CrunchGear |  |
- Galapagos 003SH/005SH: Sharp Shows 3D-Enabled Smartphones
- Panasonic Announces DMC-GF2 Camera For January Launch
- Daily Crunch: Squid and the Purple Kinect Edition
- Audi Launches iPhone App For Monitoring Your Car
- KRK Announces New Studio Monitor Quality Headphones
- LG Claims New LCD Display Has World’s Thinnest Bezel
- Hitachi’s G-Drive Slim Is A Slim Drive, G
- Oh My God, There Are Muji iPad Apps
- Help Key: 3G, 4G, HSPA+, LTE, WiMax – What Do They Mean To You?
- OLPC XO-3 Tablet Delayed Until February Due To Search For Unbreakable Material
- Archos Tablets Now Shipping With Froyo
- Supreme Court Makes A Mockery Of California’s Violent Game Ban
- Video: The So-Called Greatest Wrestler Of All Time, Hulk Hogan, Plays Def Jam Rapstar
- Panasonic GF2 Spotted On Banner; Announcement Expected Tomorrow
- Professional Analysts Say Sony Move & Microsoft Kinect Will Do Just Fine (At Least Initially)
- AU Optronics Unveils A Solar Touch Keyboard
- Video: This Halloween Robot Will Destroy Us All!
- Eight Reasons To Get a Google TV and Four Reasons Not To
- James Cameron Tells Hollywood To Stop Making Trash 3D Movies
- New Japanese Piggy Bank: Rubik’s Cube Bank Requires Brain Power
| Galapagos 003SH/005SH: Sharp Shows 3D-Enabled Smartphones Posted: 04 Nov 2010 05:13 AM PDT  In September, we blogged on CrunchGear about Sharp's entry into the Android tablet sector (the company is currently readying a 5.5-inch and a 10.8-inch version). Strangely dubbed "Galapagos", the tablets, which will be available in Japan starting next month, will soon be joined by two smartphones carrying the same name.
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| Panasonic Announces DMC-GF2 Camera For January Launch Posted: 04 Nov 2010 12:18 AM PDT
In line with rumors that circulated yesterday, Panasonic has announced the DMC-GF2, a micro-four thirds camera that is a successor to their GF1 released last Spring. The new camera has a 12-megapixel sensor with ISO ranges from 100 to 6400. The camera should costs about $700 when it launches in January.
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| Daily Crunch: Squid and the Purple Kinect Edition Posted: 04 Nov 2010 12:00 AM PDT
Oh My God, There Are Muji iPad Apps
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| Audi Launches iPhone App For Monitoring Your Car Posted: 03 Nov 2010 08:07 PM PDT
Here’s another round of iPhone car monitoring apps, this time from Audi. It’s no secret that VW and Audi are gunning for top positions on the market, and if they keep up on their technology it might just happen. Take for instance this iPhone app, it works by receiving info from the cars OBD-II port that sends it large amounts of data. The data includes everything from emissions information like how much CO2 the car is putting out every time you mash the peddle to data logging with GPS and the ability to find where ever your kids have taken the car. iPhone app users can then upload their information to www.myAudiLabs.com to further analyze and share the data–pretty neat. Audi is currently showing this technology off at SEMA along with wireless iPhone chargers for in-car charging without the wires. Can’t wait to see more auto companies add features integrating smart phones into the car. Press Release
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| KRK Announces New Studio Monitor Quality Headphones Posted: 03 Nov 2010 07:40 PM PDT
KRK, makers of high-quality studio monitors, have just announced for the first time, they will offer headphones of similar quality. Made for those who make music or just listen to music, the KNS series is for people that are serious about sound. There will be two models offered; the KNS-6400 and the KNS-8400. The headphones have a frequency range of 10Hz-22kHz on the KNS-6400 and a range of 5Hz-23kHz on the KNS-8400, which is pretty good for headphones of this price, $99 and $149 respectively. Press release and a video of producers praising the new headphones below. Press Release
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| LG Claims New LCD Display Has World’s Thinnest Bezel Posted: 03 Nov 2010 05:57 PM PDT
The bezel on this particular display, of which you see 9 above, is only 1.5mm on the sides and 2.5mm at the top and bottom. Yes please. 37″ is a great size for a home HDTV, but rather big for a desktop PC. Come on, LG, bring that technology down to the 20-24″ sizes! I’ll buy three!
