Monster

Happy Friday, yet again.

Nary a day goes by when I don't think about eating my computer, or at least biting it out of frustration. I hope I'm not alone.

This week's audio/video weekend starter is straight from the brains of Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Enjoy watching the Cookie Monster's green brother do what we all want to do from time to time: eat the hell out of a computer.

Monster Cable today announced a new upgrade program intended to guarantee forward-compatibility for the company's high-end HDMI cables. Beginning in mid-September, Monster's Home Theater Ultra 1000, M Series M1000HD and 1000HD cable lines will be emblazoned with the new "Cable for Life" logo. Monster is pledging to replace said cables, free of charge, when and if future products eventually appear that make use of higher bandwidth HDMI connections. For instance, current 1080p video streams max out at 8-bit color and 60Hz frame rate, which require about 4.46 gigabits per second of data bandwidth, but Monster is anticipating 12-bit, 120Hz 1080p video streams a few years down the road, which will require more than three times the throughput capacity. So the HDMI output on a 120Hz-capable Blu-ray player that hits the market in, say, 2010 may exceed the current bandwidth capacity of existing cables--and if you've got one of Monster's "lifers," you can swap up to a new one at that time. (Note that the "Cable for Life" guarantee is separate from the lifetime warranty found on many Monster Cables.)

To be sure, the Cables for Life guarantee sounds great--but is it worth it? … Read more

Add one more item to the list of upscale iPod accessories. The Monster Wireless Audio Bridge for iPod effectively turns the Apple music player into a remote control, using a small snap-on dongle to wirelessly transmit the audio stream from the player to the base station, which in turn attaches to your home stereo. The base station boasts a modernist Bang & Olufsen-style design, and Monster pledges that the proprietary 2.4GHz wireless system works at ranges up to 30 feet. If the Wireless Audio Bridge concept sounds familiar, it's because it's very similar to Belkin's TuneStage products, … Read more

Lest we forget, Apple still makes a few products other than iPhone, and some of them are actually pretty good for things like listening to music. Until now, though, we just didn't recommend attaching the iPod to one's head as a public service.

Monster's "iFreePlay" seems to have gotten it right, in our opinion, by using the lightweight Shuffle to rescue its wearer from fashion victimization. The $60 headphones have an iDock built into their wraparound design for easy access as well as wireless liberation, according to Tech Digest. So if you've already purchased … Read more

I usually carry a cheap extension cord when I travel-- the kind you'd get at a hardware store, with a three-wire plug and three outlets molded in plastic at the other end. Hotel rooms often hide outlets behind the bed, and sometimes all of the outlets are in use; even a very short extension cord can solve these problems.

But on my last few trips, I've been dissatisfied with the cord I've been carrying around, and I've had my eye open for a better one. I just got one, and it looks pretty good. It's the Outlets To Go OTG400 from Monster Power, one of the many brands of Monster Cable.

I'm not entirely happy with Monster. I think the company sometimes… Read more

Experts may take years to examine and analyze the latest purported video of the Loch Ness Monster, henceforth known as "Nessie." But our crack analytic team, to wit CNET editor Lori Grunin, has identified the camcorder used to take that footage.

Lori took a look at the Scottish TV video of the cameraman and his sighting. After examining the video of the camcorder, she tells us it's an antique Sony DCR-TRV130E (an old Digital 8 model). At any rate, the camcorder is far more modern than the legends of Nessie, which go back more than 2,500 … Read more

At Crave we're very fond of iPod-ready speakers and we're not averse to those that claim to be of a superior quality. How do you think we felt this morning to see a set that look like our studio monitor speakers and claim to be the most dynamic-sounding smart speaker system on the market? We felt good inside.

Sierra Sound has a history of producing high-end studio audio equipment, so theoretically it should know what it's doing designing the iN Studio 5.0 iPod speaker system. (We don't think the same can be said of … Read more

Shelfari is a social network and recommendation service that lets you flaunt your book collection to others, and discover new titles worth reading. Yesterday Shelfari announced a round of funding, with Amazon.com being the top contributor.

If you've ever seen Delicious Monster, Shelfari is visually similar, with virtual bookshelves that house your collection as long as you're willing to manually input all your titles. The result is a slick-looking listing to share with others on your blog or Web site (see below), and make friends with people who have similar tastes to swap recommendations.

Each Shelfari book … Read more

Is good, compact sound important enough to you that you'd opt to buy an iPod sound system that looks like a totally freaky space monster? I mean, I don't really mind it all that much, but there are a few other bloggers at Crave who get pretty paranoid about any kind of gadgets that might be remotely frightening. Consequently, I'm very well aware that some people might not really want this $120-ish iPod dock from iWoofer, even if it has a built-in subwoofer. Because it's scary. Really scary.

(Via ProductDose.)