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Sharp To Launch Glasses-Free 3D Smartphone By Year-End – Globally

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 05:16 AM PDT

The 3D craze continues to find its way into the cell phone market. Sharp has today announced plans to launch a smartphone that features both the 3D screen (pictured) and the 3D camera the company unveiled earlier this year. While this doesn’t come as much of a surprise, a Sharp representative today stressed the phone will be available by year end – globally.

Citizen Eco-Drive World Perpetual AT Watch

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 04:54 AM PDT

Citizen's featured mainstream new watch collection for 2010 is this Eco-Drive World Time Perpetual AT line of timepieces. Based on a newly developed movement, the collection comes in a large range of styles, in various price brackets. From sporty to sleek, there is a World Perpetual AT watch for everyone. They are based on the new H144 Eco-Drive quartz movement that has a lot more features that it might suggest at first glance.


Logitech’s New iPod Speakers Are Battery-Powered, Peanut-Shaped

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 01:00 AM PDT


There isn’t too much to explain here. This is Logitech’s new iPod/iPhone dock and speakers — the main thing you need to know is that it has a rechargeable internal battery so you can take it to the beach and whatnot. It’ll go all day long — and all night strong. As long as that’s not more than eight hours. Comes with remote.

It probably sounds good too, but why bother with speakers when you can just wear your headphones and sing really loud?

Daily Crunch: RC Crash Edition

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 12:00 AM PDT

Samsung Attempts To Patent Hot Pants Tablet

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 09:04 PM PDT


I may be the only person in the world who calls this kind of thing a hot pants device, but I’m never going to stop. You know, hot pants, with the zipper in the back? These gadgets have the controls in the back. But why? You’d have to ask Samsung — or Apple; they submitted a patent for this kind of thing about a year ago.

My question regarding these pictures is: how is the user holding the device? If you’re holding it by the screen, you’re constantly giving it garbage input. And if you’re not holding it by the screen… where are you holding it?

[via Unwired View, Gizmodo, and Electronista]

Here, Have A Picnic Table In A Suitcase

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 08:00 PM PDT


Blankets are weak. How can you liveblog your picnic on that rumply, quilted surface? How will you maintain your posture during your marathon Farmville sessions? No — you need a table. But even though parks are all filled with such things, it always feels better to have one with you. Got you covered there.

Wood and aluminum construction, 240 pounds per seat, 22 pounds total weight — looks like a nice day for a picnic basket, eh Booboo?

[via Swiss Miss]

Wipeout Goes Corrugated On This Cardboard Race Track

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 07:09 PM PDT


As a child of the 80′s, I spent more then my fair share of quarters on games like Contra, Wipeout, and Battlezone. In fact, at one point I actually owned my own Battlezone machine, and had it set up in my living room. Then I moved in with my future wife, and we suddenly didn’t have room for an arcade game in the living room, and I had to sell it. This is why when I see things like Wipeout set up using cardboard and an R/C car, I get a bit nostalgic. She made me get rid of my “Dogs playing poker” on black velvet too.

Of course, now that I have a bigger house, I might have to do something like the clever guys at sputnic.tv did, and build myself my own analog version of Wipeout. The two guys in question put together a rather clever translation of the old arcade game using an arcade cabinet, and R/C car, a wireless camera, and a track made of cardboard. The driver sits at the console, and then drives the car through the course on the screen. Quite clever really.

[via Technabob]

Panasonic’s New 3D Camcorder Gets Handled, Judged

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 05:20 PM PDT


We’ve been looking forward to Panasonic’s consumer 3D camcorder since we first saw their pro one at CES. When it was revealed last week, I have to say I was a bit disappointed. It’s not a new camcorder at all, just a conversion lens that severely limits exposure and manual controls. The 60FPS split-resolution recording methods threw me as well. But I haven’t handled it, so my opinion is worthless at the moment.

But Camcorder Info just gave it a once-over, and they share many of my apprehensions. For a person who’s willing to shell out a grand and a half for a 3D camcorder, it seems to offer as many frustrations as it does opportunities. Configuration of the 3D mode is a pain, apparently, and the impaired light-gathering ability of the 3D add-on makes shooting in medium or low light difficult.

Here’s the issue: it’s a regular camcorder with a big thing strapped to the front. I’m a little sad that Panasonic didn’t decide to go whole hog and just integrate the 3D lenses into the body. 2D shooting could just, I don’t know, use one of the lenses. But if you’re selling it based on the 3D ability, that should be the device’s primary purpose. It seems clear that with the HDC-SDT750, the primary purpose is being a regular camcorder, and the 3D part compromises that.

New Motorola Tablet To Be 10″, Verizon and FiOS Related

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 04:38 PM PDT


According to the Financial Times, which gives no source, Motorola is working closely with Verizon to produce a 10″ Android tablet that will take advantage of Verizon’s FiOS service, which Moto makes the set-top box for. The size tallies with the Droid tablet we heard rumored a while back, but the TV focus is new, as well as the information that it would have dual cameras.

None of the companies involved (Moto, Verizon, Google) had anything to say about it, so take this info with a grain of salt for now.

