If you would like to mess with this map and help put the finishing details on it, go ahead and contact him though YouTube. He says that he doesn’t have the time to finish it himself.

[via TechCrunch]

Other than the fact that the displays will support 802.11 b/g/n, dual-band Wi-Fi, and WMM multimedia standards, there really isn’t any additional info available yet. Both series were certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance on December 30, 2011, so I can only imagine that these are some of the displays we’ll see at next week’s CES show.

While the “X Series” moniker doesn’t sound like anything too mysterious, my curiosity is definitely piqued by the “Echo-P” name. Any guesses as to what might be special about those displays?

TVs require not just a higher scan rate to display content in 3D, but special built-in hardware to decode and handle 3D signals. However, Marvel Digital’s 3D converter box lets users of non-3D televisions watch content in 3D using old-school anaglyphic 3D technology. Instead of red and blue glasses, Marvel uses amber and blue glasses to view 3D content.

Now before you get all excited about watching that Avatar 3D Blu-ray disc on your older TV, it looks like this box can either produce simulated 3D visuals – from 2D sources, as well as display any content that’s in 3D “side-by-side” format. I’m pretty sure Blu-ray discs are encoded in sequential format, so those probably won’t work, but I suppose you could give it a whirl if your disc player supports 3D. On the plus side, DirecTV and XBox 360′s standard 3D format is “side-by-side,” so you should be able to watch this content in 3D.

In addition to supporting analglyphic 3D, the box will also work with proper 3D TVs (and passive or active shutter lenses) to simulate 3D from 2D content, but many sets already offer this capability. To use the 3D converter box, simply place it inline with your HDMI connected device, and it should take care of the rest for you. It offers full support for HDMI 1.1 through 1.4 specs, and can pass-through 1080p HD video. Keep in mind that “side-by-side” 3D cuts resolution in half, though.

I’m tempted to order one of these just to see how well it works, since my TV doesn’t support 3D. Priced at just 60 bucks, it’s not much of a risk. If you’re interested in giving it a whirl for yourself, you can order the 3D converter box from Marvel Digital.

Artist Guilherme M. Schasiepen took a stab at what he envisions the iTV to look like, and it actually looks pretty slick in his concept renderings.

The so-called “iTV” Apple TV was mentioned as a possibility in Steve Jobs’ recent biography, and rumors have surfaced from time-to-time of Apple trying to crack the living room more holistically than its current Apple TV set-top box.

Guilherme’s concept design melds the slim aluminum and glass industrial look of today’s iMac with the brains and UI found in the latest iOS devices like the iPhone 4S and iPad 2. You can also check out an animated 3D rendering of Guilherme’s design here.

The Apple iTV in these concepts has an interface very reminiscent of the current Apple TV, but with a full applications interface, a multi-touch screen, and Siri voice-activated remote control. Pretty much all technologies readily available, and within reach of Apple. About the only part of the concept design I’m not sold on yet is the idea of glasses-free 3D. Thus far, such displays are wildly expensive at large sizes, have poor viewing angles and bad artifacts. I’m unconvinced that Apple will dive into the 3D space until the technology has advanced more, and 3D glasses aren’t Apple’s style.

According to the Jobs bio, the Apple TV would “seamlessly sync with all of your devices and iCloud,” and would “have the simplest user interface you could imagine.” Frankly, I’d just be happy with a TV that looks this good, has a great picture and Apple TV built in. The rest of the features are a bonus. That said, I’m still not 100% convinced that Apple wants to play in the low-margin, slow-turnover business of HDTVs. It’s not like with phones where people want to upgrade every 2 years. Even with today’s advancements, most of us keep our TVs at least 5 years if not much longer.

[via 9to5Mac via SlashGear]

The streaming deal in place now will last through February 2012, and then it’s gone. Netflix says that in the beginning Starz was only a small portion some of its mainstream content and now that it has more content providers, Starz is only 8% of its mainstream stuff. I’m not buying that, Starz is almost all of the mainstream content I want to watch. The rest are artsy films and other crap I don’t care about.

Once Starz is gone, I guess I will have to go back to watching on satellite to see the stuff. The content I will really miss are the Starz original shows I won’t be able to watch when I feel like it such as Spartacus. Netflix, you had better replace Starz with some good stuff.

[via Business Insider]

This 96-pixel television was made by YouTube member keacraft. Like the first real world TVs, it can only display black and white video. Actually it’s more like gray and less gray. There’s not much content in the Minecraft universe yet, and that’s not surprising seeing as everyone else is either busy coming up with their own masterpiece or running the hell away from creepers and such. No one’s got the time to put together shows like Minecraft’s Got Talent or Survivor: Nether, even though both would make for great TV.

