Sony reportedly puts its OLED TV efforts on hold
There were hints that Sony’s OLED TV plans were in trouble when the company’s collaboration with Panasonic went south last year, and it now looks like those efforts have stalled out completely. Nikkei reports that Sony has put development of OLED sets “on ice,” shifting those involved to other projects. The electronics firm just doesn’t see the faster, higher-contrast displays catching on in the near future, according to the Japanese newspaper — it’s far more interested in pushing its 4K LCDs, which are selling like gangbusters compared to equivalent screens from rivals like Samsung.
The company hasn’t put out an official statement so far, and we’ve reached out to learn what’s happening. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if Sony gave OLED TVs the chop. The firm has been shedding businesses that aren’t profitable, including its PC line. When there’s a chance that Sony’s TV group could be profitable for the first time in more than a decade, it might make sense to cut any projects that are likely to bleed cash — no matter how eye-catching they may be.
[Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Sony
Via: OLED-Display.net
Source: Nikkei
Disney uses adorable little robots to illustrate big ideas
Disney Research has had some neat ideas in the past (capacitive touch feedback for plants, as an example), but the lab’s amped up the cute factor lately. Its newest project? Getting tiny, LED-adorned robots to illustrate things such as The Big Bang. Like a good deal of Mickey’s science projects, the experiment, dubbed “Pixelbots,” is based around interactivity. The 2-inch swarm bots use magnetic wheels to move about on vertical surfaces. Meanwhile, an algorithm ensures that they won’t hit one another and RGB diodes keep the robots looking pretty. Individual units can even be plucked out of formation and the pack will intelligently work to fix the gaps and reform the original shape.
Patterns can either follow a pre-made script or be made on-the-fly with a few types of physical input. The embedded video shows a PC-based drawing program, gesture input that follows a user’s body movements and, lastly, a tablet that grants multiplayer augmented reality games. As the researchers have told Wired, the experiments conducted with 75 of the micro machines could scale to a pack of 750 or more and make a display that “really grabs the attention” of passersby. Given the ethereal nature of Disney’s research projects, though, when we might see the Pixelbots in one of Walt’s parks isn’t too clear.
Filed under: Robots, Tablets, Science, Alt
Via: Gizmodo
Source: Disney Research (1) (PDF), (2)
Must See HDTV for the week of May 12th: Her, Crocodile Dundee and so many finales
It’s that time of the year, when most TV shows wrap up their run. From Castle to The Mentalist to Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (which is surprisingly coming back for another season) to Grimm, finales and conclusions abound. We’ve also received that bad news that one of our favorites, Community, has not been renewed for the upcoming season, putting us in an extra melancholy mood. If you also need a lift, check this week’s Blu-ray releases for the Crocodile Dundee 1 & 2 double-pack, plus Eastbound & Down S4 and Orange is the New Black on disc. There’s no F1 this week, but sports fans have more NBA and NHL playoff action to look forward to, plus the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star race this weekend. Check after the break for a list of what’s new this week plus a few trailers, and drop a note in the comments if you see any highlights that we’ve missed.
Blu-ray, Streaming movies & Games
- I, Frankenstein (3D)
- Her
- Eastbound & Down (S4)
- Orange is the New Black (S1)
- That Awkward Moment
- Crocodile Dundee / Crocodile Dundee II
- The Godfather Part III
- Stranger by the Lake
- Slender: The Arrival (PS3, Xbox 360)
- Super Time Force (Xbox 360, Xbox One)
Monday
- Heat/Nets Game 4, TNT, 8PM
- Bones, Fox, 8PM
- Dancing with the Stars, ABC, 8PM
- Star-Crossed (season finale), CW, 8PM
- Years of Living Dangerously, Showtime, 8PM
- The Voice, NBC, 8PM
- WWE Raw, USA, 8PM
- Friends with Better Lives, CBS, 8:30PM
- The Dead Mother’s Club, HBO, 9PM
- 24: Live Another Day, Fox, 9PM
- Mike & Molly, CBS, 9PM
- Warehouse 13, Syfy, 9PM
- Louie, FX, 10 & 10:30PM
- Metal Hurlant Chronicles (season premiere), Syfy, 10 & 10:30PM
- The Blacklist (season finale), NBC, 10PM
- Castle (season finale), ABC, 10PM
