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.