Filed under: Announcements, HDTV

Want to find out who won that Philips 42-inch plasma from last time on Engadget HD? Want a chance to snag a Samsung HL-S5679W DLP this time around? We thought you might. Head on over to Engadget HD to get entered, you don't want to miss your chance for a free 56-inch friggin HDTV, right?

Good luck, and be sure you've entered our other contests, as well!
Hows about an Xbox 360 Premium pack? We've got the new Slingbox Tuner! Second shot at a Nikon S7c WiFi cam! Got a third chance on a Zune!  
Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Tonight, I'm going to try something a little different. I'm taking my beta, pre-release Zune out in public, and I'd love for other Seattle folks to come see it. So, if you're in the area, come to the Souped Up...

I got a list of retailers where you can buy a Zune on November 14. As I said in an interview w/ our friends at Zunescene today: We're confident that retailers will have solid availability, and any consumer who wants...

The Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg and his colleague Catherine Boehret have been testing the latest iPods and iTunes for a few weeks, and in their review they note how Apple has risen to the challenge of the upcoming Microsoft Zune. Overall, they like what they see and hear:
Our verdict: the new iPods are more versatile and less costly than ever, but the new iTunes software is an even bigger improvement, although it has one big downside -- its coolest new feature is so graphically demanding that it doesn't work right on some older computers.
It's hard not to dig hardware that was already great and has always been superbly integrated with its software, and now you get a lot more storage space for the same price and a 60% brighter screen, too. But so what if the iTunes Cover Flow feature is graphics-intensive? That's why it looks so cool. Anyway, shed the DRM nonsense that winds its way through iPod/iTunes, and the iPod would actually deserve its runaway popularity. ...

Gabe and Tycho deftly tackle the impending and terrible ramifications of the Zune's WiFi powers. And to think that we'd thought it would be something akin to gravy, plus a cherry on top, plus a bag of chips. Which probably only sounds good when you're really hungry.
Anyhow, they're right about the limited functionality, something we'd read on the blogosphere, somewhere, but thought was too boring to post (until someone drew the story out for us using fewer, smaller words and pretty pics.) Luckily, the Zune's WiFi capabilities are nowhere close to being done upon launch, and we can expect to see many, many upgrades to its ability to send tunes through the air, magically, once those firmware flashes start flashing.–Brian Lam
Zune [Giz]
Zune and Very Zune[Penny-Arcade]

A small clip of a CBS news reporter talking with Chris Stephenson of Microsoft as he shows off the unpacking of the Zune and then just the same features we already knew.  None the less, for those who want to know how to start unpacking their Zune, this is the video for you CBC [...]

A list of all the retail shops in America that will be selling the Zune come November the 14th. Unlike the Xbox 360 shortage upon release Cesar from ZuneInsider.com has said “We’re confident that retailers will have solid availability, and any consumer who wants to purchase a Zune will be able to do so.” So [...]

Zuneinsider (Cesar) tells me that there have been some questions about transcoding in Zune. Here's the scoop. Zune's software on the PC can play lots of formats and codecs. WMV, h.264, aac, wav, etc... And lots of sizes of video - 320x240, 640x480, even HD. The Zune device, of course, can't play all of these - it's got a 320x240 screen and a less powerful CPU than your PC. So if you've got

Chris Stephenson of Microsoft (and now CBS) fame unboxes the Zune for your enjoyment. He shows off the sleek packaging, the brown-ness, FM radio, background-changing, and Zune-iness of the device.
Oh, to be British...and also working for Microsoft. We recommend you don't look if you want to have the full impact of your unboxing. – Jason Chen
Video [CBS via Engadget]

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, Household, Laptops, Podcasts, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Wireless
Another busy couple of weeks for gadget news in Engadget land: Zune came out swinging with price and release dates, Microsoft launched a lawsuit against Viodentia and whomever else is behind FairUse4WM -- Viodentia responded with a new version of the app -- DVD Jon got back in the mix on FairPlay DRM (but not how you'd think), Mobile ESPN folded, HP bought VoodooPC, batteries were being recalled left and right by Sony, and (almost done!) they also managed to loose the Reader and the SE / Fossil Bluetooth watch upon us. What fun. We've got all the usual commentary, jocular fooling around, and other such banter on Podcast 90!

Get the podcast
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.
[RSS AAC] Ad...