When it comes to watching movies, Internet households in North America prefer to stay at home while similar European households prefer the cinema, according to Global Digital Living™, a multinational consumer study by Parks Associates that provides comparative data from 13 nations, identifying the relative rates of adoption of digital living technologies. MORE »

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FlyingSaucer is a program you can run on your Bluetooth enabled cellphone and control your Media Center computer. I’m not sure why you would want to use this over your normal remote control (maybe you have a really nice phone).

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Ed Bott is out today with a post which is more or less an excuse in my opinion for why Microsoft doesn’t have native HDTV yet in Media Center. I’m oversimplifying things here but bottom line is Ed’s opinion is that getting HDTV on an open system (MCE) involves much more than we might think and hence Microsoft is somehow justified for being late to the HDTV party (correct me if I’m wrong here Ed). MORE »

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iTunes Music Video Gate is an easy way to download videos from the iTMS. Previously, you might have done a quick search for a file from your favorite artist/band and renamed it, as I’ve done when you really wanted something. But now Video Gate can do all the formatting work for you.

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Skype, the Global Internet Communications pioneer which makes it possible for anyone worldwide to make free high-quality phone calls via the Internet, today extends its leadership position as the most innovative and fastest-growing Internet communications offering with the release of the latest version of its award-winning software. This announcement is significant both for Skype’s existing callers who can now upgrade to new and powerful features and also for people new to Skype who can experience an even simpler way to start making phone calls for free. MORE »

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The Slingbox crew just released version 1.05 (beta) of Sling Player, the PC desktop client for controlling and watching your video feed. MORE »

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TODAY ONLY!!! Download DivX Create Bundle FREE from DivX.com — Includes: DivX Player, DivX Pro codec and DivX Converter. Promo link: http://www.divx.com/anniversaryoffer/ (Thanks for the tip, Jason!)

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I just finished reading David’s latest DRM related post (he previously got a lot of attention for his “Why $20,000 worth of gear won’t play my 99 cent songs” article), and found that his assessment, that anyone who sides with a particular type of DRM format is ensuring the legacy of the company promoting it, is right on point. Why is that you may ask? Because each DRM technology forces consumers to buy specific products from a single company (Apple) or licensed vendors (Microsoft’s PlaysForSure / Windows Media Connect). MORE »

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For the person who wants to have the ultimate accessibility to information and home entertainment anywhere inside or surrounding the home, the Evalue MTP-1501 ZEVO Entertainment Touch Panel PC will most likely be the next must-have Christmas gift for the affluent and gadget obsessed (via Gizmodo). Evalue describes the all-in-one marvel as such: “This 15-inch Panel PC is a pleasingly quiet computer running with 1 GHz passively cooled CPU and superior multimedia performance. The unit provides Smartcard reader for controlled system-access, touch screen, membrane keypads, a remote controller, two USB ports, optional Bluetooth/Wi-Fi interfaces for wireless connectivity, in addition to Ethernet Port and a handset attachable to either side of the Panel PC [for VoIP Telephony].” Moreover, since the unit runs Windows XP Embedded (includes: Microsoft WMP 9, DirectX 9, and IE 6), owners will have the ability to extend its capabilities with popular Windows-based programs/add-ons or possibly even create a remote desktop to their media PC.

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Red Herring is out with an article detailing the frustrations of the music industry regarding Steve Jobs insistence not to have them raise song prices in the iTunes Music Store (iTMS). “To have only one price point is not fair to our artists, and I dare say not appropriate to consumers. The market should decide, not a single retailer,” said Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. “Some songs should be $0.99 and some songs should be more. I don’t want to give anyone the impression that $0.99 is a thing of the past.” MORE »

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