Meanwhile, Fox, a member of the consortium behind UltraViolet, revealed at CES that they do not expect to release titles with UltraViolet until late 2012. According to a report by the Las Angeles Times, Fox executives want to see more retail outlets, more compatible devices, and a common downloadable format.

Accounts of UltraViolet’s success are varied, with representatives from the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the consortium of vendors behind UltraViolet, lauding it’s success to date and downplaying consumers’ initial frustrations. The president of Warner Home Video, Ron Sanders, states that “consumers are excited about the prospects for streaming and mobile device use with [UltraViolet]” while the press continues to report consumers’ complaints. Meanwhile, Warner’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2—the most successful movie of the year—continues to receive nearly as many one-star ratings as five at Amazon.com…largely in response to UltraViolet.

Actual product announcements were few and far between. Really there were only three things announced. First they discussed Fox apps coming to the Xbox. They are mostly on-demand video streaming from the various Fox brands including regular Fox (Glee, Simpsons, etc.), WSJ Live, Fox News Channel, and IGN. The second announcement was also for the Xbox: Sesame Street TV. It offers interactive episodes of Sesame Street. Now your kids can play along with Elmo and the gang. Release dates weren’t given for either of these products had. The third, and final, announcement of the night was that Kinect on Windows will be launching on Feb 1st. It can be pre-ordered from Amazon for $250.

We decided to chronicle the keynote in images. Peruse through the gallery  to see how the pictures tell the story of this year’s keynote.

Be sure to check all of our CES coverage at The Digital Media Zone.

Create a New Account…Again

Like Warner and Sony, Universal requires you to create an online account and link it to your UltraViolet account. That’s four accounts you need now for UltraViolet. Unlike the other UltraViolet sites, you can’t use an email address for your username, so if you were trying to coordinate your account information to make things easier on yourself, you’re out of luck. Also, your Universal account password must be 6-8 characters, which seems oddly insecure considering everything the studios are going through to lock down and protect this content.

Universal’s site is wisely badged with a “beta” flag, and it features a prominent “Let us know what you think!” button to provide feedback. The intent is good, but they appear to lack the support necessary to handle the feedback: we received an irrelevant, generic troubleshooting message in reply to general comments we left about the site.

Plenty of Options

Unlike Warner and Sony, Universal isn’t eliminating its other Digital Copy formats in favor of UltraViolet. Instead, UltraViolet is an available option in addition to a Digital Copy through either iTunes, VUDU, or Amazon Instant Video. That’s right: you have a choice. How customer-friendly! Warner and Sony should take notice; Paramount may already have, since they recently announced the January release of a new Dark of the Moon combo pack with UltraViolet and Digital Copy. This not only gives consumers options, it gives the studios metrics they can use to determine which format(s) their customers prefer. Now we just have to hope that the studios are watching.

Universal lets you redeem an UltraViolet copy and one of three other Digital Copy formats

Universal throws in a second UltraViolet title for free when you redeem your Cowboys & Aliens code. In our test, the selection was limited to picking between Dazed and Confused and Being John Malkovich.

Streaming and Downloading

Universal’s UltraViolet titles can be streamed on all UltraViolet streaming devices, including Macs and PCs through a browser with the Flash plug-in and supported mobile devices and Google TV through Flixster. Video quality in the browser is good (nearly a 2 Mbps bit rate), but we experienced jerks and tears, even on a powerful, Gb Ethernet-connected computer. Universal’s site shows titles from other providers, but they’re presented in a way that seems unnecessarily disjointed.

UltraViolet Titles from other providers appear disabled, with a buried link to Flixster

Universal’s UltraViolet titles can also be downloaded, but here’s where it gets confusing. From Universal’s site, you can download the purchased title, Cowboys & Aliens, to a PC, but you cannot download the free title. You cannot download titles to a Mac from Universal’s site, but you can download both titles to a Mac from Flixster.com to play offline in the Flixster Collections desktop software. You can also download either title to your mobile device through Flixster.

Downloading the UltraViolet copy of Cowboys & Aliens to a PC requires that you install yet another desktop application, and it’s an arduous process requiring the following steps:

• On Universal’s site, click Download.
• Download and run the installer file CowboysAndAliens_UV_3.exe.
• Click Install once the installer runs.
• Sign in to your Universal account.
• When the installer completes, the Download Manager will run; wait for the download to complete.

