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CES 2007: TDVision Systems brings you 3D in HD

By Rue Liu on Saturday, Jan 6th 2007 5 Comments

We’ve seen plenty of visor devices before that claim to give you hours of visual enjoyment by making any input appear like a 100-inch cinema screen, but none really delivered hours of fun without becoming nauseating. And here we find another such device called the TDVision System that promises to not only deliver that big-screen experience, but all that in 3D and in HD. I had the opportunity to don the visor to discover what the rep says “can only be experienced.”

And yes, it’s not exactly a fashionable piece of equipment, but it sure delivers an immersive 3D experience perfect for gaming. However, I can’t vouch for that no-motion-sickness guarantee, because even in my short 10-second test drive, I was having my doubts. Perhaps more notable is their TDVirtualCam (picture after the break) that can record video into the HD-3D format. What’s better than watching yourself in 3D?

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CES 2007: New WowWee Robots to come, plus Elvis bust

By Rue Liu on Saturday, Jan 6th 2007 1 Comment

Talk about celebrity sightings in Las Vegas. Besides Cher, Michael Jackson, and Madonna, who were roaming around the floor of the CES unveiling event, we also saw the singing and swaying bust of Elvis at the Wowwee booth. I’m sure many would love to have a singing Elvis bust, but I was more interested in the new RS Media they had on display. This new robot greeted me in several different personalities, which can be customized by the user. There are many other added features, but I’ll get to that in a later post. In the meantime just enjoy the photos. Oh, and I meant Cher, MJ, and Madonna impersonators of course.

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CES 2007: Korea’s UBOT coming to kick some Roomba butt

By Rue Liu on Saturday, Jan 6th 2007 No Comments

We’re blogging live from CES 2007. And now we’re at the sneek-peak unveiling event here in the Venetian and my first post is the Korean UBOT from Microrobot, because, well, I love robots, and especially ones that clean my house so that I don’t have to. This soon to be Roomba competitor, is a much mightier fellow, with a larger capacity for your floor’s dust and fur balls. The Ubot has several sensors and rubber bumpers to insure that it doesn’t damage itself or your furniture while cleaning house.
UBOT 01
But more interesting is that Microrobot is trying to push a unique hardwood/laminate floor system that is printed with invisible barcodes to work with the UBOT to insure full coverage of your floors. Although, it doesn’t seem likely people will be fast to adopt this flooring, the UBOT does have its advantages and is currently seeking distribution in the US.
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Toshiba’s Announces HD-DVD Burner

By Rue Liu on Saturday, Jan 6th 2007 1 Comment

Toshiba Japan has announced the release of what they claim to be the “the world’s first dedicated PC-based HD-DVD burner.” Dubbed the SD-H903A, this DVD SATA burner supports not only dual layer HD-DVDs, but also DVD RAM and DL DVDs. The drive has a 8MG buffer and burns DVD RAM at 3x, DVDs at 8x, DL DVDs at 2.4x and HD-DVDs at 2.4x.

toshiba

The drive will be making an appearance at the upcoming CES and samples of the drive will be shipped soon thereafter. But there is no pricing information yet.

A dual layer HD-DVD burner for January [Via: AkihabaraNews]

Brando Wiimote Sports Pack

By Rue Liu on Saturday, Jan 6th 2007 No Comments

As if the Wiimote wasn’t causing enough damage, now we can expect a whole barrage of new Wiimote add-ons and extensions to make them even more deadly. Just last week, I wasn’t able to straighten out my cramped arm after a mean battle of Wii Sports tennis. I can still feel those breezes of air when my opponents swiped deadly forehands just inches away from the top of my head.

wiisportspack

The new trio-pack Wiimote Sports Pack extensions from Brando will definitely cover those extra inches making sure of full impact. The package includes tennis racket, golf club, and baseball bat extensions. So gear up for some serious action for just $22.

