As most of you know, the LINK started out life as what we call a "TVPC," namely a disc-less, quiet computer that's configured specifically for bringing Internet video to the tv. From that foundation, it's rapidly evolving to provide a more seamless couch experience. One area that's receiving a lot of attention is the controller.

Recently, we've been spending some time prototyping with motion sensing controllers, including the Nintendo wii controller. The significant thing about this kind of interface is that it allows an easy way to have both standard menu navigation (up down left right) as well as free form mouse control, which is still needed for web browsing. There's even a virtual keyboard
(which we certainly won't use in production). Posted a quick youtube video of it in action. For those of you that want to play along at home, you can follow the instructions below.

If you don't have a LINK, but would like to try out the software (you'll have to apply the mods below manually) you can booting your PC from a flash drive with the software, instructions here No guarantees, it's meant for the LINK, but I have heard reports of some folks getting it working fine on other PCs.

Have a Neuros LINK?

The good news

We are happy to release the Neuros LINK version 1.2 image. This image:
- Improves the speed and stability of the Neuros LINK
- Customizes the browser experience from your couch

The bad news
Unfortunately... we haven't yet perfected the automated download
method, so you will have to download the ~900MB file and reflash to the
USB key that came with your LINK. For those who have customized your
installation, you will also need to redo your customizations after
reflashing.

The instructions
Instructions are here: http://www.neurostechnology.com/upgrade-neuros-link
(And, if you choose the Bittorrent method, please seed the file to help us offset some of the bandwidth costs! Thank you!)

Following up on the successful Introduction to Crowd Narration and Crowd Narration of the First US Presidential Debate, tonight Neuros will host crowd narration for the First US Vice-Presidential Debate tonight, 17:00 Eastern/16:00 Central.

To actually watch the chat text superimposed on the video, you'll need an OSD but all you'll need to participate is a web browser (and access to the debate broadcast)

To participate on the web: go to narration.neuros.tv where you'll find a familiar chat window, where the input from that window will be directly superimposed on those watching through their OSDs (per the instructions below)

Instructions for OSD owners below the break

Neuros and MediaFly are jointly sponsoring a contract to integrate the Mediafly Media Channel service into the Neuros OSD. This bounty pays $2,000 on full completion, as described below. If you are interested in applying, send an email to bounties at neurostechnology.com and describe your level of experience in a few sentences.

Neuros is happy to unveil a new way to see the Neuros OSD, in three dimensions. Our friends at UK-based Astera3D have built a model of the Neuros OSD that can be turned, rotated and magnified all within your web browser (Java plugin required).

View the 3D model of the Neuros OSD
Learn more about Astera 3D

Despite some initial hiccups (if you are on the list, we apologize..), the revised Neuros Developer Mailing List, hosted on Google Groups, has been updated.

All email to the previous developer mailing list, Neuros-DM320Hardware@googlegroups.com, should now be directed to neuros@googlegroups.com. You can visit the group here: http://groups.google.com/group/neuros

Nero's email below explains why we are making this move, and provides more details on the transition.

Do you have files that won't play on the OSD? We are pleased to present WinFF for Neuros, a simple Windows-based Free software transcoding solution that is optimized for the Neuros OSD.