Going back to the TV itself, like most Minecraft creations the most striking thing about it is the amount of work that keacraft evidently put into it. Watch the video to find out what I mean:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And I thought our old CRT monitor had a big behind. Goodness. No wonder keacraft left his TV out in the yard among the chickens. Damn thing wouldn’t fit in his house.

[via Waxy]

There are a lot of portable TVs out there in the market, like the Vizio Vmb070 which offers 7 inches of television goodness. While it’s already convenient per se, I’m looking for something that’s a bit more convenient. And if you have an iPhone, then I’ve got some pretty good news for you.

And that convenience comes in the form of the Cydle i30 TV Tuner because all you need is the tuner itself along with your iPhone and you’re all set.

The Cydle i30 looks like a clip-on stand that wraps around your smartphone and comes with an adjustable antenna. The tuner transmits the signal and streams the video to your iPhone via WiFi so you can enjoy watching live programs and events, something that isn’t possible with the internet TV streaming options available nowadays.

No exact release dates or prices are available as of now because the device is still going through the motions and making its way around the block in the FCC. But the Cydle i30 is definitely something that’s worth keeping a close eye on.

[via Mobiledia via Oh! Gizmo]

When Google TV first hit the market, I wanted it pretty bad. I want to be able to get lots of online content like Hulu and other video sites on my TV in the living room, but I don’t want a PC in there. I was really interested in the Logitech Revue box until the sites I wanted like Hulu and networks blocked users from accessing video using Google TV.

Things aren’t looking good for Google TV right now. Google has told partners to not unveil any new hardware at CES while it gets new software ready for Google TV. Presumably, the software is to fix the gripes reviewers and early users had with the system like poor search layout and other complaints. I hope the fix will also come with a deal that lets Google TV back into video streaming sites or Google TV will still be worthless to me.

DigiTimes is now reporting that Logitech has told Gigabyte, who makes the Revue box, to temporarily stop production until the new version of the Google TV software lands. That software update is expected sometime in January.

The geeks were watching the 24 complete series boxed set in a contest that was promoted by 20th Century Fox in part to promote the launch of the new box set. The three geeks beat out 100 other people and watched the show continuously for 86 hours, 6 minutes, and 41 seconds without going to sleep.

Each of the three guys is sharing the record in the book and received $10,000 each. All other participants got a boxed set of the 24 series. The box set has a whopping 56 discs and covers all eight seasons of the show. The contestants were allowed a 10-minute break every two hours of viewing to exit the theater, take a leak, and talk to family.

The first thing you’ll notice about the new Apple TV is just how tiny it is. The miniature black box measures in at just 3.9″ x 3.9″ x 0.9″ and has a black case which lets it hide nicely amongst most home theater gear. To go along with the hardware, Apple announced HD movie rentals for $3.99 and individual TV shows rentals for 99 cents an episode. You have 30 days from renting to press play, and another 48 hours to watch from when you start.

The new Apple TV has built-in 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and can stream shows from mulitple sources, including your PC, Mac, or even your Netflix account. Plus, Apple has added the abillity to wirelessly stream programs stored on your iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad. Plus, you’ll can remotely control the Apple TV from your iPhone or iPod Touch (The app should work on your iPad too, but it’s not specifically mentioned on the Apple website).

Thanks to a powerful A4 chip, the Apple TV can crank out 720p video at up to 30fps, and can connect to your TV using an HDMI cable for optimal display quality. While there’s no word on the operating system inside the Apple TV, the fact that it runs on an A4 chip means that it could someday run apps just like iOS devices.

So the best part about the latest Apple TV is the price. The device sells for just $99 (USD) and is available for pre-order now over at the Apple Store. Apple hasn’t specified an exact delivery date yet, but is listing it on the site a “Ships September” so you should be able to get one pretty quickly.

With Google and Boxee both coming out with their own low-cost TV media boxes in the coming months, it’ll be interesting to see how the set-top box war of 2010 shakes out.

This graph was made by Steph Fox for io9, and very simply illustrates the trends in these TV genres over the years. It’s interesting to see that there was a spike in the number of sci-fi and fantasy shows in 1995, which lasted until 2007. There’s no more Star Trek, Babylon 5, or that many science-fiction shows on TV. It’s kind of sad, because I really enjoyed a lot of them.

For now, we have to be contented with Stargate Universe and a few shows on Syfy. At least, Doctor Who is still on the air.

[io9 via Reddit]

The Prompt-it kit lets you set up your iPhone as a mini-teleprompter, so you can read your lines, while still looking squarely at the camera. They suggest that it’s good for reading a speech when you’re on your laptop’s webcam, but I don’t know why you wouldn’t just put the lines up on your laptop’s screen if that’s your use case.