Wii Sports Pack offers trio of Wiimote extensions [Via: Engadget]

Pentax New Optio E30 7.1-Megapixel for Cheap

By Rue Liu on Thursday, Jan 4th 2007 No Comments

Pentax has just announced the Optio E30, their latest entry-level digital camera with some rather impressive features for its price level. This compact camera boasts 7.1 effective megapixels for more clarity than the entry-level user probably needs.

pentax e30

The Optio E30 also features a 3X optical zoom, 4X digital zoom, a 2.4-inch LCD, and 11MB built-in memory. It also supports the new SDHC memory cards in addition to traditional SD memory cards.

Expected to be available in February for an amazingly cheap $150, the Optio E30 will be making an appearance at the upcoming CES.

Pentax Optio E30 [Via: Newlaunches]

Skate around in style with a pair of Rollies

By Rue Liu on Thursday, Jan 4th 2007 1 Comment

Seeing kids glide around in those shoes with the hidden wheels always made me want to get a pair, but all the inhibitions of adulthood have prevented me from doing so. Do they even make them in adult sizes? Thus, I’m always interested whenever I see a contraption that brings new hope that I may one day glide around in such manner without feeling too kiddish.

rollies

Shown above are a pair of Rollies, which are essentially wheels that can strap onto any size shoe. They actually look quite spiffy in the picture and may just be fashionable enough to sport while cruising through the city streets in a hip urban getup and a pair of white earbuds.

However, the product description does mention some sort of no-batteries-needed “brilliant multi-colored lights” flashing while you roll around. Great, that just ruins the whole thing.

Rollies – skate light, skate free… [Via: Redferret]

Bring Your Home Office or Cinema in a Trunk

By Rue Liu on Thursday, Jan 4th 2007 1 Comment

When bringing your laptop is just not enough for you while on the go, consider bringing your whole office in a custom designer trunk. Pinel & Pinel created these trunks so that you can take your office, home cinema, music library, or whatever else along with you on your travels. And you probably saw this one coming—the model shown below is dubbed the iTrunk.
itrunk

They are custom finished to your specifications and look to be awfully expensive. But I suppose anyone who can’t live without their home cinema while traveling and actually travels that much to validate such a purchase has got to have the money anyways.

The iTrunk model features a 20” iMac, printer, and speakers, and plenty of storage for other peripheral devices. Check out the rest of their line here.

Pinel & Pine Trunks [Via: Coolhunting]

Apple and HP to release laptops with LED-backlit displays

By Rue Liu on Thursday, Jan 4th 2007 2 Comments

Apple and HP wil be releasing new laptops featuring LED backlighting in lieu of the traditional florescent lamps. LED backlighting allows for a thinner laptop design with longer battery life and provides a brighter image with greater contrast. These new laptop displays are specified to have a brightness of over 1680 nits.

sony vaio tx overview 1

Sony first used an LED backlight on their VAIO VGN-TXN15PW, which not only boasted an incredibly bright screen but also proved to have a record-breaking battery life of 9 hours and 42 minutes with an incredibly thin and portable styling, according to CNET’s reviews.

This may prove to be the new standard for future laptops to come. Expect the Apple and HP laptops to be released in the second quarter of this year.

LED laptops: thinner, lighter, longer, better [Via: Crave]

Blu-Ray, HD DVD, Hybrid Players and Total HD

By Rue Liu on Thursday, Jan 4th 2007 2 Comments

It is confusing times for consumers looking to buy a new player for next-gen discs, as the war between HD DVD and Blu-Ray rages on. However, some companies are playing it safe by not choosing sides, leading to many great announcements for 2007. LG is announcing their release of hybrid next-gen players while Warner Brothers is announcing their plans to release the first hybrid movie discs, known as TotalHD.
lgsupermultiblue

All these developments attempt to eliminate the fear of obsolescence that has been turning away many potential early adopters, stalling the widespread adoption of high-definition, and showing poor sales for next-gen products.

Details on LG’s hybrid players as well as the availability of Warner Bro.’s hybrid movie discs will remain a mystery until their full reveal at the upcoming CES.

Hybrid Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs, players at CES [Via: Electronista]