- Kings/Ducks Game 5, NBC Sports Network, 10PM
- Spurs/Trailblazers Game 4, TNT 10:30PM
Tuesday
- Inside: US Soccer’s March to Brazil, ESPN, 7PM
- Wizards/Pacers Game 5, TNT, 7PM
- Coming Back with Wes Moore (series premiere), PBS, 8PM
- Glee (season finale), Fox, 8PM
- Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season finale), ABC, 8PM
- The Voice, NBC, 8PM
- NCIS (season finale), CBS, 8PM
- The Originals, CW, 8PM
- Riot: Steve Carrell and Andy Buckly (series premiere), Fox, 9PM
- From Dusk Till Dawn, El Rey Network, 9PM
- About a Boy (season finale), NBC, 9 & 9:30PM
- Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge (season finale), Syfy, 9PM
- The Goldbergs (season finale), ABC, 9PM
- NCIS: LA (season finale), CBS, 9PM
- Supernatural, CW, 9PM
- Clippers/Thunder Game 5, TNT, 9:30PM
- Growing Up Fisher, NBC, 9:30PM
- Trophy Wife (season finale), ABC, 9:30PM
- Freakshow, AMC, 10 & 10:30PM
- Chicago Fire (season finale), NBC, 10PM
- Fargo, FX, 10PM
- Playing House, USA, 10PM
- Person of Interest (season finale), CBS, 10PM
- Awkward, MTV, 10PM
- The Listener, ION, 10 & 11PM
- Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan, BBC America, 10PM
- Tosh.0, Comedy Central, 10PM
- Inside Amy Schumer, Comedy Central, 10:30PM
- Faking It, MTV, 10:30PM
- Small Town Security, AMC, 11PM
Wednesday
- Survivor, CBS, 8PM
- Melissa & Joey, ABC Family, 8PM
- American Idol, Fox, 8PM
- Arrow (season finale), CW, 8PM
- The Middle, ABC, 8PM
- Revolution, NBC, 8PM
- Nature, PBS, 8PM
- Suburgatory (season finale), ABC, 8:30PM
- Baby Daddy, ABC Family, 8:30PM
- The 100, CW, 9PM
- Criminal Minds (season finale), CBS, 9PM
- Law & Order: SVU, NBC, 9PM
- Modern Family, ABC, 9PM
- Mixology, ABC, 9:30PM
- Catfish, MTV, 10PM
- The Americans, FX, 10PM
- Legit (season finale), FXX, 10 & 10:30PM
- Chicago PD, NBC, 10PM
- Nashville (season finale), ABC, 10PM
- The Ultimate Fighter, Fox Sports 1, 10PM
- Triptank, Comedy Central, 10:30PM
- Deal With It, TBS, 10:30PM
- True Life: I Want A Threesome, MTV, 11PM
Thursday
- The Big Bang Theory (season finale), CBS, 8PM
- The Vampire Diaries (season finale), CW, 8PM
- The Millers (season finale), CBS, 8:30PM
- American Idol, Fox, 9PM
- Grey’s Anatomy (season finale), ABC, 9PM
- Reign (season finale), CW, 9PM
- Rosemary’s Baby (part 2 of 2), NBC, 9PM
- Anger Management, FX, 9:30PM
- Bad Teacher, CBS, 9:30PM
- Maron, IFC, 10PM
- Real World/Road Rules Challenge, MTV, 10PM
- Black Box, ABC, 10PM
- Elementary (season finale), CBS, 10PM
- Comedy Bang! Bang!, IFC, 10:30PM
- Loiter Squad (season premiere), Cartoon Network, 11:59PM
Friday
- WWE SmackDown, Syfy, 8PM
- Whose Line Is It Anyway?, CW, 8PM
- Grimm (season finale), NBC, 9PM
- Hart of Dixie (season finale), CW, 9PM
- Shark Tank (season finale), ABC, 9PM
- Continuum, Syfy, 10PM
- Hannibal, NBC, 10PM
- Vice, HBO, 11PM
Saturday
- Return to Zero, Lifetime, 8PM
- NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, Fox Sports 1, 9PM
- Orphan Black, BBC America, 9PM
- Da Vinci’s Demons, Starz, 9PM
- In the Flesh, BBC America, 10PM
- Saturday Night Live: Andy Samberg/St. Vincent (season finale), NBC, 11:30PM
- Comedy Underground with Dave Attell, Comedy Central, 1AM
Sunday
- Bob’s Burgers (season finale), Fox, 7PM
- American Dad (season finale), Fox, 7:30PM
- 2014 Billboard Music Awards, ABC, 8PM
- Tigers/Red Sox, ESPN, 8PM
- The Simpsons (season finale), Fox, 8PM
- The Amazing Race (season finale), CBS, 8PM
- Family Guy (season finale), Fox, 8:30PM
- Nurse Jackie, Showtime, 9PM
- Game of Thrones, HBO, 9PM
- Mr. Selfridge (season finale), PBS, 9PM
- Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Fox, 9PM
- Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, CNN, 9PM
- Turn, AMC, 9PM
- The Good Wife (season finale), CBS, 9PM
- Californication, Showtime, 9:30PM
- Mad Men, AMC, 10PM
- Penny Dreadful, Showtime, 10PM
- Silicon Valley, HBO, 10PM
- The Mentalist (season finale), CBS, 10PM
- Veep, HBO, 10:30PM
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, HBO, 11PM
- Robot Chicken, Cartoon Network, 11:30PM
Filed under: HD
International Galaxy S5 receiving update, faster camera and finger print scanner Improvements
A firmware update is underway in the UK for the Samsung Galaxy S5, SM-G900F. SamMobile states that there are two very noticeable differences. First being a much quicker launch time when bring bring up the camera app along with a quicker launch time for the gallery app. The second important aspect of the update is related to the finger print scanner being more accurate.