While the idea seems kind of cool, I question whether or not it’s practical to read the type on the iPhone’s small screen from more than a couple of feet away. Hopefully, they’re working on an iPad version, which could be much more useful for broadcast or lecture applications.

If you can come up with a practical use for the iPhone version of the Prompt-it, head on over to their website, where they sell the kit for $149 Australian Dollars (appx. $130 USD).

[via GadgetReview]

The guys over at Gametrialers were fortunate enough to get their hands on a copy of the trailer, which you can check out below. And now, despite the fact that it’s all blurry and 3D looking, there’s no way to actually watch it in 3D on your computer. But you get the point.

Ah yes, it’s just as inexplicable as we hoped. Would you expect any less from Pac-Man and his ghostly pals? We figured not.

Check out the HD version of the trailer over at Gametrailers. And no, we have no idea if or when this will actually ever show up on TV.

Luckily, I have her convinced that the DVR randomly deletes stuff when it needs more space and she hasn’t caught on that it’s always her stuff that is deleted. I have wished on more than one occasion that I could play recorded shows from my DirecTV DVR on other TVs in the home, allowing me to escape such un-macho programs. Today DirecTV announced Whole Home DVR and answered my wishes.

The Whole Home DVR service adds $3 per month to the bill and you need one of their HD DVRs to use it. If you lack the DVR it will set you back $199 (USD). You can watch recorded shows in up to 15 other rooms and each room can control and manage recordings. The system even supports multiple DVRs. If I could get a DVR in each room allowing me to record 10 shows at once I’d never leave the house again. Thanks, DirecTV!

It seems like HDTVs are the new arcade cabinets. No word on the price of the TV’s yet, or if they’ll include a free copy of Street Fighter IV. But they should.

[via Chip Chick & Yahoo]

This will be the first UFC PPV event to be aired on the new Roku UFC channel for users of the device. Moving forward all UFC events will be offered and the Roku device will have archives of events and will show unaired preliminary fights.

I wonder if those prelim fights will be different from the ones typically shown on Spike ahead of UFC cards. Now that I think about it, the last couple UFC cards has had no prelims shown on Spike, I wonder if this deal has anything to do with that.

…and I totally agree with them about Burn Notice.

[College Humor via Go Nintendo]

According to Sharp, their new 3D LCDs  will offer greater color saturation and depth than conventional 3-color LCDs. In addition, the new sets will feature technologies which are said to increase brightness by as much as 1.8 times over other 3D displays – which often lose brightness due to the polarizing shutters on their glasses.

To be more precise:

“The newly developed 3D LCD by Sharp offers a radical new solution… by combining four of Sharp’s unique, one-of-a-kind LCD technologies, including (1) UV2A technology, Sharp’s core technology for LCD TV panels, (2) four primary-color technology, (3) FRED technology, and (4) side-mount scanning LED backlight technology. This LCD is optimized for 3D TV, as screen brightness when displaying 3D images is 1.8 times higher than that of the conventional displays, and crosstalk is extremely low. Sharp’s four-primary-color technology utilizes four primary colors, adding Y (yellow) to the three conventional primary colors of R (red), G (green), and B (blue). This technology contributes to brighter, more vivid colors thanks to higher light transmission efficiency through the panel and a wider color gamut (range of colors that can be reproduced), which had been difficult to attain on conventional three primary color displays.”

Sounds good to me. Guess it’s time to throw my lowly 3-color 3DTV in the trash.

Initially, the sets will only be available in Japan, and you can check out more over on Sharp’s 3D technology website.

[Press Release (translated)]

I’m not sure how an unknown company pulled this geek coup off, but I bet it has a lot to do with major TV makers having too much respect for their products to adorn them with comic book drawings and then not aim the things at kids. With the prices these sets demand, kids aren’t the target market here.

The TVs come in a wide range of characters with favorites like The Hulk, Wolverine, Captain America and many more. The sets come in LCD versions with 22″, 32″, 42″, and 55″ screens. LED backlit versions are available with 40″ and 46″ screens. All of the sets have a sure-to-get-annoying splash screen that shows for eight seconds when the TV is first turned on with the comic book heroes and the heroes are featured on the lower bezel of the sets. Resolutions vary with screen size between 720p and 1080p with prices ranging from $339 to $1989 (USD).

[RTC23 via NerdApproved]

I have had a suspicion that going with active glasses was going to be the norm, not because the tech is better necessarily, but so the TV maker can charge us an arm and a testicle for the glasses. I was right, at least in Samsung’s case.

The Samsung 3D active glasses needed for its TVs have turned up for sale and cost $150 per set. That’s right; a family of four will drop an extra $600 on 3D glasses alone. I’d like to kick the guy who made this decision in the balls for all 3D TV fans out there.

[via ITProPortal]