Gizmo Lovers Blog | TiVo, Slingbox, Android, Blu-ray Disc, and whatever other tech I feel like blogging about…

TiVo Reports 4Q and Fiscal Year End 2012 Financial Results Tomorrow

Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2012 by MegaZone

Tomorrow (Thursday) TiVo reports their 4Q and full FY12 results at 5pm ET/2pm PT, with the live webcast available online. It’ll be interesting to see how the holiday season went, and how all of their MSO deals are doing. From what we’ve seen so far the MSO deals seem to be coming off well.

Posted in Press Release, TiVo | Tagged Press Release, TiVo, webcast | 3 Comments

Chrome for Android

Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2012 by MegaZone

As a little experiment during my recent wedding & honeymoon trip (which is why I haven’t been posting, BTW) I didn’t take my laptop. Rather I relied exclusively on my Android phone & tablet, a Galaxy Nexus and ASUS Transformer Prime. It actually went very well, though the Android browser on the tablet was a bit rough for normal usage. But I got a nice surprise during the trip, Google released the beta of Chrome for Android.

It isn’t quite the same as Chrome on the desktop, yet, but it is certainly a nice start. It provides a better experience as a daily browser than the Android browser, IMHO – which isn’t saying the Android browser is bad, Chrome is just better. Especially on the larger tablet screen, where the Android browser, evolved on phones, shows its limitations. Right now Chrome for Android is only available for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which fortunately both my phone and tablet run, so it isn’t yet available to the majority of Android users but I expect that will change.

It has some nice features too, like syncing your bookmarks and open tabs with the desktop. If you have a device running Android 4.0 I strongly recommend checking it out.

Posted in Android, Google, Software | Tagged android, Asus, Chrome, Galaxy Nexus, Google, software | Leave a comment

GE Gives Jet Engines A Cold Reception

Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2012 by MegaZone

There’s a nice post in the Aviation Week Things With Wings blog on the new GE Engine Testing, Research and Development Center (TDRC), developed in partnership with StandardAero in Winnipeg, Canada. The facility is for testing GE’s jet engines for endurance, bird ingestion and icing. It can handle engines up to 150,000 pounds of thrust and 150 inches in diameter.

The post has several photos of the facility, in addition to the videos below. The first video is a look around the facility, while the second is a video of an icing test run. The test stand in the middle, wrapped in plastic, is where the engine being tested would be mounted during an actual test.

Posted in Aerospace | Tagged Aerospace, Aviation Week, General Electric, Things With Wings, Video, YouTube | Leave a comment

Get to Know SlingPlayer for…

Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2012 by MegaZone

Sling Media today released a slew of videos in a “Get to Know SlingPlayer for [insert platform here]” series. The current generation of clients are very nice, so it is good to see them promoting them. It would be nice to see a new generation of Slingbox hardware though.

Android phones:

Android tablets:

Kindle Fire:

iPhone:

iPad:

Windows Phone 7:

Web:

Posted in Amazon, Android, Apple, iPhone, Place Shifting, Sling Media, Software, Web, Windows Mobile | Tagged Amazon, android, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire, Place Shifting, tablet, Web, Windows Phone 7 | Leave a comment

SpaceX Tests the SuperDraco Engine

Posted on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 by MegaZone

I really love SpaceX, I hope they continue to deliver on their plans successfully. They’re working on the SuperDraco engine for the Dragon capsule. It will be used for the pusher launch abort system, as well as for powered descent in their plans to reuse the Dragon.