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Thursday, April 08, 2010

Samsung NX10 reviewed: a worthy alternative to Micro Four Thirds

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/samsung-nx10-reviewed-a-worthy-alternative-to-micro-four-thirds/

We doubt you need too much reminding about Samsung's "hybrid DSLR" shooter -- it's not every day you hear of a 14.6 megapixel APS-C sensor strapped inside a mirrorless body. Aiming to best Olympus and Panasonic at the game of tempting compact camera users up in price class and SLR image quality obsessives down in weight category, the NX10 is certainly an ambitious project. But does it succeed? According to dpreview, the control layout, user interface, ergonomics, and (crucially) image quality were all praiseworthy, though the sensor exhibited more noise than they would have liked and higher ISO images lost detail due to noise reducing algorithms. Photography Blog agreed that this camera is "an excellent first entry" into a developing market, and could only point out the proprietary NX lens mounting system and slightly bulkier dimensions than on Micro Four Thirds shooters as significant disadvantages. Check out the full reviews for some truly exhaustive analysis.

Samsung NX10 reviewed: a worthy alternative to Micro Four Thirds originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 09:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What it takes to properly convert a 2D movie to 3D

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/what-it-takes-to-properly-convert-a-2d-movie-to-3d/

3DTVs are useless without content and while to some sports is the killer app for 3D, others prefer movies. When it comes to new movies, there's Avatar and then there's everything else -- most movies are converted to 3D instead of using 3D cameras. The company In-Three originally formed with the intent of converting classics like Star Wars to 3D -- yes Lucas says he wants to do all six -- but with all the money 3D movies are making in theaters today, In-Three is spending their time working with producers on new movies like Alice in Wonderland.

Anyone who saw both Alice and Clash of the Titans will tell you that all dimensionalization isn't created equal. While most didn't realize Alice wasn't actually shot in 3D, reviews of Clash were titled like "the first film to actually be made worse by being in 3D." While the dimensionalization of Alice took four to six months, Clash was done in eight to ten weeks -- as well as being converted by different companies. We can't blame 'em for trying though, as In-Three tells 3DCineCast blog it uses four to six hundred people while wearing 3D glasses 50 to 75 percent of the day, and costs about 80 to 100 thousand dollars per minute to do dimensionalization properly. Which is just crazy as well as makes us wonder how that's cheaper than just using 3D cameras. The good part about doing it in post processing though is it gives the creators more artistic control as the dimensionalization is done by hand, frame by frame. Of course the concern is that people will see movies like Clash of the Titans in 3D and write off the dimensionalization process all together, or worse 3D entirely.

What it takes to properly convert a 2D movie to 3D originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Mitsubishi 3D DLPs arrive for 2010, is this the mysterious StreamTV?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/new-mitsubishi-3d-dlps-arrive-for-2010-is-this-the-mysterious-s/

Sure most other manufacturers are new to this 3DTV thing but Mitsubishi is already on its fourth generation, announcing the new 638, 738 and 838 series DLP TVs. New for the 2010 lineup, and possibly giving some insight to those weird HDTVs that appeared on Amazon yesterday is "StreamTV" interactive media which appears to be a new (post Wal-mart acquisition?) branding for the VUDU Apps service we spotted during CES with Pandora, Flickr, Picasa and others built in. If that sounds like a little too much then don't worry, it's not in the base 638 series televisions while the 738 models add StreamTV, an optional WiFi N adapter and video calibration options, and the top of the line 838 models offer Mitsubishi's 16 speaker built-in iSP surround sound tech along with a few other minor adjustments as upgrades. We're still waiting to find out when these ship (probably in the next month or so), but one thing that never changes is projection's ability to go big for less money than its flat-panel competitors, ranging from $1,199 for the 60-inch WD-60638 to $4,499 for the 82-inch WD-8238 (don't forget to add in the price of a special checkerboard compatible 3D Blu-ray player or an adapter to make everything work.) Check after the break for a full breakdown, we'll let you know once more info is available -- or if some $6k autostereoscopic options pop up on the horizon.

Gallery: Mitsubishi 2010 3D DLPs

Continue reading New Mitsubishi 3D DLPs arrive for 2010, is this the mysterious StreamTV?

New Mitsubishi 3D DLPs arrive for 2010, is this the mysterious StreamTV? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple's sold 450,000 iPads as of today, pushed 3.5 million iPad app downloads (update: 50 million iPhones!)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/apples-sold-450-000-ipads-as-of-today-pushed-3-5-million-ipad/

There you have it -- according to Steve Jobs at today's iPhone event, nearly half a million iPads have been pushed so far alongside 3.5 million iPad app downloads -- a perfect few orders of magnitude above the 3,500 iPad apps presently available. It's not clear whether that includes units sold to third party retailers (like Best Buy) that are still sitting on store shelves, though, so there's quite a bit of potential for variability there. Separately, he's mentioned that 50 million iPhones have now been sold worldwide alongside 35 million iPod touches -- so yeah, needless to say, the iPad has some big shoes to fill if it wants to hit the same level of rousing success.

Apple's sold 450,000 iPads as of today, pushed 3.5 million iPad app downloads (update: 50 million iPhones!) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Multitasking comes to iPhone OS 4.0 -- but not to the iPhone 3G

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/multitasking-comes-to-iphone-os-4-0/

You heard that right, people -- iPhone OS 4 just brought multitasking to the platform! Apple says they've figured out how to implement third party multitasking without hurting performance or battery life, and they're demoing it now -- you just double click the home button and see a list of your apps, and you can just tap to switch between apps. The system actually runs the services apps need in the background -- the apps don't need to do them individually, so it's not a "true" multitasking system, but it seems plenty effective. There are seven services: background audio, which allows you to use the standard pop-over iPod controls, Voice over IP, which can receive calls in the background, location services for GPS and social networking (there's an indicator if any service is tracking you), updated push notifications with local notifications, task completion so you can finish things like uploads in the background, and fast app switching, which lets apps sleep and resume instantly. Notably missing? Anything for managing a conversation, like IM or Twitter, which is a big omission. Win some, lose some, we suppose.

Update: Here's a big "lose some" -- only the iPhone 3GS and 3rd generation (late 2009) iPod touch will support multitasking. The iPhone 3G and below won't -- Steve says the hardware doesn't support it. Sad face.

Gallery: Multitasking comes to iPhone OS 4.0!