Lance playing with the VAIO cake.

Here's the scene of the Blu-ray crime.

Side view of VAIO AR Series.

VAIO AR series laptop playing the alleged Blu-ray DVD.

Here's the mischievous act of ejecting the Blu-ray DVD only to discover that it's a DVD+R!

I can be as lazy as the next person when it comes to watching TV. In fact, I make sure I have everything on my coffee table that I'll need (remote, drink, snacks, chapstick, cell phone, blanket), just so I don't have to get up from watching some of my favorite shows, like How I Met Your Mother, Desperate Housewives, Lost, and American Idol.

I'm thinking that's what K2 Mounts had in mind when they invented the X-arm. The X-arm is a programmable, remote-controlled wall mount that can adjust your TV to a preferred viewing position, extending a TV 12 inches from the wall. It tilts down to 25º or up to 7º, and swivels in a left/right motion from 20º to 32º, depending on display size.

Now why a motorized wall mount? To eliminate glare and reflections so that you don't have to get up and draw the window shades (which would come in handy at my apartment).

To move the mount, you simply touch a button on the universal remote control or via a RS-232 controlled touch panel. And if you find yourself positioning the TV the same way each time, the device stores two memory locations.

When not in operation, the X-arm sits against the wall in an upright position, four inches from the wall.

The X-arm is meant for plasma or LCD flat panel displays between 40- and 65-inch sizes (up to 180 pounds). With the X-arm, you'll receive a mounting attachment kit for easy installation.

But, you'll have to fork over your credit card for this one; the X-arm sells for $1,995. Look for it at retailers soon.

UPDATE 05/17/2006: We just posted Lance's response to the feedback found here on Gearlog and around the web, plus we have more information from Sony.  Also, we've posted more pictures from the event. 

 

PC Magazine's Lance Ulanoff attended a Sony event and unlocked a secret. Here is his account:

 

Sony celebrated a decade of VAIO innovation at the way-out-of-the-way Guest House club in NYC last night. It was your typical self-congratulatory fest, replete with speeches, large posters lauding early product development (of the first purple VAIO and the ultra thin 505 laptop) and even a huge, 70-pound VAIO laptop cake (left). I tried some and the faux magnesium chassis tasted like tin foil—blech.

 

There were, of course, some more recent vintage products on display like the Sony VAIO XL2 Digital Living System  but the true stars of last night's event were Blu-ray, a new Blu-ray VAIO (the AR) and a near-pocket-sized "Micro PC," the VAIO UX. The gorgeous, 17-inch laptop not only has a Blu-ray player, but the drive can even burn Blu-ray discs—a true first.

 

On one table Sony execs proudly displayed two ARs playing early Blu-ray content: The House of Flying Daggers (below). They even had the Blu-ray packaging. So exciting...but WAIT! I went ahead and ejected one of the Blu-ray drives to see my first Blu-ray disc. Instead, I found a crummy, old school DVD+R, complete with the Sharpie-written, House of Flying Daggers. Apparently even Sony can't get its hands on Blu-ray content!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following rampant rumors across the blogosphere, Apple annouced the latest replacement for the iBook, the Macbook (sans Pro).  It's a 13.3 inch widescreen, Intel Core Duo powered 5.2 pound ultraportable thin and light notebook with a built-in slot mounted optical drive.  It's going for $1,099 to $1,499 base price, depending on which CPU, optical drive, and hard drive you want.  So far it looks like the black version is only available as a top of the line 2.0GHz Core Duo model with DVD burner and 80GB hard drive.  Lesser MacBooks use a 1.83GHz or 2.0GHz Core Duo, 60GB hard drive and either a DVD/CD-RW combo drive or a DVD burning SuperDrive.

I was expecting a single core Core Solo to keep the price down, but again Apple surprises everyone.  I'm also looking forward to the opening of the new cube-shaped Apple store on 5th Avenue in NYC (our home base) later this week.  I would've expected the annoucement of the MacBook at that event.  Oh well, at least I'll be getting my commemorative t-shirt. 

Check back with gearlog.com and pcmag.com for more on Apple's new consumer ultraportable thin and light notebook.