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Netflix Drops Plans to Rent Videogames[teaser]It's no surprise that the company won't be adding more physical media to the lineup. [/teaser] Netflix has been going through a transformation recently. The company has been switching focus to streaming videos and all but ignoring physical media. They even tried, and failed, to start up a spinoff called Qwickster just for DVD and Blu-ray rental. The company confirmed in its fourth quarter earnings report that there will be no videogames coming to Netflix. We've heard since early on that Netflix has been considering adding games to its rental options, but the focus on streaming seals the deal. Then again, with streaming games gaining a foothold, Netflix could always approach things from a different route. Netflix also mentioned in this call that they're looking into 3D streaming, but there were no specifics laid out. Source: EngadgetPosted Thu Jan 26, 2012 at 09:30 AM PST by: -
Yamaha Cuts DSP Development in Half with New Design Tool[teaser]The Synopsis Processor Designer kept costs down while increasing productivity. [/teaser] Yamaha's new XMP-1 DSP is impressive, offering 32-channel phrase sound generation and AudioEngine effects. What's even more interesting, especially for Yamaha, is the amount of time required to create it. The new Synopsys Processor Designer has made development that much easier. "With Processor Designer," says product development manager Morito Morishima, "we doubled functionality for our high definition sound generation DSP, developing it in just one year, including the entire software development tool chain, while reducing cost." Quicker and more efficient production of DSPs could certainly amount to cheaper prices to consumers or, at the very least, more frequent upgrades to Yamaha's product lines. Source: Yahoo!Posted Thu Jan 26, 2012 at 09:00 AM PST by: -
DuPont Adds an OLED Research Plant in Delaware[teaser]The facility will allow the company to test new, less expensive ways to bring OLEDs to market. [/teaser] The folks at DuPont have a goal - to crack the OLED secret. They want to be the ones to find the way to make OLED inexpensive enough to mass produce and sell to regular consumers and they're building a brand new $30 million production facility to do it. The company will be employing 35 people on the task of exploring new methods of creating OLEDs. DuPont says that it will be keeping the new facility open for at least five years. We're just hoping the investment pays off - reasonably price OLEDs would be nice to see. Source: EngadgetPosted Thu Jan 26, 2012 at 07:00 AM PST by: -
Aaron's Sundance 2012 Journal: Day 4The buses were unkind to me today. This morning I caught my normal bus into town and for some reason it took a wrong turn into a neighborhood and came out facing the wrong direction. The driver assured us we were still headed into town, but then he grabbed his jacket and stepped off the bus without explaining anything. People were freaking out. A lady next to me was channeling 'Jurassic Park' as she repeated, "He left us," a few times. I know I should've known better. I should've stayed on the bus, because I knew that they weren't just going to leave us there, but I was in a hurry. Every time I'm at the grocery store I always pick the wrong line and get behind the person taking the longest. When it comes to situations like this bus my mind starts racing, wondering if I'll make my movie on time, so I jumped off the bus and started walking. I only needed to go about three blocks to get to where I was going, but three blocks on icy sidewalks seems more like 10 blocks. It was a stupid move on my part because right after I started walking down the street a new driver appeared, hopped in the bus, turned it around, and they were off. I, on the other hand, was beginning to sweat because of all the layers I had on. It was cold outside, but I was walking at a pretty steady clip. I finally did make my first destination, which was the movie 'Liberal Arts' directed by Josh Radnor. I took up my favorite seat in the whole place, front row, off to the side. The front row in the Eccles theater, which is a huge high school auditorium, is a great place to sit. The screen is pushed all the way to the back of the stage so there's no neck breaking going on. Then, when the Q&A starts after the show, you're right there in front to take it all in. I liked 'Liberal Arts,' but do admit that you probably have to be a fan of Radnor's in the first place. If you're into How I Met Your Mother then you'll probably like 'Liberal Arts.' It's not as zany as that show, actually it's quite dramatic, but there's a lot of similarities. Mainly, Radnor, who is just playing a slightly calmer version of Ted Mosby. Elizabeth Olsen is fantastic in it, but she's great in everything she's in. A friend of mine wondered, while we were in line for another movie, if Elizabeth Olsen ever brags to her two multi-millionaire sisters that she's a better actor than the both of them put together and then in turn they whip out a million bucks and burn it in front of her just because they can. During