TVs

Help save your kids from technology

If you don't have kids, this might seem like a waste of money. But many of us at Crave are the bearers of rug rats who, like most others of their ilk, would like nothing better than to watch TV or play video games until their eyeballs melt.

So we'll be giving serious consideration to purchasing the Bob, a time management device designed to help keep your offspring from contributing to the swelling ranks of childhood obesity. Many TV sets already have a sleep timer that will shut it off at a designated hour, but it's usually … Read more

LCDs may be headed for price cuts

This Christmas, Sharp Electronics is going to hunt down its enemies.

Last year, the Japanese electronics giant lost some footing in the LCD TV market, in part because its rivals had moved to a different standard of manufacturing that allowed them to come out with cheaper, bigger sets.

Those days are over, one Sharp employee told me. The company is already making TVs out of glass from its eight-generation Kameyama plant. The sheets of glass from this plant measure 2.16 meters by 2.46 meters. Six 52-inch LCDs can be popped out of a single sheet. The smaller glass … Read more

Sony makes splash (and mess) with ad

Gotta hand it to Sony on this one. The once-dominant company in practically all consumer electronics has fallen far from grace, but it still has some life left in the style department.

Sony hired Hollywood director Jonathan Glazer to create a showstopper commercial for its Bravia flat-panel TVs. By many accounts in the blogosphere and elsewhere, he succeeded at least in getting people's attention.

The ad, which features a series of outrageous paint explosions, took 10 days and 250 people to film, according to Sony. The cleanup was almost as bad, requiring the services of 60 people over 5 … Read more

Sling Media courts the Mac crowd

Commence drooling, Apple fanboys and girls.

In a matter of weeks, the SlingPlayer icon could be bouncing in a toolbar near you. SlingCommunity.com has a video demo of the original place-shifting technology on a white MacBook and an interview with SlingMedia's head of PR, Brian Jaquet, at last week's Digital Life Show in New York.

Jaquet said the SlingPlayer Mac will be available in public beta for both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs at the end of October or early November. Sling Media told CNET News.com last month it would be ready in 30 to 45 days, … Read more

Turn your laptop into an HDTV

If you can't decide what kind of HDTV set to buy--or whether you even want one--here's a way to experiment without shelling out thousands of bucks to find out.

Start-up AutumnWave makes a tuner that can plug into a laptop's USB port and pick up high-definition broadcast signals, effectively turning a computer into an HDTV. All you need besides the device, which is about twice the size of an iPod, are the right kind of monitor and AutumnWave's software to make it work.

A News.com reporter tried it out and said he would buy it … Read more

Toshiba's tiny new light cannon

We like to call it "pocket home theater," but the truth is, Toshiba's just-announced TDP-FF1AU "palm-size" mobile projector ($699 list price) is probably more suited for mobile business use than for home or mobile entertainment. Still, Toshiba is marketing this "long-awaited" one-pound projector with both a business and digital-entertainment tag.

Here's the press release, distilled:

--The Toshiba TDP-FF1AU is a DLP projector built around an "energy-efficient" LED (light-emitting diode) light source that'll last about 10,000 hours and projects an image as large as a 68-inches.

--Specs include 400 … Read more