Hasta La Gadget!

Historic audio recordings aren’t exactly easy to access and play back since they’re often in obscure or aging formats and sit within giant repositories and private collections, but the Library of Congress is gearing up to help change that for researchers and the average joe. The outfit’s freshly announced National Recording Preservation Plan is headlined by a recommendation to create a publicly accessible national directory of sound recordings that’ll act as an “authoritative discography” with details regarding their production and where copies are housed. You’ll still have to take a trip to a library to hear the recordings for the time being, but the Library of Congress is hoping to hammer out licensing agreements that would allow for online streaming. Developing new preservation standards and creating university-based degree programs for audio archiving are also among the 32 short- and long-term recommendations spelled out by the document. Click the second source link to peruse the paper yourself.

[Image credit: Ray Tsang, Flickr]

Filed under: Misc, Alt

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Via: Huffington Post

Source: Library of Congress, Council on Library and Information Resources

For some reason or another, Valve head Gabe Newell and Bad Robot head J.J. Abrams‘ DICE 2013 keynote wasn’t available via livestream or on Variety‘s YouTube channel last week. We’re guessing it’s because they’re both such nice gents that they wanted to give everyone else some time in the spotlight first. Good show! That politeness period, however, is now over, as the 20-minute talk on storytelling — which features examples from both Newell’s and Abrams’ work, as well as their influences — went up today on YouTube. We’ve dropped it below the break for all to see. If you’re anxious to get to the part where the two discuss plans to work together on movie and video game projects going forward, we’d suggest skipping to the last five minutes. Or you could read our post about it right here, should the other option be currently implausible from the cubicle you’re in.

Filed under: Misc, Gaming, Home Entertainment, Software, HD

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Source: YouTube

Last week, we stopped by the TechShop to check out Lumio, a lamp that’s masquerading as a book. While you could probably make one of your own with a few trips to IKEA, we’re rather taken with the idea of toting one of these around in our bags. Now, inventor Max Gunawan has followed through on his promise to get the hardware onto Kickstarter, where he’s already half-way toward his $60,000 goal to start his first production run. Still to be convinced that he needs your money? Head on past the break to watch the pitch.

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Source: Kickstarter

Back when Livestream announced its Studio HD500 all-in-one, the company told us a software-based equivalent would be coming at some point during Q1 2013. Well, folks, today’s the day the Livestream Studio family grows by one, welcoming the addition of a software-based switcher tool that aims to be yet another on-the-go option for roving broadcasters. As expected, both professional and recreational producers will be able to control an array of elements from the comfort of their own machine — including, but not limited to, up to five live video output feeds (yes, it can handle HD) and a real-time, multi-view video canvas which allows for live transitions and audio mixing. It’s also worth noting Livestream isn’t constraining the Studio software to its own web platform, meaning that, as is the case with the HD500, streams can also be shared to third-party places like Ustream, Akamai and, you guessed it, YouTube Live.

In what’s perhaps the only caveat attached to this particular version, Livestream’s decided to make this release only compatible with Windows PCs that are coupled with a Blackmagic Design capture card. However, a company representative did tell us an OS X solution is indeed in the works and should be coming once the next iteration of the product gets launched — mum’s the word on when exactly that’ll be. All that aside, though, the new Studio version goes on sale around the world starting today for a cool $1,999 — a price tag which Livestream CEO Max Haot believes to be ideal so that “anyone can make their own production studio to mix, produce and go live instantly at an affordable price.”

Filed under: Misc, Internet, Software

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Source: Livestream

We’ve come across a number of DLP-based pico projectors over the years and while these products are getting smaller, brighter and higher resolution, it’s the integration with other devices that’s really captured our imagination. Samsung’s Galaxy Beam, which we reviewed last year, merges a 15-lumen nHD (640×360) DLP-based pico projector with a Galaxy S Advance. More recently at CES 2013, Texas Instruments announced its new Tilt & Roll Pixel chip architecture and demoed a handful of other DLP-equipped products live on our stage, including 3M’s Streaming Projector and Smart Devices’ U7 tablet.

The company recently invited us to play with some of these devices and to show us other applications in areas such as 3D printing, 3D scanning, optical research, medical imaging and even automotive. Some of this DLP-equipped tech, like the Interactive Center Console, shows where we’re headed in the near future — other products, like Christie’s VeinViewer Flex, exist today but remind us of something right out of science-fiction. Take a look at our galleries below, then join us after the break for our hands-on video and more info on these devices.

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Tablets, Transportation, Science, Mobile, Samsung

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