World Cup heads up 3D TV push

3D Camera

ESPN has announced it will broadcast this year’s FIFA World Cup finals in 3D. It will be the flagship programming at the launch of a specific 3D station which will also show NBA games as part of a minimum of 85 3D broadcasts this year. The Discovery Network is also to launch a 3D channel in 2011 in association with Sony, while Direct TV is rumored to be working on one as well.

The ESPN channel has been in testing for two years and currently requires a completely separate set of cameras (pictured) and production equipment. It will only be on air when there is a live event to broadcast, while the Discovery channel plans to broadcast continuously.

The network hasn’t yet detailed the precise technology it will use for the broadcasts. However, it has spoken of the new station as “a meaningful step to drive adoption of 3D television sets” which strongly suggests that viewers will need a new TV rather than simply using a pair of 3D specs they got from inside a cornflakes box.

That’s likely to be a major disincentive given that most tech-loving viewers are likely to have splashed out on HD sets in the past few years and won’t have the appetite for buying a new TV any time soon, particularly coming out of a recession.

It’s arguable that with the possible exception of the Olympics, the World Cup is the most important showcase for new broadcast technology. It may be psychological claptrap, but there’s a theory that the 1970 event in Mexico remains a vivid memory for many because it was the first broadcast in color, complete with glorious blue skies and the yellow shirts of Brazil. More recently, the push to get high definition pictures through over-the-air broadcasts in the United Kingdom has a clear, if unofficial, target of being in place before this summer’s events.

[Picture source: ESPN Media Source]



Enter the Smartbook via the Skylight

Having still not yet entirely conquered my desire for a netbook—mostly staved off by the fact that my iPod Touch gets the job done most of the time—there may yet be good news. It is quite likely that I have simply waited long enough for netbooks to be, well, so last decade.

Enter the smartbook.

BoingBoing Gadgets writer Bob Beschizza points out, the very name itself may be up to debate. Regardless, smartbooks are just, well, smaller netbooks that function more like smartphones. And come this April, Lenovo is planning to make the Skylight, the first of its kind, available to the public.

What the heck is the Skylight, and why should we care? The Skylight, according to the official Lenovo press release, is “the first ARM-based processor smartbook device based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon™ chipset platform.” While it’s not the first netbook or device using this platform, which boasts longer batter life and lower power consumption along with higher performance, it is the first sub-netbook to do so. (Other gadgets using Snapdragon include the Nexus One, the Android-based Acer Liquid A1 Smartphone, and the Toshiba TG01.) Worthy of note, as well, is the fact that Snapdragon can also decode HD video, up to 720p—pretty impressive for a tiny portable computer, and a particularly nice feature for traveling geeks.

Skylight has some surprisingly decent specs for a very reasonable $500 retail, including:

  • 3G and WiFi capabilities (and the purported ability to go “seamlessly” between)
  • A web-optimized interface (in other words, Facebook on your desktop, etc.)
  • Up to 10 hours of battery life
  • 10″ display
  • Large keyboard (of particular importance for those of us who, you know, type. A serious flaw with many netbook designs.)
  • Qualcomm 1Ghz chipset with 20GB of standard flash and 2GB cloud storage

And what about an actual operating system? As Bechizza explains:

The Skylight doesn’t come with Windows, OSX or even (it seems) a fully-featured linux distro, which creates breathing room for its hardware–think smartphone operating systems–even as it creates a new hurdle for buyers in the lack of available software.

Of course, there are unanswered questions. It’s clear that AT&T is involved, but to what extent? If the $500 price-tag is with an AT&T contract, well, that would pretty much negate the whole deal. It would seem like an unfathomably bad move. No, the Skylight is no iPhone. But I think there are enough ornery folks out there (like myself) who have no desire whatsoever to sign up for a two-year phone contract with AT&T, even if it does come with a snappy smartbook.

So, netbook and laptop fans out there? What do you think about the smartbook? Hype or hip?

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Team Fortress 2 Machinima: Yeah Toast!

A very well done and highly entertaining Team Fortress II machinima by Laurie Johnson. The laughing in the background is a bit annoying, but otherwise, this is absolutely brilliant. Enjoy!

A Tribute to Jek Porkins

I’ve been a Star Wars fan since 1977, but I suppose you’d call me a casual fan. Until this morning, I had no idea there was a character named Jek Porkins. Who?

Jek Porkins

In the most critical sequence of one of the most popular movies of all time, George Lucas cast William Hootkins, a portly, bearded actor, as Jek Porkins (also known as X-Wing pilot Red Six), who dies on a mission to destroy the Death Star (The Battle of Yavin) in Star Wars. Despite being on screen for only a handful of seconds, he created a lasting impression as the first pilot to die on that mission.

Oh, that guy! I had no idea Red Six had such a following (or even a name). There are action figures, t-shirts, and animations of Porkins. He was even featured in a video game -and a song! Personally, I think it sad that any filmmaker would name an overweight character Porkins, but Lucas has a habit of naming characters in a kind of shorthand that will jog his memory. See the various tributes to Jek Porkins all in one post at Gunaxin.

[via Digg]

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Google Nexus One Officially Unveiled

By Jimmy Rogers (@me)
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Google Nexus One

While news of this device leaked quite a while ago (and Google openly distributed it to their employees), the Google Nexus One still drew a crowd today, both online and at Google’s official launch event.  The new phone is similar to other Android devices, such as the popular Droid, but this one has been custom built by the Google engineers themselves.

There are several good resources out there already, most notably gdgt’s liveblog of today’s event and Engadget’s exclusive review of the Nexus One.  Also, Google has a dedicated product page over at google.com/phone.  All that withstanding, you, the lazy GAS reader, are probably too busy watching our funny videos to sift through those massive pages, so we have parsed out the most important highlights.

First of all, let’s get some specs:

  • The device is both slim and light, as demonstrated in this slide at the launch event:

  • Screen size: 3.7-inch (diagonal) widescreen WVGA AMOLED touchscreen
  • Camera: 5 megapixels, LED flash, geotagging, video capture at 20fps
  • Wireless Specs:
    • UMTS Band 1/4/8 (2100/AWS/900)
    • HSDPA 7.2Mbps
    • HSUPA 2Mbps
    • GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
    • Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n)
    • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
    • A2DP stereo Bluetooth
  • Battery Life: It has a removable battery – check out the specs page for battery life under different conditions
  • OS: Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1 (Eclair)
  • Storage:
    • 512MB Flash
    • 512MB RAM
    • 4GB Micro SD Card (Expandable to 32 GB)
  • Location Tech: AGPS, cell tower and wifi location, digital compass, accelerometer

Ok, with specs out of the way, what’s next?  Well it uses the Android 2.1 platform at the moment (though future revs will bring new features like expandable SD storage).  That means it is very “open” and will allow a great number of applications to be developed for it.  In fact, I personally expect the Android app store to dwarf the iPhone app store, sheerly by wooing more developers with its openness.

Based on the various wireless technologies in the Nexus One, the current available carriers are T-mobile (which is selling it subsidized already at $179), Verizon, and Vodafone (in Europe).  Also, you can buy it unsubsidized directly from Google for $529, shipping today!

Without direct access to the phone it’s hard to say too much more.  For further reading, I suggest the hands-on review by Engadget and the latter part of the live gdgt feed, where the launch team answered some questions by the press.

What do you think of the Google Nexus One?  Will you buy it?  Does it compete with other smartphones you have/want?  Post below in the comments!

[Images from Google, Engadget, and gdgt (links above)]

The Long Arm of the Law Reaches into World of Warcraft

AzerothIf you’re in trouble with the law, fleeing to Canada is making a pretty good go of it. But now one criminal has learned the hard way that if you’re going to leave your real world behind to escape prosecution, you’d better leave your virtual world behind, too.

At the tail end of a two-year manhunt, an Indiana sheriff’s deputy started thinking outside the box, and managed to pinpoint the fugitive’s virtual whereabouts – inside World of Warcraft, which the man was still playing. The deputy sent a subpoena to Blizzard, who responded without hesitation – sending all of his account information, including his IP and billing address. Oh, and his character – a level 80 shaman, I guess in case the deputy wanted to try to take him out via PVP first.

Thanks to Google Earth, they were able to zero in on the IP address and take the fugitive into custody, which was apparently the first time the sheriff had ever tracked someone down in Canada. I’m guessing they don’t let you play WoW in jail.

Of course, the most amusing part of this story to me is that the only reason the deputy knew where to look for the man was that he played WoW himself and guessed it as the fugitive’s virtual vice from vague descriptions of an online game. I wonder if he’s a paladin?

