3D TV May Have Dizzying Drawbacks

If the ongoing media coverage and manufacturer hype has left you sick and tired of 3D television, it might be apt: the product itself could also cause nausea.

New Scientist magazine (registration required) has warned that, despite significant improvements, 3D formats may still inherently cause some viewers to feel ill when watching some footage.

The problem lies with the fact that 3D TV continues to work on the basis of each eye seeing the same image from a different viewpoint, creating an illusion of depth.

That upsets the balance in the eye by which the eyeballs move inwards or outwards to narrow or lengthen the distance of focus, while the lens of the eye changes shape to focus light onto the retina. That works seamlessly with most imagery (including, of course, real three-dimensional objects.)

However, with 3D TV, the eyeball moves to focus on where the viewer perceives the object to be, while the lens must remains the same shape, targeted on the light of the screen, to avoid blurring. That upsets the usual balance of the eye, leading to a feeling of sickness.

Television appears to make things worse: partly because the viewer is closer to the screen, and partly because television watchers are more likely to be watching for a lengthy session. Animation doesn’t cause as much of a problem, mainly because it can be specifically created for 3D, but live action such as fast-paced sports events can be problematic.

The good news is that the problem looks unlikely to be both severe and widespread. It seems that only 10 to 20% of people will find it a serious problem, made up mainly of those who have a below-average ability to process artificial 3D imagery, but still have enough ability that they can see the effects.

It’s also a problem that can be severely mitigated by production quality. With well-made productions, the effect will often be so minimal that it doesn’t cause problems. It’s cases where footage goes out with the two “channels” either out of sync or misaligned that are most likely to lead to the nausea feeling, which is more likely to happen with low-budget productions.

[Picture credit: JcMaco (Flickr) (CC)]

Happy New Year and Happy Binary Day! (01/01/11)

Welcome to 2011, official year of the Sexy Geek. (Really. Okay, not really. I made that up.)

I’d like to take a minute to thank everone for reading, and especially to all our readers who’ve been with us for the past five years. Thanks to all of you, we really appreciate your loyalty! Without you guys, this blog would be nothing.

Of course, a new year wouldn’t be much without a few resolutions. My resolution this year are:

  • Lose an additional 10 pounds
  • Bring up GaS’s RSS subscriber count to 30000 before the end of the year
  • Survive through 2011 with a 3rd kid that’ll be out of beta in less than 3 weeks.
  • …and I guess that’s enough for now!

Have you made your resolutions for 2011? Care to share them with us?

[Picture Source: Caruba – Flickr (CC)]



Best Video Game of 2010?

It’s almost time for the new year, which means that media is saturated with “best of the year” for pretty much anything you can think of. Though rather than giving you yet another list, we’re wondering what your pick is for the best video game of 2010. You probably haven’t played all of them, but you’ve played some – so what was the new game that came out this past year that you haven’t been able to put down?

It is worth noting that Machinima.com, Gamespot, and CNET all agree that the game of the year was Red Dead Redemption.  What do you think – is the praise warranted?

Of course, when it comes to sales, the winner of 2010 might just be World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, which now holds the record for fastest selling PC game ever – 3.3 million in the first 24 hours of release.

Star Trek TNG Mini Amigurumi

Another great set of crochet dolls from Etsy user Xanadoodle:

Set includes: Jean Luc Picard, William Riker, Geordi La Forge, Data, Worf, Beverly Crusher, Deanna Troi, Wesley Crusher, Guinan and Q.

Previously on [GaS]: Firefly Crochet Dolls

[Xanadoodle]

Amazon introduces pre-emptive returns for unwanted gifts

If you are still enjoying your bounty of great Christmas gifts, keep having fun. But if you got a couple of duds — and are currently joining the throng of sellers on eBay — Amazon has an idea that may stave off disappointment in future years.

In our busy modern and connected lives, plenty of people use Amazon to buy gifts to ship directly to friends and relatives who live elsewhere. Such buyers fall into three main categories: those who stick to the automated wishlist feature; those who chose carefully and creatively to come up with amazingly appropriate and thoughtful gifts; and those who try this but fail.

It’s the last category that’s targeted in an Amazon patent, applied for in 2006 but only recently granted. The patent is for a system using “gift conversion” logic to allow users to set up filters for unwanted gifts: anything bought to be shipped to them that triggers the filter can be replaced with a specific similarly-priced gift, an item chosen at random from a wishlist, or the equivalent value in vouchers.

The patent suggests such a system could have a wide variety of filters, from specific products, to wide categories (no wollen clothes, no slushy movies), to format replacements (VHS gifts to be replaced by the same title on DVD.) It would also be possible to automatically replace any gift that has already been purchased by the user on Amazon. And users can create category limits: for example, a fresher at university who fears everyone is going to buy him textbooks could limit their total Amazon haul to five textbooks.

But it’s an example known as rule 501 in the patent that’s caused the most controversy, thanks to the example user title of ” Convert all gifts from Aunt Mildred.” Whether the system spots a user ID, a billing address or even card details known to match Aunt Mildred, that gift is never leaving Amazon’s headquarters. And why does our hypothetical recipient need to resort to such tactics: “The user may specify such a rule because the user believes that this potential sender has different tastes than the user.”

The system even includes customization depending on exactly how honest the recipient wants to be about such tactics. It’s possible to have the system e-mail Aunt Mildred to politely explain that the gift has been converted, and even give a reason why. But it’s also possible to send an automated lie, thanking her for the lovely present that she sent.

(Image credit: Bullygame.Wikia.com)

Getting Tenure in World of Warcraft

Along the lines of “well there goes graduation!” for some college students who get too sucked into a video game, I once had a newly-minted PhD starting his first gig in academia tell me, after starting to play World of Warcraft, “well there goes tenure!”

So good news! If you’re worried that you might not make it from assistant to associate to full professor in real life, then you can do it virtually. The latest WoW expansion, Cataclysm, includes a new profession – archaeology. And one of the rewards in archaeology are titles for your character for unearthing “rare” artifacts. On your first, you’re an assistant professor; on the tenth, an associate professor; and on the twentieth, just “professor.”

Of course, anecdotes from online forums and such tell me that it could take as much as 100 hours of doing nothing but digging to earn the right to bear “professor” in front of your avatar’s name. But at least there are some perks along the way, like finding a recipe that will let you turn yourself into a dragon. Or, you know, just the joy of hanging out with Harrison Jones.