What's with the big red button?

The Cowboys & Aliens installer leaves a mess of stuff in the Start menu

By default, Universal’s UltraViolet titles download to the Public Videos folder on your Windows computer. Unlike the downloadable content from all of the other studios offering UltraViolet, these are in Windows Media (.WMV) format, and the video quality is surprisingly good. Cowboys & Aliens is a 720 x 320 widescreen video with a bit rate of over 6 Mbps. The digital rights on the file include the ability to sync to a device capable of playing subscription files, so presumably you could play this on your Windows Phone and legacy Zune devices. And unlike the titles from any of the other UltraViolet partners, it will appear and play in Windows Media Center.

Conclusions

Universal’s first UltraViolet offering seems like a cautious test, complete with a low-budget toolset and plenty of digital alternatives. And while the differentiated online and download experience might further confuse the market, this may well be a studio’s best UltraViolet adoption to date solely because Universal is not abandoning previously-offered Digital Copy options. If anything, they’re giving you more options than ever before. With just one combo pack purchase, we received unlimited UltraViolet streaming, a downloadable UltraViolet copy (that plays in Flixster’s clunky software), a downloadable Windows Media file, and a downloadable iTunes movie with iTunes Extras (similar to DVD bonus features). Plus Universal threw in an additional movie for free.

Clearly Universal just raised the bar. Now can someone please work on making it all usable? This is all still way too complicated for mere mortals.

Sony Enters the Market…

Sony released its first two movies with UltraViolet digital copies, making them the second studio to support the UltraViolet ecosystem. Like Warner Brothers, Sony’s first titles, Friends with Benefits and The Smurfs, seem strategically chosen to gently test the company’s UltraViolet infrastructure. (Remember, each studio or retailer is responsible for delivering its own content from the cloud.) Unlike Warner Brothers, Sony has included UltraViolet digital copies in their Blu-ray and combo packs only. The DVD-only versions of these titles do not include UltraViolet copies.

Sony’s UltraViolet experience is similar in some ways to Warner Brothers’ and different in others. Similar in that you need to create an account with Sony Pictures. If you purchased any of Warner’s UltraViolet titles and you’re keeping a tally, this is your third account—one for UltraViolet, one on Flixster, and now one for Sony Pictures. It’s similar in that, when registering, you have to link your Sony account to your UltraViolet account. It’s similar in that you can stream the movies online but different in that Sony offers HD streaming from its site (but only for PCs; not for Macs). It’s different in that you can stream to your iPad or iPhone, over WiFi and 3G, right from Safari.

Like Warner Brothers, Sony lets you download your UltraViolet content to your mobile devices using Flixster’s apps. This is good news, because it was unclear if you’d need a different mobile app to watch each studio’s offerings. Like Warner Brothers, you also need to download a desktop program to then download (standard definition only) copies of your purchased titles to a computer. Unlike Warner, Sony’s software uses Silverlight, not AIR—so it’s a different desktop program.

Sony’s site shows and gives you access to all of your UltraViolet titles, regardless of the provider. Based on Sony’s FAQs, it sounds like all of the providers’ sites will do the same. The idea is that you can see and access all of your titles from one place, regardless of where the content resides and where you’re logged in—at uvvu.com or at one of the studio’s sites.  It’s a good idea, and it should help to make the experience less fragmented, but Sony’s language choice when selecting a non-Sony title adds some confusion back into the mix.

Click to watch offsite. What does that even mean?

All in all, if you’re buying into the UltraViolet world, Sony’s offering seems pretty good. The differences between the studios’ products and services add confusion to the market, but in all fairness you can’t blame that on Sony—that’s how UltraViolet works. And Universal joins into the mix this week with Cowboys & Aliens. Another soft hit to test the waters? It should be interesting to see how they’re implementing UltraViolet.

…While Warner Brothers Appeases an Angry Mob

While the start of December marked Sony’s UltraViolet debut, earlier in the week November’s end had Warner Brothers scrambling to ease consumers’ frustration and confusion with [you guessed it!] UltraViolet Digital Copy.

