The case against 3D

3D technology seems to be billing itself as the next "big thing" in consumer electronics, 3D TVs, 3D movies, even 3D video games with the upcoming Nintendo 3DS, but I still find my myself wondering, is it really worth all the hassle? Can 3D technology really take off in the state it's currently in?

I believe it won't. Allow me to present this example case to illustrate the current problem with 3D TVs: Let's say you and your friends are sitting down to watch a 3D movie, a few minutes into the movie, another of your friends drops by and asks to join you, but wait! You don't have an extra pair of 3D glasses to spare. Now what?

That was just an example, but realistically speaking, who wants to buy a pair of 3D glasses for every person in your family? At a going price of 100 dollars or more per pair, I just can't see this being a decent answer to the 3D dilemma, and to further complicate matter most of this new 3d tech is incompatible with existing equipment. Somehow, I just can't see anyone running out, eager to upgrade their "new" HDTV to a 3D capable one.

Another problem I'd like to mention, where does 3D technology leave you if you happen to say, wear corrective lenses? Who would want to wear glasses over their glasses? I should note however that glasses-less 3D technology does exists, but it's in its infancy and scales poorly to larger screens and multiple viewers.

Another minor issue with 3D, one that is at least treatable, but worth mentioning, is the current lack of quality 3D content to watch on these devices, as some of the current movie releases weren't even filmed in 3D to begin with, but were originally filmed in 2D and then edited later to appear 3D.

It may be a bit early to be ringing the death knell for 3D , but I believe that unless these shortcomings are corrected soon, consumers will ultimately become disenchanted with 3D, and 3D TVs will then join the list of other failed technologies along with Betamax, and the more recent HD-DVD.

Gag-inducing, yet funny, marketing parody

I think it's safe to file this video under "Thank God it's a parody!". I'm sure many of you have seen plenty of similar videos either on TV or the Internet, it's exactly because of that familiarity that I found this parody so amusing.

I for one am sick of marketing in this manner, yes we know that your product is "amazing", but do we need to hear some guy rattling off fake statistics to  make me want to buy it? I think I'll pass on that.

I'll also add that if the above video was real, I'd probably lose my lunch.

China, land of the not-so-free

Sometime a news story is so good you just have to post it, this is one of those times. Apparently during a recent Chinese news broadcast, the Chinese government aired an alleged weapons demonstration, but instead of airing real footage, they actually aired footage from movie Top Gun. As you can see in the picture above, we have the news footage on the left, and a screenshot of the movie on the right. Oh China, when will you learn?

(as seen at Minitofu.com)

Airplane lovers rejoice!

Badermodels.com is now selling these creative, yet totally impractical USB drives in the shape of various aircrafts' tail-fins. But a going price of 53 dollars for even even the cheapest one, I don't know what what would drive someone to buy something like this, you certainly won't see me flying over to their site to order one! (sorry)

(Badermodels)

How big is the internet?

Have you ever wondered how big the Internet is? Some of you probably have, and for those of you that really care to know, Focus.com has put together a large chart with various statistics about the size of the Internet. There's also one other interesting statistic that I've derived from their chart:

• Total number of people using email services: 1.9 billion.
• Total number of Internet users: 2 billion

That means 95% of all Internet users also have e-mail addresses, that's a much higher percentage than I would have guessed. Now would be a good time to also mention xkcd.com's "map of online communities", which is fascinating in its own right.

(Internet size chart)

[UPDATE] Egypt under communications blackout

Just this morning, for reasons currently unknown, Eygyt has been cut off from the outside world, as they are now under a communications blackout, meaning, no internet or cell communcations can enter or leave the country.

The above video was reportedly filmed on the 27, and if the film is to be believed, there seems to be massive civil unrest in the country right now. I'll post more on the situation as it unfolds, in the meantime, I've added a few links below with further information on the blackout.

UPDATE: It seems the events in the above video are real, and are an attempt by citizens to protest their President Hosni Mubarak's totalitarian rule. The internet shutdown seems to have been an effort by the government to prevent the protesters from organizing their resistance, as the first round of protests was organized almost entirely on social networking sites like Facebook.

There also seems to be a concerted effort to crackdown on all media coverage of the events, with CNN reporting that several of their cameras have been seized by local police, and/or destroyed.

