Well now, this certainly puts my fiance's restaurant proposal to shame. Boy Derick proposed to girl Emily using a spotlight, DSLR and three nights, creating a spectacular light writing proposal.

Along with several friends, two Canon 7D cameras were used by Derick to create the proposal—one on the ground, one from a hotel room looking out across the scene—with the ground camera using a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens. Dragon Stop Motion was used to superimpose the light writing image over the live view from the ground camera, with the video shown a few days later to the happy Emily. [Derick and Emily proposal via Neatorama]

Light Blue Optics has been showing off their cool projection wares since 2004, so it's great to hear they're close to turning that "holographic laser projection technology" into a viable product, albeit as an OEM.

The Light Touch pico projector throws a laser WVGA image out to the size of 10-inches, turning any available surface into a touchscreen. The angle is a pretty decent wide throw, which means the projector can be quite close to the surface.

Running on Adobe Flash Lite 3.1, the Light Touch projector has 2GB of flash memory and a microSD card slot (with support up to 32GB) for storing media on, and also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for hooking up with a laptop or device. It supposedly has a 2 hour battery life, which unfortunately seems to be the norm with these little projectors, though kudos to Light Blue Optics for throwing in a bunch of other features that could make this actually useful, for consumers as well as businesses (as the pic below shows). [Light Blue Optics via BusinessWire]

Hint: it's not from space and it's not from inside your body. But it does represent something you're totally reliant on.

It's an electrograph of a brass wire gauge, made in 1900 to help show the wary public that electricity didn't come in just the form of tree-felling and fire-starting lightning. Scientists needed to prove that it was a safe thing to allow into their homes, and that involved visualizing electromagnetic waves in a way that the public could understand. This was one of the ways they did it. It just happens to look pretty awesome. [Wired; Photo courtesy San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]

Google's Nexus One: The Google Phone. It's being unveiled officially right now. We're here. Here's our liveblog page.

Check in bright and early to see what's coming, and see whether the leaked pricing details are really true, and whether anything's changed since our first hands on back in December. [Liveblog Page]

Watch it live here:

Live video by Ustream

Nvidia's teasing a new notebook tech called Optimus that "get[s] the performance of discrete graphics from a notebook while still delivering great battery life." Which could solve the mystery of the next MacBook guts.

A brief recap: Intel's new Arrandale Core i5 processors for notebooks have integrated graphics built right into the chip, but they suck, and Nvidia's chipsets with superior integrated graphics, like the current MacBooks have, are incompatible with all of Intel's new chips. So if refreshed MacBooks were to use Intel's integrated graphics, they'd have worse graphics than the current models.

The top-end MacBook Pros have switchable graphics and have had them since the unibody debuted—integrated GeForce 9400M to save battery life, discrete GeForce 9600 GT for more power. Nvidia's Optimus, if it's good, seems to open a door for Apple to use straight-up discrete graphics, like older MacBook Pros (and even PowerBooks), without seriously harming the massive battery life that's a big part of the current MacBook Pros—maintaining graphics performance and battery life without some kind of custom hardware arrangement.

And it wouldn't be the first time Nvidia's debuted new tech with Apple, since that was exactly the case with the GeForce 9400M chipset/graphics that's in almost all of Apple's current machines, which you might also know as Ion, Nvidia's better-graphics-for-netbooks chip.

My guess is that it's simply scalable performance, trading off battery and performance as efficiently as possible. Guess we'll see, and know more, in about a month, according to Nvidia. [Nvidia]

I can't wait to get my nails over one of these absurdly small 64GB USB drives. They come in 8 to 64GB, and will continuously backup your files, no matter what you are doing. [Crunchgear]

iRiver's Story eReader has taken its sweet time making a stateside appearance, and as of today, it's still not here. But it's coming! Sometime in January, to be "specific." But will it be as comically expensive as its European counterpart?

Hopefully, no. But probably? Yes. The Story has reviewed fairly well, with testers citing attractive (if obviously derivative) industrial design, ePub support and a decent screen among its strengths, but with a sky-high price tag—the equivalent to $320—more or less pulling it out of the running, especially when cheaper reader like the Kindle and Nook come with 3G and Wi-Fi, the former being excluded on the Story, and the latter not making an appearance until "early Q2," possibly at a premium.