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| Hitachi’s G-Drive Slim Is A Slim Drive, G Posted: 03 Nov 2010 05:51 PM PDT
Well, I guess I could tell you the price, and dimensions, and stuff like that. It’s only 0.39″ thick, which is impressive, but when your competitors are only tenths of an inch thicker, the benefits are rather insubstantial (except for bragging rights). Otherwise it’s about normal size, since 2.5″ drives don’t compress easily in other directions. If they did, they’d call them 1.8″ drives. It costs $99.99, which is a bit steep — a quick search yields a Western Digital Elements 640GB drive (admittedly slightly beefier) for only $70 at Newegg. Oh wait, I see: they sell it at the Apple store as a complement to the new MacBook Air. I guess as long as you’re already spending a lot on a little, you may as well get one of these as well. More info at Hitachi’s G-Technology sub-site. [via Engadget]
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| Oh My God, There Are Muji iPad Apps Posted: 03 Nov 2010 05:00 PM PDT |
| Help Key: 3G, 4G, HSPA+, LTE, WiMax – What Do They Mean To You? Posted: 03 Nov 2010 04:31 PM PDT
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| OLPC XO-3 Tablet Delayed Until February Due To Search For Unbreakable Material Posted: 03 Nov 2010 01:40 PM PDT
He said that the material, which they have obviously not settled on yet (which makes his 45-day figure suspicious), may be plastic or some “flavor” of glass — so something like the hardened glass used by Apple and others is an option. Though I wouldn’t call Apple’s glass unbreakable.
As we heard, the initial run of devices, for release in non-developing countries (while cost to manufacture is still relatively high, I supposed), will be Marvell-branded, though Negroponte was not confident that the haptic keyboard on the tablet would be sufficient for anything but basic use. At $75, I’m not really expecting a full computer anyway. [via PC World and Electronista]
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| Archos Tablets Now Shipping With Froyo Posted: 03 Nov 2010 01:20 PM PDT
Unfortunately, availability is still in question. Things are in and out of the Archos store in Europe, and American distribution for the larger tablets is still pretty much a mystery. That’s too bad, because I think the 70 would stand up pretty well to competition here, but only if they actually release it. [via Ars Technica]
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| Supreme Court Makes A Mockery Of California’s Violent Game Ban Posted: 03 Nov 2010 12:30 PM PDT
Justice Kagan: “Would a video game that portrayed a Vulcan as opposed to a human being, being maimed and tortured, would that be covered by the act?” Classic. There’s a whole transcript and a few more excerpts over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun if you’re interested. Interestingly, I just watched Howl last night, the biopic about Allen Ginsberg and the eponymous poem that was notoriously nearly banned for obscenity. There are definitely some correlations between the two cases — one of the Justices actually suggests (playfully) that there should be a board that oversees whether a game is in fact too violent for kids, and they could call it the California Office of Censorship. Anyway, it’s not looking good for the proposal, which was of course a silly thing to begin with. Free Speech Wins! FATALITY
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| Video: The So-Called Greatest Wrestler Of All Time, Hulk Hogan, Plays Def Jam Rapstar Posted: 03 Nov 2010 12:05 PM PDT I'm only posting this video here to dispute the opening line, that Hulk Hogan is the greatest wrestler of all time. Come on, really? I may have been born at night but not last night. Let's go through the names of people who are, or were, better than Hulk Hogan. • Ric Flair (times a million) • Mitsuharu Misawa • Toshiaki Kawada • Bret Hart • Shawn Michaels That's a fair list of five people who were, or are, indisputably better than Hulk Hogan ever was. Was Mr. Hogan fun? Sure, particularly after his heel turn in 1996, but to so brazenly, and carelessly, proclaim him the greatest of all time? Nonsense. As for Def Jam Rapstar, eh. I guess if you're into karaoke it can be fun.
