Portable Potential
Blu Ray is slowly popularizing itself in the home entertainment market today and could very soon become mainstream (most people are just waiting for the price tag to go down).
In anticipation of suck a day Panasonic has released the first portable Blu Ray player, the Panasonic DMP-B15. At $800 the player matches the pricing of the disks, but I guess that’s to be expected. If you’re investing in Blu Ray already odds are your desperate for portability. With an 8.9 inch LCD display the size of the device is nothing to sneer at, but Blu Ray is all about picture to begin with. The player comes packaged with its own remote.
I know I don’t have the cash to invest in any Blu Ray at the moment, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the picture quality and technological progression. Just like DVD’s, one day the prices will come down.
A Movie of Convenience
We all know and love Fandango. We can buy tickets (most importantly) but also read reviews. More popular review sites include Rotten Tomatoes (they’re usually pretty accurate in their ratings). Now there’s a new site that goes one step further in its reviews.
Runpee.com doesn’t care if the movie’s great or not, it wants the experience to be enjoyable. In that sense this site does something no one else does, they screen for the most appropriate times in any new releases to run to the bathroom. They list both the time (how long the movie’s been running) as well as the line/scene you’re waiting for before you run out. That’s right, sometimes with that extra large Pepsi there just isn’t a chance you’re gonna make it to the end. But hey, you’ve checked Rotten Tomatoes and you know the movie’s good. Well Runpee makes sure you only miss the less than necessary parts. How convenient.
Movie Mash
I love Youtube. I love watching music videos full of clips of my favorite shows. I like watching clip mashups, and I like seeing home made trailers. Now Elgato has made it even easier for Mac users to create just such masterpieces with its video capture.
Video capture basically connects your computer to an analog video source and helps you convert video from your television to video on your computer (ready to use online, or on your ipod). With these new files you can watch your favorite TV on the go or use it to create the next great online sensation. It’s totally worth it for the advancement of online art.
Tech Movie Trivia
I’m pretty good with movies. Remembering titles, release dates, stars. Anyone with my phone number knows they can text me if they need a bit of cinematic information, but to be honest, I don’t always have my phone.
Nokia’s Point and Find technology may just make me obsolete. The concept is simple. Use a Nokia phone to take a photo of a movie poster and your phone will do a net search for relevant information. Release dates will no longer be a problem.
Nokia hopes ot expand the service so that information about things beyond Hollywood can also be accessed, but you’ve gotta start somewhere.
Twilight Mama
I can’t let the weekend pass without commenting on the cultural phenomenon that is Twilight. I know I’m not the only Twilight Mom out there.
To be honest, it’s been a while since I have purchased a DVD. I typically prefer downloading to my Tivo via Amazon Unbox. However, I just had to have the three-disc set from Target.
Now buyers have so many options–one disc, two disc, blu-ray, HD, download.
Target scored with the three-disc bonus and they let buyers have a free download of the movie from iTunes.
Amazon kept their pre-order customers happy by offering a free digital download so you didn’t have to wait for delivery on Monday since the movie came out on Saturday (12:01 a.m.)
How did you get your Twilight fix?
Two for One
Infinity Storage Media has unveiled the first DVD Blu Ray hybrid disk.
The disk is single sided but provides both DVD and Blu Ray data (basically the disk can play in both a Blu Ray player and as a standard DVD). This is especially convenient since most of us already own DVD players and I don’t know that I’m ready to give mine up. Lets be honest some of us are waiting for Blu Ray prices to drop before we invest, but wouldn’t it be nice to build up a library in advance? More importantly it makes traveling easier since, even if you already own a Blu Ray player, Blu Ray does not yet have a portable device like DVDs nor do laptops support Blu Ray disks (but they do support DVDs).
Infinity it the first company to actually bring such an idea into production, and it certainly can’t hurt home movie popularity.
Not your daddy’s 3D
3D is making a comeback. With new commercials during the Super Bowl and a full-length episode of NBC’s Chuck on Monday, 3D is coming to TV.
DreamWorks Animation will show a preview for its upcoming “Monsters vs. Aliens” in 3D during the Super Bowl Sunday, February 1. In addition, another spot will highlight Sobe Life Water energy drinks. The advertising block will air at the end of the second quarter of the Super Bowl.
Some 150 million pairs of 3D glasses are being distributed at nearly 30,000 Pepsi/Sobe Life Water displays around the country.
According to an article in PC Magazine, Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg says that the studios films will be made in 3D from “here on out.” The films use a technology called InTru3D, which was developed by a partnership with Intel. Another big change from traditional 3D is the effect isn’t the result of red and blue filtering, which often leaves colors washed out. Using ColorCode, images appear normal to the naked eye but slight variations in the coloring of the image produces the 3D effect when viewed through the appropriate lenses.
It should be a treat. Grab your glasses and a drink and settle in for the game Sunday.
Portable Entertainment on the Fly
I posted about Myvu crystal specs a while back, and it seems, since then, Nikon too has jumped on the portable entertainment band wagon.
The Media Port Up 300 and 300X look very much like flight control headsets, although it’s not a microphone out front, it’s a screen. I don’t know how I feel about the look of the thing, but I don’t know about the Myvu glasses either. The models come in 4 GB and 8 GB and offer up to 120 minutes of video. The coolest feature is really the no hands control. Nod your head this way or that and you can control your own video playback (be careful if you’re falling asleep).
Copyright Compromise
Movies have started their legal clime into the world of Youtube. After years of copyright infringement and movies posted in twelve parts a new era seems to be making its way online.
MGM has become the first major Hollywood studio to sign a deal with Youtube. The hope is that other studios will follow suit. Things aren’t perfect yet of course, right now the only official clips to be aired on the web site are shorts and television shows, but the deal does open a line of communication that didn’t exist before.
Perhaps Hulu is the best streaming site for official shows and movies at the moment but it seems Youtube is ready to work its way into the legitimate market. Only so many “funniest home videos” are funny for long.
It’s that lack of time again
It’s no small secret that the computer can hinder work (homework in particular) as much as it can enhance it. In honor of the numerous procrastinators everywhere here are my top three choices for tools of procrastination (at least at the moment):
1) Facebook. This should be no surprise to most people. Beyond updating one’s own profile, fooling with any of the, what feels like billions, of available applications, there’s also the ever time wasting habit of “facebook stalking”. In other words, surfing through the pages of friends and acquaintances to check out any new dirt in areas including (but not limited to) status, pictures, and relationship. With a plethora of possibilities facebook is all but procrastination heaven.
2) Imdb. That’s right, the internet movie database. I’m a movie buff, so it’s not for everyone, but for me, it’s a key visit when I need a little (or a not so little) break. Beyond the gossip centered news section I can search for information on upcoming movies or on favorite stars future projects. If I’m really settling in for a long visit the “Trivia” link is always entertaining at the top of a stars page, so too is the “Goofs” link for certain movies. A little quote browsing too can pass the time nicely.
3) MacBrickout. I tend to change my procrastination game from time to time, but now it’s MacBrickout. It’s addictive (as most of my procrastination oriented games are) and is also downloadable, which makes it particularly convenient when a wireless internet connection is unavailable. It’s a simple premise, anyone can play. Slide a paddle along the bottom of the screen (like pong) to keep a ball bouncing and clear all the bricks to pass to the next level. To make it even more interesting capsules and bubbles fall from the ceiling that can do anything from raise your score to cause your paddle to disappear. The shareware version can be downloaded for free.
