NEW YORK, 1:46 PM, THU JUL 24 | 77 POSTS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS | tips@gizmodo.com | RSS
UK | FR | NL | IT | DE | ES | JP | AU
Posts Tagged “

TV

Japanese TV show not really

I Survived a Japanese Game Show: Shooting Balls, Breaking Faces

This week's over-the-top I Survived... challenges didn't have as much gadgety goodness as usual, but were strangely satisfying nonetheless. First, Velcro-clad contestants were dangled in front of of a teammate, who would try to pass them Velcro balls to catch. The objective was for the dangler, manipulated by two other contestants, to collect as many balls as possible without getting hit too many times by their opponent, stationed behind a cool pneumatic ball cannon.
Sort of boring, right? Well the second challenge was way better. Fans of MXC (Takeshi's castle, for non-Americans) will recognize the false door game, where contestants have to get through a series of doors, some soft and fake, some real and hard. ISJGS takes it to the next level, forcing contestants to swing - not run - into the doors. More »

interactive tv

GPS Gaming Technology Lets You Race Against F1 Pros In Realtime

iOpener's GPS technology is made so you can take real-time data from an F1 race and use it to race against those same drivers in a video game. By placing combination of Differential GPS and an Inertial Management Unit on a car, it can track its location accurate to 30cm and get the data to gamers in under 5 seconds. iOpener doesn't plan to develop games themselves, but want to make the technology open to developers, and believe the idea could span across other genres, such as biking or snowboarding. [BBC News via Gizmag]

vizio

Vizio Black Tie XVT 120Hz LCDs Out Soon; Wal-Mart Getting 120Hz By Next Year

Vizio's 120Hz LCD TVs from CES are not vapor, instead coalescing into very real products. The 47- and 42-inch sets—rebranded "Black Tie" as part of the company's new performance XVT line—will be available in just a couple weeks for $1,500 and $1,200 MSRP, at street prices of around 1,400 and $1,100 respectively. I checked them out—and they weren't bad. More »

iphone apps

Tip: iPhone Remote Is a Wi-Fi Keyboard for Apple TV, Prevents Aneurysms

Apple TV's onscreen keyboard is an exercise in stress management, especially with its morsel of a remote. Not pimped by Apple is that the iPhone's Remote app solves this by presenting the iPhone's keyboard anytime you need to type and would otherwise pop a blood vessel, like when you're searching for "Jay and Seth Vs. the Apocalypse" on YouTube or plumbing through iTunes. Handy for the weekend, no? [Daring Fireball via Mac Rumors]

centerstage

OS X Media Application CenterStage Merges With Plex

CenterStage, the great Media Center-like UI for OS X, has merged with the Plex project, an alternative interface in hopes of creating a de facto product for any Mac user looking for more functionality that Apple TV currently affords. The application can play back many formats the Apple TV, and even iTunes, can't, like XviD, AVI, Video_TS, and others, straight through your HDTV. It also has additional features like streaming Internet radio and built-in game emulators. The excellent Plex UI will mix with what CenterStage already has built, the end result being a universal application for Mac-centric Media Centers that's easy to use. Check out the new UI demo and screen shots after the jump. [CenterStage] More »

video on demand

Amazon's Streaming Video on Demand Service Rolls Out Today in Beta, Works With Bravia Video Link

Today Amazon is launching a beta of Amazon Video On Demand, which will stream TV and movies from all the major studios (save for Disney/ABC, which is still in bed with Apple) and take the place of Unbox. The service will instantly stream rentals or download purchases to your PC. But Amazon also has plans to bring it directly to TVs via Sony's Bravia Video Link. Could couch-based Amazon shopping on your TV be far behind? More »

Japanese TV show not really

I Survived a Japanese Game Show: Spinning Babies, Spilling Milk

This week's ridiculous I Survived... challenge ran contestants through a relatively simple obstacle course. The catch? They've been dressed as babies, dizzied on a playground carousel and given two cups of milk to take along with them. The objective is to fill the team baby bottle at the end of the course. More »

cables

Panasonic's Pivoting HDMI Cables Flex 180 Degrees For Tricky HDTV Wall Mounts

If you're wall-mounting your TV in tight quarters and don't have a free side or downward-facing HDMI input on your set, these Panasonic HDMI cables will probably come in handy, once they're released this August. No word yet on price; Panasonic's standard 5ft cables go for around $30 on Amazon (and we all know you can do a lot better than that). You can bet these will be even more expensive. [Pocket Lint]

satellite

New Dish Network Satellite Launched, More HD Channels On the Way

In order to offer more HD channels, satellite providers need more satellites. So happy day for Dish Network subscribers, their EchoStar XI satellite was successfully launched this morning after a satellite propelled into space last March didn't reach the right orbit. This'll let Dish add 17 new HD channels shortly, bringing them up to 100. DirecTV says they'll have over 150 by the end of the year, though Dish's upcoming all-HD TurboHD package could wind up being a better deal if history is any guide. [Reuters]

