CrunchGear

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• LVP-HC3800: Mitsubishi’s new full HD DLP projector
• Daily Crunch: Manipulation Edition
• Review: Motorola CLIQ
• Meet the men and women behind the drones
• Apple performance update weighs in at around 300… kilobytes? That can’t be right
• This is why Apple’s iFrame is a bad idea
• Augmented reality telescreen harasses onlookers
• Man builds Vespa rocking horse for grandchild, jealousy for everyone else
• Sanyo’s new camcorders are iFrame-compatible, and I say again, DO NOT WANT iFrame
• Today on the CrunchGear Live Podcast
• Verizon’s BlackBerry Storm2 Competitive Comparison chart leaks out
• The see-through Nooka Zaz
• Video: First look at how Family Guy is selling out to Microsoft
• Maxim proves Cylons can be kinda sexy
• ATI to power next-gen Xbox?
• Madden NFL Arcade coming to XBLA and PSN for $15 in December
• Hey, Google: Check out this ultra-fast book scanner
• The Logitech MK605 Notebook kit is a one-stop-shop
• Walmart launching own pre-paid cell plans
• Acer introduces new ‘Liquid’ Android + Snapdragon smartphone

LVP-HC3800: Mitsubishi’s new full HD DLP projector Posted: 15 Oct 2009 12:22 AM PDT Mitsubishi Electric has announced [JP] the LPV-HC3800 for the Japanese market today, a full HD DLP projector that features a contrast ratio of 3,000:1, 1,200 lumens brightness and a DDP3021 full 10-bit panel driver. The device comes with a 230W lamp that has a lifespan of 5,000 hours and depending on the operating mode, it can be as quiet as 25dB. Mitsubishi plans to start selling the LPV-HC3800 in Japan starting November 20 for $2,200. The company hasn’t said yet whether the projector will make its way outside Japan as well (but Mitsubishi Electric does sell projectors in the US, for example, so chances are they will export this one, too).

Daily Crunch: Manipulation Edition Posted: 15 Oct 2009 12:00 AM PDT Apple performance update weighs in at around 300… kilobytes? That can't be right Self-Cleaning Monitor Hey, Google: Check out this ultra-fast book scanner Augmented reality telescreen harasses onlookers This is why Apple's iFrame is a bad idea

Review: Motorola CLIQ Posted: 14 Oct 2009 08:07 PM PDT The Short Version Motorola has released the phone it should have released a few years ago to compete with phones like the Helio Ocean and feature phones from LG and Samsung. Android brings this phone into the 21st century and the QWERTY keyboard and BLUR UI tweaks will please those looking for a keyboard Android phone with social networking features. The Long Version This last half-decade has been hard on Motorola. It launched the RAZR in 2004 and essentially riffed on that ground-breaking clamshell for another four years. Now it's 2009 and it's time to move in a different direction. Can this creaky ship of a company take up the line, hoist the mizzen, and tack to starboard? Is the Motorola CLIQ the answer to their deepest, most secret prayers, prayed in anguish under a stifling cover of imminent collapse? How many more metaphors can I use here and still sound like I'm writing for a business magazine? First, I finger wag. Motorola, you have been very bad. You squandered your massive lead (110 million RAZRs sold by 2005) on a strategy that included, but was not limited to, trying to copy the magic of the RAZR while the rest of the industry was going the way of the smartphone. Then you tried to build out some Windows Mobile phones that no one wanted and, in the end, lost out to just about every rival you've ever had. This is bad. So here's your hail Mary pass, your Radio Free Europe, your return to four-letter naming conventions. I present the Motorola CLIQ.

Meet the men and women behind the drones Posted: 14 Oct 2009 06:30 PM PDT Photo credit: Dan Winters So everyone knows now that the military uses UAVs for actions in the Middle East. What isn’t as commonly known, is that the men and women who pilot the remote controlled aircraft do so from the relative comfort of a top secret facility in the Nevada desert. In some ways, it’s the ultimate video game. It’s a bit surreal. A soldier assigned to the Reaper and Predator program may see combat at 2:00pm, and then go home at 5:30pm and stop for Taco Bell on the way home. Esquire managed to get some really excellent access at the site, and spent some time with the the people responsible for helping defend the ground troops in Afghanistan.

