CrunchGear

CrunchGear

Link to CrunchGear

Hitachi Japan rolls out 11 new plasma and LCD TVs

Posted: 15 Mar 2010 04:01 AM PDT

Last week it was Sony, and today it was Hitachi announcing [JP] a flood of new flat-screen TVs for the Japanese market. Hitachi does sell TVs outside this country, too, so chances are the four plasmas and seven LCDs find their way into other markets as well. (Some models will be offered in different colors, which is why you see more than 11 TVs in the picture above.)

The company has divided their new line-up of Woo TVs into three series (XP05, HP05 and H05).

XP05

The flagship XP05 series consists of three plasma TVs, namely a 42- ($2,650), a 46- ($3,100) and a 50-inch model (P50-XP05 for $3,650, pictured above). All of these devices are full HD, support DLNA, feature 4 HDMI ports and come with a 320GB internal HDD. The two LCD TVs in this series, a 32- ($1,900) and a 37-inch model ($2,200), just have a resolution of 1,366×768 (IPSĪ± panel). But a 320GB internal HDD and DLNA support are on board as well.

HP05

The HP05 series includes just two TVs, a plasma (the P42-HP05 with 42 inches for $2,200 is pictured above) and an LCD model (32 inches, $1,600). Buyers will get a resolution of 1,024×768 for the plasma and 1,366×768 for the LCD. Both TVs offer DLNA support and a 250GB internal HDD.

H05

The four LCD TVs of the H05 series are entry-level devices with 1,366×768 resolution. Hitachi offers a 19- ($770), a 22- ($880), a 26- ($990) and a 32-inch model (the L32-H05 for $1,100 is pictured). All of these TVs have an IPS panel (just the 32-incher has an IPSĪ± panel), support DLNA (client only) but lack an internal HDD.

The TVs of all three series will hit Japanese stores on April 17.

Video: Meet scary baby robot Yotaro

Posted: 15 Mar 2010 02:42 AM PDT


Just two weeks ago, we gave you m-synchy and m-neony, two super-advanced baby humanoids developed by a Japanese research institution. While those two robots were weird but looked rather harmless, baby robot Yotaro [JP], made by the University of Tsukuba in Japan, is really looking scary – just look at those pictures.

Yotaro has been around for some time now, but the University apparently showed the latest version to the international press recently. The purpose of the robot is to simulate the behavior of a real human child, and it has an arsenal of gimmicks to make it happen: a touch-sensitive face, artificial tear ducts (when Yotaro is “weeping”, warm water flows down his oversized cheeks), speakers (he can cry and giggle), motors for his feet and hands (so he can move realistically) etc.

Yotaro is able to change his facial expressions, “sleep”, run a fever and fall into good or bad mood, depending on how often you touch his face. But he’s not designed to be cute, which is a mystery as Japan normally loves to make literally everything as cute as possible – so why not babies?

Here’s a video made by the University of Tsukuba (in English):

Via The Straits Times

CrunchGear Week in Review: Dotland Edition

Posted: 15 Mar 2010 01:18 AM PDT

16-port USB hub is a little more tasteful than those other ones

Posted: 14 Mar 2010 06:41 PM PDT


When 10 hubs is just too few, and 24 is a few too many, and 80 is way too many… have I got the USB hub for you! They just added these things to stock at ThinkGeek, and unlike the other hubs we’ve seen recently, this one actually looks pretty nice. It’s got kind of an Apple vibe, but obviously still ran run with the PC big boys on sheer geekiness.

Thing is, it costs $160. Personally… I’d rather buy myself a nice steak every night for a week. Or teriyaki every day for a month. Yeah, I’m going with that one. But if you can’t control your buying finger, go ahead and pick one up.

[via The Awesomer]

Control your Canon DSLR with a Nintendo DS

Posted: 14 Mar 2010 04:00 PM PDT

After trying to find a way to remotely control their DSLRs, the clever hackers at HDRLabs couldn’t really find anything that would do what they wanted. So what did they do? Built a control of their own, using a Nintendo DS. HDRLabs went on to make the device available, for free. All you have to do is build one yourself.

So this is kind of a DIY project, if for no other reason then you can’t buy this, but you can buy all the parts (and download the instructions) on how to build it. I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that it’s easy, but the end result is incredibly cool. You’re going to need to take apart a camera release, a WarioWare: Twisted cartridge, and don’t even think about using this on a DSi. What’s the gain? Well, there’s a fairly large homebrew community sprouting up, but the basic set up gives you a sound activate trigger, motion sensor, time-lapse, and sun and moon rise awareness. Considering that this is a just a bunch of hackers building something that they couldn’t buy color me impressed. My only question is when can I get one for my Nikon?

[via Electronista]

iPad sales estimated to top 120,000 on first day

Posted: 14 Mar 2010 02:00 PM PDT

Whether the bloggers like it or not, it’s looking like the iPad is a hit. Initial estimates show that over 120,000 iPads were pre-ordered on friday, according to Investor Village. Some estimates showed roughly 50,000 devices ordered in the first two hours.

The numbers say some very interesting things about exactly which iPads were purchased as well. Approximately 69% of the pre-orders were for the Wifi version, with the remainder being for the 3G version of course. As far as what size iPads, the split was pretty even between the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB versions. The real question is, will Apple be able to meet all the demand for the new device, or will there be some disappointed customers come April. Given these numbers and the estimates of how much money Apple is making per device, Steve is laughing all the way to the bank this weekend.

