Build Web Page - World-of-Newave.info http://answers.world-of-newave.info/build-web-page.htm Latest news and articles about Build Web Page en-us Copyright (c)2004-2008.ยง/Newave SARL. All rights reserved. webmaster@world-of-newave.com (Webmaster) Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:27:49 GMT Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:27:49 GMT Newave Lisa XML Engine v1.0 - http://www.world-of-newave.info/about.htm 60 http://www.world-of-newave.info/images/wi8831.gif World-of-Newave.info - Knowledge and Informational Database http://www.world-of-newave.info/ 88 31 {PROGRAMMING > COLLECTIONS} - Yahoo Boss Search http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/programming/languages/php/scripts/collections/yahoo-boss-search-2008084483.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/computers/programming/languages/php/scripts/collections/yahoo-boss-search-2008084483.htm Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:52:21 GMT Package: Yahoo Boss Search Summary: Search the Internet using the Yahoo BOSS API Groups: PHP 5, Searching, Web services Author: Anirban Bhattacharya Description: This class can be used to search the Internet using the Yahoo BOSS (Build your Own Search Service) Web services API. It can send a HTTP request to the Yahoo BOSS Web services server to perform a search that can be for Web pages, images or news. The request can limit the number of results to return per page and specify the start page. The class decodes the results returned in JSON format and stores them in a class array variable for use of the application. The results may also be cached in a local file. Phpclasses.Org Yahoo Boss Search {new window}   Www.Phpclasses.Org - Package: Yahoo Boss Search Summary: Search the Internet using the Yahoo BOSS API Groups: PHP 5, Searching, Web services Author: Anirban Bhattacharya Description: This class can be used to search the Internet using the Yahoo BOSS (Build your Own Search Service) Web services API. It can send a HTTP request to the Yahoo BOSS Web services server to perform a search that can be for Web pages, images or news. The request can limit the number of results to return per page and specify the start page. The class decodes the results returned in JSON format and stores them in a class array variable for use of the application. The results may also be cached in a local file.
Class: Yahoo Boss Search (yahoo, internet, web service) - PHP Classes {...} This class can be used to search the Internet using the Yahoo BOSS (Build your Own Search Service) Web services API. It can send a HTTP request to the Yahoo BOSS Web services server to perform a search that can be for Web pages, images or news. The request can limit the number of results to return per page and specify the start page... {...}
Published: August 5, 2008, 7:52 am - Indexed: August 6, 2008, 10:50 pm - Page Size: 37KB
Category: Computers > Programming > Languages > PHP > Scripts > Collections

]]> Computers > Programming > Languages > PHP > Scripts > Collections {ENTERTAINMENT > PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA} - Hollywood Has Finally Figured Out How to Make Web Video Pay http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/entertainment/publications-and-media/hollywood-has-finally-figured-out-how-to-make-web-20080737334.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/arts/entertainment/publications-and-media/hollywood-has-finally-figured-out-how-to-make-web-20080737334.htm Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT It's a quintessential Hollywood moment: a star on a soundstage, the focal point of every person and every piece of equipment in the room. The star on this particular January day is Rosario Dawson, the 29-year-old actress who earned her cred as an Uzi-wielding prostitute in Sin City. She's being filmed against a greenscreen in extreme close-up, highlighting her sculpted cheekbones and olive skin. "We've got this joke in vice," she murmurs in a voice that's uncommonly sultry for a police detective. "Love costs 10 bucks. True love costs 20." In her studded black tunic and high-heeled boots, Dawson is apparently Tinseltown's idea of how to clean up the streets. "She looks like she can kick some ass," observes Brent Friedman, the chief screenwriter, who's watching on a nearby monitor. But even though we're in a Hollywood zip code, this is no film or television shoot. The rented space looks more like an oversize garage than a studio soundstage. Instead of the usual army of grips and gaffers, the production is staffed by a skeleton crew. And the parking lot outside? Barely big enough for 20 cars. All of which can mean only one thing: another Web production. Two years after the success of Lonelygirl15 — the groundbreaking YouTube serial that turned out to be not the DIY diary of a 16-year-old girl but the work of three wannabe auteurs in Beverly Hills — Web video has finally captured Hollywood's imagination. Last year, former Disney chief Michael Eisner launched Prom Queen, a daily 90-second teen drama; Judd Apatow has joined Will Ferrell on Funny or Die, a sort of YouTube for comedy; producers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz had a modest success with Quarterlife, a Web show about self-obsessed twentysomethings, only to see it flop on TV. But Gemini Division, the sci-fi serial Dawson is shooting today, will be the first Web series to feature a bona fide Hollywood star. Sure, the YouTube explosion was fueled by amateurs, but it will be showbiz professionals who cash in on Web video. That's because most big corporate advertisers want a safe, predictable environment — not the latest YouTube one-off, no matter how viral. Once the major brands get on board, millions of ad dollars will follow. Which is why when the writers' strike idled most of Hollywood last winter, talent agents fielded calls from clients eager to try their hand. At the same time, the fact that a three-minute clip can be shot for as little as $2,000 means Web video will be more open to ambitious neophytes than television ever was — witness the guys behind Lonelygirl15, who now have a second hit Web series called KateModern and a deal to develop more for CBS. So far, however, this is a gold rush without any gold. Nobody knows how the business is supposed to work — what kind of stories to tell, whether to tell them in 90 seconds or 20 minutes, whether to build a destination site or distribute episodes across the Net, how to generate revenue, how to do it all on a shoestring. The Gemini team is betting they can figure it out. "People ask, 'What's your business model?'" says the director, Stan Rogow, during a lull in the shoot. "And I say, 'This morning's or this afternoon's?' It's only partly a joke." A wiry figure who wears his long silver hair brushed straight back, Rogow is dressed in softly faded jeans and an extravagantly collared white shirt open halfway to the waist, a set of aviator glasses tucked neatly into the V. In an earlier life he was "the king of tweens," the producer who made Lizzie McGuire for Disney and turned Hilary Duff into a star. Gemini Division is the first of eight Web serials he has in the works at Electric Farm Entertainment, the production company he's formed with Friedman, the writer, and Jeff Sagansky, a former copresident of Sony Pictures Entertainment and head of CBS Entertainment before that. Right now they need a distributor, and they've been talking with everyone from NBC Universal to MySpace about putting Gemini Division on their sites. Whoever they partner with would sell advertising and maybe even help fund the production. MySpace isn't offering money up front, but it does sell ads and split the revenue with producers. Eisner partnered with MySpace on Prom Queen, as did Herskovitz with Quarterlife, but Rogow is hoping for a more lucrative arrangement — which is why he has spent half the afternoon squiring around a pair of suits from NBC. The deal he's discussing would put Electric Farm well on its way to recouping the $1.75 million or so it will cost to make the 50 three-minute episodes Rogow plans to shoot. But the deal's not done yet. Meanwhile, Rogow has been talking with Cisco and a handful of other companies about another way to make money: product placement. As a Buck Rogers-style serial set "five minutes in the future," the show presents many possibilities for tech companies. Dawson's smartphone, for instance, is the aperture through which we see the entire series. She talks urgently into the device throughout each episode, sending the feed to someone — we don't know whom — and occasionally holding it up to capture what's going on around her. It's a prominent branding opportunity for any handset maker willing to plunk down the money. Like Prom Queen and Lonelygirl15, Gemini Division is essentially a female first-person confessional — in this case, a confessional about biotech run wild. Dawson plays Anna Diaz, a New York City detective having a crazy fling with a guy who's tall, blond, and ripped. By episode 4, the one they're shooting now, he has spirited her off to Paris for a romantic getaway, but she realizes something isn't right. Like, what's with the orange ring he left around the bathtub? "I really do love Nick," Dawson confides to the camera. "But being a cop, you get cynical. And you learn to trust your gut." For the next scene, two crew members wheel a queen-size bed into place. Justin Hartley, the 6'3" Smallville actor who plays Nick, is lolling on the bed in his boxer shorts, sporting six-pack abs and a bright orange belly button. The script calls for Anna to come out in a sexy black negligee and climb into bed with him. The sound man cues up Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On." Everybody laughs. Dawson as detective Anna Diaz Screenshot: Courtesy Electric Farm For Anna, romance has given way to suspicion: first the orange tub ring and now, as she settles reluctantly into Nick's arms, his orange navel. If the camera were to pan a little wider, it would also catch two grips crouching behind the headboard to keep the bed from sliding across the set. Rogow smiles ruefully at the amateurishness of it all. "I think we should keep those guys in the background," he quips. "It's a nice touch." Two years ago,when Lonelygirl15 first showed that a scripted Web-only serial could attract a sizable audience, most people in show business thought of the Web as a promotional vehicle — if they thought of it at all. Then a couple of major players caught the bug. Michael Eisner was one; another was Jeff Sagansky, who was investing in small production companies like the one that makes The Tudors for Showtime. Web video was uncharted territory: no rules, limitless potential. "We're at the vanguard of something that can explode," Sagansky declares a few weeks after the January shoot. A trim 56-year-old, he's seated in his elegantly appointed town house on Manhattan's Upper East Side. "You know TV; it's been around in its present form since Hill Street Blues," the '80s ensemble show that's still the template for most drama series. "But this is all new." Fans of Mad Men, Weeds, and Battlestar Galactica may think television has entered a new golden age, but many in the business see a medium in decline. TV programs used to be made by independent production companies. Now, with few exceptions, a handful of giant media conglomerates own the networks that air the shows, the film studios that make the shows, and the shows themselves. Network suits tell the producers what to do, and when it doesn't work — which is most of the time — they cancel the show. The Web puts power back in the hands of the creators: Producers own their shows and answer only to themselves. If they develop spinoffs for television, videogames, or the movies, they're well positioned to retain control when a property migrates to other media. That's why everyone took note of the deal NBC made last year to air Quarterlife in prime time. For the first time in memory, the producers of a TV show got full ownership and creative control. There's a downside, of course. Top writer-producers in television live like pampered pets, the kind that get caviar for breakfast. To succeed online, they'll have to be as entrepreneurial as anyone in Silicon Valley. Instead of pulling in millions a year, they'll be scrambling for nickels and dimes. No surprise, then, that some of them think of Web video as a sort of farm club for TV: Why spend $2 million to make a half-hour pilot when you can shoot some high-quality Web episodes at $10,000 to $30,000 a pop, post them online to build buzz, string them together to make a series, and then port the whole thing back to television, where the real money is? Quarterlife looked like the perfect prototype. Its episodes even happened to be seven to 10 minutes long, the typical interval between commercial breaks on TV. But while it did OK online, garnering some 6 million views after its November launch, its premiere on NBC drew only 3.9 million viewers — an all-time low for the network in that slot. When it was summarily canceled, Herskovitz was stunned. Not Sagansky. "This is a whole new medium," he says. "To think it's going to fix the old medium is a warped way of looking at things." Not that anyone yet has a recipe for success online. "We know that the Internet is about short-form entertainment," Sagansky says. "And most of it is personally narrated," as Lonelygirl15 was. Other people, Eisner among them, will tell you that Web video isn't about Hollywood stars like Dawson, that this medium is for regular people. But the truth is that nobody really knows what form Web video will eventually take. The technology that has made it possible — broadband Internet connections, more-efficient data compression, ever-cheaper storage and servers, hi-res computer and smartphone screens — could seem ludicrously primitive before long. In 1908, movies were 10 minutes long because that's all you could get on a reel of film, and the actors who appeared in them were anonymous. Movies as we know them were still years away. Screenshot: Courtesy Electric Farm Sometimes even Rosario Dawson wonders if people want to see a Hollywood star in a Web serial. "The thing that's succeeded on the Web — besides, obviously, porn — is people themselves," she says over lunch. She's on a break from shooting the DreamWorks thriller Eagle Eye with Shia LaBeouf; soon she'll start rehearsals for Seven Pounds, a Sony film in which she plays a desperately ill heart patient Will Smith falls in love with. "They're putting up their own stuff — really off the cuff, no money involved. So we're taking a huge risk. But it's exciting to be part of something new. Even if we mess it up, we were the first, you know? That's kind of awesome in itself." But if casting Dawson was a break from the nascent conventions of Web video, the format of Gemini Division is not. It isn't just that this is short-attention-span entertainment. It's that, like Lonelygirl15 and Prom Queen and even such TV shows as Lost and Heroes, Gemini Division is designed to involve the audience in ways that more closely resemble videogames than conventional narrative drama. Dawson and director Stan Rogow (far right) on the Gemini Division set.Photo: Roger Deckker That's no coincidence. A seasoned film and television writer, Friedman left Hollywood three years ago for Electronic Arts, where he wrote the best-selling Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars and the soon-to-be-released Tiberium. At EA, he had to relearn scriptwriting, because the conventions of TV don't work in interactive media. In a one-hour drama, he explains, "you put the characters together over some beers and let them bring out the plot. It's exposition disguised as dialog." But games dispense with the entire first act, the part that sets the plot in motion. "When the story begins, you're in-world — you have a gun, all hell is breaking loose, and your job as a player is to stay alive and figure out where you are." Web video gets subjected to that same compression algorithm. "We're starting every episode with Anna on the run," Friedman says. "She's already in the second act — the part where everything goes wrong." But Friedman's ambition is to merge television with videogames in a form of storytelling that engages audience members on multiple levels — and not just with the narrative but with each other. So while Anna dodges "sims" (simulated life-forms, with their telltale orange stigmata) and agents