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Wired Top Stories

Much like the format war that once divided us between HD DVD and Blu-ray, a battle between two different types of 3D-capable HDTVs rages on while customers wait to be convinced that any of the new tech is worth the trouble. One of the first to enter the battlefield for the passive glasses side from LG is the LW5600, a slim edge-LED lit LCD model that is most notable for its extras. Besides featuring a Film Patterned Retarder (FPR) screen that plays back 3D viewable with the same RealD glasses you use at the movie theater, it’s a connected TV packing apps, Plex media streaming software and a “magic motion” gesture control remote. After perusing the spec list we couldn’t wait to see if more features actually made for a better HDTV experience and if passive 3D is a competitive option for home viewing, so check after the break to see how we felt about it after a few hours on the couch.

Continue reading LG LW5600 3D LCD HDTV review

LG LW5600 3D LCD HDTV review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s a curious first step for Hamoui, who created Churn Labs in Irvine, Calif. earlier this year as a way to test out ideas in overlooked areas. In this case, it lets Hamoui explore the notion of whether people will find some value in sharing a unique digital character between friends. But the really intriguing thing is the technology built into the app, which allows people to transfer one gnome between devices. Users can view a gnome on another device using their view finder on the app and when they line up the gnome to an outline, it is “lifted” to the second device. Hamoui also showed how devices can share pictures using the same technology. Using a view finder, a person can drag a picture from one app onto the image of the second device, which receives it. Pretty cool stuff.

Hamoui said Churn Labs wasn’t necessarily designed to make a lot of money. But it’s built to explore these interesting ideas and see where they can go. “For all of us, this is what we want to do. Whether it’s something ridiculous or silly or something more serious; this is what we enjoy doing,” he said.

Other than Gnostop Gnomes, here is a look at some of the other start-ups that caught my eye today:

Weotta is throwing its hat into the local recommendation market. It builds an entire itinerary for the night based on your personal interests and simple information you feed into the website. If you enter in plans for a date with a classy vibe, Weotta will take what it knows about you and create possible itineraries like a dinner, movie and drinks afterward. It’s not curated information but all derived from smart algorithms. Once you create an itinerary, you can quickly create a Facebook event and invite others. The service will link to outside reservation and ticketing services such as Open Table and Tickermaster. The events can be shaped by what Weotta knows about you from your Facebook profile. And itineraries can be altered using real-time recommendations from friends.

Weotta will have to provide some good recommendations right off the bat, things people might not have thought about themselves. And it will need to be really tailored to people to create some personal plans for them. Weotta said it will also allow you to collaborate with fellow users on an itinerary so the plans reflect the interests of multiple people. This is a busy space but I like the idea of pulling it all together in one service.

Sonar is looking to help uncover the hidden connections between people at venues. The idea is that it will help you find people to interact with that you’re already connected with in some way. It’s a cool idea, bringing your online social graph into live venues so you can figure out interesting people to chat up.

When a user arrives at a place, you can announce your presence with Sonar and the app will tell you who is also there that you’re connected to. So if you have someone there that shares a Facebook, Foursquare or Twitter friend, you’ll be able to see them. You can also look up a quick bio to see if the person is someone you might want to meet. If you do, you can send out a preformed invitation to chat citing the person you have in common.

Sonar said it only uses publicly available data so users must make that private if they don’t want that to be used. But I think this is a cool way to discover people around you that you might not have realized were there.

Rexly is stepping in where Apple has failed with Ping. It’s a media recommendation engine that tries to make smart use of user behavior data and social information to push out good suggestions on what to buy. The service, which works with iTunes music to start, builds an activity stream based on every action a user does in iTunes and allows users to share and comment on content. Then it creates recommendations based on your actions and those of your friends. But it does it in an intelligent way, allowing a user to identify up to six trusted people to follow, whose tastes will have more sway in a user’s recommendations.

While this only works with iTunes music for now, it’s meant to scale up and be a service that recommends movies, TV and books from Netflix, Amazon and other services. And that will make it even more appealing as a cross-platform recommendation platform that touches various forms of media. I think Apple’s meager attempt with Ping shows there’s more work to be done in this space. That’s why I like Rexly. It has a way to be smart about social signals, applying more weight to trusted friends and it has a cross-platform play that other single providers won’t or can’t implement.

