The Society for Information Display has selected the winners for Display of the Year, Display Component of the Year, and Display Application of the Year.
Display of the Year goes to AU Optronics’s 55-inch, 4K x 2K, 2D/3D switchable glasses-free TV. According to Information Display: “AUO’s proprietary display made its debut in Japan in December 2011 and is currently the world’s first 4K x 2K TV display, as well as the largest glasses-free 4K x 2K 3-D TV display commercially available.”
“The display features a 4K x 2K (or ‘quad-HD’) resolution of 3840 x 2160 for vivid and lifelike 2-D images,” notes the article. “Meanwhile, a simple switch by the viewer converts the image instantly into 3D format, with 3D support for up to nine positions based on the TV’s built-in face-tracking camera.”
Qualcomm’s Mirasol Display Technology earned the silver award for Display of the Year.
Display Component of the Year was awarded to Nanosys’s Quantum-Dot Enhanced Film (QDEF), which uses quantum dots to create a pure-white backlight for LCDs. The backlight produces a wide color-gamut resulting in vivid colors that are more true-to-life.
Samsung’s Galaxy Note took Display Application of the Year. The Galaxy Note is a portable communication device that combines a smartphone and a tablet. The device includes a 5.3-inch, 800 x 1280 pixels AMOLED display that can handle deeper blacks than LCDs and 95 percent of natural colors.
The silver award for Display Application of the Year goes to Perceptive Pixel’s 82-inch Projected-Capacitive Unlimited Multi-Touch and Stylus LCD.
Mozilla launched a new version of Firefox on Tuesday that features a number of speed improvements and layout upgrades.
Firefox 13 includes new shortcut icons that offer direct access to downloads, add-ons, bookmarks and history, syncing across devices, and more.
Additionally, the “Restore Previous Session” icon opens previous tabs used the last time Firefox was open.
“Similar to Google Chrome, Mozilla plans to use the Start Page as a gateway to enter the Apps Market in order to help users find new extensions to install. The Start Page can be pinned as an App Tab in order to allow users quick access to the shortcuts,” reports Digital Trends. “Also similar to Google Chrome, Mozilla has added support for nine thumbnails that display recently viewed sites when opening up a new tab.”
Those interested in downloading the new version can do so via the Mozilla site “or simply wait until the browser updates the software automatically over the next week,” notes the post.
Broadcast service provider NHK recently demonstrated a 33-megapixel Super Hi-Vision-format camera at the NHK Open House event in Tokyo.
The company claims the camera can shoot 7580 x 4320 video at 120 frames per second (that’s about four billion pixels per second).
NHK opted to boost the frame rate from 60 to 120fps once it was determined that moving objects appeared too blurry on Super Hi-Vision wall-size displays. The company also created a new analog-to-digital converter to address the video’s higher bitrate.
“The craziest thing is that this camera uses a 1.5-inch CMOS sensor that’s actually smaller than what’s found on conventional Ultra-High Definition sensors,” reports PCWorld. “It sounds like an impressive piece of tech, if a little gratuitous at this stage, given current HDTVs top out at 1920-by-1080-pixel resolution.”
“This 1.5-inch CMOS sensor is smaller and uses less power when compared to conventional Ultra High Definition sensors, and it is also the world’s first to support the full specifications of the Ultra High Definition standard,” notes DigInfo in its video report included in the post.
At the E3 Expo in Los Angeles this week, Nintendo unveiled its new Wii U console and Wii U Gamepad. According to Nintendo: “at its core, Wii U changes gaming, how you interact with your gaming friends, and it changes the way you enjoy your TV.”
Nintendo’s Reggie Fils Aime announced during the keynote that new partners will provide content to the Wii U, including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, and YouTube.
The Gamepad features a pressure-sensitive touchscreen and directional pad. It will also include an NFC reader/writer and a gyroscope/accelerometer, as noted earlier by ETCentric. The new controller enables viewing of multiple screens — on the TV and the Wii U Gamepad.
This two-screen group play gaming experience could be the prototype for a new in-theater gaming and socializing experience. It could also create a new category of “third location” places in competition with Starbucks and other coffee shops.
“The company is also introducing MiiVerse, which Nintendo refers to as a Main Street for gamers,” reports TechCrunch. “Each of your friends will be displayed there in avatar form, and you’ll be able to share screen images, send text messages, and display your recent scores within the bubble hovering above your Mii.”
The Wii U is expected for a holiday release. No pricing information was provided.
Boxee has launched Cloudee, its new cloud storage solution. The company is currently offering the service as a free beta app for the iPhone.
Cloudee allows users to privately share videos without posting them on YouTube or other sites.
“For a while now, it’s been painful to get our personal videos to the TV screen — our Road Trips, Boxee Meetups, family videos with our kids,” explains Avner Ronen, founder and CEO of Boxee. “Some of these videos were on our phones, others on our laptop or network storage, and the ones we really wanted to see were always taken by our friends.”
