I love my Nikon D40

At the tail end of my Macworld trip, we went wine tasting in Sonoma Valley. As we were sitting there on the bench overlooking the beautiful valley, a messy-looking European guy with matted long hair and a Nikon D80 around his neck came up to me and said, "Excuse me, but is that a D40 you have there?"

I replied with a simple, "Yes." Before I could ask why, he scoffed and walked away . . .

That was one of the more bazaar things that happened to me. Come on. A D80 isn't THAT much better than a D40. Geez.


Picture of Sonoma Valley taken with my trusty Nikon D40.

A Cool Refrigerator Inside And Out

Looking back about a year ago when I bought my house, I wish I had the opportunity to buy a Whirlpool centralparkTM connection (model GD5VVAXT). At the recent 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), this wonderful refrigerator was an honoree for the CES Innovations 2008 Design and Engineering Award.

The kitchen is probably the central location in your home. It’s where the food is stored, and typically where everyone gathers to eat. According to a Whirlpool survey, more than 30 percent of laptop computer, digital photo frame and digital music player owners currently use their devices in the kitchen. Based on that school of thought, Whirlpool designed the centralparkTM connection with a plug-and-play platform so you can interchange your gadgets right there on the refrigerator door.


“We are proud to be back at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show with a diverse grocery list of new, soon-to-market partners,” said Phil Pejovich, vice president of Whirlpool Refrigeration, North America. “Depending on each family’s needs, there is a centralparkTM connection device to help every Whirlpool brand consumer accomplish more with his or her day - from keeping photo displays fresh to organizing family activities.”

Currently, you can add on a CEIVA Digital Photo Frame for $249. It’s Wi-Fi ready and features an 8-inch high-resolution LCD screen and a builtin card reader. With its on-screen menus, the frame is easy to use and capable of receiving photos wirelessly via camera phone or through your online CEIVA account. This is a nice touch, so you don’t have photos spread messily all over your fridge.

Other concepts I saw at CES (not available yet) are Brandmotion’s iPod Speaker System, Cozi Family Organizational Software, Clio Vu web tablet and the Quartet Qnote Message Center. A breakdown on each:
Brandmotion iPod Speaker System: This docking station is specifically designed for use in the kitchen with four large membrane-type buttons for easy use and cleanup. It’s manufactured to securely hold and charge any size iPod while withstanding the frequent opening and closing of your freezer door.


Cozi Family Organizational Software: It’s a free software and web service that helps families manage their busy schedules, create shopping and to-do lists, organize chores, etc. When used with central-parkTM, items can easily be added to the shopping list and received as a text message on your cell phone while you’re away from home, and more.

Clio Vu by Data Evolution: A convertible tablet computer utilizing the Clio’s award-winning 180-degree SwingTop design. This helps you clear your fridge of sticky notes, and you can use it via touch-screen, keypad or with a handwriting device. With its Wi-Fi capability, you can look up recipes online or watch movies.

Quartet Qnote Message Center by Acco Brands: Dry-erase writing surface with ambient surface illumination, along with a digital clock, date/timer and a sliding storage drawer to hold your take-out menus, etc.

It’s too bad I don’t need a second refrigerator, because after seeing the Whirlpool central-parkTM and its attachments, I would definitely buy it. You can find the centralparkTM and the CEVIA Digital Photo Frame at your nearest Best Buy (www.bestbuy.com) for $2,000. Visit www.whirlpool.com/centralpark for updates on how much and when the additional devices will be available.

Klipsch Chopper, Headphones and Speaker

One of the more memorable parties I attended while at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was the one put on by the speaker company Klipsch. With the busy schedule I had there, it was impossible to attend every interview or event I was invited to, and I have to admit the main reason I went to this one was because I love the TV show American Chopper. I was excited about the main attraction of this party - unveiling of the Klipsch Theme Bike built by the Orange County Chopper (OCC) guys (the stars of this popular TV show).

In October Klipsch commissioned OCC to build a speaker-inspired chopper to reflect the company’s no-compromise audio legacy. A few months later here I am in Vegas watching Klipsch and the Teutul family - Paul Sr., Paul Jr. and Mikey - unveil this chopper to the world. The crowd cheered for them to start it up, but we didn’t have such luck. Oh well, I’ll have wait for the show to see the bike actually run. After the unveiling, we all just chilled out and watched the Robert Cray Band perform blues music. What a fun evening that was! “We customize theme bikes for lots of different companies, but this one is second to none,” said Paul Teutul Sr. “It really incorporates Klipsch’s standards of high-performance, high-quality audio into a truly unique ride.”

