3-D TV Making Noise At CES

The big TV manufactures are all at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) demoing or promising televisions that "have three-dimension-enabled televisions, providing the same sort of immersive high-definition depth found in movies such as the box-office blockbuster Avatar."

There is so much hype that Sony chief executive Howard Stringer has said, "This whole thing is turning into the CES 3-D show." While Avatar producer Jon Landau said "3-D is not about gags coming off the screen, it’s about creating an immersive experience," he said. "It heightens the experience, it becomes a voyeuristic experience."

"It’s not just smoke and mirrors. It’s real," said Yoshi Yamada, North American chief executive for Panasonic.

Sort of makes you wonder if that HDTV purchase was a good idea or if next Boxing Day might have been a better option? I'll save my comments until I can actually see how the products preform. Besides, how much content is available and do we really want to watch everything in 3-D? Perhaps the makers of Gravol will be the big winner? Time to buy some shares...

New Floor Cleaning Robot To Take On iRobot's Scooba

If you've followed Great Big Geek for a while you'll know that I have a love for iRobot, in fact I own 2 Roomba vacuum cleaning robots and a Scooba floor mopping robot... they save me a lot of time and effort and do a great job in the process. From CES comes a new challenger to the robotic home appliance market - "Mint".

Mint is a sexy little robot from Evolution Robotics. The big differences seem to be:

1. It's shape, square vs. the iRobot round products;
2. The use of a Swiffer duster pad vs. iRobot's Clorox solution or vinegar; and
3. A systemic cleaning pattern vs. iRobot's wandering - multiple pass method.

If anyone at Evolution Robotics is listening.... I'd love to get my hands on one to do a comparison/review!

Check out the Cnet video from CES:

Google's Got A Phone For That!

The technology world is not very good at keeping secrets, and much to nobody's surprise Google announced it's very own smartphone yesterday. The Nexus One Phone will of course be running on it's Android operating system and will incorporate features that didn't exist in previous versions of Android phones, such as pinch functionality.

According to the Official Google Blog: "Manufactured by HTC, the Nexus One features dynamic noise suppression from Audience, Inc., a large 3.7" OLED display for deep contrast and brilliant colors and a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ chipset for blazing speeds. Running on Android 2.1, the newest version of Eclair, the software includes innovations like a voice-enabled keyboard so you can speak into any text field, fun Live Wallpapers, a 3D photo gallery for richer media experiences and lots more. Of course, it also comes with a host of popular Google applications, including Gmail, Google Voice and Google Maps Navigation."

You can have a closer look at the features of the device by visiting Google's online store for the Nexus One at www.google.com/phone. Unfortunately for many of us the phone is limited to a few markets at the moment, Canada is not one of them... sigh!

E-readers, Tablets, and Mobile Devices To Be Center Stage At CES

Speculation has it that the focus of most new gadgets at this years Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas will be on E-readers, mobile devices, and touch screens. You might want to sprinkle a bit of 3d TV in there as well. The show which gets underway on Wednesday may also feature connectivity according to one analyst: “People are getting tired of very specific classes [of devices],” said technology analyst Carmi Levy. “Hardware will begin to take a back seat to connectivity and the services you can layer on that hardware. What [consumers] would rather do is avoid four or five devices, and just buy one device that does it all.”

Sources: The Globe and Mail and CBC

Getting In Touch With Local Government

Want to draw attention to that pothole on your street or the unsightly mess in a neighbors yard? SeeClickFix.com may be just the site you are looking for? The service allows you to report a problem in your community which is then plotted on a Google map and the proper authorities are notified on your behalf.

According to the New York Times "Users can comment on the issue or label it resolved. Government agencies can post on the site to respond to residents, and journalists can use the site to communicate with readers and see which issues are most pressing to people."

Seems like an idea that is long overdue.

What 007 Wants For Christmas

If you are a car buff or a fan of the James Bond franchise, you'll have no doubt become accustomed to the Aston Martin. Just in time for Mr. Bond's Christmas list is the new Aston Martin Carbon Black Special Editions. According to Uncrate the new finish will be available for several models from the manufacturer and is designed to give different appearances under differing conditions.

Follow the link above to find out that the cars feature "Lightweight seats formed from Carbon Fibre and Kevlar saving 17 kg over the standard seat also feature together with Piano black facia trim, centre stack and centre console, anodised black tread plates and unique sill plaques build on the carbon theme. The Aston Martin 700w Premium Audio System is delivered as standard in the V12 Vantage while the DBS boasts the Bang & Olufsen Beosound DBS audio system as standard."

Twitter Attacked By "Iranian cyber army"

The BBC is reporting that Twitter was attacked by a group of hackers calling themselves the "Iranian cyber army". Visitors to the site last evening were being redirected to a page showing a message declaring it had been hacked.

According to the article the "It showed an image of Arabic text overlaid on a green flag carrying the name of the third Shi'i Imam, Imam Husayn.

It also included a poem in Persian which said: "We shall strike if the leader orders, we shall lose our heads if the leader wishes."

Also included were the words: "Those that wage fight on the path of God win."

For it's part Twitter has admitted that it's Domain Name Server (DNS) records had been "temporarily compromised".

Wired Reboots A Christmas Story

Just yesterday I was explaining to a colleague that my favorite part of Christmas is settling in to a comfy chair and enjoying the greatest Christmas movie of all time! I can relate with Ralphy, there are so many parts of "A Christmas Story" that send my back to my childhood, and I'm pretty sure that his father was modeled after mine.

Imagine my joy this morning when I came across this little update from Wired. Oh, and in case you've never seen 'The Greatest Christmas Movie Of All Time' here's a little snippit to wet your appetite.

Let The Year In Review Countdowns Begin - YouTube

The Official Google Blog is first out of the gate with it's list of top viewed videos in 2009 and much to my surprise there were one or two that I hadn't viewed. Perhaps that is because I'm busy, or that I have a life, or life just got in the way. Regardless, for your viewing pleasure here is the roundup of what you watched in 2009:

Most Watched YouTube videos (Global):
1. Susan Boyle - Britain's Got Talent (120+ million views)
2. David After Dentist (37+ million views)
3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33+ million views)
4. New Moon Movie Trailer (31+ million views)
5. Evian Roller Babies (27+ million views)

Most Watched music videos on YouTube (Global)*:
1. Pitbull - I Know You Want Me (82+ million views)
2. Miley Cyrus - The Climb (64+ million views)
3. Miley Cyrus - Party In The U.S.A. (54+ million views)
4. The Lonely Island - I'm On A Boat (48+ million views)
5. Keri Hilson - Knock You Down (35+ million views)

Google Going Mano a Mano With iPhone

There are plenty of reports out there that say that Google is testing it's own branded Android phone that it hopes will go head to head with Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry devices. A new Google branded phone, being dubbed Nexus one by some sites, has apparently been handed out to Google employees around the globe for trials. The Nexus one was produced, according to the Globe and Mail, by HTC the maker of the Dream, Magic, and G1 android phones but will contain no HTC branding and will be sold directly by Google independent of cellphone carriers.

“If subscribers can get a cutting-edge handset from Google, shop for the best plan, and take that handset to another provider as soon as a better service offer comes out, carriers will have to rethink what loyalty means,” Forrester analyst Charles Golvin said in a Web note. “Such disruptions would clearly be good for customers, since few actually want to make a long-term contract commitment and more choice in service will promote competition and more price options.”

I still love my HTC Dream, hopefully the Nexus one will not hit the market here for a year or so when it's getting close to time for an upgrade.