[via Engadget]

GeekBeat.TV #17 – The Roboscooper and Virtual Streets Microsoft’s Way

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 04:24 PM PDT

Microsoft gives Google some competition in virtual street mapping, there’s a 3D camcorder coming to the market this week, the challenges of flying The Stig Copter, Roboscooper is after stuff on the floor, and Zomm becomes OpenCamp’s biggest sponsor! Join Cali Lewis for a roundup of tech events in GeekBeat.TV #17.

Crysis 2 Delayed Until 2011

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 04:01 PM PDT

Bad news for Crysis 2 fans, EA had their financial announcement today, and confirmed that Crisys 2 will be delayed unti 4Q2011. It was originally scheduled to come out this winter. EA didn’t let out any official reason for the delay, but it could be related to the recent addition of 3D graphics. I say let ‘em hold off and get it right the first time.

[via Destructoid]

Applied Geotagging: Where Locals And Tourists Shoot Pictures

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 02:30 PM PDT


These maps, by Eric Fisher, are the result of interpreting geotagging data for Flickr photos taken in popular cities. Red dots mean tourist photos, blue dots mean locals. Personally I don’t see a lot of utility in geotagging, at least for myself, but hot damn does it make for some interesting (and beautiful) data.

Above you see London; there are dozens more in the set. Check it out.

[via Metafilter]


Is Verizon Lying About The Droid’s Capabilities?

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 02:04 PM PDT

Yesterday, Verizon made it clear that while the original Droid would be getting Android 2.2, it would not be getting one of Android 2.2′s most coveted features: WiFi HotSpot. In other words, you wouldn’t be able to flip a switch and turn your Droid into a little 3G-powered router for all of your friends to leach off on the commute home.

The reason for this feature’s absence, said Verizon, was that “the Droid.. doesn’t have [the] hardware to support a Mobile Hotspot”. That’s fair, right? Missing hardware is missing hardware; as I put it in the first post, you just can’t make chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips.

Then I thought about it. What hardware, exactly, was it missing? WiFi receiver? Check. WiFi transmitter? Check. A 3G chipset, a fairly powerful CPU to handle the routing, and a reasonably sized battery? Checks across the board. That’s when it struck me: not only could the Droid totally handle Mobile Hotspot, but I’d seen it handling Mobile Hotspot before.

Read the rest at MobileCrunch >>

Windows 7 Now More Popular Than Vista (But XP Still King)

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 02:00 PM PDT

Usage of Windows 7 had finally passed that of Windows Vista, according to data from Net Applications. As it stands, 14.46 percent of Internet users are using Windows 7, compared to 14.34 percent for Windows Vista. The king remains Windows XP, which stands at a remarkable 61.9 percent—remarkable because XP is nearly 9 years old.

I'm hesitant to yell, like a dork, "upgrade!" because, well, if Windows XP works just fine for you then there's no particular point in upgrading.

Well, besides the numbers security enhancements that Microsoft has made since 2001. Microsoft hardly gets the credit it deserves for keeping its software as secure as it does. (See: the release of a critical patch before the scheduled patch day.)

There's a reason why you're seeing more and more exploits focusing on things like Flash: it's less secure (and gets pretty close to the hardware, all things considered) than Windows is at this point. So, "bad guys" go for the low hanging fruit.

Meanwhile, Apple's Mac OS X is clicking along at a solid 5 percent. That's just for the desktop version of Mac OS X, and not iOS or anything like that.

A little bit of trivia, that's all.


MEETMOI: Helping The Lonely Hook Up

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 01:45 PM PDT

Internet dating services are pretty much everywhere these days, but they can be somewhat inconvenient from a geographic standpoint. Fortunately there's MeetMoi NOW, an Android application designed to help you find people based on location, rather then just pictures and compatibility surveys.


The Iriver Story Touch Edition Is Just What It Sounds Like

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 01:32 PM PDT


The iriver story isn’t exactly a mainstream hit here in the states. Well, actually, that can be said about most of iriver’s wares, but it’s a popular brand abroad so it should come as a surprise to see the next generation of the iriver’s ebook reader. The story Touch Edition builds upon the first model, but does away with the QWERTY keyboard and instead opts for a full 6-inch touchscreen. The rest is standard ereader fare including multi-document support along with various audio codecs. No word on pricing or availability, but it’s not like you should worry about it anyway. It’s unlikely this model will leave Asia.

Decoding The iPhone Charger

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 01:14 PM PDT

If you’ve ever tried to charge your iPhone using “odd” USB dongles, you’ll find there is some secret sauce preventing the device from even accepting a charge. The folks at Adafruit Industries and the lovely ladyada have reverse engineered the magic and found that Apple uses:

The four resistors create a voltage at each of the data lines thats not 3.3V but rather 2.8 and 2.0 (or so) volts. The problem is that when you do this, the iPhone starts to draw as much as 1Amp!


Essentially, they are able to pull 1Amp out of the charger, which the iPhone registers and begins to charge. There are also special data line resistances and some other crazy jazz that I failed out of college trying to learn.

