I'm an infographic junkie. With about one minute of non-work, you're basically an expert on any topic, as if you've been beamed an expertise straight through the Matrix...with a few more fonts. Today's topic? Video games. [Online Education via Kotaku]
Unfortunately for you, Apple worshippers, this is not available for sale. Which kind of surprises me, considering that the original has been around forever:
Oh Steve, you mischievous handsome devil you. [Flickr via iPhone Savior]
Comcast's remote DVR scheduling is up and running, allowing users to manage DVR recordings online. Quick, you've still got time before One Life to Live!
The service seems to be available only to Comcast digital users with a Motorola set-top box, and will roll out across the entire subscription base over the next several months. It's part of a larger Comcast UI overhaul that also includes filters, folders, and clean-up functions. If you're eligible (and given the size of the initial roll-out, sad to say that you're probably not), you should be able to start recording shows from your computer here. [Comcast via ZatzNotFunny]
Here's a pretty simple idea that may save a lot of lives: A motorbike helmet that cools down the rider's head in case of impact. According to the manufacturer, their new ThermaHelm prevents overheating and swelling of the brain.
They also claim that there are head injuries in 80% of all motorbike accidents. When that happens, the brain usually starts swelling. Traditional helmets act as insulators, and the brain's temperature may increase to the point in which it can cause death or permanent damage. The ThermaHelm prevents this by firing a chemical reaction on impact, which activates a layer that cools down the biker's head. [ThermaHelm]
When it comes to 3D television, I don't see it. Literally. The technology that's supposed to convince me that a 3D image exists when I look at a 2D screen doesn't work for me.
Nor does it work for a small but significant percentage of the population—4 percent to 10 percent, depending on which expert you ask. Millions of people like me are being left behind by content and hardware companies as they move to 3D.
I don't mean to complain. It's not the end of the world. Flat-viewers, like me, can watch 2D versions of 3D content. I saw "Avatar" in the non-3D version. As a bonus, the theater was nearly empty—the 3D showing down the hall was more crowded. Plus, we didn't have to wear those dorky glasses.
Of course, we are social beings, and not being able to view 3D means that group or family outings to 3D showings are awkward for the flat viewers, who may have to sit through a showing that will cause headaches or just look bad to them. But the flat-viewer's experience with 3D imagery can vary. While I find viewing 3D imagery uncomfortable, Daniel Terdiman, another person at CNET who can't see 3D, saw the 3D version of Avatar and wore the 3D glasses. It looked fine to him, just not 3D.
Manufacturers are mute
At CES this year, the trend toward 3D in home television sets was unmissable, but there was no mention by the manufacturers of how this move would affect flat viewers. I was curious how the hardware companies, which fight for every point of market share jealously, could cavalierly ignore the large number of us who won't like this new direction. It's a lot of market. How are they planning to deal with losing it?
Oddly, none of the HDTV manufacturing companies I reached out to could provide a direct comment on this topic, but I did talk with people familiar with the industry and with an optometrist who has a vested interest in promoting the growth of 3D content viewing.
Bruce Berkoff of the LCDTV Association and formerly a marketing executive at LG, noted that for all the hype around 3D, the television manufacturers are not really investing much in putting products on store shelves, nor are they expecting consumers to pay for it yet. Adding the capability for televisions to display alternating images for stereoscopic viewing through electronic shutter glasses is not expensive. It's the glasses themselves that are, and only a few 3D-capable sets actually come bundled with them. So consumers will be able to soon buy televisions ready for 3D without spending much.
Berkoff, and everyone else I talked to about 3D TV, reminded me that a good 3D TV is also a good 2D TV. You should be able to turn off the 3D display features and view content designed specifically for 3D but in 2D: You just show the view for only one eye. If the refresh rate of the program is high enough, you should not notice much of a difference in picture quality.
Get your eyes examined
From the optometrist's perspective, the inability to process stereoscopic imagery is, for many people, a treatable condition. Dr. Brad Habermehl, president of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development, told me, "You don't have to be a 3D refugee if you get to the root of the problem. The majority of stereo-blind people really can be helped."