from the mysterioso outfit known as Gemini Division, fans will be able to log on to the show's Web site and get transmissions from Anna's partner in the police department. Users will be recruited as Gemini agents themselves, at which point they can talk with other agents — er, users — by webcam. "I think this is where entertainment is heading," he says. "It's where I want entertainment to head, because that's what I want to experience." Rogow and Friedman first tried this approach to storytelling in an earlier Web effort, an animated serial called Afterworld. Developed just after Lonelygirl15 made such a splash, Afterworld was where they met Rosario Dawson. Dawson is a comics geek, and as a favor to a comics writer she knew who was working on Afterworld, she agreed to do a voice-over for one of the characters. Rogow asked her about doing a video series based on Occult Crimes Taskforce, a comic she had helped create. That didn't happen because a film deal was already in the works. But a couple of months later, Rogow called to say they were developing Gemini Division. It had been written for a male lead, but they were thinking of reworking it for her. They would make her a partner in the production and give her a cut of any profits. Dawson had already signed on to play a military investigations officer in Eagle Eye, and her character in Occult Crimes Taskforce is also a detective. "When Stan told me I'd be playing an officer in Gemini Division, I was like, you know, this is going to seem weird." Even so, she liked the idea. She'd been acting for a dozen years, ever since she was discovered on the stoop of her parents' squat on Manhattan's Lower East Side and cast in Larry Clark's Kids. "Normally at this point it starts to get stagnant," she says. "You're worrying about looking older, are they going to like you anymore. But I'm more going, what new can I do? I'd rather put myself into the fray than sit back and go, well, I played it safe." On a sunny afternoon in March, Rogow pulls his black Porsche SUV to the curb, collects a ticket from the valet, and walks briskly into the Creative Artists Agency building on LA's Avenue of the Stars. Perfectly framed in an enormous glass wall is the Hollywood sign, 8 miles away. Rogow is here to meet with Anita Lawhon, the Cisco executive in charge of entertainment partnerships. This is crunch time for Gemini Division, the weeks when everything — advertising, distribution, financing, production — must come together. On a table in the vast marble reception zone sits this morning's Daily Variety. "Changes to Biz Give Town the Jitters," reads the front-page headline. Today, Rogow is focused on how to get that business model working. It's going well — so well that Herskovitz recently met with his CAA agents to learn how Electric Farm is doing it. Cisco is key. Those Gemini Division agents are going to wield some pretty cool tech, much of it — thanks to a deal brokered by CAA — actual products from Cisco: a video surveillance system that sends an alert when someone penetrates the wrong sector; digital billboards that can be reprogrammed on the fly; TelePresence, a teleconferencing system with life-size video so hi-def it makes virtual meetings seem almost real. In the past few weeks, similar deals have been cut with Acura, Intel, Microsoft, and UPS. "In a cold business sense," Rogow confides, "this show is a self-financing marketing vehicle." Settling into an all-white conference room, Rogow tells Lawhon they think it would be cool to show TelePresence on a private jet. "You think Rosario's at a table on the plane talking to people," he explains, "and we pull back and reveal they're not there." Lawhon isn't sure — after all, TelePresence isn't being marketed for private jets, and the goal here is to show Cisco's products as they're actually used. She'll check. "But if you could look at other insertion opportunities ..." "Like putting it in an office? Absolutely." Rogow is thrilled with Cisco's digital signs, which can be remotely programmed to display anything you want — like a coded message for Anna. "Which is, I think, why you really invented it: for superspies to get secret messages in malls," he quips. "We think that's real cool." He's equally happy with the surveillance system, which can send Anna a digital alert on her smartphone. "But we want to make sure we've got the Cisco logo in a prominent position," Lawhon points out. The days when product placement meant going full frontal on a Coke can are supposed to be over, but the client still has to get something in exchange for its six-figure fee. "That's why I love being able to see the script," she says. "That's great," Rogow replies. "I'll have script material for you next week." #celeb_table {font-size:95%;} #celeb_table img {width:100px;height:100px;margin:9px 0px;} #celeb_table .img_cell {text-align:center;} #celeb_table .txt_cell {padding:12px 25px;} Prime Time on the Web Some big names in entertainment are turning to Web video. Here's a sneak preview of what to watch for in the coming months. — Frank Rose The Awesomes Can a team of superheroes rebuild after its founder retires? An animated comedy from Saturday Night Live's Seth Meyers. Back on Topps Comedians Randy and Jason Sklar, heirs to the Topps baseball card empire, discover that Michael Eisner has taken over the company. Blah, Blah, Blah Ashton Kutcher does an animated gossip show. Live from the bedroom, cohosts Britney, Tiffany, and Krystie scoop the poop. Blood Cell Lonelygirl15's Jessica Rose stars in a thriller about kidnapping and mobile telephony. Eduardo Rodriguez (Curandero) directs. Carpet Bros With David Spade as the carpet king of Rancho Cucamonga, the hapless also-rans of Carpet Galaxy don't stand a chance. Men With Guns: Assassin Oz creator Tom Fontana takes us into a secret organization out to improve society through judicious assassination. The Line Weeks before the premiere of the ultimate sci-fi/fantasy flick, SNL's Bill Hader gets in line with a couple of buddies and a change of clothes. The next day, Friedman is at Electric Farm, in a Santa Monica office park, reworking scripts to integrate the products they've done deals for. There's the Acura TSX, the superspeedy UPS delivery, the search and mapping functions from Microsoft. He's not sure yet what to do with Intel. Maybe slap a powered by intel badge on Dawson's smartphone? "It has to pass the creative smell test," he says, "so we feel we're enhancing the story rather than trying to sell you something." In any case, they'll have to make up a brand for the phone itself: CAA approached several handset manufacturers, but none bit. There's one other way to bring in money: venture capital. Funny or Die was funded by Sequoia Capital, the Silicon Valley venture firm behind YouTube. VCs like the idea that big Hollywood names can break through the clutter. But VCs also want an exit — a sale or stock offering that will net them the kind of payoff Sequoia got with YouTube. And while many would-be Web producers see venture money as manna from heaven, they haven't yet had to report to a frustrated money guy who doesn't know show business. "There's an old joke," Rogow says, trying to explain why Electric Farm hasn't tried this route. "A filmmaker dies and goes to heaven. Saint Peter greets him at the pearly gates. 'Good news!' he says. 'You can make any movie you want! You can get Beethoven to do the score. You can get Shakespeare to write the script.' The filmmaker gets all excited. 'And who can I have to play the girl?' he asks." Long pause. "'Well,' comes the reply, 'God's got a girlfriend ...'" It's a Saturday afternoon in May. Two weeks earlier, NBC announced the formation of NBC Universal Digital Studio, with Gemini Division and Woke Up Dead, another Web series Electric Farm has in the works, as its first offerings. Now Rogow is back on a soundstage with Dawson — but this time the soundstage is bigger and the operation is far more professional. The last shoot, back in January, was almost too bare-bones to work. The camera's shutter speed was set too slow, causing a motion blur so bad that some scenes needed to be reshot. Worse, Dawson's hair wasn't properly styled — it had big, wispy curls that congealed into unsightly blobs once the green backdrop was pulled away. "Hair turds!" cried Duane Loose, the burly EA veteran who's the show's production designer. Nonetheless, they've put together a couple of episodes. A crew member is playing episode 5 on a computer screen in the corner: Anna Diaz in an abandoned factory in Paris, watching openmouthed as a man in a lab coat inserts a steel rod into Nick's orange navel. Seconds later, a pair of agents bursts in. One gets his arm sliced off by the doc's surgical laser. The other pulls out a weapon of his own and reduces Nick to a boiling puddle of goo. Anna screams: The man she loved is dead — and he wasn't even human! Today they're shooting episode 12. Dawson is on the greenscreen with a tall, well-muscled actor who's wielding the same kind of weapon that killed Nick. Anna is caught in a war between the sims — creatures like Nick — and the seemingly all-powerful Gemini Division, which is bent on eradicating them. Muscle Man plays a Gemini agent who's just puddled a sim that was gripping Anna's throat. Now he's turning away, leaving her as mystified as ever. "I want in," Dawson cries, reaching for his arm — in on Gemini Division, in on why they destroyed Nick, in on whatever the hell is going on. On the sidelines, arms folded across his black Che Guevara T-shirt, Friedman nods approvingly. In fits and starts, the world he's imagined is taking shape before him. Not a game world, not a TV world, but something different: a world viewed through the tiny window of Anna's phone. "That's an intimacy you don't get from television," he says. "And our mantra is, we want to do what television doesn't." Contributing editor Frank Rose (frank_rose@wired.com) wrote about alternate reality games in issue 16.01. Wired.Com Hollywood Has Finally Figured Out How to Make Web Video Pay {new window}   Www.Wired.Com - It's a quintessential Hollywood moment: a star on a soundstage, the focal point of every person and every piece of equipment in the room. The star on this particular January day is Rosario Dawson, the 29-year-old actress who earned her cred as an Uzi-wielding prostitute in Sin City. She's being filmed against a greenscreen in extreme close-up, highlighting her sculpted cheekbones and olive skin. "We've got this joke in vice," she murmurs in a voice that's uncommonly sultry for a police detective. "Love costs 10 bucks. True love costs 20." In her studded black tunic and high-heeled boots, Dawson is apparently Tinseltown's idea of how to clean up the streets. "She looks like she can kick some ass," observes Brent Friedman, the chief screenwriter, who's watching on a nearby monitor. But even though we're in a Hollywood zip code, this is no film or television shoot. The rented space looks more like an oversize garage than a studio soundstage. Instead of the usual army of grips and gaffers, the production is staffed by a skeleton crew. And the parking lot outside? Barely big enough for 20 cars. All of which can mean only one thing: another Web production. Two years after the success of Lonelygirl15 — the groundbreaking YouTube serial that turned out to be not the DIY diary of a 16-year-old girl but the work of three wannabe auteurs in Beverly Hills — Web video has finally captured Hollywood's imagination. Last year, former Disney chief Michael Eisner launched Prom Queen, a daily 90-second teen drama; Judd Apatow has joined Will Ferrell on Funny or Die, a sort of YouTube for comedy; producers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz had a modest success with Quarterlife, a Web show about self-obsessed twentysomethings, only to see it flop on TV. But Gemini Division, the sci-fi serial Dawson is shooting today, will be the first Web series to feature a bona fide Hollywood star. Sure, the YouTube explosion was fueled by amateurs, but it will be showbiz professionals who cash in on Web video. That's because most big corporate advertisers want a safe, predictable environment — not the latest YouTube one-off, no matter how viral. Once the major brands get on board, millions of ad dollars will follow. Which is why when the writers' strike idled most of Hollywood last winter, talent agents fielded calls from clients eager to try their hand. At the same time, the fact that a three-minute clip can be shot for as little as $2,000 means Web video will be more open to ambitious neophytes than television ever was — witness the guys behind Lonelygirl15, who now have a second hit Web series called KateModern and a deal to develop more for CBS. So far, however, this is a gold rush without any gold. Nobody knows how the business is supposed to work — what kind of stories to tell, whether to tell them in 90 seconds or 20 minutes, whether to build a destination site or distribute episodes across the Net, how to generate revenue, how to do it all on a shoestring. The Gemini team is betting they can figure it out. "People ask, 'What's your business model?'" says the director, Stan Rogow, during a lull in the shoot. "And I say, 'This morning's or this afternoon's?' It's only partly a joke." A wiry figure who wears his long silver hair brushed straight back, Rogow is dressed in softly faded jeans and an extravagantly collared white shirt open halfway to the waist, a set of aviator glasses tucked neatly into the V. In an earlier life he was "the king of tweens," the producer who made Lizzie McGuire for Disney and turned Hilary Duff into a star. Gemini Division is the first of eight Web serials he has in the works at Electric Farm Entertainment, the production company he's formed with Friedman, the writer, and Jeff Sagansky, a former copresident of Sony Pictures Entertainment and head of CBS Entertainment before that. Right now they need a distributor, and they've been talking with everyone from NBC Universal to MySpace about putting Gemini Division on their sites. Whoever they partner with would sell advertising and maybe even help fund the production. MySpace isn't offering money up front, but it does sell ads and split the revenue with producers. Eisner partnered with MySpace on Prom Queen, as did Herskovitz with Quarterlife, but Rogow is hoping for a more lucrative arrangement — which is why he has spent half the afternoon squiring around a pair of suits from NBC. The deal he's discussing would put Electric Farm well on its way to recouping the $1.75 million or so it will cost to make the 50 three-minute episodes Rogow plans to shoot. But the deal's not done yet. Meanwhile, Rogow has been talking with Cisco and a handful of other companies about another way to make money: product placement. As a Buck Rogers-style serial set "five minutes in the future," the show presents many possibilities for tech companies. Dawson's smartphone, for instance, is the aperture through which we see the entire series. She talks urgently into the device throughout each episode, sending the feed to someone — we don't know whom — and occasionally holding it up to capture what's going on around her. It's a prominent branding opportunity for any handset maker willing to plunk down the money. Like Prom Queen and Lonelygirl15, Gemini Division is essentially a female first-person confessional — in this case, a confessional about biotech run wild. Dawson plays Anna Diaz, a New York City detective having a crazy fling with a guy who's tall, blond, and ripped. By episode 4, the one they're shooting now, he has spirited her off to Paris for a romantic getaway, but she realizes something isn't right. Like, what's with the orange ring he left around the bathtub? "I really do love Nick," Dawson confides to the camera. "But being a cop, you get cynical. And you learn to trust your gut." For the next scene, two crew members wheel a queen-size bed into place. Justin Hartley, the 6'3" Smallville actor who plays Nick, is lolling on the bed in his boxer shorts, sporting six-pack abs and a bright orange belly button. The script calls for Anna to come out in a sexy black negligee and climb into bed with him. The sound man cues up Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On." Everybody laughs. Dawson as detective Anna Diaz Screenshot: Courtesy Electric Farm For Anna, romance has given way to suspicion: first the orange tub ring and now, as she settles reluctantly into Nick's arms, his orange navel. If