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Now this is what we like--truth in advertising. Or truth in blogging, at least.

Apparently as weary of iPod docks as we are, Uber-Review is spot-on in its assessment of this accessory in saying it does "absolutely nothing." OK, it does let your iPod rest in a little red hammock while it recharges. But that's about it.

Even its German manufacturer seems to acknowledge its limited existence, having given it a suitably superficial name: the "Load Thing." Still, if there's one thing we appreciate as much as honesty, it's a low price. So … Read more

It would be perfectly understandable for Nintendo purists to be appalled by some of the abominations of recent years, but a current auction offers some hope for true loyalists. An old (and rare) Nintendo Entertainment System is up for sale on eBay, a 1980s-vintage in-store kiosk that its owner claims was never available for consumer purchase.

The console comes with 12 cartridge slots and five controller ports, but Technabob notes that the retro monitor is not included in the auction (bummer). And interested aficionados should be prepared for sticker shock: Even without the tube, it was still going for more than $500 … Read more

Sony finally unveiled its big PlayStation 3 surprise at GDC 2007. After its short but intense pre-GDC rumor war with Kotaku, Sony announced Home, the new online service for the PS3.

Underneath the marketing hype that Gamespot and News.com both already covered, Home is essentially a cross between Second Life and Nintendo's Mii avatars. PS3 users will get their own customizable avatars and virtual homes with which they can go online, chat with and host friends, find players for online gaming, buy and show off clothing and decorations, accumulate game trophies, and other social gaming activities. The service … Read more

Who would have thought that the latest design trend for iPod docks would be tubes? And no, we don't mean the Internet(s).

A few months back we wrote of a vacuum tube docking stereo for music players that had been developed in Japan. Now we see that U.K.-based Roth Audio has a similar idea with its "Music Cocoon" system.

The Roth version doesn't have speakers but does sport the same mad-scientist-lab look of the Japanese version and promises superior quality at its price of 400 pounds, or about $768 (which is a bit … Read more

We've had it with monthly subscriptions. It's the reason that we haven't gotten rid of our our old TiVo box, which we purchased with a lifetime subscription in 2001, even though it sometimes seems as if we can store only two or three shows on its tiny hard drive.

And as much as we like the idea of satellite radio, we're too stubborn (cheap) to pay any monthly fees for it. All of which is why we're intrigued by the idea of the "Acoustic Energy Wi-Fi Internet Radio."

Sure, we can tune in … Read more

It's about time that Sony acknowledged reality. Rather than acting as though it's still king of the hill in entertainment hardware, the proprietary-obsessed company has finally broken down and released an iPod docking station (only a few years late, but no one's really counting anymore).

The speaker station even has the official blessing of Apple, according to Electronista, so compatibility with all iPod models should be ensured. There's just one problem--the price. At $250, this has about as much of a chance of succeeding as the Walkman's transition from CDs to MP3s.

Is it possible to have a positive Webware experience on something besides a PC? Cell phones and small handheld Internet devices don't cut it with their tiny screens and awful browsers (at least until the iPhone arrives). So what if you could use that nice bandwidth you get at home and combine it with that large HDTV sitting in your living room? That question has recently been answered with Nintendo and Sony's more recent gaming consoles: the Wii and the PS3, respectively. Microsoft's Xbox 360 doesn't have a browser, likely because of the company's failure … Read more

Depending on where you get your video content, it can be a real pain to get movies and TV shows onto your iPod or PSP. Enter Streaming Networks' iRecord PRM-100 ($199.99), which lets you record video in real time directly to any USB mass storage device at a rate of around 3 hours of recording time per gigabyte in H.264/AVC format (with AAC audio tracks). Now you can record your gaming sessions and prove to your friends what a great Halo 2 player you are. You can even record music in MP3 format, though real-time music encoding … Read more

Laptop docking stations have always been a bit on the awkward side, requiring you to slide your laptop into the dock, properly lining up the connectors. Usually, we end up banging the pieces together for a few seconds until they fit.

Toshiba showed us a new docking station for the company's Portege R400 Windows Vista convertible tablet that takes care of a lot of the limitations of traditional laptop docks. The wireless Ultra Wide Band Toshiba Wireless Port Replicator connects to the R400 automatically whenever it's within a few feet. It's not the first wireless dock we'… Read more