The update will trickle around the globe slowly with it starting in the UK. Samsung has the update available for manual installation vie Samsung Kies, but a traditional OTA is also being rolled out. Of course updating through Kies will prevent you from having to wait very long for the update.
As always, don’t forget to have well over 50% charge on your device before doing any firmware updates regardless if it is an OTA or through Kies. If you are able to snag the OTA, then also make sure you have some time to kill and a solid Wi-Fi connection.
Source: SamMobile
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Another color leaked for the HTC One M8, looks good in Blue
Earlier this month we say a supposed leaked press image of a pink HTC One M8. A lot of ladies were pretty excited for it. Now there is another leak for another color variant of the magical HTC One M8. This time in an electric blue offering.
The leaked image comes from infamous tipster @Evleaks. Regardless the source, we always expect the major brands to bring some color to devices after their initial launch. While we have some leaked images of the color offerings, we don’t have anything in the way of country or carrier. You will probably be able to buy any color at full retail price through HTC, but the color specific offerings will probably be locked into certain carriers.
If the cool electric blue happens to hit your carrier will you be picking one up?
Source: +@Evleaks
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Major League Soccer to stream out-of-market games on ESPN3
In an effort to increase popularity of the league in the US, MLS announced a new broadcasting partnership with ESPN, FOX and Univision. As part of the deal with these TV networks, which will run through 2022, MLS is bringing (some) out-market games to ESPN3. That, of course, includes the WatchESPN applications and the ESPN3 website. For Major League Soccer, this is a huge step, as it previously kept these games tied to one of its subscription services, including MLS Direct Kick and MLS Live. According to ESPN, the agreement is for “more than 200 MLS matches” per season, over the next eight years — for reference, 323 matches were played during the 2013 season, not taking into account the playoffs.
What’s more, ESPN will now be able to provide access to more extensive coverage of MLS through its digital properties, such as the SportsCenter and ESPN FC apps, with things like in-progress highlights being pushed to your mobile device. At the announcement event in NYC, ESPN President John Skipper said the goal is to have viewers “engage in a whole new way with MLS,” adding that the network is “bullish on where the sport is going.” So, now you won’t have to worry about missing those New York Red Bulls games the next time you go visit your family, wherever outside of the tri-state area that may be.
[Image credit: Getty Images]
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Rumors say AT&T is close to a $50 billion deal for DirecTV, unless it isn’t
It’s been a couple of weeks since rumors that AT&T is going to purchase DirecTV popped up, so how about another look? Today Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that the usual “people familiar with the matter” say a deal could happen in the next two weeks, just days after news leaked that DirecTV is working with Goldman Sachs as it prepares for a possible sale. If it goes down, the price of $100 per share apparently being discussed would push the total to more than $50 billion, and Bloomberg claims DirecTV would continue to operate as a unit of AT&T, with its CEO retiring next year. The latter points out that discussions have fallen apart over pricing before and could again, so while we’re not putting it on the board next to Comcast-Time Warner Cable just yet, we are making room.
[Image source: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Wireless, HD, AT&T
Source: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal
Germany wants Google to stop sharing customer data between services
Google’s privacy-related woes in Europe aren’t over just because France has issued a fine over a lack of transparency — if anything, they’re getting worse. Germany now says it will order the search firm to stop pooling user data, such as search histories and video viewing habits, under unified accounts. This strategy gives Google overly “in-depth” profiles of its customers and denies the right to limit what the company can see, according to a data protection officer speaking to Bloomberg.
Google says it’s hoping to reach a deal with Germany, and it argues that the data sharing policy is meant to provide “simpler and more effective offers.” If the order goes ahead, though, the company may have a lot of work to do. It spent roughly the past two years tying services together, in some cases making it harder to use sites in isolation — just ask anyone who gets repeated prompts to use their Google+ accounts on YouTube. We wouldn’t expect the company to completely undo its recent efforts, but it may have to give users more control over the information they share.
