At CES, we determined that if you insist on buying a 3DTV this year, Panasonic should be on the very short list. Now, the company has priced a 3DTV for the first time—$5,900 when converted from yen.

Though Panasonic announced that they’d be selling 3D plasmas in the US starting this year, they’d never spoken of price until a recent press conference in Japan where they stated that their 54-inch, 3D-capable Viera TH-P54VT will run the equivalent of $5,900.

That’s a lot of money. However, the TH-P54VT won’t be the cheapest model available from Panasonic this year, as Panasonic promised 3D models as small as 50-inches.

CrunchGear notes that Panasonic seems to be pricing 3D as an $800 upsell over their premium 2D plasmas, though from piecing together prices, even that estimate may have been a bit conservative.

In truth, there’s no way 99% of the population will drop $5k on any TV when you can finally score a decent quality, 46-inch LCD or plasma for well under a grand. If Panasonic wants glasses-based 3D to take off, they need to price the tech to sell. [Panasonic via CrunchGear]

Say you’ve got an aging laptop that would be perfect for playing WoW or Star Trek Online on your television…if only it had HDMI out—that’s where the Atlona AT-HDVieW comes into play.

Running off mere USB power, the Atlona AT-HDVieW takes VGA and 3.5mm audio, combines the signal and outputs it all at 1080P through HDMI. Plus, the scaler/converter communicates with your TV, ensuring the proper output resolution in case 1080P isn’t just right.

The Atlona AT-HDVieW will be available later this month for $120. In the meantime, those Klingons will need pay for what they’ve done on a 13-inch screen. [Atlona via SlashGear]

For a 20% savings, more than 50% cable and satellite subscribers are likely to jump ship to save money. But Telco TV (services like AT&T U-verse) have a much, much more loyal following. Anecdotally, would you agree? [Multiplayblog via engadgetHD]

Black Hawk Safety Net, an online hacker training resource with 12,000 paying members and another 170,000 free members, was brought down recently by Chinese authorities.

Only three operators of the site were arrested, while the official site itself, 3800hk.com, was put out of commission when the company’s 9 servers were seized. The site provided resources on hacking techniques and trojan software.

Black Hawk Safety net had been attributed with a 2007 attack on—wait for it—an internet cafe that put dozens—dozens—of poor souls out of internet access for 60 hours. [Yahoo via PopSci] [Image]

The point has grown cliche by now, but it’s true. Every week your submissions to Shooting Challenges blow me away. And your polar panoramas just upped that ante on every challenge to come.

Honorable Mention (non-original photography)

Subject: Denali, Alaska
Built from 9 photos
Camera: Nikon D80
Lens: AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 18mm (27mm /35mm equiv.)
Aperture: ƒ/8
Shutter Speed: 1/250
As you can obviously tell by climate, I broke rule 2 because I’m a college student and don’t have time to go out and take photos, but I did want to test my hand at the challenge!
-Isaac Chambers

Second Runner Up

Camera: Sony Cybershot DSC-W50
F-stop: f/5
Exposure time: 1/200 sec.
ISO Speed: ISO-80
Focal length: 16mm
Flash: None
I leave my office right around sunset everyday and park on the top of a garage in the middle of downtown Charleston, SC. I saw a particularly nice sunset and pulled out my basic point and shoot (Sony Cybershot DSC-W50) and took a series of 5 pictures to stitch into a panoramic. After creating the Polar Panorama, I merely adjusted the brightness so that the buildings would show more detail.
-David Crosby

First Runner Up

I shot these with a Nikon D60, 18-55mm kit lens. This was seven 20-second exposures at f5 of the quad at Oklahoma City University.
-Robert Rickner

Winner

Camera: Nikon D5000
Lens: Tamron 28-135
ISO: 500
Exposure: 1/250
Location: Seattle, WA
I had gone out shooting trying to emulate the look of old contrasty but yet washed out photos of boats I had seen all over the harbor and its various shops and thought it would make an interesting juxtaposition using a new technique with an old look. Taken in the Ballard Harbor.
-Tyler Yates

This was the hardest week to judge yet, and I don’t know that anyone can really “win” at art. (So as always, praise our intrepid photographers in the comments.)

Also, for those of you saying “I wish this was in a wallpaper,” just go here: [Gizmodo Flickr]

An alleged leak of fourth-gen iPhone components claims to tell us two things about Apple’s next creation. One, it’s taller. Two, part of its surface is “reflective.”

What iResQ claims to be the next iPhone case sits on the right in our lead shot, alongside the iPhone 3GS’ front assembly.

It’s 1/4 of an inch taller. Boom?
(iPhone 3G, iPhone 3Gs, potential iPhone 4G)

Plus, the top lip of the case has a “reflective, mirror-like surface,” which iResQ assumes is a rearrangement of the iPhone’s proximity sensor (the component that notices when your face is near the phone).

