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ASUS to sell pink and gold Zenbooks in the UK, where good taste is alive and well

Dana Wollman — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:57:00 EST

You know what ASUS' Zenbooks needed, right? Like, even more than a cushier keyboard or Ivy Bridge refresh? The Malibu Beach House treatment, obviously. For those of you in dreary 'ol Blighty waiting for an Ultrabook with tropical coloring (but no sequins), take note: ASUS is going to start selling its candy-colored, oh-so classy Zenbooks in the UK. Specifically, that includes the 13-inch UX31 in hot pink, and the 11.6-inch UX21 in Rose Gold. Both will be available by the end of April, with the UX31 available through PC World and Curry's, and the UX21 through Littlewoods and Argos. Find the PR below, and pay no mind to the lady editor behind the curtain doing a facepalm.

Continue reading ASUS to sell pink and gold Zenbooks in the UK, where good taste is alive and well

ASUS to sell pink and gold Zenbooks in the UK, where good taste is alive and well originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thunderbolt is everywhere, now let's make it faster with PCI-Express 3.0

Sharif Sakr — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 06:59:00 EST

Things are different on Planet Intel. Over there, Thunderbolt drives and peripherals are as cheap and abundant as artificial intelligences in a Culture novel, so the population's attention has already turned to what comes next. Some are prepared to wait for a promised 50Gbps optical interconnect by 2015, but an impatient few are trying to make Thunderbolt exploit the new PCI-Express 3.0 standard for more immediate thrills. PCWorld claims the latest form of PCI-Express found in Sandy Bridge E, Ivy Bridge and Xeon E5 chipsets could make 10Gbps Thunderbolt run "significantly faster", thanks to a 60 percent speed boost over PCIe 2.0. Maybe they're right, but back on this planet we're still 33 percent of the way through transferring The Best of Leo Sayer to our USB 2.0-equipped Xperia S.

Thunderbolt is everywhere, now let's make it faster with PCI-Express 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Mar 2012 06:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Currys launches 'Knowhow Movies' VOD service / money-pit

Daniel Cooper — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 06:32:00 EST

Today, Dixons Retail plc (Currys, PC World) and Rovi launch a UK-based VOD service under the retail giant's Knowhow paid-support brand (think: Geek Squad with more overcharging). You'll be able to buy and download movies and TV to your Windows PC or stream them to a Mac using Rovi's DivX technology with adaptive streaming. The platform is promised to swell to include smart TVs, Blu-Ray players, tablets, consoles and smartphones through 2012. You'll be able to register up to five devices with the service and switch between them as you wish, as long as everything's connected to the internet. Selected movies are available to rent for around £3 ($5), or can be bought in SD/HD for £13 ($21) / £18 ($29). Just as an FYI for consumers planning on signing up: most of the titles are available to buy on DVD for around two-thirds of that price, if you can bear to wait a couple of days.

Currys launches 'Knowhow Movies' VOD service / money-pit originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Mar 2012 06:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Popcorn Hour A-300 ready to sit quietly and enjoy the movies, starting October 18th (video)

Mat Smith — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:29:00 EST

Syabas has released a torrent of details about its next media streamer. The forthcoming Popcorn Hour A-300 houses the latest Sigma 800MHz CPU and Real Media decoder support, plus USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet connections to ensure dizzying transfer speeds. Like its predecessor, the aluminum-encased streamer is entirely fanless, broadcasting your favorite content in stoic silence. The A300 will be available starting October 18th, direct from Syabas. You can prepare yourself by checking out the source link below for a plethora of detailed videos and screengrabs of the A-300's interface in action.

