Recent Comments:
Ask Engadget HD: How do I get the best audio from my PS3, without HDMI? {Engadget HD}
Nov 11th 2009 9:04PM Why do they even sell 7.1 non HDMI audio decoding Amps? I remember looking all this up when I was shopping for an amp a few months ago, and I just didn't understand the point. Optical cant push more than 1.5mbps thus i can't push 7.1 or TrueHD, so whats the point of making the device 7.1 anyway?
Entelligence: Of ebooks and suburban moms {Engadget}
Nov 1st 2009 7:57PM On the B&N store though there are a lot of free public domain books from the google books project, and cheap $2-$5 for older, or less popular books, the best sellers are the same, but the are a lot of hidden deals within the B&N store, that just are more reasonable than Amazon.
Entelligence: Of ebooks and suburban moms {Engadget}
Nov 1st 2009 7:51PM Oh wow, yeah that would be huge, a subscription service would be killer for an ebook reader, and probably the first company to do one, will have the biggest upper hand, it would be like a commercial library and especially if they had textbooks, college students would immediately switch. Just like Video Games, the cost of Textbooks are very much influenced by the fact that students sell back their books, (Look at how much cheaper games are on services like steam, when you remove the invisible "Sell back tax", prices become much more reasonable). With a medium in which you can't sell back books, a subscription based service would be economically feasible, because the actual value of textbooks would plummet, and still be profitable.
Entelligence: Of ebooks and suburban moms {Engadget}
Nov 1st 2009 7:28PM I agree, ereaders have always intrigued me because of the eink, I own a few ebooks, but never have finished one, actually I don't read as much as I should in general. I have an iPhone, I have a nice laptop with a big screen, but I can't read a book on either, why would I read when I could watch a movie, or play a game, or surf the web, I want a dedicated e-book reader so that I actually read, and the Nook is the first one that seems to cover all my needs, It has a brilliant color screen, which was always a problem I had with the kindle, while both of their reading surfaces are the same, the buttons on the Kindle were always boring and unexciting looking, the nook looks good, the ability to select books just by choosing the cover makes it more "fun" and more motivating to pick it up and start reading. I know this might sound like a ridiculous reason to want to get a nook, but I am a gadget freak, and having a gadget for reading will make me read more just to play with the toy. Though the real reason I want the nook over the kindle is the ability to take the standard ereader, epub and pdf formats, which the kindle doesn't allow. I already have an iPhone I don't want another walled garden device. So I don't think the nook will only be popular with suburban moms and I definitely think there is a very large potential market for such a device. As a college student I have made the nook the #1 item on my holiday wish list, it costs less than a few textbooks, and has the potential of leading to free textbooks on torrents, and the ones that I can't find for free, I've already found a textbook ebook site that sells them for cheaper than my local student store's used section. (textbooks.com, though some aren't compatible with the nook) So in my mind it will pay for itself, though I am a film major, so things like pictures and charts aren't as important as they may be in science and math courses. So the black and white display is fine, but to get the rest of the college market they need to sell the textbook ebooks on the B&N store, and an eventual nook with color eink screen (Which is inevitable).
I think with this future of all of our digital needs being merged into a single device, will eventually need to be reversed, for many reasons, one product can't cover an entire market, the entire gadget industry would crumble. Software can't do everything, we will continue on this trend of merging all our devices into our cell phones and continuously smaller tablets for a few more years, but for reasons of market diversity, the market will need to shift away from these Jack of all trades master of none devices, and focus on products that excel beyond what these single devices can do. When you merge a phone and a camera, you make sacrifices on quality, and often a very low quality flash if a flash at all. Cell Phones and computers haven't replaced cameras for good reasons, and the same is with these ereader devices the eink is the key to their success, because it is what makes it better than multifunction devices. I also believe these are the only way to save the print industry, again as I stated earlier, my computer and iPhone are too distracting, I can do so much more stimulating things on them, just because watching movies, surfing the web, and playing games are more fun/stimulating, does not make them a substitute for reading. I plan to subscribe to NYTimes when I get my nook, and thats just because the way its delivered, and the content that it has, it makes print media more stimulating just because its an electronic device, and I know I am not the only one who is shallow like that, where I need it to be electronic to give me motivation. I look forward to a future where my backpack for school is a nook and a computer.
Gah I got too into this discussion, sorry for the wall of text.
Nintendo DSi LL goes large in Japan on November 21 (update: DSi XL in Europe Q1) {Engadget}
Oct 29th 2009 4:36AM Yeah, and though not mentioned in the article it looks like its made to be sold along side the DSi not a further replacement like the DSi was to the DS lite.
Spring Design Alex: dual-screen Android-based e-reader (Update: not for Barnes & Noble) {Engadget}
Oct 19th 2009 8:00AM This may be what apple is going to do too, the whole dual screened concept, but they wouldn't do it like this. Maybe they found a way to overlay an E-Ink display over a LCD screen, so that the screen can switch back and forth in display technology depending on the task.
Poll: Where do you buy your Blu-ray discs now, if you buy them at all? {Engadget HD}
Oct 19th 2009 6:04AM I always buy new ones on Amazon. But every so often I stop by Blockbuster and pick up their previously viewed disks. They sell them at 2 for $25 at my local store.
Pachter: Project Natal will cost $50, 'Sphere' no more than $100 [update] {Joystiq}
Oct 16th 2009 2:41AM The wands require the Eye, (Currently $40) plus a gyroscopic controller, the Natal is just the cameras/sensors in the bar, I can easily see MS pricing the Natal at $50, but I doubt sony's Sphere will hit 100 unless you count two gyroscopic controllers. (Which is required for some of the motion experiences) I could see Sony offering a Starter Kit with two controllers and the Eye for $100, but the controllers themselves I can't see being more than $40 each.
Lego Rock Band tracks revealed, transferable to Rock Band {Joystiq}
Oct 13th 2009 12:23PM @markhawk
Actually its about $1.30 per song if you include the price of the game, but still its actually a good deal, if those were released for the rock band store I would probably buy most of them just because they are all so well known. They are like the typical karaoke songs that karaoke fans usually always have, so its perfect for Rock Band gatherings, (Which I have a lot of).
Brian May thinks Queen: Rock Band 'may happen' {Joystiq}
Oct 13th 2009 12:12PM Queen already has a bunch of songs coming to rock band, the only thing Queen Rock band would bring to the table is Bohemian Rhapsody.
Pink Floyd Rock Band seems like the next obvious choice to me, either that or Led Zeppelin. But I would be much more interested in Pink Floyd, especially if they create dreamscapes for the albums. Only thing is they would have to include the entire Wall and Dark Side Of The Moon albums in the game, to pick and choose songs from those would totally ruin the experience. But sitting down for 40 minutes or so and playing through Dark Side of The Moon with crazy dreamscapes in the background would be one of the funnest Rock Band experiences I can think of. Plus there is a lot of great guitar in the other Pink Floyd albums, that would be a blast to play.