the Q&A it was freaky how much Radnor acts and talks like Ted Mosby. So much so that I wonder if he is actually doing any sort of acting in How I Met Your Mother. All his mannerisms, inflections, and slightly pretentious anecdotes were totally Ted Mosby. It was eerie. After that was over I hopped on another bus and encountered my second bus mishap of the day. Around noon the buses start to become really crowded. Standing room only. This is difficult because sometimes the bus driver can't see that you're trying to get off the bus because the crowds are so thick. We pulled up to the stop where I wanted to get out, but the driver couldn't pull all the way up so he opened the doors to let some people out. I thought he was going to wait for the bus in front of us to leave, then pull up further into the bus stop, but he didn't. He simply took off, headed straight downtown and I was stuck. I had to ride it into town and then back out in order to get to the stop that I wanted. When I finally got to the press tent I went in and got into line with Luke for 'Save the Date,' which ended up being a very charming, very funny rom-com. Only it's one of those movies where really grungy guys continuously score really good-looking women. None of the people that get together in this movie would ever be put together if we were matching them up in the real world. It doesn't matter though, because the movie really is quite fun. After that it was off to write a bit. I was going to hit up 'Nobody Walks,' but decided not to just because it's already hard enough to take out enough time to write everything I need to write. Luke and I hung out in the Yarrow Hotel for a little while, and then it started snowing again. Not as bad as Snowpocalypse, but it was still pretty ugly out there. What's funny is that out-of-towners really romanticize the snow. All these people from Los Angeles think snow is simply the greatest thing they've ever seen. That is until they have to start trudging through the wet, muddy slush created by buses and cars. Then suddenly snow falling isn't so awesome anymore. At 6:00pm I got in line for 'Black Rock.' A survivalist horror film written by Mark Duplass. It was directed by his wife Katie Aselton, who also stars alongside Lake Bell and Kate Bosworth. As much as I love everyone involved, 'Black Rock' is simply awful. The men hunting the girls down in the woods are completely moronic idiots. When it comes to a hunter-and-hunted movie the film is only as good as its villains and these guys aren't scary in the least. What a letdown that movie was. After fuming about 'Black Rock' I headed back to the bus stop to catch a bus out to the Redstone Cinemas to take in one last movie. It was a Chilean movie called 'Young and Wild,' about a 17 year-old girl who goes through sort of a sexual awakening. Only, it's not as fun as it sounds. This is more like watching 'Shame' the teenage girl edition. As the sex acts get weirder and more explicit, I honestly felt extremely uncomfortable watching it with a theater full of movie-goers. Then it was back home. I got back around midnight and crashed. My first movie tomorrow isn't until noon so I can take some time to relax and sleep in a little. I'm planning on seeing a would-be comedy about a startup phone sex business called 'For a Good Time, Call…' After that I'm going to the third Mark Duplass movie that's at the festival this year, which also stars 'Parks and Rec.'s Aubrey Plaza. The movie is called 'Safety Not Guaranteed.' It has something to do with time travel but I really have no idea what to expect. Then I might hit up 'The Surrogate' after that. Only three movies today. I planned on five, but decided that I didn't want to wake up and try to make it to an 8:30 screening of 'Bachelorette.' [teaser]This festival is doing anything but flying by. It's only Tuesday, but I feel like it should be Friday. That's not necessarily a bad thing though...[/teaser]Posted Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 12:45 PM PST by: -
Boxee Live TV Now Shipping - Software Version 1.5 Out Now[teaser]This is the final version of the Boxee software for PC, Mac, and Ubuntu. [/teaser] Boxee has providing some incredible software for home theater PCs for years now, and at no cost to you. As you might imagine, it's not the most profitable business model. Boxee announced late last year that they would be putting a halt to computer software and that day has finally come. Software version 1.5 has launched and it brings Boxee for PC, Mac and Ubuntu up to speed with the Boxee Box, or as up to speed as it can be. DRM and certifications hold it back, but Boxee's Andrew Kippen says "As a platform, we have been able to bring Boxee for Computers to about 85% of the Boxee Box in terms of features and functionality." Boxee Box owners that have been looking for a way to cut the cord may be excited to see that Boxee Live TV is out now. Live TV is a device that connects to your Box and gives you access to live over-the-air television. Unfortunately it doesn't give you DVR functionality, but Boxee says they'll look into it if there's enough interest. Live TV is available now for $49. Source:Posted Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 11:00 AM PST by: -
