Author: Jack Loftus

This bit of Blu-Ray news was left suspiciously out of Sony’s CES keynotes and big reveals, which doesn’t bode well…but anyway. Now it’s out: The BD Live feature MovieIQ Sync debuted with Michael Jackson‘s This Is It. Woo?

Now, what does this feature do, exactly? Well here’s a refresher…it lets you view supplementary materials on your PC or iPhone while you watch the movie, without any of it appearing on the TV screen. The “sync” part means the information presented on your monitor or iPhone is synced up appropriately with the movie.

The disc also has a feature that allows owners to create and share custom playlists using songs from the movie. Again, not a lot of fanfare about this. Could it be that most people don’t really mess around with all this extra crap on their discs, and just, you know, want to watch the movie? [BigPictureBigSound via Engadget]

Hey storage fiends? The 4TB WSS NAS monster from Buffalo just jumped the Pacific and made its way Stateside. The smokey smell is your credit card.

At $2,000, the 4TB version may be a bit steep for some, and the 2TB version for $1,600 ain’t much cheaper. But that’s still a lot of storage.

For comparison’s sake, one of this unit’s predecessors, a 3TB beast launched in 2007, was $2183. One extra terabyte, just $183. Now, what to fill it with… [PR Newswire via Engadget]

Forget PowerMats and wireless charging and the like, because the Airnergy wi-fi signal harvester is my new front runner for the future of gadget charging.

It’s not exactly new tech, as ohGizmo notes, but it’s the first application that’s of any real use to consumers. Put simply, Airnergy takes the energy created by wi-fi signals and stores it in a rechargeable battery. At CES, the device’s battery, which I believe was precharged with Wi-Fi power, was able to charge a BlackBerry from 30% power to full power in about 90 minutes.

Pretty handy, and supposedly available this summer for $40. Not too shabby, and very appealing considering how ubiquitous wi-fi hotspots are these days. Very simple, somewhat cheap and incredibly useful if it works are advertised—by far one of the coolest things I’ve seen come out of CES this year. [OhGizmo]

For many X-Wings in the Star Wars universe, the end came as a spectacular explosion on the field of battle. Not so much for this RCX-4 helicopter. For it, the end will no doubt arrive as a boring ol’ lawsuit.

First spied at CES, hovering in the air and openly thumbing its nose at George Lucas and Lucasfilm, the RCX-4 is a four screw beast of an RC helicopter that bears more than just a passing resemblance to the workhorse of the Rebellion. And like Dak, Luke’s enthusiastic but doomed gunner in The Empire Strikes Back, it too feels as though it could take on the whole Empire by itself, if not for that pesky IP issue that will surely bring it down very, very soon.

So its days are numberd, but even so this knockoff sounds decidedly un-knockoff in the quality department. Developer Digitronics promises easy flight thanks to an on board gyro and simple controls. The aluminum case is beefy. The asking price is steep. The chopper even has the ability to hover safely in place all by its lonesome, should you have to put the controller down to take receipt of a subpoena or something. [ars technica]

By way of Kotaku, we hear about Canadian blogger Rinry, who subjected eight NES cartridges to all manner of video game torture and hell. When the dust settled, seven of the cartridges still worked. [Kotaku]

We’ve seen batteries charged by outlets and by cranks, but this concept from designers Song Teaho and Hyejin Lee is the first that charges with a twirl.

However, like all things tagged concept, this battery doesn’t *technically* exist yet.

Still, Teaho and Lee both hypothesize that this battery, should it become the real deal, would require about 130 twirls for two-minutes talk time.

From what I’ve seen of crank-charged batteries, that seems relatively plausible (and tiring). Get to work, fellas. [design(dot)fr via Engadget]

The New York Times takes an interactive look at what Netflix users are watching in a dozen U.S. cities, including my backyard, Boston. My neighbors are watching what now?

Oh, just Mad Men, it seems, with a sizable pocket in Cambridge. We’re so liberal.

And why the heck was Eagle Eye so popular on the North Shore last year? Anyone? [New York Times via Slashdot]

The few times I go bowling each year are more about pitchers of cheap beer than they are satiating some desire for the perfect game, but nevertheless I’m intrigued by this “smart ball” from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Developed by sports scientist Franz Fuss, the smart bowling ball contains aluminum tubes in the finger holes that track the force a bowler applies to each roll. Fuss had ten bowlers of different skill levels bowl various shots down the lane, measured the force, and used it to try and find the perfect shot.

