Olympics

Japan is a country known and notorious for its electronics so it probably wouldn’t come as a shock if it has an overabundance of unused gadgets and trinkets. Most of those end up on the trash heap or, worse, collecting dust somewhere in some forgotten box or corner. The Japanese government and the organizers of the 2020 Olympics have a better idea. Why not give those unused electronic devices to them and they will turn one man’s junk into the ultimate treasure: an Olympic medal.

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4K televisions and broadcasts are just barely starting to catch on, but it's already time to start thinking about the next leap forward. At least, that's how Japan feels when it comes time to watch the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Japanese national broadcaster NHK has already stated that it will broadcast the Tokyo Games in 8K (also known as Super Hi-Vision), and now manufacturers Sony and Panasonic will be working together to get 8K-capable TVs on the market by the year 2020.

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As the Rio 2016 Olympics comes to a close, it was time for the baton to be passed to Japan, who will be hosting the next big international competition. And what better way to introduce the world to the new host than to show them just how wacky the Japanese can be. In a good way of course. In its pitch video for the 2020 Olympics, Japan made some lighthearted, tongue in cheek jokes about the countries perceived obsession with gaming and anime. They even got the highest political power in the country to jump in, almost literally.

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Having been at a large number of international events where photography was involved, I can tell you - when you need help, it's very, very nice to have help. Canon has announced that they've brought their service and support crew (Canon Professional Services) to Brazil to assist with photographers' professional imaging equipment. They'll be repairing equipment, providing technical support, and loaning out big professional camera and gigantic zoom lenses, as well.

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Olympics fans looking forward to the 2016 Summer Games in Rio take note: the BBC has announced it's launching a service that will allow viewers to watch a large portion of the event in 360-degree video. And you don't need an expensive VR headset like the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive either; any unit compatible with an iPhone or Android device will suffice, giving you the opportunity to watch as many as 100 hours of sports coverage as if you were there.

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While 4K content is still rare in most of the world, Japan is set to move ahead with test broadcasts of both 4K and 8K content. The tests will be conducted by public broadcaster NHK on Monday. The test broadcasts will be done on the BS satellite channels with the goal of verifying the technology and getting people to use it ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.

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Next week marks the kickoff for the 2016 summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. The games will see thousands of athletes competing to win one of the three medals offered in their events. With all the sports going on virtually around the clock it can be hard for fans of the Olympic Games to keep up with what athletes and countries are winning medals and at the top of the games. Google has a new feature that will offer event schedules, medal counts, and athlete information in search.

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The main problem with 4K TVs for many people since they launched is that there just isn’t that much in the way of content to watch. There are a handful of movies and some Netflix content, but that is about it. Dish has announced something that will make 4K TV fans who like sports happy. Dish will be airing lots of 2016 Rio Olympics coverage with much of that content on demand and in 4K resolution.

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If you haven't noticed it yet, Samsung is one of the major sponsors of the 2016 Olympics to be held at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil next month. And in case you haven't seen the leak, the Korean OEM is planning to put a special edition smartphone just for the occasion. Well, consider that leak confirmed! Samsung has indeed announced the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge Olympic Games Limited Edition, which is a mouthful for simply a variant that has the 2016 Olympics branding all over it.

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If there were still any doubt that virtual reality is the next big thing in computing and entertainment, this should probably banish those. For the first time ever, Olympics, which will be held this year in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, will be available via VR, though not in live coverage. And not just any VR, mind you, NBC is making it an exclusive for Samsung Gear VR owners, with authorized Samsung Galaxy smartphones only, and for certain pay-TV subscribers only. Talk about VIP.

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Special themed-editions of Samsung's flagship Galaxy smartphones have become a fairly common thing in the last few years; we've just seen the new Batman "Injustice Edition" of the Galaxy S7 Edge, and last year there was an Iron Man version of the Galaxy S6 Edge. It seems the next special edition from the Korean manufacturer is for the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics.

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Everyone loves fireworks, it's beautiful to see explosions of light and sound in the air for a festive occasion. A company called Star-ALE wants to take fireworks to the next level. Rather than shooting fireworks into the sky from ground based launching systems, the company wants to rain a light display into the sky from space in an idea called Sky Canvas.

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