In other words, iRiver: you need to make this thing cheaper, or else it will drown. Ok! [iRiver]

The Viliv n5 touchscreen netbook looks a lot like the Vaio P, but let's hope it's not priced like one. Either way, I don't see much of an advantage here over a traditional smartphone.

I mean, it may not be touchscreen like the 4.8-inch Viliv display, but the 8-inch screen on the Vaio P does a little more to distinguish it from a smartphone. Other Viliv features include: an Intel Atom Z520 1.3GHz processor (Windows 7 Home Premium), 32GB of SSD storage, GPS, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, Bluetooth, WiFi and a microSD memory card slot. Personally, I think their upcoming 10-inch Blade netbook tablet looks more promising, although Viliv has been disappointing in the past. [UMPC Portal via Ubergizmo]

Laptop speaker meets laptop fan, in the shape of Logitech's Speaker Lapdesk. The N700 can support up to 16-inch models and is powered solely by USB.

The 2-inch stereo speakers are actually positioned on the outer edges of the lapdesk so you can have a non-tinny musical experience, with the fans on the top half for cooling down your laptop (and your knees). You can actually turn the fan on and off, just in case you're working from the Antarctic one week and actually need the heat to survive.

On sale in February for $80. [Logitech via Macworld]

The Sony Walkman A845 is a scant 7.2mm thick and gets a reported 29 hours of audio playback on one charge. It's perfect for the next time you want to listen to Wagner's Ring Cycle in one sitting. Twice.

The A845 also touts an impressive nine hours of video playback on its 2.8-inch OLED display, offers 16GB of storage, and supports WMA, WMV, MP3 files. It can be hooked up to your TV with an optional A/V out cable for SD playback. There's no word yet on pricing, but it will be available at least in Europe next month.

Slimmest ever WALKMAN® is big on sound and picture quality
05 January 2010

High-spec WALKMAN® A845 is just 7.2mm thin

· Ultra-slim (only 7.2mm) and easy to carry
· Big, bright 7.1cm (2.8") wide OLED display
· High quality listening with S-Master Digital Amplifier and Digital Clear Audio technologies
· Digital Noise cancelling with supplied NC headphones cancels 98.0% (approx.) of ambient noise*1
· Enjoy SD video playback on connected Televisions*2
· Long audio playback time up to 29 hours*3
· New Battery Care mode for extended battery lifespan

Just 7.2mm slim and weighing only 62g (without headphones), the WALKMAN® A845 Video MP3 Player by Sony proves that less really is more. Slipping easily into a back pocket or bag, it's a great way to keep your favourite music tracks, podcasts and videos with you to enjoy any time.

Despite its chic, slender lines, the thinnest WALKMAN® yet is a true heavyweight when it comes to legendary sound and video quality by Sony.

The player's front panel is dominated by a big, bright 7.1cm (2.8") OLED screen. Delivering superb colours, high contrast ratio, wide viewing angle and super-fast response time, it's a great way to enjoy online movie store downloads, clips from sharing sites, album artwork and digital photos. A new Scene Scroll view lets you browse quickly through longer videos that are displayed as a series of thumbnail images. Find the scene you want, press play and the action picks up at the moment you're looking for. You can also scroll through cover art images to effortlessly track down the album you want to hear.

Want an even bigger picture? Connect the WALKMAN® A845 to your television via the optional A/V output cable (WMC-NWV10) and enjoy videos on the big screen. Pictures are delivered to your TV set in SD format (720 x 480) at a silk-smooth 30fps frame rate (excludes some DRM content).

As you'd expect from Sony, it's sheer audio quality that sets the WALKMAN® A845 apart from other MP3 players. S-Master Digital Amplifier technology assures rich, lifelike ultra-low distortion sound. Already featured on Sony hi-fi and home theatre products, S-Master amplification puts you centre-stage in the studio or concert hall while maintaining crisp, clear sound.