the camera were to pan a little wider, it would also catch two grips crouching behind the headboard to keep the bed from sliding across the set. Rogow smiles ruefully at the amateurishness of it all. "I think we should keep those guys in the background," he quips. "It's a nice touch." Two years ago,when Lonelygirl15 first showed that a scripted Web-only serial could attract a sizable audience, most people in show business thought of the Web as a promotional vehicle — if they thought of it at all. Then a couple of major players caught the bug. Michael Eisner was one; another was Jeff Sagansky, who was investing in small production companies like the one that makes The Tudors for Showtime. Web video was uncharted territory: no rules, limitless potential. "We're at the vanguard of something that can explode," Sagansky declares a few weeks after the January shoot. A trim 56-year-old, he's seated in his elegantly appointed town house on Manhattan's Upper East Side. "You know TV; it's been around in its present form since Hill Street Blues," the '80s ensemble show that's still the template for most drama series. "But this is all new." Fans of Mad Men, Weeds, and Battlestar Galactica may think television has entered a new golden age, but many in the business see a medium in decline. TV programs used to be made by independent production companies. Now, with few exceptions, a handful of giant media conglomerates own the networks that air the shows, the film studios that make the shows, and the shows themselves. Network suits tell the producers what to do, and when it doesn't work — which is most of the time — they cancel the show. The Web puts power back in the hands of the creators: Producers own their shows and answer only to themselves. If they develop spinoffs for television, videogames, or the movies, they're well positioned to retain control when a property migrates to other media. That's why everyone took note of the deal NBC made last year to air Quarterlife in prime time. For the first time in memory, the producers of a TV show got full ownership and creative control. There's a downside, of course. Top writer-producers in television live like pampered pets, the kind that get caviar for breakfast. To succeed online, they'll have to be as entrepreneurial as anyone in Silicon Valley. Instead of pulling in millions a year, they'll be scrambling for nickels and dimes. No surprise, then, that some of them think of Web video as a sort of farm club for TV: Why spend $2 million to make a half-hour pilot when you can shoot some high-quality Web episodes at $10,000 to $30,000 a pop, post them online to build buzz, string them together to make a series, and then port the whole thing back to television, where the real money is? Quarterlife looked like the perfect prototype. Its episodes even happened to be seven to 10 minutes long, the typical interval between commercial breaks on TV. But while it did OK online, garnering some 6 million views after its November launch, its premiere on NBC drew only 3.9 million viewers — an all-time low for the network in that slot. When it was summarily canceled, Herskovitz was stunned. Not Sagansky. "This is a whole new medium," he says. "To think it's going to fix the old medium is a warped way of looking at things." Not that anyone yet has a recipe for success online. "We know that the Internet is about short-form entertainment," Sagansky says. "And most of it is personally narrated," as Lonelygirl15 was. Other people, Eisner among them, will tell you that Web video isn't about Hollywood stars like Dawson, that this medium is for regular people. But the truth is that nobody really knows what form Web video will eventually take. The technology that has made it possible — broadband Internet connections, more-efficient data compression, ever-cheaper storage and servers, hi-res computer and smartphone screens — could seem ludicrously primitive before long. In 1908, movies were 10 minutes long because that's all you could get on a reel of film, and the actors who appeared in them were anonymous. Movies as we know them were still years away. Screenshot: Courtesy Electric Farm Sometimes even Rosario Dawson wonders if people want to see a Hollywood star in a Web serial. "The thing that's succeeded on the Web — besides, obviously, porn — is people themselves," she says over lunch. She's on a break from shooting the DreamWorks thriller Eagle Eye with Shia LaBeouf; soon she'll start rehearsals for Seven Pounds, a Sony film in which she plays a desperately ill heart patient Will Smith falls in love with. "They're putting up their own stuff — really off the cuff, no money involved. So we're taking a huge risk. But it's exciting to be part of something new. Even if we mess it up, we were the first, you know? That's kind of awesome in itself." But if casting Dawson was a break from the nascent conventions of Web video, the format of Gemini Division is not. It isn't just that this is short-attention-span entertainment. It's that, like Lonelygirl15 and Prom Queen and even such TV shows as Lost and Heroes, Gemini Division is designed to involve the audience in ways that more closely resemble videogames than conventional narrative drama. Dawson and director Stan Rogow (far right) on the Gemini Division set.Photo: Roger Deckker That's no coincidence. A seasoned film and television writer, Friedman left Hollywood three years ago for Electronic Arts, where he wrote the best-selling Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars and the soon-to-be-released Tiberium. At EA, he had to relearn scriptwriting, because the conventions of TV don't work in interactive media. In a one-hour drama, he explains, "you put the characters together over some beers and let them bring out the plot. It's exposition disguised as dialog." But games dispense with the entire first act, the part that sets the plot in motion. "When the story begins, you're in-world — you have a gun, all hell is breaking loose, and your job as a player is to stay alive and figure out where you are." Web video gets subjected to that same compression algorithm. "We're starting every episode with Anna on the run," Friedman says. "She's already in the second act — the part where everything goes wrong." But Friedman's ambition is to merge television with videogames in a form of storytelling that engages audience members on multiple levels — and not just with the narrative but with each other. So while Anna dodges "sims" (simulated life-forms, with their telltale orange stigmata) and agents from the mysterioso outfit known as Gemini Division, fans will be able to log on to the show's Web site and get transmissions from Anna's partner in the police department. Users will be recruited as Gemini agents themselves, at which point they can talk with other agents — er, users — by webcam. "I think this is where entertainment is heading," he says. "It's where I want entertainment to head, because that's what I want to experience." Rogow and Friedman first tried this approach to storytelling in an earlier Web effort, an animated serial called Afterworld. Developed just after Lonelygirl15 made such a splash, Afterworld was where they met Rosario Dawson. Dawson is a comics geek, and as a favor to a comics writer she knew who was working on Afterworld, she agreed to do a voice-over for one of the characters. Rogow asked her about doing a video series based on Occult Crimes Taskforce, a comic she had helped create. That didn't happen because a film deal was already in the works. But a couple of months later, Rogow called to say they were developing Gemini Division. It had been written for a male lead, but they were thinking of reworking it for her. They would make her a partner in the production and give her a cut of any profits. Dawson had already signed on to play a military investigations officer in Eagle Eye, and her character in Occult Crimes Taskforce is also a detective. "When Stan told me I'd be playing an officer in Gemini Division, I was like, you know, this is going to seem weird." Even so, she liked the idea. She'd been acting for a dozen years, ever since she was discovered on the stoop of her parents' squat on Manhattan's Lower East Side and cast in Larry Clark's Kids. "Normally at this point it starts to get stagnant," she says. "You're worrying about looking older, are they going to like you anymore. But I'm more going, what new can I do? I'd rather put myself into the fray than sit back and go, well, I played it safe." On a sunny afternoon in March, Rogow pulls his black Porsche SUV to the curb, collects a ticket from the valet, and walks briskly into the Creative Artists Agency building on LA's Avenue of the Stars. Perfectly framed in an enormous glass wall is the Hollywood sign, 8 miles away. Rogow is here to meet with Anita Lawhon, the Cisco executive in charge of entertainment partnerships. This is crunch time for Gemini Division, the weeks when everything — advertising, distribution, financing, production — must come together. On a table in the vast marble reception zone sits this morning's Daily Variety. "Changes to Biz Give Town the Jitters," reads the front-page headline. Today, Rogow is focused on how to get that business model working. It's going well — so well that Herskovitz recently met with his CAA agents to learn how Electric Farm is doing it. Cisco is key. Those Gemini Division agents are going to wield some pretty cool tech, much of it — thanks to a deal brokered by CAA — actual products from Cisco: a video surveillance system that sends an alert when someone penetrates the wrong sector; digital billboards that can be reprogrammed on the fly; TelePresence, a teleconferencing system with life-size video so hi-def it makes virtual meetings seem almost real. In the past few weeks, similar deals have been cut with Acura, Intel, Microsoft, and UPS. "In a cold business sense," Rogow confides, "this show is a self-financing marketing vehicle." Settling into an all-white conference room, Rogow tells Lawhon they think it would be cool to show TelePresence on a private jet. "You think Rosario's at a table on the plane talking to people," he explains, "and we pull back and reveal they're not there." Lawhon isn't sure — after all, TelePresence isn't being marketed for private jets, and the goal here is to show Cisco's products as they're actually used. She'll check. "But if you could look at other insertion opportunities ..." "Like putting it in an office? Absolutely." Rogow is thrilled with Cisco's digital signs, which can be remotely programmed to display anything you want — like a coded message for Anna. "Which is, I think, why you really invented it: for superspies to get secret messages in malls," he quips. "We think that's real cool." He's equally happy with the surveillance system, which can send Anna a digital alert on her smartphone. "But we want to make sure we've got the Cisco logo in a prominent position," Lawhon points out. The days when product placement meant going full frontal on a Coke can are supposed to be over, but the client still has to get something in exchange for its six-figure fee. "That's why I love being able to see the script," she says. "That's great," Rogow replies. "I'll have script material for you next week." #celeb_table {font-size:95%;} #celeb_table img {width:100px;height:100px;margin:9px 0px;} #celeb_table .img_cell {text-align:center;} #celeb_table .txt_cell {padding:12px 25px;} Prime Time on the Web Some big names in entertainment are turning to Web video. Here's a sneak preview of what to watch for in the coming months. — Frank Rose The Awesomes Can a team of superheroes rebuild after its founder retires? An animated comedy from Saturday Night Live's Seth Meyers. Back on Topps Comedians Randy and Jason Sklar, heirs to the Topps baseball card empire, discover that Michael Eisner has taken over the company. Blah, Blah, Blah Ashton Kutcher does an animated gossip show. Live from the bedroom, cohosts Britney, Tiffany, and Krystie scoop the poop. Blood Cell Lonelygirl15's Jessica Rose stars in a thriller about kidnapping and mobile telephony. Eduardo Rodriguez (Curandero) directs. Carpet Bros With David Spade as the carpet king of Rancho Cucamonga, the hapless also-rans of Carpet Galaxy don't stand a chance. Men With Guns: Assassin Oz creator Tom Fontana takes us into a secret organization out to improve society through judicious assassination. The Line Weeks before the premiere of the ultimate sci-fi/fantasy flick, SNL's Bill Hader gets in line with a couple of buddies and a change of clothes. The next day, Friedman is at Electric Farm, in a Santa Monica office park, reworking scripts to integrate the products they've done deals for. There's the Acura TSX, the superspeedy UPS delivery, the search and mapping functions from Microsoft. He's not sure yet what to do with Intel. Maybe slap a powered by intel badge on Dawson's smartphone? "It has to pass the creative smell test," he says, "so we feel we're enhancing the story rather than trying to sell you something." In any case, they'll have to make up a brand for the phone itself: CAA approached several handset manufacturers, but none bit. There's one other way to bring in money: venture capital. Funny or Die was funded by Sequoia Capital, the Silicon Valley venture firm behind YouTube. VCs like the idea that big Hollywood names can break through the clutter. But VCs also want an exit — a sale or stock offering that will net them the kind of payoff Sequoia got with YouTube. And while many would-be Web producers see venture money as manna from heaven, they haven't yet had to report to a frustrated money guy who doesn't know show business. "There's an old joke," Rogow says, trying to explain why Electric Farm hasn't tried this route. "A filmmaker dies and goes to heaven. Saint Peter greets him at the pearly gates. 'Good news!' he says. 'You can make any movie you want! You can get Beethoven to do the score. You can get Shakespeare to write the script.' The filmmaker gets all excited. 'And who can I have to play the girl?' he asks." Long pause. "'Well,' comes the reply, 'God's got a girlfriend ...'" It's a Saturday afternoon in May. Two weeks earlier, NBC announced the formation of NBC Universal Digital Studio, with Gemini Division and Woke Up Dead, another Web series Electric Farm has in the works, as its first offerings. Now Rogow is back on a soundstage with Dawson — but this time the soundstage is bigger and the operation is far more professional. The last shoot, back in January, was almost too bare-bones to work. The camera's shutter speed was set too slow, causing a motion blur so bad that some scenes needed to be reshot. Worse, Dawson's hair wasn't properly styled — it had big, wispy curls that congealed into unsightly blobs once the green backdrop was pulled away. "Hair turds!" cried Duane Loose, the burly EA veteran who's the show's production designer. Nonetheless, they've put together a couple of episodes. A crew member is playing episode 5 on a computer screen in the corner: Anna Diaz in an abandoned factory in Paris, watching openmouthed as a man in a lab coat inserts a steel rod into Nick's orange navel. Seconds later, a pair of agents bursts in. One gets his arm sliced off by the doc's surgical laser. The other pulls out a weapon of his own and reduces Nick to a boiling puddle of goo. Anna screams: The man she loved is dead — and he wasn't even human! Today they're shooting episode 12. Dawson is on the greenscreen with a tall, well-muscled actor who's wielding the same kind of weapon that killed Nick. Anna is caught in a war between the sims — creatures like Nick — and the seemingly all-powerful Gemini Division, which is bent on eradicating them. Muscle Man plays a Gemini agent who's just puddled a sim that was gripping Anna's throat. Now he's turning away, leaving her as mystified as ever. "I want in," Dawson cries, reaching for his arm — in on Gemini Division, in on why they destroyed Nick, in on whatever the hell is going on. On the sidelines, arms folded across his black Che Guevara T-shirt, Friedman nods approvingly. In fits and starts, the world he's imagined is taking shape before him. Not a game world, not a TV world, but something different: a world viewed through the tiny window of Anna's phone. "That's an intimacy you don't get from television," he says. "And our mantra is, we want to do what television doesn't." Contributing editor Frank Rose (frank_rose@wired.com) wrote about alternate reality games in issue 16.01.
