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Think you can’t have a flat-panel TV because you can’t get the wiring from your components to your TV? Is lack of running an HDMI cable keeping your Blu-ray player blue? Today, Sharp announced, “Yes!” or probably more accurately, “Hai!” to wireless HD video transmission. With their forthcoming X-series line-up of LCD sets, Sharp teamed with AMIMON to wirelessly beam 2-million glorious pixels through thin air.
Don’t you hate it when people come over to your house and they get their grubby hands all over your perfectly clean touchscreens? Or if they grab your brand new iTouch and start. . . touching!!! I mean, you don’t know where their hands have been! At some point, they have gone to the bathroom, and do you want to face the bacterial Russian roulette of whether they did or didn’t wash? And let’s face it, no one want to catch Mad Cow from browsing their music collection.
Before you lock yourself away and start collecting jars of urine like Howard Hughes, invest in a bottle of Monster's newly formulated ScreenClean!
Steamy, glamorous ads, billboards, and web-based trailers have been teasing for weeks about a sultry new TV series called, Scarlet. Finally, the big secret behind the meaning of Scarlet has been revealed. Scarlet isn't a new series airing on television, Scarlet is a new series of televisions, brought to you by LG. With TV ads directed by the man behind Smallville and some episodes of The Sopranos, the Scarlet campaign is anything but ordinary. Who creates an ad campaign with no indication of what you're selling? Apparently, LG did, and by all accounts, it did so quite successfully. After spending millions more for this campaign than would normally be spent for a product launch, the Scarlet TVs aren't really all that special. Full HD LCD sets. Not the thinnest, not the biggest, but after all this buzz, might be the most talked-about new TV to hit the market. Seriously, when did a TV brand launch create buzz? Any buzz at all? LG won't be blushing anytime soon. They've successfully seduced quite a few consumers with a clever, sexy campaign. —Leslie Shapiro
First, let's get the uncomfortably "truthy" stuff out of the way. HD Radio doesn't have anything to do with HDTV, and it doesn't really have anything to do with "High Definition" in general. Instead, think of HD as being "Highly Digital." It is, in fact, a digital radio broadcasting scheme that simulcasts on the same frequencies as analog AM and FM radio stations. Its sound quality is probably better than your average AM or FM reception, which sucks. In some cases, an FM station also multicasts content that is exclusive to HD Radio, which is kind of cool.
Yo. Come here. No, closer. I gotta deal for you, but we can't let anyone know about. No really, I'm serious. Step into my office—in that back alley. Here's the deal. AT&T is launching its new U-verse television service, perhaps in your very own neighborhood, but unless you know to ask for it, you'll never know.
In a world of massive advertising blitzes, viral marketing, billboards and screaming commercials, AT&T isn't doing a thing. If you want to know if U-verse is available in your neighborhood, you have to ask. AT&T is going small scale—direct mailing and inserts in bills. Does anyone actually read those things? Currently, over 9 million households have access to the service, but only 379,000 have signed up. If no one knows about U-verse, how is anyone going to know to sign up?
Continue reading "AT&T's U-verse: Shhhh... Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet" »
Paramount Studios made it official today. It is going Blu. Because HD DVD has about as much future as a snowball in hell, Paramount has dropped its exclusive support of the HD DVD format, and will start releasing flicks in the Blu-ray format. That comes as absolutely no surprise to anyone. The only question is why it took so long. After Warner defected to Blu-ray just prior to the Consumer Electronics Show in January, it was obvious that the format war was over. I guess it just took a few extra weeks to get all the corporate finger-pointing over with, not to mention the beheadings. In any case, Paramount isn't wasting any more time. It has announced a full slate of excellently cinematic Blu-ray releases.
True story: a guy walks into a Blockbuster wearing a NetFlix T-shirt, and the clerk shoots him dead. Just kidding. But it's been a long time since Blockbuster's profits from VHS rentals impressed Wall Street. What with that Interweb thing, it's been tough sledding for video rental stores. In a desperate, um - brilliant attempt to get traffic back into their outlets, Blockbuster announced today that they’re going to start selling complete gaming systems in their stores. They’ve been renting software for years, but now you can walk in and buy a variety of systems, including Sony PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and DS, along with games and accessories. They’re also going to expand their selection of titles for all systems.
Hey! What the hell's the matter with you? Why aren't you slacking off? Stop working so hard, and kick back and listen to some tunes. And for true slackitude, go to Slacker.com. It's an intuitively adaptive Internet radio service that learns what music you love, and bans what you hate. It is just now lighting up and trust me, it's way cool.
Slacker lets you create your own custom Internet streaming radio station. And, you can even send your custom station to your friends, and let them listen in. Along the way, Slacker will key you in to artists that you may want to add to your station. Wait! There's more!
I’m not gonna lie; it’s nice to be proven right. For the “CES 2008 in Perspective” article, I wrote, “Note to flat-panel wall-mount manufacturers: 2-inch-thick mounts aren't going to cut it anymore. Start working on new designs now!”
And today, flat-panel mount manufacturer, Peerless Industries, heeded my words by unveiling a new line of ultra-thin mounts. Their new Slimline mounts hug sets a scant .4-inches from the wall! (That’s about the thickness of a CD jewel case if anybody remembers what those are.)
Continue reading "Velcro. . .secret to world's thinnest TV mount!" »
You can do away with plans to cover that far wall in your living room with the umpteen inch HD flat screen TV from the Massive Buy store down the street.
Finally, you can just make the wall your TV thanks to the almost too-good-to-be-true Kuro projector. Pioneer recently announced in Munich the arrival of the KRF-9000FD — complete with LCoS technology; twin HDMI inputs; component, composite, and S-Video sockets; full 1,920 x 1,080 native resolution; and 600 lumens with a 30,000:1 contrast ratio.
Those consumers able to withstand the projector's $12,000-plus price tag will also enjoy a RS-232c control port and a noise level of just 24-decibels in normal operation.
All you need now is a can of nice, flat white paint to slather on that far wall.—John Scott Lewinski
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