The Helios Odyssey, a 1TB, $169 storage center for your media files, just got an update for BitTorrent and Emule downloading capability. BitTorrent isn’t anything brand new in Network Attached Storage devices such as the Planex and Procare and Jack In The Box, but Emule (something we used before BitTorrent became popular) seems like an interesting addition. Even if you’re not using this for its media downloading capabilities, $169 for 1TB of storage seems like a pretty damn good deal to us. You’ll have to pony up another two hundred bones for your own 1TB hard drive to put inside. [Helios Labs]

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The space-saving “Single Person Cooker” may be of interest to you if you live in an apartment small enough that you need a retracting ceiling bed or a staircase bookshelf. A concept by designer Alex Bradley, it stores pretty much everything you need to cook— hob, utensils and a chopping board— in one small case. Misses out on the kitchen sink, but you can’t have everything. More info after the gallery.

The teeny kitchen is another finalist in the Ideal Homes concept gadget competition. Alex hopes a product like this would help people living alone think about eating healthily, instead of relying on take-out food. To this end, the space-saving modular design even incorporates a Wi-Fi-connected screen so that you can access recipes on the net.

It really is neat form-follows-function design, somehow squeezing loads of useful cooking items in one very small area. Had I had something like this when I was a student, I suspect my fish-and-chips and curry intake might have gone down, if only just a little bit. Probably when I was trying to cook the odd meal to impress a girl. At least the washing up would’ve been minimum effort. [Dezeen]

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Today in New York, Panasonic showed off the Viera flat-panel TVs it launched at CES, including its badass flagship PZ800 and PZ850 plasma sets and its premiere LZ800 LCD, all coming this summer at prices to be announced. During the meeting, Panasonic also confirmed officially that it was no longer in the rear-projection business, owing to a price crunch in flat panels that basically drove any discount value out of the chunkier projection sets. Bottom line: people would rather pay $3K for a smaller and thinner set than a larger but fatter one. Panasonic also addressed the issue of OpenCable (aka OCAP aka Tru2way) two-way CableCards.

Two-way CableCards basically mean that the cable box, with all its features including VOD and PPV, is built into the TV. Right now, the CableCard in a TiVo or Media Center PC will only get you video. Panasonic will integrate OCAP into its mid-level PZ80 line, in 50″ and 42″ models this summer. Though the list prices for the TVs without OCAP are $2499 and $1599 respectively, the price of OCAP itself will be quite noticeable. Though there are some shared-chip advantages to integrating the set-top box, Panasonic still says “it’ll be the cost of a cable box built into a TV,” so like, not cheap.

Panasonic is currently testing with Comcast in five markets, and are building this to spec with CableLabs and all of the cable companies, but that’s no guarantee that any carrier will be ready to deploy when the TVs are, so get ready for cranky customer service operators and a lot of educational consumership. That is to say, you might have to teach your cable carrier about this new technology. [Panasonic 2008 Viera Lineup; CableLabs OpenCable]

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Hulu, NBC and Fox’s new streaming service, is indeed opening to the public tomorrow as we reported rumors of yesterday. What’s news to us is that Hulu will be adding Warner Brothers shows and sports as well. The sports will come as game recaps from the NBA and NHL (finger on the pulse!) as well as full NCAA games. Now, I don’t want to be a Debbie downer here, and you can’t argue with free, but with the copious advertising, spotty selection of episodes and lack of downloads you’ve gotta wonder just how much this is going to catch on.

I mean, you can’t have it both ways, studios. If you’re going to restrict it to streaming and keep people from downloading to watch on their media extenders and portable devices, you can’t try to protect your DVD sales by only tossing out a handful of episodes.

Just the other night I tried to watch an episode of Battlestar Galactica on there as I misplaced one of my DVDs and found that there were only a few episodes available, none of which from season 2, which I was looking for. I then poked around and tried to check out SNL and found that they only had four sketches and none of the musical performances from the most recent broadcast. And away to Bittorrent I went.

People can tell the difference between something designed only to tease and promote broadcast TV and DVD sales and something designed to be an actual entertainment destination. If you keep it gimped it’s only ever going to be seen as the former, studios. Don’t blow it. [Reuters]

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Slide open the case, and you’ll find everything you need to cook up a meal, including a “hob, utensils and a chopping board.” Click here for first picture in gallery.

The teeny kitchen is another finalist in the Ideal Homes concept gadget competition. To this end, the space-saving modular design even incorporates a Wi-Fi-connected screen so that you can access recipes on the net

[via Gizmodo]

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Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PlayStation 3 will “use the series’ traditional third person view with full camera manipulation, but also allows the freedom to play in first-person mode, as well as an over the shoulder view.” Video after the break.

The Close Quarters Combat system will be completely revamped. The player will also be able to interrogate guards for information and supplies. Several elements from previous titles return in modified forms

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A graphic designer from HardForum wanted to bring the Portal experience home, so he built a custom “Aperture Science” inspired machine, complete with matching keyboard/mouse. Click here for first picture in gallery.

After seeing me play a little of portal, my wife liked the look of the Aperture Science Enrichment Center computer cases. She asked if I could make our home server/media PC to look like it

[via Engadget - Hacknmod]

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Filed under: Desktops, Media PCs, Storage

Remember that tiny little Windows Home Server glitch that was causing files to become corrupt for no apparent reason? Well, Microsoft has stepped up to bat with a fix… for June! That’s right, all you have to do is hang on to your data-shredders for a few more months and the boys in Redmond will have this one sealed up tighter than a drum. The company has changed this issue’s Knowledge Base article to reflect the new target, and suggests that users can avoid problems for the time being by using a command-line tool to move files, setting shared folders on WHS to read-only, and not using things like WMP to import to a home server — certainly not the solutions most people are after. The company has also posted a note about the KB article on its WHS Team Blog, which we wouldn’t call a straight-up apology, though it definitely has apologetic overtones. On the bright side, Microsoft says only a small number of users are having this issue, so in all likelihood, you don’t even know what we’re talking about! Lucky you.

[Thanks, Brian]

Read - Knowledge Base article
Read - An update on KB #946676

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Filed under: Gaming

It’s not enough that the Wii Fit is trying to cajole you into getting off your couch and actually engaging in physical activity — now the DS is worming in on the action. Developer Ubisoft is rolling out My Weight Loss Coach for the handheld, and going the extra mile (ha ha!) by including a pedometer add-on which interfaces with the system. Apparently, the idea is that you’ll keep the pedometer in a pocket or on a belt buckle during the day, then plug the unit into your DS and let the software calculate how much fat you’ve burned — thus keeping track of your daily regimen and adjusting accordingly. The game / device combo is launching in one-croissant-too-many Europe this summer, no word on when it hits the morbidly obese States.

[Via DS Fanboy]

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We suspected that the Rayzer auxiliary HID Xenon lights, which are installed between your windshield and rear-view mirror, really increased visibility on dark roads. This video confirms that indeed, the difference is just amazing compared to regular high-beams, and that people will think they will have a close encounter of the third kind. [VisualEyes]

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