The bike features Klipsch’s signature black-and-copper color scheme, horn and woofer adornments and Klipsch logos on the air filter and black leather seat. The woofer comes from an RSX-5 bookshelf speaker, and the horns are from a Klipschorn (loudspeaker). The partnership with Klipsch and OCC doesn’t stop with this cool bike. OCC is currently building a new 92,000-square-foot headquarter facility in Newburgh, N.Y., and chose Klipsch as its preferred audio provider. From Paul Sr.’s new office to the retail shop to the gym, more than 100 Klipsch speakers will bring dynamic sound to the entire building.


In addition, Klipsch’s main products featured at CES were the Klipsch Image headphones and the Palladium P-39F speakers. The Image, the world’s smallest and lightest headphones, was selected as an Innovations 2008 Design and Engineering honoree in the headphone category. It uses special contour ear gels that are anatomically designed to accurately fit inside your ear canal. The soft, oval silicon tips reduce ear fatigue and provide a seal for noise isolation and increased bass response.

The Image is durable, and comes with 50-inch-long vinyl cables with strain relief at every cable connection point to help prevent wire damage. It comes with a carrying case, 1/4-inch adaptor, airline adaptor, five different sizes of ear gels and an ear gel cleaning tool. You can buy this for $349 at www.klipsch.com or on www.amazon.com.


Next, the Palladium Series P-39F floorstander is the most expensive speaker that Klipsch has made in its history, and although it’s beautiful and sounds good, its $15,000 price tag would put a nice big hole in my wallet. The P-39F is made with zebrawood veneer and available in natural, merlot and espresso. The side-firing ports increase the bass response, while the metallic finish mirrors the horn and driver trim rings. The adjustable aluminum floating base supports the cabinet at four points as opposed to the entire base area. These will begin shipping to select specialty retail outlets later this month. See www.klipsch.com for more information.

Stay tuned ... the episode of the Klipsch chopper build will air March 13 on TLC.

Apple's Latest and Greatest

After surviving the madness of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, as I write this I’m in San Francisco and just kicked off Macworld 2008 with my first live Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) keynote speech. The whole experience was filled with excitement - from waking up at 4:30 a.m., waiting in line for hours while chatting with other Apple geeks from around the world, to the keynote itself. Jobs definitely has a fresh speaking style that holds your attention.

He kicked it off by saying that OS X Leopard (Apple’s current operating system) sold 5 million copies and is the most-successful operating system release in Apple’s history. Jobs went on to announce Apple’s latest and greatest:


Time Capsule: A backup appliance that automatically and wirelessly backs up everything on one or more Macs running Leopard. It combines the latest wireless 802.11n technology (fully functional as a Wi-Fi base station) with a server-grade hard disk in one small package. You plug it in and set up an automatic wireless backup for every Mac in your home. It supports a wireless network of up to 50 users and lets you set security restrictions (i.e. Internet access limits for children’s computers). Prices are $299 for the 500GB model and $499 for the 1TB. The product will be shipped in February, but you can pre-order from www.apple.com.


iTunes Movie Rentals: With the new iTunes 7.6, available as a free download, this update lets you rent movies instead of having to purchase them. All the major movie studios are participating in this new service including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema.

Movies are viewable on your computer, iPod or TV (via Apple TV), and available in High Definition (HD). Prices are $2.99 for library titles (HD $3.99), $3.99 for new releases (HD $4.99). You have up to 30 days to start watching your movie, but once you begin, you have 24 hours to finish it (and watch it multiple times within that day). By the end of February there will be 1,000-plus titles, 100 of which will be in HD, and movies will be available 30 days after DVD release.

iPhone/iPod Touch Software Upgrade. This update will make your icons customizable, allowing you to add new icons and move them around for both iPhone and iPod Touch. iPhone’s additions will let you find your location automatically using the redesigned Maps application, text message multiple people in one message, create web clips of your favorite websites, customize your home screen and watch movies from the new iTunes movie rental service. For the iPod Touch, you’ll receive five added applications - Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather and Notes. The update is free for iPhone users, but is $19.99 for the iPod Touch (both downloadable from iTunes).

