Sellout.Woot! – LG 5.1 Home Theater System with iPod Dock, Wi-Fi & Blu-ray $164.99

Posted on Thursday, July 21, 2011 by MegaZone

Sellout.Woot Logo Today’s Sellout.Woot seemed worth sharing – you can get a refurbished LG 5.1 Home Theater System with iPod Dock, Wi-Fi & Blu-ray for $159.99 + $5 shipping.

Features:

  • Powerful 1100W of audio power through 5.1 channels for the ultimate home theater experience enhanced by Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio Essential decoders
  • NetCast™ Entertainment Access lets you stream instant, and virtually endless, entertainment from Netflix®, Vudu™, CinemaNow™, Pandora®, YouTube™, Picasa™, and AccuWeather®—direct to your TV from the Internet, no computer required
  • Blu-ray Disc’s ultra-large capacity stores full 1080p high-definition video with high-quality, lossless audio to ensure a true home theater experience
  • Up-converts standard DVD content up to 1080p resolution for high-quality high definition images
  • Built-in dock for convenient charge, control and playback of your iPod and iPhone
  • Plug your compatible USB device into the available USB slot and your digital music and photos are played back
  • MusicID® automatically identifies the song you are listening to at the push of a button and returns all pertinent information to your television screen
  • BD Live internet connectivity support allows for enhanced viewing features
  • SIMPLINK™ connectivity allows you to control multiple HDMI components through a single television remote
  • Enjoy less distortion, clearer sound, and a better sound experience with Silk Dome Speaker Technology

Get it before it is gone.

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Roku 2 Product Line Launches, Adds Gaming

Posted on Thursday, July 21, 2011 by MegaZone

Roku Logo Roku today launched the next generation of their set top box media streamers, the Roku 2 line. And these new additions to the family seem to be the offspring of an illicit affair between the last generation and the Nintendo Wii. More on that later.

Like most things the new boxes are smaller with more features, and they were nice enough to maintain the same price points – $59.99, $79.99, and $99.99, with free shipping on the top two units. The old Roku HD, XD, and XDS are now the Roku 2 HD, XD, and XS, respectively. Yes, that could be slightly confusing. The biggest, and most anticipated, change in this new generation is the addition of gaming. Yes, now you can play Angry birds on your Roku 2.

Roku2 Family

Roku2 IR Remote Roku2 RF Remote But they didn’t do things in half measures, they’ve fully embraced gaming, especially in the top end XS and it’s new remote. Which is Roku’s version of the Wiimote, or ‘Rokumote’ – a motion sensing controller for gaming. The lower two models, the HD & XD, come with an IR remote (on the left) like the older boxes. But the XS comes with the RF Rokumote (on the right) for gaming. The RF remote will also be available separately for $29 for use with the lower tier units. But, given the pricing, you may as well buy the XS to start. (Which is probably their intention anyway.)

Dave Zatz did discover one gotcha – the XS only includes enough memory to store four games. FOUR. You can expand the storage with microSD, and Roku is offering a 2GB microSD card, which can store up to 60 games, for $4.99 during checkout. Still, given the focus they’ve placed on the addition of gaming to their platform, and the low cost of flash these days, they couldn’t have splurged on the included storage?

All three units are currently available directly from Roku.com.

Posted in Broadband, Roku | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Gizmodo Reviews the Toshiba Thrive

Posted on Thursday, July 21, 2011 by MegaZone

Toshiba Thrive After Liliputing and Ars Technica gave the Thrive fairly favorable reviews it seemed like we had a trend going – but Gizmodo bucks that trend in their review, which is pretty harsh. It is clear the reviewer didn’t care for the Thrive:

Do I want a tablet that’s more like a PC? No. Especially not when “more like a PC” includes pre-loading my device with piles of bloatware that I’ll never use, proprietary crapps that I can’t delete. I do not want to visit your App Place, Toshiba, or your Book Place or any Place you want to take me. I don’t get in cars with strangers. The display? Your scan lines are showing. Do I mention its fatty, awkward size and the shape? Thrive feels like you’re holding a GoKart steering wheel. If this is what it takes to get MiniUSB on a tablet, I’ll pass on the MiniUSB.

I think they’re overly harsh, frankly, and the other reviews are more balanced. But it doesn’t matter too much to me, I’ve pretty much decided to go with the Asus Eee Pad Transformer. I’d already decided to go with that when the Thrive caught my eye, but I think the Transformer is what I really want.

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Save $100 on Tablets in-store at Staples

Posted on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 by MegaZone

Staples Tablet Coupon Staples is currently running this coupon good for $100 off the purchase of a tablet in-store (sorry, not via their website). It isn’t good on the HP TouchPad, Amazon Kindle, or Barnes & Noble Nook, but is good on other tablets.

But call your local store before heading over to make sure they have the tablet(s) you want. I called the three stores closest to me, and none of them stock the Asus Eee Pad Transformer. One store said they thought their shipment of Toshiba Thrive tablets was on the truck that came in today, but they hadn’t been unpacked yet. They have other tablets – the Samsung Galaxy Tab, one by Acer, the excluded HP TouchPad, etc. So check before you waste gas.

Tip of the hat to Liliputing.

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TiVo Ending Affiliate Program

Posted on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 by MegaZone

TiVo Logo For a number of years now, TiVo has had an affiliate program for sites, such as this one, to earn commissions on sales referrals. The site runs TiVo ads or users their affiliate links, and TiVo pays a bounty on any sales that result. Pretty simple and very common.

This site was a TiVo Affiliate in the past, but during the hiatus my Commission Junction account (TiVo’s program is run through CJ) was closed down for inactivity. As part of the re-launch I opened a new CJ account and began re-applying to affiliate programs – including TiVo’s.

After a week with my application pending I decided to ping TiVo to see what was up, and they told me that they’re not approving any new affiliate applications – because they’re closing down the entire affiliate program in three weeks. I asked for further clarification, if they were replacing it, etc., and was told “We don’t have plans to reopen the affiliate program at this time.”

TiVo will continue working with ad networks and exchanges for their online advertising needs. But this is the end of direct affiliate referrals.

Shame, first we lost the TiVo Rewards program – that was shut down way back on April 28, 2008. And the promised ‘new program’ never materialized. Now we’re losing the affiliate program as well.

Not that I think we’re entitled to anything – I covered that in my thoughts on the end of the TiVo Rewards program way back when. TiVo is under no obligation to offer referral bounties, etc. But I can’t say it isn’t nice to be able to get a cut from recommending a product I use and enjoy. And, while I wouldn’t recommend a product I didn’t feel I could get behind, for any amount of money (I regularly receive offers to accept paid content for the site – I always turn them down, and I won’t become an affiliate for any product I don’t support), affiliate programs are one way small sites like this one can pay for themselves, and maybe make a little money.

Since I have a ‘day job’, I don’t run the site with a primary goal to make money, so I don’t spend a lot of time optimizing the SEO, tweaking my ad settings, looking for the highest returning ad programs, etc. But there are costs to running a site and it is nice to cover those, and anything extra is a bonus to use for little things – like helping to pay for my upcoming wedding and honeymoon. :-) However, other bloggers do make their primary income from their blogs, and affiliate programs are often a key part of that. So I’m sorry to see TiVo dropping out. Ad space is finite (if you’re smart), so you have to run with what pays. And, in three weeks, TiVo no longer will be.

Posted in Blogs, TiVo | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment