Cool toys and Gadgets

We’re live in Milan today, covering Sony’s latest announcement. In fact, Sony showed off a brand new marketing campaign today that’s intended to demonstrate their latest technology behind their BRAVIA televisions. The tech is called Motionflow 240Hz and in order to show off what the latest in motion picture technology is capable of, Sony resorted to the oldest method of creating motion pictures: the zoetrope.

A zoetrope is a device that uses static images but when spun at high speeds, create the illusion of movement. The Sony BRAVIA-drome feeds off of this 19th century technology to make for a device that is 10 meters across and spins at over 40 kph.

The subject of BRAVIA-drome is soccer, and this acts as the perfect way to show off how Motionflow works. In actually gets rid of jerkiness and shows the ball traveling in the air smoothly. This reproduces the feeling of being there live at the game. The new ‘drome is the subject of a commercial that will be used worldwide. Filmed in Venaria, which is near Turin, Italy, it shows a soccer star within the images in the BRAVIA-drome.

The commercial itself shows the faces of those in the audience standing in awe of this massive device. And it’s no wonder people were impressed. The BRAVIA-drome is capable of reaching speeds of over 50kph, requires two 40-foot trucks to transport it and weighs in at ten tons. It’s believed to be the largest zoetrope ever built!

The Motionflow 240Hz technology helps smooth out the jumpiness experienced on a normal television set. This works by significantly boosting the number of images, thus the frame rate. A “transitional picture” is placed between images in fast-moving parts of video, providing for smooth picture that is more pleasing to the eye.

This transitional picture is actually created by this Motionflow tech. It works by examining the images that precede and follow a particular image–especially during fast moving parts of a sports event or during an action sequence in a movie. All of the quick cuts and fast movements can cause a problem with how the sequence is subsequently viewed. By examining the prior and following image, Motionflow then adds an image in between that can make that car chase–or the movement of a soccer ball, in the case of the new ad campaign–look natural without any noticeable gaps in movement.

It’s really rather impressive and the whole BRAVIA-drome effort shows Sony is serious about promoting their newest technology. Check out our video from the press event below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Relevant Entries on SlashGear

• Sony’s Bravia range bolstered… by a cellphone
• Sony Digital Media Port for iPod - TDM-IP1
• Sony BRAVIA 4500-series announced with HDTV tuner
• Sony BRAVIA RHT-G500 ‘Home Theater in a Stand’
• Sony BRAVIA XDV-W600 LCD TV is waterproof

Found under: palm, news,



Bad news continues to come to embattled smartphone maker Palm with Standard Poors downgrading the companys credit rating. Citing lower sales SP downgraded its Palm rating from B1 to CCC. SP also said that the companys outlook is negative and likewise lowered ratings on Palms secured term loan and revolving credit facility from B- to CCC from B-. MarketWatch quoted an SP analyst as saying that the downgrades reflect Palms announcement that sales in the November 2008 q

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Meet Dan! He's our associate publisher at MAKE and Magazine.org just did an interview with him -

Dan Woods is Associate Publisher for O'Reilly Media's Maker Media Division, which includes MAKE: Magazine, makezine.com,book publishing unit MAKE: Books, e-tail site MakerShed.com, and Maker Faire, a live event targeting armchair MacGyvers and Ben Franklins. Before taking on that post almost five years ago, Woods served with the Sebastopol, California-based O’Reilly Media’s book unit for nearly two years.

Dan is one of those behind the scenes folks you'd don't on the site that often who works hard everyday making what we do at MAKE possible.

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Section: Audio, Portable Audio, Communications, Cellphones, Mobile

Perhaps Motorola just felt left out of the excitement surrounding the earlier Nokia N97 announcement, or perhaps they just felt they needed to announce something new with the Motorola name on it.  Regardless, they have announced the not-quite-as-exciting MOTOROKR EM35.  Keeping with tradition of the ROKR lineup, the EM35 is a slider style music centric phone.  The EM35 features the MOTOMUSIC player, has built-in dual speakers, virtual stereo surround sound and an FM radio with RDS. 

Additionally, the EM35 also has support for stereo Bluetooth and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.  As for the phone features, they include a 2.2-inch QVGA display, a 3.1-megapixel camera and 110MB of internal memory that can be expanded up to 32GB via the microSD card slot.  Despite the full feature list being included in the announcement, Motorola has kept quiet on the price as well as just which carrier will be offering the EM35.  As for a release date, it is “expected” to be available sometime in Q4 2008, or in other words, pretty soon. 