Continue reading Popcorn Hour A-300 ready to sit quietly and enjoy the movies, starting October 18th (video)

Popcorn Hour A-300 ready to sit quietly and enjoy the movies, starting October 18th (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Xoom UK pricing official at £580 for 3G and £480 for WiFi-only

Vlad Savov — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:50:00 EST

Motorola has now confirmed that the latest round of prices the Carphone Warehouse, PC World and other UK retailers are listing for its Xoom tablet are indeed the officially sanctioned price points for the Honeycomb slate. After being listed at £600 for the 3G model and £500 for the WiFi-only version initially, the 32GB-equipped 10-incher is now mercifully £20 cheaper, at £580 and £480 for each variant. A quick glance at Apple's online store tells us that those levies match up exactly to what a corresponding 32GB version of the iPad 2 will cost you, signaling Motorola's intent to at least be on par in terms of pricing. Stores are still showing the Xoom under a pre-order status for now, but that should be changing swiftly if Motorola wishes to live up to its promise of availability this very week.

Motorola Xoom UK pricing official at £580 for 3G and £480 for WiFi-only originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Xoom returns to PC World UK, this time at £500, promises April 9th delivery

Vlad Savov — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:38:00 EST

Maybe PC World is trying to sneak the bad news in under the cover of the iPad 2 launch, but it's returned Motorola's Xoom tablet to its pre-order systems with a far less pleasing price than before: £500. It was £450 yesterday, but our suspicions were raised by the impossibility of actually pre-ordering one, and sure enough, now that you're able to sign yourself up to be among the first in Europe to own a Xoom, it'll cost you a 50 note more. Launch is scheduled for the first week of April, we're told, and PC World has a tentative April 9th delivery date. Yours, if you want it, at the source link below.

Motorola Xoom returns to PC World UK, this time at £500, promises April 9th delivery originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola prices WiFi-only Xoom at £500 in the UK (update: €700 in Germany with 3G)

Vlad Savov — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 05:15:00 EST

Finally Motorola gives us a chance to say something positive about its pricing of the 10.1-inch, Tegra 2-powered Xoom tablet. UK electronics retailer PC World has just put up its Xoom pre-order page, which will surprise many waking Brits with an extremely reasonable £450 ($730) asking price. That's £60 less than the direct competitor 32GB WiFi-only iPad -- the Xoom only has one storage option of 32GB and the model listed here comes without 3G -- and perhaps more importantly, is only £10 more than the 16GB version of Apple's tablet. It's common knowledge that to take on the iPad empire you'll have to at the very least match its price, and Moto is doing even better than that in the UK. There's only one worrying sign, we haven't been able to place a Xoom into our shopping basket yet, as the "Pre-order today" button seems to be malfunctioning, but we're guessing that's a temporary glitch that will be fixed without the price shooting up skywards.

Update: T-Mobile Germany has also revealed its Xoom pricing, this time for the 3G model: €699.95. Distribution will begin at the end of April and T-Mo will have a three-month exclusive on the tablet in its native land. The pricing positions the Xoom a mere 95 Euro cents above the 32GB-equipped iPad WiFi + 3G, meaning that your choice will truly come down to preference and not economics. See T-Mobile's full press release after the break.

Update 2: The PC World price and pre-order have been pulled. Gulp. Let's hope they comes back unchanged.

Update 3: The page is back, this time with an April 9th delivery date, but the price has Xoomed up to £500. Oh no.

[Thanks, John]

Continue reading Motorola prices WiFi-only Xoom at £500 in the UK (update: €700 in Germany with 3G)

Motorola prices WiFi-only Xoom at £500 in the UK (update: €700 in Germany with 3G) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 05:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PC World stops selling the Toshiba Folio 100, we go hands-on to find out why (video)

Richard Lai — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 16:33:00 EST

£999.99 ($1,612) for a Toshiba Folio 100?! That's a fair bit more expensive than its original $560 price point -- either its Tegra 2 chip's made out of gold (which would explain its rarity) or someone got super bored at that PC World store in the British Midlands. Soon after receiving this photo, we put on our detective hat and headed over to our local branch in London, only to find that it had already stopped selling the offending Android tablet merely ten days after its European launch. We quizzed the staff about the aforementioned £999.99 pricing and then all was clear: apparently this is a standard internal convention to stop its folks from selling certain products, so the price tag and display unit you see above weren't supposed to be there at all. Oopsie!