Accounts of consumers spending 30 to 45 minutes getting started with UltraViolet, angrily contacting Flixster and Warner Brothers, or just giving up altogether were quickly spreading on the web. So Warner Brothers released a how-to video to walk customers through the registration and download process.

Then a bug in Flixster caused downloaded videos to disappear, and reports started surfacing of Flixster giving customers who experienced registration, streaming, or download difficulties redemption codes to download their purchased titles on iTunes.

Since we experienced the disappearing videos issue firsthand, we decided to test out this customer service experience. Within an hour of reporting the issue, an email from Flixster included an iTunes redemption code for one or the two reported titles and a note that more information would follow for the other. Three days later, an email message requested a mailing address so they can send a disc that will provide iTunes and Windows Media digital copies of the second title.

So things are so bad in Warner Brothers’ camp that they’re resorting to iTunes—the incumbent (and still dominant) Digital Copy marketplace—to allay customers’ concerns and sending discs to customers in the mail? Sounds like things don’t look so rosy for UltraViolet.

iOS

Apple’s mobile OS, whether used on an iPhone or the iPad is safe and comfortable.  The app store is huge, even on the tablet side.  The size of the app store is the biggest advantage that Apple has going for them.  That and marketing.  And really, that’s where Apple has succeeded.  They didn’t invent the category of product.  They simply made it easy and marketed it properly.  That’s not to say the iPad wasn’t a revolutionary product when it released.  The combination of ease of use along with massive developer support helped make tablets a real possibility, not an also ran.

iOS is easy to navigate.  You have app icons and well, you have app icons.  Folders are nice but not really necessary.  Customization is limited without jailbreaking.  In fact, doing anything outside of Apple’s prescribed system is frowned upon.  They control the experience and while it’s not for me, it made tablets accessible to millions who don’t want to deal with complicated setup and maintenance.  Install approved apps, use said apps, done.  It really is that simple.  Yes, Apple decides what apps you can use but let’s face it, with the support they have, the average user can do pretty much anything they choose.

It is, however, the lack of customization that made me walk away from iOS and the iPad.  Great device, don’t get me wrong.  It’s simply not for me.  The rigidity of the system means that even though the app store is packed with a ton of options, it didn’t do everything I wanted it to do.

Android

After using an iPad I moved on to the Acer Iconia A500.  Loved it!  Loved it so much that after having to return it (wanted a tablet, needed a laptop), I’ve recently purchased a new one and won’t be giving it up.  A lot of the experience with Android does come down to the hardware.  I won’t review the Iconia here but suffice to say that it provided the hardware needed to let the OS come through.

Android is interesting as a tablet OS since it wasn’t really a tablet OS until recently.  Google took a bit of time to get to 3.0 and manufacturers simply weren’t going to wait.  They began using the phone OS on tablets and it was a bit wonky due to this fact.  Now that most tablets are moving to 3.0 via updates, the OS is shining on the platform.  One issue is a lack of apps however.  Oh, the Android app store has thousands upon thousands of apps, but not a ton that will run well on a tablet.  The bigger form factor makes phone apps look simply horrible if they don’t scale correctly.

What Android does correctly however is add some benefits such as more freedom to do what you want with your screens and the ability to allow developers to make certain changes.  This translates into widgets and other screen enhancements that allow you to see certain information without actually opening an app.  A small thing but something I loved when compared to iOS.  As well, the Android notification system is tops among the tablets I’ve used.  Notifications stay in the notification bar until you clear them.  This feature requires jailbreak and a third party app on the iPad.  The notifications don’t get in the way while at the same time sticking around so you don’t forget that you got an email in the time it took you to finish reading that article you were on.

Overall, Android has been my favorite tablet OS so far.  Enough functionality to make the platform shine and (without root) easy enough to use that most people shouldn’t have an issue.  It still has some issues but those are being ironed out and hopefully the OS will continue to grow and develop into something awesome.