Read about the latest Entertainment News on Wired.com, including art, technology, films, animation, music, web video, tv, podcasts, and blogs. {...}
Published: July 31, 2008, 5:00 am - Indexed: August 6, 2008, 11:40 pm - Page Size: 56KB
Category: Arts > Entertainment > Publications and Media

]]> Arts > Entertainment > Publications and Media {NEWS > BREAKING NEWS} - Gear Gallery: New Ultralights, Easy Wireless Speakers and a Snappy DSLR http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/breaking-news/gear-gallery-new-ultralights-easy-wireless-speakers-2008078763.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/news/breaking-news/gear-gallery-new-ultralights-easy-wireless-speakers-2008078763.htm Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT : The Asus U2E is an update of last year's impressive U1F, correcting some early flaws with the model. Most notable is the addition of an optical drive to the system, which will certainly make the laptop more appealing to a broader range of buyers. Another big change: Out goes the FireWire port, in comes HDMI output, though we can't imagine who'll be plugging this into their A/V rig for entertainment purposes. Unfortunately, the U2E still has some troubling problems. Performance is uninspiring, and the machine is buggy, too. We encountered numerous odd crashes and Windows hiccups throughout our testing. The specs are decent (11.1-inch screen, 120-GB hard drive, 3 GB of RAM, Core 2 Duo, 2.9-pounds), but many competing machines (even the Air and the Lenovo IdeaPad U110) run circles around the U2E on every important benchmark. Still, if you feel the need to be surrounded by leather at all times (and you're fresh out of jeanless chaps) the choice is all but made for you. WIRED: Handsome. Fully loaded with connectivity options, including three USB ports. Weight on par with similar systems that don't include an optical drive. TIRED: Numerous software problems. Integrated BIOS/driver update system never completed successfully. Homegrown software works even worse than Vista; causes problems. Too-small keyboard. Too-small, too-stiff mouse buttons. Very loud fan and very quiet speakers. Standard battery is light (machine weighs just 2.9 pounds with it) but gives less than an hour of battery life. (Try the included, larger battery instead: 3.5 pounds total but offers over four hours of life.) $2,000 as tested, Asus Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Read our full Asus U2E review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : By the numbers, Eos' 100T1RB Wireless Audio System is what any wire-entangled apartment needs. The relatively small system consists of a base station with an iPod/iPhone dock, an auxiliary out port and satellite speakers capable of wirelessly syncing to the base. Wireless setups like this often come with a host of connectivity headaches, but the 100T1RB was surprisingly simple. I literally plugged everything in, connected my iPod and cranked up my favorite playlist. Distributing the satellites throughout my apartment was a cinch too. With their removable power supplies, I had the option of plugging the speakers in the old fashioned way, or removing them and plugging the speakers directly into wall outlets. On the downside, the audio quality of the individual speakers could use some work. Both the base unit and the satellites are equipped with subwoofers, but overall the bass output isn't the stuff of earthquakes. Paired with some of the gain I received at higher volumes, it's safe to say that this isn't the end-all-be-all for multiroom audio. Still, in terms of price and ease, the 100T1RB is well-suited for the no-fuss multiroom novice. WIRED: Great for "quick and dirty" multiroom music. Speakers automatically sync with base unit out of box. Mini stereo input allows connectivity with virtually any MP3 player and most audio devices. Fantastic range -- even in multistory settings. Rejoice, iFanatics -- it charges devices while docked. Ships with remote and a ton of iPod dock adapters. TIRED: Rechargeable-battery-powered satellites would've been nice. Audio quality doesn't hold a candle to wireless systems from Bose. Altec. 2.1 stereo driver is great for music, but stunts home theater possibilities. Buttons on base station feel flimsy. $510 as tested, Eos Wireless Read our full Eos 100T1RB Wireless Audio System review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : What appeared to be cool about the little Sony Ericsson W350 proved itself to be an annoyance and a hassle to use. Not that it doesn't look good. Sleek and petite, this Walkman phone is slimmer and narrower than most candy-bar handsets. A small flip panel that houses the controls opens to reveal a keypad composed of glossy Chiclets and a squared-off oval navigation pad. Though pretty, these design touches are the most irritating features of the phone. The smooth keys are hard to press in isolation. The navpad leaves little room for easy navigation. And the flimsy flip panel takes great skill to open one-handedly, which makes it bad for efficient answering. The phone comes with what looks like a 512-MB microSD card. But wait -- it's Sony's own memory card, the incompatible Memory Stick M2. When was the last time you've seen any Memory Stick slots in a non-Sony notebook? Don't forget to lock the phone after every call, because when it's flipped shut, the phone defaults to Walkman mode, and a key in your pocket could start an impromptu jam session in a company meeting. On the bright side, when this phone comes out, it'll be cheap, around $30 with a two-year contract. WIRED: It's as tiny and as pretty as a music-box ballerina. Includes an FM radio (which will be cool until the HD-radio takeover next year). TIRED: The keys and navpad are unfit for grownup human use. The phone's clunky headphone connector has all the charm of a tumor. The awkward flip panel makes for clumsy, fumbling answers. $30 estimated with two-year contract, Sony Ericsson Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Read our full Sony Ericsson W350 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : The Nokia E66 has what we in the lab have taken to calling the "mullet button" (actual name: switch mode). This feature allows your mobile to toggle between two separate screen modes. Keep the first one full of all your spreadsheets, work e-mail, TPS reports and other boring business stuff. When you leave the office, let your hair down a little and switch to the personal mode and start using all the applications that hamper productivity. The E66 has a lot in common with an N-series device, and is functionally almost identical to the N78, sporting 3G, WiFi, media player, FM radio and a 3.2-megapixel cam. But there is one overarching quality that puts it squarely in the business world: Like many jobs, it sounds great at first, but gets old real fast once you see past the shine. WIRED: A magnificent piece of hardware, with Vertu-level build quality. Nice form factor: thin enough to disappear in your pocket but large enough for a 2.5-inch screen. Upgraded processor runs S60 even more snappily than the N95 8 GB. Automatic screen orientation. Finger-friendly textured keys. Hard buttons for silent mode and Bluetooth on/off. TIRED: Mullet mode adds yet another level of menus under which to bury functions. Arrgh! Swanky metal backplate gets hand-scaldingly hot. Road warriors will scoff at the battery life: around three hours of talk time (con Bluetooth). Must pay extra for business applications -- document, spreadsheet editor, etc. Camera sucks in anything but perfect light. $500, Nokia Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Read our full Nokia E66 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : When we first reviewed the Toshiba Portege R500 in July 2007, it was a breath of fresh air, an impossibly portable ultralight that stood out against a field of also-rans. But the machine hasn't received a significant update in that time, and it is now having its lunch eaten by all of the competition it previously trounced. Our model came with a larger hard drive, a faster CPU and more RAM than the model we tested last year. None of these mild improvements served to boost the R500 up to hang with its newfound contenders. The R500 is still the lightest full-featured laptop on the market, weighing just 2.4 pounds while still offering an optical drive. But the Portege makes a lot of sacrifices to reach such an anorexic state, the most obvious being build quality and components that feel shaky, to put it mildly. Nearly as problematic is the dreadful performance of the R500, about 23 percent slower than both the Sony Vaio TZ-150 and the MacBook Air ultralights. Still, if the durability and performance concerns don't turn you off, there's a bit to like here. With three USB ports, FireWire, VGA, SD card and ethernet ports, the machine is pretty full-featured, and its $2,149 price is competitive next to most other ultralights. WIRED: Amazingly, almost suspiciously, light. Integrated optical drive. 12.1-inch screen a decent compromise between 11.1- and 13.3-inch models. TIRED:Terrible screen quality, one of the dimmest on the market and hard to read if you're not looking straight on. Pitiful performance under Vista. Lack of sturdiness is outright scary. Only 1 GB of RAM. $2,150 as tested, Toshiba Read our full Toshiba R500 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : With its buttonless face and black monolithic look, the all-touchscreen Instinct is immediately familiar: It's virtually the same weight and size as the iPhone, only about two-tenths of an inch narrower. Most of the expected specs are here: 3G, GPS, 2-megapixel camera (with video recording), and full e-mail and web browsing features. Of course, the real reason for the iPhone's success is its operating system, and here the Instinct is still playing catch-up. While everything is intuitive and pretty zippy, it's still not quite as polished as Apple's version. As well, the narrower body trims nearly a half inch off the iPhone's screen size, which really cramps page size. Even typing on the Instinct can be rocky: I made so many mistakes in notes and web URLs that typing slowed to a painful crawl even by iPhone's slow standards. The Instinct won't woo the Apple faithful from upgrading to the iPhone 3G, but it's definitely good enough to rank as a solid second-tier player in the smartphone space. WIRED: Turn-by-turn GPS navigation is very responsive, generally accurate and updates quickly. Easily customizable home screen. Painless e-mail setup works well with numerous hosts. Decent multimedia options (included with $99 all-you-can-eat service plan) include copious TV options. Works with any screen-tapping implement (not just your finger). TIRED: No WiFi. Clearly cellphone-quality photos. No internal storage: 2-GB microSD card included (upgradeable to 8 GB). Can't edit attachments. Web browser needs a serious reworking. Includes a stylus ... but provides no slot to stow it. $130 (with two-year contract), Samsung Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Read our full Samsung Instinct review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : The diminutive D60 is a fistful of photo-tech fun as the beneficiary of a bucketful of Nikon D300 trickle down like a speedier EXPEED image processor, a vibration-reducing zoom lens, Active D-Lighting and a dust-reduction system with a particle-purging vent. From the moment you flip on the power, the D60 is ready to shoot. Its 10-megapixel photos were punchy, sharp and pleasing. Not a big jump in sharpness from the D40x, but noticeable, especially at higher ISO settings where the new EXPEED image processor's noise reduction algorithm really kicks in. The simple user interface takes cues from Nikon's point-and-shoots and a variety of in-camera editing and touch-up features pretty much eliminate the need to use any post-production software. The D60 comes up a little short in frame rate. At just three frames per second in continuous shooting mode, you may be disappointed by its stop-action sports performance. Also, its three-point auto-focus system is one-third of its closest competitor, Canon's Rebel XSi. All in all the D60 is a straight outta the box, shoot-your-ever-smiling-face-off winner. However, if you harbor any ambition of getting more creative with your image making, then you may find that you outgrow this camera faster than you'd expected. WIRED: Brightest, sharpest LCD in category. Stop-motion movies. Active D-Lighting fixes shots during processing. In-camera RAW conversion. Fast start-up to shoot. TIRED: Compact styling means the controls are a bit cramped for big hands. Only three-point auto-focus system. Manual shooting a bit ungainly. Just three frames per second in continuous shooting mode. $700 as tested, Nikon Photo: Jackson Lynch/Wired.com Read our full Nikon D60 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. Wired.Com Gear Gallery: New Ultralights, Easy Wireless Speakers and a Snappy DSLR {new window}   Www.Wired.Com - : The Asus U2E is an update of last year's impressive U1F, correcting some early flaws with the model. Most notable is the addition of an optical drive to the system, which will certainly make the laptop more appealing to a broader range of buyers. Another big change: Out goes the FireWire port, in comes HDMI output, though we can't imagine who'll be plugging this into their A/V rig for entertainment purposes. Unfortunately, the U2E still has some troubling problems. Performance is uninspiring, and the machine is buggy, too. We encountered numerous odd crashes and Windows hiccups throughout our testing. The specs are decent (11.1-inch screen, 120-GB hard drive, 3 GB of RAM, Core 2 Duo, 2.9-pounds), but many competing machines (even the Air and the Lenovo IdeaPad U110) run circles around the U2E on every important benchmark. Still, if you feel the need to be surrounded by leather at all times (and you're fresh out of jeanless chaps) the choice is all but made for you. WIRED: Handsome. Fully loaded with connectivity options, including three USB ports. Weight on par with similar systems that don't include an optical drive. TIRED: Numerous software problems. Integrated BIOS/driver update system never completed successfully. Homegrown software works even worse than Vista; causes problems. Too-small keyboard. Too-small, too-stiff mouse buttons. Very loud fan and very quiet speakers. Standard battery is light (machine weighs just 2.9 pounds with it) but gives less than an hour of battery life. (Try the included, larger battery instead: 3.5 pounds total but offers over four hours of life.) $2,000 as tested, Asus Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Read our full Asus U2E review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : By the numbers, Eos' 100T1RB Wireless Audio System is what any wire-entangled apartment needs. The relatively small system consists of a base station with an iPod/iPhone dock, an auxiliary out port and satellite speakers capable of wirelessly syncing to the base. Wireless setups like this often come with a host of connectivity headaches, but the 100T1RB was surprisingly simple. I literally plugged everything in, connected my iPod and cranked up my favorite playlist. Distributing the satellites throughout my apartment was a cinch too. With their removable power supplies, I had the option of plugging the speakers in the old fashioned way, or removing them and plugging the speakers directly into wall outlets. On the downside, the audio quality of the individual speakers could use some work. Both the base unit and the satellites are equipped with subwoofers, but overall the bass output isn't the stuff of earthquakes. Paired with some of the gain I received at higher volumes, it's safe to say that this isn't the end-all-be-all for multiroom audio. Still, in terms of price and ease, the 100T1RB is well-suited for the no-fuss multiroom novice. WIRED: Great for "quick and dirty" multiroom music. Speakers automatically sync with base unit out of box. Mini stereo input allows connectivity with virtually any MP3 player and most audio devices. Fantastic range -- even in multistory settings. Rejoice, iFanatics -- it charges devices while docked. Ships with remote and a ton of iPod dock adapters. TIRED: Rechargeable-battery-powered satellites would've been nice. Audio quality doesn't hold a candle to wireless systems from Bose. Altec. 2.1 stereo driver is great for music, but stunts home theater possibilities. Buttons on base station feel flimsy. $510 as tested, Eos Wireless Read our full Eos 100T1RB Wireless Audio System review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : What appeared to be cool about the little Sony Ericsson W350 proved itself to be an annoyance and a hassle to use. Not that it doesn't look good. Sleek and petite, this Walkman phone is slimmer and narrower than most candy-bar handsets. A small flip panel that houses the controls opens to reveal a keypad composed of glossy Chiclets and a squared-off oval navigation pad. Though pretty, these design touches are the most irritating features of the phone. The smooth keys are hard to press in isolation. The navpad leaves little room for easy navigation. And the flimsy flip panel takes great skill to open one-handedly, which makes it bad for efficient answering. The phone comes with what looks like a 512-MB microSD card. But wait -- it's Sony's own memory card, the incompatible Memory Stick M2. When was the last time you've seen any Memory Stick slots in a non-Sony notebook? Don't forget to lock the phone after every call, because when it's flipped shut, the phone defaults to Walkman mode, and a key in your pocket could start an impromptu jam session in a company meeting. On the bright side, when this phone comes out, it'll be cheap, around $30 with a two-year contract. WIRED: It's as tiny and as pretty as a music-box ballerina. Includes an FM radio (which will be cool until the HD-radio takeover next year). TIRED: The keys and navpad are unfit for grownup human use. The phone's clunky headphone connector has all the charm of a tumor. The awkward flip panel makes for clumsy, fumbling answers. $30 estimated with two-year contract, Sony Ericsson Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Read our full Sony Ericsson W350 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : The Nokia E66 has what we in the lab have taken to calling the "mullet button" (actual name: switch mode). This feature allows your mobile to toggle between two separate screen modes. Keep the first one full of all your spreadsheets, work e-mail, TPS reports and other boring business stuff. When you leave the office, let your hair down a little and switch to the personal mode and start using all the applications that hamper productivity. The E66 has a lot in common with an N-series device, and is functionally almost identical to the N78, sporting 3G, WiFi, media player, FM radio and a 3.2-megapixel cam. But there is one overarching quality that puts it squarely in the business world: Like many jobs, it sounds great at first, but gets old real fast once you see past the shine. WIRED: A magnificent piece of hardware, with Vertu-level build quality. Nice form factor: thin enough to disappear in your pocket but large enough for a 2.5-inch screen. Upgraded processor runs S60 even more snappily than the N95 8 GB. Automatic screen orientation. Finger-friendly textured keys. Hard buttons for silent mode and Bluetooth on/off. TIRED: Mullet mode adds yet another level of menus under which to bury functions. Arrgh! Swanky metal backplate gets hand-scaldingly hot. Road warriors will scoff at the battery life: around three hours of talk time (con Bluetooth). Must pay extra for business applications -- document, spreadsheet editor, etc. Camera sucks in anything but perfect light. $500, Nokia Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Read our full Nokia E66 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : When we first reviewed the Toshiba Portege R500 in July 2007, it was a breath of fresh air, an impossibly portable ultralight that stood out against a field of also-rans. But the machine hasn't received a significant update in that time, and it is now having its lunch eaten by all of the competition it previously trounced. Our model came with a larger hard drive, a faster CPU and more RAM than the model we tested last year. None of these mild improvements served to boost the R500 up to hang with its newfound contenders. The R500 is still the lightest full-featured laptop on the market, weighing just 2.4 pounds while still offering an optical drive. But the Portege makes a lot of sacrifices to reach such an anorexic state, the most obvious being build quality and components that feel shaky, to put it mildly. Nearly as problematic is the dreadful performance of the R500, about 23 percent slower than both the Sony Vaio TZ-150 and the MacBook Air ultralights. Still, if the durability and performance concerns don't turn you off, there's a bit to like here. With three USB ports, FireWire, VGA, SD card and ethernet ports, the machine is pretty full-featured, and its $2,149 price is competitive next to most other ultralights. WIRED: Amazingly, almost suspiciously, light. Integrated optical drive. 12.1-inch screen a decent compromise between 11.1- and 13.3-inch models. TIRED:Terrible screen quality, one of the dimmest on the market and hard to read if you're not looking straight on. Pitiful performance under Vista. Lack of sturdiness is outright scary. Only 1 GB of RAM. $2,150 as tested, Toshiba Read our full Toshiba R500 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : With its buttonless face and black monolithic look, the all-touchscreen Instinct is immediately familiar: It's virtually the same weight and size as the iPhone, only about two-tenths of an inch narrower. Most of the expected specs are here: 3G, GPS, 2-megapixel camera (with video recording), and full e-mail and web browsing features. Of course, the real reason for the iPhone's success is its operating system, and here the Instinct is still playing catch-up. While everything is intuitive and pretty zippy, it's still not quite as polished as Apple's version. As well, the narrower body trims nearly a half inch off the iPhone's screen size, which really cramps page size. Even typing on the Instinct can be rocky: I made so many mistakes in notes and web URLs that typing slowed to a painful crawl even by iPhone's slow standards. The Instinct won't woo the Apple faithful from upgrading to the iPhone 3G, but it's definitely good enough to rank as a solid second-tier player in the smartphone space. WIRED: Turn-by-turn GPS navigation is very responsive, generally accurate and updates quickly. Easily customizable home screen. Painless e-mail setup works well with numerous hosts. Decent multimedia options (included with $99 all-you-can-eat service plan) include copious TV options. Works with any screen-tapping implement (not just your finger). TIRED: No WiFi. Clearly cellphone-quality photos. No internal storage: 2-GB microSD card included (upgradeable to 8 GB). Can't edit attachments. Web browser needs a serious reworking. Includes a stylus ... but provides no slot to stow it. $130 (with two-year contract), Samsung Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Read our full Samsung Instinct review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : The diminutive D60 is a fistful of photo-tech fun as the beneficiary of a bucketful of Nikon D300 trickle down like a speedier EXPEED image processor, a vibration-reducing zoom lens, Active D-Lighting and a dust-reduction system with a particle-purging vent. From the moment you flip on the power, the D60 is ready to shoot. Its 10-megapixel photos were punchy, sharp and pleasing. Not a big jump in sharpness from the D40x, but noticeable, especially at higher ISO settings where the new EXPEED image processor's noise reduction algorithm really kicks in. The simple user interface takes cues from Nikon's point-and-shoots and a variety of in-camera editing and touch-up features pretty much eliminate the need to use any post-production software. The D60 comes up a little short in frame rate. At just three frames per second in continuous shooting mode, you may be disappointed by its stop-action sports performance. Also, its three-point auto-focus system is one-third of its closest competitor, Canon's Rebel XSi. All in all the D60 is a straight outta the box, shoot-your-ever-smiling-face-off winner. However, if you harbor any ambition of getting more creative with your image making, then you may find that you outgrow this camera faster than you'd expected. WIRED: Brightest, sharpest LCD in category. Stop-motion movies. Active D-Lighting fixes shots during processing. In-camera RAW conversion. Fast start-up to shoot. TIRED: Compact styling means the controls are a bit cramped for big hands. Only three-point auto-focus system. Manual shooting a bit ungainly. Just three frames per second in continuous shooting mode. $700 as tested, Nikon Photo: Jackson Lynch/Wired.com Read our full Nikon D60 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.