New Apple TV: Use this to view all your iTunes movies (including rentals), pictures, pod-casts, YouTube videos, browse iTunes and more. With the new Apple TV you no longer need a computer to hook it up to. The price has been reduced to $229 at your nearest Apple Store or www.apple.com.


MacBook Air: Jobs concluded his speech with the announcement of the MacBook Air, the world’s thinnest notebook computer. It measures in at 0.16 at its thinnest point, and its maximum height is 0.76 inches. The display is 13.3 inches, and it comes with a 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive or an optional 64GB durable solid state drive (no moving parts).

Additionally, it comes with a built-in iSight video camera, Airport Extreme 802.11n for wireless networking, one USB 2.0 port, one headphone port and a multi-touch TrackPad for support of advanced gestures similar to the iPhone (i.e. tap, scroll, pinch, rotate and swipe). This will be in your nearest Apple Store (or pre-order at www.apple.com) later this month for $1,799 or $3,098 (with the solid state drive).

Jobs wrapped the whole thing up by saying, “And that was just in the first two weeks of 2008 ... we’ve got 50 more weeks to go.” That could possibly have been a hint of something, so I’m excited to see what else comes out.

In SYNC with Microsoft Auto

This is seemingly new, but was actually announced at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2007) - Microsoft Auto teamed up with Ford to launch a factory-installed in-car communications and entertainment system called SYNC, which is designed to change the way we use digital music players and mobile phones in our vehicles.

So far, SYNC has been very popular, selling more than 30,000 unit sales in its first three months on the market. According to Ford, sales are expected to reach 1 million by early 2009. “From the start, we pursued an updatable software solution with SYNC, using the consumer electronics business as our model,"said Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s group vice president of Global Product Development."The ability to add functionality and update the system to work with new devices is what makes SYNC unique in the industry right now. It is a strategy that will benefit our customers over time by ensuring their systems do not become outdated.”

SYNC, the Ford-exclusive technology based on Microsoft Auto, provides the convenience and flexibility to bring your vehicle nearly any Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone or digital media player and operate it using voice commands, the vehicle’s steering wheel or radio controls. At this year’s CES, Bill Gates announced that a new “911 Assist"feature will help drivers connect with emergency services if your air bag deploys.


When your phone is properly paired with SYNC - designed to automatically happen each time you enter your car with your Bluetooth phone on hand - it will provide you with a 10-second window to allow you as the driver (or passenger) to decide to cancel the call. If not cancelled manually within this 10-second window, SYNC will go ahead and place your emergency call. A pre-recorded message will play when the call is answered and you can speak directly to the 911 operator. If you are injured and non-responsive, the location of your vehicle can be determined through voice-signal triangulation or, on some phones, the GPS location feature.

SYNC first became available in fall 2007 with these 2008-model vehicles: Ford Focus, Fusion, Taurus, Taurus X, Edge, Explorer and Sport Trac; Mercury Milan, Sable and Mountaineer, and Lincoln MKX and MKZ. This technology will be on nearly all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles by the end of 2008.

The voice technology is driver independent, so you don’t need to train the system to your voice. Names and numbers from your phone are automatically synchronized. To make a call, you just say “Call” followed by the name, and you also use your voice to choose a song, album or specific artist for music. The key is it promotes safety since you can keep your eyes on the road and hands on the steering wheel by using voice controls.

You don’t need to worry about compatibility of your phone or music player since SYNC seamlessly integrates the car with today’s popular devices and is upgradeable to the devices of tomorrow. There are two ways you can bring devices into your Ford, Lincoln or Mercury vehicle - Bluetooth for wireless connection of phones and USB 2.0 port for command and control and changing digital media players (including iPod, Zune and most USB media storage devices that play MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV and PCM formats).

For more information on Microsoft Auto and SYNC, or to view demos and to see product compatibility lists, visit www.syncmyride.com

Voicemail To Text With Quicktate

As I write this, I have just completed day two of walking through the seemingly countless exhibits at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). With all the new gadgets, concepts, websites and services presented to me, it was extremely difficult to choose which to write about first. Finally, I decided to tell you about Quicktate, since I’ve been taking advantage of the service from the moment I visited its booth on the first day of the show.