So why is PC World (and the whole DSG International chain) pulling the Folio 100? Turns out this has nothing to do with Toshiba; but it's simply because of a high return rate from disappointed customers. In fact, head over to MoDaCo and you'll see a screenshot of PC World's internal memo that confirms this sad news. We had already given the tablet some decent (and disheartening) hands-on time back at IFA, but since our new friends at the store kindly offered to let us unbox a Folio 100 for a giggle, we decided to give it another go. And boy, it sure was a letdown: you'll see in our hands-on video after the break that the 10.1-inch LCD is haunted by an inferior pixel density plus narrow viewing angles; and the cheap plastic casing doesn't help, either. Most importantly, the official Android Market app was still MIA, which is no doubt the biggest turn-off for the buyers. Too bad, Toshiba, but do come back next year when you have Honeycomb and some decent screens.

[Thanks, John L. and Adam C.]

Update: Some commenters are pointing out that many software bugs -- especially in the Toshiba Market Place app -- and the lack of pinch-to-zoom in the browser are to be blamed as well. Yikes.

Gallery: Toshiba Folio 100 in-store unboxing

Continue reading PC World stops selling the Toshiba Folio 100, we go hands-on to find out why (video)

PC World stops selling the Toshiba Folio 100, we go hands-on to find out why (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 16:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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C-3PO and R2-D2 invade consumer electronics megastore, get blown off by Roomba (video)

Darren Murph — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:54:00 EST

What happens when two of Star Wars' finest wander into a Currys & PC World Megastore? Unadulterated hilariousness, that's what. Hit play on the video below to see what happens with C-3PO asks a Roomba for directions, R2-D2 investigates a pop-up DSLR flash and the pair of 'em attempt to escape enemy fire in a related video game. It's worth the watch, we promise.

[Thanks, Dave]

Continue reading C-3PO and R2-D2 invade consumer electronics megastore, get blown off by Roomba (video)

C-3PO and R2-D2 invade consumer electronics megastore, get blown off by Roomba (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple will open international Stores early for iPad launch this Friday, iBooks app available now

Vlad Savov — Tue, 25 May 2010 06:47:00 EST

Apple may be a despot of its own walled garden, but that doesn't mean it's not benevolent. The iPad's international launch on May 28 has prompted the company to open Stores an hour early, at 8AM local time, in order to give its devotees a reprieve from hours of queuing outside. Then again, that little asterisk up there points us to an ominous "while supplies last" note at the bottom, which together with current pre-orders being fulfilled at some unidentified point in June, might force the most impatient to just get to the Store even earlier. UK buyers will get an alternative option thanks to Dixons Group stocking Apple's slate in Currys and PC World outlets, an arrangement that we keep hearing might be exclusive for the first sixty days after launch. Either way, you've been warned, don't be tardy if you wanna be trendy.

P.S. The iBooks app has also made its debut outside of the US today, though at present it's limited to just freebie titles, and the iBookstore is still described as "US only."

Update: The latest we're hearing is that at least some Apple Premium Resellers will also be getting stock of the iPad in the UK -- worth checking out if other options sell out.

Apple will open international Stores early for iPad launch this Friday, iBooks app available now originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 May 2010 06:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Best Buy opens first UK store in Thurrock, we go hands-on (video)

Richard Lai — Sat, 01 May 2010 05:30:00 EST

Ah, there it is, UK's first-ever Best Buy store, officially born at 7am local time yesterday. Naturally, we had to be there to witness such magical moment for Britain's consumer tech market -- the Brits had longed for an injection of energy and professionalism to the seemingly slacking chain stores. Many would agree that DSGi's two main brands -- Currys and PC World -- are on the naughty list, even after their recent relaunch. From what we saw today, it looks like Best Buy's already heading in the right direction. Let's start with the front-line employees. Most of these Blueshirts provided genuine technical answers rather than bluffing their way out, plus we were given product recommendations with no desperate sales pitch as commonly seen in other stores. When we revealed our identity to one of the sales reps, he confirmed that they were trained to not force random products onto customers -- quite the opposite culture to his old days at DSGi (assuming he was telling the truth). We sure did appreciate this new-found shopping freedom in gadget stores, but did the other customers feel the same way? Find out what we heard after the break.

