Digital World - A consumer electronics blog from the publishers of PC World

Hands On: Able Planet's Clear Harmony Headphones

Emru Townsend — 2007-11-13T10:57:21-08:00

My mother always told me I'd regret procrastinatng. For months I've had Able Planet's $349 Clear Harmony headphones sitting on my desk, waiting for me to get around to trying them out. Last month, I finally opened the package....

The Charger That's as Green as You Want to Be

Emru Townsend — 2007-11-12T08:18:26-08:00

How's this for versatle? The HYmini from miniWIZ lets you store energy in its 1200-mAh internal lithium-ion battery so you can charge your other myriad portable devices -- only it can get its juice from the sun and wind. Hang...

Splish Splash, MP3s in the Bath

Emru Townsend — 2007-11-08T15:04:31-08:00

Sometimes you just want to unwind with a nice, long hot bath, am I right? Fancy oils, a glass of wine, and some soothing tunes -- oh, wait, that's right. "Soothing tunes" means cranking the stereo or wrangling your iPod...

Carrying Bags for Eco-Conscious Gadget Freaks

Emru Townsend — 2007-11-07T17:25:52-08:00

Here's a way for the on-to-go gadget freak to stay powered up: As part of their line of green products, Office Depot is offering the Voltaic series of bags. Like the Voltaic Converter pictured here, the knapsacks and messenger bags...

J.Lo's Album Goes Digital

Emru Townsend — 2007-11-07T10:42:54-08:00

Here's another way for musicians to go digital: Jennifer Lopez has teamed up with luxury tech purveyors Gresso to release her latest album on a USB flash drive. It's similar to what the French pop group Bubblies did last year,...

The Radiohead Experiment, One Month Later

Emru Townsend — 2007-11-06T16:46:07-08:00

Internet research group Comscore caused a stir yesterday when they published the results of a study that showed that in the first 29 days of October, 38% of the people who downloaded In Rainbows didn't pay a dime. It seems...

I Guess You Can Hear Me Now

Emru Townsend — 2007-11-06T10:25:14-08:00

One of the reasons I love this time of year is because the blustery winds give me a great excuse not to use my cell phone when I'm out of the office. Now Motorola has gone and ruined a good...

Decoding Cell Phone Etiquette

Emru Townsend — 2007-11-05T11:30:28-08:00

Ask almost anyone, and they'll tell you that cell phone etiquette -- or lack thereof -- is a problem. For that matter, telephone etiquette hasn't been entirely sorted out yet, as encounters with sales clerks and receptionists constantly remind me....

Radiohead Effect Extends to Magazines

Emru Townsend — 2007-11-05T07:14:26-08:00

Sometimes it's not who's first, but who's most influential. Even though others have done it before, Radiohead's pay-what-you-want scheme has captured people's imaginations. I wasn't too surprised when Saul Williams gave it a shot (with a little help from Trent...

Watching the YouTube Watchmen

Emru Townsend — 2007-11-02T08:30:54-08:00

Ever since the idea of automated scanning of YouTube content for infringing material first came up, I've wondered about its viability. Would safeguards exist for people who posted other people's copyrighted works legitimately? A number of organizations have banded together...

HD DVD Breaks the $100 Barrier (With a Little Help from Wal-Mart)

Emru Townsend — 2007-11-01T11:43:56-08:00

If you'd asked me a week ago -- and as a matter of fact, someone did -- I'd have said that you could sum up the high-definition disc war like this: Blu-ray is selling a lot of software, and HD...

NBC Universal Unhappy with iTunes Profit

Cathy Lu — 2007-10-29T14:13:40-08:00

More dirt has emerged regarding the Apple/Universal deal that turned rotten. According to an article in Variety, the deal went south when NBC Universal wanted to raise the price of hot properties like "Heroes" by a dollar, to $2.99, in...

Dual-Layer iPod Protection

Emru Townsend — 2007-10-29T06:56:41-08:00

With the introduction of the iPhone and the latest iPods, my inbox is overflowing with press releases about the requisite cases for all this Apple goodness. Most cases are retreads from existing lines, so -- with the exception of the...

One E-Book Standard to Rule Them All

Emru Townsend — 2007-10-29T03:22:12-08:00

Last year I wrote about how the International Digital Publishing Forum was working on creating a unified file format for e-readers, saving publishers the trouble of having to choose from one (or, more frequently, several) of the many formats out...

Boynq's Quirky iPod System

Cathy Lu — 2007-10-26T11:30:59-08:00

It's true, there's a greater overpopulation of iPod speakers than even Bugaboos. But that doesn't mean I don't love me a weird-looking system.The WakeUp alarm-clock-cum-iPod speaker from Boynq features three LCD screens that display the hour, the minute, and the...