You’ve recorded the big game on your digital video recorder at home. But you are stuck in an airport lounge half a world away. If you have a broadband internet connection where you are, and either a computer (Mac or PC) or a mobile phone (running Windows mobile), you needn’t wait until you get home to watch your recording.

With a Slingbox console anything you can watch on your home television you can watch on your laptop via the internet or on your cell phone via a 3G network. That includes live TV. How cool is that!

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While running its proprietary software the Shuttle D10 doesn't look like a Windows-based PC but like one of the world's coolest stereo systems.

Like an increasing number of other people, Spot Cool Stuff has a PC dedicated to playing media. We use ours mostly for music. (We can’t remember the last time we touched a CD—our computer is our stereo system). Others also use a PC as a digital video recorder, taping their favorite shows and then watching them, via PC, on their television.

The main problems with having a media-centric PC is that it doesn’t look very attractive and it takes up a lot of space, what with the computer itself, the monitor, keyboard and mouse. The computer fan can also be a bit noisy.

Enter the Shuttle D10.

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Spot Cool Stuff loves HDTV. After testing out several models we’ve settled on this Samsung. Besides the giant 52-inch screen framed by beautiful black trim what really stands out about this HDTV set is the high contrast picture it delivers. With its 50,000:1 contrast ratio the blacks are pitch, the whites are blinding, the colors all pop from the screen.

Picture quality is our highest priority in choosing an HD set. However, our inner gadget-lovers is more than satisfied by the array of bells and whistles this Samsung offers. The “Infoseek” feature lets users read RSS feeds on this set, a USB connection allows you to hook up a computer or MP3 player. There’s also picture-in-picture functionality, surround sound speakers and an exceptionally designed remote control. Now if they could only think of a better name for this HDTV set than “LN52A650.”

BUY | 

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