Lansche Audio's No. 7 Loudspeakers Use Electricity and Air Instead of Traditional Tweeters[teaser]They come in at $100,000 a pair. Also newly available are the company's 5.1 speakers, which sell for a more modest $45,000 a pair. [/teaser] The Lansche Audio No. 7 is a fantastic looking speaker. It stands just over 5-1/2 feet tall and comes in either a Satin, High Gloss or Piano Black Lacquer finish. Lanche's passive speakers offer a new version of the company's Corona Tweeter, which uses an electric arc that uses the air as a transmission medium. There's no dome - just electricity and air. Lansche says that this is the closest anyone has yet come to a zero mass sound source. The No. 7 also offers a pair of 4" mid-range drivers and four 8.7" woofers for bass response as low as 25Hz. You can pick it up now from Aaudio Imports of $100,000 a pair. The No. 5.1 three-way loudspeaker uses the same Corona Plasma Tweeter to provide the highs, but only utilizes one mid-range driver and two woofers. Despite having fewer bass speakers, it still gets you down to a frequency of 32Hz. Source: eCousticsPosted Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 09:00 AM PST by: -
Verizon Adds over 200,000 Internet Subscribers and 194,000 Video Subscribers[teaser]Verizon is up at a time where most other companies are way down. [/teaser] It's not a good time for the cable industries. Families are examining their budgets and cutting costs where they can. One of the biggest places to cut costs is in cable service, which has providers losing hundreds of thousands of subscribers a year. Verizon is an exception to the rule, gaining 194,000 FiOS video subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2011. The number goes up above 200,000 when factoring in the 6,100 subscribers that choose to go with an internet-only option. In all, Verizon's FiOS network grew by more than 900,000 subscribers in 2011. The count now totals 16.5 million homes. Source: Home Media MagazinePosted Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 07:00 AM PST by: -
Aaron's Sundance 2012 Journal: Day 3[teaser]After having such hectic schedules the first two days I decided that for Day 3 I'd take it easy...well, at least in the morning. [/teaser] Instead of being up bright and early to head out the door around 7:00 I slept in a little and skipped the first movie I had planned for today, which was 'The End of Love.' It's just too hard to do continuous four- and five-movie days. I know what you're saying to yourself: "This guy is complaining about watching movies all day?" Well, watching movies is only half of the equation. The other half is packing into crowded buses, walking through a foot and a half of muddy slush water, and standing in hour-long lines just to get into the next movie. There's much more to a festival than meets the eye. Don't get me wrong, it's a blast, but even the most hardened movie watcher like me has their limits, and I was simply beat. The weather had calmed down and Snowpocalypse passed on by, but not before it dumped about a foot and a half of snow in Park City, making getting around ten times more difficult. Every bus you step off of you have to be extra careful not to step in the deceptively deep slush pool or you might find yourself shin deep in freezing cold mud water. Yeah, it's not a fun thing to have happen. The last thing you want is to be squishing around from theater to theater in soggy socks. My first movie was at noon. It was a high school rom-com entitled 'The First Time' and it's one of the best movies I've seen up here so far. After you can get past the initial 'Gilmore Girls' fast-talking, hip dialogue, there's some real substance here. Witty, smart teenagers, which is always a welcome respite from the norm. From there I headed on back to the Festival Headquarters in order to finally get some writing done. That's the other con to seeing movies back-to-back-to-back-to-back: you never have time to write. I was able to crank out three reviews in a new lounge I found sponsored by Southwest. It's the perfect place to write, because it's quiet and it has outlets for your computer cables. If you want to know the top survival technique of any writer when it comes to covering a film festival, know where the outlets are. Your laptop battery will inevitably fail, or you're like me and have laptops whose batteries are doing nothing more than adding weight to the computer. Outlets are essential. They're as important as knowing where the nearest bathrooms are. Go to any film festival and head on over to wherever the press office is, and guaranteed you'll find journalists wandering rooms, hallways, and lobbies looking for outlets and getting frustrated when they can't find them. I contemplated skipping the next movie I had planned, which was 'Red Lights.' I hadn't heard anything good about it, and specifically that the ending really stank. At a festival, news spreads quickly about which movies are gaining ground and which ones simply fizzle out. 'Red Lights' was getting a reputation of having a decent first two acts and then completely going off the rails in the third. At the last minute I decided to try to see if I could still get in. I did, about a minute late, and had to sit almost in the front row. The rumors were right. The supernatural thriller starring Cillian Murphy and Robert De Niro starts off rather well – if not a little generically as far as supernatural thrillers go – and then completely comes off the hinges when it's time to end the movie. Oh boy is it bad. Really bad. So bad that they should consider rewriting and reshooting a completely different ending. After 'Red Lights' I had it all planned out. I was going to catch Stephen Frear's new movie 'Lay the Favorite.' I was going to perfectly line up with the last movie of the night 'Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap.' Only, it wasn't until I was in line for 'Lay the Favorite' that I found out the movie didn't start at 7:00pm like I thought it did. No, it started at 7:30pm, which cut out 30 minutes of travel time I desperately needed to make it to the distant Redstone Theaters for 'Something From Nothing.' Reluctantly I had to step out of line and head on out to the Redstone Theaters. I had to make the choice because I was covering 'Something From Nothing' for Film.com, whereas 'Lay the Favorite' would've just been something to see for fun. I was bummed, but I'll try and fit it in later in the week. I got out to Redstone but still had about an hour to kill. I walked by a bistro which was empty save a few patrons. They had the NFC Championship game on TV. I was watching from outside, when a nice waiter walked up to the glass and motioned me to come in. "Come in, we don't charge for you to watch," he said. So I sat at the bar and watched the 49ers lose in overtime, and then took off back to the theater for my last movie of the day. 'Something From Nothing' is a must see movie if you have even the slightest interest in rap. It's a master's thesis in the way rap works, how it evolved, and the way lyricists put pen to paper and come out with something magical. It was directed by Ice-T, who was there. He sat directly behind me as a matter of fact. His question and answer session after the movie was the best I've ever been to at Sundance. In detail he described his passion for the movie and even did some freestyling for everyone. It was fantastic. I could've listened to him talk all night. I tried to sneak a couple incognito pictures of Ice-T and his wife Coco and the best I got was the picture above. After that the night was done. Ice-T's laid back Q&A was the perfect way to end what turned out to be my own version of a laid back day at Sundance. On Day 4 I'm planning on seeing five movies but I doubt I'll get to them all. Up first, in the morning, is Josh Radnor's 'Liberal Arts,' followed by the relationship comedy 'Save the Date.' I plan on taking in 'Nobody Walks' but I may cut out and take some time off to write. After that it's off to Katie Aselton's 'Black Rock,' and then a nightcap with the Chilean film 'Young and Wild.'Posted Tue Jan 24, 2012 at 02:20 PM PST by: -
Pass Labs Launches a Preamp and a Pair of Mono Amplifiers[teaser]The preamp is the new flagship of the line, while the mono amps are designed to replace older generation models. [/teaser] Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and the rest of the usual suspects have gone a bit quiet in the wake of CES, leaving room for high-end and luxury manufacturers to present their wares. Among them is Pass Labs, which has three new products for perusing. The XP-30 is the latest in the company's celebrated XP line of preamplifiers. It's a modular amplifier that comes in three separate pieces - a power supply, a control chassis and a gain chassis. The XP-30 offers 99 volume steps, six inputs, four outputs and will be available in August for $16,500. The Xs-150 and Xs-300 are a pair of mono power amplifiers which offer 150 and 300 watts of power respectively. They've been in development for three years and have been loaded with redundantly parallel rectifiers, separate chassis for the power supplies and larger transformers that are, at the same time, quieter transformers. The Xs-150 will be hitting at $65,000 a pair while the 300 comes in at $85,000 a pair. Source: eCousticsPosted Tue Jan 24, 2012 at 09:00 AM PST by: -
Hitachi is Done Making TVs, Shifting Focus to Projectors and Components[teaser]The long term goal for Hitachi is to move out of consumer electronics and into infrastructure systems like power and rail. [/teaser] It's been a few years since Hitachi has made their own TVs for sale in the U.S. but the company has been keeping things going in Japan, at least up until now. Over last weekend Hitachi announced that they'll be quitting the TV game. Hitachi will still be selling TVs under the Hitachi name in Japan, but they'll be outsourcing the manufacturing to a third party. They haven't yet said who that will be. The sole TV manufacturing plant won't be shutting down though. It will instead begin focusing on projectors and home theater components as well as television repairs. Source: TWICEPosted Tue Jan 24, 2012 at 07:00 AM PST by:
