Netflix Watch Instantly fans could be due for a big upgrade, as CNET has heard the company will roll out 1080p and 5.1 surround sound later this year. No word on timing or any other details, but this could mean its moving to version 3 of Microsoft’s Silverlight streaming platform with its additional tweaks for adaptive streaming and hardware graphics acceleration . Also unknown is how much bandwidth would be necessary, but considering Microsoft already uses very similar technology for its 1080p Instant On videos on Zune Marketplace through the Xbox 360 while only requiring 3 Mbps and VUDU HDX 1080p videos only state a minimum of 4500 Kbps, a massive jump in available bandwidth might not be necessary if you already get clear 720p video.
If you prefer to have the current time displayed to you the digital way (and with a touch of Star Wars, of course) instead of analog, as with the Darth Vader Wall Clock with Sound Effects , this new shadow alarm clock might be just the ticket. Features: Features Darth Vader shadow on backwall when alarm goes off Battery operated (batteries not included) Features a snooze button and digital display Prototype pictured and subject to change The Darth Vader Shadow Alarm Clock is yours for $27 from the official Start Wars Shop.
By Chris Scott Barr If you’re still rocking an original Xbox, you might want to take note. Starting April 15th, Microsoft will be discontinuing support for all original Xbox games. Yes, that also means that your old copies of Halo 2 won’t work on Live, even if played in your shiny new 360.
Nikon is at it yet again with another digital camera for the masses – the Nikon Coolpix S8000 is the latest in the Coolpix range which proves the age old adage of not judging a book by its cover. After all, it comes with a slim and slender body that is actually capable of holding a powerful and versatile 10x Optical Zoom-NIKKOR ED glass lens which will no doubt deliver extremely sharp, crisp images regardless of whether you shoot an image from far off or from a close up. In order to remove blur at any focal length, the S8000 is equipped with a 4-way Image Stabilization System and ISO settings to 3200, alongside the ability to record HD movies (720p) at 30 frames per second (fps) with stereo sound.
3 vs 2 Rorschach kids… from Sportpong on Vimeo . The Wii might have helped couch potatoes burn slightly more calories than PS3 and Xbox 360 gamers, but it certainly is no substitute for an actual workout in the gym. Sportpong doesn’t change the scenario, although it is way cooler than the Wii, being an interactive physical computer game where the whole field will be projected on the ground, and opposing teams “step out” onto the artificial pitch, competing against one another or on a two-on-two.
Christmas isn’t coming early, but at least you’re getting a heads up. GM car dealers got their annual model guide, and what has our interests piqued here is the listing for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt , the plug-in hybrid electric car that seems to make our heart race in equal proportions to our wallets crying. According to the chart, the company will be accepting orders starting in September, with the official production date (or “Job 1 date” in automotive lingo) starting November 1st
Fujitsu’s latest prototype dual display kiosk is pretty special, considering it relies on face recognition technology that is capable of delivering a more personalized advertising experience. The top screen on the kiosk will show off a rather dorky looking animated face courtesy of Big Towns, a specialist in computer graphics, whereas the bottom touchscreen display functions as an interface instead for you to navigate through. Omron’s software that is loaded within is capable of determining one’s gender (no idea how it does that – what happens when one looks androgynous?) while giving an approximate age reading (women, stay alert!)
It’s Super Bowl Sunday so the sports fans out there looking for something to do to kill some time until the game comes on can check out this week’s week in review. We saw some cool gear last week so let’s get right into it. You might think after Apple unveiled its iPad tablet the rumors would go away, but alas, that isn’t correct
Hey, now, this is some great news, right? The trouble-plagued Large Hadron Collider looks to be doing a bang up job in some of its primary tasks. After breaking the energy record previously held by the Tevatron particle accelerator back at the end of November, 2009, reports are now coming in that the LHC is, in fact, producing some extremely high energy collisions
A quick glance at that render we’d obtained of the rumored MOTOSPLIT had us thinking we were seeing a large, Sholes -style phone with a musclebound OMAP3 core, but hold up — maybe this is a lower-end (and stranger) phone than we’d originally thought. Android Community has gotten tipped with additional details and another supposed render of the handset, and the most notable tidbit here seems to be that the phone is said to use dynamic key labels ( a la Samsung Alias 2 ) to let the user pull out a single side as a numeric keypad or both sides (hence the “SPLIT” in the name) for full QWERTY action. In the QWERTY configuration, there’s apparently a kickstand around back that would help you set the phone on a desk and type with all the ease of the world’s smallest netbook cocked at an awkward 45-degree angle.
