Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Wow, Toys ‘R Us was only a day off. Sure enough, Sony’s BDP-S350 — which was first introduced / spotted in February — has gone on sale at Sony Style retail outlets, the Sony Style website and other fine retailers near you. If you’re looking for a swift refresher, this Profile 2.0-compliant deck supports BonusView (picture-in-picture), but curiously enough, Sony mentions that “a firmware update enabling BD-Live is planned [for] later this year.” You’ll also find full 1080p output, 7.1-channel Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio support and a promise to suck down 21% less power in playback compared to the BDP-S300. All yours for $400 (give or take a few pennies).

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This post is syndicated with permission from Gadgetoholic.com

Digital cameras are getting smaller, cheaper and growing megapixels all the time. It’s funny to think about how expensive digital cameras with 10-megapixels were not so long ago and now even the cheapest entry-level cameras sport 10-megapixel resolutions.

For example, Pentax announced its Optio E60 digital camera that will retail for under $140 when it launches in October. The camera has a 10.1-megapixel sensor and a 3x optical zoom lens. In addition to shooting still images, the camera can also record video.

Sensitivity for the camera is from ISO 100 to 6400 and can be fixed at specific settings or set to auto mode. Digital shake reduction is offered in both photo and video modes and the camera features Face Detection. Images are stored to 6.3MB of internal memory and SD/SDHC memory cards. On the back of the E60 is a 2.4-inch LCD and the camera has a shutter speed of 1/2000 - 1/4 of a second. Sure, the E60 isn’t as cool as the Samsung TL9 with its analog gauges, but the E60 is half the price.

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By Andrew Liszewski

It’s taken us years and years to finally shed those annoyingly-curved CRT monitors and TVs, but Microsoft apparently feels that we should not only return to curved displays, but one that features a full 360 degrees of imagery. This week they unveiled their Sphere prototype which works just like the company’s Surface technology, but applied to a spherical interface and display. The technology and hardware needed to run the Sphere is a bit more advanced than what Surface uses, since it has to warp the images and the interface so that it looks correct when projected onto a dome, and as a result Sphere won’t be moving past the research project phase anytime soon. And as gimmicky as it might seem, there are some cool applications that come to mind like an interactive globe (as demo’d in the video) or a better way to watch and interact with 360 degree videos and panoramas.

[ Seattle PI - Video: Microsoft’s Sphere display in action ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

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By Luke Anderson

Have you ever been somewhere and thought to yourself “man, I wish that I had a couch”? I know, I think that all the time too. Well if you need to satisfy those urges to sit with some friends, or just lie down for a bit, then you need the SofaBox.

This mystical box is more than just an ordinary box for storing things in. Open the lid and gaze in wonder at the cushions that appear, then sit upon them and rejoice. Of course you’ll need to haul this thing around whenever you might want a seat for three, and lets face it, no one wants to keep something like in their car (not that it would fit, unless you’ve got a large SUV or truck). If you’ve got $2,700 burning a hole in your pocket, and you really like having a couch with you, then by all means buy a SofaBox.

[ SofaBox ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

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By Andrew Liszewski

Here’s an updated take on the classic ‘test your strength’ hammer game which is a staple of carnivals and midways all over the world. But instead of slamming a hammer down onto a target in hopes of ringing a bell (and impressing the ladies) the Kicker machine simply has you kicking a football/soccer ball to see how strong your kick measures up.

To be honest, my friends and I have never sat around a table telling stories about how strong we can kick in an attempt to one-up the previous guy, but if we did, it’s nice to know there’s now a way to settle that debate. And I envision if you played football/soccer on a regular basis this could probably also serve as a training aid to help you improve your shot strength. As long as a stronger kick is worth about $7,960 to you.

[ Kicker Machine ] VIA [ Born Rich ]

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By Luke Anderson

I am a lover of pizza. Any time I’m visiting a new place, I always have to check out one of the local pizza joints. Of course when I’m at home, I like to make my own pizza (none of that frozen stuff for me) from my secret recipe. While I have the process down to an art, I’ve yet to find a way of cutting the pizza that I really like. I don’t like the way that the round cutters damage my pans, and straight-edge ones aren’t much better. I’m actually tempted by these pizza scissors.

Here you have a wedge-shaped spatula combined with a pair of kitchen shears. Just slide it under the area you want, and cut. It’s a pretty simple concept, and should work fairly well I would think. You can pick one up for around $20.

[ Skymall ] VIA [ RGS ]

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By Andrew Liszewski

Now don’t get me wrong. This vortex fountain known as ‘Charybdis’ which is located in Seaham Hall, Sunderland (UK) definitely catches the eye, but it’s oddly reminiscent of a giant see-through toilet that’s just been flushed. (Not that I’ve encountered a giant see-through toilet before mind you.) Designed by William Pye, the Charybdis fountain is his largest vortex water sculpture to date, and it was created using a large acrylic polymer cylinder which allows an air-core vortex to form as water is pumped in a circular motion. Not surprisingly the fountain also relies on a heavy-duty water filtration system which is necessary to keep the vortex clean and spinning properly.

[ William Pye’s Charybdis Vortex Fountain ] VIA [ Night4Joy ]

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By Jonathan Kimak

The University of Tsukuba in Japan is creating a treadmill that will help with the rehabilitation of people who have had strokes or other similar illnesses. The immersive dome has a visual range of 270 degrees that’ll grant the person on the treadmill to feel as if they’re in a different environment.

It’s too bad that this is only being developed for use in hospitals as I could see this becoming a hit in the gyms if there were a multitude of environments to choose from. I can think of running alongside marathon runners, or running against olympic athletes or even running through a futuristic society being chased by killer robots as good ideas for this technology.

VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

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This post is syndicated with permission from Gadgetoholic.com

Going green is the latest massive thing for companies and product manufacturers. Many different items we use with our personal are getting more energy efficient. The gear is also being built with materials that have less of an impact on the environment– certainly a good thing.

Fabrik has announced what it calls the world’s most eco-friendly external hard drive today called the Fabrik SimpleTech [re]drive. The drive enclosure is made from recycled aluminum and bamboo. Fabrik packages an Energy Star power adapter with the drive and the actual package material the [re]drive ships in is made from 100% recycled materials.

The [re]drive has 500GB of storage and promises 25% faster data transfer with its Turbo USB 2.0 connectivity compared to standard USB 2.0. Both Mac and Windows users can use the [re]drive and it ships with automate backup software for archiving important data. The SimpleTech [re]drive is available this day for $159.99.

Via Gadgetoholic

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By Andrew Liszewski

How’s this for a conversation starter at your next party? You’ll be hard pressed to find a guest who isn’t at least a bit curious about the basketball-sized glowing glass eyeballs you have sitting on your end table. Available from 5.5 Designers, the Cloned Eyeball Lamps are actually custom made based on the color and unique design of your own eyes. You apparently need to fill out a special form which includes selecting a color that best matches your peepers, as well as providing a set of photos of your eyes so that glassblower Livio Serena can accurately create an exact clone of them. I have no idea how much something like this costs, but it’s safe to assume it’s not the type of thing you’ll find a coupon for.

[ Cloned Eyeball Lamps ] VIA [ Shiny Shiny ]

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