Cave News

3-D movies may come to home TV’s next year

A CNN article at the link below reports:

Three-dimensional images are expected jump out of movie theaters and into living rooms by next year.

Sony and Panasonic say they will release home 3-D television systems in 2010; Mitsubishi and JVC are reported to be working on similar products.

The report compares 3-D transition to the switch from black-and-white to color television and the shift from standard- to high-definition images.

ESPN is test-recording some sporting events in 3-D, using cameras with two sets of lenses, which would make football players appear to jump out of home television screens during live 3-D broadcasts.

And, although television makers haven't released specifics, the price of 3-D TV -- which requires a new television, broadcasting content and 3-D glasses -- is not expected to be substantially higher than some high-definition televisions on the market now.

We wonder if there will be a 3-D TV format war much like the recent Blue-Ray vs. HD DVD war or the 1980’s Beta Max vs. VHS war.

More of the 3-D television story here.

iPhone app unlocks and starts car without key

Who needs a key?

A California company Tuesday will announce an iPhone application and car receiver that will enable users to lock, unlock and remotely start their car with the phone rather than the car's key fob.

The Viper SmartStart is the latest example of automotive electronics functions migrating into Apple iPhone and other smartphones, including turn-by-turn directions or locating the closest gas station.

Such ideas are a challenge for automakers and aftermarket suppliers for whom advanced auto electronics have been highly profitable.

More here.

Face scanner test

This lady is testing the three-dimensional face scanner used to register individual details of passengers at the SAC Siemens airport centre in Fuerth near Nuremberg, Germany.

The scanner represents the latest technology available from Siemens for all airports and official areas where interior security is required.

Chicago police test a mobile phone in 1922

In 1922 police in Chicago experimented with a radio telephone which broadcast at a frequency just above the AM radio band.

Circuit City to close 155 stores

Circuit City has announced plans to close 155 of its more than 700 U.S. stores in 28 states.

As the lights go out at about 20 percent of Circuit City's stores, the company is hoping that by closing hundreds of stores and cutting thousands of jobs it can survive consumers who are reluctant to spend and vendors less eager to give it credit.

Could bankruptcy be just around the corner for the nation's No. 2 consumer electronics retailer heading into a holiday shopping season that could determine its future?

Link

Read a book on a handheld with Sony Reader

The Sony Reader has a 6 inch (measured diagonally) screen. It accepts a memory stick duo up to 8GB or a SD card up to 2GB. It has a USB connection and uses a lithium ion battery.

The case measures 6.9 inches x 4.8 inches x 0.3".6 inches.

It displays PDF and Word files, and plays MP3 files.

This reader can hold thousands of titles. The excellent high-contrast screen rivals that of printed page and is easy to read in bright environments.

An on-line review of the Reader says:

1. Downloadable titles are expensive and only available through Sony's online store

2. AC adapter is an optional accessory (you charge the PRS-505 by connecting the included USB cable to your computer)

3. Desktop software isn't available for Mac owners.

4. PDF files are hard to read because they're reduced to fit the screen and you can't magnify (zoom) them.

5. Though diminished, some lag issues remain when flipping pages; no support for Audible audio books.

The Reader is priced at about $300.

A review from Engadget is here.

Electronic gadgets blamed for lightening deaths in Russia

An official in Russia is blaming the recent surge of deadly lightning strikes on electronic gadgets such as cell phones and music players.

Lightning has killed and injured more than a dozen people in Russia in the past two weeks, officials say, blaming widespread use of electronic gadgets such as cell phones for an increase in deadly strikes.

Leonid Tarkov of the weather observation center FOBOS said he believes that the surge in lightning strikes may be connected to the increased use of portable electronic technology.

"These things are electromagnetic field carriers," he said. "That makes them, in essence, conductors. Thunderbolts are frequently attracted to such things, and hits are often connected with a lethal outcome."

The idea that lightning can follow the weak electromagnetic fields of such devices is rejected by virtually all scientists, although there is evidence that a lightning strike is more likely to be fatal for a person carrying any object with metal in it.

There have been no such reports from other counties.

Link

iPhone iPocalypse! Activation glitch in new 3G iPhone

The long anticipated Apple 3G iPhone stumbled onto the market today.

Apple copied a page from the Microsoft product release book by dumping the 3G on the market before it was ready.

Geeks and iPhone freaks were promised that when the new 3G (pictured) was released it could be activated before they left the store.

It didn’t happen that way.

A glitch in the new iPhone that went on sale today has Apple scrambling to find a work-around because a software slow-down in iTunes, prevented new phones from being activated in-store, as consumers were promised.

Instead of the promised in-store activation, AT&T employees are telling buyers to go home and perform the last activation step by connecting their phones to their own computers.

A spokesman for AT&T Inc., the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the U.S., said there was a global problem with Apple Inc.'s iTunes software that prevented the phones from being fully activated in-store.

More of the story here.

This spy device is a digital “fly on the wall”

A digital intruder spy camera (upper picture) by Swann Communications has a Digital Private Eye™ video camera and time-lapse recorder with motion trigger.

The manufacturer says:

Position the camera at your front door or hallway, then simply plug in your SD Memory Card, power cable or 9V battery then watch the camera go to work! You can use up to a 1GB on your SD Memory Card, which takes up to 30,000 images.

This covert surveillance device is motion activation and can take pictures at set intervals.

Maxwell Smart, agent 86 (lower picture), would have given up his shoe-phone for this device!

Link

Bone conduction 'earphones'

How about these stereo headphones that transmit sound vibrations through users skull bones rather than their eardrums?

They don't actually produce sound and don't go in your ear so they are not earphones. Does that make them bonephones?

More information can be found here.