sunlight viewable displays

Pixel Qi’s display technology combines some of the best features of an LCD screen with those of an E Ink display. With the backlight on a Pixel Qi display can handle a full range of colors and full motion video. Cut off the backlight and you get a high contrast display that’s almost black and white and which you can view in direct sunlight. Oh yeah, killing the backlight also reduces power consumption by about 80 percent.


Pixel Qi introduces 10 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel sunlight viewable displays

Pixel Qi Demos 10" 1280x800 Pixel Screens

VGA Testers

From HACKADAY read: VGA Testers for the Children

Based on deogen already featured on Hack A Day, supports multiple raster patterns and resolutions (640×480 through 1280×1024), is already pretty darn small, and uses an ATTiny 2313.

The Next Phase of Intelligent TVs Will Observe You

From Slashdot:
The Next Phase of Intelligent TVs Will Observe You

"Japan based NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories (STRL) is testing an interface which observes TV viewers, determines their interest and provides information related to the TV program in accordance with the way they are watching it. UTAN (user technology assisted navigation) TV viewing interface as it is called, has a camera mounted on the TV which photographs the viewer and estimates the viewer's degrees of interest, concentration, etc from circumstances such as who is watching the TV with how much interest. The information is processed by a tablet PC and recommended information is shown to the viewer, it is possible to show individual interests as well in case there are multiple viewers."

Hurt Locker lawsuit targets a record-breaking 24,583 IP addresses

Thanks Domi,

Sent to you by Dominic via Google Reader:

Hurt Locker lawsuit targets a record-breaking 24,583 IP addresses

via Engadget by Jesse Hicks on 5/27/11

It's been almost a year since the producers of The Hurt Locker filed a lawsuit against 5,000 alleged pirates suspected of distributing the film via BitTorrent. Now Voltage Pictures has updated its complaint, adding almost 20,000 IP addresses to the list of defendants. That makes it the largest file-sharing lawsuit of all time -- a crown previously held by the company behind The Expendables, according to Wired. The plaintiff has already reached agreements with Charter and Verizon to identify individual users, but no such deal with Comcast, who owns nearly half the supposedly infringing addresses. Linking those addresses with user accounts would let Voltage manage individual settlements -- probably somewhere between $1,000-$2,000 -- rather than continue legal action. All of this eerily echoes the Oscar-winning film's plot, about an adrenaline junkie who couldn't resist downloading just one more movie. Or defusing one more bomb. We're a little fuzzy on the details, but venture into TorrentFreak to scan for familiar IP addresses.

What's going on with EZTV.IT?

UPDATE: They are experiencing a DDoS. I'll follow up with you from my personal account.

From Anonymous Friend in the know. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------


sokol@server:~$ telnet eztv.it
Trying 192.121.86.98...
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: No route to host

sokol@server:~$ telnet eztv.se
Trying 192.121.86.98...
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: No route to host

sokol@server:~$ traceroute eztv.it
traceroute to eztv.it (192.121.86.98), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets
 1  72.249.125.49 (72.249.125.49)  0.037 ms  0.021 ms  0.020 ms
 2  206.123.65.59 (206.123.65.59)  2.644 ms  2.672 ms  2.695 ms
 3  206.123.64.25 (206.123.64.25)  2.622 ms  2.606 ms  2.634 ms
 4  xe-5-3-0.edge3.Dallas1.Level3.net (8.9.232.73)  2.562 ms  2.580 ms  2.560 ms
 5  ae-3-80.edge4.Dallas3.Level3.net (4.69.145.141)  2.580 ms ae-2-70.edge4.Dallas3.Level3.net (4.69.145.77)  3.356 ms ae-1-60.edge4.Dallas3.Level3.net (4.69.145.13)  3.381 ms
 6  te2-2-10G.ar5.dal2.gblx.net (64.208.27.9)  2.511 ms  2.771 ms  2.729 ms
 7  te-4-4-gblx.sto1.se.portlane.net (209.130.172.178)  155.709 ms  159.915 ms  159.884 ms
 8  te-3-4-231-dcp-demarc.sto1.se.portlane.net (80.67.0.202)  159.858 ms  159.839 ms  159.862 ms
 9  192.121.121.243 (192.121.121.243)  157.785 ms  157.861 ms  157.743 ms
10  192.121.121.10 (192.121.121.10)  159.662 ms  159.701 ms  159.619 ms  LOOP STARTS HERE
11  192.121.121.9 (192.121.121.9)  157.652 ms  157.725 ms  156.860 ms
12  192.121.121.10 (192.121.121.10)  158.797 ms  158.779 ms  155.920 ms
13  192.121.121.9 (192.121.121.9)  153.018 ms  153.796 ms  153.751 ms
14  * * *
15  192.121.121.9 (192.121.121.9)  150.807 ms  150.863 ms  150.752 ms
16  * * *
17  192.121.121.9 (192.121.121.9)  153.767 ms  153.694 ms  153.675 ms
18  * * *
19  192.121.121.9 (192.121.121.9)  153.631 ms  153.780 ms  153.709 ms
20  * * *
21  192.121.121.9 (192.121.121.9)  155.854 ms  154.982 ms  155.961 ms
22  * 192.121.121.10 (192.121.121.10)  160.129 ms *
23  192.121.121.9 (192.121.121.9)  157.760 ms  156.987 ms  156.609 ms
24  * * 192.121.121.10 (192.121.121.10)  152.946 ms
25  192.121.121.9 (192.121.121.9)  151.862 ms  151.845 ms  150.824 ms
26  192.121.121.10 (192.121.121.10)  153.750 ms  153.723 ms *
27  192.121.121.9 (192.121.121.9)  151.619 ms  151.698 ms  150.675 ms
28  192.121.121.10 (192.121.121.10)  153.595 ms  153.577 ms *
29  192.121.121.9 (192.121.121.9)  150.589 ms  152.806 ms  152.768 ms
30  * * *