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| Panasonic GF2 Spotted On Banner; Announcement Expected Tomorrow Posted: 03 Nov 2010 11:30 AM PDT
It’s rumored to be 12 megapixels (the same sensor as the G2) but beyond that specs are unknown. It’s almost certainly the same lens mount, by which measure you can determine the size of the new camera – it’s less tall and looks to have lost a bit of its thickness as well. We’ll find out more tomorrow — I don’t expect anything crazy, just slightly improved capabilities (frame rate, shot turnaround, screen res) in a smaller, lighter package. Update: Clearer pictures. I can’t tell the mm on that lens, though. [via Photo Rumors]
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| Professional Analysts Say Sony Move & Microsoft Kinect Will Do Just Fine (At Least Initially) Posted: 03 Nov 2010 11:00 AM PDT
The Sony Move has already been released, and the Microsoft Kinect comes out tonight at midnight. You might say they're both approximately four years late to the casual-motion-control party, but whatever: they're coming. You can't stop it. But what you can do is analyze it all! What could be more fun? Apparently nothing, if your name is VGChartz. They've collected some of the better known video game industry analysts to ask them how these new motion controllers will do. To sum it up: both platforms will do fine, particularly now that Microsoft has committed to a gigantic marketing push. Beyond the initial sales, though, it comes down to whether or not the software is there. I'm more familiar with the Move library, if only because I've played more of their games at various events in New York, and some of the software isn't bad at all. Namco's Time Crisis, for example, played quite well with the Move controller. But if there's no software beyond a few games here and there, why would you buy the new platforms? And if someone bought the Wii years ago because they wanted to play Wii Bowling with their grandchildren, why would they then spend another $$$ to replicate that experience? In other words, nobody expects the Move or Kinect to flop, but their long-term viability is somewhat up in the air.
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| AU Optronics Unveils A Solar Touch Keyboard Posted: 03 Nov 2010 10:58 AM PDT  Move aside Logitech, there's another solar keyboard in town. Earlier this week, Logitech introduced the K750, an $80 wireless, solar-powered keyboard made of recyclable plastic and billed as the world's first solar keyboard. The K750 may be first but it certainly won't be the last. This Wednesday, Taiwan's AU Optronics released details on its own solar keyboard solution: a touch version that will be built into laptops.
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| Video: This Halloween Robot Will Destroy Us All! Posted: 03 Nov 2010 10:30 AM PDT How many of your friends hilariously dressed up as Lady Gaga this year for Halloween? Several, I bet! Were any of your friends brave enough to dress up as a robot? Well, this guy was, and $1,000+ later he's YouTube famous. To his credit, his costume is really quite good, but there's something about being an adult and dressing up for Halloween that seems a little, I don't know, juvenile.
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| Eight Reasons To Get a Google TV and Four Reasons Not To Posted: 03 Nov 2010 10:00 AM PDT
By John Biggs and Matt Burns Depending on who you ask, Google TV is either a boon to the television industry or a curse. It is, in short, the first major innovation in television since video-on-demand and no matter whose side you’re on Google TV is important? Why? First, it offers more. TV has always been a one-to-many transaction. Now it’s a many-to-many transaction. As we’ll note below, Search is the thing Google does best and Google TV is all about search. If you’re looking for a show you not only get schedule information on that show but you get a wealth of clips, images, and web pages on that show. If you’re like me and like to read the Wikipedia page on a movie as you watch it (I’m the kind of guy who reads the last page of a mystery, so sue me), you can do that seamlessly without leaving the movie experience. That’s only one of the ways this technology is useful. But Google TV isn’t ready for the masses. Like Android’s 1.0 iterations, Google TV is about as family friendly as a cracking plant. The whole system is a skein of overlapping windows, unintuitive menus, and problematic playback features. Here are eight reasons you should buy – or at least try – Google TV and four reasons to avoid it right now.
1. Search – Google TV is all about search and it’s done right. The somewhat hidden Google TV Search polls online and broadcast source and then compiles the info in a unified chart. There’s nothing else like it. It’s so good that it exposes the superfluous nonsense that is the rest of Google TV. It really feels like the whole system could be refocused simply around this function. Google TV already sits in between a STB and your TV. Somehow the middleman must be removed and cook Google TV into the HDTV and not the STB. This way Google TV still remains a separate entity from the TV provider and not dependent on the often piss-poor cable box to work. Those STB often live a hard life, traveling in between subscriber’s houses and are never reliable. Baking Google TV into your HDTV ensures that you, the owner, control it forever. But even as it stands right now, acting as a mediator between two parties, it still works like a champ and could be reason enough to buy a Google TV. The only major downside is that the vast majority of the free web videos it finds will not play through Google TV. News Corp, Disney, CBS, and NBC Universal aren’t playing ball right now, so really, the only content available is from Viacom and the pay-per-view Amazon Video On-Demand. Sigh. Can’t everyone just get along?