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Audio battlefield would prepare troops for combat or a typical Slayer concert originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 May 2011 08:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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***READ(more info)*** Directors Channel: www.youtube.com Subscribe and help this Channel grow(Confirm): www.youtube.com Multiplayer Series Playlist: www.youtube.com Add ME to your friend list in BC2. My nickname is “Assasin301-Gamer” Assas!nat0r’s “Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PC version of the game, planning to buy a PS3 and get it for that console) – Ownage 1: Engineer Pwnage” Video details / Information: (Engineer) Class Setup: Primary: PP-2000 / UMP-45 / AKS-74U Secondary: WWII M1911 45. Gadget: M2 Carl Gustav AT / M136 AT Spec 1: Ammo Upgrade (Cuz the firerate) Spec 2: Magnum Ammo (For faster kills) Spec 3: Vechicle Alt Fire (mostly for UAV) Server: Justice-Fighter =JF= Team: Defender / Attacker Map: Isla Innocents This is just a SHORT video i recorded yesterday (March 30th). For the 1st time EVER i found an AWESOME server, with amazing good connection. I use to get like 0.5 – 1.5 seconds FPS online. But this time a found a server, running at the same IP Port as me (around 27000). And i gotta say it incrases my skills with atleast 200%, compared to my standard scores. Ownage!? YES, i can call this ownage / pwnage for sure! Anyways enjoy =) .
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This app picks up where the standard desktop Kindle program drops off. Just like nearly every other desktop application, the original PC and Mac Kindle app isn’t optimized for finger navigation with small buttons and drop down menus. Plus, it’s not pretty and almost utilitarian in design. The upcoming tablet program, however, takes styling cues from Apple’s iBooks and looks finger friendly enough.

This is huge. No longer can the iPad claim dominance on the color ebook world. The upcoming Kindle tablet program will be able to run on presumably any PC tablet and still sync to the other Kindle apps, mobile or otherwise. Knock “color ebook reader” off of the iPad’s list of Pros. The tablet race just got a bit more interesting.

Content is king in the world of ebook readers and Apple should know that more than any company. The App Store, with its tens of thousands of apps, is one of the main reasons the iPad is guaranteed to be a success. It’s not a big leap for millions of iPhone and iPod touch owners because they already knew what to expect as they’ve been using the App Store for a while on another device.

The same thinking will drive the Kindle Apps for Tablet Computers program. Consumers have been buying books from the Kindle Store since its launch in 2007 and Amazon keeps making those books more accessible by releasing Kindle apps for different platforms. Consumers own this content and expect to be able to access it no matter what device they are using because of Amazon’s precedent. Now they can read their books not only on the Kindle itself, but also a BlackBerry, iPhone, PC, Mac, and soon nearly any tablet PC.

It seems that the tablet PC program throws in some new tricks. There’s a lifelike page turn animation, a colorful ebook library, and numerous font size and color options. This might even show what a color Kindle would look like.

This upcoming Kindle app isn’t just for PCs. The title graphic clearly states Kindle Apps for Tablet Computers including the iPad. But don’t get too excited. This doesn’t mean that it will ever hit the iPad. Technically it’s up to Apple whether this app will run on the iPad and Apple’s track record doesn’t make its future look all that promising.

iBooks is a key feature to the iPad just like Safari and iTunes are to the iPhone/iPod. Apple has yet to approve Opera or Firefox Mobile and could stall the Kindle iPad app indefinitely on the same grounds as well. After all, a Kindle app with access to the Kindle Store would take away from Apples own content partnerships. Apple you know likes to eat its own dog food.

Most Kindle buyers are also the same sort of early adapters Apple is counting on to make the iPad a success, too. It’s would be a dangerous game to cut out Kindle power users and drive them to the competing PC platforms. This upcoming Kindle app could prove to be one of the key pillars the PC tablet movement needs to boost consumers confidence. It will allow nearly any tablet PC to become its own Kindle — or iPad — clone.