Looks like a routing loop.


EZTV Goes Down Again  I am not the only one to notice.

Color object tracking with an 8 bit microcontroller

Hack a Day

Are streaming media players a fad.

Are Streaming Media Players a Passing Fad - Slashdot

WHDI can Streams HDMI 100 Feet

WHDI is a new wireless High Definition video standard that enables wireless uncompressed HD video delivery throughout the home, allowing consumers to connect any source in the home to any display.


It can support delivery of equivalent video data rates of up to 3Gbps (including uncompressed 1080p) in a 40MHz channel in the 5GHz unlicensed band, conforming to worldwide 5GHz spectrum regulations. Range is beyond 100 feet, through walls, and latency is less than one millisecond.

 
The Galaxy GeForce GTX 460 is a WHDI graphics card.


WHDI Consortium was formed by Amimon, Hitachi, Motorola, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and LG Electronics.

http://www.whdi.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Home_Digital_Interface

Glossy vs matte screens.

From Slashdot:  Users Want Matte LCDs While Glossy Screens Dominate

"A survey of PC Pro readers suggests PC makers are out of touch when it comes to glossy vs matte screens. Almost three quarters of those surveyed said they preferred matte screens despite laptop makers moving almost exclusively to glossy screens. ... Why is the industry hell-bent on not giving customers what they want?"

Many theaters misuse 3-D lenses to show 2-D films

If a theater plays a 2D movie with the 3D filters in place it reduce the amount of light reaching the screen making the image dark and the colors weak.

Read more at this article: A movie lover’s plea: Let there be light

Apple TV hacked and turned in to web server.

An Apple TV-Based Webserver - Slashdot

JavaScript audio synthesis with HTML 5

From Acto.net

JavaScript audio synthesis with HTML 5

HTML5 had a few new features like

Can you use JavaScript to stream live data into these media tags?
Enter the JavaScript audio synth. It generates a handful of samples using very basic time-domain synthesis, wraps them up in a WAVE file header and embeds them in

Touch screens

Taiwan ramps capacitive display output

New Bill Ups Punishment For Hosts of Infringing Video Streams

From Slashdot:
New Bill Ups Punishment For Hosts of Infringing Video Streams
"Two months ago, the Obama administration asked Congress to make illicit online streaming of copyrighted movies and TV shows a felony. Such a bill has now been introduced by two senators. 'Online streamers can now face up to five years in prison and a fine in cases where: They show 10 or more "public performances" by electronic means in any 180-day period; and the total retail value of those performances tops $2,500 or the cost of licensing such performances is greater than $5,000.'"

Netflix is 29.7% of all information downloaded during peak

Netflix Dominates North American Internet

Accounting for 29.7% of all information downloaded during peak usage hours by North American broadband-connected households in March, Netflix Inc. received the title in the latest Global Internet Phenomena Report released by Sandvine Corp. on Tuesday. In its ninth such report, Waterloo, Ont.-based Sandvine found the amount of data consumed by users streaming television shows and movies from Netflix's online service exceeded even that of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing technology BitTorrent."