“Already a de facto leader in the cloud computing space, Apple offers a similar service through its iCloud photostream service, which the company is expected to relaunch shortly,” reports MediaPost. “As with Apple customers, however, Cloudee is not insisting that its users sync their devices to gain access across multiple platforms.”
Boxee plans to launch a future paid version of its cloud service featuring unlimited video storage. Subscribers will have access to their video content via a Boxee Box or any browser.
Just two months following the release of its new Excite tablets, Toshiba has unveiled its summer lineup of ultrabooks, featuring three new devices.
Expected to hit shelves by June/July for under $1,000 is the updated Portege Z935 and the new low-cost Satellite U845. However, it’s Toshiba’s super widescreen Satellite U845W drawing the initial buzz.
Set for a July 15 release at $1,000 and up, the U845W runs the latest Intel Core processors and touts a 500GB hard drive, up to 8GB of RAM, a 1792 x 768 display, and a 32GB or 256GB solid-state drive.
“Instead of a standard widescreen, Toshiba has built this guy with an extremely widescreen, with a full 21:9 aspect ratio; the world’s first laptop with a screen wide enough to fully display a fully widescreen film,” reports Digital Trends. “We found watching movie trailers and other video to be quite enjoyable on the 14.4-inch super widescreen, which has large speakers on either side, which provide louder sound than I’ve ever heard from a laptop.”
The Satellite U845W includes an Ethernet port, SD card slot, HDMI port and three USB 3.0 ports.
“Toshiba is also positioning this as a multitasker’s dream laptop,” notes the post. “New software lets you easily create Window layouts and snap windows into new formations and grids. We’re not sure why Windows doesn’t already have these features, but we like them.”
At the Society for Information Display’s Display Week show in Boston this week, Corning unveiled Willow Glass — a strong and flexible glass that the company plans to use for OLED and LCD displays in smartphones and other wireless devices.
Corning claims the new technology will enable devices that are lighter, thinner and possibly less expensive to manufacture.
“Corning expects Willow Glass will eventually lead substrates to be manufactured ‘roll-to-roll’ instead of ‘sheet-to-sheet’ — similar to how newspapers are printed,” explains Engadget.
The cousin to Corning’s Gorilla Glass, the new ultra-thin glass can withstand heat up to 930 degrees Fahrenheit, and could potentially lead to the production of curved displays that could be wrapped around a device or structure.
“Corning Willow Glass is formulated to perform exceptionally well for electronic components such as touch sensors, as well as leveraging glass’s natural hermetic properties as a seal for OLED displays and other moisture and oxygen-sensitive technologies,” notes the press release.
In addition to CE devices such as smartphones and tablets, the technology may be used for other applications including solar cells and lighting.
The Engadget post includes the Corning press release and a brief video demo.
The International Telecommunications Union has agreed to a new draft recommendation on tech details for Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV).
Interestingly, the ITU has agreed on a draft recommendation for two resolutions — 3840 x 2160 and 7680 x 4320.
“The resolutions will be called 4K and 8K,” reports SlashGear. “The 4K standard will have a resolution of 8-megapixels with the 8K version getting 32-megapixels.”
There is no timetable for the commercial release of UHDTV, but the post suggests it may not take too long, considering the recent decline of global TV sales and slow adoption of 3D TV.
“However, it could take much longer for broadcasters to adopt higher-resolution programming,” notes SlashGear. “The first place to see higher-resolution images would likely be from movies on Blu-ray or other formats.”
According to a recent press release from the Advanced Television Systems Committee, the organization has “announced the approval of the ATSC NRT (Non-Real-Time) Content Delivery standard, a backwards-compatible enhancement to digital TV broadcasting that provides a framework for the delivery of a broad range of exciting new services. The new ATSC NRT standard is designated as A/103.”
Delivery of non-real-time services via A/103 will “allow broadcasters to deliver file-based content, including programs and clips, information for emergency alerts and even commercial applications such as digital signage.”
The new broadcast standard will support terrestrial transmission and mobile DTV receivers.
“ATSC’s new NRT standard gives broadcasters the capability to deliver all types of file-based content to consumers,” explains ATSC President Mark Richer. “Using broadcast television, programmers will be able to send content that a viewer may watch at their convenience.”
The release cites several anticipated applications for NRT services including: “Push Video-On-Demand (content ranging from short-form video clips to feature length movies); news, information and weather services; personalized TV channels; music distribution; [and] reference information on a wide range of topics.”
“This will make broadcast more competitive with satellite, cable and Internet services,” notes ETCentric staffer Phil Lelyveld.
Early reviews for Microsoft’s Windows 8 are trickling in, and Business Insider notes they are so far “extremely negative.” Will Windows 8 become the next Vista?
“In my time with Windows 8, I’ve felt almost totally at sea — confused, paralyzed, angry, and ultimately resigned to the pain of having to alter the way I do most of my work,” writes Farhad Manjoo for Slate.