WebOS

Poor HP.  WebOS is awesome.  Such a lightweight and simple to use backbone to the HP Touchpad.  So why is it my least favorite tablet OS?  Simple.  I couldn’t do half the stuff I could do on an iPad or Android tablet.  This isn’t really WebOS’s fault as again, as a backbone to a platform it’s great.  It’s the fact that apps don’t exist for WebOS that do for the others.  Even the ones that are there are either slower or crippled in some way.

Example:  I love reading on a tablet.  The Kindle app for WebOS doesn’t allow sideloading of mobi (or any kind) of files.  Since many of the books I read are either in my Calibre library or borrowed from the New York Library, I’m kinda hosed.  The only other ereader app I found for the platform was so slow and hard to use that I gave up on it.

The lack of apps is what killed the Touchpad.  What good is an awesome OS if nothing runs on it.  Yes, there are a good number of apps in the WebOS market but most of them aren’t from the major players.  I found one decent twitter app (Spaz HD), a single version of Angry Birds, and again, the ereader front is almost completely dead.

As far as usability of the tablet itself?  A mostly enjoyable experience.  I loved the home screen.  Having the ability to have running apps right at your fingertips is great.  Of course, this comes at the expense of not being able to put app icons or widgets on the home screen.  The bar at the bottom would only allow me to place five icons.  Great if you only ever use five apps but after that you’re heading into the full list to find things.

All that said, hopefully HP won’t fully kill off WebOS.  Given the right amount of attention, it could be a fantastic option for people in search of a tablet device.

Conclusion

In the end, a tablet OS’s job is the same as a PC’s OS.  Give the user a smooth experience and then get out of the way of the applications.  All three of these OSes do a decent job at that.  The one you choose for your tablet experience should really come down to what you want to do with your new toy.  If you don’t mind being a bit locked down then the iPad is a great experience.  Excellent hardware and the OS is snappy and responsive.  If you want more freedom in what you do and want (to me) a more robust experience, find the Android tablet that’s right for you.  I can even recommend WebOS if you can still find a Touchpad at the $99 price point.  Totally worth it but understand that you won’t have the same options that iPad and Android owners do.

For me, Android is where it’s at now.  While not as smooth as iOS, the added ability of widgets, the notification system and the fact that you have a choice of hardware are all features that add to the experience.  Once you root, you have an even more powerful device.

The tablet landscape is continuing to develop and where it goes from there is anyone’s guess.  iOS will become more Android-like and Android will continue to add features.  Microsoft is working on Windows 8 which will more than likely run on tablets as well as PCs.  This is the OS battleground of the 2010s and it’s just getting started.  Options will only expand so enjoy it!

Setup

If you have setup Netflix on any other device before then this will not be new to you. Simply boot up the Netflix app on the 3DS, go to netflix.com/activate, enter your code, and boom you are good to go. It is like magic basically and it works just as you would expect.

User Interface

When I heard Netflix was coming to the 3DS I thought that they would simply implement instant queue mode and be done with it. However, I was extremely surprised to find out that they implemented the entire Netflix UI (similar to Roku) with Instant Queue, Recommendations, Recently Watched and more. Surprisingly having 2 screens allows the Netflix app to show a log of data at one time on the small screens. The bottom screen is dedicated to navigation through the different titles, while the top screen displays information and rating for the selected title. I will say that it does take a bit of time to load the main UI, but once it is loaded it is relatively snappy. It loads all cover art on demand so the box art will pop in as you scroll through. I honestly think they are displaying too much at one time and it can slow down and get a bit laggy in my opinion, but overall it’s pretty impressive.

You are even able to search inside of the app if you cannot find anything to watch on the main screen. It will start searching for content as soon as you start typing which is a nice feature, but it does take some time to search through the directory. You can navigate through the menu by using the d-pad or by busting out the stylus (no chance of using your fingers here). Navigating through just about all the panes left me wanting it to be faster. It is all going to depend on your internet speed, but I feel as though it all could have been a bit snappier.

One of the things I really liked is that when you select a title you are able to rate, play, add to instant queue, and even enable or disable subtitles for it.

