As each year goes by, all the gadgets and gizmos get smaller and smaller. And more and more start to become obsolete. You would never think that the cable box could disappear. Well, think again.

The wonderful folks over at Microsoft has showed us that the process of elimination has begun. With the most recent update, the Xbox 360 will now be able to do more than just play video games, watching movies using Netflix. Besides Hulu Plus, there will be more selections of what you can watch now on your system. MSNBC’s The Today Show and Epix, cable movie channel, are a couple of the first channels to be added. More are expected to join, such as Youtube, DailyMotion, and HBO GO (coming sometime in 2012) are just some the the channels coming.

Of course, not all are free. You need an Xbox Live Gold membership to be able to use the new features, which is understandable. That is the easy part. There are, and will be some channels that you will need separate service accounts to use, such as Netflix and HBO GO. Now if you think you can get rid of you cable provider, hold on for now.Verizon FIOS and Comcast Xfinity will be bringing their services to Xbox, but not until later. Verizon will be using the gaming system as a limited set top box, which will start later this month. Comcast is hoping to have their system ready by early 2012. They will be offering ther “On-Demand” services, but not live television.

The other part of this update is for the Kinect. With advanced terchnology now at hand, you will now have the ability to search through your xbox using voice activation. The system uses Bing search engine to find what you are looking for. With everything squeezing into our Xbox 360, certain products like Boxee and Google TV might have some good competition.

Tags: boxee, comcast, Epix, ESPN, Fios, Google TV, HBO, hulu, kinect, Microsoft, movies, Netflix, sony, TV, verizon, Xbox 360, Xfinity

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Plenty of bits of random interesting detris littered their way across my feed reader, lego dinosaurs. Mario, Batman, and The search for ET all show up in this episode so pay attention. Not to mention a wonderful coffee section, listen in for how to get free coffee!

Tags: Batman, dinosaur, free coffee, Google, latitude, Lego, peets coffee, robot, skype, Steampunk, totallycooltech, TV, Uzuri

Wave of the future or messy addiction? This gizmo uses a shortwave radio reciever to create what they dub very slow scan TV. The machines is a Canvas of ink filled bubble wrap. It is able to create 1 frame of Video per day. At 24 frames per second you can make a 30 second commercial in 720 days, or 1.97 years… AT very low def i might add. with shifty color…

Ok at some point its not tech and its just fun because we can. The scanner travels back and forth across the canvas which is a giant roll of bubble wrap injecting dye inot each bubble. The problem is that TV is don in RGB, percentages of Red Green and Blue, as the three primary colors of light. Pigment doesn’t work that way so they need to use Cyan Magenta and Yellow dye to create similar colors. CYM. Which is the same set of basic inks most printers use. Bigger images and a video of the contraption in action after the jump Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: cmy, cmyk, high def. fun, just because, low def, printer, rgb, tech, TV

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Insert your own Gerald Butler joke here…

THIS… IS… CAFFINATION…

Today’s Show: Looking Back, History, Contests, Giveaways, wookies, star wars, TV, Cookies, Coffee, Audacity, Zombies, Legos, Monkeys, Toast and so much more

Hello all and welcome to episode 300 of the venerable CaffiNation Podcast. Tonight i decided to mix some things up to give you a taste of history a bit of geeky news and then a look back at some of the highlights you may have not seen. We also announce the contest for the 3 in 3 event. 300 episodes in 3 years… January 9th 2006, i uttered those now, still not really all that famous words. “Hi and welcome to the CaffiNation podcast” Three years and three hundred episodes later we’re still going strong things have changed a bit, hosts have moved and the archives grow fat with their bounty of entertainment.

I truly love giving this show to you each week and I only ever ask that you enjoy the content and if the mood strikes you drop me a line in return. I love connecting with listeners.

Before this tangent runs on too long I’ll just simply say. Thank you once agin for all the attention that has been paid and the feedback that has been given.

Enjoy the Episode!

• Back Channel Links Tumblr Blog Grinds
• The RSS Feed for this Podcast

Tech Cruft

• I’m not a lawyer, but i love good parables
• How does your site look to the colorblind?
• Bottles turned into phones. Message on your bottle?
• Someone call the press, Tetris helps people
• DTV coupon yet? you are now out of luck
• Grow bananas, don’t pay attention to details
• Product licensing gone horrible wrong
• Duck Hunter returns and he’s miffed: watch CES people duck

3 in 3 contest Details

Prizes from

• Buzzstrong, which you can also now pickup at Thinkgeek & Amazon
• Weeklyroast.com

New Store now open, CaffiNation Outpost

Looking Back

• Adopt a newb day has flourished
  
• What do you do when Audacity Crashes?
• How to print better pictures
• 5 quick tips for making great coffee for your guests
• My secret weapon in the Coffee Wars unmasked
• Hidden Vampires
• 3 guidelines to live by in a social media world
• Caffeinated Cramming
• Iced Coffee Rant
• Which type of Tech are you?
• The Official CaffiNation podcast Zombie Plan

Thanks and Stay Caffeinated People

Tags: Anniversary, Audacity, Caffination, Coffee, Contests, Cookies, Giveaways, history, Legos, Looking Back, Monkeys, Star Wars, Tea, Toast, TV, wookies, Zombies