LG's DM50D HDTV / monitor promotes a passive 3D lifestyle

LG's DM50D HDTV / monitor promotes a passive 3D lifestyle

By Brian Heater  posted Jun 28th 2011 10:48AM

LG is talking up its forthcoming DM50D 3D monitor -- not a lot, mind you, but just enough to get us interested. The company offered up a largely spec-free press release on the forthcoming set, heralding the adoption of passive 3D glasses, "Flicker Free" capabilities borrowed from its Cinema 3D TV line, and double the brightness of conventional 3D sets. The display has a built-in DTV turner, HDMI capabilities for connecting with 3D-capable consoles and the like, and the ability to view images and videos directly from a USB flash drive. It'll be hitting Europe in July, with more of the world getting a crack at it later. Peep the 2D release after the break.

Coming to PlayStation Plus: UNCHARTED 3 Beta, Bomberman ULTRA and Special Offers – PlayStation Blog

Coming to PlayStation Plus: UNCHARTED 3 Beta, Bomberman ULTRA and Special Offers – PlayStation Blog

The heat of summer is upon us and we’ve got some scorching content coming to PlayStation Plus in two special publishes on June 28th and July 5th.

First and foremost, PlayStation Plus is offering free and exclusive early access to the highly anticipated UNCHARTED 3: Drake’s Deception Multiplayer Beta on June 28th! Be sure to check out Naughty Dog’s detailed analysis of the game’s revamped multiplayer modes and features so you know what to expect from the all-new arenas, weapon customizations, and booster options.

Check out some of our other highlighted offers below, along with the full list that follows:

Free Games and DLC

PlayStation Plus is offering Hudson Soft’s explosive, multiplayer classic Bomberman ULTRA for free on July 5th. Jump on board classic Bomberman action with up to eight players online in this definitive party game!

Flashback to 13th Century England and lead ghostly armies into battle as Sir Daniel Fortesque in PS One classic MediEvil, also available for free on July 5.

Explore the mysterious and magnificent Monstar World as you attempt to conquer the Roaring Road and feed on the dreams of humans in the charming PS Mini Me Monstar: Hear Me Roar. PlayStation Plus is also offering this for free on July 5.

Finally, as usual, PlayStation Plus is offering the Qore July Episode, packed with behind the scenes footage of upcoming and recent releases, available for free on July 5. Veronica Belmont explores the sand dunes of thatgamecompany’s latest game, “Journey”; gets behind the shield of “Captain America: Super Soldier”; and spends some quality time with industry legend Ted Price to uncover more of Insomniac’s plans for Resistance and Ratchet fans.

Lytro's light field camera captures 'unprecedented' images, lets you choose focus later -- Engadget

Lytro's light field camera captures 'unprecedented' images, lets you choose focus later -- Engadget

A Silicon Valley start-up called Lytro claims it's working on a consumer camera that uses light fieldtechnology to radically change the way we take, edit and experience photographs. Whereas a normal digital camera captures a snapshot of light hitting a sensor, a light field camera first separates rays of light in order to individually record their color, intensity and direction. This extra information opens up a world of possibilities, including the ability to focus on any depth of field within a taken photo, observe a 3D-type effect even without specs, and boost images taken in extremely low light. Although light field cameras have been around for some time, they haven't been commercially viable. Now though, Lytro has secured backing worth $50million to bring a "competitively priced" camera to market "later this year" -- we'll see if they can beat similar plenoptic technology from Adobe to market. Can't wait that long? Check out the interactive photo (click on Elvis to re-focus) after the break, plus a video that also shows off the 3D effect. Both are the definition of mind-blowing.

Vizio extends its LCD HDTV sales lead; new 3D, VIA Plus and ultrawidescreen TVs are on the way -- Engadget

Vizio extends its LCD HDTV sales lead; new 3D, VIA Plus and ultrawidescreen TVs are on the way -- Engadget

We already took a fresh look at the Vizio Tablet due this summer, but the company's main business is HDTVs and there it's on top of US LCD sales again, with more than 20 percent of the market in Q1. Of the top five selling TVs in Q1, four are Vizios priced at $698 or less, while the other is a $1,699 MSRP Samsung LCD. Vizio launched its lower end E3D line earlier this year, the next series on the way are edge-lit M3D models due in August and September that up the refresh rate to 240Hz, come with four pairs of passive 3D glasses instead of two and have a Bluetooth remote. Up next, the 21:9 ultrawidescreen sets we saw at CES are real and will ship in October as the Cinemawide series in 2560x1080 58- and 50-inch models. Finally, the top of of the line XVT 6 series will feature the new VIA Plus Google TV platform and are going to be available in 47- and 55-inch sizes, but won't ship until December There's still no prices for any of these yet, but we're going to guess they'll go low as they usually do. Check the press release for all the details after the break including a glancing mention of theVizio Phone.

Westinghouse first 3D HDTV hands-on (video) -- Engadget

Westinghouse first 3D HDTV hands-on (video) -- Engadget

It's official: everyone has a 3D HDTV. No, not every consumer -- not even close -- but with Westinghouse's official entry into the 3D market earlier this week, nearly every television manufacturer, both large and small, has brought at least one 3D product to market. We took a look at the 47-inchWestinghouse W47S2TCD at the CEA LineShows in NYC today, and were actually somewhat impressed with its performance, especially from a distance of more than six feet. Passive displays still don't offer the same level of quality as 3D sets that use active glasses, but they're often more affordable, and adequate for most consumers. Our biggest issue with this display is with backlight bleed just above the Westinghouse logo, which is especially noticeable with darker content or when navigating through system menus.