See the latest multimedia and applications including videos, animations, podcasts, photos, and slideshows on Wired.com {...}
Published: July 3, 2008, 5:00 am - Indexed: July 4, 2008, 6:47 pm - Page Size: 33KB
Category: News > Breaking News

]]> News > Breaking News {NORTH AMERICA > RENTALS} - Work for Rent (santa cruz) $500 http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/north-america/united-states/california/metro-areas/san-francisco-bay-area/business-and-economy/real-estate/rentals/work-for-rent-santa-cruz-500-20080678116.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/regional/north-america/united-states/california/metro-areas/san-francisco-bay-area/business-and-economy/real-estate/rentals/work-for-rent-santa-cruz-500-20080678116.htm Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:33:26 GMT I'm posting this with the hopes that no one else will ever get caught in this trap. This guy is dangerous! http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/roo/709985191.html This house was built in the 1980s as a spiritual getaway for 10 people or so who followed the teachings of a man named Ronald "Rusty" Hartman. It's got many names, but "Rusty's Retreat" is it's most 'infamous.' www.rustysretreat.com After losing touch with himself and his "teachings," the community at Rusty's Retreat abandoned Rusty and the house, leaving cold, cluttered, sparsely furnished rooms behind. Rusty later declared a fraudulent bankruptcy and skipped out on a bill of over $300,000 with two separate lumber companies in the San Lorenzo Valley that fronted him the materials to build the mansion you see in these pictures. Today Rusty is in his late 60s and suffers from depression, mania, obsessive compulsive disorder and is a master manipulator. 5 minutes with him will leave you convinced that something isn't right with him or his property (His 20 page personality questionnaire should be enough to ring some warning bells for you. ). Speaking of which, his property is currently under Santa Cruz County Code Violation on 5 separate charges, giving his property the honor of holding 5 Red Tags and deeming it literally "Unsuitable for Human Habitation." Always ask questions! Here's California State Law concerning rent and Red-Tagged property: AB 647 Chapter 109 Became Law on January 1, 2004. This law states that a property owner in the State of California MAY NOT demand rent, collect rent, give a rent increase notice or issue a three day notice to pay rent or quit IF: 1. A rental unit substantially lacks water proofing, gas facilities, hot and cold water, heating, electricity, sanitation or garbage receptacles: contains lead hazards, or is declared substandard because the conditions on the property are a danger to the tenant and/or the public. AND: 2. An appropriate public agency inspects the premises and notifies the landlord of his/her obligation to repair the substandard conditions AND: 3. The property owner does not repair the problem for at least 35 days after he/she has been notified AND: 4. The tenant did not cause the substandard condition. As if these weren't reasons enough for you to ignore this tempting mirage in the mountains, further reading about Rusty's love of animals may convince you that yes, people like that actually do exist, and here he is folks! The seizure of 7 neglected dogs from his property in 2005 is recorded here: http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/6815/CA/US/ And how about the endangered Mexican Axolotl Albino Samanader Rusty kept in his bedroom, feeding it frozen beef liver and placing it next to a large, aggressive snapping turtle who broke free from its tank regularly? This rare animal was also seized and was handed over to Mexican authorities to be placed in protective habitation in its native Mexico. This is an awful trap for students. Don't let the mirage fool you. Be warned. All information in this post can be verified with Santa Cruz County and online at San Jose Mercury and Santa Cruz Sentinel's web pages. Sfbay.Craigslist.Org Work for Rent (santa cruz) $500 {new window}   Sfbay.Craigslist.Org - I'm posting this with the hopes that no one else will ever get caught in this trap. This guy is dangerous! http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/roo/709985191.html This house was built in the 1980s as a spiritual getaway for 10 people or so who followed the teachings of a man named Ronald "Rusty" Hartman. It's got many names, but "Rusty's Retreat" is it's most 'infamous.' www.rustysretreat.com After losing touch with himself and his "teachings," the community at Rusty's Retreat abandoned Rusty and the house, leaving cold, cluttered, sparsely furnished rooms behind. Rusty later declared a fraudulent bankruptcy and skipped out on a bill of over $300,000 with two separate lumber companies in the San Lorenzo Valley that fronted him the materials to build the mansion you see in these pictures. Today Rusty is in his late 60s and suffers from depression, mania, obsessive compulsive disorder and is a master manipulator. 5 minutes with him will leave you convinced that something isn't right with him or his property (His 20 page personality questionnaire should be enough to ring some warning bells for you. ). Speaking of which, his property is currently under Santa Cruz County Code Violation on 5 separate charges, giving his property the honor of holding 5 Red Tags and deeming it literally "Unsuitable for Human Habitation." Always ask questions! Here's California State Law concerning rent and Red-Tagged property: AB 647 Chapter 109 Became Law on January 1, 2004. This law states that a property owner in the State of California MAY NOT demand rent, collect rent, give a rent increase notice or issue a three day notice to pay rent or quit IF: 1. A rental unit substantially lacks water proofing, gas facilities, hot and cold water, heating, electricity, sanitation or garbage receptacles: contains lead hazards, or is declared substandard because the conditions on the property are a danger to the tenant and/or the public. AND: 2. An appropriate public agency inspects the premises and notifies the landlord of his/her obligation to repair the substandard conditions AND: 3. The property owner does not repair the problem for at least 35 days after he/she has been notified AND: 4. The tenant did not cause the substandard condition. As if these weren't reasons enough for you to ignore this tempting mirage in the mountains, further reading about Rusty's love of animals may convince you that yes, people like that actually do exist, and here he is folks! The seizure of 7 neglected dogs from his property in 2005 is recorded here: http://www.pet-abuse.com/cases/6815/CA/US/ And how about the endangered Mexican Axolotl Albino Samanader Rusty kept in his bedroom, feeding it frozen beef liver and placing it next to a large, aggressive snapping turtle who broke free from its tank regularly? This rare animal was also seized and was handed over to Mexican authorities to be placed in protective habitation in its native Mexico. This is an awful trap for students. Don't let the mirage fool you. Be warned. All information in this post can be verified with Santa Cruz County and online at San Jose Mercury and Santa Cruz Sentinel's web pages.
Work for Rent {...}
Published: June 9, 2008, 7:33 am - Indexed: June 9, 2008, 9:25 am - Page Size: 7KB
Category: Regional > North America > United States > California > Metro Areas > San Francisco Bay Area > Business and Economy > Real Estate > Rentals

]]> Regional > North America > United States > California > Metro Areas > San Francisco Bay Area > Business and Economy > Real Estate > Rentals {TECHNOLOGY > INVENTION AND INNOVATION} - Gear Gallery: WiFi Media Extender, Excessive Gaming PC and Hot LED Watch http://articles.world-of-newave.info/science/technology/invention-and-innovation/gear-gallery-wifi-media-extender-excessive-gaming-2008067296.htm http://articles.world-of-newave.info/science/technology/invention-and-innovation/gear-gallery-wifi-media-extender-excessive-gaming-2008067296.htm Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT : Living room-ready media extenders leverage your home network to bridge the gap between PC and TV, serving up tunes, photos, videos, DVDs, and, if you BYO tuner, DVR-style TV. The DSM-750 MediaLounge Extender rocks Draft-N (802.11n) wireless, so if you pair it with a similarly advanced router, you can cut the ethernet umbilical cord and still stream high-def content. That's the theory, anyway: Media merely dribbled between our Netgear router and the extender. It was only when we synced the MediaLounge with D-Link's GamerLounge router (hmmm), that we got video flowing like an avalanche. The DSM-750 has HDMI, component-video and optical-audio outputs, making it a good fit with highfalutin home theaters. It can stream most video and audio formats, including DRM-protected tunes. But the extender lacks a DVD player, and dumb-ass copyright restrictions prevent you from streaming DVDs from your PC. If you want movies, you'll have to download them from Media Center staple CinemaNow or rip your disc library. As extenders go, this one works pretty well, though smart shoppers will look to the Xbox 360 instead. Yep, Microsoft's game console doubles as a media extender, and it can download both movies and TV shows with Xbox Live. Plus, it plays DVDs. WIRED: Cinchy setup. Streams content from PCs and NAS drives. Supports live TV viewing, recording and timeshifting, provided your PC has a tuner. Front-mounted USB port lets you play content from flash drives. TIRED: Video tops out at 1080i. Menus look a bit muddy. No volume controls on the extender remote. Can't play DVDs. Wireless streaming demands high-end Draft-N router. Xbox 360 works equally well and plays games and DVDs to boot. Price/maker: $320, D-Link Read our full D-Link DSM-750 MediaLounge Extender review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : Puget Systems Deluge-i L3 Puget Systems builds desktops, laptops and server towers, with more customization options than NASA can calculate. We custom-built the Deluge-i L3 with aggressive components into an insultingly powerful, flashy gaming PC. For starters, there's the Quad Core Intel Core 2 Extreme overclocked to 4 GHz and 4 GB of OCZ Reaper RAM. In the graphics department, three 768-MB GeForce 8800 Ultras run in triple SLI. It has a 40-GB Xceed Ultra solid-state drive for speedy access to programs with a second 500 GB Seagate Barracuda for housing our legally acquired content. Accessing the Intertubes is also fleet-footed; a Killer network interface card actually improved our ping and helped up our headshot count. Even with a Koolance water-cooling system that includes three large fans, this monster idles at about 85 degrees Fahrenheit, easily hitting 140 during our more rigorous Doom 3 and Peggle sessions. When fully operational, this beast is louder than a monster-truck rally. If you can't already tell, this rig is excessive. Unless you want to create Skynet in your gaming crib, you don't really need the triple SLI -- we couldn't even get this configuration to run Crysis at full specs. WIRED: Very tidy build, without a rat's nest of cables. Quality hardware components. Lots of handy benchmark logs and data included (useful if you know what it all means). Case-lighting lumens are directly proportional to awesomeness. TIRED: Pricey (even for a custom job). Weighs in at almost 75 pounds. Case-lighting lumens are inversely proportional to social status. What's that? I can't hear you over my PC's Harrier-jet-loud cooling system. Price/maker: $9,600 (as tested), Puget Systems Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Read our full Puget Systems Deluge-i L3 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : So everyone in the products department at Wired has a type of gadget that they absolutely adore and completely geek out on. Me? I love watches. Not just any watches. I love geeky, LED-flashing, binary-sporting, Japanese-manufactured, virtually-impossible-to-decipher watches. Watches like the TokyoFlash "Infection." A timekeeping device like this actually is perfect for striking up conversations with strangers -- especially the ladies. The number of red LEDs represent the hour -- there are eight of them right now, indicating that it's 8 o'clock. The yellow ones correspond to five-minute increments. See there are six of those. Six times five is 30. And the green LEDs represent individual minutes. There are three of those right now. So it's eight plus 30 plus three. So it's 8:33. Every now and then you meet someone who's really into the watch. In that respect, it's a great litmus test to see if a girl is a keeper. Aside from that, the TokyoFlash watch also forces you to do a few mental gymnastics when figuring out the hour. And, seriously, isn't it time for all of us to start doing that? --Daniel Dumas WIRED: Flashing lights. Hard-to-decipher graphics. Math. This thing is less of a watch and more like geek catnip. Telling time requires a bit of brainpower. TIRED: Try, just try, to get an accurate reading in direct sunlight. See what happens when you ask someone if they want to see your "Infection." Price/maker: $40, TokyoFlash Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Read our full TokyoFlash "Infection" review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : The Yamaha NX-B02 is a portable wireless speaker that can stream tunes from your cellphone, laptop or any other Bluetooth device, and can even do it sans power cord: Just insert four AA batteries, and rock on. The speaker has four buttons up top -- power, volume, and Bluetooth controls -- and off to the side is a 3.5-mm In line for portable devices. Getting the speaker to sync with a Bluetooth device is pretty easy, and the wireless range was about 25 feet, smooth and clear all the way. In the portability department, the NX-B02 is tough to beat. At only 3.3 inches wide and 6.7 inches high, I was able to duct-tape it to my handlebars, bike around with the ice-cream-truck song playing, and watch the kids come running from their houses. The sound quality at low volumes is pretty thin, but turn it up, and the detail and depth in the midrange is impressive for a speaker this size. It can't compete with most iPod speakers, but it's a significant upgrade from your laptop's speakers, with more detail, amplification and depth. For smaller rooms, or a day on the beach, it's a worthy companion. WIRED: Unique gizmo, with Bluetooth audio and ultraportable design. Five watts per channel is louder than it sounds. Battery power a beauty option. Cinch to set up and use. TIRED: Weak bass won't impress the hip-hoppers. Black, white and red color choices are bland-o-rama. Pricey, and something of a luxury item. Price/maker: $150, Yamaha Read our full Yamaha NX-B02 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : The Edge 705 combines GPS maps and navigation, heart rate, cadence and power output into a palm of your hand wireless unit. It can display up to 16 separate metrics during the ride and combined with the included software and web-based apps it becomes an incredible tool for social networking, exploration and serious training analysis. From a gander at