Apple performance update weighs in at around 300… kilobytes? That can’t be right Posted: 14 Oct 2009 05:44 PM PDT Oh Snow Leopard, you have made my day. Remember when updates used to be in the hundreds of megabytes? Your unified architecture has slimmed down apps and updates so much that they are only a thousandth the size now. Or it could be that it’s just a tiny patch to fix an uncommon but problematic hard drive error (since it’s only 22KB more for Leopard). Either way, the update is there. Been having hard drive issues? This may just fix it.

This is why Apple’s iFrame is a bad idea Posted: 14 Oct 2009 04:33 PM PDT Yesterday, word got out of Apple’s new iFrame standard, which purports to expedite video editing by keeping the video in “the same format used on a computer.” Really, it’s nothing but a resolution and wrapper. So why am I losing my mind over it? Because the way iFrame is being positioned and propagated is misleading and harmful to consumers. Oh I know, what an alarmist, right? It’s just a video format! But with personal video becoming more and more ubiquitous and invading class after class of gadgets, these former trivialities are becoming more important by the day. And for once, we are actually gravitating towards a couple unified standards in both encoding and resolution — and then Apple butts in with this ugly stepchild of a format. Let me drop a few background truth bombs here first, and please do read this part, because it’s important, and math is fun. Every new TV out there supports 720p. This is because it is an evolution from the VGA standard 640×480, recently employed by Apple for its Nano and iPhone video. VGA is perfectly good. But it’s also 4:3, which is something we’ve been moving away from for a while. It’s getting hard to find 4:3 screens; the new standard is 16:9. So to make a VGA-related HD standard, just double the horizontal pixels (you get 1280) and extend it downwards until you have a 16:9 aspect ratio — 720p, or 1280×720, appears as if by magic. It’s a good size, a good standard, and perfectly easy to work with. Cheap camcorders can record to it, and until recently it was even used (with better equipment of course) by Hollywood. Then you’ve got 1080p, which is 720p extended by 640 pixels horizontally and 360 pixels vertically (640×360 is VGA reduced to 16:9). These formats were chosen for a reason. So between VGA, 720p, and 1080p, you have provided for mobile/medium-quality, high-quality consumer, and prosumer video needs. Dueling legacy codecs and wrappers notwithstanding (video editor compatibility still isn’t there), it’s actually a pretty picture, so to speak. There are a few weird resolutions out there for sure, but they are for things like 8-inch netbook screens or professional HD footage like that from a RED. For 99% of consumers, the three standards I’ve just mentioned are everything they’ll need for years (we’re sort of plateauing as Blu-ray and digital distribution duke it out). You can buy a computer for the price of the camcorder that will edit 720p handily. Now perhaps you understand my consternation some time ago when I found that iMovie ‘09 didn’t like to support the HD formats used all over the world. Sure, if you’re an expert you can get around the barrier’s they’ve put in your way, but the world isn’t full of experts and the result is that the average Joe’s footage gets re-encoded and he isn’t getting the HD quality he paid for. Fortunately, they fixed that and you can now export in true HD. So imagine my shock yesterday when Apple decided to pull an about-face and institutionalize this ridiculous limitation. iFrame, and we can talk about the name in another post, sets in stone a size of video which has no place in this world. The idea is that it keeps the format homogenous from camera to editor. Really? Because that’s what all regular video editors do already. The only reason iMovie needs a special format is because of the limitations Apple placed on it. The size and workflow differences between iFrame and 720p are really not very significant. What’s my objection, then? I’ll tell you. Apple is ignoring the galaxy of products out there that already support a perfectly good format. Can you think of a single device, display, web page, or anything that has a 960×540 resolution? Your TV is 720p or 1080p. You’ll have to stretch the video to make up the difference, and despite what you’ve heard about upscaling (it’s nice), more resolution is always better for definition. The first cameras to support iFrame, from Sanyo, look great. They shoot to 1080p, will do 12FPS stills, super-slow-motion video, and are all-around decent camcorders. And yet they default to iFrame. Let me say that again. Thousands will buy cameras capable of (and designed for) shooting 1080p, and Apple will have them defaulting to shooting at a quarter of that resolution. Joe Consumer won’t question it, and he’s not getting his money’s worth. Besides, with all the choice currently available, and the devices already far too complicated for the average user to utilize fully, adding yet another option (and suggesting it’s better when it’s not) is just irresponsible. And before your mouth starts frothing in anticipation of a 960×540 resolution iTablet, rest assured that’s not the case. They’d be foolish not to support 720p since they’re going to capitalize on renting out HD TV shows, which are broadcast in 720p or 1080p. In the end, I’m forced to accuse Apple of pure egotism. While simply having a 960×540 resolution option is in no way an issue — it’s just a resolution, after all — it’s attempting to make it a standard that’s a problem. There is nothing better, or indeed much different at all, about iFrame, save that it is slightly lower in quality than 720p and takes up somewhat less space (even that is questionable, as cameras differ widely in bitrates). By emphasizing its own format, which is inferior to the existing and popular standards, Apple only solving a problem of their own creation. Instead of fixing iMovie to work with the world, they’re trying to change the world to work with iMovie. I guess that’s kind of how Apple does things, but still. Oh, I realize this is a bit of a mountain/molehill situation here, but I couldn’t let this ridiculous move pass without comment, and video format lunacy is a pet peeve of mine (hence the disproportionate rant you just skipped over). As much as I love Apple, this is indefensible, silly even. Even if it’s only a sort of technical quibble, it indicates a serious lack of reality checking on Apple’s part.

