Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Even though it’s in nearly every phone available, only a few flat panels with integrated wireless networking have surfaced so far, and now LG’s packing Bluetooth into its already highly anticipated “infinite black” PG7000 plasma and Scarlet LG7000 LCD models. Pricetags are still in the air, but LG says these flatscreens will hit worldwide starting with Europe in September.

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Original post by Richard Lawler

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Panasonic’s finally shipping the larger editions of its latest plasmas, from the updated and suddenly more famous 103-inch model to the 65- and 58-inch PZ800 series that have been leaking into U.S. stores recently. Japan also gets the top of the line PZR900 series that takes the YouTube access available in the latest PZ850 series and throws in a 1 TB DVR to go along with the 30,000:1 contrast ratio and acTVila HD video on-demand support, packed into 42-, 50-, and 58-inch panels. Of course, for those with 5.1 million yen ($48,314 U.S.) laying around and a large amount of wall space, the king sized TH-103PZ800 is nearly entry-level priced compared to its $70,000 predecessor, so why not treat yourself? You deserve it.

Read - TH-103PZ800
Read - TH-65PZ800, TH-58PZ800
Read - TH-50PZR900, TH-46PZR900, TH-42PZR900

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Original post by Richard Lawler

Panasonic likes rolling out jaw-droppingly big tellies. Usually of the type that we can’t afford but, nonetheless impressive to stand in front of at shows, drooling. This time out, the company is prepping a new 103in Plasma TV, the TH-103PZ800, for the IFA Show 2008, which kicks off on Friday. This is a third generation 103-incher and while the specs are impressive, it’s most notable because it’s around £10,000 cheaper than its predecessor launched in February.OK, at around £25,000, it’s still not cheap but at this rate, I’ll be able to afford one in around 5-7 years. Alright I’m joking since I think HD projectors are the only way to go for the really big picture without going bankrupt. This is a Full HD telly, with Deep Colour and x.v. Colour support, a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, 4 HDMI slots, Ethernet, SD Card slot and VIERA Link tech for hooking up simply to other Panasonic kit. Just make sure your wall can take this baby since it weighs in at 756 pounds. Oh, and there’s no speakers. Go figure.-Martin Lynch [Akihabaranews] news TV HDTV

Original post by nafiz

Filed under: HDTV

Hard to believe but Panasonic just introduced its third generation 103-inch plasma just in time for IFA. Model TH-103PZ800 adds a few more HDMI (4x 1080/24p) jacks with Deep Color and x.v.Color support, a smattering of tuners, a 10,000:1 contrast, and VIERA Link compatibility to ease the connectivity of all your like-minded, Panny gear. In fact, this set looks primed for home-use, not just the businesses and trust-funders targeted by Panny’s previous monster sets. Ready for order on August 26th (shipping in September for Japan) for ¥5.6 million or a bit more than $50k — a steep, $20k price drop since February. But at 7-feet wide and nearly 6-feet tall you’ll be paying a bit extra for professional installation to keep this 756-pound (343-kg) beast off your toes and out of your milkshake.

[Via Impress]

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Samsung’s Series 7 / 8 / 9 plasmas and LCDs have broken cover already in Europe or North America, including the slim PAVV Bordeaux 850 (pictured), but Asia gets first crack at the company’s local dimming LED backlighting tech trickling down into the 40-inch LCD size range. Auto Motion Plus 120Hz technology, 1080p, 1,000,000:1 contrast ratios are a must, while also substituting direct YouTube access for the U.S. version’s USA Today-powered InfoLink RSS service. No word on the prices the newly expanded Bordeaux line, but we’re more interested in how soon the latest in backlighting technology is moving downmarket.

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Original post by Richard Lawler

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Samsung’s Series 7 / 8 / 9 plasmas and LCDs have broken cover already in Europe or North America, including the slim PAVV Bordeaux 850 (pictured), but Asia gets first crack at the latest iteration of the company’s local dimming LED backlighting tech trickling down into the 40-inch LCD size range. Auto Motion Plus 120Hz technology, 1080p, 2,000,000:1 contrast ratios are a must, while also substituting direct YouTube access for the U.S. version’s USA Today-powered InfoLink RSS service. No word on the prices the newly expanded Bordeaux line, but we’re more interested in how soon the latest in backlighting technology is moving downmarket.

Update: Not first, just new, although that shouldn’t sate our appetite for a future LN40A950 one bit. [Thanks to all for pointing that out]

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Original post by Richard Lawler

Filed under: Transportation

Ad Astra’s VASIMR plasma rocket is about ready for testing, only problem is it requires the vacuum of space to do it in. NASA is now considering taking the rocket up to the International Space Station, clipping it on and firing her up — perhaps even using it to reposition the station. Formerly of NASA, Franklin Chang Diaz left to form Ad Astra and perfect his plasma rocket, which he hopes will be able to take space vehicles from low-earth orbit to the moon. The rocket draws its own power from solar cells, and then uses radio waves to heat argon into plasma, and directs that plasma using magnets. Pretty fancy stuff, and since the rocket is reusable and can propel payloads double the size of equivalent chemical engines, there could be cost savings in the long run. Right now it seems the main hang ups for NASA are where to attach the rocket to the ISS where it won’t be interfered with, and how to get it into space after the space shuttle is retired in 2010

[Via Newlaunches.com]

