With Android 2.2 ‘Froyo’ officially announced, the next question is which Android phones will get the update? Google and HTC respond. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-20005602-251.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Android Atlas/a/p
Google’s homepage goes amazing to celebrate Pac-Man’s 30th anniversary originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 11:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google might be trying to shake up video on the web by releasing the WebM video format and VP8 codec under a royalty-free open-source license, but we’ve already heard the format’s uncomfortably close relationship to H.264 might cause some patent concerns, and the MPEG-LA, which licenses the H.264 patents, doesn’t seem to be sitting still. CEO Larry Horn told All Things Digital that MPEG-LA is looking into forming a patent pool in order to license vendors who want stay clear of any patent disputes while using WebM — the idea would be to avoid any patent liability down the road by simply paying for a license now, especially since Google doesn’t seem to be promising anything when it comes to protection from lawsuits. We’d wager all this means WebM will go from royalty-free to patent-encumbered just as soon as MPEG-LA gets its paperwork in order — the same thing essentially happened to Microsoft when it tried to release the VC-1 format royalty-free — and that means video on the web might soon be right back where it started. We’ll see what happens.
Google’s WebM video format might not be so free after all, says MPEG-LA originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 11:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The fact that Sprint is welcoming LTE vendors to respond to its RFP for upgrading its legacy CDMA network is no surprise — in fact, it’s no different than the line that the carrier has been taking for well over a year now. What is a bit of a surprise, though, is that it appears to be every bit as ambivalent about the direction of its 4G technology path as ever. The current RFP is strictly for an upgrade of Sprint’s “core” network, meaning its legacy (if you can call 2G / 3G “legacy”) footprint comprised solely of CDMA; its WiMAX assets aren’t affected this time around. In fact, the company’s VP of product and technology development, Kevin Packingham, went on record with Light Reading this week saying that it doesn’t “see WiMAX and LTE as being mutually exclusive” — in other words, these guys could end up doing both in the long term. We appreciate Sprint’s willingness to accept the fact that LTE’s picking up momentum as the global 4G standard, but considering the overwhelming expense involved in building out a new network, is the notion of a two-pronged strategy the right call?
Sprint still not ruling out LTE, says it’s not ‘mutually exclusive’ to WiMAX originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 11:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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There’s been rumors that Apple had ended its long-running of “Get a Mac” ad campaign ever since Justin “Mac” Long said he thought they might be done last month, and it looks like that’s now finally been confirmed by Apple — the company has pulled all the ads from its site and is instead redirecting folks to its new “Why You’ll Love a Mac” page. Of course, the move doesn’t exactly come as a huge surprise considering that Apple hasn’t produced a new one since its Windows 7-challenging ads last October, and Apple has certainly had plenty of prime material since then. Head on past the break for look at one of the more recent highlights, and hit up the more coverage links below if you feel like reminiscing a bit more. As for what’s next for Apple, we can only guess. A triumphant return of Jeff Goldblum, perhaps?
Continue reading Apple pulls the plug on ‘Get a Mac’ ad campaign
Apple pulls the plug on ‘Get a Mac’ ad campaign originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 11:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
After the blockbuster hit Avatar, 3-D movies are all the rage in Hollywood. But 3-D’s no longer the playground of big studios.
3-D photography and video are catching on among shutterbugs and independent filmmakers. These intrepid experimenters are rigging up cameras and using software tricks to produce short films, home videos, note cards and photos that seem almost Harry Potter-esque in the way the subjects wave and pop out of the page.
“What you are finding in the DIY community is that there’s a lot of experimentation with the language of 3-D and what it can do,” says Eric Kurland, a 3-D photography enthusiast who’s also the vice president of the Stereo Club of Southern California. “The studios are primarily focusing on children’s movies, or flagship tent-pole action movies, but we are doing a lot more.”
Kurland and other 3-D photography enthusiasts will be giving a how-to presentation at the fifth annual Maker Faire Bay Area, which will be held Saturday and Sunday, May 22 and 23, in San Mateo, California. The annual event, put on by O’Reilly Media, is a celebration of DIY culture, arts and crafts, and will likely draw more than 70,000 attendees, organizers say. Kurland and other 3-D enthusiasts will be showing a home-brewed stereoscopic camera, displays, 3-D video and photos.
The 3-D format is making a big comeback this year. Hollywood has been flooding theaters with 3-D movies such as Avatar, Up, Alice in Wonderland and Clash of the Titans. 3-D TVs were one of the biggest stars of the Consumer Electronics Show this year. Almost every major TV maker including Sony, LG, Panasonic and Mitsubishi plans to offer big screen 3-D TVs this year. TV channels such as ESPN and Discovery have promised 3-D channels that will begin broadcasting early next year.
But it’s amateur content that could be the real catalyst for 3-D’s popularity. In a sign that homemade 3-D videos could soon be ready to hit mainstream, YouTube has started offering a 3-D display option.
“Personal content could be a very under-appreciated part of driving 3-D technology ,” says Kuk Yi, managing partner for the venture capital arm of Best Buy. “Being able to see your own content in 3-D has a strong emotional pull.”
Yi says the most impressive 3-D demo he’s seen so far used two jury-rigged cameras that shot a clip of someone having coffee.
“It was more impactful for me than all the sports 3-D demos,” he says.
There’s not a whole lot of professional hardware available for home 3-D enthusiasts. Major electronics makers are peddling cameras to Hollywood or professional cinematographers, and there aren’t a lot of ready-to-use options for ordinary folks who want to make 3-D imagery.
