Jan 14
This guy was watching an LAPD car chase on TV when the cars involved in the police hunt materialized right on his backyard. Obviously, he couldn’t believe his own eyes. This is the ultimate 3D TV, people. More »
Jan 14
The folks at three of the biggest names in auto and/or audio have come together this month to bring on a beast of a system for the Audi Q7 for 2013. Bang & Olufsen have partnered with Audi as well as Fraunhofer IIS to bring on a “3D sound experience” for the next generation of Audi vehicles. Fraunhofer IIS, if you did not know, was the “main” inventor (as they say) of the MP3 and is an innovator of next-level audio experiences top to bottom – as any average Joe would tell you.
The Audi Q7 Concept Car brings this experience on to the universe riding high on the success of the reintroduction of the 3D movie experience here in the 21st century. While 3D movies and the technology behind that visual experience is limited to the movie theater and the home theater with special visual enhancing goggles and the like, the 3D audio experience is ready, here and now, for the high-powered automotive world.
“Bang & Olufsen Audio Systems for cars are widely renowned for their unique ability to turn a car interior into a real high-end listening room, and with the addition of the 3D sound algorithm and associated speaker units and amplifiers in this Audi Q7 Concept Car, we add a new important emotional dimension into the listening experience. Extending beyond the small confined space of the vehicle cabin, the available sound experience now ranges all the way from a very big and open sense of space to the purist setting such as a control room of a recording studio.” – Bjarne Sørensen, Senior Manager Car Concept Creation and Communication
Using the Audi Multi Media Interface you’re able to work with the vehicle’s 3D sound system, able to, as Harald Popp, head of the Multimedia Realtime Systems department of Fraunhofer IIS notes, “dissolves the geometry of the car.” Inside this vehicle you’ll find an amount of speakers placed to perfection that you’ll have never before experienced:
• Two loudspeakers in the dashboard center (tweeter and broadband)
• Two tweeters in the dashboard (left/right) with acoustic lens
technology
• One mid-high loudspeaker in each A pillar
• One tweeter in each A pillar
• Two loudspeakers in each front door with a woofer and a midrange
• Three loudspeakers in each rear door with a woofer, midrange and a
tweeter
• Two surround loudspeakers in each D pillar, consisting of a tweeter
and broadband
• One closed subwoofer box in the spare wheel compartment
This experience is such that a user will want to head out to their vehicle to listen to a new album simply to feel completely engulfed in sound. They won’t even feel the need to drive the car – no need for your own home studio anymore! Welcome to the next level – that’s what this team is saying to you, the future Audi owner.
We’ve yet to see this system in a real market-ready auto, but we’re expecting this perfectly tuned and placed system to hit real vehicles some time in 2013 – that’s just an assumption, mind you, but judging by this presentation, they’re ready for action. Have a peek at our Car hub for more information on the power present in the automotive industry today, especially in the technological breakthroughs of tomorrow!
Audi, Bang & Olufsen, Fraunhofer IIS team up for 3D auto experience is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jan 14
Top Gun Blu-ray 3D details revealed, comes home February 19th after IMAX 3D run
Posted in: Today's Chili 
After being delayed, Top Gun 3D will be released by Paramount in 2013. Prior to his passing late last year, director Tony Scott personally oversaw the remastering and conversion of the 80’s classic performed by Legend3D. According to the press release, the process of remapping and adjusting the depth of elements in the movie brings additional clarity to its aerial dogfights in both the long shots and cockpit closeups. This comes after the 3D rerelease of Titanic last year, and ahead of the theatrical return of a converted version of Jurassic Park this summer. Before the Blu-ray 3D version hits stores February 19th it’s due for a six day IMAX run, although if you’re only into it for the 2D (and Tom Cruise, of course) a remastered version is included as well. Check after the break for a trailer and the press release with all of the specs, it’s currently available for pre-order from Amazon for $19.96.