Habermehl says that there are methods to teach people to see in 3D. Using graduated methods and physical aids (lenses) as "training wheels," he says, people can eventually learn how to "point both eyes to focus on the same space." It's like riding a bike. Once you learn, the training wheels come off and you can't imagine not doing it. "Vision is definitely learned," he says. "That's what vision training is."
The doctor sounded to me suspiciously like a spokesperson for the 3D television manufacturers, or at least a recipient of some marketing dollars from them. But he's not. "It would be nice if they would fund us," he said. But after reminding me that "Avatar" had already made $1 billion in box office receipts, he added, "I don't think the industry is worried about this."
Personally, I have no interest in undergoing medical treatment just so I can spend more money on consumer electronics. Although Dr. Oliver Sacks, in a compelling New Yorker article, Stereo Sue, did make me wonder what my kind is missing. (Related reading: Fixing My Gaze, by Sue Barry, a subject of Sacks' story.)
And regardless of whether you see in 3D or not, the technology is inexorably changing the visual language of movies and television shows. When directors create shows for 3D, they can't rely on cinematic methods viewers are used to in 2D for conveying action, depth, and movement. Hard cuts and swooping camera moves can disorient viewers new to 3D. The new standard of practice is to lock down the camera and move the action around it, instead of the reverse, which is the case in today's 2D movies. Good 3D movies today will appear subtly more stately and cinematic than 2D shows.
The future of the 3D feature
For all the hype at CES, 3D for the next few years is likely to be a "feature" in the new crop of TVs, according to Gary Merson of the HDGuru3D site. "It's not black-and-white to color," Merson says. "It's a feature, like Internet connectivity and stereo." He also points out that the content is not there yet, and that many consumers have only recently upgraded their tube televisions to HD flat screens.
For people like me, for whom the world is flat, this feature can not roll out slowly enough.
This story originally appeared on CNET
The freshest movies on Netflix Watch Instantly come via Starz Play, an arrangement where Starz resells Netflix their movie licenses. As predicted, studios are playing hardball with Netflix, and Disney movies could be the first to poof from instant streaming.
Disney's currently in negotiations with Starz for the rights to its movies over the next few years, and it wants a lot more money from people who watch Starz online—like through Netflix—and if things go badly, it could mean no more Disney or Dreamworks movies on Netflix streaming, according to Bloomberg. (Of trivial, probably inconsequential, note: Steve Jobs is the single largest shareholder of Disney, owning 7 percent of the company, so there is a mild conflict of interest.)
It looks like a rough patch for Netflix and its ambitious plans for Watch Instantly, now obviously the focus of its business. (Why else would Netflix give up a whole month for new releases from Warner Bros. in exchange for better streaming rights? And notice the switched tab arrangement on the Netflix homepage, putting Watch Instantly first.) Expect these battles for streaming rights to repeat themselves with basically every major studio, and expect them to get bloodier. Nobody's conquered internet video, at least not the way iTunes wrapped its arms around digital music, but Netflix is, in many ways, damn near the closest, a fact not lost on the major studios. And they're not going to make it any easier for another company to wield that kind of power. [Bloomberg]
Kevin Schopfer, the same delusional, megalomaniac architect behind NOAH is back with the Boston Arcology (BoA) floating city concept for Boston Harbor. I'm not from Boston, but my guess is that their reaction would be: "this is wicked retahded."
But I digress. If constructed, the BoA would be LEED certified and be capable of housing 15,000 people distributed in hotels, offices, retail, museums, condominiums, and a new city hall. Of course, there would also be sky gardens and some sort of public, carbon neutral transportation system that would eliminate the need for cars.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Schopfer's progressive thought process on this design, but there has to be more emphasis put on feasibility. Even if all of the construction goals could be accomplished, how much do you think something like this would cost? [Schopfer via Yanko Design via Inhabitat]
I can't tie a sheepshank knot off the top of my head, but more than once, I'm pretty sure I've tangled one by accident. (Yes, this is a Ford Sync ad, but it's quite clever.) [AdsoftheWorld via 9GAG via TheNextWeb]
There's still some question about whether Windows Mobile 6.6 or Windows Mobile 7 will be shown in February, but a solid tipster just told us that it will be WM7. And then he describes it.