“I don’t think anyone’s caught on to doing something like a Flip for 3-D,” says Yi. “It’s a market right for innovation and disruption.”
Last year, Fuji released the first 3-D point-and-shoot digital camera, a $600 gadget that’s still mostly available in Japan.
But for DIYers, the lack of off-the-shelf equipment is a call to action.
Videos and photos shot in 3-D trick our brain to perceive depth. Our eyes are about three inches apart, which means each eye sees a slightly different perspective of the same scene. The brain takes images from both eyes and uses the difference between them to calculate distances, creating a sense of depth.
To make a 3-D image, you need to rig two cameras together so each shoots the same scene from a slightly different perspective. Then, you use software and 3-D glasses to look at the images on your screen, recreating the visual field created by the two cameras.
For those willing to experiment, everything from two iPod Nanos or two Flip camcorders hooked together can become a 3-D camera rig. Kurland used off-the-shelf hardware and parts scavenged from other camera mounts to build a rig for himself.
“I have a flash mounting bar that lets me attach two cameras and vary the distance between the two cameras,” he says.
You don’t necessarily need a two-camera rig, says Barry Rothstein, who’s written four books on the art of 3-D photography and sells 3-D notecards. With a single camera, he says, you have to first take the left-eye picture and then slide the camera about 2.5 inches to the right for the right-eye picture. There are limitations to the technique: It works best with a tripod, and still life shots are pretty much all you can do, since you need a subject that will hold still while you move the camera.
The magic of 3-D lies in the post-production.
A freeware program called Stereo Movie Maker has become the de facto software for 3-D enthusiasts. The software works only with PCs but it can correct alignments so the two photos of a frame are perfectly positioned.
Watching 3-D photos or video is possible with the classic red-cyan glasses. YouTube’s 3-D player also offers options compatible with different types of glasses, depending on what kind of display you’re using.
“I love 3-D photography because it is fascinating and when you get a really good image, it gives you much more than a regular photo,” says Rothstein. “The response I get from people to 3-D photos is remarkable.”
Rothstein says he’s shot photos of a family dog for a special Christmas card and helped create wedding invites based on a 3-D photo.
It’s a sign that 3-D isn’t a fringe movement anymore, say Rothstein and Kurland.
“It used to be that 3-D was something people remembered but didn’t think that much about, but in the last year there’s just been a big change,” says Kurland. “There’s a new respect for the DIY community of 3-D photographers that we weren’t seeing before.”
If you want to check out the creations of the burgeoning DIY 3-D community, check out Rothstein’s 3-D digital photos site. Or join the Yahoo 3-D group to see videos and find answers to questions.
To find out more about how to make your own 3-D movies, look for the Digital Stereoscopic 3-D pavilion at the Expo Hall 216 at Maker Faire this year.
See Also:
Photo: (Archie McPhee Seattle/Flickr)
Laura June has been an Editor at Engadget since October of 2008. The views expressed in this editorial are her own, cobbled together by hand, with love, in the United States of America, for a fair wage.
I’m not an economist, and in fact, I’ve never been very good with money or math. I’m not a manufacturer either — the only things I make with my own hands are quilts and cakes. I know, however, from these experiences, that the best products take time, and are made with care from the best available materials.
It’s obvious, by now — or it should be — that something’s going on at Foxconn (headquarter in Tucheng, Taiwan), the owners of massive factories in China which most famously assembles Apple products (though it’s also responsible for many, many others). There have been several suicide attempts this year — at least eight (up from two last year) of them successful (though it’s been pointed out that the number is pretty much on par with the rest of China) — and over the past few days we’ve seen what can only be called a shocking expose by a worker who went undercover there. It’s clear, from this report and others (such as last month’s National Labor Committee report on the KYE factory in Dongguan City) that most of the people who assemble our gadgets do so under conditions we, in America would never tolerate, and for a wage that is paltry, to say the least. I’m hesitant to pass judgment en masse on how an entire country or a specific factory does business, and I don’t have the knowledge or expertise to do so. So I’m not going to.
Continue reading Editorial: Thoughts on Foxconn
Editorial: Thoughts on Foxconn originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 10:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Whew, Google really knows how to pack it in. Two days of Google I/O and we’ve got enough info on the future of the web, phone, and television to write a couple sci-fi novels and retire. Of course, we aren’t just bystanders here: we’ve also gotten our hands on the latest version of Android (2.2, codenamed Froyo) and put its through its speedy paces. You can catch up on all the action below.
Liveblog
Google TV
Android Froyo
Web tech
Google I/O recap: more web than you can shake a frozen dessert at originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 10:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Downloadable horntones? Music-sensitive interior lighting? In-dash version of Snake? All in your future — at least if you plan to own an Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, or VW at some point. Nokia has come to an agreement with all of them to provide in-car apps and greater smartphone integration tech. This, of course, isn’t the first move from the company (which has been showing off its Terminal Mode dash lately), but it certainly could be a major coup for Espoo. These five are by far the dominant players in the European market and certainly have a lot of clout worldwide. Exactly what sort of apps and integration remains to be seen, but recent statements from Audi may give a glimpse, saying it wants users to be able to “download heated seats.” Naturally you can’t download heating coils and circuitry, but the company could cut costs by just building that option into every vehicle and then enabling it via in-car purchase — probably on a chilly January’s morn. Distasteful? Yeah, just like paying extra to unlock “downloadable content” that’s already sitting on the videogame disc.
Nokia partners with European automotive powerhouses for in-car apps originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 10:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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This week brought the first official Twitter app for the iPhone. But not everyone has an iPhone or chooses to use theirs to tweet. So how do you go about tweeting?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