“Windows 8 looks to me to be an unmitigated disaster that could decidedly hurt the company and its future… The real problem is that it is both unusable and annoying,” notes John Dvorak for Marketwatch.
“I still think it’s needlessly confusing and hard to use… I’ve spoken to other people who have been testing Windows 8 for months,” adds analyst Matt Rosoff. “A lot of them found it puzzling like I did, and it’s getting worse, not better, with each beta update.”
If consumers agree with these evaluations, they may just put off upgrading their systems or switch to a Mac or iPad. The article notes that this could be disastrous for Microsoft and possibly mark the beginning of the end for Windows dominance.
“It’s dangerous to predict the decline of Windows. People have been doing it for years and it’s amounted to nothing. Microsoft is a powerful, resilient company,” comments Business Insider. “However, if ever there was a time when it was ready to fall, that time is now. Apple is at the top of its game. And, if the critics are even half-right, Microsoft is at the bottom of its game.”
Netflix upgraded its iOS app last week by improving upon some existing functionality and adding new features.
The streaming video service has updated the iPhone and iPad software by enlarging the scrub bar to make it easier to navigate through videos, enlarging the volume controls, and adding icons for switching between language choices.
Additionally, a “do not share” option is now available in the player for Facebook users who want to keep their video choices private.
CNET highlights the scrub bar update: “The bar itself is bigger and better, letting you more easily navigate to any section of your video. Thumbnails now appear above your finger on the scrub bar so you can travel to a specific scene of your favorite TV show or movie. You can also rewind 10 seconds at a time.”
According to the Netflix blog, the same features will soon be available for Android users.
Sony has announced its new home cinema projector that offers super high-definition at 4096 x 2160 image resolution.
“The VPL-WV1000ES is the first 4K resolution projector designed for home theaters,” reports Electronista. “The new projector displays not only the ultra-high definition 4K format, but also upscales SD and HD content to 4K resolution.”
The $26,000 projector touts brightness of 2,000 ANSI-lumens and 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio with a 330W bulb promising 2,000-2,500 hours of life.
It features a 2.1x motorized zoom and can display images from 60 to 300 diagonal inches.
“The projector also supports 3D content, although it relies upon active-shutter 3D glasses, requiring USB-chargeable 3D glasses,” notes the article. “It comes with two HDMI ports, component input, a mini D-sub port, and an Ethernet port.”
Developers are building on top of Pinterest in an effort to feed consumer and brand needs and monetize the site’s growing popularity.
The interest has sparked competitors such as Fancy (iOS app with “buy now” functionality that recently reached one million users) and third party applications including ShopMyPins (simple bookmarklet that enables users to shop online when they see something they like on Pinterest).
Related services include PinShoppr, Pinerly and Curalate (the latter two offer analytics for brands).
“The whole conversation revolving around Pinterest and Pinterest-types and their ability to turn this new, visual, viral thing people have taken to at an astounding rate into a viable e-commerce model doesn’t end at proprietary applications though,” notes Digital Trends. “Third party developers are well aware that there’s an opportunity for them to be a part of this Web evolution as well.”
Should Pinterest be creating its own new features? “I think Pinterest is kind of going through a similar thing that Twitter went through when they were growing explosively and I really think they are focusing on the right thing,” responds Apu Gupta, Curalate CEO and co-founder. “You have to make sure the wheels stay on the bus before you do other things.”
Reports indicate that users can expect to see Facebook integrated into the upcoming iOS 6 — an announcement likely to be officially made by Apple during the upcoming WWDC, slated for June 11-15 in San Francisco.
It was only a matter of time, according to The Verge, which notes that “both iOS 4 and Apple’s much-maligned Ping music/social network service both were hinted to have Facebook integration in early versions, only to have the final product released without it.”
“Twitter will still very much be a part of the new iOS (presumably named ‘iOS 6’ and codenamed ‘Sundance’), and that company will be holding sessions at WWDC to chat more about the continued partnership (including the integration into the forthcoming OS X Mountain Lion),” reports TechCrunch.
“Facebook integration will be very important for iOS — tons of apps use Facebook for sign-ups and authentication (many use Facebook as the only way to do this, to the dismay of some),” adds TechCrunch. “Apple was undoubtedly watching this activity and realized that it was time to formally bring Facebook on board.”
Mobile devices using iOS can wirelessly share photos with Web-connected devices through the new Photobeamer app from Scalado.
The 99-cent app can transmit to game consoles, smart TVs, PCs and tablets (as long as the browser is pointed to the Photobeamer home page).
“Having given it a quick test, we’d say it’s definitely up to regular domestic challenges where you just want to display a few photos rather than perhaps videos or presentation slides, and where there’s no need to print or store shared images,” notes Engadget.
“You can swipe left and right between different pictures in your gallery, and also choose whether you want those images to be fitted to the recipient display or resized to fill it,” adds the post.
The Society for Information Display has selected the winners for Display of the Year, Display Component of the Year, and Display Application of the Year.
