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These little media devices seem to be sneaking up all over. Last week it was the Western digital device, this time its the VuNow media device. There are some differences this time around. For example, the VuNow connects to your network wirelessly (or wired) and have the capability of streaming internet video to your TV. You can also stream media from other PCs on your network, and like the western digital device, you can plug in a USB thumb drive or USB harddrive to view your media stored there.

The VuNow will cost you $99 bucks when it releases in December (15th). It comes in 2 flavors: HDMI only or S-Video only. Check out the VuNow website for more info.

about 2 weeks ago, I pieced together some old PC parts I had (and a few new parts) to make a full time media center pc for my TV. I shouldve waited a few weeks, if I had, I would’ve seen this Gigabyte motherboard on Newegg.com, The GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H. What is so special about this motherboard? well lets see. What I had was a Pentium 4 3.0 processor, 2 gigs of ram, and a harddrive. My purpose was to build a Media center PC that had HDMI out and 5.1 optical out. Right now, I just wanted to play media files and view web video content on my LCD TV, but I wanted something that would be good enough to support a Bluray movie playback if I decide to get one later on.

This Gigabyte board would’ve saved me a bit of cash. First it has built in, a better video card than the one I bought, a Radeon hd 3200 with VGA, DVI and HDMI outputs (I bought a Radeon HD 2600). The second reason is sound capability. Built into the motherboard is 5.1 outputs via Optical out. Most motherboards have some sort of 5.1 output, but not optical out. I bought a separate sound card just to get the optical output. So with this board. I couldve saved about 80 bucks on the video card and sound card.

Well not exactly.

Like I said, I had a Pentium 4 CPU. This board supports AMD processors, so I would’ve had to buy a processor. The upside is that the processor I would’ve bought would’ve only cost me about 60 bucks and would’ve been a better processor than the P4 I have in my machine. Overall, I would’ve got more performance for less money.

The GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H is $79 bucks at Newegg

A few weeks ago, I heard a little bit about this but didn’t look too much into it (was pretty busy at the time). Now that I have some time, I went and checked it out and I have to say I am quite pleased with what I found. Asus’s EEE Top is the next up for Asus’s line of EEE PC’s. What is the EEE Top? Well its an all in one PC, I know don’t get too excited.

The Asus EEE top is currently available for pre-order at Play.com, a UK based online store. The price listed there is £449.99, which is roughly $700 US. Not a bad price for an all in one PC. To be honest, I would expect it to be more along the $300-$400 range. Before we complain about the price, lets take a look at the specs

15.6 screen

1 gig ram

1.6 ghz atom processor

160 gb HDD

1.3 mp webcam

802.11 b/g/n

Windows XP

Ports: USB, Memory card reader, lan and audio

The kicker here (and probably why the price is a little higher than expected) the monitor has a touch screen interface. How the touch screen will work with the windows OS I don’t know, but I’m thinking tablet pc. If touch screen isnt your thing, just plug in your favorite keyboard and mouse

The release date of the EEE Top is scheduled for November 20th, so I’m sure we will be hearing more info about it soon. for now, just visit play.com and dream.

One thing that has become very popular over the last 5 years or so is deep frying your thanksgiving turkey. I have to be honest, before I had a deep fried turkey, I really didn’t care for turkey. Turkey to me was always just too dry to enjoy. Deep frying a turkey changes that dramatically. There’s a reason why that is so, which Im not going to go into now. There is one big danger and another obstacle when it comes to deep frying a turkey.

1. Fires can easily be started. You have to be real careful.

2. You can spend almost 30 bucks just for the oil (which cant be reused).

I was planning on cooking a turkey this year the deep fried method, but I found something else that appeared to be a little safer. Char-boil’s Big Easy Oil less turkey fryer. Yes I said oil less. So I made the decision to try "frying" a turkey with the Big Easy and picked one from sears (they had the lowest price I could find $129). about 16 pounds is all you would want to put in this fryer, so if you are looking to feed an army, this isn’t your solution. The way this turkey fryer works is by using propane to light the burners that cooks the turkey. The website used the word infra-red when they describe how the cooking work, but just looking at it made sense.

How did I cook it?

Of coarse I wasn’t going to wait til thanksgiving day, when all of the family is around to try this thing out for the first time. I bought about a 14 pound turkey and went through a test preparation to test it out, as follows.

Thawed turkey

Cleaned the turkey

Brined the turkey overnight

Injected the turkey with marinade

Brushed olive oil on the outside of the turkey to add a light coat of oil

Seasoned the outside of the turkey

I then placed the turkey in the basket, applied a thermometer, placed the basket inside the Big Easy and fired it up.

