Other Tech

Like some 40 million other people, I love my iPhone. It’s always with me, serving as everything from trail-finder to stock ticker to guitar tuner to, occasionally, mobile phone. While fumbling in the dark with the minimum three or four remote controls that my ever-shifting A/V system requires just to watch a movie, I’ve often wondered if there was “an app for that.”

This afternoon, Google and Logitech gave press a hands-on look at the upcoming Google TV settop box and finally filled in some of the remaining info gaps that we have been wondering about for months. We got a chance to handle both the standard keyboard and mini keyboard controllers and test out a few of the apps including the anticipated Netflix app. But, perhaps more importantly, we finally found out how much it will cost. Unfortunately, the $299 price tag may be a point of contention if Google is really trying to get this platform in as many homes as possible.

It’s been a hard day at work. You want to unwind in front of the flat-screen. You don’t want interactivity. You don’t want infotainment. After slaving at the PC all day, you don’t want to surf. You want to watch some damn TV, do some 12-ounce curls, and then doze off. I ask you: Is that so wrong? According to companies like Google, yes, it is. And they want to change that.

"Turntables are incredible!" Noted songcrafter Jakob Dylan, 40, the proud owner of a sweet Rega 'table that he spent months researching, is waxing about the merits of, well, listening to wax on platters &emdash; and appreciating their inherent beauty. "I sit online and look at the ones they make in Europe," he admits. "You can buy a house for the cost of some of those turntables. They're works of art. Some of them really belong in a museum."

Sony calls the Dash a “personal Internet viewer,” but I’m not sure that’s a fully accurate description. Truth be told, I’m not sure exactly how to describe this device since it does so many things: It can serve as your alarm clock, you can watch movies on it, peruse one of 1,500-plus widgets, watch Netflix and YouTube. . . the list goes on and on.

It has long been axiomatic that Apple changed the world forever when it unveiled the iTunes online Music Store. (At least the computer-savvy, mainstream music-listening, iPod-toting part of it.) But where does that leave the rest of us-the freaks, geeks, and old-folks who still rely on to physical media, because it just doesn't feel right to drive an expensive audio system, replete with digital processing power greater than the Apollo moon lander's and speaker cables as wide as a fire hose, via a toy-like portable device?