I mean, Sprint will gift you an Airave femtocell if you're thinking about leaving (normally $5 a month). Though we don't yet know if AT&T is planning a similar monthly fee—or a one-off charge like Verizon's Network Extender—I'd like to see users in known dead zones get the hardware free.

Even if you don't want to pay the possible $20 a month for unlimited calls, at least you'd get actual network coverage at home. Think about it: they could make everything right with these things, and make up for the last few years of shitiness.

To be fair, AT&T says it's working to not only speed up its network, but boost reliability in iPhone heavy areas like New York and San Francisco. Carriers also face opposition from local officials and home owner associations when it comes to building new towers. And you can likely get out of your contract if you get your shiny iPhone home and find you live in an AT&T black hole.

But here's the thing: AT&T users have heard about promised upgrades for years, and many still have no joy. They're angry. A complimentary MicroCell 3G would be a great apology, and help AT&T turn around its falling public perception. What do you think?

Also see: Full AT&T MicroCell 3G Details

The Mophie Juicepack Air is slated to be the sveltest iPhone battery boosting case yet. (Exactly how thin that means, we are honestly not sure.) Packed with a 1200 mAH lithium polymer battery, the Juicepack Air can function as a regular iPhone case, or it can be switched out of "standby" to add 4.5 hours of talk/surf time to the handset.

Priced at $80 and available this Spring, it might be alright, but now we're really craving a Capri Sun. That'll put the price up to $82.50 at least. [Mophie]

Toshiba doesn't look like they're showing any of said MCE-equipped products here. So we'll just have to take their word for it, but if you're a Media Center head, this might be the way to go later this year. At least it's something to make up for their still-gaping Blu-ray hole.

TOSHIBA INTRODUCES NETWORK DEVICES DESIGNED TO DELIVER ON THE
PROMISE OF THE CONNECTED HOME
New TV, LCD TV/DVD Combo and Standalone Player Utilize Widget Channel, Developed by
Intel® and Yahoo!®, and Microsoft’s Windows Extender for Media Center Platform to Deliver
an Exciting Content Solution for the Home

CES, LAS VEGAS – January 7, 2009 – Toshiba America Consumer Products, L.L.C.
(“Toshiba”), announced its new audio/video (A/V) devices with Network Player capabilities,
which deliver on the promise of digital convergence in the home. Toshiba is launching this
initiative across three product categories – REGZA® LCD TVs, LCD TV/DVD Combos and
standalone players – in an effort to meet individual consumer needs.

Toshiba’s new A/V devices offer consumers access to a diverse range of rich content over the
Internet. With an extensive library of TV shows and movies, music, sports, and information
services such as stock prices and weather forecasts at their fingertips, consumers will be
provided with greater flexibility to easily customize and enhance their entertainment experience.

“Toshiba took the initiative to bridge the ways consumers normally access Internet content and
entertainment media with the introduction of network devices that will bring the Internet
experience to consumer electronic products in the home,” said Yoshi Uchiyama, Senior Vice
President, Corporate Planning. “According to a recent study conducted by NPD for Toshiba, a
large majority of consumers cite simplicity as the essential issue for adoption of Internet content.
Therefore, key to Toshiba’s home network strategy is a focus on simplicity – making it simple to
2
 
connect, simple to operate and simple to access content. The new line of Toshiba AV devices
with Network Players will open up an entire new world of content delivery in a way that
consumers will like.”

Getting Connected
Toshiba’s A/V devices with network player capabilities use a combination of two core
components, including the Widget Channel, developed by Intel and Yahoo! and Microsoft’s
Extender for Windows Media Center.

While consumers may be familiar with widgets from the PC world, TV Widgets, enabled by the
Widget Channel framework, now take that simple to use “dashboard” experience and place it
into the TV allowing consumers direct access to numerous sources of content simply via their
remote control. While some TV Widgets may be pre-installed, consumers now also have the
flexibility to customize their experience by adding widgets of their own selection based on their
interests or needs. TV Widgets will feature a rich array of content and as more TV Widgets
become available, consumers can add them to the Network Players to enhance their assortment.

