TiVo's YouTube player that was announced back in March is finally going live today and will allow streaming, yes streaming, of all H.264 YouTube videos. It's a major part of the 9.4 Summer Update that is hitting all boxes by the end of this month. Even though all boxes are receiving this update only Series 3 and HD TiVos will be able to see the YouTube feature, sorry Series 2'ers. We haven't gotten a hands on yet but we've been briefed on how it will function and it actually sounds usable.

via gizmodo.com

Man, this Microsoft-Yahoo saga is driving me nuts. Initially when Microsoft bidded $44.6 billion for Yahoo, the internet pioneer firmly said no as it thought the price which Microsoft was offering was too low. Then the software behemoth raised its bid by roughly $5 billion, but still Yahoo was in no mood of merger at this price. Then finally when Microsoft was pissed-off, it backed out of the deal this weekend saying Yahoo was asking too much.

via pclaunches.com

Sony's latest mini-dome IP camera is designed with the great outdoors in mind as the SNC-DF80P comes enclosed in a casing that's vandal proof. Typical external locations would be areas such as covered car parks but we noted that the camera has no IP (ingress protection) rating so should not be mounted where it is exposed to the elements or can be splashed with water.

A key feature of this camera is its use of Sony's IMD (Intelligent Motion Detection) and IOD (Intelligent Object Detection) technologies. These add some intelligence to the camera's motion detection functions and come into play when you configure the camera for both moving and stationary objects.

via trustedreviews.com

D-Link's latest Wireless N Home Router not only hits the sub-£50 sweet spot but also comes with the company's enormous 11-year warranty. The latter does seem rather excessive but as we observed in our review of D-Link's DKT-810 this is a sign of the company's confidence that the router can be upgraded well into the future.

The DIR-615 is a slim-line slab of plastic incorporating a draft 2.0 802.11n wireless access point along with a quartet of switched Fast Ethernet ports at the rear. If you're shifting big files around on the LAN and want Gigabit Ethernet then you'll need to look towards products such as D-Link's DIR-655 or Netgear's WNR854T although this will push the asking price close to the £100 mark.

via trustedreviews.com

Belkin's sleek little Network USB Hub is rather special in that it enables you to share virtually any type of USB device over the network with multiple PCs. No more unplugging them and swapping them to another system as they can be kept in a central hub and access handed out as required. The hub adheres to Belkin's design philosophy so its polished black casing will fit in neatly with its latest wireless routers. The casing is less than 2cms thick but it's built well enough and packs in five USB 2.0 ports and a Fast Ethernet port whilst power is provided by a small external supply.

Each PC requires a Control Center utility installed, which only takes few seconds. It'll automatically add an exception to the Windows Firewall and also offers a choice of manually or automatically connecting to USB devices as they're plugged in. It runs permanently in the background and loads a quick access icon in the System Tray.

via trustedreviews.com

CeBIT and Powerline seem to have a thing for one another, and sure enough, this year we're seeing yet another firm storm onto the scene in an attempt to advance the flagging technology. London-based En-Twyn set up shop in Germany to showcase its En-Compass, which doesn't require any special wall cutouts and differs from most other Powerline systems by packing its electronics on the backside. In other words, you won't have any unsightly adapters protruding from the front. Beyond that, everything else works as expected -- Ethernet signals travel over your existing home wiring setup -- but unfortunately, the product is still stuck in prototype stage at the moment.

via engadget.com

Does your wireless network work well? Sometimes it’s really hard to decide where to put that router to get the best signal… Until now. The hard work is over, this Hawking wireless adapter is designed to connect your desktop computer or laptop easily to any Wireless-B or Wireless-G network via a USB connection. This award-winning router extends wireless connection distances by up to 300%. The Hi-Gain Wireless-G Dish Adapter is the only wireless adapter to integrate the distance benefits of wireless.

via gadgetgrid.com

Current owners of Nokia N-series Internet tablets can use their integrated Bluetooth connections to start dial-up networking with tetherable handsets for Internet access on the go. But DUN is awkward and clunky, the new hotness, especially for smartphone owners who like Windows Mobile, is Bluetooth PAN.

PAN offers a simpler way to connect. Instead of having cumbersome modem scripts and login info on your tablet, you simply share your smartphone’s connection via Bluetooth. It’s far easier and more elegant of a solution.

And the Maemo community of tablet developers has just developed an add-on package for Nokia tablets granting them PAN powers, just like MacBooks and other Bluetooth-friendly computers. Your handset needs to support PAN, too, but if it does, this is a better way to keep your tablet connected.

via crunchgear.com

We love the Chumby. Not only is it innovative, it’s damn cute. And today Chumby has announced partnerships with a number of content providers to further increase the device’s value, including MySpace, Shoutcast, Weather Channel, MTV, and many TV shows. And the Food Network!

via crunchgear.com

While the USA is busy shooting satellites out of the sky, Japan is launching new Internet service birds. It just orbited the WINDS, or Wideband Internetworking Engineering test and Development Satellite. Clever acronym. The goal of the spacecraft is to deliver high-speed access to far-flung corners of Asia where traditional, wired Internet access can be difficult to come by.

Not everyone thinks it’s needed though, as 95% of Japan is covered by conventional connectivity. The real question, critics say, is whether or not a digital divide in Japan exists. If so, the satellite addresses it. If not, it’s a waste of metal and plastic.

via crunchgear.com

Moving house can be a tedious business at the best of times. Packing, cleaning, lifting, carrying, driving and unpacking: rinse and repeat. It's a tedious cycle of tasks and having just gone through such a process with fellow staffer Ed, I'm more than happy to be settled down again. Of course, another aspect of moving house is the need setup all your utilities, including water, electricity, phone and, more often than not, Internet.

Now, even my Mum knows - sorry Mum - that Internet services in the UK aren't exactly what they could or ought to be. While Western Europe and Scandinavia in particular have, to a large extent, access to super fast connections capable of delivering the sorts of services everyone likes to talk about (i.e. real on-demand TV), but simply can't deliver; we must put up with a smorgasbord of different services that confuse as much as they often disappoint.

via trustedreviews.com

For the fourth time in a week, an undersea communications cable has apparently been cut (or "failed due to a power outage," as some sources suggest), and while no official reports of subversion have surfaced just yet, things are beginning to get suspicious. Flag Telecom, a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance ADA Group, has had two cables damaged in the span of a week -- a quandary it has never dealt with until now. As it stands, traffic from the Middle East and surrounding areas is being routed through various other cables in an attempt to remain online, but any more snips and we could be dealing with ping times eerily similar to those seen in 1993 (or much, much larger issues).

via engadget.com

It might be a compact little NAS appliance, but Synology's new Disk Station DS-207+ certainly knows how to pack the features in, as this dual disk desktop box takes most of the features of its bigger Cube Station stable mates and delivers them at a competitive price...

via trustedreviews.com

So we snagged a DroboShare to hook our lonesome, directly-attached Drobo into. At $200 for what's essentially a USB network adapter we had some pretty high expectations, but thankfully we've been pretty impressed so far...

via engadget.com

IPEVO have announced an upgrade to their SOLO desktop phone for the Skype VoIP service that adds WiFi connectivity to the attractive device. Revealed as part of the company’s updated range at CES 2008 - which also included compact wired handsets, a desktop speakerphone and a webcam designed for VoIP use - the SOLO now can be used away from a wired network connection, in any location as long as it is near power and within range of your wireless network...

via slashgear.com