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Not a huge fan of the LCD HDTV? Is plasma more your style? Fantastic, because Samsung just took the (official) lid off of the already spotted 7 Series plasma lineup. Featuring the outfit’s Touch of Color design, a 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, daytime / nighttime calibration options and a DNIe Pro video processor, this trio makes no bones about which rival it’s gunning for. The entire crew also features InfoLink RSS access, a USB 2.0 port (WiseLink Pro), DLNA compatibility, four HDMI-CEC jacks and 1080p panels. Read up on the full rundown of specs in the read link, and prepare to hand over $2,799.99 for the 50-inch PN50A760, $4,499.99 for the 58-inch PN58A760 or $5,499.99 for the 63-inch PN63A760 sometime next month.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Apparently we aren’t the only ones miffed by the WiFi-enabled ESPN Ultimate Remote. After peeling this thing out of its dumbbell-esque packaging, critics over at PC Magazine were simply unimpressed from the get-go. For starters, this thing actually belts out the network’s theme song when you turn it on. If that’s not reason enough to hold tight to your three Benjamins, you should also know that it “didn’t execute any of its fancy web tricks gracefully,” and setup was anything but simple. It gets worse. Reviewers stated that it was uncomfortable to hold, the buttons were too tightly packed and you’re not able to send / receive emails from just any email address. If you really need more convincing that this thing probably isn’t a good buy (particularly with all those other alternatives out there), check out the full review in the read link.

[Via ZatzNotFunny]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Peripherals

Just in time for Father’s Day, ESPN’s tvCompass-built WiFi Ultimate Remote is finally available, and rapidly making its way into the awaiting, Cheeto-stained fingertips of a couch potato near you. It still costs $300, and with a good number of laptops retailing for that price these days, it’s certainly hard to justify, but forget all that… who on earth thought this packaging was a good idea? It kind of looks like a dumbell, but not. We’re really at a loss for words here. It’s almost like ESPN wants to fail.

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Peripherals

Our pals over at Zatz Not Funny go their hands on one of those newfangled, silly-expensive WiFi Ultimate Remotes built by tvCompass for ESPN. They found the built-in episode guide to be quite nice, and the potential for content partnerships beyond the existing ESPN sports content “limitless.” So, $300 worth of limitless? Time shall tell.

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Home Entertainment

ESPN’s unleashing The Ultimate Remote, developed by tvCompass, complete with 2.2-inch QVGA LCD screen and 802.11 b/g WiFi stuffed in a 6.5 oz package. It’s certainly a serious contender with the Harmony One — and priced like it, at $300. The marketing info claims no PC is required for setup, recharging via USB, an internet browser with real time access to scores, fantasy info and TV listings for broadcast, cable and satellite from click365’s wireless partners. There’s even a messaging feature for texting from remote to remote, email, or to a cellphone. We got a glimpse of it at Microsoft’s booth during CES, and while it claims “Advanced Microsoft Windows operating software” it’s not talking about SideShow. It reminds us a lot of the Ricavision VAVE100 MCE/SideShow remote, but with a slightly different feature set. Father’s Day is coming up and suddenly walking over to the computer (or keeping a laptop or PDA/phone on the couch) is sounding like a lot of unnecessary work. Check after the break for a bigger pic with keypad breakdown, or head to Amazon to preorder.

[Via Electronista]

Continue reading ESPN unveils The Ultimate Remote, is WiFi worth $300?

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Original post by Richard Lawler

Filed under: Laptops

While not quite as exciting as March’s week of Latitude scoops, we’ve got ourselves some infos on what look to be Dell’s upcoming Inspiron 1435, 1535 and 1735 consumer laptops. Seems they’ll all be sharing the same basic design language, pictured above, and will be privy to some rather expansive aesthetic customization options if you’re into that type of thing. Specs are the typical Dell smorgasbord of options, but all three laptops start at around 1-inch thick and taper up to 1.5 inches thick. All three also sport slot-loading drives, with a Blu-ray option, and processors ramp up to Core 2 Duo T5850 2.16GHz chips. 3G options are also available across the lineup, and just about anything else you might find useful in a mid-range laptop. Apparently the 1435 isn’t due until October, but the 1735 is coming on June 9 and the 1535 on the 26th of this month.

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Cellphones

The hot word on the street is that Palm has all but confirmed the existence of two new phone models by ramping up a “launch developer” program for new applications. The devices, dubbed Zeppelin (a name we’ve heard quite a bit of) and Skywriter (which is new to us) could be slated for a Q3 release, as Palm is asking devs to turn in their applications by May 30th. Rumor has it that at least one of the units is a “Centro-like” Windows Mobile phone — if that date is close to correct, it could very well be the “Wanda” that we saw back in January. The Zeppelin, on the other hand, is likely the WiFi equipped Treo 800w we’ve been hearing about for what seems like a million years. A mockup of a device (above) was included in the email, though we’re pretty sure not even Palm could create a phone that ugly.

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Gaming

Alright, take this one with a huge grain of salt, but MTV News is reporting that Microsoft is secretly developing a Wiimote-like motion controller for the Xbox 360. The source says that the new unit has been under development since August, and that a new unified interface is being developed by Rare, which has missed a few deadlines. The idea is to match and exceed the capabilities of the Wiimote, so the controller reportedly features four face buttons, an analog stick, a microphone, and possibly integration with the Xbox Live Vision Camera. However, it doesn’t seem like things are going all that smoothly — the source says the project is a “colossal clusterf***,” and that Microsoft is scrambling to figure out how to get the thing out by the end of the year. Interesting — but several other major 360 developers wouldn’t confirm anything, so until we hear something for real, interesting is about as far as it goes.

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Original post by Nilay Patel