Listening is further enhanced with unique Clear Audio technologies from Sony for a dynamic, detail-packed soundstage. Clear Stereo reduces leakage between left and right channels, while Clear Bass delivers powerful, controlled low-end frequencies without distortion. In addition, DSEE Sound Enhancement Technology ensures smooth, detailed reproduction of high-frequency information that's typically lost when the original CD-quality music source is compressed as an MP3 file.

Plug in the high-quality 13.5mm EX vertical in-ear headphones and immerse yourself in a blissful world of beautiful WALKMAN® sound without intrusions. Digital Noise Cancelling cuts approximately 98.0%*1 of ambient sound, using advanced processing to detect and filter external noise without impairing audio quality. Three different profile settings let you enjoy optimised noise reduction, whether you're onboard a plane, bus/train or in the office. With the supplied adaptor, air travellers can connect WALKMAN® directly to the plane's AV system and enjoy their in-flight entertainment with digital noise cancelling provided by WALKMAN®.

Importing music, video, photos and playlists is quick and fuss-free, with simple drag-and-drop transfer from your PC's media folder or via iTunes 9.0 using supplied Content Transfer software. Certain MPEG1 and other downloaded files can be played back on WALKMAN® when converted via Content Transfer. A wide range of major music and video formats are supported, including rights-managed WMA and WMV files.

The WALKMAN® A845 lets you listen for longer, with a generous 29 hours*3 listening time from a single charge. Battery life with video playback is 9 hours*4 - more than enough to keep you entertained on those long journeys. There's also a new optional Battery Care function that optimises overall battery lifespan by limiting charging levels to 90% of maximum. The home menu can be personalised with a choice of pre-installed wallpaper designs. Alternatively, add an individual touch by choosing your own favourite photo as wallpaper.

The WALKMAN® NWZ-A845 Video MP3 Player with 16GB storage capacity is available from February 2010.

A recently released patent by Apple shows that they are one of several companies dabbling with the idea of a 3D mulitouch interface. In this case, a "touch screen device, method and graphical user interface for manipulating three-dimensional virtual objects."

Will we see this sort of technology on upcoming Apple products like the tablet? Probably not, but it is interesting to point out that Apple went to some lengths to "disguise" the patent under the names of three obscure French employees. That might be business as usual for Apple, but it could also mean that they are serious about moving beyond standard pinching and zooming. [Baltimore Sun]

The Vizio TV I'm most interested in: Their 58-inch 21x9 Cinema Wide TV with a resolution of 2560x1080. Like their other XVT sets, it's got wireless HDMI and built-in Wi-Fi, though is only 120Hz. No price or hard ship date.

58" Cinema Wide Display
Taking a major step forward in enabling viewers to experience a fully immersive widescreen film experience without a separate projector and screen, VIZIO's first Cinema Wide Display, the XVTPRO580CD offers the ultimate experience for the movie enthusiast. This 58" Razor LED display has a 21x9 aspect ratio, with an incredible resolution of 2560 x 1080p, allowing consumers to view 2.35:1 "Scope" aspect ratio films using the entire display area, with no loss of resolution and no black bars. With 1 million to 1 Mega Dynamic Contrast Ratio™, Smart Dimming™, and 120 Hz with Smooth Motion technology, the XVTPRO580CD delivers brilliant details and rich colors to bring the cinematic experience into the home.

Its striking wide appearance is further enhanced by its brushed aluminum chassis. The Cinema Wide Display also includes VIA, built-in wireless (802.11n dual-band) or wired networking, and a Bluetooth universal remote control with sliding QWERTY keyboard. It is expected to ship later this year.

[Vizio]

The various flavors of Office 2010 are beyond mere mortal blogger comprehension, so here's the full press release. Choose your poison, and choose it wisely.

With Office 2010, the lineup of products has been improved to make it easier for people to choose a version that is best for them. Office 2010 will be offered in four versions:

* For qualified students and educators, Microsoft is introducing Office Professional Academic. Available through qualified retailers and campus bookstores, Office Professional Academic is priced at $99 and includes Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, Publisher 2010, Access 2010, and Office Web Apps.
* To meet the needs of families, Office Home and Student is offered for $149 (boxed), or $119 (Product Key Card), and includes Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, and Office Web Apps. This is available in a Family Pack, allowing use on three PCs in one house.
* For people running a small business or working from home, Office Home and Business is offered for $279 (boxed) or $199 (Product Key Card) and includes Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, and Office Web Apps.
* For more advanced needs, Office Professional is offered for $499 (boxed), or $349 (Product Key Card) and includes Word 2010, Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, OneNote 2010, Outlook 2010, Publisher 2010, Access 2010, premium technical support, and Office Web Apps.