Streaming

Once you have selected a title you can simply press play and it will buffer and start playing. Since the Nintendo 3DS screen is relatively small, 400x240px, it doesn’t really need to stream the highest quality video to make it look half-way decent. I was actually pretty surprised by the quality that was displayed on the 3DS. It was 100% very watchable. Not very pixelated at all and I could honestly say that I wouldn’t mind watching it on the tiny little screen if it was my only option. One bigger issue though is that the Nintendo 3DS speakers are actually pretty quiet. I never really realized it until now, but on some game titles and especially Netflix the audio is very quiet. If you are not in a silent room you will absolutely have to plug in headphones. I actually recommend that you do no matter what. If they happen to be Beats By Dr. Dre then so be it .

While you are streaming a video you are also able to pause, stop, rewind, and fast forward just like you would expect. You even get the cool frame by frame rewind/fast forward. You can simply press on the touch screens timeline to skip ahead or back. It will buffer the movie again and start streaming.

Battery Life

The big question really is how long will the battery last when streaming video? The 3DS battery isn’t a powerhouse and only last up to 5-6 hours when playing games if you are lucky. So let’s just say I was pretty worried that I wouldn’t even make it through a full length movie. I decided to fully charge up my 3DS and start a stream of the 2 Hour long Halo Legends movie. After it was all said and done to my surprise Netflix only drained 25% of the battery. Of course there is no way to tell if it was closer to draining 50% of the movie, but after watching Halo Legends again I still had 25% battery, which means you should be good to watch around 5-6 hours of content on a full charge. I think this is pretty impressive.

Issues

I will say that I have had some issues with Netflix on the 3DS. Sometimes the UI will freeze up or refuse to start buffering a video. I have found a simple work around which is to perform a full shutdown of the system, turn it on, and then boot up Netflix. My feeling is that I always keep it in sleep mode and perhaps something is hogging up the internal memory. So before I start up Netflix I simply perform this reset.

Conclusion

Alright so it might not be perfect, but it totally works and that is surprising. I wouldn’t say that it offers the best Netflix experience, but if it is your only option for the time being it is a pretty decent alternative to nothing. The real incentive will come in when they start to offer 3D movies and television through Netflix which I am sure they will do at some point. For now it is nice to have just incase you want to watch some Netflix on the go (and WiFi is around.) Oh it is also a free app, so you can’t go wrong there.

And now for some awesome Videos!!!
Netflix running on Android and Nintendo 3DS:

Here is Netflix running on my Windows Phone 7:

Hello my name is James and I enjoy purchasing over priced headphones. I know that that is the first thing you thought of when you read the title of the post. However if you have have read my review of the Beats By Dr. Dre Pro then you will know that they are simply amazing headphones with mind blowing bass. My main issue after months of use was that they were not exactly portable headphones which is something that I was lacking. I had cheap buds that I could toss in my bag or use for riding my bike, but I didn’t have a pair that were light weight that I could throw into a bag and get amazing sound out of. I was extremely happy with my Pros and I will use them all the time, but right before I left for Romania once more I accidently packed them up. I was too lazy to go through all my boxes so at the last minute I ran up to Best Buy and bought my second pair of BBDs. So after 14 hours in the air and several weeks of watching movies and listening to movies I have finally decided if my purchase was worth it. Read on..

Features

The BBD Solo HDs have a lot of features built right into them, but also lack a lot of features like their big brother the BBDs Pro. The Solo HDs were built for portability and you can tell because they are able to fold in completely and reduce their size by half. Additionally they come with a nice pouch which you can completely zip. The pouch also has a few pockets to store cables in and even a nice little handle to carry it around with you. These headphones also come with Monster’s ControlTalk attachment which is simply another cable which plugs in and allows you to control playback & volume on your iPod, and it can also allow you to make hands-free calling on your iPhone. Unfortunately for me I do not use any of these devices at all so I could not make use of them, but from what I understand they work great. The big HD addition here as far as features go is their new design/material which basically makes them unbreakable, and also a great improvement in bass over the standard Solos. Unfortunately these do NOT feature the swivel design of the Pros or the Y-Splitting capabilities.

