Wii Sports Boxing, Meet The Z Cam
February 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment
This IGN video is a good taste of what the ZCam from 3DV Systems is all about. However, the videos on their site show the broad conceptual usage of such a device. Basically, this camera has full 3D sensing capability at 60 fps. Additionally, it has depth cut off, so you can configure it to ignore things beyond a certain depth of field.
Some big player will buy this company and their technology. The only question is who? Microsoft? Sony? Nintendo? Sony already has the Eye Toy, but this steps the game up to another level. Nintendo is clearly interested in innovative control with everything they are pushing both with the Wii and the DS. However, I think Microsoft will jump on this. The XBox has not dipped into this market yet at all. Plus, the videos show tons of Windows Vista applications and PC integration. I think this is an almost inevitable acquisition.
Tags: 3dv, 3dv systems, camera, device, ds, eye toy, IGN, microsoft, Nintendo, sony, video games, webcam, wii, z-cam, z-camera, zacamera, zcam
PS3 Head Tracking - Without A Goofy Hat!
February 27, 2008 | 2 Comments
Johnny Lee shook my world with his proof of concept head tracking hack on the Nintendo Wii, but it looks as though Sony is going to be the company to run with his idea. Further simplifying the use, they use the Eye Toy accessory to do head tracking. From this, they show basically the exact same proof of concept demo Lee is now so famous for.
Though Boom Blox will have the honor of being the first to put this in a game! Sadly, the inclusion is merely an easter egg for this strange but intriguing Wii game…
Tags: boom blox, eye toy, head tracking, johnny lee, Nintendo, nintendo wii, sony, wii
Video Game Console Sales Charts
July 21, 2007 | 1 Comment
As an avid fan of video games, I’m always curious about who is “winning” the console wars as far as sales go. The best I’ve seen is Video Game Chartz. You can quickly and easily see information like I have snapshotted above for overall console sales. You can also get specifics on game popularity and sales for all the major consoles.
At the moment we can see that Nintendo’s Wii is poised to cross Microsoft’s XBox 360 in sales very soon. Sony’s PS3 is certainly screwed though…
Tags: charts, console, game charts, games, Nintendo, sony, video games, wii, xbox, xbox 360, xbox360
Spider-Man 3: NBC.com Exclusive HD Preview
March 6, 2007 | 2 Comments
If you don’t like to know much about upcoming movies and truly appreciate the surprise and enjoyment of seeing things for the first time in the theater, stop reading now.
NBC.com is running an exclusive HD preview of Spider-Man 3. The catch is that it will only be online until 12AM tonight! (Of course then you’ll just have to look for it on YouTube or Google video…) This is more of a clip, or full scene than a preview. It is a full 7m 31s long clip that shows three major scenes and then ends with a few short clips in preview style.
First it starts with Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson hanging out in a web expressing their love for each other. This then cuts to a scene with Peter telling Aunt May his intentions to ask MJ to marry him. Aunt May tells a touching story of how here and Ben met, as well as the fact that they would have been married 50 years if he had not been killed. She then gives Peter her engagement ring to give MJ.
This then cuts to Peter on his scooter where he is attacked by the new Green Goblin. After throwing him around quite a bit, the Goblin removes his mask, revealing Harry Osborn, and tells Peter he is going to kill him. Peter argues that he did not kill Harry’s father Norman and the chase begins.
This fight continues for a majority of the preview. The fight is particularly brutal. At one point Peter nearly loses Aunt May’s ring, but is able to fight off Harry long enough to get it back. At this point Harry starts pulling out some of his special goblin weapons.
Peter is able to use them back against him and catches Harry off guard. He finally gets enough distance between himself and Harry to setup a clothesline of webbing to surprise and takedown Harry.
We then see Harry fall four or five stories onto the pavement where he is seen unconscious. Peter rushes too him and begins CPR. We are left wondering if Harry is in fact alive. Having seen other clips in other trailers, Harry does end up in a hospital, so this must mean he survived.
This is where the “scene” portion of the preview ends. We then see the text “and the story continues…” Then it transitions into a series of clips from the movie. The most significant being of Sandman and Venom. I really love how they show Sandman as able to become huge in this clip.
Finally we are treated to our first clear, high quality shot of Venom. Sadly, it is the same shot we have seen blurry in previous leaked and official trailers.
I continue to be excited about this movie, but I am starting to think they are showing us too much. If this is the entirety of the Goblin vs Spider-Man action in this film, I will be a little let down that it was shown so completely to us. As much as I enjoyed this, I do appreciate secrecy and surprises in the theater.
Tags: "black suit", "Spider-Man 3", aunt may, ben parker, engagement, film, goblin, Green Goblin, harry osborn, mary jane, mary jane watson, mj, movie, nbc, nbc.com, peter parker, preview, ring, Sandman, sony, spider-man, spiderman, spiderman 3, theater, trailer, venom
W300i iSync Plugin
January 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment
For Christmas I got my wife a Sony Ericsson W300i cellphone. The only feature I really wanted in a phone was Bluetooth so she could sync her contacts with our Apple G5 tower. This phone has Bluetooth, is exceptionally affordable, and came highly recommended by the sales guys for reliability and durability.
However… when I got it home I was depressed to learn it is not natively supported by iSync.
A quick Google search turned up Joe Lambert’s blog and his self created iSync 2.3 plugin. The instructions on his site are straight forward and the plugin works beautifully.
Ahh the power of the many united on the Internet.
Tags: apple, cellphone, isync, isync plugin, joe lambert, phone, sony, sony ericsson, w300i
Spider-Man 3: International Poster
November 26, 2006 | 7 Comments
This is the poster for marketing Spider-Man 3 internationally. It features black suited Spider-Man swinging over New York city at night.
Tags: "Spider-Man 3", columbia pictures, marvel, movie, movie poster, sony, spider-man, spiderman
Battery Replacement: Apple vs Dell
August 30, 2006 | 51 Comments
In the last few weeks Apple and Dell have both been placed in the inconvenient position of having to recall a pile of bad Sony batteries. Side note: how come Sony laptops haven’t had a similar recall, is their market share too small to justify it, or did they save good batteries for themselves? Back on topic, I have been in the unique position of personally being involved in both recalls. My Dell D810 has one of the bad batteries, I filled out the online form to get it replaced on Tuesday 8/15/06. There is also an Apple Mac Book Pro in my house which was affected, the online form to replace this one was filled out on Sunday 8/27/06.
The Apple replacement arrived yesterday, 8/29/06. This was a turn around of less than 3 days, especially impressive when considering one of those day, the request day, was a Sunday.
My Dell, however, is still patiently waiting for it’s replacement. Today is 16 days past when it was requested, so far that makes it more than 5x slower and counting…
Unrelated but furthering potential arguments, my Dell cost >$2300 and the Mac Book Pro cost <$2300. Both had 3 year warranties with educational discounts. Which computer, warranty, and commitment do you think was worth more?
Update:
Dell support contacted me related to this issue, after hours, because they had read this post. In response they have shipped me a new battery as opposed to the refurbs they are sending others. The support representative said my slow replacement was likely do to our institution being handled as a group. I appreciated this follow up and was able to understand their perspective.
As a quick note to Digg’rs and other people leaving comments, this is just a comparison of my experience with getting batteries replaced by two different companies in a short time period. Clearly experience for others may vary. Those who want to condemn me for speaking positively about Apple and negatively about Dell, realize I have both Macs and PCs represented in my life. I appreciate what both do for me.
Tags: apple, battery, battery recall, battery replacement, dell, laptop, mac, recall, sony