I like the 1940s Disney animation shorts. They may not get to the hilarity level of Chuck Jones and Tex Avery’s work at Warner, but some of them are really good. This How to Hook Up Your Home Theater short is new, but it feels like one of them and summarizes perfectly the dangers and absurd complexity of modern big home theaters, from impossible-to-open audio cable boxes to the sound system—with “center channel, left and right speakers, bit more to the left and bit more to the right speakers, surround speakers, surrounding surround speakers”— to huge screens. [Cartoon Brew via Dark Roasted Blend]

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While Namco jumped headfirst into the Android Market by giving away Pac-Man, EA Games is going to sit out for the time being, at least until there’s a billing system in place for apps in the Android Market: “EA will support the Android platform…but has elected to wait for the launch of a content billing solution to bring their premier IP to market.”

Right now, the anything-goes Android Market only supports free apps, but that should change right around the G1’s launch, at least if Google is serious about having premiere apps populate the store from the start, like high end games. There’s a lot of fantastic freeness to be had—like out of the Android Developer Challenge or as Apple’s App Store shows—but some developers want some hard coin for their code, and not just evil corporations like EA.

On the other hand, EA has experience with digital distribution and you can sideload apps without going through the Android Market, so why don’t they sell them straight through EA’s site? [Pocket Gamer via Crave]

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Section: Gadgets / Other, Household, Web, Web Apps, Websites

Recently at ShowStoppers in NYC, Gadgetell got a chance to talk to Schlage.  What was Schlage, a lock company, doing at an electronics trade show?  They were showing off their “Schlage LiNK” locks and deadbolts.  The locks bring something new to the table—web connectivity. 

Personally, I have been locked out of my house more times than I care to remember.  If you have this lock installed, you can use your phone to connect to the web and unlock the door through a web interface.  Don’t worry, the lock can still be unlocked by a standard key or if you use the lock’s number pad with a code.

Different codes for different folks

A web interface may seem like overkill for something like a lock.  However, the Schalge LiNK will allow you to have the lock respond to different codes at different times of the day.  You can give out these codes to service folks while keeping your door locked to the general public.  If you’re the paranoid type, you can even track when the door was locked or unlocked. 

The catch

The catch is the service is not free.  You pay $199 or $299 for the lock or a kit and then you must pay an additional $12.99 per month for the web service.  I asked the rep if Schlage had a free local web interface, like if you wanted to run a home server that you could connect to only if you hooked into your home network.  Unfortunately, the Schlage does not offer that kind of free solution.

This is an interesting marriage of old technology and new technology.  I wonder when my armchair will be connected to the Internet with a stat tracker for fantasy football. 

Product [Schlage LiNK]

Full Story » | Written by Iyaz Akhtar for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Phone firms, chip makers and PC manufacturers are uniting to push mobile broadband on laptop computers. The alliance will build wireless modules into laptops to make it much easier to use the gadgets on future high-speed services. Laptops with the wireless chips built-in will bear a service mark which shows they will work with the third and fourth generation wireless technology. The branded laptops should be on shop shelves in 91 nations by Christmas.

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MoVille is a concept car invented by Woo-Ram Lee from France for the 2008 Peugeot Design Contest. This single-passenger vehicle is built out of unpainted biodegradable plastic, has artificial intelligence, and a zero-emission drive train. Designed to be as compact as possible, it consists of a single passenger capsule which tilts vertically to save space, an important factor in today’s crowded roads and highways.

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