TiVo missed an opportunity to bundle their QWERTY peanut remote with the Premiere units that claim to be serious about searching the web and broadcast TV in a Google TV-like fashion, but instead, offer the remote as an expensive add-on. The QWERTY keypad turns using the Premiere system into a joyous affair and would probably have improved some of the initial reviews if said remote was included. User experiences start with input devices, not user interfaces. Both of the Google TV devices — the Logitech Revue and the Sony Internet TV Blu-ray Player — ship with totally different style remotes. Logitech bundled what is essentially a full keyboard with a trackpad and four-way navigational pad embedded on the side. The Sony ships with a QWERTY keypad that feels a lot like a PS3 accessory. Both work great, but the Sony feels more like a remote while the Logitech provides a better typing experience. 3. Works With Any System, Any Provider (Kind of) - Google TV sits as an overlay on top of either cable or satellite TV. The STB connects to Google TV via HDMI and then the Google TV box hooks into your TV. Setup couldn’t be easier. It just sits there, inline with everything else. Because of this, as long as the STB and TV (or AV receiver) has an HDMI port, it will work. Doesn’t matter if the STB is a TiVo, Comcast thing, or DirecTV box. It will work. Major props to whoever came up with this design, because it’s key to Google TV’s adaption. Introducing a radical new system on the family TV is often an hazardous affair. But have no fear, nerdy dads. The TV and cable box can still be operated with the original controller even if that means an advance system using an RF remote. The family doesn’t have to use Google TV or the QWERTY remotes at all if they don’t want. Both remotes can also control an AV receiver along with a TV and STB, but Logitech uses the setup method and database from its line of Harmony universal remote controls, which opens up the Revue to more devices. The Sony system works with most mainstream products, but not everything like the Logitech. 4. PIP – The real value of Google TV is that it sits in-line with your set-top box and essentially takes control of things. If you have DISH box, this integration is very powerful. For example, you can view your program in a little window in the corner and look up information in the browser or search for new programs without entering the STB’s sub-par guide menu. This means you can, like me, read out whodunit before you know whodunit. You can also Tweet, check email, and generally ignore the program you’re watching. WARNING: Do not try this feature with other people in the room, especially if that other person is my wife and you’re watching Grey’s Anatomy.
6. Google Is Trying – At least Google is trying. If the broadcasters had their way, we’d still be on CRT TVs with the channel knobs locked to one station, North Korean-style. Google TV is actually suffering at the hands of frightened content providers who are finally understanding that when the Internet is available on your TV America’s Next Fattest Talent Haver will be seen as the garbage it truly is. Google TV creates a constellation of content around everything and this content will only become richer over time. I think the biggest deal here is that Google TV plays well with set-top-boxes. Instead of supplanting the broadcast TV experience entirely, it sits in line to it, ensuring that folks will still watch at least some commercials. TV networks should be thanking Google for that little point. 7. Everything In One Place – Like many boxes before it, Google TV allows you access to Netflix, Amazon, and even allows you to play your own “content” from your own “sources” (wink wink). Finally I can integrate all of those sources with live TV. 8. It Can Only Get Better – For all the problems we have with Google TV, it can only get better. Google knows how to release product – they dump out a beta with a partner, the partner rides Google’s good will for a little while, and then Google reaps the benefits of a big install base, all the while claiming not to be in the space. Is Google TV the best it can be? Absolutely not. Will it be better? Absolutely. Cons
1. The Stripped Down Browser - Google TV could be so much more. A modified version of Chrome is used on the system and it feels like a lot is left out. The capabilities are fine, it’s just the UI that’s lacking. It’s full screen, with no dedicated URL bar or tabs even though both can be accessed through keyboard commands. Bookmarks are back on the main menu of Google TV, but worst of all, it’s so damn slow. Google TV’s Chrome renders pages so slowly, it feels like the days of 56k Internet. It’s especially bad on graphic- and Flash-heavy sites like NBC.com where the browser often crashes. Forget about using Hulu even if the content wasn’t blocked, it’s a painful experience navigating around when it takes minutes to render pages. Google TV could be a proper HDTV web browsing device, but the poor performing browser kills the experience. Want to use Facebook from your couch? Buy a netbook, not Google TV. 2. No Google Apps – Come on, Google. Throw us a bone. Give us a little native email or Google Voice access. Logitech offers its Vid HD feature but I’ve yet to get it to work on the TV so maybe a few video chats via Google are in order? I’m sure this will change as Apps appear for the platform, but hurry up! 3. DLNA Instead Of Direct Network Browsing – One of the key features of Google TV is that the Google TV Search also looks at local network sources for content. Say you search for Batman. It will display results from any configured DLNA server with the other results as well. It could be a great feature if it wasn’t dependent on DLNA servers. Configuring DLNA server is for the dogs. They rarely work as well as advertised and often fail because of silly things like installed codecs, remote transcoding, supported file types, the server’s processing power, and so much more. Then when they work, good luck trying to change the displayed file structure on the client. Instead, Google TV should have a bit of local storage and the ability to browse the local network as a computer rather than a media streamer. Installation would then be a non-issue. Plug it in and the Google TV would have access to the shared content rather than relying on haphazard DLNA servers. Perhaps if either of the launch Google TV devices shipped with a DLNA server, it wouldn’t be as big of a deal. Instead, owners are forced to bring their own to the party, which requires a bunch of trial and error installing and Google’n until one that works is found. It’s a mess.