[Via Sphere]

Amazing Parkour Motion Reel

This amazing video was first illustrated, frame by frame, with a technical pen, and then animated, flip-book style, by vimeo user Saggyarmpit. Check it out:

[Via CrunchGear]

There’s a Hole In the Moon, Dear Liza, and Other Space Discoveries

Planets discovered by Kepler

With only two days down, it’s already been a great week to be a space geek. First up? Moon news. You might have missed over the weekend, but scientists have discovered a “lunar hole” that experts are saying may make an ideal home for future moon colonists. Yes, you read that right. According to researchers, the hole is approximately 213 feet wide and 260 feet deep, and is technically a lava tube which the article defines as “cylinder-shaped caverns… carved out by lava flows, volcanic eruptions, seismic activity or ground collapse resulting from meteoroid strikes”.

What’s particularly interesting about these lava tubes is that they’re covered by a thin layer of lava, which could help protect colonists and researchers inside from the harsh conditions on the moon. This is particularly good news for NASA who, according to CNN, plans to return to the moon in 2020 with its sights on establishing a moon colony in 2025. (Or… perhaps send Sam Rockwell up there.)

Additionally, the Kepler space telescope has also made some intriguing discoveries: namely five planets of varying size. Kepler’s range is about 3,000 light-years from earth, and these planets—most of which are larger than our Jupiter—are likely to be the first among many discovered by the telescope. Their temperatures might not be exactly comfortable, some higher than 2,240 degrees Farenheit. But in spite of the hostile environment, the Kepler team is optimistic about discovering planets in what’s called the “hospitable zone”—that is, planets capable of supporting life, like our Earth.

To add to the space exploration excitement is the fact that, in our nearby Milky Way, scientists believe that of the stars studied so far, only about a third are more active than our sun, releasing more solar blasts. Astronomer Caty Pilachowski says that that fact is “is good news for exobiology (alien life) and good news for planet detection. Kepler is going to find a lot of planets.”

Kepler has also discovered two well, somethings. According to the USA Today article:

Meanwhile, Kepler has also found two mystery objects that are too hot to be planets and too small to be stars.

Kepler discovered the two new heavenly bodies each circling its own star. Borucki says the objects are thousands of degrees hotter than the stars they circle. That means they probably are not planets. They are bigger and hotter than planets in our solar system, including dwarf planets.

Ah, just your average week in space gazing. Really gets the sci-fi geek in me all a thither!

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Doctor Horrible vs. Captain Jack in Twitter’s #biggaybattle

Big Gay Battle

So it was just a silly little poll at AfterElton.com, asking the question: Who is the gay/bisexual man of the decade? But it has exploded into a run-off of epic proportions with two geek favorites at the forefront and celebrities lining up to take sides. Vying for the title are Neil Patrick Harris (who among other things was the title character in Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog) and John Barrowman (aka Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood).

Twitter was the gasoline on the fire for this (seems to be a common occurrence lately) as @ActuallyNPH and @Team_Barrowman shouted out for votes. However, despite Neil having 200,000 followers to John’s 12,000, celebrity Twitter endorsements and legions of fans have brought them neck-and-neck. You can read the details of how things fell out here, but there have been amusing strategies like “vote NPH while the British slumber!” Voting continues until midnight tonight, FYI, so if you want to cast a vote, the poll is in the link above.

Here’s a brief run-down of some of the Twitter-happy forces behind each contender:

Team NPH: Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day, Chris Hardwick, Alyssa Milano, Alyson Hannigan, Jimmy Fallon, Hal Sparks, Perez Hilton

Team Barrowman: Neil Gaiman, Vernon Kay, Tom Price, Paul Cornell, Jonathan Ross, Kevin Smith

Of course, one of the interesting parts of this battle to me is that it might very well turn some new viewers onto Torchwood or Doctor Who (i.e., the Americans who are wondering who this could possibly be giving Doogie Howser a run for his money) – and despite the fact that AfterElton certainly didn’t intend it this way, it has in some part become a run-off between two iconic geek character actors (though along that vein, I should note sadly that George Takai, though still in the poll, doesn’t stand a chance). Meanwhile, the publicity rolls in: Neil Gaiman is musing on the fact that a hash tag (#biggaybattle) he made up ended up in a Wall Street Journal headline.