For Kindle users, Calibre is the way to go

It is amazing just how good Calibre, a free, open source program, is. It will allow almost anything to be converted into the Kindle-viewable MOBI format and the books look great too! I used it on other kinds of ebooks, PDFs, and even an ebook published as a whole folder full of HTML and it converted them. The only thing it wouldn't turn into a .mobi ebook was a Word document, but that was easily fixed by exporting it as a PDF in OpenOffice and converting that. Awesome. It is available for Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux.

I was right about one thing, though

The iPod Classic lives, though without a rev, just as I said. I expect it to die as soon as a 128GB iPod Touch is available, which will probably be a year from now.

Color me surprised about the Apple TV

It's HD and $99, making it the second piece of cheap merchandise, after the iPod Shuffle, that Apple's ever peddled. Like the Shuffle's missing screen, it has the oddest limitations: it is HDMI+Optical only (with no converter on sale at launch), but it will only do 720p video. So if you want to watch Netflix or purchased video on an SDTV, or in full HD (after the forthcoming 1080p update), you'll still want to get a Roku.

At least some of the content is apparently going to be protected by HDCP, which indicates that any converter, third party or not, would not work, at least for all content.

The only way that $99 Apple TV is real...

is if it is stripped not only of its hard drive, as everyone says, but also of its HD capabilities. I just can't see the new Apple TV being on the same price level as the newly price-cut Roku. That would be totally out of character for Apple. But a Roku SD level device for $99--a 66% markup--would be absolutely believable.

Roku Drops Prices - Awesome!

Since I got my Roku, I've been firmly of the opinion that it is the perfect companion to every TV. Now it is even more affordable than it was before, with prices ranging from $59 to $99. Now let's see what Apple really comes out with, if it is really as cheap as they say, and if it can do everything the Roku can do and more.

I suspect that it's abilities really will be as stated, but the price. That's something I have trouble with. Apple does not sell cheap merchandise, ever. Their lowest end Mac was never less than $499 (back before the switch to Intel) and is now $699.

TiVo Makes Remote with Slider QWERTY Keyboard

Wired has the story.

I don't have a TiVo, but I know the pain of trying to enter text on my Roku box (particularly when I search for YouTube Videos). I'd love to have a remote like this, if it weren't $90 at least.

Oh, well. At least with my Xbox, I can plug in a usb keyboard if I really need one.