By integrating Extenders for Windows Media Center in Toshiba’s new A/V products with
Network Player capabilities, the devices will act as “hubs” for delivery of content anywhere in
the home. Using a home network, Extender for Windows Media Center technology allows users
to access a wide range of digital content from Windows Media Center on the PC to their big
screen TV. Windows Media Center also delivers an extensive amount of Internet TV and movie
content, live and recorded TV with the addition of a TV tuner, plus photos, music, home videos
and more.

The combination of the two software platforms in one hardware device will deliver on the
promise of the new digital lifestyle.

Toshiba will approach the market by offering several choices from which consumers can select
the product that best fits their particular needs.
3
 
The Network Player capabilities described above are scheduled to be built into certain models of
Toshiba’s REGZA LCD TVs. This will provide consumers with easy access to the rich media
experience without the need for an external set top box or device.

As the market leader in the LCD TV/DVD Combo category, Toshiba will also integrate the
Network Player capability to offer flexibility and simplicity for consumers whether they choose
to use it as a primary TV in the home or in the bedroom, kitchen or children’s room.

Toshiba will also develop a standalone player, which acts as a hub for content delivery into the
entertainment space. The new player can deliver content directly from the Internet, content from
the PC with Extenders for Windows Media Center or from its built in DVD player with 1080p
upconversion. With an SD card slot and USB port for added flexibility, the device allows
consumers to access their entertainment content in any room of the house and all at a value that
consumers have come to expect.

Toshiba’s A/V devices with Network Player capabilities will feature picture quality enhancement
technologies, allowing viewers to enjoy a wide range of content upconverted to near HD quality.
The new models are planned to ship in the second half of 2009, and product pricing and
availability will be announced later this year.

• It's snappier than I thought it would be. Even though it's powered off of a Windows Mobile phone, there's a separate renderer based in the Redfly so it handles the graphics (instead of depending on the paltry one in the phone).
• Keys aren't as spaced out as a regular keyboard, but it's spacious enough to be not cramped. You can definitely two-hand type on this thing.
• The display is extended to 640x480 resolution (see bullet point one) to fit the Redfly.
• The touchpad is slightly smaller than we would like, but it's not unusable.

Is it worth $499? Only if you're really dependent on your Windows Mobile phone and don't want to carry around a UMPC with you. It also has 8 hours of battery life and charges your phone during use, which helps justify the price tag. [Gizmodo]

Update: The 2200 looks like it's not shipping quite yet (1-2 weeks), but the 2100 is.

Update 2: Turns out the Linksys systems only support XviD and not DivX. [2100 via 2200]

The extender uses Cat 5 Ethernet cable in order to extend your USB experience up to 150 feet, which may cause signal degradation in normal extenders, which is probably why these guys are charging $79.95 for theirs. Seriously? $79.95? Why not just get a standard USB extension cable? Or for that price, you can buy a bunch of powered USB hubs and link them up with standard Ethernet cords.

Funny video though. – Jason Chen

Product Page [USB Extender - Thanks Rocco!]

What's the point? Mostly to hook up a USB printer or some various low-bandwidth devices at a distance. But hooking up a USB hard disk over its 802.11g may not deliver the kind of performance anyone would like. – Jason Chen

Product page [Icron via Everything USB]

Cool if you're really keen on watching the same thing in multiple rooms—in HD no less—but for two big ones, you could easily just buy two HD DVD or Blu-ray players and be done with it. – Jason Chen

Press Release [Avocent via Gearlive]

Gefen's new wireless extenders will all be available in Q1 2007—we hope. –Noah Robischon

Gefen Announces UWB Products (Again) [Wi-Fi Networking News]

USB Extender [Red Ferret]

More USB extension products [Amazon]