Epson MovieMate multimedia projector hands-on

Epson MovieMate multimedia projector hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 07:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netflix bends over, agrees to delay renting Warner DVDs

Oh sigh. We’d been hearing that Warner Brothers would be pushing for month-long rental delays for mail-order services in order to boost sales, and it looks like Netflix has been pushed into submission: under an agreement announced today, Warner Brother DVDs and Blu-rays won’t be available to Netflix subscribers for 28 days after they’re released for sale. What’s worse, Netflix says it expects to reach similar deals with the other major studios as time goes on. Why would Reed Hastings agree to a clear imposition on his company’s rights under the first-sale doctrine? We’re guessing this is the only way the studios would open up and allow more movies to hit Watch Instantly — and the AP says Netflix is also getting a discount on the actual discs. Yeah, it’s lame, but honestly we’d rather take more streaming content over new releases in the mail straight away, so let’s hope all this wheeling and dealing pays off.

Netflix bends over, agrees to delay renting Warner DVDs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UP IN THE AIR’s JASON REITMAN ON OUR LAYOFF ECONOMY

Although as I write this its Tomatometer is at 89%, Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air is something of a Rorschach test for critics, with some finding the film to be both canny and empathetic, a Hollywood picture calibrated for the emotional temperature of a country with a 10% unemployment rate. Others see its Hollywood sheen and evocation of the family as obviating the economic reality it is set against. (J. Hoberman of the Village Voice writes: “… a satire unsullied by anger, Up in the Air floats above the pain.”

I am solidly in the “pro” camp, feeling that Reitman has worked within the Hollywood style to create a nuanced, often quite melancholy, and far from facile portrait of numbed America. Here is an excerpt of my interview with…

Sony to expand PlayStation Network into Sony Online Service, sell music, books, videos

Sony had a big management meeting in Japan today, where the tech giant announced some extremely vague plans for what’s initially being called the Sony Online Service — a new “iTunes-like” service built on the PlayStation Network that will sell books, music, and movies. That’s really all we know for now — Sony execs didn’t set a launch date or provide any specifics — but the move’s been rumored for a while and makes total sense, considering Sony’s huge investment in running PSN and vast array of products it could tie into the service, like the Reader e-book line, the PSP, and the various Network Walkmans. Now, whether or not Sony can manage to make good on this massive potential remains to be seen — we’ve got high hopes, but this isn’t a small challenge.

Sony to expand PlayStation Network into Sony Online Service, sell music, books, videos originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Evoluce ONE gives you 47 inches of multitouch surface to play with (video)

We’re kind of late to this party, but better late than never, right? At the end of last month, German company Evoluce announced its 47-inch multitouch display, touting Full HD (or 1920 x 1080) resolution and “Integrated-Through-Screen-Optics,” which allow it to recognize an unlimited number of simultaneous inputs. The ONE also features haptic feedback and is compatible with Windows 7’s multitouch features right out of the box, with support for some “other OS” also planned. If you’re thinking this looks like a legit competitor to Microsoft’s Surface, well, you’d be right. We’ve got the full PR for you after the break, as well as hands-on video of the (relatively) new device.

Continue reading Evoluce ONE gives you 47 inches of multitouch surface to play with (video)

Filed under: Displays

Evoluce ONE gives you 47 inches of multitouch surface to play with (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blockbuster kiosks to offer movies on SD cards, you some candy as you checkout

Blockbuster’s been trying all sorts of, um, innovative things to get more foot traffic in its stores, but thanks to a dastardly invention known only as “Netflix,” that very task has proven exceptionally difficult. Now, it seems the flagging movie rental company is giving one more far-flung idea a whirl: movies on SD cards. Around six Blockbuster and Hollywood Video stores will soon begin offering titles on SD cards, though the included DRM only allows customers 30 days from the purchase date to view it, and once it’s fired up, you’ve just 48 hours before it vanishes completely. Each rental will cost $1.99, and while we definitely see the benefit of renting something that you don’t have to return, we’re still skeptical that folks will be more willing to make even one trek for a card when Netflix brings it all to one’s mailbox (and PC, etc.) for just $8.99 per month.

[Via FastCompany]

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Video

Blockbuster kiosks to offer movies on SD cards, you some candy as you checkout originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Canon EOS-1D MKIV footage on display, 5D MKII will join the fun with new 24 / 25 fps firmware next year

Double good news on the Canon front. First off we’ve got sample footage shot with a brand new Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, which does a good job of showing what the camera can handle under low lighting conditions, as well as serving as a poignant morality tale for skaters, who should never get in cars with strangers. But perhaps even more exciting is word that Canon is developing its own firmware update for the 5D Mark II that will take it into the indie filmmaker-friendly territory of 24 fps and 25 fps — something that’s always been assumed doable since the camera already shoots at 30. Details are scarce, and the firmware won’t hit until the “first half of 2010,” but if anything it should up the resale value on that 5D of yours while you claw against your credit limit for an EOS-1D Mark IV.

Read – First Canon EOS-1D MKIV movie from Vincent Laforet
Read – Canon EOS 5D Mark II to get 24 and 25fps in a firmware update!

Filed under: Digital Cameras

First Canon EOS-1D MKIV footage on display, 5D MKII will join the fun with new 24 / 25 fps firmware next year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Movie Gadget Friday: Code 46

Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema.

On our last visit, we examined the computer hacking fantasies of 1980’s adolescents in Weird Science. Skipping on from software-engineered babes to a bio-engineered society, this week we investigate the gadgets in the human-clone-saturated cities of Code 46. Though most of the futuristic technology in this 2003 film is in the form of mind-altering viruses, the everyday devices used by Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton slightly stretch today’s technical specs in true sci-fi form.

Memory Videobook

Preventing scrapbooks from being left behind as primitive forms of experience archiving, this gadget combines the cheap plastic form of photo-books with a relatively thin interactive screen. The device captures first-person memories from a user in the form of lossy video (alas, the specs behind memory capturing have yet to be released, much to our irritation). Playback and fast-forward/rewind are enabled through basic scrolling gestures on either the corner of the video or the opposing soft-acrylic, touch-sensitive finger pad. Similar to Americhip’s video-in-print technology, the memory videobook appears to use a TFT LCD, but with a far more outstanding resolution. While this memory scrapbook device is far from chic, we kind of respect that it stays true to its historical laminated, cutesy form despite the high tech modifications. More after the break.

Continue reading Movie Gadget Friday: Code 46

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Portable Video

Movie Gadget Friday: Code 46 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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VUDU throwing Rotten Tomatoes reviews on every movie it sells

Next step for VUDU after adding LG’s BD390 to its list of compatible players? The streaming service is now trying to help you figure out which movie to watch with help from the website Rotten Tomatoes, integrating its ratings directly into the movie listings as seen above. Viewers can sort by Tomatometer score and see quotes from top reviews directly on their HDTV screen. Sure it’s not auto Twitter updates and IMDB clippings on what scene, movie and actor you’re watching, but if they’re not going to reduce the cost per rented (or purchased) streaming flick, at least VUDU can help you pick one that’s actually good. Check out another screen capture from the new addition after the break.

Continue reading VUDU throwing Rotten Tomatoes reviews on every movie it sells

VUDU throwing Rotten Tomatoes reviews on every movie it sells originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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"DEAR DIARY" — TORONTO’S WAVELENGTHS 6: FLASH POINT CAMERA

In a personal touch, all the filmmakers whose work was showcased in the sixth and final Wavelengths program were present for their screening. German director Ute Aurand presented a reverie on her childhood and family called Snowing Chestnut Blossoms, while American Jim Jennings, apparently a neighbor of mine in Brooklyn, showed a collection of images in Greenpoint that not only documented the quirky, spunky personality of that environ but also reminded me of two pair of boots in that little shoe repair shop with the orange-awning that are just about ready to be picked up.

Coleen Fitzgibbon’s FM/TRCS (1974) is an archival film that was recently preserved. It is a dancing abstraction of saturated colors created through a process of optical…

Epson blows the roof off of your house party with two new projectors

Continue reading Epson blows the roof off of your house party with two new projectors

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment

Epson blows the roof off of your house party with two new projectors originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Life Affirming: Harmony Korine’s TRASH HUMPERS and Gaspar Noe’s ENTER THE VOID

For the most transgressive double-feature of the year, I caught the new Harmony Korine and Gaspar Noe films back-to-back in Toronto. I didn’t expect each film’s hopeful enthusiasm for innocent youth. TRASH HUMPERS can be billed as Korine’s return to his early territory of GUMMO… Well, Harmony has always pushed the limits, breaking down the conventions of film plots and styles, reaching the high expectations of euro art yet hitting home for all of us who grew up in the 80s in mid-America suburbia with Swamp Thing as our biggest life coach. HUMPERS reaches the insane levels of GUMMO but is more disjunct with less plot and more pure moments, which turned some viewers off, at least the ones who split early. But I loved it, a film purely in…

YouTube looking to enter rental movies on demand business, says WSJ

Sounds like Google has found the best way to monetize YouTube yet, and it puts itself in a pretty competitive spot versus the likes of Netflix, Amazon VOD, and Apple’s iTunes movie store. According to Wall Street Journal, the company’s currently in talks with Lions Gate, Sony, and Warner Bros. studios over putting their content on YouTube for a rental fee, likely $3.99 — the same price as Apple’s SD movie rentals. Even more interesting is talk of getting some titles online day and date with the DVD releases. Some options could still be free with advertising, but as for paid content, Google’s enticing studios over to their way of thinking with a proposed minimum fee of “just under $3 per title viewed.” A three-month beta testing is apparently scheduled to begin soon among 10,000 Google employees, and after that? Well, here’s hoping the G-Man manages to sign on some more studios and offer us the films in streaming HD.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Internet, Software

YouTube looking to enter rental movies on demand business, says WSJ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official iPhone Apps for 2012 the movie

2012 the movie might be all about endings and destruction but that hasn’t stopped Sony from releasing not one, but two iPhone apps for it. The games are enjoyable if you’re a fan of doom, even if you’re not they’re still worth a try while you wait for the movie to hit theaters on 13th November ( check release date in your country ). Let’s take a quick look at these two apps.

2012: Apocalypse

In this game, you control different natural disasters such as hurry canes and earthquakes and try to avoid as much destruction as possible. You can collect items to guide the storm in a better way through out the city, but since it’s 2012 in the game? Why watch the buildings? Go for the Rampage game mode and go crazy in the city. Cause as much havoc as you want so when you go see the movie, you think been there, done that. It’s available for $1.99.

(iTunes link)

 

2012 Movie

This app is rather tame when compared to the 2012: Apocalypse. It’s a quiz game in which you correctly answer questions to reach Tibet. You get 3 lifelines as well, but the questions are very weird and not for the weak at heart. In most of them you have to answer what you would do when you confront x (where x is a disaster). But the good thing about this app is that it’s free. So go ahead, give it a try and test your survival skills.  

(iTunes link)

Even though I don’t like the movie from its trailer and I’m sure someone would pee their pants in the theater, hope you enjoy these apps!

Movie Gadget Friday: Strange Days

Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema.

On our last episode of Movie Gadget Friday, we rode around the robotics-dependent world of Runaway. Traversing from robots-gone-wrong to “wire-tripping”-technology-junkies, this week jacks-in to the cyberpunk streets of LA in Strange Days. While lacking in computer gadgetry, there is no shortage of leather pants, grunge metal, huge cell phones and random rioting in this 1995 film. Keeping true to the times, we can’t get over how even the murderer commits crimes while managing to sport a fanny pack.

