This morning my sister, with whom I have an ongoing discussion around “smart device” privacy, sent me a link to Gizmodo’s “The House That Spied On Me”. As you can probably tell from the title, it’s mostly about how our connected devices collect and transmit information about us to The Cloud. Some of this is quite alarming, for e.g. Hulu […]
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The VideoLAN non-profit organization has announced the availability of VLC 3.0 “Vetinari”, and for the first time this release is synchronized across all of the platforms supported by the universal media player for Windows, Mac, iOS, myriad Linux platforms, and Android to name a few. Chromecast is the main feature add for the Android platform, but it also includes Android […]
Read moreIt’s not for everyone, but I really enjoyed the first Deadpool movie. For me there, was a lot to like in the way the story was told – so I’m looking forward to the sequel. Having just watched the trailer for Deadpool 2, it looks like they are keeping with the same recipe of humor, violence, and not too much […]
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It’s been a long time since I’ve used a PC without an SSD as the primary storage device, but I still rely on painfully slow USB connected spinning media to backup my data. So this review of the Plugable Thunderbolt 3 NVMe SSD is quite timely for me as I consider getting something comparable to the experience I’ve come to […]
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We looked at the Flo smart home water monitoring system as part of our CES 2018 coverage. It was a really innovative method using machine learning to keep tabs on your water usage, check for leaks, detect problems, and potentially turn off the water when something really bad happens. Now, it has Amazon Alexa support. So questions like “Alexa, ask […]
Read moreOur coverage of Intel from CES 2018 has been delayed because I was trying to run down an important question for the home theater PC (HTPC) use case of their new Hades Canyon NUC. In a departure from the previous generation Skull Canyon, high-end NUC, there will be two SKUs of Hades Canyon: NUC8i7HVK ($999) & NUC8i7HNK ($799). The only […]
Read moreIf your desire to be first to cool trumps your tolerance for instability, Kodi has just released v18 which sports Google Assistant on the Android TV platform. So if you have an NVIDIA Shield, or another Android TV device that works with Kodi go to the play store and download the beta for a play.
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SiliconDust recently upgraded their HDHomeRun (HDHR) CONNECT line of over-the-air (OTA) network tuners to include a $149 MSRP four-stream Quatro (HDHR5-4US) companion for the $99 MSRP two-stream Duo (HDHR5-2US) model. Both models feature 100Mb Ethernet, all new internals, and an attractive form factor. Updated silicon components should bring power savings, so if SiliconDust can also maintain the stability of the […]
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Plex added the DVR commercial skipping feature a couple months back for Plex Pass users, but it has just rolled out to the NVIDIA Shield via the Experience 6.3 update. This is great on so many levels: firstly commercials suck, and second it continues to demonstrated that NVIDIA remains committed to making the best media streamer device on the market […]
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I love the idea of voice controllers for home automation that are installed in the ceiling. Which is why something like the First Alert OneLink appeals so strongly. But, the per unit price is kind of high, especially if you have a lot of rooms to automate. Enter the $32 “Dock Socket”. With an option for Google Home Mini or […]
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