Gallery: Best Buy opens first UK store in Thurrock, we go hands-on

Continue reading Best Buy opens first UK store in Thurrock, we go hands-on (video)

Best Buy opens first UK store in Thurrock, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 May 2010 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PCWorld ranks AT&T tops in 3G performance test

Tim Stevens — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:10:00 EST

We all have something of a need, a need for speed, and while most won't have an opportunity to go all Maverick on some MIG-28s somewhere over the Indian Ocean, we can do our best to get the quickest wireless on offer. Last summer, when we stacked the top four mobile broadband cards against each other, we found that AT&T came out on tops for peak performance, and now nearly a year on PCWorld has come to the same conclusion, finding that Ma Bell offers upload and download speeds that are twice some of the competition. The seven page test splits everything out by city and goes into more details than we'll tire you with here, but do note that all this testing was done in urban areas, so don't forget to double-check the coverage map before you sign the next 24 months of your life away.

[Thanks, A. Dewan]

PCWorld ranks AT&T tops in 3G performance test originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Popcorn Hour casually announces the A-200 NMT for its most dedicated media streamer fans

Richard Lawler — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:34:00 EST

Not satisfied by the new retail-friendly Popbox that just debuted at CES? Popcorn Hour has announced it is introducing the A-200 Networked Media tank, internally as powerful as the bigger C-200 but with the A-110's profile and lacking a Blu-ray drive port. Priced at $179, or with optional WiFi dongle for $20 more, preorders are to begin January 18 at 10 a.m. PST, it still has a slot for an internally mounted SATA HDD, and reported support for "simple" Blu-ray menu browsing. As far as other features, they've listened by including NTFS write support and also confirmed a new Flash Lite menu announced for the C-200 will arrive on this box, but unfortunately Netflix support on the Popbox doesn't appear to have worked its way into the A-200. Check for even more specs and pics after the break, for those PCH fans once again choosing between flexibility and all-in-one ease.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Popcorn Hour casually announces the A-200 NMT for its most dedicated media streamer fans

Popcorn Hour casually announces the A-200 NMT for its most dedicated media streamer fans originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plasma prices falling as they cede sizes to LCD

Steven Kim — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 11:36:00 EST

It's no secret that we're big on plasma picture quality around these parts, but with the average cost of a 50-inch set coming in $300 cheaper for plasma than LCD, there are some other reasons to consider the older technology as well. Among the myriad of plasma misconceptions, fear of burn-in is the gift that keeps on giving to LCDs, even as they move into the 40-inch regime largely vacated by plasmas. At the more pricey end of the spectrum, dynamic LED backlighting has narrowed the performance gap, but those LED backlit sets are still quite pricey. In the end, it's good to have choice -- and as much as we support plasma, we just can't agree with the zealots that claim "death" to either technology. The competition between LCD and plasma is exactly what has brought better performance and lower prices to everyone, so we're hoping this fight goes as many rounds as possible.

Filed under: Industry, Displays, LCD, Plasma

Plasma prices falling as they cede sizes to LCD originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Jul 2009 11:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony HDTVs found most reliable in PC World study

Darren Murph — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:49:00 EST

Yep, it's already that time of year again folks. That time when you begin to "see" your breath, the air has that "certain chill," shoppers go berserk and PC World readers toss in their votes for the most reliable HDTVs. The latest annual Reliability and Service survey received inputs not from independent researchers, but from 16,000 actual owners who can speak best for the quality of the wares they own. The happy winner was Sony, which notched above-average ratings in seven of nine measures, though LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp and Vizio didn't fare too bad, either. The biggest loser was Mitsubishi, which showed four below-average scores and a "higher-than-average incidence of severe problems." The four-page writeup can be viewed in full by clicking the read link, but our main question is this: are you in agreement with the findings?