Design

I am honestly blown away by the design of these headphones. They are extremely light weight and I would say almost too light weight, but I can not complain. The tri-fold collapsible design is great for storage and the storage pouch is really nice. They do have a shiny design to them however which is extremely finger print prone, but I haven’t had too many issues with that so far and I am using them non stop. They are marketed as “Over-Ear” head phones, but do not be fooled they are definitely “On-Ear”. At your local Best Buy you should be able to try these out. One thing that you will not be able to judge is the comfort. Since they are on your ear Monster has provided a lot of cushion to comfort your ears. The main cushions on the ear almost have a suction feel to them which is odd at first, but after a few listens you will really start to enjoy them on your ears. After 14 hours in the air I can honestly say that they did not hurt my ears at all. I did move them around from time to time, but this is expected with any pair of headphones. I also feel like they are extremely sturdy even though they are plastic. The Pros are all metal and crazy and I was fearful of buying plastic headphones, but I was able to completely bend them out with no issues at all just like the videos on the official Beats website.

Sound Quality

Just like the BBD Pros these things hit HARD with the bass. I listen to a lot of hip-hop and rap music and they sound absolutely astonishing. I did not honestly think that a pair of on ear headphones could handle so much bass. This is the first pair of headphones that I can honestly say will blow your mind when you put a bass heavy track on. Obviously the BBD Pros hit harder, but if you are looking for bass then you have found the right pair of headphones with the BBD Solo HDs. Additionally I listened to a lot of rock albums and also watched a good deal of movies for The Movie Podcast and they sounded absolutely great. Highs, lows, sound effects, and even that great surround sound effect are all here. These things will make you want to listen to more music hands down.

Value

Headphones are an investment and these will set you back around $200. Even on Amazon they come in around $180, but they are about $180 cheaper than the Pros which is nice. I spent a lot of time at best buy and any decent pair of headphones were anywhere from $150 to $200 so even though these were at the high end I honestly feel as though they are great value. They will last you a long time, look stylish, and have the best bass you can get out of any pair of headphones in this price range.

Conclusion

Even though I hate Monster as a company for their over priced cables that they pushed on just about everyone I have to give it up to them for hooking up with Dr. Dre and creating some of the most amazing headphones that you can buy. I will be rocking them Beats all over Munich this weekend, that is for sure, and I can honestly recommend them to each and everyone of you.

BBDs Solo HDs are available on Amazon right now!

Bonus photos (cause you love me so much):

Good news is I can now simplify that phrase (well not yet, but in the future). Much like when Microsoft hired a 22 year old marketing intern and realized that Windows Phone 7 Series wasn’t the best name, Qualcomm has decided to ditch the random string of numbers in favor of a more Bavarian style system.

However, the big news is hidden in the picture that might end up in a lawsuit, unless it was intentional. They appear to be marketing their “S3″ line towards cameras, gaming consoles, and HDTVs. The real question here is, are they going to make a push for next generation consoles? Playstation 4 and Xbox 720? They seem to think that their graphics have the potential to compete. Only time will tell. Check out the wonderfully outspoken nerd in the promo video below.

Source: TechCrunch via Engadget

You can’t lump an entire product group into a class after just one experience however and I’m glad I came back to trying FM transmitters.  My current job means I spend about half of my day driving and not being able to listen to my music or podcasts was simply killing me.  Since it’s a company vehicle, there’s no option of hard wiring a solution in place.  A wireless transmitter was the only way to go.  Couple that with the fact that this particular vehicle has wiring issues that prevent me from charging my phone while listening and well, there you have the reason for wanting Bluetooth.

After searching around for a economical solution, I stumbled across the BCT8 Bluetooth FM Transmitter on Amazon.  I’m usually wary of ordering these types of devices online since I’m not sure how they’ll work and going through the return process is always a hassle no matter how easy the company makes it.  Once I read the reviews however, I decided it was worth it to give the device a shot.

Hardware

The BCT8 is a full featured device that should provide everything you need to use your phone or other media player in your vehicle.  Besides receiving Bluetooth connections, the device also has 3.5mm in and out ports and a USB port for charging your devices.  The gooseneck is flexible and allows you to position the BCT8 where you need it.  As well, I have yet to have an issue when moving the gooseneck as far as losing power.  The connection to your car’s power port is solid and the BCT8 shouldn’t move on you.

