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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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The Sanyo R227 Internet Radio was announced in October for release in Canada, but we just learned the device will be available for US customers very soon. This is great news for those looking for more ways to access their favorite Internet radio stations while not hunkered over their computers.

The R227 connects to the Internet by means of a Wi-Fi module or an Ethernet connection. It can also access wireless networks that are secure by entering in a passkey. You can search for radio stations online from all over the world to pinpoint the tunes you want to hear.

Since there are no fees, this device makes for a comparable alternative to satellite radio stations. It supports all sorts of formats including AIFF, MP3, AAC, WMA and WAV. Plus, with 8 pre-set stations, you can keep track of your favorites. And for those times a Wi-Fi signal or an Internet connection in general is not available, the device includes a digital FM stereo receiver and you can connect an MP3 player to it for output over a home theater system. Other features include the ability to share music over a network, an alarm clock, a web interface, and two speakers with 2W RMS. You will be able to get your hands on Sanyo R227 Internet Radio in January for $169.99.

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Boxee is pretty much brand new, but they’re already releasing an update to add new features to the mix. The company’s media player software that’s currently in an alpha version for Macs and Linux only, just got an update that adds the ability to stream Netflix movies and videos from sites such as the WB network, MTV and offers up photos from the Boston Globe.

Just two weeks ago, Boxee was working to gain venture capital funding in an effort to license their XBMC-based software to set-top box makers. An update like this certainly can’t hurt that effort, especially as more and more people are looking for ways to get their online media on their TVs.

The update also adds interface tweaks for sites such as CNN, Flickr, Picasa and Hulu. Plus, watching YouTube videos is now easier due to better browsing and added support for H.264 video. Though not currently compatible with Apple TV because of hardware issues, Boxee is working on adapting their software to it soon. A Windows alpha version is also on the horizon.

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Nokia’s seriousness with the touchscreen interface is quite evident as we are seeing another power packed touchscreen phone coming from the Finnish giant. The N97, first touchscreen in the Nseries family is a multimedia monster boasting humongous storage capacity, bigger battery, large vivid screen and a physical QWERTY keypad under the screen.

The phone runs on the 5th Edition of S60, has a 3.5-inch bright nHD screen supporting up to 640×360 pixels and a 16:9 aspect ratio. Other features are common which you could find in any high-end Nseries device like A-GPS, 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, autofocus and flash, TV-Out, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with A2DP and a whopping up to 48GB of storage (32GB onboard and 16GB microSD). N97 also integrates the support for N-Gage games and a higher capacity battery of 1500 mAh, capable of giving around 6.6 hours of GSM talk time or 5.3 hours under the WCDMA network.

N97 will sell in first half of next year at a price tag of 550 Euros ($704) before taxes.

Specifications & Features:

Network: GSM 850/900/1800/1900
WCDMA 900/1900/2100
Size: 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm
Weight: 150 grams
OS: S60 5th Edition Symbian v9.4
Display: 3,5“ bright nHD (640 x 360 pixels and 16:9 aspect ratio) TFT color display with resistive touch screen and tactile feedback
Camera: CMOS 5.0 Megapixel, Auto Focus, Carl Zeiss Optics, Flash
Connectivity: EGPRS, HSDPA, WCDMA, Wi-Fi b/g
Input Methods: QWERTY keyboard, Touch Screen
Memory: 32GB onboard, expandable up to 16GB with microSD cards
Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP and EDR
Music Player
TV-Out
A-GPS with Nokia Maps support
Flash Lite 3.0
Nokia AV 3.5mm
Talk Time: GSM – 6.6 hours/ WCDMA – 5.3 hours
Standby Time: GSM – 430 hours/ WCDMA – 400 hours

 

 

Advertisement: Samsung Hub - Everything Samsung!

 

Asus has vowed to change the perception of Nettops which looked merely a desktop iteration of netbooks. They have announced the Eee Box 204 and B206 that will enable the users to enjoy HD content on their PCs. The HD capable Eee Boxes come with an HDMI output, DVI connector, Eee Cinema media player, remote control and a dedicated ATI Radeon 3400 HD GPU with 256MB DDR2 memory.

Rest of the specs remain identical as its predecessors with Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB SATA HDD, 10GB Eee Storage, card reader, WLAN b/g/n, Ethernet and Windows XP Home as the only OS. B204 when compared to B206 is a bit superior because of the inclusion of Bluetooth and an integrated battery which functions like a UPS for the desktop.

No details on the price and availability though.

Press Release

Advertisement: Samsung Hub - Tracking minute steps of the Korean Giant

There's a section of freeway near my house that goes through the wetlands on the edge of a lake. There's a lot of wildlife there that you can see as you're passing; turtles and ducks, and sometimes huge herons. It feels really magical to see the herons - they're so majestic and I'm always amazed they can live right next to all that traffic. Gerry Wykes writes one of my favorite nature blogs, Naturespeak. He recently posted this incredible video of a heron stalking carp in Lake Erie. If you look at the heron's legs, you'll see they barely disturb the water.

The final "carpe" is achieved with a lightening speed extension of the long neck. The moment is so fast that it is hard to see - you see the before and the immediately after, but not the in-between. My shot freezes one of these plunges at the moment the water blanket was lifted and the heron's head sliced under the surface. It is difficult to appreciate the shear patience and stalking skill that led up to this point.

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