the spec sheet, it seems setup and orientation would take awhile, but it turned out to be a breeze straight out of the box. I was rolling in less than an hour, with a map telling me my location and plotting a course to the trailhead while spitting out vitals all along the way. The included software helps you track courses, training regimes, and a mass of recorded data. Users can easily upload their data to the Motion Based site and share activities. Just pick one of the many rides uploaded by users on the site, click on "download to device" and the opportunities for fun and exploration are endless. Over the course of a couple weeks I found the 705 to be incredibly accurate, even in close quarters with other bike-borne wireless electronics. It's righted my course a few times and has become an invaluable training tool, enabling me to analyze ride and race data over a couple months and realize marked improvements. WIRED: Detailed maps and directions are spot-on. GPS reception is excellent even in heavily wooded areas. Software and web-app integration are a boon to digit crunchers. TIRED: Needs capability for more than three bikes. CD-ROM user manual needs more detail. Should come with a glare-free screen skin. Must run the battery all the way down before the first charge or you'll only get about 3 hours of use. $650 as tested, Garmin Photo: Jackson Lynch/Wired.com Read our full Garmin Edge 705 GPS review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : After cracking open the eight separate boxes the Orb system set comes in, it's clear that Orb is going for an eye-catching industrial look. Copper finished front/left/center speakers look steampunkish but still manage not to clash horribly with living room decor. Instead of opting for typical box speakers, Orb Audio draws on its namesake for hardware design. The front left, right and center speakers of our Mod4 system were made up of quadruple banks of the company's signature orb-shaped desktop speaker. Bringing up the low end was Orb's 300 watt, 10-inch "Uber Ten" subwoofer. Believe it or not, those copper balls actually pack a punch. Rock, jazz, and even hip-hop sounded surprisingly clear out of the box, producing both impressive mid-level presence and resonant highs. However, playing a Blu-ray disc presented a couple of minor snags. By about halfway through an advance copy of Rambo (2008), I noticed that most of Sylvester Stallone's grunts were hogging the audio field. After some investigation, I discovered that the speakers' sound fields are slightly narrow when playing digital content. A quick repositioning fixed this. Save for this small setback and some prohibitive pricing issues, the Mod4 system is a smart choice for DIY audiophiles who don't mind going off the beaten path to design their system. WIRED: Awesome clarity for both music and hi-def movies. Easy to assemble. Surprisingly solid craftsmanship. Hardly any distortion at high volumes. Satisfyingly heavy and durable speaker stands. Metal rods on HOSS stands have been hollowed to hide speaker wire. Expansive customization options. Ten-inch sub brings the thunder! TIRED: Not the broadest sound field we've encountered. Want ear-level speakers? Extra speaker stands are going to cost you $300 a pair. Center channel speaker stand kept coming loose. Speaker wire can be tricky to secure due to enclosed clamps. $2,300 as tested, Orb Audio Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Read our full Orb People's Choice Home Theater Speaker System review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : The Sierra Wireless Compass looks like a chunky USB drive, but it houses not only a microSD slot (up to 32 GB) for adding some memory but also a (Sprint) EVDO modem and a GPS receiver. You won't get blazing speeds (imagine five minutes to download a 10-MB file), but you will get access from anywhere, plus a decent if under-featured GPS to boot. The data plans are unremarkable: $60 for 5 GB a month; $40 for a paltry 40 MB (hint: kick down the extra $20, cheapskate). When you fire up the modem software, handy meters show your signal, time spent and data usage. But there are also tabs at the bottom for some simple applications, some GPS applets and a VPN option. In a rare bit of altruism, one of the applications even offers the location of WiFi hotspots across the United States, should you be running low on data. While the GPS is useful, it's web-based and slow, and there's no simple way to find and track your location. The chubby unit also hogs the ports; good luck sliding in your wireless mouse nubbin next to it. We also found that the modem is all too eager to slip from EVDO the slower 1xRTT connection. WIRED: The little bugger accesses the Tubes from just about anywhere. Includes a microSD slot so it can double as a thumb drive. Drivers included on the device; no CD necessary. Includes full-featured GPS and a mini-suite of tools. Cheap! TIRED: The little fatty is a space hog, blocking nearby ports and necessitating a USB extender (included). Gets dad-gum hot. You will lose the detachable cap in 5... 4... 3... $50 with 2-year activation, Sprint Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Read our full Sierra Wireless Compass 597 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : This wireless adapter for the Wii Nunchuck comes in two parts: a small receiver that snaps into the port on the bottom of the Wiimote, and a nunchuck housing with a flat base that houses a pair of AAA batteries. While gaming, the adapter functions flawlessly. We tested the adapter with a host of different games and noticed no obvious lag. And while the battery compartment adds some weight, it's not enough make the nunchuck feel unbalanced. Battery life is superb. Nyko claims 60 hours, and they ain't lying. We've been playing on the same set of AAAs for weeks now. The small receiver that attaches to the Wiimote, however, is a power hog, significantly shortening battery life and creating false power readings. Still, if you're using rechargables, the battery drain isn?t as much of an issue. If you play a lot of Wii Sports, $20 is a small price to pay to keep the nunchuck cable from smacking you in the face, or other parts of your anatomy. And if you're a fan of Mario Kart, then, well, blaming your loss on the tangled cord is no longer an excuse. WIRED: Flawless functionality and simple setup means you'll forget you're using a wireless adapter. Stellar battery life keeps nunchuck going strong for up to 60 hours. Battery pack also functions as a nunchuck stand. TIRED: Receiver dongle significantly saps Wiimote batteries. Added nunchuck girth may make boss battles harder for those with small hands. $20, Nyko Read our full Nyko Wiimote Wireless Adapter review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.: I listened to a little Sarah Vaughn on the 2200s at my desk this week and then turned around to see my co-workers staring at me. Everyone in a 15-foot radius was able to enjoy the soul of the famous blues singer, but I could barely hear her. Why would a set of headphones sound loud to everyone else, except the person who is wearing them? The answer lies in the 2200's open-back design. Meant to reduce sound pressure and make listening easier on your lobes, the 'phones basically hemorrhage excess audio into the space around you. So to get a true sense of the way the headphones handled I locked myself away in the privacy of my basement. In my concrete box of solitude, the headphones created a nice spatial sound, but the bass was a little thin, and the treble a bit harsh. In the end, the 2200s could not provide the warmth and depth I get from other headphones costing half the price. The 2200s are not exactly comfortable either. The cans are big but they don't so much cup your ears as swallow the sides of your head. Ultrasone also claims that the S-Logic technology lets you listen to music at higher volumes without risk of damaging your ears. I'm all for preserving my auditory senses -- I just don't want to damage the hearing of those around me in the process. WIRED: S-Logic feature not only prevents hearing damage but also simulates believable surround sound. Solid design will stand up to the repeated abuse suffered on public transportation. Detachable cord?s more than 20-foot range almost makes up for lack of range on headphones. TIRED: Ambient sound is louder than your mother-in-law after a half dozen highballs. Hideous color scheme makes us retch a little. Just could not get music pumping out loud enough to suit our tastes. $300, Ultrasone Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Read our full Ultrasone HFI 2200 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.: The Asus M70S is the first laptop computer with a full terabyte of storage space standard, courtesy of two 500-GB drives spinning away inside its ginormous, 8.8-pound chassis. And while spec-wise the M70S is a loaded baked potato (2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 gigs of RAM, Blu-ray, TV tuner and an ATI Radeon HD 3650), the machine is buggy in day-to-day use. Applications installed only after hiccups, strange lags erupted almost at random and baffling messages asserting DRM errors popped up when we did something as simple as playing back a standard DVD. Most troubling: Windows Vista only reported 3 GB of RAM instead of the four we knew were present. Power through the issues and you'll find the M70S offers exceptional performance, though not record-breaking by any stretch. $2,400 isn't a terrible deal for the surfeit of goodies you get, but gamers with cash to burn will want even better performance than the M70S can offer -- and they'll demand considerably better stability. We do, too. WIRED: Surprisingly good battery life (more than 1 hour, 40 minutes) for a 17-inch rig. Dual hard drives allows for mirroring (and perfect, instant backups). Precise loud speakers, including bottom-mounted subwoofer. TIRED: Very buggy even under minimal load. Extremely dim LCD, even at max brightness. Awkward case design requires punching a difficult-to-reach button to open the lid. $2,400 as tested, Asus Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Read our full Asus M70 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.: This small set-top box is dead simple to configure and use with my existing Netflix account. Plug it in, hook it up to the HDTV with an HDMI cable, plug in an ethernet cord, and then use a confirmation code to link it to your account. I was running within five minutes. The box streams movies from Netflix -- it doesn?t download them. I was able to get the 1.0 Mpbs stream in my testing, which resulted in perfectly acceptable video quality. Higher quality streams are available, and over time, HD streams will show up, which the box can handle. Choosing content to watch is done on your computer, using the familiar Netflix interface. Anything that?s available for instant viewing can be added to the player?s queue. The upside is that browsing the amount of content on Netflix is much easier on a computer than TV; the downside is that you?ll find yourself wanting your laptop by your side. On the downside, Netflix has 100,000 DVDs available, but only 10 percent of them can be procured for streaming. The great thing for current customers is the cost: $100 for the box, and then $0 a month extra. The score below is balanced between the ease of use and quality of the hardware, and the dearth of content available. If every piece of media in the Netflix catalog were streamable, this would be a 10 for sure. WIRED: Textbook definition of a simple setup. Good video quality from streams. Box automatically upgrades as new software features become available. No cost above normal Netflix subscription. TIRED: Another nondescript black box to clutter up your living room. Just not as much content as we wish was available. Box and remote, while functional, just aren?t very good looking. $100, Roku Photo by Jim Merithew, Wired.com Read our full Roku Netflix Player review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.: Armed with GPS, and a GSM radio, the Snitch acts as a stowaway spy, broadcasting its location on demand. Place it in your vehicle and track away through the online applet. You can schedule times for the Snitch to report on its location, or you can track it on the fly. If you arm it, an integrated motion sensor tattles via e-mail or text message when it detects movement. The Snitch's battery can keep the thing alive for a few days of occasional use, or you can get a car charger or kit to tap into the car's electrical system -- good for the sneakier types. The device's GPS and GSM signals are hearty enough to get a GPS signal and send alerts from within a trunk. If hidden, you can control it by text message. On the not-so-great side, the unit ships without a manual; just a getting-started guide. The costs add up too: You must pay for activation ($169 per year!) and "tracking credits" that are depleted as you communicate with the device or track its location. Plus, if you don't use your credits, they expire. WIRED: Slightly evil. Tracking is plain fun, especially with the sweet, sweet revenge of busting that two-timing (insert spouse's name, vile adjective) once and for all. Powerful signal makes for easy hiding. TIRED: Slightly evil. The lack of a user manual makes learning the ins and outs of the device a slow process. The Snitch website is somewhat cryptic. Tracking credits are silly. $400 plus activation, GPS Snitch Read our full BlackLine GPS Snitch review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.: The Casio EX-F1 is flat-out one of the fastest cameras we've ever tested -- and ideal for capturing unpredictable moments. Everything about the F1 screams speed, from its sleek elongated body to the 60 frames per second you'll be able to capture with its high-speed CMOS sensor and LSI processor. Hell, even the camera's flash will fire up to seven times a second for up to three seconds. The F1 also happens to be a decent video camera, capable of shooting standard and high-def movies (1920 x 1080) at up to 1,200 fps. You can even set the EX-F1 to independently fire off a series of pictures thanks to a handy motion detector. Despite these great features, the EX-F1 is admittedly a flawed speed demon -- it's heavy and awkward, its low-light performance was abysmal compared to other (much cheaper) DSLRs and when shooting movies at the highest 1,200-frame rate, you'll notice the actual frame itself shrinks considerably. The F1 is still a remarkable example of what?s possible when camera makers refocus their energy on including features that are, you know, actually fun to use. And fun is probably the best way to describe the F1. WIRED: Divvy up those 60 shots per second in multiple ways: 30 shots per second for two seconds, 20 for three seconds and so on. Mini-HDMI jack makes for sexy F1/HDTV pairing. Pre-record mode means you'll capture moments you thought you had missed. TIRED: 12x zoom is slower than a three-toed sloth with an Ambien addiction. Crappy low-light performance only partially forgiven by the camera's zippy flash. No optical eyepiece so you'll have to rely on the tiny electronic viewfinder. Flash doesn't work in