Last mile WiFi over TV white space

Last mile WiFi over TV white space

 

What do you do when you can’t afford broadband and no-cost WiFi is just out of reach?
That was the problem Rice University grad student [Ryan Guerra] was tasked with solving. A local Houston resident could barely tap into the free service offered in her area, so [Ryan] set out to extend the signal’s range using white space previously occupied by TV signals.
Using channel 29 which operates at 563MHz, his “Super WiFi” project utilizes standard WiFi protocols and can extend the signal’s reach up to a mile. The WiFi signals at the closest tower are piped through a prototype frequency translator, shifting the signal from 2.4GHz down to 563MHz, which is far better suited for long(er)-haul transmissions. The system does not use channel bonding just yet, so it is limited to using about 25% of WiFi’s maximum bandwidth, which is far better than no signal at all.
While the widespread practical use of TV white space will take some time to come to fruition, this is definitely a step in the right direction.

 

Finger print scanner can work from 2 meters away

Fingerprints Go the Distance - Technology Review

Video Experimenters board

Make: Online | Toolbox Review: Video Experimenter Shield

With high-definition television becoming increasingly widespread, many people are tossing their old NTSC or PAL video equipment to the curb. But as makers, we can reclaim this old equipment for our own projects. Enter The Video Experimenter. This Arduino shield by Nootropic Design lets you program your Arduino microcontroller to manipulate and analyze NTSC or PAL video signals from a composite video source. You can also decode closed caption text, which is transmitted within the video image.

Netflix for Android Phone

Netflix for Android Phone

* The Netflix app runs on these phones:
1. HTC Incredible with Android 2.2
2. HTC Nexus One with Android 2.2, 2.3
3. HTC Evo 4G with Android 2.2
4. HTC G2 with Android 2.2
5. Samsung Nexus S with Android 2.3.

 I suspect that security is a big limitation for Android adoption, content rights holders want almost unrealistic levels of security and encryption for any device to play content.
This is I am sure must be one of Netflix largest limiting factors.

Read More:

Netflix Brings Instant Streaming to Android, Will Roll Out Gradually by Device

Netflix launch on Android

Growth predicted for Mobile Pico Projectors

Pacific Media Associates Forecasts 93% Compound Annual Growth in Mobile Pico Projectors Through 2015


Foresees Strong Roles for Both Companion and Embedded Types

Menlo Park, California, USA – May 11, 2011. Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the worldwide market information experts on front projectors, have just released the results of their first quarter census of all front projectors, finding that worldwide shipments of the  mobile, battery-powered, ones grew to 235,000 units compared with 109,000 in the year-earlier quarter, an increase of 116%.

PMA currently believes that the industry is on track to grow at an average rate of 93% per year through 2015, reaching over 17.2 million units. And if that rate were to continue for the following 5 years, the 2020 shipments would be over 460 million. These impressive figures include both the stand-alone accessory (AKA companion) products now selling at prices as high as $500 and the optical modules embedded in a wide range of other battery-powered gadgets such as smartphones, digital cameras, camcorders, notebook computers, and even tablets.

“People are increasingly mobile today, and their desire to carry pocket-sized gadgets but look at big pictures can only be met by some form of pico projector technology,” said Dr. William Coggshall, President of Pacific Media Associates. “Many companies are currently making components, optical engine modules, and complete projectors, using combinations of imager chip technologies such as DLP, LCOS, and MOEMS scanners, with illumination system technologies such as lasers and LEDs.”

About Pacific Media Associates

Pacific Media specializes in worldwide front projector market information, including New Era (sub-500 lumens), Mainstream (500-4999 lumens), and High-End (5000+ lumens) categories. Their Industry Service family of publications provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates (sell-in data and forecasts) on front projector markets, newsletters on new products and other key industry developments, and biennial Web surveys of North American dealers and end users (including organizations and individual consumers). Their Tracking Service family of monthly reports offers timely sell-through data and analysis on unit sales, true volume-weighted street prices, and inventories of front projectors sold by leading North American retailers, resellers, and distributors. Pacific Media Associates was established- by Dr. William Coggshall, who was a co-founder of Dataquest (now part of Gartner) and helped start the syndicated high-tech market information business. The company headquarters is at 1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025. Telephone +1 650-561-9020 www.pacificmediaassociates.com

Netflix CEO Hesitant To Fight Cable

From Slashdot:
"Those who were hopeful that Netflix would bring the fight to the cable companies may be disappointed in the latest comments from their CEO. 'Reed Hastings is pleased with his company's massive growth, but he fears that getting too large will start "an Armageddon" with cable networks.' It's a fight he doesn't think his company could survive."