One item worth noting, this data is based off a sampling of 99 orders over 19.5 hours, so there is of course a margin for error. The data was compiled by Investor Village’s AAPL Sanity board which as of this time, is down.

[via Brainstorm Tech]

Why are people against the FCC’s National Broadband Plan?

Posted: 14 Mar 2010 10:30 AM PDT

Up until a moment ago, this was going to be a standard “newsy” post: the FCC will announce its National Broadband Plan on Tuesday, here’s what it’s all about. Then I read the comments of a PC World article discussing that very same plan—many people are outraged that the government would muscle its way into the free market! If Americans wanted fast broadband then the market would provide it on its own terms. That, of course, is complete nonsense: plenty of Americans live in one-ISP towns, and if said ISP provides terrible service, well, though cookies, chico. This is America! Love it or leave it~!

And really, the FCC isn’t doing anything particularly controversial, at least I don’t think it’s controversial. All it’s doing is saying, by 2020, we’d like to see 100 million homes (out of an estimated 130 million homes come 2020) have access to broadband with speeds of up to 100 mbps. Some people already have access to that type of Internet connection, myself included. Other ISPs, including universally loathed Comcast, plans to roll out 100 mbps service in the coming months. So it’s not like the FCC is making some sort of unreasonable demand: the market has already decided that it’s worth its while to deploy 100 mbps service all over the country. A cynic might say that the FCC knows this, that 100 mbps service is closer than you might otherwise think, and is merely latching itself onto the ISPs so that it can be all, “See, FCC = leadership.” But don’t be cynical, don’t hold grudges: while you’re holding a grudge, the other guy is dancing.

I don’t know, I suppose it makes sense to get into this a bit more when the FCC actually makes the Plan public on Tuesday. But for now, all I have to say is: chill out. Not everything the government announces is tantamount to quartering British soldiers in your house without permission. I suppose I’m talking to people right now who actually believe, and understand, that a wired country is truly in the best interests of everyone.

Review: Creative World of Warcraft headset

Posted: 14 Mar 2010 08:50 AM PDT

Short Version: Fresh from the box, Creative's World of Warcraft, is here! They were designed for WoW players and their performance definitely reflects that. While a tad bulky, they don't feel heavy.
Pros
• Very Comfortable
• Hard to hear outside the headphones
• Wireless Mic works well. Does not get in the way.
• Driver allows deep customization of audio to serve your needs.

Cons
• No way to determine battery power.
• Volume buttons feel a little flimsy.
• Microphone can adjust but not very well.
• In order to download drivers, you must register the product.
• Reasonable but not impressive range.
• Not compatible with consoles (at least the PS3)

The headset packs a serious punch. Immediately, when you first put them on you'll notice they muffle out sound very well. Despite the size they feel comfortable and even after prolonged periods of play your ears won't ache. Windows has no trouble finding the skeleton drivers once I plugged in the USB device.

I sought out to download the drivers and was surprised that they required me to register the product in order to install the drivers. Once that way squared away, I played around with the Audio Control Panel. They allow you to customize the Glyph illumination (change color, pulsation, etc). There's a panel that allows you to customize 5 audio options that massively enhance the audio quality. There are also voice filters that allow you to mask your voice into various characters from WoW including XT-002 Deconstructor. Finally, you can bind your keys to various actions like mute to your keyboard.

There's no way to tell how much battery life you have on the wireless headset. Eventually they will simply go off. They can be charged by a simple mini-usb cable. They also work while plugged in so you can play while charging – granted – this technically defeats the purpose of a wireless headset.

All the audio options make a huge improvement to the game. The surround sound works surprisingly well. Better than previous simulated surround sound devices I've ever used. Quick note: all sounds are based on the character's perspective (not camera) so be wary if you're in a PVP zone and you hear fire off in the distance.
I only have 3 significant complaints. They probably placed the microphone far from the mouth to prevent pop but you can only bend it so far. This can also be troublesome if you raid late at night and loved ones are in the room: you can't mumble effectively. Other than that, the microphone works very well. The volume buttons are flimsy and often don't feel like they work. They are sensitive but don't increase the volume more than 2 percent making it quicker to adjust volume via the slider. You may also hit the volume (or even microphone mute) buttons while taking off/putting on the headphones. My last major gripe is the lack of compatibility of with the consoles. The PS3 can recognize some USB headsets and the WoW headphones would have made an excellent headset but alas; the PS3 could not detect the wireless USB key. I haven't checked for the 360 yet.

You can walk around your room with the headphones on, but they won't last a bathroom trip. This is mildly disappointing but considering you're not meant to be roaming your household with them on, it can be forgiven. On that note, I discourage roaming around with the glyphs pulsating. Sure they may look cool to you, but to anyone else, you will be confused with a tool.

Creative's World of Warcraft wireless headset sells at $159.99. While not completely necessary, the audio improvements they make are incredible and the headset does serve as a status symbol. There's nothing quite like going to the kitchen with your headset on listening to music of Dalaran.

Gabriel Deleon, Nicholas’ younger brother who has like 10 level 80s, wrote these fine words.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)