SQUID Receptor Rig

Short for Super-conducting Quantum Interference Device, the SQUID receptor rig consists of a two-part system: a lightweight, flexible mesh of electrodes and a recorder. The technology had originally been developed for the feds to replace body wires, but has since leaked onto the black market. The SQUID acts as a magnetic field measurement tool on a micro level. By placing the electrodes over your head and activating the recorder, your first-person audio-visual-sensory experience is recorded wirelessly, direct from the cerebral cortex onto a TDK 60-minute MiniDisc. The rig can also be hacked using a signal splitter and simstim attachment – allowing someone else to experience your experience in real-time. Optional accessories for the rig include a fanny pack for closely storing the recorder and various wigs for concealing your otherwise obvious surveillance of others.

Unfortunately, there appears to be no way to directly upload these recordings to the net, leaving room for inefficient, in-person, illegal “playback” dealings of MiniDiscs similar to buying and selling drugs. From sex to committing crimes, clients to the self-proclaimed “switchboard of souls” dealers are able to jack-in to a variety of illicit activities without leaving their home. More after the break.

Continue reading Movie Gadget Friday: Strange Days

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Movie Gadget Friday: Strange Days originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Watchmen Director’s Cut movie / PlayStation 3 game Blu-ray combo now available

If you have the dominant high-def optical storage format — which can serve both movies and games with equal aplomb — built right into your consoles, shouldn’t you be leveraging that synergy? Well, the assimilation is now complete, as Watchmen Director’s Cut launched today with The End is Night Parts 1 and 2 for PlayStation 3 in tow. The price of admission here is a penny under $50 before tax / shipping — and considering both parts of the game cost $30 total on their lonesome, that’s none too shabby of a deal. It’ll be interesting to see what film and tie-in game make the merge next — anyone up for a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory re-release?

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment

Watchmen Director’s Cut movie / PlayStation 3 game Blu-ray combo now available originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sonic brings 3D movies into the home via CinemaNow

Like it or not, 3D movies are coming to your house. If you’re looking to be one of the first on the block to stream the third-dimension onto your computer monitor or 3D-ready HDTV, Sonic Solutions is making sure you have that option. Announced today, the company is utilizing Roxio’s CinemaNow platform to provide users access to 3D films, and all of those files are optimized for use with NVIDIA’s GeForce GPUs and its 3D Vision / 3D Vision-ready displays. Frankly, we’re shocked to see CinemaNow involved in all of this, but this just might be the offering that makes the service at least marginally relevant again. Sadly, there’s no hard data surrounding pricing and release, but needless to say, you should probably go ahead and don those funky goggles just in case it goes down sooner rather than later.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Sonic brings 3D movies into the home via CinemaNow originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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‘Asteroids’ heading towards the big screen?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal has won an all-out “bidding war” over the film rights to Atari’s classic Asteroids video game. We’re not entirely sure who all was involved in this “war,” but the conflict couldn’t possibly be prompted over the universal themes tackled by the story of the plucky little triangular spaceship and the asteroid field it inhabits. As the Reporter, um, reports: “As opposed to today’s games, there is no story line or fancy world-building mythology.” Michael Bay is rumored to be very interested in directing.

[Via George Ruiz]

Filed under: Gaming

‘Asteroids’ heading towards the big screen? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Audio Edition – March 15th 2006

Today on the 2006 Podcast of the Year “The Audio Edition” Doug and I discuss the stupidity of the Brokeback Moutain Author, the new HILARIOUS trailer for The Moglus, Peter Jacksons pre-recorded acceptance speech for The Empire Awards, some Ghost Rider trailer news, Welcome Back Kotter being re-made into a movie, Uncle Ben coming back in Spider-Man 3, an alternate idea for the origins of Venom in Spider-Man 3, the Alpha Dog trailer and a few things more.

You can download this installment of The Audio Edition here.

To subscribe to the podcast of The Audio Edition on iTunes copy this link and then paste it into iTunes-Advanced-Subscribe to Podcast.