Continue reading Top Gun Blu-ray 3D details revealed, comes home February 19th after IMAX 3D run
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Amazon
Jan 11
Look closely at the image above. See that clear portion depicting a food fight? That’s coming through the right lens of dedicated eyewear made specifically for Samsung’s 55-inch OLED Multi-View HDTV. The sleek, silver-trimmed 1080p set, recently unveiled at CES 2013, utilizes a quad-core processor and 240Hz refresh rate to send specific “firing patterns” to a user’s eyewear that’s then filtered out by swapping the input control (A /B) located above the left ear. The actual 3D effect varies from an artificial seeming emphasis on layers of depth, to the more traditional, and quite impressive, “in your face” immersive experience. Multiple input configurations are also possible, allowing users in the same room to watch either two separate 3D images, one 3D plus two 2D images or four 2D images simultaneously. So, basically, you can keep playing your PS3 while a loved one watches Homeland.
The 55-inch set also comes equipped with an inbuilt webcam that’s tucked just behind the top front panel and supports Samsung’s Smart Hub. Pricing hasn’t been made known at this time, but you should see the Multi-View set hit retail sometime mid-July 2013.
Gallery: Samsung 55-inch OLED 3D HDTV eyes-on
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Samsung
Jan 11
A look around Haier’s CES 2013 booth: HaiPads, plenty of panels and a wireless blender
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Haier had a pretty formidable booth here at CES, so naturally, we had to swing by and cast our eyeballs over anything and everything there. A wall of TVs greeted us, which turned out to be the company’s 2013 Roku-ready HDTVs and Android-packing smart models. Screens were everywhere, but there was also a table with some finger-friendly equipment like 9.7-, 7- and 5.3-inch HaiPads, as well as a Windows 8 laptop, touchscreen all-in-one and tab / laptop slider. The slider looked pretty nice, but all the aforementioned hardware was set up in Chinese, so we lost interest pretty quickly. A central hall booth wouldn’t be the same without a 4K TV, but not to worry, Haier had a couple on display — unfortunately, glare from all the other screens dotted around kind of dampened their impact.
What we were most interested in was all the prototype technologies on show, but all the Haier reps were from the US sales department, so not a soul could talk about the demonstrations. The eye-controlled TV we saw at IFA last year was getting quite a lot of attention, while the mind-controlled set we’ve also seen before was almost certainly playing a looping video to give the illusion something was happening. There were also several gesture-controlled models, but one wasn’t working and the other was hosting a very basic Kinect-type game. A ping-pong game played with a “Sensory Remote” was also up on one TV, but looked unresponsive and therefore, unfun. A multi-view demo using dual 3D specs did what it was supposed to, and a glasses-free 3D TV prototype showed nice depth as long as you were 12+ ft away (the camera can’t really replicate the effect, but there’s a quick video of it below anyway).
The booth also had a household section which we thought was safe to ignore, until a “wireless blender” caught the eye. “It’s just a blender with a battery in it, surely?” this editor asked. “No, there’s an inductive coil built into to the underside of the counter,” was the reply. Thus was our Haier experience at CES, and to revisit it through our eyes lens, check out the gallery below.
Kevin Wong contributed to this report.
Gallery: Haier’s booth at CES 2013
Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Displays, Household, Laptops, Tablets, HD
Jan 11
I Watched LG’s Incredible 3D Video Wall Too Long, and Now I Can’t Enjoy Real LIfe
Posted in: Today's Chili
Over the last few days, I’ve spent hours churning out posts in front of the “world’s largest 3D video wall” at the back of LG’s CES booth. Every neuron in my body is exhausted. I may never feel emotion again. More »
Jan 10
Gadmei 3D HD Pad hands-on (video)
Posted in: Today's Chili 
While some have declared 3D dead, Chinese electronics firm Gadmei doesn’t appear to have received the memo. Cruising the outskirts of the Las Vegas Convention Center, we came across the company’s forthcoming glasses-free 3D HD Pad. The device packs an 8.1-inch 1,280 x 800 display, a 1.5GHz Cortex-A9 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, a 5,000 mAh battery and Android 4.2. Sure, these specs aren’t much to gawk at, but the real draw here is the tablet’s display-altering software that allows users to toggle between 2D and 3D viewing on select applications.
Entering this demonstration with skepticism, we must say that we were pleasantly surprised with the 3D HD Pad’s visual effects. Somewhat reminiscent of using a Nintendo 3DS, viewing angles were limited, but once we found a sweet spot we were good to go. The tablet’s 3D capabilities would likely be most effective resting against some type of stand. Visual gimmicks aside, the device has a solid build quality and Jelly Bean ran fairly smooth on its modest hardware.
