Movie download service Vudu likes to think of itself as the instant-gratification alternative to running to the video store. But the device, which plugs into your TV and Internet connection, has a poor movie selection and slow downloads.
TiVo has a few tricks up its sleeve that might surprise longtime users and new owners alike. This column includes just a handful of those tricks and highlights some features that may make TiVo more useful.
Katie reviews the Pure Digital Technologies Flip MinoHD, a handheld camcorder that is capable of capturing high-definition footage in 1280×720 pixel resolution, or 720p. (The regular Mino records at 640×480 pixels.)
Web video has transformed the way the Internet is used, but finding the exact clip you want can be incredibly hard. And it’s no wonder, considering that sites like YouTube conduct their hunts by looking at a clip’s “contextual metadata” — tags, video title and description — and thus can often be misled by false information.
This Thanksgiving, families across the country will gather around the television just as quickly as they gather around the turkey. And with good reason: Many people will be staring at beautiful high-definition TV sets.
RealPlayer SP grabs videos from the Web and converts and transfers them to over a dozen portable devices. While other software programs perform two or just one of these tasks, RealPlayer’s trio of talent make it like a digital Swiss army knife.
Edited by Walt and written by Katie Boehret, this is a guide to gadgets, web services and other consumer technologies.
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