May 09, 2007

Google Reader for the Wii

A couple weeks with the Wii, and the number one use so far has been browsing on the TV.  Actually, the kids have mostly used it to watch YouTube videos on our TV.  It actually does a pretty good job of this.

Not I need more time browsing feeds - I think I do enough of that already - but if I wanted to, I could now use Google Reader's new controls to make this a lot easier to read feeds on the Wii.

The controls are as follows:

 

 

Google Reader can take advantage of the buttons on your Wiimote, letting you navigate easily from the comfort of your couch:

  • up/down: scroll up/down
  • right/left: next/previous item
  • 1 button: show subscriptions
  • 2 button: show links

When showing subscriptions:

  • up/down: previous/next subscription
  • right: select current subscription
  • left: close
  • -/+: collapse/expand folder

Yep, feeds are making it everywhere.

Google Reader

Posted by Steve at 09:40 AM | Comments (121) | TrackBack

May 06, 2007

Wireless Wii Sensor Bar

 

You can never have too many videogame consoles.

A few weeks ago we happened to be at Target when the big-but-seldom-seen Wii truck showed up - so what the hell, we bought a Wii.

Of course, I never really looked at how this machine worked - I had seen and read the splendor of the wireless remotes that allowed you to play madden by actually thowing the ball, but failed to ever think about the technology of how such a thing would actually work.

In the days of Duck Hunt and CRT TVs, one light gun could read something encoded in the picture itself and figure out if the gun was aimed at the TV.  But I guess such things do not work with LCD and Plasmas.

Thus, I was a little surprised to find out the Wii has to be placed somewhere near your TV for the Wii remotes to work, because there is a "Sensor Bar" that has to be placed in the center of your TV so that the remote can aim correctly at the screen.  And the Sensor Bar has a wire that has to be connected to the Wii.

However, my setup is such that my equipment is nowhere near my wall mounted screen.  And it's certianly not in front of it.  All our equipment is off to the side toward the back of the room.

Hmm. Surely I couldn't be the only one with this setup and a Wii.

And of course I wasn't. Enter the Nextronics wireless sensor bar .   It turns out the Sensor Bar doesn't actually sense anything.  It's just an infrared emitter that is always on so that the Wii remotes can triangulate the screen direction - and Nextronics makes a great device in both A/C and battery powered formats.

The Nextronics seems to work perfectly.  I just plugged in behind the screen, placed it under my plasma, and all is fine in Wii-land.

Posted by Steve at 10:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack