FocuSoft Tech Blog

Sony develops “world’s smallest” HD camera module

Posted: 12 May 2009 12:55 PM PDT

The tiny HD hits keep coming today — first we saw eASIC’s $5 integrated H.264 codec chip, and now Sony’s crowing about the new MCB1172 HD camera module it claims is the “world’s smallest.” There’s some pretty impressive tech packed into that tiny package: you’re looking at an 8.3 megapixel sensor that can shoot 720p/30 video with image stabilization, face detection, high-ISO mode, and 120fps slow motion. Not bad for a piece smaller than a quarter — hopefully we’ll see this thing pop up all over soon.

[via EnGadget.com]

Microsoft denies Twitter-sourced Zune rumors

Posted: 12 May 2009 12:25 PM PDT

The future of the Zune continues to be awfully cloudy: although the Twitter account @officethemovie was directly linked from Microsoft’s Office 2010 promo site earlier today, company spokesperson Brian Seitz just pinged us to say that those Zune rumors posted to the account weren’t exactly on the up-and-up:

That account is bunk. Not run by Microsoft so I would not put much stock in what they say. The real Office movie account is http://twitter.com/office2010movie.

Of course, that’s a denial focused on the source of the rumors, not their content, so we’re guessing something more serious is going on — we’ve got a feeling whoever was running that account spoke out of turn, especially since Brian himself promised new Zune hardware this year. Regardless, the lesson stands: people on Twitter will lie to you until you are penniless and alone, and then they will kill and eat you.

Originally posted here:
Microsoft denies Twitter-sourced Zune rumors

Dell’s rainbow-hued Inspiron desktops now available

Posted: 12 May 2009 12:12 PM PDT

There’s a certain breed of person out there that wants everything to be available in a plethora of colors and options, infinitely customizable to fit the personality of whatever room it’ll inhabit. That breed of person is us. Dell’s customizable addition to the Inspiron line — which includes the 537 and the 537s — present the buyer with a host of options — eight different colors, a choice of Intel Celeron, AMD Sempron, Core 2 Quad and Phenom X4 CPUs, up to 8GB of RAM, integrated Intel graphics or ATI Radeon GPUs, and up to 750GB HDD for the slim tower and 1TB for the mini-tower. The Promise Pink model is part of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure program, and we have a feeling we’ll be seeing it pop up over on Della any minute now. The starting price for the lowest-end model is $299 and they’re available now. One more shot after the break.

[Via Desktop Review]

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Dell’s rainbow-hued Inspiron desktops now available

A Consumer iPhone App That Boldly Goes Beyond The $9.99 Threshold

Posted: 12 May 2009 12:06 PM PDT

Though you may not ever see them, there are apps in the App Store that sell for over $9.99. Mostly they're for doctors or stupid gimmicks, but they exist. Now the first one relevant on a larger scale to consumers is about to become available with the SlingPlayer Mobile app launching tonight for $29.99 in the App Store.

How this app sells will be really interesting. While other consumer electronic companies have made apps, most have given them away for free like DirectTV and the Remote app from Apple. But SlingPlayer will be a bit different from those since it's streaming content from a piece of hardware you own to your iPhone — so it's basically an extension of that device to use on the road. Of course, there's also a big caveat: It will only work over WiFi.

Talk circulated last month that Apple blocked the SlingPlayer app from the App Store because AT&T didn't want it clogging up its bandwidth with streaming video. This is the same reason that it would block other bandwidth-intensive apps like a Hulu app, if that actually arrives. But what's odd, as AppleInsider notes, is that SlingPlayer has an app for other phones like some BlackBerrys that lets it stream video over 3G — yes, on AT&T's network. So it would appear that AT&T is showing bias against the iPhone, which has users that tend to use up more bandwidth.

Still, how the SlingPlayer app fairs could be an indicator of the types of apps we see with the release of the iPhone 3.0 software (and likely new hardware) this summer. We know that apps will now be able to take advantage of the iPhone connector port, so there should be some very interesting apps that come out of that — ones that could potentially be more expensive than the $9.99 app price wall that has seemed to exist in recent months.

And it's in Apple's interest for such a high-priced app to do well also. Remember, it takes a 30% cut of all sales, and seeing as it costs them no more to list a $29.99 app than a free one, that'd be a nice chunk of change for Apple. Of course, I still think the new in-app purchases also coming in 3.0 will be more important to the bottom line.

CrunchBase Information

Sling Media

iPhone App Store

Information provided by CrunchBase

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it's time for you to find a new Job2.0

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A Consumer iPhone App That Boldly Goes Beyond The $9.99 Threshold

Top Gun pilot to lead Hubble repair team

Posted: 12 May 2009 12:00 PM PDT

Remember in Top Gun, where Maverick flies upside-down to flip the bird at a rival pilot? Well, someone actually did that, and it was this guy. And in a real-life move that smacks of Hollywood, NASA has tapped this hot shot pilot (now retired, actually) to command space shuttle Atlantis during its voyage to repair the ailing Hubble.