Read [Motorola]

 

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile

Following up on the recent announcement that Rogers would soon begin offering the Nokia E71, it seems that it is now available, and at a very nice price.  The Rogers branded E71 will be available for just $49.  Of course, in order to get that low price, you should be willing to accept the three-year agreement that comes along with it. 

Additionally, customers also need to choose a $45 a month (or higher) voice and data plan.  As for that low price, it appears to be “promotional.“  No date has been given as to when it will increase and although the non-promotional price has not been announced (it is expected to be $99).  The E71, as we have seen in the past features a full QWERTY keyboard, 320 x 240 display, aGPS, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, 128MB RAM, 256MB ROM, a microSD card slot, microUSB and a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash.

Via [MobileSyrup]

Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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There are only a few hours left to enter our CYBER MONDAY contest (and to also get 10% off our robot kits)... we were able to do up a quick code/sale for all our robot kits for today so have at it. It starts at 12:01 am PST 12/1/2008 and ends today at 11:59 pm PST. Use code CYBERM at checkout at the Maker Shed.

Out contest is simple, just post up your version of the "Three laws of robotics" in the comments HERE, make it clever, funny, outrageous. At 11:59pm PST I'll post up a winner. You can post up multiple entries, contest is world-wide. The prize? The new Co-Robot kit we just got in from Japan! Here's a video!

Pictured above, an old photo of when I was running 30 miles a week and spending a lot of time looking through robot dog eyes - it was CYBER MONDAY every.single.day (long story)....

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Section: Features, Announcements, Contests

Howdy gadget fans.  As Iyaz mentioned last week, we’re taking part in The HP Magic Giveaway along with 49 other great blogs.  What’s the grand prize?  How about we give away $6,000 worth of HP hardware and software on Dabbledoo sites alone?.

Want a chance to win?  Sign up for a Dabbledoo account/profile so we can notify you right when the contest goes live!  Also with that account, you’ll be able to comment without entering your information, create a profile, upload a pic / avatar, and more!

You don’t want to miss out on $6,000 worth of computer stuff, do you?

Full Story » | Written by Doug Berger for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

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Just days after the announcement of this Hello Kitty laptop, Epson Japan has rolled out their own Hello kitty netbook. You’ll only be able to get them in Japan, where they will be exclusively sold online starting December 10.

This HK notebook is based on Epson’s Endeavor NJ2150. Buyers can choose between a combo model at $1,200 and a “super-multi version” at $1,500. Both versions are available in two different designs. Those who for some reason don’t have enough Hello Kitty in their life will want to move to Japan immediately no doubt, just to get their hands on one.

The combo model features an Intel Celeron 575 CPU (2GHz), 1GB memory, a 80GB HDD, a 15.4-inch TFT WXGA screen (1280×800 resolution), a DVD drive, WiFi, Windows Vista and, of course, a number of super-cute pre-installed Hello Kitty wallpapers. While the super-multi notebook features the same specs but has an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 CPU (2.26GHz), 2GB memory, a 120GB HDD and a DVD super multi drive.

[Crunchgear]

GeekDad Holiday Gift Guide #4: GeekMoms!
Mom needs presents too! The GeekDads have come up their best holiday gift ideas for GeekMoms.

Hey You Guuuuyyyys! A New Electric Company Starts in January!
Once upon a time, before he became a brilliant movie actor with an Oscar and dozens of films under his belt, Morgan Freeman was known to a generation of children as the Easy Reader, Count Dracula, and hosts of other characters on The Electric Company. Starting in January, an entirely new generation of kids will get their own version of the show, being developed by Sesame Workshop and to be shown on PBS Kids as part of their Raising Readers effort.

Dwarven Forge Hammers Out the Boredom of Plain-Jane RPG Battlemaps
If you head out to your Friendly Local Game Store and observe the tabletop gamer in his or her natural habitat, you'll see that every gaming table is different. Some gamemasters are hunkered behind laptops, others are peeking over their screens. At one table, the clatter of dice is constant, while at the next, it's all about roleplay and the dice still haven't left their pouches.

Geekly Reader - "The Radioactive Boy Scout" by Ken Silverstein
David Hahn was a geeky kid growing up in the suburbs of Detroit during the early 1990's. Like most geeky kids, he was socially awkward and had an intense fascination with very narrow subject matter; in his case, science. But when David began working on his Atomic Energy Merit Badge, his rather obsessive pursuits nearly lead to an environmental disaster.

10 Geeky Movies That Were Terrible, but We Loved Them Anyway
What were the movies whose thin plot, or poor acting still won us over because they developed a level of geek credibility through excellent referencing, humor or attention to obscure details?

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