Quicktate transcribes your voicemail into text and sends it to you as a text message or an e-mail. This concept has been around for awhile, but at the moment you can sign up for Quicktate’s free beta. It’s quick to set yourself up - I did it in a couple of minutes right at the booth. I completed the requested information on the website, and it sent me an e-mail confirmation and set me up with my own Quicktate message phone number instantaneously (with a Hawaii 808 area code, too). I then set my cell phone’s regular voicemail to forward to this number, and now all my messages are transcribed into text and sent to my phone as text messages, and e-mailed to me too.


This is coming in handy especially at the show; since I may not hear the phone ring, and can read the messages when I finally have a chance to look at my phone. In general, you can use this when you’re in a movie theater, driving (safer not to answer your phone) or whenever you cannot answer your phone.

In addition, you can use Quicktate to send (call-in) personal notes to yourself, such as a shopping list, todos, etc. In my case, I can call myself and make a verbal list of all these things I’m seeing at the show for future story ideas. This is also perfect if you need to print out important messages, or to copy and paste phone numbers into your address book. For the hearing-impaired community, this is an excellent tool as well.

Log onto www.quicktate.com to participate in this free beta, and to sign up for an account of your own. If you ever want to switch your voicemail back to regular audible voicemail, you can easily un-forward to your special number.

For comparisons, here are a few other companies that offer a similar service (note that they are not all not free):

CallWave (www.callwave.com) - Free

Phonewire (www.phonewire.com) - Plans start at $9/month/30 minutes

SimulScribe (www.simulscribe.com) -$9.95/month/40 messages or $29.95/unlimited

SpinVox (www.ureach.com/spinvox) -$9.99/month/40 messages

Bill Gates’ final Microsoft Keynote Speech

I’ve been having a good start to my new year since I flew up to Las Vegas for this year’s 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Next week I’ll be trekking to Macworld in San Francisco, but as I’m writing this I just watched Microsoft’s chairman Bill Gates give the last keynote speech of his Microsoft career.

He started by going over what Windows has done in the last 25 years, and the fact that he will step down from Microsoft in July to focus more on his philanthropic efforts with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “It’s going to be a bit strange - what to do on my last day - so I asked some of my friends to help prepare me for that,” Gates said right before he played a video. It featured humorous comments and jokes from all types of well-known faces from singer Bono to Sen. Barack Obama to actor George Clooney.

Gates went on to outline his vision for the next digital decade, an era in which dramatic advances in hardware and software will make the power of computing a part of your day-to-day life. He referred to High-Definition experiences being around everywhere, and services-connected devices running on the web accessible via the Internet.

A part of this will be the 2008 Olympics. It will be easy to follow with the Microsoft-NBC announcement that NBC will deliver the Olympics live and on-demand with NBCOlympics.com, the official U.S. online home of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. With this you’ll have access to more than 3,000 hours of live and on-demand content to watch your favorite athlete or sport. This service will be free and powered by Microsoft’s Silverlight technology, a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering video experiences on the web.


The stage was then handed over to Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft Entertainment and Devices Division, who discussed a variety of items including Xbox 360 success, the Zune launching in Canada this spring, Vista selling more than 100 million licenses, and ABC, Disney Channel Programs and MGM adding its library of hit movies to Xbox LIVE.

Under agreement with the Disney-ABC Television Group, later this month Xbox LIVE members will have access to select TV shows and movies. With MGM’s agreement, titles such as Rocky, Terminator, Legally Blonde, Barbershop and more are available on-demand. So far there are about 10 million Xbox LIVE members out there.

Additionally, Bach announced that Samsung will support Extender for Windows Media Center, which enables TVs to stream HD content from any Windows Vista PC with Windows Media Center over a wired or wireless (N) network. This builds on the recent beta release of Windows Media Center Internet TV, which offers more than 100 hours of ad-supported entertainment from MSN video.

The finale - and the best part of the keynote - was a Guitar Hero III sound-off between Gates and Bach. Each brought in a ringer. Gates’ was Slash (lead guitarist of Velvet Revolver and former lead guitarist of Guns N’ Roses), and Bach’s was Tipper Queen, a top-ranking Guitar Hero player. Anyway, it was cool that I was able to see Bill in person before he steps down from Microsoft. That was a nice kickoff to CES, nothing too earth-shattering, but we’ll see what the rest of the show has to offer.

