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Filed under: Home Entertainment

PlayOn wants to make sure you can get your daily dose of Barackrolls and Airwolf episodes beyond the desktop, while Hulu might not have a slick streaming set-top box of its own, this media server software turns flash video RSS streams into easily browsed folders for your DLNA-compliant hardware. PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and HP MediaSmart HDTVs being at the top of that list (with Nintendo Wii support planned by year-end) owners can grab the beta release of the software and stream low-res episodes of Psych, or any assortment of YouTube video they please. With Netflix support “just down the road” this could provide an end around for PS3 owners looking for streaming love, or Xbox 360 owners without Xbox Live Gold (we know you’re out there.) Bad news is the beta only lasts 60 days and there’s a $30 pricetag waiting at the end of the free lunch highway. Our experience was good, with no stutters in a Psych episode streamed via Wi-Fi to the PS3 (albeit with no choice of HD clips), but we’d wait for confirmation on the whole Netflix bit before dropping any dough.

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

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Original post by Richard Lawler

This question from Blake Leeper came in for Extreme Tech editor Loyd Case:

I have a 60GB laptop drive that I salvaged from my dead notebook. It has some of my files on it–pictures and valuable stuff like that. I was wondering if there was a way I could turn it into an external hard drive. I read the article titled “Build an External Hard Drive.” The article was a little helpful, but I was hoping I could plug it in through a USB port. I was also wondering if there were any stores by me that would have the parts I need. Stores that are around me are WalMart, Comp USA, Circuit City, Staples, and Radio Shack.

See Loyd’s reply after the jump.

Loyd’s reply:

The short answer is, Yes.

What you need is an external drive case that supports USB connectivity. There are dozens of these on the market, and most are pretty similar. What I’d recommend is getting an external drive case that supports multiple connections. You can even find cases that support USB 2.0, FireWire, and eSATA. This will give you additional flexibility in the future.

These cases aren’t very expensive, either. A USB-only case should cost you $30 to $75 at retail. Installing a hard drive into one of these cases is quite similar to the procedure outlined in the PC Mag article you’ve already read.

Original post by Jared Preusz