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A few weeks ago, TiVo announced that the subscription music service Rhapsody is now available on Series2, Series3, and TiVo HD boxes. As a Rhapsody subscriber and owner of a TiVo Series2 box, this was pretty exciting. For me, being able to browse Rhapsody's entire music library (million of tracks) from my living room is, in many ways, more exciting than being able to access purchased songs from iTunes, which is one of the main features of the much-hyped Apple TV. (Sonos already offers full Rhapsody access, but it's much more expensive.) I've lived with Rhapsody on … Read more

The Olympus Stylus 790 SW is one of those devices that may not provide the best image quality and is lacking in overall functionality, but does something other products do not. And just what does the 790 SW do that many other digital cameras of this ilk do not? It takes a beating (and drenching) and continues to snap images and record video.

While many may find this shockproof, waterproof, freezeproof, and sand/dustproof device to be exactly what they're looking for when they scuba dive or spend time in the outdoors, the picture quality and price preclude me from being able to recommend the 790 SW to everyone else.… Read more

Will a new anti-theft tool from General Motors and OnStar be enough to make your car not worth the hassle of stealing?

The Stolen Vehicle Slowdown, a new feature added to OnStar, takes away the ability to use a car's gas pedal, while allowing braking and steering controls to work.

OnStar, which already communicates with a car's engine through software, will now use that platform to bypass a driver's foot on the gas pedal and automatically slow down a car by preventing any further acceleration.

OnStar said it will only enable the service if a situation meets … Read more

When Altec Lansing asked if I would take a look at its new desktop speaker replacement, I was interested in the possibilities. According to the company, the SoundBar was designed to fit onto a desk with little room left without sacrificing high-quality audio. Unfortunately, the SoundBar only delivers on the first goal.… Read more

Generally speaking, my love for satellite radio is nonexistent. Sorry to say, I just don't see a reason to spend that kind of money ($12 per month) to listen to a host of shows that can usually be heard on the radio and music that copies what we hear on local radio for free. Now for some, the prospect of missing Howard Stern may be too much to handle, so they go out and pay for Sirius. But XM doesn't have a show like that and more often than not, you'll find yourself working your way through dreck just to get to MLB or other exclusive offerings.

But alas, this hands-on isn't about XM programming as much as it's about the XpressRC. And for all of the faults I find in XM programming, they can't compare to just how nice the XpressRC is.… Read more

If MIT has its way, consumers will be enjoying the same single-sign-on authentication and authorization system that large corporations have been able to deploy.

MIT launched on Thursday the Kerberos Consortium, whose backers include Google, Sun Microsystems, Apple, Stanford University and the University of Michigan. The consortium is looking to take the Kerberos network authentication protocol and create a universal authentication platform to safeguard computer networks.

Although the protocol was initially developed for MIT's Project Athena and has been around for more than two decades, it has mainly been available to large corporate networks and not to John Doe … Read more

Dr. Web helps you minimize contact with unsanitary files before you download them, by scanning them in advance and letting you know before it lands on your desktop if the file has a clean bill of health or if you should put on your biohazard suit before handling the innocuous-looking critter.

… Read more

Hey everyone. For those of you who were looking for my Friday hands-on with the XM Xpress RC, I apologize. Unfortunately, I took an impromptu vacation over the weekend and just got back. I fully expect my hands-on with the new XM player to be up today or tomorrow at the latest.

While I'm discussing Hands-on Friday, I want to ask you if you'd like to see a video hands-on in tandem with my current hands-on of products. I'm currently exploring the opportunity of doing some video with products and if that's something you'd like … Read more

This is not new, but I just saw it the other day, installed it, and liked it: Tab Effect. It's a plug-in for Firefox that adds a rotating cube effect to your screen when you change from one tab to the other. So, from a distance, people looking over your shoulder might think you're user switching on a Mac or using a much geekier Linux-based OS. And actually, I find Tab Effects adds a bit of situational awareness to my tabbed browsing experience, since the rotation of the cube matches the direction the new tab is from the … Read more