They’re at it again – Kaleidescape, a media server manufacturer, has set their sights on offering a media server that will hopefully be able to rip Blu-ray discs in 2009. Some might remember how Kaleidescape got into a court battle last year with the DVD Copy Control Association over one of their servers’ ability to rip DVD’s. Now, Kaleidescape has a new Blu-ray enabled device that could possibly support ripping of Blu-ray discs (via CEPro). MORE »

Older people might still consider relaxation to be throwing a few logs on the fire, puffing a pipe, donning their bifocals and reading the day’s newspaper in a comfy chair. But today, the home entertainment system pretty much means you can toss the paper in the fireplace, the pipe needs to stay outside to keep from dirtying up your gear and the comfy chair is heated, gives you a massages and can probably balance your 401(k). That’s why Vok took it upon themselves to reengineer the fireplace. MORE »

Originally intended as a project to bring strong multimedia type capability to the Xbox, Xbox Media Center has now fluttered off into supporting other operating systems along with the native Xbox. For a while, the Linux Port has been around but now a new release of XBMC has been made available for Mac OS X. MORE »

Can’t live without your TV when on the go? Well, portable USB TV-tuners are nothing new, and have been making sure you don’t miss the latest episode of your favorite show while outside the stronghold of your living room. But if you’re such a diehard that regular quality TV will make you squint and blink at your screen, Viper Lair has reviewed a neat USB HDTV solution to keep HD with you on the go (via Missing Remote). MORE »

Nobody likes tediously going through their movies and individually tagging them with metadata, unless they enjoy sitting zombie-eyed at a computer for hours trying to find all the specifics on a gigantic library of titles. Fortunately, Rodney Kerstetter decided to take some of the edges off attaching info large amounts of movies with software that follows Apple’s ease of use mindset. MORE »

The British are some clever blokes; if at one point they could hold control over an empire in which the sun never sets, you figure they can come up with some neat advances in digital media too. Now, some chaps across the pond have come out with a new service called TVCatchup that seeks to take DVR into the online world. MORE »

For some reason, every time I hop on my stone-age Windows XP running desktop, it seems to zip through applications far quicker than my Core 2 Duo endowed laptop can, despite my desktop dinosaur’s nearly antiquated, single core Pentium 4. While it may seem slower, Vista possesses a new “ReadyBoost” technology, which is supposed to increase OS performance and is not included with XP. So XP users have been stuck with an “un-boosted” OS while Vista users smirked, but all that has just changed with some new software. MORE »

TiVo has taken the hatchet to their high end HD unit, the Series3, in favor of their more inexpensive yet similar alternative, TiVo HD. Despite a tapering price tag and shining reception of the Series3, TiVo has decided to cut its production, albeit not a completely intentional move. MORE »

While the internet is becoming a gushing digital media pipeline, people still gravitate towards media players that resemble the familiar realm of TV. Hulu, a video content provider that hosts an impressive array of Fox and NBC programming, has recently been trying to blur the line between TV and internet video content. But now a creative developer named Paul Yanez is taking Hulu one step further – unofficially of coarse – to an actual 10-foot style TV interface with his newly launched Hulu Media Player (via Download Squad). MORE »

Ever wished that booting up a brand new computer didn’t involve giving the “delete” key a swift workout sifting through all the garbage software the manufacturer put on there? Unfortunately, there’s no remedy for that just yet, but there is a way to sift out some of Microsoft’s garbage during a Vista install. MORE »