Witness convergence in its dumbest form: the Pure internet radio that has Facebook and Twitter integrated right in. You know, for when the world needs to know that you're really fiscally irresponsible.

Do you know what else is an internet radio with the ability to post to Facebook and Twitter? Any computer with speakers. And what exactly would an internet radio tweet, anyways? That you're currently listening to the radio? Sounds like a pretty boring Twitter feed.

But hey, if you see something that I don't in these, Pures got a few different models for you to check out:

The new radios include the $349 Sensia with a digital tuner and internet radio and a color touchscreen. The device offers Facebook and Twitter connectivity. The Evoke Flow will sell for $229 and is a portable radio that can wirelessly connect the user to digital content. The Siesta Flow sells for $139 and is designed for bedside use with up to 365 alarm settings and a USB PowerPort for charging USB gear.

The Oasis Flow is a rugged radio that is weatherproof, durable and designed for people who like to listen to music outside. The Oasis Flow will sell for $249. The Sirocco 440 will retail for $449 and us a complete digital sound system. The device can play tracks from the iPod or iPhone, USB drives, SD cards, and CDs. Availability will be announced later this year.

[SlashGear]

There isn't a whole lot we don't already know about the Boxee Box, the set-top box developed by D-Link and media center software company Boxee which stands to basically ruin the set-top box party for every other player. Except, that is, the price: Initial reports had it pegged at $200; now a needlessly cryptic press release puts it "under $200."

In other news! The Boxee Box is otherwise exactly was we know it to be, and it's still on track for a "H1 2010" release. Spec porn, albeit a bit rehashed:

Networking Pioneer and Popular Entertainment Software Create the Best Way to Get the Free Entertainment the Internet Has to Offer With No Monthly Fee
LAS VEGAS, NV—(Marketwire - January 5, 2010) - CES, Booth 36232, South Hall, LVCC — D-Link made lots of geeks and early adopters happy today by introducing the revolutionary Boxee Box by D-Link, winner of the CES Best of Innovations award in the Home Entertainment category.
The Boxee Box by D-Link reinterprets what TV should be. The Boxee Box delivers movies, TV shows, music, and photos from a user's computer, home network, and the Internet to their HDTV with no PC needed. Additionally, Boxee's core social features make it easy for friends to discover new content from each other through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and more.
Internet Entertainment
Boxee is a popular PC, Mac, and Linux software program that lets users watch hundreds of thousands of popular TV shows and movies. Instead of sifting through millions of confusing Web sites, when users search on Boxee, TV shows and movies are delivered to them with the click of a remote control. Nearly a million Internet users around the world have already downloaded Boxee to enjoy their online entertainment.
The Boxee Box by D-Link takes the same popular software and offers it up as a great device — the perfect companion to a high definition TV. The Boxee Box by D-Link provides access to more than just traditional TV content. It includes a huge library that spans the Internet, such as university courses, panel discussions, academic lectures, presentations, web-only videos and more from TED, Stanford, FORA.tv, Kid Mango, Next New Networks and others. Boxee also makes it easy for users to add their own favorite entertainment sources with simple RSS or XML feeds available for most online video.
In addition to video content, Boxee users can access great music from sites like Pandora, last.fm, shoutcast, and We are Hunted as well as stunning photos from sites like flickr, Picasa and Facebook.
Personal Entertainment
For entertainment lovers who have built their own collections of digital media stored on their computer hard drive or home network, Boxee automatically identifies their content and downloads relevant cover art, synopses, reviews, subtitles, lyrics and more. This feature turns boring files and folders into beautiful media libraries that make it simple and appealing to navigate a collection of favorite movies, TV shows, and playlists with a simple remote. Furthermore, the Boxee Box by D-Link has extensive format support (see below) which ensures that when users hit the play button, they get instant gratification, with no need to download codecs or drivers. Also, with built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi support, it can transfer files without delay and from longer distances within a user's home.
Social Features
The Boxee Box by D-Link keeps people connected with social features to help users discover new content from friends, experts, and tastemakers. The first step to discovery is sharing, and Boxee makes this easy by letting people recommend any playing content to friends. Additionally, Boxee automatically uses recommendations from a user's Twitter and Facebook friends so they can find new content and instantly enjoy it on the big screen. Since anyone can build on top of Boxee's open App platform, users can craft their own truly custom experience by creating or downloading plug-ins, add-ons, games, and more.
"We are pleased to partner with Boxee and to be the first with such a ground-breaking device," said Nick Tidd, vice president of sales for D-Link Pan America and vice president of marketing for D-Link North America. "This powerful device with its unique form factor truly leverages Boxee's service and is the best way for consumers to quickly access the growing volume of Internet content, organize it and stream it to their TVs and home entertainment centers."
"D-Link's successful track record in bringing to market, award-winning digital home networking products, and its global marketing, distribution and channel sales capabilities made them a great fit for our first hardware vendor," stated Andrew Kippen, vice president of marketing for Boxee. "The Boxee Box by D-Link gives consumers what they want — an easy way to watch Internet or personal entertainment in their living rooms with a simple set-top box that costs under $200 and has no monthly fees."
The Boxee Box by D-Link is scheduled to ship in the first half of 2010 through the company's vast network of retail and e-tail outlets, and at D-Link's online store, http://www.dlinkshop.com.
Supported Codecs & Formats
Boxee can be used to play/view practically all common multimedia formats, including:
VIDEO:
Adobe Flash 10.1
H.264 (MKV, MOV)
VC-1
WMV
MPEG-1
MPEG-2
MPEG-4
AVI
Xvid
Divx
PCM/LPCM
VOB

