Brian Lam

Yamaha YSP-500 the Littlest Sound Beam Surround System

I love the YSP series soundbars from Yamaha, but two points: their prices, and fact that you can’t table mount em without blocking the bottom part of a flat panel. The Japan-only YSP-500 has only 18 individual sound beam drivers as opposed to 42 in the YSP-4000. It’s also only 24-inches long, will fit easily…

LA Tech Writer?

Anyone know anyone? Email me. UPDATE: I appreciate the reader volunteers, but professional tech writers only, please.

Sony Bastards Ripped Off the Bunny Tsunami Ad

What the Hell. When I saw this morning’s post on the awesome Sony Bravia Bunny Ad, featuring multi-hued rabbits climbing through a cityscape transforming into a tidalwave, I assumed it was the work of my favorite artists, the LA-based kozyndan. By my front door, I have a framed print of one of their limited edition…

Craziest. Zune. Email. Ever. (NSFW)

From: Josh Jennings [email protected] Subject: Hey great zune coverage Date: October 3, 2007 7:14:34 PM PDT To: Brian Lam [email protected] ‘cept for one thing…you proved to be nothing but an apple biased asshole! it’s the likes of you that I would love to see their hands broken so they could never “blog” again…if thats what…

Sputnik Satellite’s 50th Anniversary Today

Today is the 50th anniversary of Russia’s Sputnik satellite. Sputnik translates into “Traveling companion of the earth”, was “23 inches in diameter and 184 pounds, with four feathery antennas swept back like a windblown comb-over from its high-gloss sphere.” Some credit the unexpected launch of Sputnik with kicking off the space race. Steven Winn’s piece…

iPhone Manufacturer Foxconn Signs Up for Pico Projector Tech

Texas Instruments announced that Foxconn, sweatshoppy manufacturer of the iPhone, iPod nano, Macbook Pros, Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones has agreed to use cellphone-appropriate Pico Projectors in future products. We wouldn’t say this means an iPhone with a projector inside is coming, since it’s not clear Foxconn does any design, but it does let the…

iPhone Getting Offline Safari Storage but No 3rd-Party Native Development Planned

An Apple source has informed Ars that the iPhone’s Safari is getting offline storage capabilities, a la Google Gears, which could be used to cache apps and data. There’s also talk of possible icons on the home page that open up Safari-driven apps. But no third party development kit is planned for native programs. Ars…

Wired Science Premieres Tonight at 8 p.m.

My buddies Josh Davis and Adam Rogers from Wired are on tonight’s first episode of Wired Science. Josh does a segment on Estonia’s internet being shut down by a botnet, reported by basically partying with Russian mobsters. And Adam, a science editor who has the special ability of knowing what every ingredient off the back…

Suissa’s Wooden Enlighten PC

Like other Suissa PCs, the Enlighten’s case is made of wood meant to last through many cycles of component gutting and upgrading. Unlike the others, this one is built around a MicroATX mobo. This qualifies as art, and is therefore above a certain amount of practical criticism, but I can’t get over the fact that…

First Video of Zune 2 and Flash Zune

Giz wasn’t invited to the launch of the Zune, but the folks at Edelman working late into the night supplied us with a promotional video of the event. Check out the UI; it looks amazing. On the other hand, the act of scrolling on the Zunepad looks very constrained and awkward (see the hand in…

First Official Zune 2 and Zune Flash Photos

We’d seen the new Zune in red, pink and black (or whatever its called) but I was curious about the green model we reported today. Here it is, leaked, along with some better photos. Now, is that a pea green? An army green? An evergreen green? Looks kind of like Master Chief’s armor. But I’ve…

Zune Getting Media Center Video Integration?

A Zunerama forum memberdude who works at an unnamed publication has written about an embargoed fax confirming much of the previous dirt on Zune 2. Here’s one new tidbit, unconfirmed, but juicy: Media center integration. Much like Tivo2go can push video to an iPod, the Zune will be able to tote shows you’ve recorded on…

What the Hell is a Zune Pad?!

Zunepad?! That’s the name of the new square/circle control? Is that the branding effort to combat Apple’s well-known clickwheel or multitouch interface? Bad idea, Microdudes, bad idea. Here come your blog wedgies. [zunepad?!] https://gizmodo.com/zune-2-getting-wireless-syncing-drm-free-music-video-306361

Samsung Hybrid BD-UP5000 Delayed?

It’s unconfirmed by any of my Samsung contacts, but apparently the new high end Blu-ray disc player from Samsung is being canceled, while the long awaited hybrid disc player, the first with total HD DVD and Blu-ray compatibility, is being delayed. That’s important for several reasons. The hybrid BD-UP5000 player is supposedly going to be…

Two NYTimes reporters are relentlessly covering the iPhone Bricking episode. Saul Hansell interviews Palm and confirms that AT&T isn’t worried about Treos bringing down the network, and Katie tells the tale of her daughter’s iPhone bricking that had nothing to do with an unlock. I wonder what David Pogue and Walt Mossberg have to say…

Zune 2 Launch: Excited?

Until yesterday, Tthe Zune 2 Launch was kept under extremely tight wraps. That’s all and well if you like sticking to plans, but the lack of any leaked info seems to have hurt the overall effort. Maybe leaks are better publicity than a random news/image drop with little prior warning. Also, it appears the October…

Panasonic DMR-BW900 Blu-ray Recorder Writes to 50GB Dual Layer Discs or a TB of HDD

Recording 18 hours of 1080p on a single disc is pretty serious stuff, and Panasonic Blu-ray recorders launched at CEATEC Japan do this. They do this via a digital TV tuner, MPEG 4 compression and support for 50GB dual layer discs you’d see on a PC recorder, but never before on a home theater box.…

Adobe Flash Lite 3 For Cellphones Released With Video Support

Adobe followed through on a promise to release Flash Lite for mobiles with FLV support, which is Flash video support for you people not peering into the guts of YouTube.com. Phones with S60, WM5/6 and a few others should be able to run the plug in, but since Flash video is notoriously greedy when it…

Pentax Optio V10 Slim Camera

The other Pentax launched today is this 8MP slim that is about 2cm thick. Not bad, but a quick Google search shows that Sony’s had thinner Cybershots, even if at lower MP ratings. (Not sure if that’s counting the big lens cover slides that most T series cams have.) The back has a 3-inch LCD.…

Pentax Optio A40 Camera Records in DivX

The medium-sized A40 has a 3x zoom, a 12MP rating and digital and mechanical shot stabilization. Coolest is its ability to record in DivX, which I guess is neato for distributing your home movies on BitTorrent, but maybe won’t result in high quality movies once you run ’em through iMovie or Windows Movie Maker for…