The simple system found that the better bowlers were consistent (surprise!), in that they always pinched the ball with “much greater force prior to release.” This allowed for a much faster delivery than the newbs, and of course higher scores. [New Scientist]

The Westminster Chiming Grandfather clock is an obelisk of discarded toys. At 2.2 meters tall, it’s also a monstrous, functioning timepiece that now resides in, where else, Dubai.

But how was it created? Well, just a little Buzz Lightyear here, Hulk action figure there, and then a coat of high gloss polyurethane white paint to seal everyone in.

There are more out there, says designer Ryan Mc Elhinney, with the toys used symbolizing the client’s childhood memories. This leads me to believe some clocks are far scarier than others. [Dezeen]

The Microvision pico-projector video game gun controller we profiled last month might actually see the light of day—and soon. Who’s ready for some murky, awkward angle FPS fun?

I mean, I kid Microvision about the fact that you’d need a cylindrical room with nothing on the walls and no light to use this controller properly, really, but nevertheless—my angst aside—there seems to be enough demand in place that their CEO is going to market this thing sooner rather than later.

CEO Alexander Tokman said manufacturer samples are slated to be sent out later this year, with cellphone, video game and other markets creating real, live products sometime in 2011. Because random, screaming kids playing Gears of War 2 on the side of the subway during the morning rush would be totally cool with me… [Projector Info]

Much like the multi-million dollar jet systems that inspired it, the Saitek Pro Flight X65F joystick/throttle system for PCs doesn’t move at all. That’s right, not an inch, and yet the controls were compared to mind control. [ars technica]

The X65F uses “force sensing” tech, just like military planes today. In layman’s terms, that means no moving parts.

Apply subtle pressure to the ‘stick, and your plane banks and turns on a dime.

Twist the controller for precise rudder control, writes ars technica, and then before you know it the joystick is performing almost like an extension of your hand.

Dual engine control for games that support it, or lock them together for games that don’t.

Saitek claims that with the X65F there are 608 possible commands a player can issue without ever taking their hands off the controls.

And while the X65F won’t cost you millions, it certainly isn’t cheap at $400. This is not including the optional “Saitek Pro Flight Instrument Panels” that you can bolt on the back for a crazy amount of realism. [Saitek via ars technica]

Anyone feeling extra geeky today? Well you should. Today’s date, when written in a six digit format (MMDDYY), is a binary style number. Updated.

Writes reader Eric, who tipped us off about the date earlier this morning:

It just occurred to me that today’s six digit date format (MMDDYY or YYMMDD) is in binary style. Thought this was interesting and wanted to share it with the Gizmodo team. From what I can tell, this looks like it will be the only year it happens and will happen four times (January 1st and 10th and October 1st and 10th).

As you can see, this neat little phenomenon will happen a few more times throughout this year and next. 2010: Geekiest year ever? Update: As noted below, “Oct. 10th 2011 November 11, 2011 will be the last binary day of this century.”

OLED displays are already something beautiful, but this unnamed Japanese company, spied at CES, has taken the technology and turned it into some truly awe-inspiring artwork.

The individual panels seen in the video actually line up to form a flowing scene. The effect is kind of cool, popping into place only when the cameraman views it at the right angle. There’s also an elaborate fan toward the back of the booth that we glimpse momentarily, as well as a number of OLED flowers.

Like most things OLED, none of the stuff seen here is cheap. Purported asking price for the first piece is $100,000. The flowers go for a more modest $100 apiece.

Really, it’s only a matter of time before society comes around to the idea of moving OLED artwork and something like this is sharing space in a museum with a da Vinci, don’t you think? [OLED Info]

I’m still not sold on pico-projectors, but obviously that fact hasn’t stopped companies from continuing to make them. I even saw one on a cellphone in a commercial once—they’re so mainstream, man! And now Favi has two more:

Who? Right. Favi’s a first-timer around here. Anyway, they have two new additions to the pico-projector space: The RIOLED-Q and the RIOLED-V, two distinct little things that focus on business use (the former) and Linux/web apps (the latter.)

In the former’s case, “business” translates into a bright, 2-speaker-sporting pico-projector with A/V, VGA and USB connections. There’s memory built in, although it’s not said how much, and the form factor is small (note the pen), which is no surprise.

The RIOLED-V is actually a netbook slash projector, featuring Linux, web apps (YouTube, Flickr and a few other ubiquitous ones like weather and email were mentioned) and wi-fi. It kind of reminded me of that MSI projector PC the CES guys spotted out in Vegas this week, albeit a smaller, half-baked version that does not look anything like a small space ship with 1080p.

