Podcast Archive

July 26, 2006
Microsoft Zune, AMD Buys ATI, and Other Fun News

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Today I give a quick wrap up of the CoffeeTEAM Therm once again, along with some great coffee alternative, like French presses, and vacuum pots. Join our little thread of caffeinated happiness here.
 
Site News
On the site we have a number of great reviews, including the Logitech mm28 speakers, HP LP2465 24” LCD, and Nike+iPod. Other interesting fitness/music devices/options to consider are the iTrain program and the Sony Network Walkman NW-S203F (and NW-S205F).
 
Big News
 
Microsoft has confirmed the the Zune line of music devices is, in fact, real. They will run on unicorn horns and goblin ears, and hold 40 Terabytes of direct neuronally implanted audio data. Okay, we got no specs, but there is some info here, and an FCC filing here.
 
AMD has bought out ATI. Maybe Intel yanked ATI’s chipset license, maybe not. Who knows? Expect rumors and positive business spin to prevail until cold harsh reality blankets the land in its soul-crushing blandness.
 
Business
 
A millionaire is taking down the MPAA. God speed, Mr. Hogan. Samsung is now producing 8GB NAND flash, meaning 8GB iPod nanos and Sansas and Zens micros and bunny rabbits are on the way. Hoppety hop!
 
Quad core CPUs will be the next pissing match for AMD and Intel. I hear AMD is gonna eat a lot of asparagus to get the psychological edge on Intel.
 
Audio/Video
 
That 103” Panny plasma? $51k in Japan, and $70k in the US. Keep dreamin’.
 
Canon and Sony unleash a bevy of high definition camcorders. Check out the Canon XH and Sony SR lines. Now your embarrassing childhood memories will be so crisp, you will live them over and over.
 
Slim Devices will soon be shipping their high end Transporter music streaming God-machine. Bow before its divine DACs!
 
CinemaNow is nifty. How nifty? Nifty enough that you’ll listen to the Podcast nifty to hear about it!
 
Logitech has taken its fine art of making mediocre headphones to the Xtreme! Extremely quiet, that is. Noise canceling quiet.
 
Peripherals and Cell Phones
 
Motorola is milking the RAZR for all its worth. 50 million units and you’d think they’d try something new. Well, here are a few new-ish designs coming the second half of 2006.
 
Nikon will be updating the D70 to create the monster known as D80. 10.2 Megapixels of DSLR goodness.
 
Oh. Apple released the Bluetooth Mighty Mouse. Please try not to care. You’re just egging them on.
 
Gaming
 
Star Wars Galaxies, the arguably worst MMORPG, has been reverse engineered and might be released to the public. Well, until Lucas Arts crushes the hackers like a bug. But check out this incredible concept video of force powers. I know, force powers are nerdy, but this is awesome!