I said at the time I would totally switch to Dish to get that feature, but I figured the future would be short-lived because television studios would sue. As expected, the Studios are now suing Dish over the feature. Fox, CBS, and NBC have all individually sued Dish Network for deleting their commercials. The only major network not suing Dish at this time is ABC.

Additionally, Dish Network has filed suit against all four major television studios seeking a declaration judgment by the courts of whether or not the feature is legal. I hope the courts say it’s legal, I would love to see this feature on all DVRs. Television studios need to understand that the vast majority of us no longer watch commercials and they’ll have to be more creative with their revenue streams. It’s not like there isn’t plenty of product placement and blatant advertising during the shows themselves these days anyway.

[via Hollywood Reporter]

The new feature allows you to skip every commercial on recorded programs starting at 1 AM the night after you record. I’m sure television studio executives are having full-on seizures right about now. This is much more than simply being able to push a button and automatically fast-forward through commercial. What Auto Hop does is completely delete commercial and connect the ends of the program for nonstop play.

How awesome is that? This means that you don’t have to pick up the remote to fast-forward; all you need to do is hit play and sit back. If Dish Network is able to weather the inevitable legal storm that this feature will raise from TV studios, I might switch from DirecTV to get this feature alone. However, there is a catch – at this point, Auto Hop only works for ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, and only with select “PrimeTime” programming, and only the day after initial broadcast. It’s too bad that they don’t let it work with all commercial programming.

[via Engadget]

The game is a new MMO set 1000 years before the events in Skyrim. Considering how Skyrim lacked tech, I wonder how playing a game set 1000 years before will work out. “It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years,” said game director Matt Firor. “The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made – and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise.”

The developer promises the game will have the lone exploration aspect we all know and love from the franchise combined with social aspects of MMO titles. Solo quests and public dungeons will reportedly be part of the game along with player versus player combat. The current release date is set for 2013 for both PC and Mac gamers.

[via Gamingunion]

In Sega’s new Sega game, the vehicles transform between normal cars, aircraft, and boats depending on the race environment. The racing environments are also based on past Sega videogame franchises. For instance, one of the tracks is based on the Super Monkey Ball Temple Trouble environment.

Sega will offer the game for the PS Vita, PS3, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360, and PC download late in 2012. I would assume that launch date means sometime around Christmas.  You can check out more screenshots of Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed over on Flickr.

The transforming vehicles make this look like an interesting racing game, what do you think?

Chevrolet has promoted the commercial as the 2012 Chevy Cruze being the car most feared by zombies. The reason they fear it has nothing to do with spinning blades of death or anything else that might kill zombies. Rather zombies fear the car for its fuel efficiency.

The commercial has a newscaster interviewing some zombies asking them what really gets under their skin. The zombie in the interview starts talking about things that bother the undead including mannequins, flossing, and of course, the Chevy Cruze. Check out commercial for yourself, it’s pretty funny.

The switches are made out of a sheet of aluminum with black chiclet-like keys on them, reminding me of  the keyboard on a MacBook. That’s not a bad thing, and it definitely makes these light switches unique. They’ll change the mood of an apartment or a room, especially if you replace all of your traditional light switches with these.

You’ll have to contact PLH to get yours, and I’m not sure that they’ll work in American homes since they’re designed for Europe, so you’ll want to confirm that before you order.

[via Jay Mug]

During the downtime, gamers won’t be able to access the PlayStation Store, PlayStation Home, account management, or play online games. The downtime will last roughly 13 hours. There seems to be no indication of exactly why the network will be down for so long.

Sony says keep an eye on the PlayStation Twitter feed for notification of when the PlayStation network will be back online. I wonder when the network comes back up if it will have new features or if this is simple maintenance.

The IE 800 earphones are made out of ceramic and will cost you a whopping €599  (~$787 USD) for a pair. They have an incredibly wide 5 to 46,000Hz audio frequency range, 7mm drivers, and have stainless steel vents at the back that are supposedly there to improve bass and airflow. To provide power for these headphones, you could use any amp, or you could go with the one Sennheiser built just for these earphones. The HDVD 800 amp retails for an equally crazy €1499 (~$1,973 USD). The amp has a body made out anodized aluminum, supports 24-bit 192kHz digital sources, and was specifically designed to work with the HD 800, HD 700, HD 650 and HD 600 headphones.

The amp and the earphones are expected to go on sale this Summer. Will you be putting down a big chunk of your hard earned cash on these?

