CES 2011: What to expect – 3D TVs
Excerpt:
The old standby, the predictable star of most CESes of the past, has been the television. More recently it was eye-popping high-definition, then it was in-home 3D and TVs that connected to the Internet that could bring Netflix Watch Instantly and Pandora from our computers to our TVs. This year we'll see all of those things again, from more manufacturers who have beefed up the technology.
The big questions in this category to look out for are whether TV makers are going to be pushing active or passive 3D glasses technology to pair with their sets, and what we'll see from Google TV. Word is that the show was supposed to be a big coming-out party for the Android-based TV software, but Google might instead be revamping the software and telling device makers like Samsung and others to hold back their planned hardware.
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Mobile Form Factor Will Bring 3D to Mainstream Market, Says ABI Research
ABI Research anticipates that mobile devices may turn out to be the best form factor to bring 3D technology into mainstream markets. By 2015, 3D devices—including smartphones, notebooks, mobile Internet devices, and portable game players—will comprise over 11% of the total mobile devices market.
“Emerging 3D technologies for mobile devices do not require the user to wear glasses to view the 3D content,” says senior analyst Victoria Fodale. “While there are still challenges with glasses-free 3D on televisions, is it is possible on smartphones and other mobile devices.” Glasses-free technologies require an optimum viewing distance and a screen size that is better suited for single-viewer applications like those used on mobile devices.
And according to Fodale, “Unlike 3D TVs, the mobile category has a fast replacement cycle. This means consumers are more likely to buy a mobile device with 3D in an upgrade purchase much sooner than they would purchase 3D in a larger form factor such as a flat-screened television.”
Full press release here
3D proves a hit in the classroom (UK)
"3D could have a real future, breathing new life into an ageing curriculum"
Biology lessons are a distant memory for me but if they had been anything like the one I've just sat through at Abbey School in Reading, I think I may have remembered a little more.
The pupils were looking at how a chest works, via 3D glasses and a 3D-enabled projector.
"So cool", "It's huge", "I thought the diaphragm was a flat muscle," "I didn't realise it wasn't under the ribs" were just a few of the comments made when the girls put on their glasses to examine the model of the thorax in more detail.
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The Year in Enhance Reality: 3-D and augmented reality made it big in 2010—with a few pitfalls
2010 saw an explosion of 3-D products for consumers and also the arrival of augmented reality as a mainstream technology. In both areas, however, only some commercial implementations proved ready for prime time.
3-D TVs, Cameras, and Camcorders Galore
3-D was a hot topic at the start of the year, partly because of the 3-D blockbuster movieAvatar, which came out last December. Many predicted that 3-D technology would move quickly from the movie theater into the home, and major electronics companies including Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Sony, Philips, and Toshiba announced plans to release 3-D televisions and Blu-ray players (Home 3-D: Here, or Hype? and Here Come the High-Definition 3-D TVs). But obstacles—particularly the need to wear 3-D glasses costing upwards of $100 per pair and the limited amount of 3-D content available to watch (a handful of DVDs and few TV transmissions)—have prevented 3-D TVs from becoming wildly popular, at least for now (Will 3-D Make the Jump from Theater to Living Room?).
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Mc Laren Cars will be holographic before becoming real
McLaren, the Formula One racing group that is attempting to flex its muscles in road cars, vows to build machines that will leave the likes of Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin in the dust.
``I think we are going to avoid the stage of unmoving 3D graphics that repeat the 2D experience with the same holographic technologies. What we want is a 3D projection that provides a solid appearance where you can walk around it and influence it, and this would really represent a breakthrough in design technology.’’
The full, lengthy story is here
GoPro 3D kit available in January 2011
Lots of people are waiting in line for the GoPro 3D kit showcased at NAB2010. GoPro Announces that the kit will be out in January for 90$.
The GoPro web site says : "Soon you'll be able to combine two HD HERO cameras in one housing with a synchronization cable to shoot full 1080p 3D video. All 1080p HD HERO cameras will be compatible with the 3D HERO Expansion kit. Owning two 1080p HD HERO cameras makes more sense than ever before. Capture multiple angles at once using both as individual cameras or combine them with the 3D HERO Expansion Kit to shoot 1080p 3D video." Check here.
Original story posted here
NASA’s LOLA maps the moon (photos)
The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter, one of seven scientific instruments onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, recently completed a project resulting in a new map of the surface of moon with unprecedented detail.
Developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and launched in June 2009, the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) uses laser ranging to measure the moon's surface elevation, slope, and roughness in 3D. The primary objective was to produce a global geodetic grid for the moon to which all other observations could be geodetically referenced, NASA said.
Here, the most recent LOLA digital elevation map, which was compiled in late 2009 (right) is compared to the previous moon mapping achieved by the Unified Lunar Control Network in 2005. Notice the vastly improved detail of the moon measurements.
See the story with additional photos here
Swiss lab introduces omnipresent 3-D camera
A new surround 3-D camera has been developed, inspired by the eye of a common housefly.
EPFL Labs, a Lausanne, Switzerland-based facility that specializes in vision-based robots, has developed the new dome camera that can grab views from nearly all angles. Then, with a special output algorithm, the camera can construct genuine 3-D images.
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Golf Channel to offer 3-D coverage of Sony Open in January
The Golf Channel is taking a big new bet on 3-D technology. The network will air the Sony Open in Hawaii, Jan 15-16, with 16 hours (eight of those live) of 3-D coverage from the Waialae Country Club in Oahu, HI.
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360-degree 3D vision for soldiers
Imagine a suite of cameras that digitally capture a kilometer-wide, 360-degree sphere, representing the image in 3-D onto a wearable eyepiece.
You'd be able to literally see all around you, including behind yourself, and zooming in at will, creating a "stereoscopic/binocular system, simultaneously providing 10x zoom to both eyes."
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