crave

This week, Donald and Eric debate the dangers of robots, geodesic playgrounds, and real-life lightsabers. Plus, we take a look at some invisible cables, giant air multipliers, Catan for Microsoft Surface, and the e-reader's race to the bottom.

In case you missed last week's giveaway, Dolby has been sponsoring the Crave Giveaway of the Week and continues to serve up some sweet home theater prizes. Last week we had Harman's AVR-3600 AV receiver. This week, Dolby's doing you one better with the Onkyo TX-NR3007 9.2-Channel A/V Surround Home Network Receiver with Dolby Volume.

Here's what Dolby has to say about the Onkyo TX-NR3007: "This powerhouse 9.2-channel receiver features advanced Dolby Pro Logic IIz and Dolby Volume signal processing in addition to Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD decoding. Advanced networking capabilities allow you to stream Internet audio and PC files for playback through your home theater system." (See full specs on Onkyo's Web site).

Normally, the TX-NR3007 would cost about $1,265, but you have the chance to get it gratis.

So, how do you try to win this Onkyo AV receiver? Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test.

… Read more

This week, Donald and Jasmine have a lot to crave, not the least of which is a pair of health-monitoring tighty whities. And yet we are somehow much more impressed by a giant chess set made from robotic Legos, a swarm of hovering honeycombs, a massive LED art display that moves to the music, and a roving solar-powered car disguised as a shrub. On the list of things not to crave? Trading drugs for gadgets. Come on people...you're smarter than that! (Right?)

In case you missed last week's giveaway, Dolby is sponsoring the Crave Giveaway of the Week, and serving up some sweet home theater prizes. Last week we had the Harman AVR 2600 AV receiver. This week, Dolby's doing you one better with the step-up Harman AVR 3600 with Dolby Volume.

Here's what Dolby has to say about the AVR 3600: "The 7.1-channel AVR 3600 includes a direct connection for charging and playback of iPhone and iPod devices. Advanced Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD decoding complement the built-in Dolby Volume signal processing and 80 watts-per-channel audio performance." (See full specs on Harman's Web site).

Normally, the AVR 3600 would cost about $960, but you have the chance to get it gratis.

So, how do you try to win this Harman AV receiver? Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test.

… Read more

Jasmine's (mostly) back from vacation, and already hates the iPhone 4. To balance out her blind rage for the as-yet unreleased device, Eric and Donald tackle Crave stories ranging from monkey-controlled robots, laser drug injection, and a Lego printer that drives ladies wild (or not). Stick around for the end, and you may just see Darth Vader's cleavage.

So, we're excited to announce that for the next four weeks Dolby will be sponsoring the Crave Giveaway of the Week, serving up some sweet home-theater prizes, including this week's Harman Kardon AVR 2600 AV receiver.

Here's what Dolby has to say about the AVR 2600: "This sophisticated 7.1- channel AV receiver includes four HDMI inputs and seven 65-watt channels of 65 watts per channel Dolby Home Theater audio performance. In addition to Dolby Volume, the AVR 2600 includes advanced Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD decoding." (See full specs at Dolby's Web site).

Normally, the AVR 2600 would cost about $670, but you have the chance to get it gratis.

So, how do you try to win this Harman Kardon AV receiver? Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test.

… Read more

This week, Donald's back in the studio, joined by Eric Franklin and Dong Ngo from Inside CNET Labs. We ponder Japan's plans to turn the moon into a playground for robots, and tackle OLED displays that roll and vanish. Dong drops some knowledge on recent hard drive innovations and a waterproof case for his Flip Ultra HD. The iPad meets Velcro. And the hoverboard makes a comeback (kinda).

OK, it's not too often that we give away two products from the same company in consecutive weeks, but hey, Cisco offered, so we're giving (last week's giveaway was the SlideHD pocket camcorder from Flip Video, which is owned by Cisco).

In his review, Editor Dong Ngo said the Valet Plus will change the way you think about setting up your home network. "The Cisco Valet Plus is by far the easiest wireless router to use to date," he wrote. "It also has great range, decent performance, and comes with effective wireless networking management … Read more

OK, for the last few weeks we've offered some pretty niche products. However, this week we're going mainstream by giving away Flip Video's newest pocket camcorder, the SlideHD.

In case you don't know it already, this is Flip's flagship camcorder model. Flip designed it for instant-playback gratification as it includes a generous 3-inch wide-screen touch-enabled LCD that "slides" up at an angle. The SlideHD also comes with 16GB of internal memory, which allows you to capture up to 4 hours of HD video; that's double the storage capacity of previous Flip models. &… Read more