Here are a couple things described about WinMo 7 that mesh with the rumors we've heard before. First, it'll have the Natal-like gestures to be able to use the phone without touching it. We first heard about gestures on WM7 two years ago, and then sprinkled about the rumors in the past year.
Then, he says that you won't be able to upgrade to Windows Mobile 7, because the OS actually requires you to have better hardware (faster processor, more memory, etc) and includes support for the motion-sensing gestures above.
This bit also meshes with the rumored specs of the "Zune phone", which is basically Windows Mobile 7. From that rumor:
ARM v6+ processor, with an Open GL ES 2.0-capable graphics chip-this may be the TI3430 or the Nvidia Tegra. To show all the eye candy there will be a 3.5" 800 x 480 or 854 x 480 pixels touchscreen. The specification also points out at other things in Pink, like 3-megapixel camera, GPS, light sensor, 3-axis compass, accelerometer, USB, Bluetooth, and full Wi-Fi support.
But then how does that account for the HD2, which HTC Russia claimed will be getting a WM7 upgrade? Because HD2 is basically the top of the line right now, which—looking at its specs—put it into the Windows Mobile 7-capable category.
So yes, it seems like we'll be seeing Windows Mobile 7 at Mobile World Congress in February. It better be pretty damn good for Microsoft's projection of being able to regain 25% of the phone market by 2014.
Thanks tipster!
Apple's interest in mobile advertising clearly goes beyond flicking Google in the nads, since they spent $275 million on mobile ad company Quattro after losing AdMob to Google. In fact, according to BusinessWeek, Apple's mobile ad plans are downright ambitious.
"Mobile ads suck" is a sentiment BusinessWeek vaguely ascribes to Steve Jobs through a "source familiar with his thinking." So Jobs, along with "his lieutenants," have been talking about "ways to overhaul mobile advertising in the same way they had revolutionized music players and phones," two sources told BusinessWeek. (Worth noting, Quattro's former CEO is now VP of mobile advertising at Apple.)
Why care so deeply about mobile ads? Besides the ongoing Google rivalry, which stands to get even testier in the mobile space—just check out figures like ones out of this 424-page Morgan Stanley report, which talk about how the mobile internet will be twice as big as it is on the desktop. (Also, this.) The first guy to really figure out mobile ads (whatever that entails)? Wins a truckload of money. Case in point: Google figured out search advertising. Look where they are today.
Mobile browsers aside, just think of all of those free and cheap iPhone apps with room for innovative advertising to make somebody even more money. Not us, though. [BW via Alley Insider]
Lost in the CES maelstrom, we missed the Kingston SSDNow V 30GB, a solid state hard drive designed to run your operating system, faster faster, kill kill, pussycat. The best thing is the price: Only $80 after rebates.
• Sequential Speed**: up to 180MB/sec. read, 50MB/sec. write
• Performance: enhances productivity; makes users more efficient
• Innovative: 2.5" form factor; uses NAND Flash memory components
• Silent: runs silent and cool with no moving parts
• Reliable: less likely to fail than a standard hard drive
• Shock Resistant: no moving parts; handles rougher conditions than a hard drive
• Supports S.M.A.R.T.: Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology
• Guaranteed: three-year Kingston warranty, 24/7 tech support
• Capacity1: 30GB
• Storage temperatures: -40° C to 85° C
• Operating temperatures: 0° C to 70° C
• Vibration operating: 20G Peak, 10-2000Hz, (20min/Axis)x3 Axis
• Vibration non-operating: 20G Peak, 10-2000Hz, (12 Cycle/Axis) x 3 Axis, x 20min.
• Power specs: Read: 1.4W (TYP), 2.5W (MAX)
• Write: 1.7W (TYP), 4.2W (MAX)
• Idle, Standby, Sleep: 55mw (TYP)
• Life expectancy: 500,000 hours MTBF** Test system: Intel® DG945ID Desktop Motherboard; Intel® Quad Core Q9550; 4GB DDR2 800MHz system memory; on-board SATA 3Gbps with ACHI enabled in BIOS; OS: Windows® 7 Professional x64 or Windows XP Pro x86 SP3 (Intel® IMSM installed in both operating systems).
