By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

 
Fellow Australian company 22Moo released an aggressively priced  Head Mounted Display for iPod and Other AV Devices today,
It’s called the HMD800 and checks out at a hair below $200. US bucks, that is.
We might check them out and let you know our findings.

Read the full details here.

By Chief Gizmateer
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Leichtman Research Group released a survey showing that over 80% of the consumers with HDTV make over $50,000 a year.  In fact, the average household income for HDTV owners is $89,500 which is 42% above the national average income.  In addition, only 1 in 6 households have HDTV which is up from 1 our of 14 households two years ago.

While nothing seems surprising or out of the ordinary in LRG’s assessment of the HDTV space, one thing that surprised me is that only a third of those surveyed knew about Fev 17, 2009, the federal deadline for TV stations to broadcast only digital signals.

While HDTV’s long-term sales are upbeating (about 20% of all households get a new TV set each year), that may not be fast enough to beat the federal deadline in 2009.

“The government has been unrealistic from Day One,” Leichtman says. “The digital cut-off date was originally supposed to be in two months,” before it was postponed.

Source: DVR Playground

By Chief Gizmateer
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

According to Indystar, TiVo plans on teaming up with Yahoo! and other online companies to allow TiVo users to share photos with friends and family, play games and even listen to podcasts and live radio streamed through the Internet.

The services start at $69.99 (after a $150 rebate) and a $19.99 subscription fee for Series2 and Series3 TiVo users.

So, what is the most used online service?  Is it gaming or sharing photos?  Neither, the most widely used online service is TiVo’s Yahoo! Weather.

Source: DVR Playground

By Chief Gizmateer
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Monsoon Multimedia has been making the rounds showing off their HAVA products that some have proclaimed as the “Sling Killer”.

Imagine a teaching auditorium full of students, each with their own laptop, able to watch whatever is taking place on stage through their laptop and a wireless connection. Not only is the lesson being wirelessly multicasted to all of the student’s laptops, but each individual student has the control to pause, rewind and even record directly to their laptop. Seems futurist right? Well, Moonson Multimedia has created the “special sauce” to do just that today!

Read the full review on DVR Playground.

Source: Gizmos for Geeks

By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Lik-Sang.com has posted a notice on their website stating that Sony has forced them out of business because of multiple lawsuits against them, including infringing on Sony’s trade marks, copyright and registered design rights by selling Sony PSP consoles from Asia to European customers.

As of today, Lik-Sang.com will not be in the position to accept any new orders and will cancel and refund all existing orders that have already been placed. Furthermore, Lik-Sang is working closely with banks and Pay Pal to refund any store credits held by the company, and the customer support department is taking care of any open transactions such as pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. The staff of Lik-Sang will make sure that nobody will get hurt in the crossfire of this ordeal.

A Sony spokesperson declined to comment directly on the lawsuit against Lik-Sang, but recently went on to tell Gamesindustry.biz that “ultimately, we’re trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards, due to voltage supply differences et cetera; is not - in PS3’s case - backwards compatible with either PS1 or PS2 software; will not play European Blu-Ray movies or DVDs; and will not be covered by warranty”.

Lik Sang strongly disagrees with Sony’s opinion that their customers need this kind of protection and pointed out that PSP consoles shipped from Lik-Sang contained genuine Sony 100V-240V AC Adapters that carry CE and other safety marks and are compatible world wide. All PSP consoles were in conformity with all EU and UK consumer safety regulations. Source: Lik-Sang.com

We Say: Looking at the comments on Lik-Sang’s site, Sony has just made lots of its customers mad, again.

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Cell phones have been linked to many things, such as brain tumors, increased auto accidents due to inattention, but male infertility? That actually makes me worry more.

There was a study last year, and now new results published just this past Sunday at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s annual meeting seems to confirm the results. More

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

I read an article not long ago that claimed the briefcase industry was in trouble if not in imminent danger of going the way of the fedora as an everyday business accessory. Men no longer needed hard cases to lug around the “Johnson file” and instead switched to backpacks, laptop bags, rolling briefcases, and super modern lightweight portfolios. At the same time, the business card - long the staple of meetings and trade shows has begun showing a similar fate. When was the last time someone handed you a card? And do you even own a card scanner and all that business?

Today a company called Moo.com has launched Skype Mini Cards: silly little mini cards with a custom jokey message on one side and your Skype ID and number on the other. Think of it as the MySpace version of business cards.

We Say: I LOL’d. NSFW. !!11!! Actually, We Ask: Do you still carry and distribute business cards, and do these appeal to you more?

By Nicolas Fogelholm, About Nokia Phones
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
I have been using the Nokia E61 for two weeks and so far I´m convinced!
More