AUDIO:
MP3
WMA
WAV
AIFF
FLAC
AAC
DTS
Dolby Digital
Ogg Vorbis

PHOTO:
JPEG
TIFF
BMP
PNG

[D-Link]

Vizio's flagship XVT Pro 3D HDTVs way undercut the top-o-the-line LED TVs from the other guys: 480Hz, wireless HDMI, Wi-Fi, local-dimming LED backlight and 3D. The 72 inch set goes for $3500, cheaper than the 46-inchers from Sony or Samsung.

The 55-incher set is $2500, and and the 47-inch TV is $2000. The main diff between them is that the 72-inch has more zones for local dimming—480 to 120 and 180 in the smaller sets—and the smaller sets have an anti-reflective coating. They're all out in August.

LAS VEGAS, NV (CES) and IRVINE, CA – January 05, 2010 — VIZIO, America's #1 LCD HDTV Company, has unveiled their new high-performance XVT Pro Series of 480Hz SPS™ 16x9 TruLED™ Full HD3D™HDTVs available in 72", 55" and 47" sizes, as well as a 58" Cinema Wide HDTV that displays content in 21 x 9 aspect ratio. The 480Hz SPS™ 16x9 TruLED™ Full HD3D™HDTVs incorporate the very latest in advanced HDTV technology with 480Hz SPS™, TruLED™ brilliant LEDs that pervade the entire screen, Smart Dimming™ circuitry controls hundreds of zones of LEDs per screen to the precise light level per picture frame. In addition, the set's Full HD3D™delivers stunning 3D images in FULL HD 1080p resolution, with other advanced features like VIZIO INTERNET APPS™ (VIA) built-in high definition wireless (802.11n dual-band) and wired networking, a Bluetooth universal remote control with sliding QWERTY keyboard, and Wireless HDMI which allows the TV to receive HD video and audio from sources without an HDMI cable.

"Our 2010 XVT Pro series offers a refreshing combination of the latest technology like 480Hz SPS™ TruLED™ coupled with must-have features like immersive FULL HD3D™ experience and VIZIO INTERNET APPS (with built in wireless networking) and wireless HDMI and Bluetooth capabilities. We at VIZIO are setting new standards for picture quality and user experience," said Laynie Newsome, VIZIO Co-Founder and VP Sales and Marketing Communications. "50% of consumers want a 3D home theater, according to Quixel Research, and our new XVT Pro Series brings the latest technology to consumers who want the absolute BEST in class."

