Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Just imagine watching Monday Night Football with the players looking like they are running right at you.  Talk about experiencing the excitement of the game without actually being there.  Or fighting the bad guys in your favorite video game (and you thought the Wii made the fighting seem realistic).

Scientists have finally broken the barrier that had prevented this type of technology by creating the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory.  Dr Nasser Peyghambarian, chair of photonics and lasers at the University’s of Arizona’s Optical Sciences department, said, “This is a prerequisite for any type of moving holographic technology.” Although there is still work to be done, scientists are still very optimistic they are getting much closer to this becoming a reality in the next five to ten years.

Find out much more about holographic TV after the break!

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Sony’s latest model in their Reader family, the PRS-700 gives consumers the opportunity to choose how they would like to experience reading electronically.  It is much closer to an actual “book” experience, but with all the cool e-reader add-ons.

The PRS-700 features an interactive touch display, that allows readers to actually flip pages simply with the slide of a finger.  You can also look for terms in a book or a document, take notes on the virtual keyboard, or even use the stylus pen to highlight text you find especially important or interesting.  This PRS-700 has plenty more features, check them out after the break.

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You probably remember sitting in a movie theater, wearing those crazy blue and red glasses, the big monster seeming to come off the screen right at you.  Well, 3D has come even further, and is even more amazingly lifelike.  And one of the latest steps forward is actually a step into the past to Ancient Egypt.

Dolby Laboratories just announced yesterday that their 3D Digital Cinema was chosen to present the Giant Screen Films’ “Egypt 3D: Secrets of the Mummies.” This is a companion movie to “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age,” the National Geographic exhibition that tours all over. 

Read more to find out about what tech Dolby is using with 3D movies.

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“Every breath you take… Every move you make… Every bond you break… Every step you take..  I’ll be watching you.” Is it the end of privacy as we know it?  People knowing where we are, and when we are there, seeing whatever it is we are doing.  Or, just a cool and fun new way to geotag?  Geotagging is nothing new and most of us are familiar with the term by now.  Take a photo, and “tag” your location to tell all your friends or family where you were at when you shot it.  But now, tagged single shots are going to seem like dinosaurs.

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Companies are finally realizing that with the economy the way it is that if they want people to keep renting their movies, they need to make them less expensive.  Enter the DVD kiosk.

DVDPlay, the country’s first automated and remotely managed DVD rental kiosk company, recently noticed a need to change their pricing to make it even easier and cost efficient for the customers.  Starting October 1st, all of their DVD rentals will be only $1, and this price will extend to some of their Blu-Ray titles as well for a limited time.

Plenty more on the DVD kiosk business after the jump.

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Think of how many people have become very used to the ease of having TiVo.  And now, it’s going to be available for your computer as well.  Nero and TiVo are working together to launch LiquidTV, which basically is TiVo, just for a computer.

You’ll still get many of the same basic functions you know and love on regular TiVo.  You can watch live or recorded TV. You are able to burn videos to DVD if your PC has a DVD burner.  As long as your LiquidTV is networked with other TiVo boxes you have in your house, it even plays nice with those.

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So, the much talked about Blackberry Storm isn’t due out until November. Yet somehow, (as always seems to happen), new photos are circulating the ‘Net.  I caught sight of some of them, and if these are real...apparently the Storm had a little bit of a design overhaul from the last shots that were floating around.

The Vodaphone-branded Blackberry doesn’t seem to be all that worried about wooing over the glitz and glamour crowd.  Nothing too foo-foo on this phone.  It seems to be geared for the typical, well....Blackberry user. A kind of straight-forward, get the job done sort of phone.

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Because there isn’t quite enough hoopla today surrounding the news of the Android G1...Amazon comes out and adds their version of the cherry on the cupcake. They confirmed today that a music store for Android-based cellphones does indeed exist, and it comes pre-loaded on the G1. (yes, Virginia..there is a Santa Claus).  With it, users have 6 million DRM-free songs to pick from, coming from all four of the top record labels.

You are able to browse and preview no problem anytime you’re connected to the T-Mobile network; but when it comes time to buy and download, you’ll have to have a Wi-Fi connection.  No, the songs aren’t free, (although wouldn’t that be a bonus?!), but they also don’t rack you with any extra “convenience” charges. It will still cost the same 89 cents per individual song download, unless otherwise indicated.

In their official press release, Bill Carr, Amazon.com Vice President for Digital Music and Video says

“Amazon wants to make it easy for customers to discover, buy, and play their music wherever they happen to be–whether sitting at their computer or on the go. We look forward to the release of the T-Mobile G1, which will put Amazon MP3’s vast selection of low-priced DRM-free music at the fingertips of even more customers in more places.”

Music that is downloaded from the site onto the T-Mobile G1 can also be played on PCs, Macs or any other MP3 music player.

via [techmeme]

I’m too sexy for my phone, too sexy for my phone… Well, that just may be what users of the new un-sexy Samsung Rugby may be singing. But, too sexy for their phone or not, their phone will probably have no problem being able to hold up their end of the relationship.

The recently released Rugby, with its clamshell handset, is the first military-spec phone from AT&T.  It complies with Military Standard MI-SID-810F (dust, shock vibration, rain, humidity and solar radiation proof, as well as the ability to hold its own at altitude and temperature extremes).  It comes equipped with Push-to-talk, an Integrated aGPS, Quad-band UMTS and HSDPA, Bluetooth connectivity, One-way Video Share calling, a 2” display, 1.3 megapixel camera, and 128MB internal memory.

Feedback I’ve found out there by actual users of the phone has been pretty positive so far. 

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Well, apparently SanDisk feels Joe Public likes their music hands on.  This thinking may well be what led to their new line of music-filled microSD cards. They managed to pull in all the big record labels like Sony BMG, EMI, Universal and Warner.  Although, I’m not sure what the labels were thinking with this one. The songs on the 1 GB cards will be DRM-free MP3s that are encoded at 320 kbps for the record.

The first stores they have in on the deal are Wal-Mart or Best Buy.  So, you simply stroll into one of those two stores, nab your rockin’, grooving, bopping-loaded slotMusic, and pop it into your phone, and voila...you’re set.  However, if you are one of the millions who would simply rather get your music by downloading it, then this little slotMusic thing is pretty useless.

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