Setup

The BCT8 ships with the device itself and a small instruction booklet that helps you get it connected with your phone or other device.  This works like most others however and is quick and easy.  Just tell your phone to search for devices and hold down the phone button on the BCT8.  Done.  Once setup, your phone should connect each time you turn on the BCT8 and are in range.

Usage

The fact that the BCT8 handles both media and phone connections was a bonus for me.  I was really only looking to listen to media but being able to take hands-free calls while driving is great.  Using the BCT8, you can connect to the last call made as well has hang up on your current call.  Media controls allow you to skip forward and back while listening as well as play and pause your media.  A dial on top of the device sets the FM frequency.  Simple controls but really all you need.  Depending on the layout of your vehicle, the gooseneck design keeps the BCT8 in easy reach so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road to use the functions.

One complaint I have about the layout of the device is the frequency knob.  It sticks out far enough that you can end up hitting it while changing tracks or pausing your media.  I’ve done this several times and it gets annoying when you’re suddenly hearing static due to turning it slightly.  Once most people have a frequency set, they tend to leave it so it makes more sense to me to place this somewhere else.  Put the thing where I’m not going to change frequencies by mistake.

There are occasional delays when changing tracks.  At times I would have to hit the skip button twice to get my phone to respond.  Whether this is a phone or BCT8 issue is unknown but it’s rare occurrence and doesn’t take anything away from using the device.

Quality

I must admit, I was thoroughly surprised by the quality of the audio I get using the BCT8.  The FM transmitter is strong enough to over power most local stations even where I live.  (We get signals from both the US and Canada so the dial is pretty crowded.)  You may have issues if you’re in a large metropolitan area but so far so good.  Not a bit of static or radio station bleed through.  The only time I’ve had an issue is (again) when changing tracks and mistakenly hitting the frequency button.  When it’s on station however, you shouldn’t hear anything but your media.

Speaking of playback, the music and podcasts I’ve listened to have sounded great.  Obviously the quality of the vehicle’s sound system plays a roll here but I can’t complain about the quality of the audio I’ve been listening to.  Podcasts are crisp, clear and easy to hear.  Music maintains its fidelity in the system.  Again, the quality of your music and the vehicle system come into play but I really can’t complain.  I get zero interference and the tunes never drop out.

When it comes to phone calls, the BCT8 performs perfectly.  No matter how loud I’ve had someone coming through the vehicle speakers, they don’t get an echo and can hear me well.  Mileage may vary depending on your vehicle’s layout however.  My work vehicle is arranged as such that the mic isn’t far away.  If you’re power connection is low (such as in my car) there could be issues.  Suffice to say that I have yet to have anyone complain to me about the call quality while using the BCT8.

Conclusion

The fact is that a hardwired connection is always better and if that’s an option for you, I would suggest you take it.  That said, if you don’t have that option, the BCT8 is a solid Bluetooth FM transmitter that will allow you to listen to decent quality media while obeying those new laws popping up regarding phone calls and driving.  I’ve been using the transmitter for approx. 4 hours a day for over a month now and I love it.  Enough so that I’m considering a second one for the family car.  If you need a wireless solution for music in your car, the BCT8 is exactly what you’re looking for.

• • Alerts: View any and all alerts from your WHS right on your WP7
  • User Management: Manage your users right from you phone including Enabling, Disabling, and changing Passwords.
  • Device Management: View all devices and their backup status and also start or stop a backup on any of your devices right from your phone
  • Media Streaming: Stream all of your MP3 files (non-DRM of course) right to your phone. All of your album art will also available and it is fully searchable.
  • Pictures: All PNG and JPG files will now be available right on your phone. Download or upload any picture to and from your WHS and your WP7. Downloaded pictures will be available in your Pictures hub on your WP7, however there is no mention of a Sync.
  • Video Streaming: Stream all (some) of your videos from you WHS straight to your WP7. From what I can tell there is a large amount of Codecs and containers supported however I am not 100% positive that recorded TV will stream as I do not see the container supported.  A full list can be found right here. I did test the test “Landscape.wtv” file and it played fine on my WP7 I am not sure about a recorded show.
  • Live Tile Support: When you pin the app on your WP7 you will be able to see your health alerts, server name, and storage usage of your main disk.