Augmented reality telescreen harasses onlookers Posted: 14 Oct 2009 03:00 PM PDT Hand from Above from Chris O'Shea on Vimeo. This commissioned work by artist Chris O’Shea has an enormous hand alternately crushing, picking up, and tickling passersby. It certainly is reminiscent of the Kids in the Hall sketch with the head crusher (which I have embedded below for your convenience). It appears to work more or less automatically, effacing people it picks up or shrinking them. Not the hardest thing to do (especially with a decent background image) but, I imagine, difficult to do dynamically like that. All in good fun, though. If you’re in Cardiff or Liverpool during the next couple weeks, check this thing out. [via Neatorama and Make]

Man builds Vespa rocking horse for grandchild, jealousy for everyone else Posted: 14 Oct 2009 02:00 PM PDT   Here is a photo of the luckiest kid in the world. Look at that cute little face. He seems to be saying "I have a Vespa rocking horse. Do you have a Vespa rocking horse? Where do you keep your Vespa rocking horse? I'm but a small child so I can only assume that all other children have a Vespa rocking horse just like mine." While I’ve got news for you, Diego. My childhood rocking horse consisted of little more than some cheap springs, a whole lot of ass splinters, and general disappointment. Aw, I’m just jealous. That’s why I’ve been so moody lately. It’s not Diego’s fault, he clearly has an awesome grandpa. And to be fair, my grandpa did buy me Castle Grayskull no questions asked when I was five. Can your Vespa rocking horse travel to Eternia, Diego? Oh, it just stays in one place? I see. Hmm, that’s unfortunate. [via Likecool]

Sanyo’s new camcorders are iFrame-compatible, and I say again, DO NOT WANT iFrame Posted: 14 Oct 2009 01:30 PM PDT Yesterday I lamented Apple’s decision to establish its own video standard, which, while little more than a suggested resolution and bitrate, does not fit will with any devices anywhere. The steady progression of VGA or WVGA, 720p, and 1080p are perfectly fine for the moment. That’s why every camera in the world shoots to one of them. 1080p is too much for most people to work with, but 720p isn’t that bad (though render times can be long), and VGA is really not that bad at all (Doug swears by it). So why the hell put a new one in there between WVGA and 720p? I don’t like the idea of Apple bullying companies like Sanyo, who make perfectly good camcorders already, to add an option which needlessly complicates things. But let’s just get these camcorders out of the way, because they’re worth taking a look at. The two cameras are almost the same spec-wise except the horizontally-oriented FH1 has a 3-inch LCD as opposed to the pistol grip HD2000’s 2.7-inch. They appear to be quite versatile camcorders, able to take 12 stills a second or shoot up to 600FPS video at reduced resolution, something which was until recently the exclusive ability of Casio Exilims. They’ll shoot 1080p video at 60FPS, which is pretty amazing, though I don’t recommend you do it. Interestingly, they won’t shoot 720p or 640×480 at 60FPS — a bit odd. SD cards are the medium you record to, and both cameras have a 10x optical zoom. Quite a neat little package for $500! Or $600 if you want the pistol grip. But to return to the rant. These cameras will also shoot, and in fact will default to, the 960×540 iFrame format. Come on. It can do so much and you’re defaulting it to this random format?