The TV carries a MSRP of $1,200, but Westinghouse says to expect a street price of "well below" $1,000, which should help it compete with other budget sets. It uses passive technology and ships with four pairs of glasses, though the manufacturer claims that you should be able to use other polarized glasses, including those RealD specs you'll forget to return after dropping $19 on your next 3D IMAX movie. Jump past the break for a hands-on video from the show floor.

Sony's new VAIO L all-in-one thinks it's a 3D TV -- Engadget

Sony's new VAIO L all-in-one thinks it's a 3D TV -- Engadget

The folks at Sony clearly couldn't decide whether they wanted to give the world a new 3D HDTV or desktop PC -- and thus the latest addition to the VAIO L all-in-one line was born. The newly announced system plays television and features a 24-inch 3D multitouch display, a Blu-ray player, a bezel with built-in touch controls, 1080p HD playback, USB 3.0, and an HDMI port, so you can plug your PS3 into the thing. The system will start hitting stores on July 13th, for around $1,420, a price that includes a wireless keyboard and mouse, plus one pair of active shutter 3D glasses. Thankfully, you won't need those to view the press release after the break.

Replicating Reality demos 3D virtual reality system powered by pixel packed microdisplays

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/08/replicating-reality-demos-3d-virtual-reality-system-powered-by-p/

Kopin's a company known for diminutive displays destined for duty as electronic view finders in camcorders and digicams. At E3 this year, the company's subsidiary Forth Dimensions Displays has unveiled a new use for its teeny tiny screens -- virtual reality. Called Replicating Reality, it uses two .8-inch 1280 x 1024 LCD panels and head tracking to place you in a 3D virtual world. We got to test the system through a racing game, and found that it works pretty darn well. Graphics were of console quality, with nary a hint of image distortion from the system's magnification lenses and pixel pitch was imperceptible to our eyes. Basically, there was no indication that the screens our gaze was fixed upon were less than an inch across. The sharp picture combined with the system's head tracking -- which let us look around while taking turns and weaving through traffic -- to create quite an immersive experience. Of course, it still looked like a game, but there's a pixel packed 2048 x 1536 panel in the works that the company claims can deliver visuals nigh-indistinguishable from the real world. We were told that prototypes of these QXGA screens will be ready in ten months, and they'll be suitable for public consumption in a year. So, the real question is: will your eyeballs be prepared to handle such prodigious pixel density by then?

Sony's PlayStation Vita: a closer look

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/07/sonys-playstation-vita-a-closer-look/

We told you what Sony's PlayStation Vita felt like, but here it is in the glossy plastic flesh -- all five-inches of vibrant OLED display, two cameras, dual analog sticks, twelve buttons, two capacitive digitizers and a D-pad. Check out the gallery below for some close-up shots, and hop on past the break for some video footage of the quad-core handheld in action.

Update: Sony just answered a few burning questions for us -- mainly about those mysterious ports we spotted on the bottom and top. Apparently those top port covers will hold one slot for the official PSVita game cards, and another slot for regular removable media for downloadable content and saves, and the port that's occupying one of those places will be removed. Meanwhile, the large socket at the bottom is a "multiport" that provides power, connectivity and might do video-out. We couldn't get any firm details about the AT&T 3G partnership, by the way, but we're told that there will be a special cellular plan of some sort. As you'd expect, Sony's also not talking battery life, but a developer told us that -- with the exception of graphically intensive titles like Uncharted -- the company's shooting for parity with the original PlayStation Portable.

Pictures: Chile Volcano Plume Explodes With Lightning

Pictures: Chile Volcano Plume Explodes With Lightning

In a scene no human could have witnessed, an apocalyptic agglommeration of lightning bolts illuminates an ash cloud above Chile's Puyehue volcano (map) on Sunday.

The minutes-long exposure shows individual bolts as if they'd all occurred at the same moment and, due to the Earth's rotation, renders stars (left) as streaks. Lightning to the right of the ash cloud appears to have illuminated nearby clouds—hence the apparent absence of stars on that side of the picture.

After an ominous series of earthquakes Saturday morning, the volcano erupted that afternoon, convincing authorities to evacuate some 3,500 area residents. Eruptions over the course of the weekend resulted in heavy ashfalls, including in Argentine towns 60 miles (a hundred kilometers) away.

—With reporting by Christine Dell'Amore

Volcanoes! (National Geographic Readers)

Killzone 3 PS3 sales hold in top five at retailer

Killzone 3 PS3 sales hold in top five at retailer | PS3 News - Playstation 3 Insiders

Sales for Sony Corp.’s Killzone 3 for the Playstation 3 held in the top five sales at retailer Amazon.com Inc. this week amid strong launch demand for the sequel.

This week, Killzone 3 ranked as the No. 5 best-selling product in Amazon’s Video Games division.

Killzone 3 is sold in a standard SKU and a Helghast Edition SKU.

The Killzone 3 Helghast Edition SKU includes a Helghast Helmet replica, bonus video content, art book, an exclusive Cloaking Helghast Marksman action figure, and a super voucher that includes the Killzone 3 soundtrack and PS3 Dynamic Theme, Retro Map Pack, Double XP for the first 24 hours of multiplayer gameplay, and Full access to all weapons and abilities during the first 24 hours of multiplayer gameplay at $129.99.