As Nicholas pointed out, Google TV actually less usable than something like Plex or XBMC. Heck, it’s even less usable than any other set-top media player I’ve tried including WDTV. If I were not a charitable man, I’d say its garbage. But there is a glimmer of hope at the end of the suck rainbow. Google TV can only get better and, knowing Google, it will get better quickly and drastically. By this time next year, expect most TVs to have GTV built-in.
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| James Cameron Tells Hollywood To Stop Making Trash 3D Movies Posted: 03 Nov 2010 09:35 AM PDT
Proponents of 3D movies often point to Avatar, saying, smugly, "Well, look how great that movie turned out!" Yeah, that was the only one, and it was directed by James Cameron. Your typical Hollywood dross isn't, in fact, directed by Cameron, nor does it take very obvious cues from Sega's Panzer Dragoon series. Cameron has hit out at lazy Hollywood studios that think they can make a quick buck by converting their 2D movies into 3D at the last minute—Clash of the Titans being the worst offender. If you want a good 3D movie, he said, it has to be shot in 3D from the word go. Otherwise, don't even bother. You'll recall that Avatar was planned as a 3D film from the very first days of pre-production, the result being a reasonably OK movie, but one where the 3D effects didn't look tacky or rushed. Like with anything else, Hollywood saw that something worked once, and then ran it into the ground. How many vampire and/or zombie movies and TV shows have been produced in the past few years following the success of the Twilight books and movies? Too many, exactly. So maybe we really should thank Christopher Nolan for not bothering to film the next Batman movie in 3D? Rather than waste time (and money) trying to tack on rubbish 3D effects, Cameron says that movie producers would be best served either A) leaving 3D to movies that are 3D from the beginning or B) converting old, classic movies into 3D. Not movies like Casablanca, obviously, but Cameron suggested movies like Jaws and Indiana Jones. These movies are actually good, and you can take your time, maybe work with the director, and see how you can make it a 3D wonder. At least then you're not working under an artificial deadline, and you've already made money on the first run of the movie. Theatrical release, home video, DVD, Blu-ray, etc. Now, take a careful eye and apply a 3D effect and you've got another run out of the film. I'm not sure how much diehard Indiana Jones fans will like that, but it's not like Hollywood ever goes out of its way to please diehards anyway.
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| New Japanese Piggy Bank: Rubik’s Cube Bank Requires Brain Power Posted: 03 Nov 2010 08:43 AM PDT
The way it works is that you need to solve the yellow side in order to put money in and the green side in order to make the center tile pop out and get access to your coins. MegaHouse says the piggy bank can be used as a regular Rubik’s Cube as well. But I assume this will get difficult once the cube is filled up with coins, and sized at 100×100×100mm, the bank is pretty large, too. The Rubik's Cube Bank is already on sale in Japan where it costs $40. Contact the Rinkya online store if you’re interested in getting one but live outside Japan.
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4. It’s Half-Baked – I like to live on the edge. I sometimes undercook the ready-made cookies we buy from Costco so they’re just a little soft and soggy. I also like my meat rare, even when it means I’ll get massive gastrointestinal pain once a year. But Google TV is so half-baked it’s sliding down the pan and into a puddle on the floor. It feels like a weekend project, something someone put together during his “me time” at Google HQ, packaged up, and sent to the higher ups who said “Hey, let’s run with this.”
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