One thing I have to say about this way of "frying" a turkey, it is a lot safer than the traditional deep fryer. really was no different than cooking steaks on a grill. The whole cooking area of the Big Easy is protected so you could stand right next to it and not worry about burning yourself. It took a little less than 2 hours to cook then I removed the turkey to a pan. I wouldn’t necessarily say that this turkey was fried. The thing that comes to mind is rotisserie. the outer skin was a nice golden brown color and I would say some frying went on, enough to get the desired effect, containing the moisture. This turkey was really moist, very close to a deep fried turkey.

I would have to say that on my first try, I am very happy with the Big Easy. The turkey was near fried with very minimal hassle and danger. And I didnt have to by that $30 box of peanut oil.

Char-broil’s Big Easy oil less turkey fryer will cost you about $149, but if you look around you can find cheaper prices.

One thing that has proven to be the “missing link” of online video is getting that content to your television. There are some complicated solutions, and expensive solutions, but there really isnt a inexpensive, easy way to get that content to your Tv.

Bestbuy is now selling a product called WD TV HD Media player that is really close to being that solution. This product is made by Western digital and it does something in a simple way. Its a box that connect to your TV via HDMI or Composite and play video from any USB storage device you plug into one or both of the 2 USP ports. USB harddrives or thumbdrives are all supported.

What formats does it supports? 

I don’t know and the press release doesnt really give that info either, other than saying it comes with software to convert video to an optimized format. As far as display, the WD TV HD is capable of a full 1080p output.

One fo the good things about the WD TV HD is that its only $99 bucks at Bestbuy. Barring any obscenely limited file format issues (which we don’t know) this could be one of the best steps so far at getting that media to your TV

There is 2 ways I shop online.

1. The regular way: I look up and item, click purchase and it is delivered.

2. The local way: I look up an item and check to see if it is in stock at my local store, then go out and purchase the item.

For years I have been visiting Walmart and when I find an item I want, its always been a crapshoot as to if the item is in my local Walmart. Why is it that they don’t have any way to check those items at the Walmart website? Finally, visited Walmart.com the other day and notice a little link under an item I was looking at.

When you click that link you can put in your zip or address and it will let you know which Walmart’s near you have that item in stock. Welcome to today Walmart!!!

This feature is in beta (it will tell you that when you click to find if the item is in stock). Im just glad its finally there.

For very little money you can build a decent HTPC. Vista ultimate is probably the most expensive component if you are going the Media center route. One of the main problems when trying to piece together components is finding a cost effective way to get 5.1 digital optical output. Yea a lot of the motherboards have the capability, but you need an extra SPDIF bracket that is really hard to find. Many will look to an addon sound card but if you are looking to go at it cheap, many of the soundcards that has the toslink output built in are quite expensive. That’s where the Dynex 5.1 Sound card comes in handy. This card is cheap so your not going to win any sound awards but for the low price of $26.99 (at bestbuy), you can have your HTPC connected to your surround sound system in no time.

The Dynex 5.1 Sound card has the usual outputs and inputs, but right there on the back is a nice little toslink connection, no addons, no hard to find brackets, all you need right there. The only problem you have now is finding Vista drivers to get the thing running (even though the box has the Vista logo, it comes with XP drivers).

Get the Dynex 5.1 Sound card from Bestbuy for $26.99

Imagine this. You’re having a relatively uneventful day at work. You IM a few of your coworkers and have them meet you in your office. You clear off your desk and head to a nearby closet. after a minute or 2 you return with this…

Yep this is exactly what it looks like. A small (not really portable) pool table. I’m not sure how "true to the game" this would actually be, but this is a real working pool table. Looking at the dimensions, it looks like its meant to be placed on a table or desk. its about the size of a coffee table as far as length and width (36"x20") but its only 8 inches tall. and its full featured. it comes with 2 36 inch cue sticks and everything else you need to get a game of 8 ball going. The table itself is covered with felt and it even comes with a brush. Almost seems worth the purchase, especially if you are a pool lover (I only occasionally play).

You can get the Executive Billiard Table for $99 bucks at Geeksgiftshop.net

This sounds good to me, a handheld device that has a full Qwerty keyboard, chat, email, the web and plays MP3s. The IMOVIO iKIT sounds like a souped up sidekick without the phone. This little device has a wifi connection so it is perfect for around the house. Im really surprised that there arent more of these. Along with the features I mentioned, there are also a few built in Apps that many may find useful. what would make this perfect is if it is customisable (hackable).

What will this thing cost? According to the press release it will cost about $175 ( the prices in the release are all UK prices). Looks like you’ll have a choice of black and white and the option to add HSDPA through a USB addon.

For more information, feel free to read the press release.

Hard drives are getting cheaper by the minute. I was browsing newegg and found a little gem that I know many of you PC upgraders/builders would love. A 1 terabyte hard drive for $129. Not only is it $129, it has free 3 day shipping. The drive is the Western digital 1 tb Sata 3gb/s drive. Just think about what you can do with all that space. Perfect for a media center PC or file server.

Check it out at Newegg.com