Entertainment

Giant screens are in, spending money on crazy stuff is out

With the U.S. economy in the toilet and the world facing increasingly uncertain times while we select the next president, it's good to know you can still go out and buy an array of 12 24-inch monitors for 13,000 bucks.

On Wednesday, CineMassive announced the OmegaPlex, an "Ultra High Resolution Multimonitor Desktop Display Wall." If you're into world domination, you're probably gonna want one of these. For everyone else, well, that will depend on your salary level and, possibly, your sanity.

For those of you who are interested--you rich, crazy sociopaths you--CineMassive insists … Read more

Consecutive movie watching: It's a skill

Everyone's good at something, right? After 123 hours and 10 minutes of nonstop movie watching, we've found the best: Netflix's Popcorn Bowl event, in which participants watched multiple movies without sleep until they either gave up, broke the Guinness World Record for longest consecutive movie-watching session, or began to bleed from their eyes.

The event was held at Times Square in New York. It began on October 2 at noon EDT and ended on Wednesday at 3:10 p.m. EDT.

What began with eight participants at the outset was cut down to only two after 57 movies were viewed, … Read more

Microsoft has Xbox 360 Blu-ray drives ready to go

X-bit Labs is not only reporting that Microsoft is still planning on releasing an external Blu-ray drive, but also that the company already has the device ready to go.

According to the article, Toshiba (yes, you read that correctly) and Samsung have been asked to come up with the external Blu-ray solution for the Xbox 360. Rumors are also floating around claiming a $100-to-$150 price point.

With Blu-ray playback remaining as one of the few advantages the PlayStation 3 has over the Xbox 360, one would imagine Microsoft would want to release this immediately to level the Blu-ray bragging … Read more

Chumby gets chummy with new music features

Owners of the lovable (well, lovable-looking at least) multimedia device Chumby, are getting new ways to listen to music, watch music videos, and get music news.

Chumby announced on Tuesday that its leather-encased Internet clock radio of the same name would now allow users to tune into personalized radio stations using their Pandora accounts. When users indicate a song or artist that they enjoy, Pandora responds by playing selections that are musically similar.

If you like waking up to music, but prefer waking up to music videos, you'll be happy to hear that Chumbys will now be able to … Read more

ScreenPlay TV Link takes out the PC middleman

For those of you who want to play your multimedia files on a TV without the need to hook up it up to a PC, Iomega has a solution for you.

The ScreenPlay TV Link is a small Post-it-sized box that connects to your TV via a composite, component, or HDMI connection. You can plug any USB (FAT32 or NTFS format) drive into the device and access all of its content through an easy-to-use on-screen interface.

We were also very impressed with the various file types the TV Link is compatible with. On the audio side, you can play MP3, … Read more

Play 'Pong,' answer trivia. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Itching to play Pong on the Web? Well, you're in luck since there are tons of sites that offer Java or Flash-based versions. One of my favorites--since about 20 minutes ago--being this one.

Maybe however, you're looking for something a little different. Perhaps you'd like to play Pong and have the game interrupted every few seconds to answer trivia questions about a show you've never heard of and just last night saw a commercial for. Well, that was my experience at least.

ABC, in an attempt to promote its new '70s cop drama Life on Mars, … Read more

Beats on the go: Akai's XR20

So you love creating hip-hop beats, right? I mean come on, who doesn't? Let's say one day, a particularly awesome beat pops into your head but you're nowhere near home.

Now you're in a race against time to get home before it's lost forever, deep within walls and walls of other memories. According to Akai, you should not have to worry about such things ever again.

Akai's XR20 Beat Production Station is a portable beat production station that allows you to create hip-hop and R&B beats wherever you are.

The device contains … Read more

Crave: A Rubik's Cube from the future!

Bonnie Cha's back, and this week she brings the Samsung Omnia and the Mio Knight Rider GPS system to the set. There's a new Rubik's Cube...on the block. Plus, Brian hates heart-shaped mice, and we give Bonnie a surprise!

WiiWare and Virtual Console releases for this week

This week brings us a classic Mario Golf game and some bowling after dark.

WiiWare Midnight Bowling (Gameloft, 800 Wii points): Midnight Bowling offers various game modes and a brand new physics system allowing for realistic bowling action. Play with up to three friends in various bowling alley environments. MadStone (Riverman Media, 800 Wii points): In this puzzle game, you must control the path for elemental MadStones as you attempt to restore peace to Earth. Enjoy the game alone or co-op with a friend. Virtual Console Mario Golf (1999, Nintendo 64, 1,000 Wii points): Mario and company hit the … Read more

Inside CNET Labs 16: 'Starcraft' was the bridge

This week, Eric and Dong discuss why they're so stretched, and it has everything to do with the cold-blooded qualities of Jasmine France, Donald Bell, and Lieutenant Barkley Robert Vamosi.

Tired of that annoying firewall that bogs down your system and won't let you play Crysis higher than 60fps? Dong has some insight into why you may not need it.

Also, Dong recounts his first days at CNET and why Starcraft looked so stupid to him.

To subscribe to this podcast, visit us at our main page and click the link on the right. Don't forget to … Read more