Interview of Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

PBS: Charlie Rose interviews Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix

3DTV facebook group.

I am just experimenting here a little, someone invited me to be an admin of this group.

John

Ownership Of TV Sets Falls in U.S.

Ownership Of TV Sets Falls in U.S. – by Brian Stelter – The New York Times – 5/3/11

For the first time in 20 years, the number of homes in the United States with television sets has dropped.

The Nielsen Company, which takes TV set ownership into account when it produces ratings, will tell television networks and advertisers on Tuesday that 96.7 percent of American households now own sets, down from 98.9 percent previously.

There are two reasons for the decline, according to Nielsen. One is poverty: some low-income households no longer own TV sets, most likely because they cannot afford new digital sets and antennas.

The other is technological wizardry: young people who have grown up with laptops in their hands instead of remote controls are opting not to buy TV sets when they graduate from college or enter the work force, at least not at first. Instead, they are subsisting on a diet of television shows and movies from the Internet.

That second reason is prompting Nielsen to think about a redefinition of the term ''television household'' to include Internet video viewers.

''We've been having conversations with clients,'' said Pat McDonough, the senior vice president for insights and analysis at Nielsen. ''That would be a big change for this industry, and we'd be doing it in consultation with clients if we do it.''

Nielsen's household figures suggest that while the TV set is still firmly at the center of the average American's media life, a small minority of Americans are finding ways to live without it. The ''persistently rocky economy'' is ''the driving factor,'' the company says in the report to be released Tuesday.

Similarly, the economy was the reason cited by Nielsen when the percentage of homes with sets declined in 1992. That decline, the company's report says, ''also followed a prolonged recession and was reversed during the economic upswing of the mid-1990s.'' If the current decline persists, it will have profound implications for the networks, studios and distributors that are wedded, at least in part, to the current television ecosystem.

Nielsen's estimates incorporate the results of the 2010 census as well as the behavior of the approximately 50,000 Americans in the national sample that the company relies upon to make ratings projections. ''One thing we are seeing in the Nielsen sample are fewer people owning TVs,'' Ms. McDonough said. It was first evident in the sample in late 2008, she said, during the worst of the financial crisis and the recession.

Nielsen's research into these newly TV-less households indicates that they generally have incomes under $20,000. ''They are people at the bottom of the economic spectrum for whom, if the TV breaks, if the antenna blows off the roof, they have to think long and hard about what to do,'' Ms. McDonough said. Most of these households do not have Internet access either. Many live in rural areas.

The transition to digital broadcasting from analog in 2009 aggravated the hardship for some of these households. Some could not afford to upgrade, Nielsen surmised, though the government tried to provide subsidies in those situations.

And some in rural areas could not receive digital signals as effectively as analog signals for technical reasons. In those cases, ''if you're an affluent household -- or most middle-class households -- you're going to get a satellite dish. If you're a struggling household, likely you're not going to be able to afford that option,'' Ms. McDonough said.

Then there are the tech-savvy Americans who once lived in a household with a television, but no longer do. These are either cord-cutters -- a term that refers to people who stop paying for cable television -- or people who never signed on for cable. Ms. McDonough suggested that these were younger Americans who were moving into new residences and deciding not to buy a TV for themselves, especially if they ''don't have the financial means to get one immediately.''

Nielsen has not yet assessed what proportion of the decline can be attributed to this behavior. But the decline in the percentage of homes with sets is sure to kick off another round of speculation about cord-cutting.

Sensitive to its clients' concerns, Nielsen explains the trend this way in the report: ''While Nielsen data demonstrates that consumers are viewing more video content across all platforms -- rather than replacing one medium with another -- a small subset of younger, urban consumers seem to be going without paid TV subscriptions for the time being. The long-term effects of this are still unclear, as it is undetermined if this is also an economic issue that will see these individuals entering the TV marketplace once they have the means, or the beginning of a larger shift to online viewing.''

This Business of Television

I am looking at the 1991 edition of this book which can be had used for around two dollars used.
It's fantastic. It goes in to the relivant laws. How contracts are structured and business details.

There is also a 2006 edition.  I plan on ordering now.

Amazon.com: This Business of Television (9780823077632): Howard J. Blumenthal, Oliver R. Goodenough, Howard Blumenthal: Books