** Based on internal testing. Performance may vary based on system settings.
It's coming in February for $110 without the promotional rebates. [Kingston]
My caffeine needs have been growing exponentially, so we need more interns in New York City. But, this time, we're lookin' for a few different kinds of interns.
Four different kinds, to be precise:
Writing Intern: Your main task will be writing posts, but with a secondary focus on all the other intern duties as outlined here.
Promotion Intern: Great for people who like to talk to other people. You'll be promoting our stories on Digg, Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. You should know how to angle stories a certain way, and be familiar with social networks as well as other major sites. When I say familiar, I mean you should read them and know what kind of stories they're apt to post.
Research Intern: You should be good at pulling together multiple forms of information from multiple sources for our editors. This includes online and offline sources and even calling up people to arrange (and possibly conduct) interviews. Mostly, you should have a good grasp of technology and be able to locate and dissect information fast.
Copyediting Intern: English. You should know it. And you should be able to recognize when we screw up. You'll be going through our posts as a copyeditor, fixing typos and correcting our grammar. If you're already doing this in your spare time (for free), you'll love this position.
All of these internship positions will still have the primary task of finding stories for us—so think of this as your secondary superpower—as outlined here. Look that over (click the link and read it first!) and see if you're qualified.
If you think you're suited for one of those four positions (choose one only, please), send an email to jobs@gizmodo.com with the subject "NY Writing Intern" or "NY Promotion Intern" or "NY Research Intern" or "NY Copyediting Intern"—whichever one fits you the best. No attachments. No. Attachments.
Remember, it's full time, you need your own laptop, and you need to be able to get to Manhattan daily.
Good luck!
There are too damn many ebook readers and it's tough to figure out what's worth buying and which reader will even survive the market. To make things easy, here's our guide to the readers that matter—for now. Updated.
Of course we're skipping some of the many ebook readers floating around, but quite frankly we can't really stomach all of them. We decided to focus on the ones that matter to us—whether because they stand a shot of surviving the over-saturated market, or simply because they are examples of what we think matters about these gadgets. Feel free to let us know if you disagree with any of our survival odds or if you think we missed a significant device.
When we reviewed the Barnes & Noble Nook, we decided that it was pretty damn good all around. At the time, we mainly focused on pitting it against the Amazon Kindle, but even without that limited comparison the Nook remains a rather good device:
It's got a second screen which actually serves a useful purpose
Expansion and evolution possibilities of this very device are great, especially with touchscreen and Android OS
Lending and in-store Barnes & Noble action will be huge
Native ePub support
A little thicker than Kindle, but as a tradeoff, it's a little smaller footprint
Wi-Fi doesn't seem to matter now—hopefully it will prove to be an advantage later
LCD and other features mean less battery life than Kindle, but still adequate, "measured in days"
Current software is buggy and sluggish in spots; hopefully fixes and optimization will come soon
Second-screen possibilities are great, but current implementation is cautious and conservative
Taking all those features and shortcomings into account, we think that the Nook's survival chance is 80%— if it can fix its firmware and get production up to speed.
A hands on of the Entourage Edge left us hesitant about whether there's actually a market for something that has the price tag of a good netbook and barely more features than most readers:
It does have two full screens on which actual work can be done
Can run Android applications and be used to browse the web
Wi-Fi built-in, so you're not stuck relying on 3G
Two built-in microphones for noise-cancelation, but unfortunately no synchronization with notes
Note taking can be done using a stylus
Switching between the screens allows for websites to be loaded on one screen and "pushed" to the other
Just as with most other readers, you can highlight, annotate, and bookmark
It's three whole freakin' pounds and ridiculously bulky
$500 price tag.
The Edge shows us what happens when you try to make a reader into what it's not—a pseudo netbook or tablet. We think the device's survival chance is 0% and consider it pretty much DOA.
We liked the feel of the Plastic Logic Que when we got our hands on it, but we didn't like the price tag. The device is mainly aimed at business folk who want to carry a notepad-sized device instead of a stack of documents, but it could make a rather nice reader if you crave for a large screen:
At 8.5 x 11 x .33 inches, its about the size and thickness of a standard notepad. It weighs about one pound. Like a heavy notepad.
