Ian Morris on January 21st, 2009

We’ll admit it, we’ve got a soft spot for DivX. The much-used video codec started as a hack of Microsoft’s proprietary MPEG-4 codec, and was born out of frustration with Microsoft’s video-playback lameness. DivX quickly became an important ingredient of Internet video, but in an HD …

Continue reading about DivX 7: H.264 w00tage and Blu-ray p0wnage

Ian Morris on November 6th, 2008

Philips Aurea television(Credit: Philips)

If you love Christmas lights and don’t see why they should be restricted to just one time of the year, the Philips Aurea II is the TV for you. It boasts enough colored illumination to put Oxford Street to shame. The only disappointment: it costs more than …

Continue reading about Philips Aurea 42PFL9903D: It’s illuminating

Ian Morris on October 23rd, 2008

Water and electricity: that’s a winning combination if ever we heard one.

Clearly Philips thinks it’s a theme that has some legs–five of them to be precise–because it’s created a mains extension socket it calls the “power squid.”

Anyone with an encyclopedia would be able to tell …

Continue reading about Philips SPR550BN: The squid of power awaits you

Ian Morris on October 22nd, 2008
Optoma Pico

No, no, we haven't employed a giant, the Pico really is that tiny. Very handy if you need to conduct an impromptu presentation while out and about. Click on the image above for more photos of the projector.

(Credit: Crave UK)

If you don’t live in a …

Continue reading about Photos: Switching on the tiny Optoma Pico projector

Game show graphic

Japanese TV programs have more than their fair share of weirdness. But let's be honest–when you've seen one British or American game show, you've pretty much seen them all. Click on the image above to read about yet more ways the Japanese have the …

Continue reading about Crave UK: Five ways the Japanese are technically better than us