By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Segatoys’ Homestar PURE is a home planetarium, which like its astronomically expensive museum counterparts, projects images of the night sky onto a ceiling.
Unlike its museum cousins, however, the Homestar PURE is small, simple to operate and at $122US, very affordable.

Read on for our full review - crafted by Paul Moons.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Apple has been adamant about pricing of videos on iTunes, and in fact that’s one of the reasons that NBC left the iTunes store and eventually wound up at the Zune Marketplace. But now it appears they have become more flexible, as HBO and Apple announced on Tuesday that HBO shows are now available on iTunes - and some are priced above the $1.99 price Apple had previously set as a ceiling.

In a press release, Apple said:

Television shows purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store can be viewed on a Mac or PC, iPod nano with video, iPod classic, iPod touch, fifth generation iPod, iPhone or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV. “Sex and the City,” “The Wire” and “Flight of the Conchords” are $1.99 per episode, and “The Sopranos,” “Deadwood” and “Rome” are priced at $2.99 per episode. iTunes customers can also choose to purchase entire seasons of their favorite programs.

So, Apple has broken their glass ceiling of $1.99. Hey, NBC, are you watching all this drama?

By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Spare a thought for all the poor USB flash drive manufacturers.
No really.

With the sheer multitude of USB Flash drives available, manufacturers must constantly try to outdo each other.
Riding on the success of Asus’s Eee PC, Adata has created a specially branded Eee PC version of its sleek s701 flash drive to stand out from the crowd.

Read on for more..

By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

From Monkeys to Dragons, DigitalReviews Network is traipsing through the animal kingdom in search of good gear for our readers.
Thanks to Callpod we have the opportunity to review the Dragon, a Class 1 Bluetooth headset.
On paper, the Callpod Dragon sets itself apart from the rest of the market by its long range, functionality and looks.

Let’s take a deeper look at this beast with “brute Bluetooth power” in this review.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Let’s face it: smartphone news nowadays seems to center on the iPhone, even if some analysts don’t label it a smartphone. And with the iPhone’s upcoming Exchange support, RIM has to be feeling some heat, despite its dominance in the Enterprise market. The BlackBerry Bold (known during development as the BlackBerry 9000) has been labeled by some as an “iPhone killer,” but it’s not really that so much as a device aimed at keeping BlackBerry on top of the Enterprise game.

From their press release:

The BlackBerry Bold smartphone’s support for tri-band HSDPA and enterprise-grade Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g) networks and its next-generation 624 MHz mobile processor make short work of downloading email attachments, streaming video or rendering web pages. The BlackBerry Bold also includes 128 MB Flash memory plus 1 GB on-board storage memory.

Note that unlike the T-Mobile Pearl, Wi-Fi can be used only for data, not voice calls. More:

The BlackBerry Bold smartphone comes with the most vivid and bold display ever introduced on a BlackBerry smartphone. Its half-VGA (480×320 resolution) color LCD is fused to the undersurface of the lens, making images leap out with stunning definition and clarity.

While it has the same resolution as the iPhone, the display is (quite obviously) smaller. The hard keyboard is a plus for Enterprise users, though.

For off-business hours, the Bold has a 2-megapixel camera with video recording capability, built-in flash and 5x digital zoom. It has built-in stereo speakers. According to RIM, when using wired headphones or external speakers, the media player gives the user an equalizer with 11 preset filters.

What else? Integrated GPS, so you can’t say you were lost if you miss an important business meeting.

The big question? When. The somewhat vague answer: summer. I’m thinking sometime close to the 3G iPhone launch, which many feel will be sometime between mid-June and mid-July.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

A story in the New York Times had the blogosphere up in arms, but Microsoft indicates we shouldn’t believe it. The Times said that Microsoft is working to implement an anti-piracy filter into its Zune media players, which would prevent playback of unauthorized videos.

This information came via J. B. Perrette, the president of digital distribution for NBC Universal, who explained to the NYT why NBC chose Zune Marketplace over the iTunes Store.

According to the NYT, he indicated that the first reason was one we already knew: Apple insists that all TV shows have an identical wholesale price so that it can sell all of them at $1.99, while NBC wants to sell its programs for whatever price it wants.

The second reason given was the interesting one. He said that Apple refused to cooperate with NBC on building filters into its iPod player to remove pirated movies and videos. Perrette said that while the filter is still under development and that its exact form is undecided.

However, at a semi-official Microsoft Zune Blog, a blog post denied Microsoft has any such blog:

We have no plans or commitments to implement any new type of content filtering in the Zune devices as part of our content distribution deal with NBC.

We think some folks in the industry were expressing hopes for how the entire industry, not just Microsoft, would come to look at content distribution, and some speculation has ensued. Again, no plans are in place toward this end.

Interesting that it completely contradicts Perrette. Of course, that doesn’t mean Microsoft will never consider such a filter, does it?

By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

QSTARZ recently launched the world’s most powerful Bluetooth GPS Receiver.
It can not only be used as Bluetooth GPS receiver but can also be connected to a laptop as USB GPS mouse.
Pretty smart move if you ask us.
With the 1~5Hz adjustable feature, BT-Q818 eXtreme can be switched to 5Hz mode for higher accuracy and is ideal for any activities with extreme motion.

So who will need this BT-Q818 eXtreme? Read here.

By Yan Fortin
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

You’ve been using your cell phone for years, and up until recently, doing so securely was something most people took for granted. But as time flies by, new means of using mobiles to tap directly into someone’s life are becoming easily available on the Web… and the worse thing is, most of these tools are completely free.

It connects you to the world, but your cell phone could also be giving anyone from your boss to your wife a window into your every move.  The same technology that lets you stay in touch on-the-go can now let others tap into your private world — without you ever even suspecting something is awry.

New Web services and software allow people to track your every move and listen to what you say, even if you are not actively using your phone. Kindda makes the future of mobile communications depressing doesn’t it?

Cell Phone Spying: Is Your Life Being Monitored?