[Image credit: Alex Murphy, Flickr]
Source: Bloomberg
Old console, new tricks: Getting the most out of your PS3
Already paid up for Sony’s PlayStation 4? Or are you waiting on a certain blockbuster title before you make the move to the next gen? We don’t blame you. However, the PS4′s ancestor — that slightly curved obelisk sitting under your TV, the one with half an inch of dust — still has a few tricks in it. While we wait for Sony to perfect its streaming tech, there’s still no way to play PS3 titles on Console No. 4, unless it gets a fancy facelift… and you buy it again. So, we turn back to our faithful PlayStation 3. Born in 2006, eight years is a pretty good term for a games console. But maybe you don’t want your time with it to be over. We don’t either, and have found a few ways to breathe new life into your gradually graying PS3.
Get a PlayStation Plus subscription
Really, this should be in past tense: Because you should have gotten in on this surprisingly high-value service a year ago. PlayStation Plus is really that good. For under 10 bucks a month (down to $5 per month if you sign up for a year), you’re offered an “instant game collection” that’s updated every 30 days or so, and that one fee gives you access on every compatible console (PS3, Vita and PS4). As of this writing, the library includes BioShock Infinite, Payday 2, Uncharted 3, Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and eight more PS3 titles. Free games rotate in and out each month, but if you “buy” it to download (even if you didn’t download right then), you can play it for as long as your sub lasts — not just when it’s part of the selection. Past titles (depending on region) have included Super Street Fighter IV, Infamous 2, LittleBigPlanet 2, Far Cry 3, Assassin’s Creed III, to name a few. Yeah, more titles than you’d probably ever have time to play, but the service typically delivers something we actually want to play nearly every month. Since launch, a total of 138 PS3 games and a host of PS1 games have been available on the service.
Protip: The “instant game collection” on PS Plus differs from region to region. There are more mainstream titles coming to US and European subscribers, but the Japanese one (you’ll need to pick up some yen-based PlayStation Network credit to buy your sub), has a ridiculous archive of original PlayStation (and, er, PC Engine) games. Are most of them in Japanese? Yes. Did we get a handful of free PS3 games (Shadow of the Colossus HD) games in the process? Oh yes.
Upgrade the PS3′s hard drive
Rather than delete your downloads to make space for new ones, why not expand? Go from 20GB to 300GB. For your shopping list, you’ll need a 2.5-inch internal SATA drive. Many tinkerers suggest one that spins at 5,400 RPM to match the PS3′s original drive and to keep the new one from running too hot. It’s not plug-in-and-play simple — you can’t just pull out the smaller HDD, insert a new one into the PS3 Slim and play away. After backing up your current setup with the console’s backup utility, you’ll need to remove a few screws and gingerly switch out the drives. The only tricky part is remembering to put a system update file on a USB stick alongside your backup data. Thankfully, SCE has provisioned all the instructions needed here, for all three hardware iterations. Make sure you know what you’re doing here, too. Proceed at your own risk, although despite our apprehension, our own installation went without a hitch.
Protip: You saw our first suggestion right? May as well throw in a 500GB — nah, make it a 1TB drive. Game download binge.
Use the (much better) PS4 controller with your PS3
Sony’s newest DualShock is just so much better. It’s more comfortable, looks better and even comes with a smartphone-baiting touch panel and share button, although those last two features aren’t going to work here. The rest of the controller, surprisingly, does work. There are some caveats: There’s no PS button, so it’s really only for use during a game, and it won’t connect to the PS3 wirelessly — you’ll have to keep it tethered while you play. Handily, Reddit users have also compiled a list of games that will (and won’t) work with a PS4 DualShock, and for the fantasists among you, you can pretend that you’re playing on a PS4.
Protip: Did you know that if you put a PS4 game disc into the PS3… nothing really happens? Did you even read the intro? C’mon.
Try PS3 Remote Play on the PS Vita (but don’t depend on it)
Yeah, the PS3 did it first. Unfortunately, it didn’t work all that well. On the PS4, Remote Play is fully functional, but on its predecessor, the feature is limited. That said, the HD remasters of Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and the God of War Collection are all worth playing through on a handheld. Should you do so, we advise staying well within range of the nearest WiFi router — in our experience, Remote Play on PS3 is temperamental, particularly when you lack a robust wireless signal.
Protip: Give it at least four tries. If you liked the experience, well, maybe you should buy a PS4.
Archos announces new 10.1 ArcBook, a Notebook Style Android Solution
Archos has announced a new gadget today called the ArcBook. It will be a budget friendly touch screen Notebook style offering with a little bang for its buck.
The ArcBook will run off a RK3168 DUal-Core processor set at 1.2GHz, offer 1GB of RAM, 8GB internal storage and sport Android 4.2. The screen is a 10.1 capacitive multitouch screen with a lower resolution of 1024 x 600. On the brighter side of the coin though, they boast 10 hours of battery life out of the 8,000 mAh built -in battery. Along with Office Suite Pro 6 pre-installed and full USB host. Not to mention the keyboard and trackpad. It will also have access to the suit of Google apps.
The ArcBook is schedule for release next month and will come in at a pretty low $170.
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