A Keyboard for Wii?

A few days ago news broke that Logitech would be joining in the productions of peripherals for Nintendo’s rather scarce gaming machine. Well, today WiiFanboy posted about a short blurb in the May issue of Game Informer. The tidbit claims that Nintendo is indeed looking into adding a keyboard to the Wii’s arsenal. This surely makes sense given the fact that you can browse the web using the Wii edition of the Opera browser. I think that it would certainly be a welcome addition for those who intend to surf the web with their shiny white machines. A full keyboard could also make in game chat for online games a very likely possibility. Check out a photo of the magazine page below, thanks to WFB.

More Dark Clouds for Vonage, May Have a Silver Lining

Hopefully you’re not tired of reading about Vonage, because the news continues to pour in about the struggling company, and I assume it will continue to. Plus, I’ve already got myself interested in the case so I think I’ll be continuing to cover it.

In a recent article, Engadget explained that things were looking worse for Vonage, when they requested a permanent stay on the Judges ruling about signing up new customers. The conclusions seem to say that they’re having trouble coming up with a workaround for the Verizon patents that they were found to be infringing upon.

They company was quoted as saying that if they “[were] somehow able to implement a design around, and was able to ultimately prevail on appeal, it would have no hope of regaining its lost customers, or its lost goodwill, and its loss of revenue would be permanent and…” Apparently they cut the rest of the statement, claiming that the material was confidential.

However, there is some potential light at the end of the tunnel. In an update to the same article, Engadget explains that there is a possibility that Verizon’s patents are unlawful. Word is that they patents contain some technology that was previously discussed by a number of communications companies to eventually become an open standard. If this is the case, it sounds like Vonage might be getting off the hook, although from the sound of what they’re saying some ill will because of these proceedings may permanently hurt their image.

There’s one more dark cloud looming, and that may be possible litigation from Sprint. According to another at Engadget, another suit is in the works to begin in September. However, this ominous cloud has its own potential silver lining. Rumors are spreading that Sprint may actually move to acquire Vonage, which would certainly serve any of their patent issues. If there were any truth to these rumors it would be interesting to see what a telecommunications giant would do with a company offering a competing technology. Only time will tell what becomes of this distressed VOIP company.

SolidAlliance Won’t Quit

I’ve already posted about Japanese company, SolidAlliances’s strange products a few times. It seems, however, that they still haven’t had enough of cheesy looking food themed USB devices. I really don’t have much to say about this USB Hub complete with 1GB attachment drives, aside from LOL. I just can’t see how there’s much of a practical market for this stuff. There’s no pricing available at Akihabara at the moment, but I’d assume, like the previous products, this stuff is bound to be expensive too.

TEAC Joins the Bone Conducting Party

Who would have thought that bone-conducting headphones would become one of my most blogged about technology here? I certainly wouldn’t have. But, after Thanko’s bone-conducting headphones and high-tech headband, it seems to have become a trend around here.

Well yet another Japanese company, TEAC, has come out with their own model. The HP-F100s are their entry into the market. You can check out more about their specs at this article from Engadget. But, the biggest differences between this set and Thanko’s Vonias are the addition of a standalone amplifier and the price. The HP-F100s come with a dedicated amplifier that can apparently push out .76-watts for each channel, impressive (snicker).



The biggest kicker however, is the price. They’re going for a staggering ¥52,500, which translates to $440, while Thanko’s Vonia headphones run a cool ¥9,800 or about $82. With no direct evidence as to which pair sounds better, it seems like TEAC’s headphones are a little bit on the pricy side, especially for such a miniscule market.

Things Continue to Look Bad for Vonage

Last week I reported that Vonage wasn’t in such great shape after a lawsuit from Verizon and a court order by a judge. The judge ruled that Vonage wouldn’t be allowed to signup any new customers, which seemed like a death sentence for the already flailing company. Luckily, since then they have gotten this ruling lifted and they can continue to expand their customer base.

(Photo courtesy of CNET)

However, this isn’t a great turning point for the company, they still face pretty tough odds. Engadget reported today that just as Vonage was announcing cost-cutting measures, the acting CEO Michael Snyder resigned. Things aren’t looking too good as the company has announced that they will be consolidating their operations and scaling back advertising. And as was inevitable, Vonage will be laying off some employees. It seems that with every passing day we are coming closer and closer to the not-too-far-off end of VOIP pioneer Vonage.

Apple TV Upgrade Kit

So, the Apple TV is out even after its delay. If you’ve got one, and some expensive white cables to go along with it, what else could you possibly want? Well, more storage space, that’s what. The Apple TV ships with a measly 40GB hard drive. And if you’ve got a nice collection of feature length movies and TV shows, you might be running out of space already! If you haven’t heard there’s about a bazillion ways to get hacking the Apple TV (already). If you’re the totally balls-to-the-wall do-it-yourself type, check out AppleTVHacks.net, as they’ve got a pretty decent collection going on.

However, if you’re looking to expand your storage capacity but can’t be bothered to rip out the drive from the Apple TV and doing some disk copying and restoring, WeaKnees has got your back! They’re offering up a 160GB drive (4 times the storage) that comes preformatted to work with Apple TV, for $199. While it seems a bit steep it’s really only about $50 more than it would cost to go out and buy a drive and enclosure yourself and performing all of the work. On top of saving you time, this premium service offers a six-month warranty, seeing as performing this surgery on your Apple TV will immediately void your manufacturer’s warranty.

So, if you’ve got an Apple TV and you’re jonesing for more space this service could be a godsend. They’ve got tons of info on the website to help you along the process to make sure that everything goes smoothly.

New Apple Commercials

Just in case you get a chuckle out of Apple’s Get A Mac commercials (like me) you’ll be pleased to hear that they’ve posted two new ones. The first, “Flashback,” features young PC and young Mac. The second is titled “Computer Cart” and is funny, like usual.

Check them out by clicking either of the pictures below.