Defining state of the art performance, these VIZIO 72", 55" and 47" Full HD3D™ TVs advance refresh rates to 480Hz SPS™ with VIZIO's Smooth Motion™ technology. Their TruLED™ brilliant LEDs pervade the entire display (Under 3" profile) and have Smart Dimming™ circuitry that controls hundreds of zones of LEDs per screen to the precise light level per picture frame in 480, 120 and 160 zones, respectively. The XVT Pro series offers an incredible 10 million to 1 Mega Dynamic Contrast Ratio™ for extraordinary picture quality that delivers incredible color, and even brighter whites and deeper blacks than ever before while displaying 1.7 Billion Colors using a 10-Bit data input panel.

For environments with bright ambient lighting, the 55" and 47" models feature a unique anti-reflective panel that produces better contrast with rich and deep blacks even in brightly lit rooms.

FULL HD3D™
Utilizing SENSIO® 3D technology to deliver 3D content over conventional 2D infrastructure, the new VIZIO XVT Pro Full HD3D TVs display stunning 3D content that the user can view with XpanD active-shutter glasses (sold separately). Unlike other 3D TVs that use passive stereoscopic imaging, VIZIO's Full HD3D TVs can display full 1080p video to each eye by rapidly alternating between the left-eye and right-eye images within the same visual space. The special active-shutter glasses, which communicate with the television over Bluetooth, then transform each lens from opaque to transparent in perfect synchronization with the images displayed on the TV, which allows for delivery of the full frame rate capable by the television for the ultimate 3D HDTV viewing experience.

These sets can produce 3D images from SENSIO encoded material on conventional DVD and Blu-ray players, as well as from future distribution channels such as pay per view, video on demand, DTV and HDTV broadcasts.

"We are pleased to be working closely with VIZIO and be a part of the creation of a substantial install-base of consumers ready to watch 3D movies, live concerts, and sporting events from the comfort of their home," states Nicholas Routhier, President and Chief Executive Officer of SENSIO Technologies.

"We are excited to partner with VIZIO as catalysts in the 3D revolution for the home," said Maria Costeira, CEO of XpanD. "The combination of XpanD Cinema active-shutter glasses and Vizio displays will provide an immersive, dynamic and cost-effective solution for VIZIO XVT Pro owners."

Wireless HDMI
Eliminating the need for an HDMI cable from source components to the display, the 72", 55" and 47" XVT Pro Series have an integrated Wireless HDMI receiver built-in, using SiBEAM's robust 60 GHz technology to receive HD content from high definition sources such as Blu-ray players or set-top boxes with full HD 1080p resolution when paired with a separately available VIZIO XVT Pro Wireless HDMI Adapter. The XVT Pro Adapter supports up to 4 HDMI sources and operates at 60GHz to avoid interference with other wireless devices in the home like cordless telephones and wireless networks that operate at 2.4 and 5 GHz.

SRS StudioSound HD
VIZIO XVT Pro TVs will feature SRS StudioSound HD - the ultimate all-in-one audio suite designed specifically for Flat Panel TVs. Years of excellence in audio, practical experience and patented technologies allow StudioSound HD to deliver the most immersive and natural surround sound ever using built-in TV speakers. The suite also delivers remarkably crisp and clear dialog, rich bass, an elevated sound stage and consistent, spike-free volume levels. StudioSound HD features optimized audio presets for movies, news, sports and music while also providing a built-in EQ toolset for peak audio performance.

VIZIO INTERNET APPS™ (VIA)
All of the XVT Pro sets feature the VIZIO INTERNET APPS™ (VIA) Connected HDTV platform, delivering unprecedented choice and control of web-based content directly to the television without the need of a PC or set-top box. Able to connect to the Internet using the built-in high definition wireless (802.11n dual-band) or a wired connection, accessing on demand movies, TV episodes, music and other online content is easy, using the included Bluetooth universal remote control with sliding QWERTY keyboard that makes thumb-typing easy.

[Vizio]