TV

A TV for people who miss the '70s

Do you remember the TV you had in the '70s? We're prepared to bet that if you do, you'll also remember that it had a sort of plastic wood veneer finish. Well, Hannspree, famous for its adorable fluffy TVs, has decided to throw the LCD kicking and screaming back into the decade of disco. Perhaps it's watched a little bit too much Life on Mars.

From the front, you'd possibly never realise there's anything different about this TV. It has a normal, matte-black finish and sits atop two silver feet that Hannspree describes as "… Read more

Panasonic Viera: LCD from a plasma lover

Panasonic doesn't much care for LCD. It's often telling us how much better plasma is than the liquid crystal displays of other manufacturers. But you have to admire Panny--even though it thinks the technology is inferior, it still produces great televisions using it. The Viera TX-32LMD70 is one such success story--it has made Crave froth with a rabid technological hunger.

The TX-32LMD70 is certainly a handsome-looking machine. Finished in a tasty matte black that says a big "no thank you" to the rather uncouth trend towards shiny piano black. We think the styling is a winner. … Read more

Blinkx does TV shows with Blinkx Remote

Tired of searching YouTube for clips of TV shows, only to find it barren of your favorite show? Well, if it's a Viacom program you're out of luck anyway, but for most everything else, search tool maker Blinkx rolled out a new service yesterday called Blinkx Remote, a search engine for full-length TV shows. Blinkx sorts through clips and full-length programs, providing direct links to off-site sources where you can watch the entire episode.

In the case of CBS' Jericho, Blinkx sent me off to CBS' Innertube service, where I had to install a Real Player plug-in to … Read more

Blinkx offers search short-cut for TV shows

Video search site Blinkx is launching a new tool today called Blinkx Remote that will allow people to easily find full-length TV shows by season and episode. People can enter a search for a favorite TV show at www.blinkx.com, like Curb Your Enthusiasm or Lost, and the site will recognize the title and offer up links to sites where the show can be watched or downloaded. The system uses information from other online sources, like Wikipedia and IMDB.com, to provide the most accurate results and prioritizes the full-length versions over short clips.

"It's a short-cut … Read more

'Daily Show,' 'Colbert Report' headed to Xbox Live

Got a hankering for the latest episodes of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or The Colbert Report but don't have cable? You may no longer need to go scrounging around the Internet for clips.

Microsoft announced Tuesday that starting immediately, all new episodes of the shows will be available for download on Xbox Live 24 hours after airing.

The company didn't say how much the episodes would cost to download, but Microsoft has tried to keep downloads competitive with those available on other networks, such as iTunes. To date, it has offered hundreds of hours of movies and TV shows … Read more

Sony VAIO VGF-WA1 shipping soon in North America

Sony's network audio streamer should be hitting store shelves soon. First unveiled at the January Consumer Electronics Show--and no stranger to Crave--the VGF-WA1 is the baby of Sony's VAIO PC division, not the consumer electronics side of the company. While we've seen similar Wi-Fi boom boxes in the past--the Roku SoundBridge Radio comes to mind--the VGF-WA1 is the first I've seen with a rechargeable battery, so you can go truly wireless (for up to 4 hours, according to Sony). In addition to streaming a variety of audio files (MP3, AAC, WAV, and, of course, Sony'… Read more

Web 2.0 Expo Ignite wrap-up: Session two

Ignite finished strong with presentations from Justin.tv, RobotReplay, and Omnidrive.

Justin Kan of Justin.tv talked about how easy it is to promote your site or product with the right strategy. It also doesn't hurt to have a camera hooked to a laptop, with an EV-DO connection streaming every second of your life. Our previous Justin.tv coverage here and here. Surreal moment of the talk? Checking Justin.tv and seeing him talking to us. Creepy

Andre Charland discussed the difficulty of launching his new site RobotReplay, which lets Web site owners keep track of where their visitors … Read more

Wrap it up

This week we launched our live, call-in show, " CNET Live," thanks to our incredible crew, talented hosts, and our first guest, Justin Kan of Justin.TV. And a big thanks to those of you who called in with great questions! Sorry we couldn't get to everyone, but please call back with your questions next Thursday at 1 pm PDT ( p.m. EDT). Hey, did you know that you can find CNET TV on digital cable? CNET TV is in the on-demand section of our cable partners: Cox, Insight and Verizon. Go into your VOD menu, and look … Read more

Behind the scenes: Shooting the "NOC"

When you visit CNET TV, the first video you see is called "What's new on CNET TV." Tom, Molly, Veronica, Brian or I talk about some of cool new videos you'll find on that day's hand-selected play list. We call it the "NOC" for short...as in, "Who's shooting the NOC today?"

This is a cool, behind-the-scenes picture that CNET photographer Sarah Tew took of me and Chris Parker, my videographer and editor extraordinaire, while we were shooting an NOC.

We try to find cool places in New York to … Read more

Crave Podcast: Apple TV on trial

Come on in out of the spring sun geeks! Your ghostly World of Warcraft skin won't offer protection against the deadly bright weather outside. Come back in to the dark safety of your parent's basement and listen to another episode of the uniformly delicious Crave Podcast.

This week we're putting Apple TV on trial--does the shiny white beast pump us up? And what about Apple TV, is that any good?

We'll also reveal to you the finest gadgets on offer in the last seven days. Thrill as Rory 'Buster' Reid takes you on a journey you'… Read more