Continue reading Gadmei 3D HD Pad hands-on (video)
Jan 09
Netflix previews family profiles, shows off Super HD and 3D streaming at CES 2013
Posted in: Today's Chili 
The current leader in subscription video streaming is Netflix, and today at its Las Vegas hotel suite we saw some of the technology it’s planning to stay a step ahead of the competition this year. First up was one of the most widely requested features — the ability to set up individual profiles for different family members, complete with their own queues and recommendations. The profiles can be set up on device or on the Netflix site, with toggles for a preference to its Just for Kids menu UI, as well as asking a bit about your preferred movies to seed initial recommendations.
We also got an eyeful of the new “Super HD” 1080p streaming, and although network issues kept us from getting a true gauge of the quality, we did confirm that the new max bitrates are well above the old “X-High” standards. Another thing we confirmed? That Cablevision and Google Fiber aren’t the only US ISPs on its Open Connect list — check the site to see if yours is.There was also a screen in the Samsung booth showing “early results” of their combined work on 4K video, but since it wasn’t actually streaming there’s not much to see.
Netflix was even showing off 3D streaming, and although we weren’t able to confirm the type of compression being used (top/bottom, side by side or something else) we did watch it and it was mostly clear with only a few hints of ghosting. There are apparently several dozen 3D titles available to start, although customer reaction may dictate when/if more are added. The second screen experience we’ve seen on the PS3 was also shown working with Samsung TVs, in much the same manner. One thing that could make it better however, is the DIAL multiscreen initiative it’s pushing with YouTube. If picked up as a standard, it would let you automatically launch these streaming services on a mobile device, and make them start playing on compatible TVs without having to launch the app on the TV first.
Not enough good news? Netflix also announced a launch date for another original series, Hemlock Grove, which hits April 19th (trailer after the break), and dropped the news that we’ll be getting 14 new eps of Arrested Development in May. We expect to hear a bit more about all of that later in 2013, but if you want a preview of the features we saw then just check out the gallery.
Gallery: Netflix profiles, SuperHD hands-on
Continue reading Netflix previews family profiles, shows off Super HD and 3D streaming at CES 2013
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Netflix (Twitter)
Jan 09
MakerBot has made a name for themselves recently with their line of 3D printers. Today, the company is at CES 2013 showing off their new experimental 3D printer known as the Replicator 2X, which is the successor to the Replicator 2. What’s most impressive about this new model, is that it has two printing heads. We ended up stopping by the crowded booth to get a look at the new printer.
The two printing heads allow for printing more complex objects, and whereas the Replicator 2 uses PLA filament, the 2X uses ABS filaments. However, the 2X is supposed to run more smoothly, and print in multiple colors, as well as even multiple materials. The 2X will also be able to print at a 100-micron resolution.
The Replicator has a slightly redesigned chassis, and among the updated features of the new design are an aluminum build platform and print area that’s enclosed by plastic windows. The benefit is that the build area retains heat better than the open chassis of past models from the company, allowing for faster and more reliable printing.
MakerBot will begin taking pre-orders for the Replicator 2X on January 11, and the company says it will begin shipping the printer to customers by mid-March. As for the price, you’re looking at something close to what a high-end MacBook Pro would cost — $2,799 to be exact.
MakerBot Replicator 2X experimental 3D printer hands-on is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Jan 09
There is paper art and then there is awesomely geeky and amazing paper-cut art Will Pigg creates the latter. His stuff makes me wish I had some artistic talent, but I’m happy just to look at his stuff all day long.
Will Pigg doesn’t just create papercraft. These pieces are all intricately hand-cut 3D portraits with a wonderful sense of depth and dimension. All of them are iconic imagery from geek pop culture.
Among his extensive collection, you’ll find the Imperial Probe droid from Star Wars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, R2-D2, The Iron Giant, Link from The Legend of Zelda, The Mockingjay from The Hunger Games, Totoro and more. Any of these would look great on your wall.
Prices for these original works range from $50 to $325 (USD), depending on the size, depth and complexity of the image. If that’s out of your budget, you can still support Will by picking up one of his Jack Skellington bookmarks for just 5 bucks.
[via Albotas]
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