Easy To Learn, Play and Work - EEE

As I’m gearing up for the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), I’ve been doing research on the loads of gadgets that I’m about to come across. One of them that stuck out was the ASUS Eee PC. ASUS just received the 2008 International CES Innovations Design and Engineering Awards for the Eee PC, along with three other products. Additionally, my brother was just showing me his Eee PC that he took with him on his last snowboarding trip.

The three Es in its name stand for easy to learn, easy to play and easy to work. That pretty much says it all, plus it’s small, cheap and uses flash storage, perfect for durability. It makes a good first impression for a small little thing. It only weighs two pounds with a seven-inch, 800x480 pixel display. It’s about the size of a big paperback book that can fit into a large pocket or a bigger-sized purse. It’s perfect for traveling and checking your e-mail/doing some light work on the road.

Sean Maloney, Executive Vice President of Intel, described the Eee PC as a “fine addition” to other ASUS products, and that it is in line with Intel´s “World Ahead” marketing drive, which aims to provide anyone around the world a chance to own a PC. “It will give them the chance to access the Internet and share in the 21st century opportunity,” Maloney added, referring to the wiring up of the next one to one and a half billion people who are still without a computer.

The Eee PC’s operating system is Xandros Linux, which is the same as the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) computer (also known as the $100 laptop). In other words, it’s easy to understand and navigate, especially for the technically challenged. There are four basic user-friendly tabs - Internet, Work, Learn and Play. Each of these contain a variety of icons that are applications, settings or a link to a website.


The Internet tab includes a Firefox browser, Skype (if you don’t already have an account, you can download one for free), an e-book reader, a wireless utility and links to Wikipedia. Google Docs, and Internet radio. The Work tab includes OpenOffice 2.0, which you can use to read and edit most Microsoft Office formats. You’ll also find Acrobat reader for your PDF files, and Mozilla’s Thunderbird Web client to collect your e-mails from Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail. Eee’s Learn tab is especially made for the students, containing a bunch of math and science applications. And, at last the Play tab is where you can play with the Photo Manager, File Manager or Music Manager.

Underneath it all, the Eee PC contains a 900Mhz Intel Mobile CPU, 512MB of RAM and a solid-state flash hard drive (2GB, 4GB or 8GB). For your web access, the Eee has built-in WiFi 802.11a/b/g or a 10/100 Ethernet port. There are three USB 2.0 ports, VGA out for video, stereo speakers/head-phone/microphone jacks and a convenient SD card reader for your pictures. The battery life is rated to be 3.5 hours, but it really only lasts around two hours (or less).

Find it at your nearest Best Buy (www.bestbuy.com) or www.amazon.com. Pricing ranges from $299.99 (2GB) to $499.99 (8GB). Check out http://eeepc.asus.com for more information.

TV Surround Sound From One Box

Since my husband and I moved into our new house about a year ago, all this time we never did set up a good sound system for our TV. Part of that was because of laziness, and we were also looking/waiting for the right sound component for TV while trying to keep the bank account intact.

A perfect excuse to speed up the whole process was the Sugar Bowl. Although we’re loyal UH season ticket holders, we weren’t able to fly there to enjoy the game in person. Soooo, the next best thing was to watch it in the comfort of our living room with some kick butt sounds. The perfect match for our TV and living room was Yamaha’s YSP-3000 Digital Sound Projector, since it doesn’t take up much space.

Some background for you to know ...a digital sound projector is different from a speaker system, since it allows you to enjoy surround sound without having speakers all over the room. It is a single unit that has multiple small speakers, each with its own digital amplifier, and the sound is focused into “beams” with controlled delay times. This tricks your ears to perceive the sound to be coming from additional speakers placed throughout the room, but it’s really only coming from this one piece.
The time delay of each speaker driver is controlled by a Digital Sound Projection circuit, which enables the system to project the sound “beams” and precisely aimed for optimum sound effect. The direct and is reflected sound waves then produce true multi-channel sound to fill your house.


The setup was easy, but still a tad bit more complicated than setting up a regular speaker. You have to place the included microphone in the middle of your room and allow it to automatically calibrate. By monitoring and analyzing your ambient sound, the IntelliBeam automatically sets the best beam angles, while optimizing the level and frequency response of each beam. The trick to the calibration is you do need the room to be absolutely silent for three minutes, which could be a challenge if you have any loud children or pets around.