Filed under: Industry, Displays, Mitsubishi, Others, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony

Sony HDTVs found most reliable in PC World study originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Advent Eco PC dials down your power meter

Stephanie Patterson — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 10:07:00 EST

PC World has branched out its Advent brand, offering the Eco PC through its UK online store, aiming to best the average desktop power consumption by 78 percent. The system is priced at just under what you might expect to pay for a slightly dusty super computer -- £599.99 (or about $1100) -- but the specs don't quite match up: 1.5GHz Core 2 Duo T5250 CPU, 2GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, 802.11b/g, and Vista Home Premium onboard. The environmentally-friendly PC is made from recycled materials, so don't be surprised if it starts to reek of old banana peels after a while.

Filed under: Desktops

Advent Eco PC dials down your power meter originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Sep 2008 10:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Advent 4123 netbook boasts built-in SIM card slot, can't escape UK

Donald Melanson — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:56:00 EST

PC World (the store) already netted itself an MSI Wind rebadge for its Advent brand, and it's now plundered the netbook depths yet again for another model, with its new Advent 4123 adding a built-in SIM card slot to the mix. While it's getting increasingly tough to distinguish the rebadges from the rip-offs, this one appears to be based on ECS' G10IL netbook, with it boasting all the same design cues (minus the LED-adorned trackpad button) and identical specs, including a 10.2-inch display, a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and Window XP as standard. You'll also apparently be able to get this one in both black and silver versions, but only in the UK, it seems, where it'll set you back a hefty £349 (or just over $600 if you're thinking about trying to import one).

[Via Pocket-lint]

Filed under: Laptops

Advent 4123 netbook boasts built-in SIM card slot, can't escape UK originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Currys, Dixons to stop selling analog TVs in Europe

Darren Murph — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:01:00 EST

DSG International, the parent company to Currys, Dixons and PC World stores across Europe, has announced that it will no longer be stocking analog sets (sound familiar?). Granted, only 10-percent of the remaining TVs it sold were of the analog flavor, but it looks as if even those units will soon be gone. Reportedly, the chains are looking to further promote units with integrated digital Freeview tuners, and considering that some parts of Europe have already begun the analog-to-digital switchover, we suppose that follows logic precisely. Also of note, these same retailers will halt sales of DVD recorders with only analog tuners within, but on the real, we can't say we'll miss 'em.

[Image courtesy of Waltondale, thanks CMC]

Filed under: Industry, Regulatory, Displays

Currys, Dixons to stop selling analog TVs in Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vista named #1 biggest tech disappointment of 2007 -- by PC World

Ryan Block — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:56:00 EST

First PC World gets all up on the soapbox that (until a certain date) the MacBook Pro is the fastest PC the mag had tested, but consider the next step taken: PC World has boldly declared Vista #1 with a bullet in their Biggest Tech Disappointments of 2007. Ok, sure, we get that it's "disappointments" and not "crappy products" -- the two imply very different things, and it's hard not to be somewhat disappointed by any product that took the better part of a decade to come out -- but if PC World harshing on Vista this bad doesn't smack at all of linkbait, well, we don't know what does. Oh, and here's that link.

P.S. -Seriously though, can Vista get a break here? We mean, honestly, it ain't all THAT bad.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Vista named #1 biggest tech disappointment of 2007 -- by PC World originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MacBook Pro really was PC World's fastest tested laptop... until the Phantom-X

Ryan Block — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:23:00 EST

So there's a bit of grumbling on the internets that PC World, like, totally sold out and lied about the MacBook Pro being the fastest Vista laptop they ever tested (presumably just so they could get mentioned in that new Apple commercial, right?) shortly before the staff went cow tipping and passed out drunk in a public park. The reality is PC World apparently hadn't tested a laptop faster than the MacBook Pro at the time, and it wasn't until weeks later they tested the Eurocom D900C Phantom-X, which handily bested Apple's lappie by a broad margin. At least that's what PC World's editor Harry McCracken told us, but then again we did hear he recently got an Apple tat and is planning a hostile takeover of Macworld magazine in '08.

