n technology," said Edgar Figueroa, Executive Director of The Wi-Fi Alliance.

The new Wi-Fi certification program includes all the requirements from the draft standard, with some additional optional features. The optional features include support for transmission of up to three spatial streams, STBC encoding to increase reliability, A-MPDU packet aggregation, and channel coexistence for the 40MHz operation in the 2.4GHz band.

The new, longer logo shows all the standards that a device supports. The new certification program also allows products to indicate if they support optional features. The new logos should even show up on devices that were previously draft-n, as many were certified for the full standard.

Read More

Posted 09/29/09 at 04:15:45 PM by Pulkit Chandna

After the USB Implementers Forum reprimanded Palm for using Apple’s USB Vendor ID to re-enable iTunes sync on the Pre – Apple had blocked Palm’s Vendor ID, Palm was left with little choice but to abandon the practice. With the release of webOS 1.2 for the Pre, Palm has grudgingly abandoned its fixation with iTunes and opted for Amazon in its stead. Users can now download their favorite tracks from the Amazon MP3 store using either WiFi or WAN. But iTunes aficionados, who own a Pre for some reason, can use third-party alternatives like double Twist and iTunes Agent to enable iTunes sync on their own.

Read More

Posted 08/28/09 at 09:49:50 AM by Paul Lilly

In exactly the same time it takes to cook a batch of minute-rice, computer scientists in Japan claim to have developed a way to crack WPA encryption just as fast.

Security researchers first showed how WPA could be broken last November. The earlier attack worked on a smaller range of WPA devices and took about 12 to 15 minutes to work its mojo. But the Japanese researchers have taken the attack to a new level, according to Dragos Ruiu, organizer of the PacSec security conference where the first WPA hack was demonstrated.

"They took this stuff which was fairly theoretical and they've made it much more practical," Ruiu said.

Both attacks are limited to WPA system using the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TIKP) algorithm, which means if you use a newer WAP2 device or a WPA system based on the Advanced Encryption Standerd (AES) algorithm, you're in the clear. At least for now.

Read More

Posted 08/25/09 at 07:53:39 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Sony today further bolstered its lineup of e-readers by announcing the Sony Reader Daily Edition - first in its stable to feature wireless connectivity (Wi-Fi and 3G). The Reader Daily Edition also features a 7-inch touch screen. In fact, wireless connectivity and a larger screen are the only notable features that separate it from the Reader Touch Edition.

Sony had announced the $299 Reader Touch Edition and $199 Pocket Edition earlier this month. The Daily Edition, which was announced at a launch event at the New York Public Library, will retail for $399 and debut in December.

Steve Haber, president of the Digital Reading Business Division at Sony, also announced that users will be able to borrow ebooks from the local library, with the borrowed books having an expiration period of 21 days. The new version of Sony’s online book store will let users search for libraries that loan electronic versions of their books.

Read More

Posted 08/25/09 at 03:00:34 PM by David Murphy

Having just gotten off a plane, I'm now facing the difficulties that a West-to-East coast trip does to one's sleeping schedule. Thus, this week's freeware roundup has as much of a concrete theme as I have a coherent thought at the moment. But that's ok. Examples of killer freeware or open-source software don't always fall within a single bucket.

So what's on deck for right now? I won't give away too many details. Suffice, if you've ever lost data as a result of a scratched or scuffed CD, you'll want to click on the jump below. While the page loads, go dig though the trash to recover the media that you just tossed--it's not dead. It might be on life support, and you might stand a very good chance of losing parts of your data, but you might also be able to save a portion of the files located on said disc.

That's a great bit of lifesaving... and it's just one of the programs in this week's roundup. Even niftier applications lurk behind the cut below. Get your downloading finger ready.

Read More