The screen is huge—and I mean huge. Over ten inches.
Because of Plastic Logic's obsession with its namesake material, the Que is light as a feather
Formatting from magazines and other publications is maintained on the screen
The interface seems snappy and intuitive
Que Mail and Que Calendar services allow email and calendar updates to be pushed over WiFi and 3G networks
While odd to look at, the wide bezel actually makes the Que a lot more comfortable to hold than some other readers
The back of the device is a magnet for fingerprints. It's annoying, but not unusual for shiny toys like this.
$650 for the 4GB model with Wi-FI and $800 for the 8GB model with WiFi and 3G are quite the prices to swallow
We think the Que's features, design, and business as well as consumer appeal leave it with a survival chance of 70%—higher if businesses feel like spending so much on a device that will certainly help cut back on paper use. Or if Plastic Logic manages to cut back on that price.
Our hands on of the Spring Design Alex Reader left us thinking that the Nook might have some serious competition, but even on its own the Alex is a rather good device:
It's thin—we thought we'd break it just by holding it—but it turned out to be surprisingly sturdy
You can run any Android app including the browser, email client, and music player apps
The interaction between the two screens doesn't seem fully worked out
No news about whether there's a data provider secured for the device
$399 makes the Alex a wee bit pricier than the nook
Assuming that a data provider is secured for the Alex, we could see its survival chance being 80%—higher if there's a price drop to bring it closer to the Nook's.
When the Sony Daily Edition reader was announced, we got a bit excited about its electronic library program and wide screen, but alas, we're still waiting to actually get one of these devices into our hands to check out all the features:
Sony's got plenty of partners for this device to provide content
The on-screen content is rotated automatically to allow viewing in a nice, comfortable, and super wide landscape format
Native EPUB support
The electronic library program will let you borrow books from your local library's electronic collection
Free 3G service is included—but limited to accessing the Sony Store
$399 is a bit much for a device with so few tricks up its sleeve
Until we actually take a Daily for a test run, we're deeming its survival chance as 40%—mostly because the library program is appealing along with the push for EPUB formatting.
In our review of the Amazon Kindle 2, we discovered that it's not too different from the original model, but we still liked all the features:
The rounded design makes the device appealing to hold and look at
Zippy interface, decent refresh rate
Plenty of internal storage and long battery life
Text-to-speech book reading
Crisp, sharp display
It's hard to read longer, more complex books
While the Kindle 2 wasn't a huge leap from the first generation, we still think the device about a 80% chance of survival, especially if Amazon works on improving the interface and how the device treats flipping through book sections.
When we got our hands on the Notion Ink Adam Pixel Qi, we discovered that it's more of a tablet than it is a reader and that it tries too hard to be both:
The device runs on Android 2.0
There's a snappy Nvidia Tegra 2 processor lurking inside
10.1-inch panel that can switch between backlit LCD mode and low-power electrophoretic reflective mode
3G service, which is becoming fairly standard among readers
LCD colors aren't as vivid as a plain LCD
Despite having "ink" in its name, the Adam falls too far into tablet territory for us to take it seriously as a reader so we give it a 40% chance of survival in that particular market. As a tablet device though, it might actually do rather well.
When we got a hands on with the Skiff, we were pretty impressed by its size but uncertain about most features since we didn't get to play with a final production model:
It's big and thin: 11.5 inches of touchscreen space on a device only a quarter of an inch thick
Light and—quite importantly—solid feeling
Layout mimicks a real newspaper better than most readers
Can handle 12fps animation, which is pretty primitive compared to an LCD device
Reasoably responsive to taps and swipes
You can highlight and annotate content
Magazines feel awkward to read as they're full page scans and any zooming feels slow due to the e-ink refresh rate
Once again: The Skiff unit we tried out was not a final version, so plenty can change by the time it hits shelves. But based on what we've seen so far, this could be a pretty great reader overall—despite its key focus being periodicals. Assuming that it's price turns out to be reasonable and the interface is fixed up a bit more, we give it a survival chance of 70%.