(Associated Press)
(renesys|blog)
(CNN)

Oops, wrong getaway car!

Imagine yourself waking up early in the morning to take out the trash or something, when you see the above situation unfolding. I'd probably just assume I was either dreaming or hallucinating and go back inside. Needless to say this is probably the most bizarre police chase video I've ever seen, it's just a shame the video is so short, I really would have liked to see how this played out.

Meet the NGP

Sony has just announced the rumored PSP2, and surprisingly they aren't calling it PSP2 as most thought they would. The specifications on this thing are pretty ambitious though, it has a 5-inch OLED multi-touch touchscreen (as rumored), dual analog controls, front and rear-facing cameras, and in strange twist of events, also has a touchpad on the rear of the device. It's also worth noting that unlike the current PSP, it will not be sporting any kind of UMD drive, as they've decide to use a flash based storage method this time around. Other items interest include a gyroscope, GPS, and 3G.

This seems like a pretty interesting spec list, and it should be interesting to see what developers can do with it once they get it in their hands. I can't wait to get my hands on it myself, lets hope it plays as good as it looks.

As for a price, currently no price or exact release date has been nailed down, only a vague "Holiday season in Japan". If had to hazard a guess at a price though, I'd put it in the ballpark of 300-350 dollars, but I really hope it doesn't end up costing more than that.

For a more complete list of NGP specs I'd recommend reading Joystiq's post on it, as it goes quite a bit more in-depth. I'll put the link at the bottom of the post for your perusal.

(complete list of NGP specs)

Sony press conference imminent

An artist's rendition as to what the PSP2 may look like.

In a few hours Sony will be hosting press conference in Tokyo, and will likely unveil the long rumored PSP2, successor to the popular Sony PSP. Currently not a lot is known about the system, with most of the rumors pointing to it having some type of OLED touchscreen and a PSP Go-esque form factor. There have also been several, although somewhat dubious leaked photos of the PSP2, but nothing about the system is clear yet. I'll post further information as news leaks out.

Not the future I'd imagined...

Companies like to create prototypes of their idea of the future, but this has to be one of the most far out ones I've ever seen. The picture above represents one of several mock ups created by BMW to represent a possible outlook on future transportation methods. Personally though, you won't catch me dead in this, or their bizarre coat/car contraption.

(as seen on Engadget)

The Brick Thief

I kind of have a thing for short films, they can tell quite a lot in a short time span, and a lot of times they're more creative than most of what comes out of Hollywood these days. This film is a great example of such creativity, eschewing a normal point A to point B style plot, in favor of an almost music video style presentation without any spoken dialogue. Its well planned, well filmed, and uses and interesting "toned-down" color style for most of the film. I look forward to seeing what else this guy will create in the future.

Real world mapping with Kinect

The Microsoft Kinect has been on the receiving end of a lot of interesting hacks lately, its been made to track people in real-time 3d, its been used to play air guitar, and has even been used to play World of Warcraft, but this latest hack is considerably more ambitious, this guy has used it to map out fairly large sections of the world by attaching it to his car, the results are very interesting.

Look to the right...

If I may direct your attention to the right side of the screen, you'll notice I've added a few things, I've added web links to blogs I frequently visit. If you've never heard of them before, I highly recommend you check them out, particularly the tech blogs, as they're a good way to stay on top of the latest advances in technology.

Not a bad way to die...

I found this hilarious video while browsing the Internet the other day, and thought this might make a good video to test YouTube video embedding on the blogger platform, plus, its funny!

Despite watching several times, though, I can't really figure out how jumping into a garbage can is going to protect you from getting hit by a car, if it were me I would've stayed off the streets altogether, but that's beside the point. Also, did anyone pick up the video game reference in there? Here's a hint: the name of the game starts with "Z".

A casual affair...

I suppose I should start out this blog by telling you a bit about this blog and my plan for it. For starters, this blog is going to be a semi-casual blog about technology and the Internet. Let me break that down a bit, I intend to mostly blog about new and upcoming technology, especially consumer technology (the oft rumored iPad 2 would be a good example), I also plan to post any funny or interesting videos or news stories that I find on the Internet.

Sorry if this is a bit long for a first blog post, and to anyone who read this far, I hope you enjoy the blog!