Kansas City LAN Party

It’s been a tick since Ziova cranked out a new media streamer, but its ClearStream CS615 looks pretty promising. Interestingly, this one doesn’t feature any built-in wireless capabilities nor a DVD drive, but it seems as if the firm’s CEO is aiming this unit at folks who didn’t want to go cordless, anyway. You will, however, find USB 2.0 and 10 / 100 Ethernet ports along with a caddy for an internal 3.5-inch HDD, and the support for WAV, H.264, FLAC, OGG, LPCM, WMA, AAC, AC3, DTS, MPEG1/2/3/4, WMV9, QuickTime, JPG, BMP, GIF and PNG files (just to name a few) ain’t too shabby, either. Furthermore, there’s HDMI (HDCP-compliant), S-Video, composite and component video jacks, support for SMB / FTP and a front-mounted LCD to dish out ID3 tags and other pertinent information. The CS615 is slated to land stateside in March for $329, while Europeans and Aussies can expect it to head their way shortly thereafter.

While the corporate IT world has long had access to remotely-controlled power for servers and data centers, it’s pretty cutting-edge stuff for home theater, with PS Audio releasing the first line of Internet-connected power management devices. Ranging in price from $600 to $1,995 and scheduled to release in Spring 2008, the four products in the PowerPlay line differ in number of switchable and isolated plugs, but all offer a web interface to toggle power, schedule reboots, and monitor power quality. There is an RS-232 port for hardwired power control as well as IR blasters for turning devices back on after a reboot. Now you can reboot your TiVo without ever stepping foot in the house.

After waiting for what seems like ages, we can imagine just how excited one would be to finally receive that beautiful brown shipping container with their very own Pleo tucked within. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on perspective) for one particular German, an unspecified retailer sent out what appears to be a prototype dino, complete with a pieced together box that once held a fax machine. Interestingly, it seems the lucky recipient is rather perturbed by the incident, but being the optimistic crew that we are, we’d actually hang on to this thing for bragging rights or discover its true value courtesy of eBay. Hit the read link for a few more shots.

[Thanks, Jared C.]

We already saw the Amilo Xi 2550 from Fujitsu-Siemens, but if you thought that was the only mobile Penryn-based lappie you’d see prior to January 6th, you’ve got another a few more things coming. Spotted over at Notebook Italia, we’ve got five new Acer Aspires (2920, 4920, 5920, 7720 and 9920), a pair of new Acer Travelmates (6492 and 6592G), a couple of Fujitsu-Siemens (the aforementioned Amilo Pi Amilo Xi 2550 and the 2428) and four new Sony VAIOs (FZ31, SZ71, CR31 and AR61) — all of which will be housing that Penryn goodness when they launch. As you can imagine, there’s far too many specs between the 13 new machines to cover in this space, but feel free to tag the links below for all the details on each.

Read - Fujitsu-Siemens
Read - Acer Aspires
Read - Acer Travelmates
Read - Sony VAIOs

A totally ingenious robotics researcher named Sylvain Calinon has created what might be the perfect storm of art and science — a robot that can recognize and then draw portraits of human subjects. The bot, named HOAP-3, is able to distinguish a human face, take a still frame of that image, and then create a drawing by (robotic) hand based on what it sees. The demonstration is a part of designer Calinon’s research into creating robots which can learn through imitation, or in scenarios where they must react to humans. Unfortunately for us fleshpiles, it’s only a matter of time before this thing starts doing hilarious caricatures accentuating our worst features. Watch the robot work in the amazing video after the break, and check the read link for a lot more information on the HOAP-3 project.

[Via technabob]

We already learned that some 28-percent of US households were rocking at least one HDTV back in March, but now the Consumer Electronics Association has come forward with new figures showing that over half of American abodes are home to a digital television. According to revamped CEA projections, around 32 million DTV units will ship out next year, with 79-percent of those being HD sets. ‘Course, the downside of this is that a good chunk of America still isn’t prepared for the DTV cutover in 2009, but thanks to all the advertising that will likely be taking place over the next year and change, we’d say they’ve got plenty of time to get on board.

We’ve definitely seen some outlandish attempts at improving or outright replacing the humble credit card, but South Koreans will soon be able pay for purchases using the most easy-to-lose system we’ve seen yet — by inserting a special USB flash drive into a slot. The system, which is being rolled out by Shinhan Card and VIsa, also lets users pay for online purchases by sticking the drive into their computers’ USB ports, and Shinhan is also rolling out new terminals that will enable contactless payments using the device as well. Of course, the drive itself is locked down tighter than a drum, but we still aren’t convinced a bulky flash drive is a better option than phone-based or biometric payment systems.

[Via The Raw Feed]

Amazingly enough, virtual doormen aren’t exactly new, but it seems that they’re becoming entirely more ubiquitous (and accepted) in today’s society. Increasingly, more and more apartment dwellers are coming home to voices in the wall rather than a physical life form, but virtual doormen can still let tenants into their room, allow deliveries to be made and keep disgruntled in-laws out. As you’d expect, these firms rely primarily on an internet connection, a webcam and a couple of microphones, and while typical services can range from “$10,000 to $70,000 for installation and $6,000 to $30,000 in annual maintenance,” that still beats the $250,000 or so it would purportedly take for a small building to be staffed with full-time, on-site doormen. The next evolutionary step? Androids answering the buzz, and subsequent hacks to gain entry into any room you please.

[Via ChipChick]

Marantz is jumping back into the display pool for 2008, announcing the new VP-11S2 model 1080p DLP projector. Compared to last year’s VP-11S1H, this model adds a second HDMI 1.3 input, and Texas Instrument’s DarkChip4 chipset, boosting it up to 800 lumens of brightness and a 12,000:1 contrast ratio. No price was released, but considering the previous models hover in the $15,000 price range, we expect no less quality — or cost — from this one either.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about the much-hated Real ID unified RFID national identification card, but that doesn’t mean the Department of Homeland Security has been sitting still: New York, Arizona, Washington, and Vermont all agreed earlier this month to beef up the security of driver’s licenses to comply with DHS’ new Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. WHTI is the same fun law that requires US citizens carry a passport to travel to Canada and Mexico, and while it’s not clear if it requires RFID licenses for states to comply, eWeek is reporting that both New York and Washington are headed towards including the tags anyway. Given the immense backlash Real ID came under for similar schemes, it’ll be interesting to see how WHTI plays out — but you can bet we’re holding onto the janky laminated driver’s license we got in college as long as we can.

[Via Autoblog]