Phillips brings 3rd dimension viewing to 21:9 uber wide TV.

If you’re like most consumers balancing on the edge of merely understanding technology, specifically TV/LCD technology, simple terms such as “3D” and “HDTV” probably contain the vast cope of your knowledge. On that note, all 3D and HDTV’s sold in stores are some form of 16:9 or 16:10 with a few 4:3′s still hanging on for a tiny shred of attention. That’s all groovy and all if you’re into “normal” movie watching. For video junkies who really want a piece of the theater inside their house, the Phillips 21:9 uber wide (cinema edition) LCD is the only answer. We looked at this particular TV several months back and are still just as enamored with it’s shear size and length as were were back then.

Even with an aspect ratio that’s almost longer than life itself, the 21:9 beauty couldn’t milk that feature forever. So how exactly do you improve a 21:9 uber TV? Add 3D of course! For naysayers bringing up the valid point that movies aren’t released as 21:9 titles, take note. The TV actively resizes the picture to fit on the extra long screen. And from the videos I’ve seen of it in action, does a fairly damn good job.

Unfortunately, an anemic wallet as well as utter lack of any easy way to pick one up in the states means that for now, the Phillips 21:9 3D TV will still remain an object of desire.

Price? Don’t expect anything remotely affordable…

TechRadar

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And the slaughter continues: YouTube officially ending IE 6 support March 13th.

If you’re still using IE 6 on your own terms, turn of the computer now. For the rest of you being forced by “the man”, you have my sympathies. IE 6 is the poster child for living well past your prime. Thankfully YouTube and Google are coming around and realizing that at some point, the madness has to stop. For IE 6 related madness, March 13th is the end of all days according to a fairly invasive new banner/page that is displayed when visiting the video hub on said browser.

Ok, maybe not “end of all” days as you’ll still be able to go to YouTube via IE 6 and fill your eye balls with all kinds of motion picture goodness. “End of most days” seems more appropriate.

Any visits after March 13th made on IE 6 will still result in a rather normal video watching experience. It’s just that any new and spiffy features that get added after the fact probably won’t work on IE 6. It’s just too…well, old.

It’s ok though. While you move on to a new favorite browser, IE 6 will live on within the locked confines of stubborn/stagnant/lazy corporations and dark, dingy basements of technologically incompetent people alike. Anyone want to admit they’re still using IE 6…for any reason?

ArsTechnica

3D HDTV on HDMI 1.3? Why yes, there is hope.

With massive blockbusters such as Avatar bolstering the 3D madness, it only seems natural to take another look at 3D experiences at home. Namely, the realization that the $2k+ of A/V equipment you bought 6 months ago just wont work as it relies on HDMI 1.3 instead of the newer “3D Spec” HDMI 1.4. For most general users, 3D won’t make it’s way into their homes for quite some time, if ever. But videophiles and movie junkies whom rely on the best home theater set up have something worth hearing. 3D will work perfectly fine over HDMI 1.3 — in theory, and with a few exceptions.

To keep it short, when your TV receives a 3D image from a Blu-ray player, it is actually in 1920 x 2205 resolution — TV’s don’t do that. Focusing more on the actual HDMI spec however, HDMI 1.3 supports up to 10.2Gbps (same as 1.4). So again, in theory, hardware that uses software rather than system on chip designs (PS3) should be able to push along all of those 3D images just fine.

In the end, it’s all a big cluster. Specs and bandwidth numbers from several pieces of hardware as well as cables ensure it won’t be as simple as plug-n-play. But, for those hoping they can save a few pennies by staying with HDMI 1.3 on at least some of their setup instead of upgrading everything can find plenty of help over at HDGuru. Educate yourselves.

Gizmodo

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Personal Hover Chair an elderly geek’s dream come true.

You know, seeing as how I’m still pretty young, I tend to ignore the entire sector of the gadget world dedicated to elderly people. It just doesn’t interest me. However, the personal Elderly hovercraft chair unit demoed by Japan’s Kobe Gakuin University has me genuinely excited for the older years in my future.

The levitating chair uses several air compressors mounted to the underside of unit, much like a hockey table levitates a plastic puck. There’s still a few hurdles to overcome though. One glaring issue is that the surface as to be relatively flat and smooth. Even the thin and relatively flat rub or the tatami mats the university has on their floors in the demo area. Long story short — no off-roading in your hover chair quite yet.