No component leak is all that reliable unto itself, given that it’s not very difficult to manufacture a knockoff plastic case…and stirring up publicity isn’t exactly bad for an iPhone repair shop (the source of the leak). Still, the idea of a slightly taller iPhone? Fine with me, assuming the extra footprint is put to good use. (But even if it wasn’t, would any of us notice this slight difference?) [iResQ via MacRumors]

Sky Siege ($3, available now) uses the iPhone 3GS’ compass and accelerometers to turn the iPhone into a window rather than just a screen, resulting in startlingly immersive gameplay. Don’t know what that means? Just watch this remarkable clip. [iTunes]

After Japan decimated the Allied Fleet in WWII’s Battle of the Java Sea, the Abraham Crijnssen, a minesweeper, was ordered to escape to Australia. To avoid detection, the 186-foot boat was simply covered in branches. [HNSA via MAKE via boingboing]

You hear the 9.7-inch iPad has a screen resolution of 1024×768, and you think to yourself, that’s not so bad! And it’s not. But when you later hear that a new 4-inch smartphone will feature a resolution of 1280×1024, well…

…it’s just tough to be floored by anything less.

(Those of you noting the discrepancy between the spec resolution and the general wideness of the screen: you’re right to do so.)

The Qisda (you also know them as BenQ) QCM-330, expected to debut at the upcoming CeBIT tradeshow this March before being available through Vodafone, features a 4-inch, 1280×1024 screen that could be sharper than life itself, along with HSDPA and Wi-Fi. When compared to the Droid (480 x 854) and the HD2 (480 X 800), it’s pretty amazing. But yes, again, that 1280×1024 is square, and this phone is long, so it’s kind of confusing.

We don’t know much else, other than that it will most likely run Android given the Home key (which makes the prospect of importing a phone for its hardware alone so much more appealing). But if you’re one of those people who doesn’t like to use the same phone as other people, the QCM-330 might be a decent handset to watch. [Unwired View via SlashGear]

Even following Google’s gutsy decision to stop censoring searches in China, they’ve continued to do so while getting caught up in other messes—making this comic ring oh so close to home. [9GAG via theNextWeb]

On one hand the BenQ V2220/V2220H is a 21.5-inch LCD monitor that manages to be the thinnest in its class (just 15mm). On the other, BenQ has taken the whole “dynamic contrast ratio” fib to a whole new level.

They claim a 10,000,000:1 DCR with their edge-lit LED technology.

(Keep in mind, the human eye can only see somewhere between 50,000:1 and 100,000:1…meaning that you can’t even prove BenQ wrong!) But we know the claim is particularly ridiculous, as the static contrast ratio is an absurdly typical 1000:1.

Still, the marketing doesn’t mean you should write off BenQ’s latest ‘V’ LCD line completely. In sizes ranging from 18.5-inches to 24-inches, with inputs including DVI, D-Sub and HDMI (on ‘H’ designated models), Taiwan will receive the new monitors this month for an undisclosed price. Then you’ll be able to score them internationally at a later date. [BenQ via FarEastGizmos]

The machines that make vinyl records today are the same hulking, steaming shapers of goop that were doing it 40 years ago. Very cool. [MAKE]

Say whatever bad things you will about the PS3, but have you ever seen an alien bust out of an Xbox 360’s torso? I didn’t think so.

Just in time for cyborg surrealist Hans Rudi Giger’s birthday (he’s attributed with creating the trademark Alien look), a long-time Alien PS3 modder has completed his latest creation—this far from understated chestburster PS3.

Now if only Sony were ballsy enough to actually mass manufacture one of these mods, I just may be tacky enough to buy it. [Llamma’s Forums via technabob]

You don’t need to be a big shot licensee to develop an HDMI 1.4 compatible 3D product anymore. The powers that be have released the spec for public download, which I assume means that Chinese OEMs everywhere are going nuts at the moment. [HDMI via Engadget]

The only way the Porthole Bath could be more charming? Through the addition of a periscope. $5,100—nuclear core and depth charge detector not included. [Water Monopoly via Bem Legaus via bookofjoe]

Don’t place the Hori Real Arcade Pro Premium VLX on your lap. You may never walk again.

Available in Japan this March for the equivalent of $330, the Hori Real Arcade Pro Premium VLX is the biggest fightstick yet (and probably ever) for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Modeled after the actual Taito Street Fighter IV arcade cabinet, the controller features Sanwa buttons along with a flip up panel that allows you to rewire/configure the device as you see fit.

And let me be the first to say, if you have this ridiculous joystick at home, nobody, and I mean nobody, better be defeating you at Street Fighter. Like, if Yoshiki Okamoto shows up at your house, he loses. All night. [Play Asia via Joystiq]

On April 15th, Microsoft will pull the plug on the Xbox Live service for all original Xbox games—which affects both Xbox 1 games played on both the original Xbox and the Xbox 360.

So say you downloaded an Xbox Originals game onto your Xbox 360. That game will still play just fine, but don’t expect to go online with it. The same general rule applies to every vintage Xbox title no matter the grander Xbox platform.

But by cutting off these older titles (aka pissing off a bunch of Halo 2 fanatics), Microsoft will gain much more flexibility with the Live platform through announcements coming “in the next few weeks.” [Gamerscoreblog via Kotaku]