Today on the CrunchGear Live Podcast Posted: 14 Oct 2009 01:00 PM PDT Here are some of the topics from today’s podcast… Devin hates Apple’s new iFrame video format Barnes and Noble’s impending e-book reader Android is everywhere — at CTIA, at CEATAC — everywhere! Rebirth of Polaroid The Motorola Cliq An uncomfortable discussion about weird $40 sex jars from Japan LISTEN: Show Link | RSS Feed | iTunes Link

Verizon’s BlackBerry Storm2 Competitive Comparison chart leaks out Posted: 14 Oct 2009 01:00 PM PDT Man, you've gotta love these things. I've yet to see one of these leak out showing any shortcomings for the primary device - but I guess that's really the point. It's not so much a comparison chart as it is a "You should probably avoid talking about stuff outside of this list" chart.

The see-through Nooka Zaz Posted: 14 Oct 2009 12:32 PM PDT Matt Waldman at Nooka has done it again. The Zaz is a see-through watch with an LCD sandwiched onto a transparent surface. You tell time by counting the blocks and reading the growing minutes bar and it comes with a black, silver, or white band. At $380 it’s a bit pricier than some Nooka models but it’s still badass. They’ll be available in November. Also, the last secret word is WARFARE.

Video: First look at how Family Guy is selling out to Microsoft Posted: 14 Oct 2009 12:31 PM PDT Prediction: The Windows 7 Family Guy mashup will be lame. I’m talking The Goode Family lame. How do I know? This sneak peak video. [via ars technica]

Maxim proves Cylons can be kinda sexy Posted: 14 Oct 2009 12:06 PM PDT Battlestar Galactica nerds, Maxim is counting on you to buy its latest mag. Photoshopped and chopped versions of Tricia Helfer and Grace Park are gracing the November cover. But thanks to the wonderful Internet, there’s no need to fork over hard-earned money just to check out the rest of the photo set. Maxim.com has a bunch primed for your viewing pleasure. But be warned, the pics might kill any fantasies you currently have about Number Six or Boomer. The general consensus of the CrunchGear staff is that these pics are horrible. Whoever was the photographer or photoshopper should look for different work. He – and let’s assume it was a man – sucks at his current job. Maybe he should look into the Peace Corps or bartending.

ATI to power next-gen Xbox? Posted: 14 Oct 2009 11:00 AM PDT Building upon the success of the custom ATI Xenos GPU that's found in the current Xbox 360, Microsoft and ATI have apparently already struck a deal to continue using ATI chips in the next generation of Xbox consoles, according to Fudzilla. Details are scant at the moment, and Fudzilla is quoting unnamed "industry sources" so take this news with a grain of salt even though it makes sense and probably isn’t that big of a stretch anyway. The site is also positing that the ATI chip may be of the 28-nanometer variety but being that next generation consoles are apparently not due from Microsoft and Sony until 2012, GPUs by that time could be invisible and made out of unicorn horns and fueled by Sasquatch DNA for all anybody knows. It could happen! ATI already won next gen Xbox deal [Fudzilla] Thanks to John for sending this in.