Elderly geeks (and young geeks who will inevitably make it there someday) should be pretty excited about this. Hell, work out the terrain issues and I’d get one just to float around the house even with my good legs. Wouldn’t you? Be sure to check out the vid below.

Video

Dvice > Crave > Robot.m

Apple puppet Phil Schiller on the App Store booby ban: Boobs are only ok from “household” names. Double standards ooze out of every pore…

Like heaping piles of BS early in the morning to get your morning off to the perfect cynical start? Well aren’t you a lukcy human, you’ve come to the right place. As you all may know, Apple recently went an a great purging of any titillating and “sexy” apps from the app store. Thousands of apps showing boobs, butts, and stomachs were removed from the App Store because apparently, “women and children were bitching in mass numbers”. The real factoid that pushes this from stupid to utter BS however is that apps such as Sports Illustrated (the only version that matters) and Playboy just to name a couple, are still alive and well. Their reasoning, according to Schiller:

The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format

Essentially, the booby ban only applies to those small developers and companies who aren’t already big household names — again, large names such as Sports Illustrated and Playboy.

Um, how are small companies and devs supposed to get big if the platform they’re trying to get big on bans them for utter BS? Ya, ya, ya, I know what some are saying: Don’t like it, don’t support. Well, I don’t as I got rid of my iPhone many months ago. But this is so much bigger than some stupid boobs bouncing on screen and some cheap thrills. Every single iPhone user that doesn’t voice disgust essentially is showing Apple that we as a consumer base (at least here in the US) rollover and take it whenever our freedoms get trounced on.

Ok, so they banned boobs in the name of women and children. Seems harmless, but what happens when they ban all calendar apps because they have some new 3/4 baked solution of their own. Or what happens when they put the kibosh on all voice controlled apps because someone called in a bomb threat with a voice note they recorded on their iPhone? Don’t laugh. Apple uses that same reasoning all the time. Just look at the whole “Fuck”/twitter timeline fiasco that happened early last year.

Before this get’s any longer, we’ll end saying that Apple is only hurting themselves. This is nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to appease only a certain part of their large marketshare. While on the surface it may seem noble and clean, the precedent it sets is anything but. In the end, this whole saving of little johnny’s innocence could be largely helped if mom and dad did their jobs as parents, and further tweaking parental controls — not blatantly removing entire sections of the App Store.

Let yourselves be heard!

TechCrunch

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SD app storage comes to WinMo 6.0+

Well, time to be envious Android users. Microsoft has upped the ante on *stock* features out the door by now allowing Windows Marketplace apps to be installed on SD cards. Android users have been after such a thing for some time now. But if you are fairly knowledgeable around 1′s and 0′s, adding in said feature after the fact isn’t too hard. So perhaps more of a “draw” is in order, no?

Either way, WinMo users who are sticking with older hardware and looking at a near future without any WinPhone 7 upgrade paths can at least snack on this treat for the time being. With pretty much every WinMo device having a pittance of onboard app storage, movin’ on up to a 1, 2, or 16GB microSD card is sweet, sweet music to many Windows Mobile users’ ears no doubt. I’m sure once they get their hands around a nice, new WinPhone 7 device all things will change though. It sure did look might pretty…

Engadget > MobileTechWorld

CompactFlash 5.0 and the 144 petabyte memory card.

For flash storage buffs, the still several year out 2TB SDXC cards seem like it’s as good as it’ll get, or at the very least, the most exciting thing in flash storage. I too thought that — until five minutes ago. You see, it was then that I stumbled onto an article highlighting CompactFlash 5.0 and it’s new capacity ceiling. So, just how high will it go?

How’s 144 petabytes sound? Yes, that’s a P as in a ton. I don’t even have 1TB worth of data (yet) to store on a hard drive, let alone 144,,000 TB’s to store on a card no larger than a saltine cracker.

Data densities are obviously not quite advanced enough to tap the new capacity limits of CompactFlash 5.0. But rest assured that when it does, you and your fifty bajillion pictures will have a safe and happy home.

Ubergizmo > Electronista