Hasta La Gadget!

GT60 series

It’s got “Full Black Panel IV” with color reproducibility and movie high-resolution, characteristics of a light-emitting panel, and “MY HOME” function that combines and displays some information you want to keep on the home screen.

Attached electric touch pencil enables you to write letters or draw directly on photos that are displayed on the screen and to save them in a smart device or share them.

Sizes (Models): 55 inch (TH-P55GT60), 50 inch (TH-P50GT60)
Price: open

VT60 series

It’s got “Full Black Panel IV Plus” with color reproducibility and movie high-resolution, characteristics of a light-emitting panel and has “best picture expression”. Also, it features “Fine Remaster Engine” that precisely re-produces movies from the internet. The “MY HOME” function combines and displays some information you want to keep on the home screen, a voice-activated control by remote control with a microphone, and a face recognition function by the built-in camera are offered.

It also has a touch pad remote control that you can use to move a cursor on the TV when controlling it.　

Size(Model): 65 inch (TH-P65VT60), 55 inch (TH-P55VT60)
Price: Open

Slowly but surely, 3D printers are becoming more user-friendly and affordable. The Photon is proof that 3D scanners are following suit, thanks in no small part to crowdfunding and the creativity of small startups. Invented by Adam Brandejs and Drew Cox, Photon is beautiful, easy to use and affordable.

Photon uses a high definition camera and two lasers to scan. It works with both Macs and PCs and connects via a USB 2.0 interface. Together with its free software, the Photon will let you scan any small object – up to 7.5″ diameter and 9.75″ height – in about 3 minutes. It can save 3D models as STL, .OBJ. and .PLY files.

Pledge at least $399 (CAD) (~$390 USD) on Indiegogo to reserve a Photon. I think that’s a very realistic price. It’s certainly a lot cheaper than the Lynx A, another crowdfunded 3D scanner. While the Lynx A justifies its price with its versatility and power, it’s overkill if all you want is a small object scanner. But I think I’ll pass on the Photon, the Lynx A and other 3D scanners. I’m waiting for a 3D fax machine – one that can both scan and print 3D objects.

We’ve been hearing a lot about motion tracking as of late, the Leap Motion being the most popular device that is making its way to the public. However, a new mechanism is looking to gain some ground and has popped up on Kickstarter. The DUO 3D sensor claims to be the “world’s first and only DIY 3D sensing solution.”

The DUO 3D sensor is open source, meaning that you can do anything with it that you please. It comes with open hardware plans, and you can get it in kit form where you assemble it or you can get fully assembled devices. The drivers and SDK are also open source, so there’s quite a bit that you can do with it right off the bat.

The company even claims that the sensor is practically plug-in-play, where you just plug it in, download the necessary software, and start playing around with it “within minutes.” From the video itself, the DUO looks to be extremely accurate, tracking fingers with every slight move. From the looks of it so far, it’ll definitely give the Leap Motion a run for its money.

The “DIY” portion comes into play with the open source hardware blueprints that you can purchase (or “back” in this case). The hardware plans will provide you with everything you need, but it’ll be up to you to get the parts and assemble it. However, you can modify the plans however you wish and truly make it your own.

Pledging $10 gets you the SDK, while $20 will get you the hardware plans, as well as the SDK. $40 will get you everything previously, as well as a custom-molded case for your 3D sensor. $140 will get you a fully-assembled kit, while $110 will score you all the parts you need to assemble it yourself.

DUO 3D sensor shows up on Kickstarter, claims that “anyone can build” it is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

There’s no shortage of browser-based games available to casual gamers, but none are as quite unique as a new project called “World Wide Maze.” The game uses actual websites to build 3D mazes in which players can then guide around a small steel ball, similar to the likes of Marble Madness or Super Monkey Ball.

The game builds the 3D mazes dynamically using the HTML elements of the website, and players use their Android smartphones as a controller for the game, which is played on their computer in the Google Chrome web browser. You simply sync the two devices through Chrome using a unique code, then you can fire up the game and go at it.

Players either tilt their mobile devices or use the on-screen controls to guide the steel ball around, and just the Wii U’s gamepad, your Android smartphone’s display can mirror what’s on the computer screen. The video above shows what the game is all about and provides a quick demo so that you can see it in action. It’s in Japanese, but most of the important stuff is all visual anyway.

You’ll need a fairly decent computer to run the game, even if it is purely browser-based. World Wide Maze works uses the WebGL standard, and it requires at least 1GB of RAM and a 256MB graphics card for hardware acceleration. However, most computers nowadays will be able to handle it. While this may not be a game that you’ll spend hours playing, it’s certainly a cool thing to try out, and it could very well be the future of a new type of gaming.

[via Ars Technica]

World Wide Maze turns any website into a 3D maze in Google Chrome is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Typical attempts at a glasses-free 3D display have trouble with viewing angles; we’re all too familiar with having to sit in a sweet spot to get the effect. HP Labs might have just solved this last problem with a prototype 3D LCD that would better accommodate the real world. The display’s backlight has nanopatterned grooves that send blue, green and red in multiple directions, letting the LCD show only the light that would be seen from a given viewpoint. Those positions are set in stone, but they’re both abundant (200 for photos, 64 for video) and can spread across a wide 180-degree viewing arc. At a thickness of as little as half a millimeter, a production LCD could easily be thin enough for a mobile device, too. The catch isn’t so much the screen as the content. Producers need an image for every possible viewpoint, which could create a fair share of logistical problems: even though footage wouldn’t necessarily require 200 cameras, it could limit fully immersive 3D to computer-generated visuals or else consume a massive amount of bandwidth. If those are the biggest barriers, though, we’re still that much closer to the holographic smartphone we’ve always wanted.

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Science, HP

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Via: MIT Technology Review

Source: Nature