It’s a fascinating look at the deep science behind these chargers and a testament to the efforts of a few dedicated hackers who still care about resistors and voltage.

Lonely Planet iBooks Make For Sweet-Looking Travelogues

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 01:00 PM PDT


If you’re comfortable traveling with your iPad (and why not?), these Lonely Planet guides look pretty amazing. Regular books seem like they’d be a pain on an iPad, but picture books for kids and interactive, picture- and link-rich content like travel guides are made for it. You can search, bookmark, leave notes, link out to maps and related websites. Wish I’d had all that with my Japan guide, which was like 700 pages long.

Each guide costs $15 — not cheap, but reasonable. They have Italy, Ireland, the UK, Spain, and France, with, I’m sure, many more planned.

What Is It? Microsoft Hardware Teases Something Black And Lozenge-y

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 11:56 AM PDT


Microsoft Hardware has tweeted a pair of partial pictures (which I have joined above for your convenience) depicting their next product. What do you think it is? New Zune? Handset? Multi-touch trackpad? There’s nothing to give perspective, but it looks a little thick to be a tablet. I’m leaning towards new Zune, but let’s not get our hopes up… though that would be sweet.

Their only hint is “Don't be so touchy…flat is where it's at.” Where’s Encyclopedia Brown when you need him?

Hands-on With The New Flixster Roku Channel

Posted: 03 Aug 2010 11:49 AM PDT


Some people love them movie trailers and samples. Personally I find they’re more spoilers than anything. But for those that enjoy them, Flixster is a great resource and the video site just launched their own Roku channel. The offering isn’t anything all that special as it’s mostly movie trailers and the like, but it’s the best trailer source currently available on Ruku. Still, it’s not exactly that great of a service.

I can’t be that tough on the service as it just launched minutes ago, but as of writing, the selection is pretty limited to only a few movies in each one of the four sections: Now In Theaters, Coming Soon, New on DVD, and Certified Fresh (From Rotten Tomatoes). EDIT: The selection is actually pretty complete when you use the search tool. There’s a trailer for nearly everything. The four sections are apparently just for quick selections.

The real downfall so far is that the video quality is horrible. The service claims to be high-def, but it’s about half the quality of Netflix’s sub-par HD. Hopefully that will change shortly, though.

But the channel is free to all Roku owners. Find it under the What’s New section.
flixster on roku flixster 1 flixster 2

Flixster Brings Streaming Movie Trailers
to TV in Partnership With Roku

The World's Biggest Online Movie Community
Debuts on Roku's Streaming Media Players

SAN FRANCISCO (August 3, 2010) – "Coming attractions" can be the best part of a movie experience, and now movie fans can watch trailers for upcoming movies (both theatrical and on DVD/VOD releases) on their home television sets as Flixster, the world's biggest online movie community, teams with Roku Inc., maker of the popular and award-winning family of Roku streaming media players.
Flixster on Roku will also offer the widely recognized Tomatometer® scores from Rotten Tomatoes, which will help users make their moviegoing and in-home film experiences richer.
Roku players already offer a wide range of entertainment options, and the addition of Flixster trailers means that movie lovers can explore the newest cinematic offerings on their TV in high definition as they decide which movies to see. Better yet, using Flixster, Roku customers can search Flixster's entire database of movie trailers and then search for those same movies to watch through one of Roku's partners including Netflix and Amazon Video On Demand.
"Flixster has quickly become one of the most well-known and trusted movie brands among consumers, who associate Flixster with learning about the newest film entertainment," said Anthony Wood, founder and CEO of Roku, Inc. "We think there is a great fit between discovering movies with Flixster and watching them on-demand on the Roku player."
Steve Polsky, president and COO of Flixster Inc., added, "Roku brings us a brand-new platform to reach moviegoers, and makes a great addition to our online sites and our fast-growing mobile apps, which have become the leader in their space. We want to be wherever moviegoers are, and Roku helps us reach them in new ways."
By choosing Roku as its first launch partner in the home entertainment category, Flixster joins major entertainment partners including Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), Amazon Video on Demand (Nasdaq: AMZN), MLB.TV, the Ultimate Fighting Championship®.

About Flixster Inc.
Flixster Inc. is the creator of the world's biggest online movie community — as well as the leading mobile movie-information provider. Together, Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes provide the most comprehensive movie information online – including a database of more than 250,000 movies; 2.3 billion user reviews; 500,000 critic reviews; and more than 20,000 trailers and videos. A privately held company, Flixster is based in San Francisco, with offices in New York and representatives in Los Angeles and Seattle. Flixster's popular online sites can be found at http://www.flixster.com and http://www.rottentomatoes.com.

About Roku, Inc.
The market leader in streaming entertainment devices for the TV, Roku has always believed that anything you want to watch, listen to, and enjoy should simply be there on your TV, whenever you want it. Over half a million happy customers later, Roku streaming players are renowned for their simplicity, variety of entertainment choices, and exceptional value. Roku is privately held and based in Saratoga, Calif. For more information on the company and its products, visit http://www.roku.com.
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