The YSP-3000 is just one of a few of Yamaha’s Digital Sound Projectors (other models are the top-of-the-line YSP-4000 or YSP-900). The 3000 features 21 built-in beam drivers and two built-in woofers with 23 corresponding digital amplifiers and three Cinema DSP modes.

It has a 1080p compatible HDMI interface with two inputs and one output to plug in your other digital home theater components. Additionally, it has an FM tuner and an iPod dock. When your iPod is docked-in, you can watch and listen to your collection on your TV in all its glory. Each of the YSP models offer additional sound settings, including 5-Beam Mode, 3-Beam Mode, Stereo+3-Beam Mode, and My Beam Mode, which allows you to focus the sound to a specific position without disturbing others in your house. I currently have mine set to the 5-Beam Mode, and you can hear it clearly all over the house.

Sound support for all three YSPs includes Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Pro Logic III and DTS Neo:6. Yamaha’s CINEMA DSP technology creates realistic soundscapes in any room, and for those late night movies, there’s a Night Listening Enhancer mode that allows dialog and quiet passages to be heard clearly, even at low volumes. The TV Equal Volume mode prevents sudden bursts of sound from TV programs and commercials that tend to sound louder. Moreover, all three feature SRS TruBass technology to provide exceptionally deep and rich bass through the slimly designed subwoofers.

The YSP-3000 is $995.95 (available in silver or black) at www.amazon.com. This price tag may sound slightly intimidating, but it’s well worth it, considering what you would pay for a Bose system. I’m happy with mine, and at this writing don’t know who will win the Sugar Bowl, but at least the sound for my TV is ready for the big game!

Wo Hoo! - New Hulu is Free!

Happy New Year!

Now that Christmas has drained and emptied your wallet, here is a nice, refreshing, free concept: Hulu. First announced back in October, Hulu allows you to watch TV shows, clips and movies on its site. You may remember the controversy some months back regarding NBC pulling out of the iTunes Music Store. Since that happened, NBC switched directions, and instead of selling its shows on iTunes, you can view NBC shows (and much more) on one main site.

In a nutshell, Hulu is an online video on demand service that is Flash-based and supported by ads. The lengths of the ads are about the same as if you were watching it on NBC’s website, so it’s really not too bad. Additionally, you can share your own videos via e-mail or embed them onto your website. You can choose to share an entire video or select your own start and stop points to create a custom clip. The site’s interface is simple to use, and you can vary your video viewing experience from full screen to having the video player open in the corner of your monitor.

“We’re excited to bring a wide selection of popular content to fans, on-demand and free - from full episodes and clips of hit shows like Heroes, House, The Office and The Simpsons, to feature films like The Blues Brothers and Sideways,” said Jason Kilar, chief executive officer of Hulu.

“The launch with our distribution partners as well as our beta is an important first step in delivering a service that lets people enjoy their favorites, anytime, anywhere.” At the moment, Hulu is in private beta, so you need to sign up to receive an invitation, and use/participate in it. Once you are able to access the site, it allows you to view a wide variety of full-length episodes, clips and feature films. Some of Hulu’s partners include MGM, Sony Pictures Television, Bravo, CNET, E! Entertainment Television, Fox Reality, FX Networks, G4TV, Gamespot.com, Golf Channel, National Geographic, Oxygen, Smithsonian Networks, Sci Fi Network, TV Guide, USA Network and more (and still growing).

“NBC Universal is excited to give consumers the flexibility to enjoy our most popular shows online when, where and how they want,” said Jeff Zucker, president and chief executive officer, NBC Universal. “Hulu’s clean and crisp destination site, broad distribution network and embeddable video player make for a powerful combination and will provide substantial reach to consumers online.”

So far, Hulu seems to be fairly good, with only a couple of shortcomings I have to mention. All the TV shows I searched for were there, but narrowing the search to certain dates, I noticed that the selection for the archive is not complete. My second complaint is that shows are not posted in a timely manner after they air. Other than that, it’s a very smooth web-site. Sign up for your free Hulu account or see the complete show lineup at www.hulu.com. Be patient - if you are approved to participate in this beta, it takes a little while to have your login sent to you. It took me about three weeks to receive mine.

While you’re waiting for your beta acceptance to be approved, you can see some of Hulu’s partner sites for clips: aol.com, fancast.com, msn.com, myspace.com or yahoo.com. The difference is Hulu combines these all into one place to go (and then some).