We have heard a few things over the last few weeks about the Google TV whereby Google [GOOG] are working with different manufacturers to get their Android operating system built in to HDTV’s. A deal with Sony has already been sorted along with Intel who will provide the necessary chips.

Panasonic on the other hand though are not going to be putting Google Android in to their TVs. The reason for this is that although the Android OS will be free to use, the extra processing power needed will bump up the production costs which Panasonic do not want to do right now.

Instead of using Google Android, Panasonic instead will use their own proprietary system that is capable of bringing Netflix and YouTube to their television sets. [Read more…]

Engineers in Taiwan are working on building a 3D display that required the viewer to wear no glasses to see. The system works using a 3D prism pattern that when put side by side they send different light signals to each eye creating a left and right channel.

To function correctly users need to sit in specific positions so that the light shows correctly to each eye. Although in testing it works, the main problems are with light crossing over channels with either movement of the head or being slightly in the wrong angle. Obviously it has a while to go before it reaches main stream.

The new 3D display system also works with multiple viewers although they will need to sit in specific locations like pictured above. [Read more…]

Students from Tromso have created a very impressive interactive wall display. The display comprises of 28 projectors that can display a large image with 7168 x 3072 pixels in total. The setup also allows for multi-touch usage (without touch) where you can simple put your hand towards the wall and drag to the side to move objects around.

The multi-touch (maybe multi-touchless it should be called) system functions by a number of cameras sitting on the floor in front of the display that can detect the distance between an object and the flood in 1D. Mixed with a second camera also scanning the area a 2D location can be found in front of the wall and the computer can calculate exactly where the hand is in front of the screen.

The system is capable of displaying a 13.3 Gigapixel image of Tromso and can be zoomed in and out of real time as well as dragged easily around the screen. To process that many pixels on the 22 Megapixel screen requires that 30 computer nodes are attached to compute all the data being processed. [Read more…]

Amazon have started shipping the LG OLED TV (the LG EL9500). The new OLED screen measures 15 inches diagonal and is an ultra thin display offering crystal clear images.

The TV is a 15 inch panel that uses OLED to display an image with a 100,000:1 contrast ratio. The response time is less than 0.01ms making it extremely quick. The OLED TV has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels and at the top side of the screen it measures just 1.7mm in thickness which gets a little wider when attached to a base unit. [Read more…]

Sony have announced that the Sony Bravia NX800 series of HDTVs are now available to buy. The new TVs were first demonstrated a few weeks back and were seen to have very thin profiles and look very sleek.

Sony now have the new HDTVs ready for pre-ordered as well as some of them being available now to purchase.

The TVs themselves have a few unique features that include a six degree tilt system allowing for a comfortable viewing angle regardless of how low the TV is installed to the floor. [Read more…]

GM have announced a new system they are working on that uses augmented reality. It is called the Enhanced Vision System and uses the wind shield of a car to highlight dangers and other information of interest to the driver.

The Enhanced Vision System has infrared and visible cameras mounted on the front of the car that feed information back to a user. Three cameras mounted in the car monitor the driver and can accurately detect where the driver is looking so that the images augmented on the screen are placed in the correct location. [Read more…]

Apple [AAPL] have filed a patent for a pico projector system and from what patentlyapple have found out, they are taking the research to the next level and looking at ways to integrate them in to the next level of hardware.

The way Apple describe the system it seems that they may either make a dedicated pico projector device that connects up to a device such as an iPhone that will be used to remote control the projector.

Integrating a projector in to an Apple iPhone or Apple iPad could be handy allowing for presentations to be done to sound ideas off with a few colleagues before a larger presentation is done. [Read more…]

A video has been uploaded to Youtube that gives a visual representation of how Samsungs Super AMOLED screen works and why it gets clear and more vibrant image quality.

The reason why Samsung can call their AMOLED screen Super is that they have done away with the touch layer and embedded it in the screen. The touch sensors are integrated in to the display rather than being over the top of the screen which normally acts as a filter. [Read more…]

The MiLi iPhone Projector is a portable projector that folds up in to a neat compact casing. When opened up the bottom side of it acts as an iPhone dock while the top side that flips over holds the projector that aims towards a screen.

The MiLi iPhone projector is also compatible with the iPod and can project an image of up to 70 inches in size on to any surface. The device also has integrated speakers to give a louder sound than the iPhone can handle it’s self.

When charged you get about 1.5 hours of usage before recharging needs to happen. Should you want to use it for longer than that you can also plug it in to use mains power. [Read more…]

Motorola have filed a patent that aims to bring several mobile phones together to make one larger screen. The patent refers to this practice as a “Reconfigurable Multiple-Screen Display” and allows “multiple” phones to be put together.

It seems like the reasoning behind it is that people are not happy carrying a small screen around with them… so this would allow them to connect up all the phones together. Problem is that nobody I know carries four phones around with them kind of making it a problem. Assuming that all phones need to be Motorola too it could also cause a problem as none of my friends have a Motorola phone. [Read more…]

ASUS have launched their ASUS DR-900 eBook reader. The device has a fairly large 9 inch e-Paper screen that can display 1024 x 768 pixels.

Around the bezel of the device there are several buttons that can be found which control various menu’s on the UI as well as skip through pages of the book.

Connectivity wise it has WiFi built in and ASUS also have an optional 3G function that can be purchased if needed. As the eBook is an e-Paper device the battery lasts quite a while with ASUS giving a figure of about 10,000 page turns if reading a standard book (ie, not downloading using wifi or 3G). [Read more…]

Mitsumi are creating a chip that aims to increase the quality of cheap LCD TV images. The chip is called the MRFX-0001 and is capable of boosting colour, white balance and sharpness of pictures.

Although it wont be backwards compatible in that you can buy the chip and fit it in your cheap LCD TV, it will be shipping to manufacturers who create cheaper TV’s that perhaps might have had poor image quality from the start… thus boosting the quality closer to that of a better TV.

The chip when installed in a TV emphasizes flesh colours as well as other common screen colours. It is also compatible with Full HD signals at a rate of up to 60 frames per second. [Read more…]