Those are the ebook readers we think deserve some discussion right now. There are plenty we left out—super cheap ones, poor imitations of readers mentioned already, and some that just plain make us gag. We didn't want to promote crappy products or those where "you get what you pay for" rings a bit too true. That disclaimer aside, we welcome discussion and mentions of other readers, simply because it's always possible that we omitted something worthwhile—like the Skiff which has now been added—by accident. So let's hear it in the comments.
It's clear that Microsoft will bring something to Mobile World Congress. This is inevitable, and necessary. But yesterday's report that it'll be Windows Mobile 6.6 has been met with another saying it'll be Windows Mobile 7. So which is it?
The conservative choice would seem to be Windows Mobile 6.6, especially given the nagging reports that Windows Mobile 7, which we basically know to exist in some form, has been delayed—in release, if not unveiling—until late this year. But here's the thing: until yesterday, nobody had even heard of Windows Mobile 6.6. We've only just been introduced to the final version of Windows Mobile 6.5.3, which appears to be the ultimate expression of the wrongheaded 6.5.x ethos, and any interim releases, even assuming a late 2010 release for WinMo 7, would have a hard time finding handset support.
Now that Bloomberg is chiming in to say that WinMo 7 will be unveiled at Mobile World Congress, I think it's fair to bet on seeing for the first time in February. As for 6.6? I'm not convinced that it even exists, or that Microsoft is oblivious enough to press forward toward such an obvious, self-imposed dead end.
On another note, this has been some uncharacteristically tight leak control from Microsoft—we know practically nothing about Windows Mobile 7 right now, which is as refreshing as it is frustrating. [Bloomberg via Silicon Alley Insider]
That's right, Marvel's first next IMAX movie is, appropriately, gonna be Iron Man 2—perfect, since we'll need a mega-sized screen to hold that many mecha flying around, going pewpewpew. Unfortunately, it wasn't shot in IMAX (like parts of The Dark Knight), it's just gonna be remastered. [Comic Book Resources via io9]
One of the cooler stories out the whole Google-China debacle is that Google hacked the hackers. It "began a secret counteroffensive," breaking into a computer in Taiwan, gathering evidence the attacks originated from mainland China, possibly orchestrated by the government.
Google's delta force found evidence that the hackers had attacked 33 other companies, like Adobe, and that the onslaught actually came from China, not Taiwan. More to the point, "much of the evidence, including the sophistication of the attacks, strongly suggested an operation run by Chinese government agencies, or at least approved by them." Unfortunately, Google can't prove the Chinese government's involvement 100 percent, which is why the Obama administration is pussy-footing around the issue.
Still, it's pretty awesome: If you hack Google, they will hack your ass right back. [NYT]
Resident technobiologist/Biblical scholar/intern Kyle dubbed this display "the Noah's Ark of humping USB toys," to which I can only say, "indeed." Spotted, it is multiply safe to assume, somewhere in Tokyo. [Tokyo Mango]
The Kompis is more than just a digital compass, really. It's a GPS mapmaker that lights the way to your destination. It may not be as effective as a Garmin, but it sure is prettier.
You can tell the Kompis where you want to go by hooking it up to your computer via USB, or you can mark a place you'd like to return to by hitting its "remember" button. It'll also tell you how close or far you are from your destination by cycling through color gradients from blue to red.
So. Functionality: somewhere between "Nuvi 880" and "trail of breadcrumbs." Form: pretty darned cool.
The Asus EeeTop ET2010PNT has officially been espied in a promo shot, and it's apparently packing a multitouch 20-inch (1600x1000) screen and Nvidia Ion 2 graphics. Not too shabby!
Other details to be gleaned from the ad include the use of Intel's Atom D510 dual-core processor, a carbon-fiber stand, and Windows 7, which, obviously. Details not yet available: everything else, particularly price and shipping. But if it's at least cost competitive, this could be a nice little pick-up. [Blogeee via Slash Gear]
Things are clearly better in computerland, at least looking at Intel's numbers: Revenue this quarter was $10.6 billion, which up 28 percent ($2.3 billion) over last year, with net income at $2.3 billion—which is $2.0 billion, or 875 percent, more than a year ago. Clearly, somebody's buying a lot of something with Intel inside. [Intel]