pre-record mode. $1,000 may seem steep for such scant megapixels. Cannot capture sound while recording high-speed video. Price/maker: $1,000, Casio Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Read our full Casio EX-F1 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.: The new version of the Jawbone eliminates the 2006 version's previous fit issues -- for me at least. Within two minutes, I had the right size earpiece, and the correct over-ear loop to keep it locked to my cheek -- a requirement for the proper function of the noise-cancellation. One big help is that the Jawbone has shed a ton of weight and size since the last version as well, now tipping the scales at just 10 grams heavy and 50 percent smaller than the first version. Call quality is still as good as it gets with a Bluetooth headset, which is to say good but not great. The noise cancellation is supposedly upgraded, but people on the other end of our calls couldn't tell a difference between the two models. Overall, though, this is truly an upgrade. Aliph has taken the best-performing headset on the market, and made it smaller and easier to wear. Which is pretty much all you can ask for. WIRED: Great sound. Serious upgrade in wearability, even with fewer options. Doesn't weight you down like the older model. Easiest syncing headset ever; starts up in pairing mode the first time you turn it on. TIRED: Still relies on a proprietary power connector that isn't the same as the first model, either. Design cues are a little bit Gucci for some wearers (especially Wired geeks). A quick spin through the manual a must to understand how to operate invisible buttons. $130, Jawbone Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Read our full Aliph "New" Jawbone review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.: Not only is the screen on the new version of the Eee PC 4-G bumped up from seven inches to nine, the RAM is doubled (from 512 MB to 1 GB), the solid state storage system jumps from 4 GB to 20 GB, and, of course, the price takes a leap, too, hitting the $550 mark. The bigger screen (and larger resolution) makes web pages, documents and graphics files far more navigable and legible. The keyboard, while technically the same size as the 7-inch 4-G, actually feels a little bigger. Though the CPU is the same as the 4-G (a 900 MHz Intel Celeron), the extra RAM is a big help. The 900 boots noticeably faster, and application lag is improved. Battery life also gets a big boost: We eked almost four hours of video playback from the device, vs. two hours, 20 minutes on the 4-G. The Eee didn't remember our WEP key after a reboot, and the battery life meter was totally wrong during our testing, but those issues are probably due to some Linux drivers that can be updated. Though the price tag is now rising well past $500, it's still an awfully attractive deal. WIRED: Positively pint-size, just 3 ounces heavier (2.2 pounds) than the seven-inch model. Window XP model available (same price, but drops total storage from 20 GB to 12 GB). Excellent component upgrades over 7-inch model. TIRED: Price now flirts with full-size notebooks. No 802.11n. Multitouch-like trackpad features are simplistic and underdeveloped. Some fan noise. Uncomfortably dim screen. $550, Asus Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Read our full Asus Eee PC 900 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.: If you do like to crank tunes on your PC, Axiom's Audiobyte speaker system is one of the biggest desktop boomers out there. It includes two satellite speakers, a subwoofer and a 55-watt-per-channel amplifier that connects to a PC, iPod or any other source via the minijack port. The satellite speakers put out a clean, neutral sound with plenty of detail and depth in the high and midrange, even at low volumes. They look gorgeous, but might feel a little out of place if your desktop decor is littered with brushed aluminum Apple products. For a desktop system, though, the sub is awfully big and boxy. The amp also doubles as a space heater, so you'll probably want to stash it under the desk, and then use your feet on the volume knob. At $350, and another $180 for the sub, this is one of the priciest desktop systems you'll find. But if you have a home office where you listen to music, play videogames and watch movies, it will certainly breathe new life into the experience. WIRED: Nice build quality, including titanium-domed tweeters. Satellite speakers look and sound sharp. Lots of color and finish choices, like faux walnut burl. Crank up the volume without distorting the sound. TIRED: Over five hundred bucks and there's no remote? We like our LEDs and all but the big ring of them around the volume knob is overkill. Seriously, a sub that large should thump harder. $530 as tested, Axiom Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com Read our full Axiom Audiobyte Desktop Speaker System review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.: When you first pop open the A305, you may gasp a little: Reflective hematite stripes and lacquered finish catch light, while the keys shimmer like little black candies, inviting your fingers to dance across them. But the mirrored surface also invites smudges to the party -- a lot of them -- which means you'll be spending time spiffing the thing up before it can be seen in public. Then again, the Toshiba's packed with goodies. An Intel T8100 processor, 3 GB of RAM and a 512-MB ATI graphics chip provide punch for processing and playtime. Dual 200-GB drives offer tons of room for HD video that you can pipe out to a TV through HDMI. An extended battery lends two hours of time away from an outlet. While the screen is bright and sharp, it's a little too reflective; if you don't like the way you look, use this laptop exclusively in the dark. And maybe that's where the Toshiba performs best. Slip in a DVD or a game in the darkness of your dungeon, watch the inset DVD controls glow coolly through the dark, game away in peace, and know that no one will ever see the smudges. WIRED: Breathtaking good looks. Sweet specs delight (casual) gamers without causing poverty. TIRED: No Blu-ray to go with the HDMI. Mirrored surface is positively smudgo-philic, while the screen causes unwanted self-examination. The fingerprint reader separates the mouse keys and fails to justify its existence. $1,250 as tested, Toshiba Read our full Toshiba A305 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : This new compact DSLR from Canon gets the now obligatory two-mil bump in resolution to 12.2 megapixels, but in the case of the XSi, the prestige lies in a new Digic III processor, higher 3.5-fps frame rate, a larger viewfinder, back-of-the-camera-dominating 3-inch LCD, quicker autofocus, a bundled 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens with optical image stabilization and the inclusion of Live View. This wide zoom lens (29-88mm 35mm equivalent) benefits from expected sharpness and added f-stop range. The XSi is given a bump up from its more expensive siblings with dual Live View autofocus. You can choose between the phase-change AF and contrast-based AF. Canon specs the XSi with the same Digic III processor and 14-bit Analog-Digital converter used on its top-of-the-line 1Ds Mark III series. This combo delivers -- among many good things -- quicker image processing, faster frame rates and a broader range of tones with improved color rendition on the final prints. All told, Canon has made a credible case for the step-up-from-point-and-shoot customers to give the XSi a hard look. WIRED: Switch to SDHC memory. Relatively low noise at high ISO settings. New battery with 50 percent more endurance. TIRED: ISO tops out at 1600. Plastic body seems too plasticky. ISO in only full-stop increments. Lacks the useful HELP mode of its major competitors. A tad bit pricey. $900 as tested, Canon Read our full Canon Rebel XSi review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : There's a lot to love about this phone on the surface: It's elegantly minimalist, light weight and versatile. At 4 x 2 x.7-inches, it shares the form factor of its cousin the F700, making for a slick, pocket-friendly presentation. The Glyde's clean profile is rounded out by the unit's sparse use of external buttons and a slimming dark-blue-on-silver chassis. With its sweet looks, the bonuses of multimedia support and a decent 2-MP camera with flash, the Glyde is clearly a stylistic progression compared with Verizon's other touchscreen phones. Likewise, the Glyde does fairly well with its full HTML browser too. Wikipedia and Google queries were easily executed and relatively quick with the phone's EV-DO connection. Of course, with no accelerometer, onscreen QWERTY keyboard, or gesture-based navigation, the Glyde isn't exactly an iPhone-killer. Samsung attempts to sweeten the deal by adding a basic QWERTY keyboard (accessible by sliding the screen to the right). In truth, this addition ends up being a mixed bag. The fastest way to zip around on this phone seems to be an underwhelming combination of touchscreen and QWERTY navigation. Score? Glyde 1, Pseudo-futuristic badassery 0. WIRED: Sleek and compact design. Bluetooth compatible. Adjustable vibrating feedback for touch commands. Backlit QWERTY keypad is easy to see in the dark. Records up to 10 minutes of video. Speedy performance. Crisp call quality. Vibrant 240 x 440 touchscreen. Touchscreen automatically locks after initiating calls. TIRED: Onscreen buttons near screen perimeter can be unresponsive. Automatically switches to landscape whenever browser is opened. Weak speaker output during both multimedia playback and speakerphone calls. No onscreen QWERTY keyboard for texting. With only 35 MB of internal memory for music, shelling out for a microSD card is unavoidable. $300 (with two-year agreement), Verizon Read our full Samsung Glyde cellphone review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : The Olympus Evolt E-420 is the most diminutive digital SLR we've seen -- and that's a good thing. Most SLRs are bulky, heavyweight beasts tipping the scales at 2 pounds or more. The E-420 is more of a bantamweight, weighing in at just 1.4 pounds with the included kit lens. Feature-wise, the E-420 holds its own against other low-cost SLRs. The 10-megapixel sensor produces good quality images with little noise up to and including ISO 800 (it maxes out at ISO 1600). Like other recent Olympus cameras, such as the E-510, it has a Live View mode, which lets you compose shots on the LCD instead of peering through the viewfinder as you must do with most SLRs. The E-420 sports a variety of autofocus modes including one that automatically detects faces in the frame and focuses on them. That feature worked well in our tests but sometimes took as much as a second to locate a face. Also, it only works when the camera's Live View mode is switched on. WIRED: Light weight and small size make it far more portable than most DSLRs. Live View lets you compose onscreen instead of peering through viewfinder. Speedy autofocus. No discernible shutter lag. Paging all photo geeks: RAW format support. TIRED: Fewer buttons means it takes more menu-surfing to adjust basic settings like ISO and white balance. Face-detection feature can be slow. Four Thirds lens compatibility is largely moot, as no manufacturers beside Olympus and pricey Sigma support the standard. No pop-up bong attachment. $600 with 14-42mm kit lens, Olympus America Read our full Olympus E-420 review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : The Drobo storage automaton takes care of just about everything a normal RAID-based device does, but with virtually no effort on your part. Better still, it plays friendly with every manner of OS: Linux, Mac, Windows or whatever bric-a-brac home computing environment you can throw at it. The only problem -- as many have noted -- is the lack of a GigE port. But that's where the DroboShare comes in. Essentially a flat stand that sits under the Drobo, this little device transforms the server from a DAS (Desktop Attached Storage) to a NAS. For anyone who already owns a Drobo, this little supplement device should be a no-brainer. We hooked it up to our Airport Extreme and were up and running in minutes. Yes, speed was noticeably affected when switching from USB2 to Ethernet, but most home users aren't going to be using the Drobo as a swap drive for Photoshop or video editing anyway. Time Machine backups worked like a gem, and we were even able to stream iTunes and some other, um, HD content in across an 802.11n WiFi connection without a single hiccup. While pricey, the Drobo and DroboShare still represent one of the easiest ways we've found to set up a shared-network drive. WIRED: Idiot-proof setup. Self-mounting (thank you, Samba file server). No software required. Supports almost all major file systems, including NTFS (Windows), HFS+ (Mac OS X), EXT3 (Linux) or FAT32 (various), so you can use it in multiple PC settings. Flexible: mix-and-match drive capacities, brands and speeds, so as your insatiable lust for storage grows, so too will Drobo's data storing prowess. TIRED: All that expandability and ease of use come with a ridiculous price. All told, you're paying $700 for the Drobo and DroboShare (tip: search the Internetz for package deals and save a few ducats) -- and that's sans SATA drives. Four drive bays + fan = leafblower-level noise. No UPnP or DLNA media-server functionality, so no remote web access. USB-Ethernet bottleneck hampers speed. $700 as tested, Drobo Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Read our full DroboShare Storage Device review. Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily. : This little guy will let you manage and fine-tune your backups, and it functions as a media server so you can remotely access your photos, music and videos as well. There are some notable limitations to the 2120. Setup was a bit more involved for things like the Photo Webshare service, and it took us a while to figure out how to simply add photos. You also won't be able to remotely access the PCs on your home network with the Media Vault. One very important thing to remember: The 2120 ships with just one fixed 500GB drive -- not exactly a storage beast. It could (or should) be presuming you'll be backing up from multiple PCs. There is one extra bay that accepts a 1-TB drive, but still, the 2120 is nowhere near as flexible as the Drobo or other RAID-based devices. Still, if remote access is important to you and you want the ability to manage all your backups and shared folders, for the price, you're simply not going do much better than the 2120. WIRED: Back up your backups by adding an additional drive to the 2120 with USB. Serves as a DLNA media server, which paves the way for iTunes music aggregation, photo web sharing, remote access and web-based file browsing. None of that data corruption bugginess that's been plaguing WHS. Cheap at 300 bones. TIRED: Mac-tolerant, but not Mac-friendly: Access stored data from a Mac, but setup is restricted to Windows machines only. Only two drive bays instead of the typical four. The Media Vault's software can handle only file-level backups, not full-system backups. $300, HP Photo: J