Madden NFL Arcade coming to XBLA and PSN for $15 in December Posted: 14 Oct 2009 10:30 AM PDT If you find the full version of Madden (see review here) to be too expensive, complicated, or both but you still long for the thrill and prestige of legally-licensed NFL players and teams, then you’ll be happy to know that Madden NFL Arcade will be here sometime in December. It’ll be available on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in downloadable form for $15 and will feature 5-on-5 action on a 60-yard field. Your team is given four downs, there are no penalties or field goals, and the first team to 30 wins. So, yeah, not quite like a full game of the big boy version of Madden but this one should be far more of a pick-up-and-play experience. And, as is an arbitrary requirement for all arcade style sports games, there are numerous power-ups to use throughout the game: "Add an entourage of lineman to get the sack, freeze an opposing player, turn off your opponent’s passing icons, and much more. No lead is safe in Madden NFL Arcade." No specific availability date yet, aside from "just in time for the holidays in December." Full press release: EA Announces All-New Football Experience with Madden NFL Arcade 5-on-5 Pure Adrenaline NFL Football Meets the Award-Winning Football Franchise REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Oct 14, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq: ERTS) announced today an all-new way to experience the Madden NFL franchise with Madden NFL Arcade – a fun, pick-up-and-play, 5-on-5 football game from EA Tiburon. Madden NFL Arcade is pure adrenaline football for both casual and diehard NFL fans, featuring a unique art style that brings your favorite players to life like never before! Madden NFL Arcade will be available as a download on Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PlayStation Store for 1200 MS Points and $14.99 respectively, just in time for the holidays in December. “When you look around the office and see your whole team playing and having tons of fun with it, you know the game hit the right mark,” said marketing director Nathan Stewart. “We have diehard Madden fans who have worked on the franchise for a decade, and more casual gamers who are all playing together and enjoying it. If our productivity the past few weeks is any indication, we’ve created a game that everyone will love.” Choose one of your favorite 32 NFL teams and distinctive home stadium for a battle with the best five players on each side of the ball, and let the excitement begin! Each team is given four downs to march 60 yards to pay dirt – no penalties or field goals allowed here, pal! Get your Madden NFL fix in a completely new way, with fast-paced games where the first team to 30 wins. Want to mix it up?Madden NFL Arcade can be tailored to fit your liking by changing options, such as skill level, points to win, and more; making each game unlike the one before. Take advantage of 13 unique “Game Changers” to break the game wide open on a single play. Add an entourage of lineman to get the sack, freeze an opposing player, turn off your opponent’s passing icons, and much more. No lead is safe in Madden NFL Arcade. Madden NFL Arcade is the perfect video game for gameday, allowing up to four players to play co-op on a single console. You can also take on the world online in head-to-head matches and track your performance via interactive leaderboards. If you like to commemorate your gridiron success, Madden NFL Arcade will also provide a host of achievements and trophies to boost your gamer score.

Hey, Google: Check out this ultra-fast book scanner Posted: 14 Oct 2009 10:20 AM PDT Wikipedia says Google is using a special camera that’s able to scan books at a rate of 1,000 pages per hour, which doesn’t sound bad at all (I am talking about Google Books of course, the company’s online collection of digitized books ). But now a team at the elite University of Tokyo has announced the development of  a device that can scan a 1,000-page book in four minutes. The core component of the device is a high-speed camera that can make 500 shots in a single second and is based on infrared laser technology. Users are required to manually flip the pages under the camera, which then makes shots of the print material. The device is able to scan everything that’s printed on paper, from character written in latin or other languages to graphs or photos. The researchers say they hope to sell the technology to libraries or publishers and rely on cooperations with copy machine makers to market the device. Via Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]

The Logitech MK605 Notebook kit is a one-stop-shop Posted: 14 Oct 2009 10:00 AM PDT Logitech has the right idea here. Instead of making notebook owners piecemeal their notebook accessories together, Logitech now has the MK605 Notebook Kit. The kit isn’t anything fancy, but you can guarantee that retail flacks will be pushing this $99 bundle onto holiday shoppers. The MK605 kit includes a notebook riser, along with a wireless mouse and keyboard that utlize Logitech’s new Unifying receiving technology. The whole kit actually saves buyers 30 bones if they were to buy everything separately. Plus, the kit comes in a slick black with a goldenrod pin stripe color scheme.

Walmart launching own pre-paid cell plans Posted: 14 Oct 2009 09:30 AM PDT Look out Virgin Mobile and Cricket, Walmart is coming for you. The infamous retailer announced today that they are launching their own no-contract cellular service on the 18th, called Straight Talk.

Acer introduces new ‘Liquid’ Android + Snapdragon smartphone Posted: 14 Oct 2009 09:19 AM PDT Starting all the way back in December of 2008, Acer let it be known that it was working on a self-branded smartphone. Then, this past June, Acer up and joined the Open Handset Alliance and said that it would release its first Android device by Q4 of 2009. Well what do you know. Q4 is here and Acer has actually put its money where its mouth was with the announcement of its first Android-based, Snapdragon-powered smartphone, Liquid.

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