It is available now in the marketplace and also the server side add in located here: http://connect.microsoft.com/windowshomeserver

via Windows Team Blog

Check out the Android Market page for more details

Built-in software:

Battery Life:

According to the Japanese Nintendo website you will also be able to transfer your downloaded DSi and DSi LL software to your new 3DS. This is great news as many people might have been worried that all the money they spent downloading titles on the DSi might have gone to waste. The 3DS will also support memory cards up to 2GB, which overall is a bit disappointing, however 2GB cards are extremely cheap and from the look of it might be included in the packaging.

Speaking of packaging the first pictures have leaked of the 3DS game box art, cartridges, and packaging.

We also have a list of Japanese launch titles:

The games will range in price from 4,800 to 6,090 yen.

Sources: Famitsu, @VOOK64, Nintendo

Features:

Features:

So this is a pretty big feature list. The Windows Phone 7 App basically takes the entire byRemote silverlight browser application and brings it to your hand held device. Not only does it mimic the features of it’s browser counter part, but it does it with style, speed, and great value. To get going with byRemote for WP7 you will need to install byRemote for your HTPC, which is a pretty simple process by downloading it from BigScreenGlobal.com. After you install it on your HTPC you are good to go for local browsing of EPG data. As you can tell from the feature list there is a lot going on here. You can view all of your EPG data in a nice UI, record shows and series, cancel recordings, search for shows, view show data (pictures, descriptions, ratings), and even manage your recorded shows with a click of your touch screen. To top it all off it is all flawless.

User Interface:
The user interface on this application is simple and beautiful to look at. They have completely themed the application to the theme color of your phone, so in my case it is nice and pink, but whatever you have it set to the app will turn that color. Everything is displayed in a nice panorama display with nice animations, and easy to read lists. Everything just comes together perfect on this app.

Setup:
The local setup was simple, install the server app, enter the IP on the phone and boom done. You can even have multiple servers and it will pull in data from all your sources. I have tried a few other apps already for “remote” functions that had a similar server and this was the easiest. The only thing that bothered me was that I had to sign up for an account on their site. I spent a bit more time setting up the “internet” access for the app. This was a bit more complicated as I had to manually forward a port on my router that went to the IP of my WMC7 machine. After about 20 minutes I figured everything out and had it working. It is relatively simple if you have done port forwarding before, however it would have been nice if the install would have done it for me.

Value:
The server app is completely free as it works with the “basic” byRemote. The WP7 has a free trial which is pretty limited, but allows you to check out all of the features. If you want to buy it, it is only $4.99! I think it is a great value for everything you are getting here. The ability to view all of your EPG and schedule recordings from ANYWHERE is where it is at.

Summary:
Let’s get this straight, this is not a “REMOTE” application. You can NOT control your WMC7 with this application. You will need another application to do that (reviews coming soon). However application sticks to what byRemote is and does it extremely well with a great user interface. My recommendation is download the Trial and then download! For more information checkout the apps page at http://bigscreenglobal.com/bgbyrwp7.aspx?PID=BSRV1.

Video Review:

Places is simply added to the main navigation and allows you to view where all of your friends are, search for nearby location, and check in at them. The user interface here is pretty nice. When searching for a location you can actually see immediately under the name of the place if there is a deal when you check in. Checking in is as simple as hitting check in, selecting friends, and check in again. You can also add a little description of what you are doing, just like on the other mobile platforms. One really nice feature they added when searching for a place was the ability to simply hit “directions” and it will pull up Bing maps and direct you to where you want to go.

The second addition here is the ability to tag photos from your phone. Simply select a photo and under more options there is a “tag photo” option. Selecting this will put you in an edit type menu, where you can tap on the photo of where you want to tag and then select the friend you are tagging. It is really simple to use and is nice on the go. I don’t really tag anyone in photos so for me this isn’t a huge deal, but it is welcomed.

Some new options are also available under “settings” which are “run under screen lock” and “allow Facebook to access your location”. These make sense for the new features and I believe are welcome.

Update Summary:
Windows Phone 7 users finally get some new features added to the application, however it is still not up to date with the other mobile platforms as iOS and Android just added integrated chat into the apps. Perhaps WP7 users will get this and live tiles in the next update…one can only hope.