Both projectors are due out in February or early March. Maybe I’ll come around on the whole pico-projector category by then. [Pico-Projector Info]

The compact Samsung NX10 is official this evening, with many if not all of the features we saw leaked in December making the final cut in time for some hands-on time at CES.

If you missed the fanfare in December, here’s a recap:

Samsung’s goal with the NX series was to introduce a DSLR-sized sensor, in this case APS-C, that’s actually a bit larger than the one found in Micro Four Thirds. Then they went and put that sensor in a mirror-less, interchangeable lens body that’s smaller than a traditional DSLR, and… If this is giving anyone déjà vu, it’s probably because this is the same idea behind the aforementioned Micro Four Thirds camera format.

Also making it into the final body are 720p HD video functionality (H.264 codec) and a 3.0-inch AMOLED viewscreen in the rear:

Samsung, by way of a press release sent to Gizmodo, claimed the AMOLED screen has a response rate that’s 10,000 times faster than a conventional LCD. All this with a promised lower power consumption and higher contrast ratio at 10,000:1.

A few more of the specs, provided by Samsung:

View Finder – Electronic viewfinder
Movie – 720p HD (MP4. H.264)
Size & Weight – 4.8″ x 3.4″ x 1.6″ (excluding the projecting parts of the camera) .78 lbs (without battery and card)
ISO – 100 – 3200
Flash – Built-in Pop-up Flash
OIS – Lens Shift
Dust reduction – Supersonic Type
Special Features – APS-C sized image sensor, 3.0″ AMOLED, Smart Range, HDMI (Anynet +), Fast &, Decisive Contrast AF, New DRIMe II Pro engine and advanced AF algorithm
Availability – Spring 2010

The body comes in black and also Titan Silver, a color we didn’t know about before. Maybe the new color will make Matt change his mind about the looks. Probably not.

Maybe the little guy is safe. Maybe he went…around back? In any event, this senseless celestial murder was captured by SOHO today. The dirty deed gets done toward the end, coming from left to right. [Tom’s Astronomy Blog]

Even if you drop your phone down a hole, or trap it in a locked briefcase, ZOMM promises to be there to connect incoming calls. It’s kind of like a leash for those of us prone to abusing our phones.

Powered by Bluetooth, this hockey puck works as both a wireless speakerphone for inaccessible phones, and as an alarm should you leave your phone somewhere, forget it’s there and start to walk out of range.

Slated for an official CES release, the device has a rumored $80 price point. Kind of expensive and niche, but could be useful in a pinch. [technabob]

With the Lenovo laptop/netbook CES leak still fresh in our minds, let us consider Toshiba and Gateway this afternoon, and the netbooks we now know they’ll be bringing to the show as well:

The netbooks in question here are all based on Intel’s N450 “Pine Trail” chip, reports CNET, and were first spotted at Canadian retailer Future Shop. Both are similar in configuration, but not price, with Gateway weighing in at about $285, and the Toshiba at $438. Both models will come standard with 1.66GHz Atom processors, 160GB or 250GB hard disk drives (Gateway and Toshiba, respectively), 10.1-inch screens, 1GB of memory, and Intel’s GMA 3150 Express graphics chip. [CNET]

With the new year you might have expected an end to the retaliatory Luke Wilson AT&T versus Verizon coverage map ads. You expect wrong. Here’s a new one, now with revised numbers and a new blazer!

You see, while it is indeed a completely new commercial, the data advertised within experiences a subtle change. One that centers on 3G. Now the AT&T commercial showcases that the 3G network covers 230 million Americans, keyword 3G.

For the before we must go to the video tape:

Just a subtle change, and I only point it out today with the hope that it will inspire someone, somewhere, to parody these commercials, post haste. If they don’t, I fear we may have experience Luke Wilson and his never-ending collection of tweed blazers for all of 2010 as well. Editor’s Note: Clarified the subtle numbers change above. Thanks for the comment. [CNET]

We know the Europeans have been tooling around with Droid and mutlitouch since December, but today, courtesy a hack of sorts, we Yanks can have it too, albeit for a browser only in this particular case.

All you have to do is follow about five steps over at AllDroid and it’s yours. You’ll need to root your phone first, of course, so this isn’t really a mom and pops operation just yet. There are also a few downloads and deletions to be aware of as well.

Voila. Users report that it works just fine on version 2.1, even as a beta. [AllDroid via Redmond Pie – Thanks, Taimur]