Scott Altman is his name, and I just get the feeling that his mustache is like a wire brush. What? I'm just saying. In any case, he seems to think that flying the shuttle is more difficult than flying inverted ten feet above another jet — one-handed, of course, since he's flicking the guy off. I'm tempted to believe him — based on the cockpit alone, the shuttle has the "Mig" (actually an F-5) beaten hands-down.

[via Reddit]

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Top Gun pilot to lead Hubble repair team

Leather case for Acer Aspire 8.9”

Posted: 12 May 2009 12:00 PM PDT

Because the 8.9 inch mini laptops are small compact, they can easily be carried around in coat pocket (Or rather some coat pockets!) but the problem with that is the device can get scratched. Therefore, how about this cool case, it is made from leather and gives the computer a little extra protection.

Compatible with Acer Aspire One 8.9″ Mini Laptop with 3 Cell Standard and 6 Cell Extended Battery
Safely carry your laptop with this Executive Leather Case. (Laptop NOT included)
Interior of the case is lined with felt for added protection.
Inner flap has slots for paper, SD memory and business card.
Allow access to all control inside the case. Magnetic button closure
Priced at $19.99
Source [Amazon]

Originally posted here:
Leather case for Acer Aspire 8.9"

Cineplexes Getting IMAX, But Is It Really IMAX? [Imax]

Posted: 12 May 2009 12:00 PM PDT

You’ve probably seen the new phenomenon with your own eyes: A cineplex IMAX that doesn’t have the monster screen you grew up with in science-museum IMAX theaters. Here’s the what, the how and the why.

Just last night, comedian Aziz Ansari (from Parks and Recreation) published this piece describing the conspiracy of paying an extra $5 to see an “IMAX” movie that really wasn’t much bigger than a normal screen.

I actually visited IMAX HQ a few weeks back, and a major point of discussion was the retrofitting process so lovingly described by Aziz. Basically, IMAX used to build their own massive theaters in their own buildings. But now, in order to expand, the company has made a deals with major theater chains like AMC in which they’ll provide and install their proprietary mix of projectors, screens, speakers and hardware if the theater will foot the bill for the necessary structural renovations.

This plan, for better or worse, is IMAX’s only current design for expansion in the US.

This conversion process, which has a patented geometry, includes installing a screen that’s only slightly bigger (as little as 10 feet wider than before), but this screen is coupled with the removal of several rows of seats which allows it to be scooted roughly 30 feet closer to the audience, creating a sort of sitting too close the TV effect with a screen that, I was told, is perceived as 75 feet wider than before.

When the process was described to me, I thought it all sounded a bit hokey. But walking into IMAX’s test multiplex, an otherwise typical AMC located in a Canada, I was shown a side-by-side of the same theater before and after the retrofitting process.

I will say, the new screen looked much bigger and far more imposing—”night and day” would make for a fair analogy. My mind wasn’t mentally prepped for such a tangible difference, though I’d agree that it still fell short of, say, the unbelievable, multi-story beast of a screen that I watched Star Trek on several days later at a classic, standalone IMAX.

But the change I didn’t expect (and I can’t pretend to have perceived this tidbit up on my own) was a remarkable difference from acoustic paneling. Clapping in the original theater revealed a very live environment with a frightening amount of echo. The retrofit, however, absorbed the sound in a pleasant way, reminiscent of more than one acoustically-planned stage I performed on back in my band days.

There are other improvements as well, including a specifically non-THX-certified sound system, reaching up to 14,000W, that offers 117db of uncompressed digital sound without distortion. Engineers claimed that in a normal theater, the sweet spot for audio is in the dead center, and technicians make no effort to tend to those sitting in the back. Meanwhile, IMAX’s system promised the same surround experience anywhere in the theater.

I tested that theory during a screening of some Rolling Stones at the Max footage by moving from the center of the theater to the back right corner. And there’s absolutely no doubt, I lost a good deal of the side channels while the rear channel (in this case, it was the lead guitar, I believe), dominated the audio spectrum. I wouldn’t have expected IMAX to have achieved the impossible unless, you know, they claimed that they had.

The other chief part of this retrofitting process is the new digital IMAX projector. Since its debut in the 70s, the Xenon-lamp-powered projector has stayed mostly unchanged. But with film prints reaching around $40,000 apiece, IMAX has embraced the digital revolution in their theaters (the cameras are still film with no plans mentioned to change that).

With the digital installations, films arrive on a standard hard drive, encrypted with DRM provisions that state just when a theater is authorized to play a film…errr…video.

Their projector is actually two, 2K Christie projectors that spit out the same image at the same time. A camera is positioned in between the projector lenses, tracking screen brightness in real time. An integrated server aggregates this and other data, adjusting both projectors for thermal shift, making sure the images don’t change as they play. There are also a slew of other, top secret proprietary imaging adjustments going on at all times.