military tech

Review: Generation Kill—The Iraq War, Batteries Not Included

We cover a lot of high-end military gear here on Giz, but just one of the things that Generation Kill, a great new miniseries that premiered on HBO last night, does well is remind everyone that in the real world, the military is not all UAVs and lasers just yet. Instead of morphing robots to peer under doors, microwave insanity guns or even current-gen tech like Blue Force GPS consoles in every Humvee, the Marines of the First Recon Battalion depicted in the show are lucky if they can get batteries for their nightvision goggles. More »

apple tv

Apple TV 2.1 Update Adds Remote App and Mobile Me Support

Apple TV 2.1 is out via Software Update. It adds two things: Support for the Remote app for the iPhone and iPod touch (awesome), and support for MobileMe. Hoo. Ray. [iLounge]

belkin flywire

Belkin FlyWire Wireless HDMI Box Beams 1080p Anywhere in Your House, Looks Fantastic

We first saw Belkin's slick-looking wireless HDMI kit at CES, when it was due in September for about $600. Now dubbed FlyWire (nice and catchy!), they've got two initial entries: FlyWire will shoot full 1080p goodness using the 5GHz band to anywhere in your house, walls be damned, for $999. Plus, it has an IR backchannel for controlling hidden AV devices. Or FlyWire R1 gets you in-room wireless for $699.99. More »

Japanese TV show not really

I Survived a Japanese Game Show: The Three-Person Exercise Bike

In this week's episode of I Survived... contestants found themselves on an elaborate interconnected exercise bike/conveyor belt contraption. The object of the game is for the tricyclist, peddling on and against a moving belt, to remain in the prize zone for as long as possible. His or her teammates peddle on stationary bikes beside the belt, and the faster they go the slower their triker is, uh, conveyed. When the belt goes too fast or the contestants wear out, the tricycle rider is dumped into a pool of freezing water.

The concept seems more like a Greek mythological punishment than a game show challenge. The crime: conspiracy to further destroy American television. Stay tuned for more game show gadgetry next week. [ABC]

giz explains

Giz Explains: CableCARD and the Future of Cable TV

The big bad cable industry is under assault. The internet is stealing viewers who can check out their favorite shows on Hulu while fiber and IPTV deliver speed and features they can't quite match. Yet. A new cable internet standard rolling out this year will let them catch up speedwise. To battle the dizzying array of possibilities IPTV offers, the cable industry has its own white knight: Tru2way, a new kind of CableCARD that will deliver real interactive features to cable subscribers, and kill the loathed cable box in the process. More »

tv dongles

Elgato Shrinks EyeTV Digital TV Dongle, Now MacBook Air-Friendly

Elgato has shrunk the tech in their Mac-friendly USB TV tuner dongles so that the latest EyeTV DTT Deluxe is much smaller. And as a result, it's now compatible with the MacBook Air's low ground-clearance. It's got a digital tuner inside that can do full HD, so it's just for those of you who can get DVB-T or Freeview, and apparently packs better image-processing for a less noisy picture. It also leaves the mini-DVI slot unblocked on an Air, and comes with a choice of aerials to suit the signal strength in your area. Available now for $125 in Europe. [Register Hardware]

at&t u-verse

The Future of TV According to AT&T

The video labs at AT&T's Atlanta HQ are not located on the higher floors of its 47-story Midtown Center where, between demos, you can casually scrape a view of the city through giant windows. You know, where you might expect to see the future of TV. Instead, they're buried down on the second floor in a building a few doors down, in a plain gray room, whose only exceptional attribute is a wall of TVs—eight total including two 60-inchers—which are hooked up to experimental U-verse IPTV DVR boxes. In this room, sitting on the single blue-green couch, you can stare up and see the future—TV-to-phone video calling, iPhones as remote controls, on-screen visual voicemail, MST3K-style chat while viewing and more—TV as you will hopefully know it in the next couple of years. More »

best tv ever

Pioneer Gen 2 Kuro Elite PRO-111FD Plasma Reviewed: New King of TVs, If You Got the Ransom

Last week we saw Panasonic's latest 50-inch TH-50PZ850U posing a serious challenge to the long-enshrined King of All TVs, the Pioneer Kuro plasma. But now our buddy Gary at HD Guru put the all-new second-gen Kuro 50-incher, the Kuro Elite PRO-111FD, up against the potential throne-usurping Panasonic 850. The verdict? As we predicted, the Kuro is once again "best TV ever," says Gary. More »

solar

Solar-Powered LCD Brings TV to Anywhere the Sun Shines

As part of Sharp's recent efforts to shove itself to the forefront of solar innovation, the company is showcasing a prototype of a 26-inch LCD Aquos TV that can be powered entirely by the sun. Now even the 1.6 billion people on earth without electricity won't have an excuse to miss the next season of Lost. More »