Friday, February 19, 2010 10:00AM - By Chris Weiss
3D RECEIVER: Oh, you thought your 3D TV package would be complete when you coughed up the $800 premium for the 3D set and upgraded your cable package, didn’t you? Oh no, if you want to connect your 3D TV and components via an A/V receiver, you’ll need to upgrade your home theater receiver as well. In order to connect with the HDMI 1.4 connection needed for 3D, you’ll need a brand new receiver that offers it.
Everyone’s expecting 3D TV to make a big splash at CES this year. Of course, having 3D technology in television sets is only a part of the equation. Without plenty of 3D programming, that expensive 3D HDTV set will operate like any other television.
Today, a number of prominent networks announced plans to create 3D channels. Good news to any 3D-loving sports fans, ESPN was in the first wave of networks to confirm its emergence into 3D. The Disney-owned network intends to launch ESPN 3D in June, which will see the broadcast of 85 sporting events during year 1. The first 3D event will be the World Cup soccer match between Mexico and South Africa on June 11. Sounds good overall, but ESPN decided to kick it off with soccer? Seriously? Soccer?
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 8:00AM - By Chris Weiss
A few weeks back, Acer brought us what it hyped as the world’s first 3D laptop with the 5738DG. Now Acer has just gotten a little competition from ASUS.
The new G51J 3D makes use of NVIDIA 3D Vision, which works with roughly 400 games, blowing up your pupils with engaging 3D action–or “adrenaline-pumping, edge-of-your-seat visuals”, as the official word from ASUS promises. Audio keeps up with that flowing adrenaline by way of EAX Advanced HD 4.0 3D audio technology and CMSS surround sound. Some games that work with the NVIDIA tech include Resident Evil 5, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, and Batman: Arkham Asylum.
Thursday, October 22, 2009 10:00AM - By Jared Newman
If you’re looking to totally geek out on 3D computer games at a coffee shop or on an airplane, Acer’s got your solution in the Aspire 5738DG notebook. It’s one of the few notebooks with a 3D display coming onto the market, and it should be available later this week. Instead of using multiple projection layers to depict a three-dimensional image, The laptop is coated in a special 3D film, which gives its 15.6-inch LCD screen the appearance of improving depth. The aforementioned geek factor is due to the pair of 3D glasses you’ll have to wear to enjoy the effect.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 11:00AM - By Jared Newman
Is that a high tech humidifier you’re looking at? No, it’s just some crazy 3D technology Sony has thrown together to give us a taste of the future, or at least the future as Sony imagines it. This gadget has a 360-degree viewing angle and requires no special glasses to see the 3D image. The 24-bit color is rich, but the imagery is tiny, measuring 96 x 128 pixes. The entire device is a mere 5.1 inches long by 10.6 inches tall. You’d think the idea is to gradually expand the technology’s size, making it viable for entertainment, but for now Sony says it’s just focusing using this for digital signage, event displays and digital picture frames.
Thursday, October 1, 2009 11:30AM - By Jared Newman
Last time we checked on BumpTop, it was just a cool three-dimensional overlay for your desktop. Now, BumpTop is upping the coolness ante with multi-touch support. BumpTop’s gesture support goes far beyond the simple pinch-to-zoom and scroll-to-slide that iPhone users have grown accustomed to. You can also lasso groups of icons by tracing a finger around them, push items by dragging your finger over them and crop photos with a few taps of the finger.
Thursday, October 1, 2009 10:00AM - By Jared Newman
Fujifilm’s Real 3D W1 camera doesn’t throw the term “3D” around lightly. It actually creates three-dimensional still and video images, and prints them out on special paper. Here’s how it works: The camera has two sensors and two lenses, and Fujifilm’s Real Photo 3D processor combines them into a single image. On the back of the camera, a special monitor controls the direction of light sending different images into each eye, so you can preview the 3D stills without special glasses. Special paper basically mimics this concept, laying the image onto a “lenticular sheet” that creates a different angle of view for each eye.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 11:14AM - By Jared Newman
Get ready to have 3D shoved down your throat, as Sony is the latest company to support the technology across several devices. The Japanese electronics giant said it will introduce a Bravia LCD TV in 2010 that a uses frame-sequential display and active shutter glass — a method that alternates two images between the left and right eye — to create the illusion of a 3D picture. To accompany the TV, Sony also plans to support 3D in Blu-ray products and Vaio computers. Even the Playstation 3 will get in on the act with 3D games. There’s no indication of when we’ll start to see these products or how much they’ll cost, but don’t expect the price to be reasonable for quite some time. [via Press Release]
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 2:30PM - By Jared Newman
Do you find yourself buying too many decorative trinkets and knickknacks? Consider making a large, long-term investment in Makerbot, a 3-D printer that lets you create any little object you can dream of. Using either ABS or HDPE plastic (the former is seen in Legos, and the latter forms milk jugs), Makerbot prints 3-D objects of up to 4 x 4 x 6 inches. If you’re starved for ideas, hit up Thingiverse, a design-sharing Web site for the Makerbot community, through which we are blessed with a plastic Walt Disney head. The printer costs $750 for a basic kit, but you may want to spend $950 to get all the tools, cables and the power supply in the deluxe kit. Clever designers could make all their money back on Etsy, right? [via Wired]