I know what you’re thinking: Why didn’t IMAX just use a 4K projector and save the hassle, especially with AMC announcing that all of their theaters would be equipped with 4K Sony projectors by 2012? IMAX does believe their projector offers a sub-pixel accuracy that, when combined with some extra imaging processing, looks better than Sony’s 4K.

You can see imperfections in their digital projection system just like any digital system. The screen door effect, while minimized, can be noticed in bright spots of the image—if you’re looking as closely and skeptically as I was. And you only need to move back in the theater to realize that the picture does appear sharper as you step away from the screen. In other words, it’s not hitting some theoretical maximum perceived resolution…or even the best of what IMAX film can show. (As IMAX archives their own film into 8K and 12K prints, you can assume that the company feels the resolution of their product is much higher that their digital projectors may show).

The good news is that IMAX’s digital projection system is “projector agnostic,” meaning if a more suitable base projector comes around (be it 2K, 4K or higher), the realtime syncing and adjustment system can scale accordingly. In other words, when every AMC is stocked with 4K projectors in a few years, hopefully IMAX will be upping the ante as necessary by dual wielding 4K+ projectors instead.

So is this new IMAX, with smaller screens, with digital projection, still IMAX? Honestly, there are probably only a small handful of technicians—who aren’t exactly sharing proprietary knowledge and decisions—capable of answering that question with scientific earnestness. To my eyes and my gut, it’s more IMAX Lite or Normal Theater Enhanced. Is a retrofitted theater worth your extra $5? For the movies most likely to make it to the screen (big budget action), I think so…though maybe not for a family of four.

The price probably shouldn’t be the same as a standalone IMAX theater, but I think that the point Ansari misses is that cineplexes are already benefiting from a pricing structure that makes viewers pay the same amount no matter what screen they see a movie on (how many times do beautiful art films get shunned to a broom closet of a theater while summer blockbusters are played on a plex’s largest screen?). At minimum, the $5 IMAX premium ensures you see a movie on a screen that’s better than the best AMC or whoever has in their building.

gizmodo imax Cineplexes Getting IMAX, But Is It Really IMAX? [Imax] Personally, I hate to know that we will probably never see another 12,700sqft foot IMAX screen built (like that found in Mumbai), and that 70mm film projection is being traded for digital before digital is undeniable image perfection. But if the compromise is that more people will be seeing movies in theaters with bigger pictures and tighter quality control, then maybe it’s a compromise worth making.

Look for lots more on our IMAX visit in the coming weeks.

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Cineplexes Getting IMAX, But Is It Really IMAX? [Imax]

Almost a law: French National Assembly passes ‘3 strikes’ anti-piracy bill

Posted: 12 May 2009 11:51 AM PDT

Oh, news flash! Looks like the French National Assembly passed the controversial three-strikes-and-you’re-out law. (Yes, this is after rejecting it about a month ago.) Simply put, if some new state agency catches you illegally downloading three times you’ll be disconnected from the Internet for one year.

The bill goes to the Senate tomorrow for final approval.

And while I’d like to know, specifically, what this means—are you booted from your ISP, or prevented from signing with another ISP during the ban year?—we already disccused the implications in the official CrunchGear chat room. This is how we discussed it:

dfd3086f67cg1 Almost a law: French National Assembly passes '3 strikes' anti piracy bill

Let’s wait until the bill is 100 percent codified before we freak out, yes?

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Almost a law: French National Assembly passes '3 strikes' anti-piracy bill

German researchers show off steering wheel-mounted OLED

Posted: 12 May 2009 11:49 AM PDT

We’ve already seen OLED displays that promise to squeeze into a rearview mirror and other parts of a vehicle, and it looks like Germany’s CARO research association has now found yet another place to stick one: right in the middle of the steering wheel. As you can see above, that would effectively replace the center emblem in the steering wheel (the gauges are just for show, apparently), which the researchers say would open up a whole host of new design possibilities for auto manufacturers — for instance, having the center emblem light up when the door opens.

They’re also quick to point out that the thin nature of the OLED wouldn’t affect the airbag, and power consumption would, of course, be at a minimum. As you might have guessed, however, there’s no word on any automakers that have signed up just yet, although CARO does also have a new highly-readable, orange emitting OLED suitable for in-dash use for those looking to keep things a bit more conventional.

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German researchers show off steering wheel-mounted OLED

Diesel DZ9044 Watch Doesn’t Need a Face To Tell The Time [Watches]

Posted: 12 May 2009 11:40 AM PDT

First there was too many faces, and now diesel has done a 180 with a watch with no faces at all. What’s next? Putting the clock on the back of the watch?

Inexplicably, clocks for four time zones are embedded into the side of the Diesel DZ9044. So, you would need to twist the face or stick your arm straight out in order to tell the time. Let me just say that you might want to keep your arm down while doing that. A man doing a Nazi salute in public might be frowned upon. [Watchismo via Technabob]

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Diesel DZ9044 Watch Doesn’t Need a Face To Tell The Time [Watches]