Kill the Cable

Boxee to someday, maybe, kinda have a hardware box

Boxee has announced that:

We have signed our first partnership with a CE company. At this point we can not say more about the partner or the specs of the device, but we can tell you we are working closely with them to make sure we deliver a great Boxee experience on it.

We will show mockups of the box and share more details at our upcoming Boxee Beta Unveiling event in Brooklyn, NY on Dec 7th.

Details and to RSVP to the Brooklyn event on Eventbrite

Video of Boxee from CES, courtesy of BBTV

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Networking for In Home Media

WiFi can be great for lots of things, but if you’re moving large multimedia files arounda and streaming media through your home network you can easily swamp the bandwidth that’s available and cause yourself no end of problems.

If you’re not going to use WiFi and you still want all your electronics to talk you need to run Category 5 or Category 6 cables between them (they look the same, but CAT 6 cables are rated for higher speeds). This Instructable goes over exactly how to get this done: from planning, to breakout boxes to cleanly running the cables through the walls. If you’re looking for a professional in-home network this is definitely the way to go.

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Awesome, Inexpensive Wooden HTPC Case

The OCModShop has a very extensive review (with lots of pictures) of the nMediaPC HTPC 8000 case. The design of the case itself looks very thoughtful with preset slots for large quiet fans, lots of connections and a design that won’t look like Flash Gordon left some accessories laying around your living room.

If you’re in the market for a new case, this looks like a solid contender.

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iPhone Voice Activated TV Search from AT&T

Using an iPhone, some backend AT&T servers for quick voice recognition and a networked TV an spokesperson was able to bring up various TV shows by voice command alone (checkout the video). The fact that the two shows he searched for were “Dora the Explorer” and “Project Runway” does take a bit of the sheen off of demo, but other than that it looked fairly awesome.

I give it about a month before an enterprising developer gets a homebrew system working utilizing Google Voice an Arudino board and an IR transmitter.

In the meantime, you can use the official Remote application from Apple to control your AppleTV and iTunes or if you’re running XBMC, try the iPhone XBMC Remote.

You can read the full story at TechCrunch.

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Incredibly Stylish HTPC Cases and Controls

Some Home Theater PC’s can look like somebody threw up a Dell next to your big screen TV. However, no one will mistake you for anything but a class act when you fire up your Origen AE Technology (yes, that’s their actual name sounds like a fake Bond villain corporation).

Beyond the smooth brushed aluminum lines, the screen shown in the above product shot  is actually a full touch screen. It’s available as a standalone module as well with an Applesque single USB/Video/Power cord. Very slick stuff.

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XBMC on a Beagleboard

XBMC (the awesome open source media software) has a new demo video going around showing off XBMC running on a Beagleboard (a $150, ARM powered circuit board). This has lots of people excited because:

1. $150 isn’t much money to for a media center extender type gadget.
2. Having an ARM processor means it won’t use much power compared to a full blown HTPC.

While it’s certainly an impressive hack, I think this is most likely going to remain the toy of the hardcore hacker and do it yourself tech crew. The $150 price point is a bit misleading as that’s the board only; by the time you add an enclosure and some storage you’re bumping up against a low end netbook price (and ending up with much less functionality).

More fun details at the HackADay website.

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Apple Hates + Breaks Boxee and XBMC

Quick note: as reported by CrunchGear – the AppleTV 3.0 update trashes both Boxee and XBMC. So, for the time being don’t run the upgrade if you’re concerned about that.

If you’re at all familiar with past Apple updates this is probably not a shock to you.

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Netflix Watch Instantly coming to Wii

There is a lot of loose talk running around about how this is “confirmed” and that definitely for sure, my secret agent inside of Nintendo totally sent me these pictures about Netflix Watch Instantly running on the Wii. So take this “confirmation” with a grain of salt.

However, it’s obviously in both Nintendo’s and Netflix’s interests to pull this off; why not pull in one more revenue stream. Factor in that both the Xbox360 and the Playstation3 both already support Netflix Watch Instantly and this move begins to look inevitable.

There are some technical considerations regarding this:

1. The Wii is far from a high def device (even though most Watch Instantly titles aren’t either)
2. Anecdotally at least, I know far fewer Wii owners who have their devices connected to the Internet (It’s not like they’re playing COD 4 every night).
3. There are a whole other set of rumors about a Wii 2 that may be released in Q3 of 2010. An updated version of Nintendo’s device that would support better networking, BluRay and 1080p output. It may be that it is the Wii 2 that will have Netflix support (it would certainly make more sense).

In any case, we’re all for anything that gives people more options in what they watch and lets them cut the cable cord.

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Lifehacker: Build a Silent, Standalone XBMC Media Center On the Cheap

Lifehacker just posted a great tutorial on how to install XBMC (Xbox Media Center) onto an Acer AspireRevo.

The AspireRevo is tiny (180 (L) x 180 (H) x 30 (W) mm), about the size of a paperback and has 6 USB ports, Ethernet and HDMI output at 1080p.

The directions are based upon having a Windows machine available to format the update, etc. But OS X options do exist.

Overall, if you are technically savvy this approach makes a solid choice for a HTPC.

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AppleTV 3.0 – Now maybe more useful

Apple’s AppleTV is generally derided as a slightly brain dead MacMini. While it’s simple in operation, it’s also extremely limited in the types of media it serves up (iTunes: Yes, Everything Else: No). 

So it’s with some interest that Apple’s Terms and Conditions now reference an “Apple TV version 3.0″, while it’s unlikely that Apple will integrate Netflix WatchInstantly or give up any ground to their competitors, it will definitely let you access purchases in the new iTunesLP format.

9to5 Mac is running a survey of what people wish was included in the 3.0 update; but judging by the comments they really should have had an option to: “Just buy a MacMini”.

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