[via Slashgear]

Where the confusion comes in is that Amazon is claiming each episode of the TV series as an individual show. That means if you watch something like the X-Files with over 200 episodes, Amazon considers that 200 different TV shows. That’s one show to anybody with a sane mind.

The real number of TV shows and movies available on Amazon Prime is 1745 flicks, and 150 different TV series. That doesn’t sound nearly as good in the marketing material as 17,000 movies and TV shows. This reminds me of the Where’s the Beef commercial from the 1980s. It’s not only Amazon Prime either; Netflix does the same thing with the claim that it offers more than 60,000 streaming titles. Anyone can look at the library and know Netflix is also counting every individual episode of every TV show. Something like Top Gear that has been on for years and years would represent a huge number of shows if you look at the number of shows that way.

[via Fast Company]

However, this won’t be a Saturday morning cartoon like we had growing up in the 80s; rather it will be short form online video series. Rovio says that is targeting “all screens” so you should be a would get it on just about any device when it rolls out later this year. There is no specific launch date noted with the developer saying simply that it will be out this Fall. The show was announced at the MIPTV conference by Nick Dorra, Rovio’s head of animation, who says they also are planning on releasing a feature film at some point in the future. If you skip ahead to 11:55 in the video clip below, you can see a sneak preview:

The series will have 52 episodes, and each episode will last between 2.5 and 3 minutes. Presumably, Rovio is having Kombo, the animation studio it purchased last year doing the show animation.

[via Guardian]

It looks just like the classic amp, but the Marshall Fridge is a 4.4 cubic foot refrigerator/freezer perfect for keeping your beer and pop on ice. And unlike the video clip and images here, you are not required to fill yours with Budweiser. Personally, I’d prefer to load mine up with some Bell’s Ale or maybe some bottles of Bawls.

Needless to say, Marshall wisely included knobs that go to eleven on the top of the fridge as well, making it the perfect addition to any music geek’s hangout. I only wish they figured out a way to include an actual speaker in the door, so it could work as both a fridge and an amp. Still, it’s pretty awesome.

Marshall expects to start shipping the Marshall Fridge this October for $299 (USD), and you can get on the pre-order notification list here.

The CeraAIR Two speakers can be mounted either horizontally or vertically on your walls. A Class-D amplifier drives the two bass/midrange speakers with 64 watts each and the two tweeters with 32 watts each, so it’s more than enough to fill up your room with music. The speaker also has a subwoofer out if you crave extra bass. Is also plays Internet Radio and digital audio files wirelessly or through a wired Ethernet connection. Total dimensions for the speaker are appx. 23″(w) x 6″(h) x 6″(d).

The CeraAIR Two speaker isn’t cheap, though. It retails for €599 (~$780 USD) and is available in silver, black, gold, high-gloss white, high-gloss black and custom RAL colors upon request over at Ceratec Direct.

[via Ubergizmo]

Both the Infinite Comics and Marvel AR application will debut with the Avengers vs. X-Men #1 set to launch on April 4. Marvel Infinite Comics will take advantage of the capabilities of smartphones and tablets for storytelling, going beyond being just a reproduction of the print editions. The most interesting part sounds like the Marvel AR application. The app is powered by Aurasma and will let readers scan images and various Marvel products that have the Marvel AR logo.

When app scans the special logo, the user will have access to extra content to go along with the comics. The new content will include audio footage, creator content, and the ability to catch up on past events. The AR name suggests that the video and other interactive content will play over the top of the comic not simply linking the user and their digital device running the app to online content. Marvel hasn’t revealed the specifics of their augmented reality experience, beyond this short Iron Man demo clip shown at SXSW:

Marvel plans on releasing the Avengers vs. X-Men #1 Infinite comic through the Marvel Comics App on April 4th, and the Marvel AR app sometime in April as well.

While it might look like one of those wacky Japanese potato chip holders that Karl Pilkington was using on An Idiot Abroad’s Mount Fuji episode, the Terebi no Te is actually a remote control for your television. To turn on your TV using the Terebi no Te, simply wave the wand vertically. A horizontal gesture changes channels or volume, depending on the button you’re pressing. They call this technology “FNS” or the “Finger Navigation System.” Nice initialism there.

It also can be used to flip pages in a paper TV listing (using “FSS “- the “Finger Skip System,”) and even has a light up LED fingertip (The “FLS” – “Finger Lighting System”) so you can read in the dark. Does anyone still use paper TV listings, though? Anyhow, its functionality seems pretty straightforward to me. Let’s see if this video can muddy things up for us a bit.