Read - PC World's statement about the MBP
Read - ... and their review of the Eurocom
Read - The punter doing the grumbling
Watch - The Apple ad

Filed under: Laptops

MacBook Pro really was PC World's fastest tested laptop... until the Phantom-X originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ReadyBoost ready, but doesn't boost

Nilay Patel — Thu, 17 May 2007 22:36:00 EST

Vista's ReadyBoost feature, which theoretically improves performance by placing part of Vista's memory swapfile onto a highspeed flash drive, is one of the slickest OS tricks we've heard about in a long time. Unfortunately, it isn't as sweet in practice, according to PC World. They tested three USB flash drives by Kingston, Lexar, and Ridata that claim to be ReadyBoost, uh, ready, and found that while they were able to measure a slight speedup in certain activities (like opening frequently-used applications) overall the effect was unnoticeable -- they concluded that "installing more RAM inside your PC would help a lot more." Bummer. So much for all those freebie USB sticks we have laying around.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Storage

ReadyBoost ready, but doesn't boost originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2007 22:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So you want to test HDTVs, eh?

Matt Burns — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 18:26:00 EST

So you want to know how the pros test all those HDTVs. Perhaps, you even want to go around to all of your buddies house to see who has the best HDTV. Well, PC World has cracked open the trap-door on their HDTV testing lab to show everyone how they do it. While this lab maybe deep in an underground lair, they keep it real down there with goal of testing under real world environments. So real that they even preform tests under two different light conditions because everyones household lamps are a bit different and that can make a big difference on how the colors appear. The very first thing they do is calibrate the set using AVIA: Guide to Home Theater along with Digital Video Essentials. (proving once again that you need to calibrate your HDTV and it doesn't have to be expensive) Only once this is done do they move onto the testing that involves a standard-series of high-def material that they present to each HDTV with areas that they know will give it trouble. (think torture test) The test then moves onto standard definition material, followed up by DVD scenes.

It's really not that hard and you can see the key to testing HDTVs, right? Consistency.

Filed under: DIY

So you want to test HDTVs, eh? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Aug 2006 18:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba HD-A1 grabs #14 on PC World's top 100 list

Richard Lawler — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 16:57:00 EST

HD DVD may yet get totally steamrolled by Blu-ray later this year, or face years of struggle against its mortal enemy (that shares its Achilles heel in restrictive AACS DRM), but at least it has had one day in the sun. The Toshiba HD-A1, the first HD DVD player on the market came in 14th on PC World's Top 100 list. With shortages, glitches and a dearth of content, quite frankly we're surprised to see it up so high. When all is said and done, it does get the 1080i HD picture to the screen that aficionados have been waiting for and at least right now it's all we've got. (Also congrats to our friends at Engadget for slotting one spot higher at #13.)

Filed under: Toshiba

Toshiba HD-A1 grabs #14 on PC World's top 100 list originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jun 2006 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Slingbox released in UK

Evan Blass — Tue, 30 May 2006 09:20:00 EST

Because you can never have convenient enough access to all that great BBC programming, Sling Media has just released a version of their popular Slingbox for British TV junkies. The UK model has been tweaked a bit for European viewing, with PAL tuners replacing the NTSC versions found in US boxes, and a DVB-T tuner thrown in for placeshifting that sweet, sweet OTA Freeview content. In conjunction with the UK rollout, the folks at Sling also announced an updated version of the SlingPlayer PC software, whose main upgrades include widescreen 16:9 support and a skinnable client. Slingbox: UK will initially be available exclusively at PC World's website and retail locations -- and at Currys stores in four to six weeks -- for £180, VAT included.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Slingbox released in UK originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 May 2006 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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