The drumbeat for HD 3D continues to pick up the pace, and with broadcasters around the globe pushing forward 2010 plans to bring 3D home HDMI has updated the course of its latest 1.4 spec to ensure compatibility between displays and boxes. Quite simply, existing cable and satellite hardware isn’t going to be held to the same requirements as Blu-ray and videogame equipment rocking the 3D sticker and expecting compatibility with displays on the way, since they won’t be passing the same high quality, high bandwidth dual-stream 1080p images anyway. Additionally, some broadcasters are pushing for HDMI to officially support “Top/Bottom” 3D transmissions they plan to use, which sacrifice resolution while saving bandwidth by shoving left/right images into a single frame. While that should add an entirely new angle to the line counting and claims of “HDLite” (get ready for 3DLite) all viewers can do is wait to hear when or if their hardware will get a software upgrade to 3D (like the one we expect will allow the PS3 to play 3D Blu-ray discs) in the months and years to come, once there’s a standard everyone can adhere to of course.
What’s this, then? MCV, a British games industry publication, has run an ad for Little Big Planet game accessories that boasts among its many compelling features compatibility with the PSP-4000. Of course, there is no PSP-4000, but you have to admit — this is more than a simple typo. When asked what the dilly was, a rep from Accessories 4 Gamers told Negative Gamer that it was merely a simple “mistake.” Sure, but the questions still remain: was it a mistake because the PSP-4000 doesn’t yet exist? You see, we’ve definitely heard otherwise. Or was this a mistake because you accidentally spilled the beans on some top secret new handheld game console? If that’s the case, you might want to contact us with the details. We won’t tell anyone — promise.
Continue reading PSP-4000 accidentally leaked in print ad over the weekend?
Cowon has finally made its latest and greatest PMP official, and the spec sheet does not disappoint. Mixing appealing curves with a 4.8-inch display, the V5 HD offers 720p video playback that can be channeled out via HDMI or Composite outputs. On the software front, there’s the usual litany of wide-ranging file compatibility and basic apps — cortesy of Windows CE 6.0 — as well as a world clock, RSS reader, Flash games, voice recorder, and an optional T-DMB tuner. We still don’t know what’s doing the dirty work under the hood, but you won’t be wanting for storage, with integrated memory options up to 32GB being augmented by SDHC expandability. Battery life is rated at 10 hours of video or 45 hours of music, and the Korean landing date is January 1 with prices starting at 299,000 KRW ($256). Until then, you can check out more pictures after the break.
[Thanks, The DarkSide]
In case plans by AMD and a slew of other tech vendors planning to showcase 3D Blu-ray compatible products at CES wasn’t a tip-off, the updated specifications are done. The key details? First, that the Blu-ray Disc Association has chosen the Multiview Video Coding (MVC) codec to store 3D, so that even though it is now providing a full 1080p frame for each eye, it will only require about 50% more storage space compared to the 2D version, and all discs will be fully backwards compatible, in 2D, on existing players. Better than backwards compatibility, the PlayStation 3 will be forwards compatible with the new discs — a new HDTV setup (the spec promises to work with plasmas, LCDs or projectors equally well) with IR emitters and glasses will still be necessary. According to the PR (after the break) we can expect Blu-ray 3D-stickered products in 2010, our only advice is to keep those responsible for the Cowboy Stadium abomination far, far away from it.
Continue reading Blu-ray 3D specifications finalized, your PS3 is ready
Apple today released a new digital RAW compatibility update for some Canon and Nikon cameras that shoot photos in RAW format.
This update extends RAW image compatibility for Aperture 2, iPhoto ‘08 and iPhoto ‘09 for the following cameras:
After taking some time in limited beta, Comcast has renamed its TV Everywhere streaming venture Fancast Xfinity TV and made it available nationally to all customers with internet and cable TV subscriptions. Just as we’d heard, a simple browser plugin authorizes up to 3 computers per account, but now that it’s live we’ve found more has changed than just its unfortunate new name. Users won’t need to be at home to activate their computers for viewing, that’s needed is a login, and with plenty of cross browser compatibility it *should work easily no matter your setup, streamed to anywhere in the U.S. For us, the Comcast Access installer worked flawlessly on one Windows 7 equipped netbook while failing with an error message tech support couldn’t decipher on a similar desktop. Once up and running, there’s even some high-definition streaming video available (Juno, Max Payne, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary and others) with more on the way. All told there’s about 2000 hours of content online — if you have HBO and Starz access — check out our gallery for a peek. Technical glitches aside, for the price of absolutely nothing over our current cable and internet bill, with HD streaming already included at launch we may have a new way to keep up with our stories while on the go.
Gallery: Comcast Fancast Xfinity TV
Bluetooth connectivity between phones and SYNC-equipped Fords is nothing new, but the problem is that a good number of handsets out there in the wild don’t support phonebook download (seriously, check the compatibility chart) which means you can’t dial names by voice — and what’s the fun in calling anyone if there isn’t at least a small chance of your car confusing “Dad” for “Vlad”? That’s where Ford’s all-new SYNCMyRide comes into play, an app for Windows and Mac machines that’ll take the names and numbers (up to 2,000) off your lame vintage handset and stick ‘em on a USB drive; from there, you just plug the drive into your SYNC’s port and kick off an upload. It’s compatible with every SYNC-equipped car on the road today, so we’ve hooked you up with a link to go grab it — but only begrudgingly, since we’d obviously love to see you upgrade to a better phone instead.
With our zippy Intel Macs able to eagerly boot up Windows 7 in Boot Camp, VMWare, Parallels, and VirtualBox, it’s difficult to fathom that it was ever a problem to run Microsoft operating systems on our Apple boxes.
The situation wasn’t that good just a scant 15 or so years ago. Back in the bleak days before the triumphant return of Steve Jobs to 1 Infinite Loop, Apple had a broad and confusing product line. Since DOS and Windows 3.1 were already entrenched in business worldwide, Apple knew that they had to have a way for Macs to run Microsoft operating systems in order to gain any sort of traction in the corporate world.
Need a relatively respectable DAP to shove in your next pair of gym shorts, huh? Yeah, we’ve all been there. If you happen to live on the right side of the Atlantic, Archos’ 1 Vision just might be your ticket, as the diminutive, no-frills player is now available to purchase for the tidy sum of £24.99 ($41). For those in need of a refresher, this one’s packing 4GB of internal storage, support for MP3, WMA, APE, WAV and FLAC files, compatibility with JPEG and BMP files and even an audio recording function for vocally jotting down grocery lists. There’s still no word on a US release, but we’re told this is the season for hope. Can we get a confirmation on that? Bueller?
At long last Mac and Linux users don’t have to feel like second class citizens in Chrome land: they’ve got official beta versions of Google’s browser to call their own. Of course, people have been running the open source Chromium version on both sides of the fence for ages, but beta brings with it a new level of stability and officialness. Google is also finally launching extensions for Chrome, which is available for the Windows and Linux versions of the browser, and with Mac compatibility on the way. There are already 300 extensions available, not a bad start, and hopefully a good indication of the sorts of added functionality we’ll be able to stuff into Chrome OS with the help of a seemingly-excited developer community.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]