Ok, that was just weird. And is it just me, or do they have a TARDIS in their house? Pause the video about 13 to 15 seconds in and you’ll see what I mean. Maybe that’s where that strange lady with the Beehive hairdo came from.

In case you’re still wondering, this thing works with TVs from Sony, Sharp, Hitachi, Toshiba, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Sanyo, Pioneer, and Victor, but I doubt it’ll work to control a cable or satellite box, so keep that in mind.

If after watching that video, you’re still convinced you need one of these remotes (or something to pick your nose with) you can pre-order one over at the Japan Trend Shop for $44 (USD).

Take, for example, the Digitar. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it’s a mash-up of “digital” and “guitar.” This concept design by Formquadrat is basically a futuristic touch-sensitive guitar that makes use of Touchskin surfaces on the neck, drum, and wheel.

You’ll basically be able to play your favorite tunes and strum without risk of broken strings, because these Digitars aren’t fitted with strings. Instead, they’ve got capacitive touch surfaces, and LED fret indicators for music lessons.

While we’ve seen some digital guitars before, this one seems most interested in preserving some of the tactile strumming appeal of the original. It would be interesting to see if they catch on and manage to draw a following if they ever make their way into the market.

[via Yanko Design]

Streampix will allow you to view content on the web, your iPad and other mobile devices as well. There is a catch with the service though, it will only be offered to subscribers of Comcast cable. That means if you’re like me you live in an area where Comcast isn’t available you won’t be able to get access. For those that can get access it will cost an extra $4.99 per month. Apparently, it will be offered at no additional cost on some cable packages (like those expensive “Triple Play” bundles).

While Comcast has already been offering on-demand movies, the streaming service will offer past seasons of TV shows like 30 Rock, Lost, and many more. It will also have movies like Oceans 11, The Big Lebowski and others. I wonder if the service being tied specifically to a cable company if that will mean Streampix might get content that Netflix is unable to access.

[via Geekwire]

While Netflix caved and signed the agreement with Warner, Redbox has simply let its agreement that has been in place with Warner for a few years expire. That agreement allowed Redbox to buy new DVDs and Blu-rays in bulk at a discount directly from Warner.

By letting the agreement lapse, Redbox has done two things. The first thing is Redbox no longer has to delay the launch of new DVD and Blu-ray releases in its kiosks by the 28 days that the old Warner contract had stipulated, much less than the 56 day delay that Warner now wants. The second thing that not signing the contract has done is force Redbox to buy DVDs in bulk from retailers and wholesalers at higher prices. That could mean the rental prices at the kiosks will go up, but it should give them a competitive advantage over other outlets who have to wait if they want discounted discs for rentals. FWIW, Blockbuster made the same move with Warner recently, too.

Personally, I would gladly pay a little more money at the kiosk then have to wait two months to watch a new film that I want to see. What do you think of this move? Would you be willing to pay a little more to rent a movie if Redbox refuses to renew these contracts that force delays in getting the movies you want to see?

[via LA Times]

The RS 220 use the audio tech from Sennheiser’s popular HD 600 series, which by themselves retail for $519.95, and pair them with an uncompressed digital signal sent over a 2.4GHz connection, using DSSS technology. This is supposed to maintain audio fidelity up to 300 feet away (line of sight), even in environments with lots of wireless devices. Range is decreased to about 100 feet if you’re dealing with wall and other obstacles, though.

Headphone specs include a frequency response from 16 to 22,000 Hz, a maximum SPL of 106db, and a S/N ratio of 90 db and less than 0.1% THD. Battery life for the ‘phones is rated at appx. 6 to 8 hours on a charge. Analog, coaxial, and optical inputs are built into the transmitter, which also doubles as a recharging dock.

The RS 220 headphones retail for $599.95 (USD). Anyone wanting some higher-end wireless headphones should definitely add these to their evaluation list.

[via Uncrate]

The speakers are handcrafted out of wood, and not just any wood. JMC uses spruce that’s been hand harvested from felled 350-year old trees in the Swiss Risoud Forest in order to reduce the need for deforestation. They are quite thin, and respond well to vibrations, and their convex surface is supposed to disperse sound well in a room.

You can choose a few different colors and finishes if the beauty of the natural wood isn’t good enough for you. Of course, all this craftmanship and style doesn’t come cheap. Expect to pay up to $6,530(USD) for a JMC Soundboard.

[via Cool Hunting]