TV

No longer simply content to rule the world of computers, the Google juggernaut has teamed up with Dish Network to bring its targeted ads and search power to the world of television. The project, currently in the testing phase at some very lucky Google employees' houses, brings customized TV schedules, advertising packages, and web video via YouTube out of the computer and into the living room via an Android-powered set-top box.

Films such as Blade Runner and Minority Report tend to show tons of bright electronic signs blinking or animating frantically from buildings and vehicles alike -- a vision of future Earth that can only become true with much more energy-efficient displays than we have now.

A new study from Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne links time watching television to an increased risk of death. One of the most surprising findings is that it isn't just couch potatoes who were affected—even for people who exercised regularly, the risk of death went up the longer they were in front of the TV. The problem was the prolonged periods of time spent sitting still.

Someone wants to bring back the golden era of TV, when entire families watched the tube with microwave dinners balanced carefully on their laps. Motorola, Intel and UK-based BT envision a TV viewing experience that uses social networking to make you feel fuzzily connected to friends and family. According to Technology Review the goal is to "make TV social again."

Let the 3-D deluge begin! The New York Times reports today that Discovery is partnering with Imax and Sony to create an all 3-D all the time HDTV station in 2011. The partnership is due to be announced officially this week at CES, which we'll be covering live starting tomorrow. I'm going to start calling it 3-D-E-S from this moment forward.

There goes 2009, and what a year she was. Let’s see, the iTunes App Store eclipsed one billion downloads, Google surprised us all with the announcement of Chrome OS, Windows 7 sent Vista to the big Blue Screen of Death in the sky, Verizon and AT&T started fighting dirty and the e-reader market exploded. But instead of looking back at the year that was, we of course always find it a lot more fun to look forward. So, here’s what’s on my wish list for the year to come in gadgets and tech.

While FIFA made the unfortunate call yesterday to pass on TV replay capability for the upcoming World Cup, there will still be new broadcast technology unveiled this summer in South Africa. According to FIFA, up to 25 games from the competition will be filmed using Sony 3-D technology. There are no specific plans for broadcasting the 3-D games live, but it remains a possibility. And a compilation of footage will be turned into a feature-length film after the World Cup.

I tend to think of my cable bill kind of like my health insurance premium. Every month, I begrudgingly pony up the funds necessary to continue this so-called “service” wondering the what the heck it is I’m actually paying for--especially since most of what I regularly watch can be found online in some form--all the while deathly afraid of the consequences should I ever stop wiring in my money.

Every month, I consider amputating cable from my bottom line once and for all. But what’s holding me back is that I think I might actually miss it.

We've all been there, angrily jabbing the remote control at the cable box in a futile attempt to change the channel. When remote control batteries die, my sanity often follows closely behind. Well, soon that will be a problem as quaint as running out of whale oil for a lantern, thanks to a new remote control that charges itself with the energy from its buttons.

If you were anything like I was as a kid, you'll remember fondly the time spent soldering electronics kits. In recent years, I've been busy building things like pink camouflage tanks, and have mostly missed the recent electronic-kit resurgence. That is, until I had the need to broadcast live video images from the cockpit of a recent project to TV screens piled around the arena, and rediscovered an awesome kit source.

Not just content with making a splash on the big screen, content providers are also set on bringing 3-D programming into the home as well. Sky TV plans to launch a dedicated 3-D channel in the UK next year.

The station will offer a smattering of sports, movies, and entertainment-related content, all piped through to the living room via a set-top box. This seems to lineup with Panasonic's plans to have 3-D movies in the home by 2010 as well.

Blue is the new black--or so Planet Green would have us believe, with their month-long Blue August television special focusing on all things aquatic. Planet Green will present water-themed documentaries and programs throughout August, with topics ranging from clean drinking water to the Great Barrier Reef.

Genius idea from Jason Kottke--he's synced up Walter Cronkite's live call of the moon landing on CBS to real time, forty years forward. And they're just about to land.

Screens
K-Rudd & Co Considering Tax On TVs and PCs To Pay For Recycling
By Nick Broughall on July 20, 2009 at 10:25 AM

tv-bag2According to a report by Glenn Milne of the Herald Sun, the Aussie Government is considering a ‘recycling tax’ on TVs and PCs, which would be used to help pay the costs of recycling old hardware.

As if a night filled with 480-foot home runs wasn’t exciting enough, ESPN introduced its much-hyped Ball Tracker technology during Monday's Home Run Derby, giving balls a digital comet trail that indicated whether or not it could clear the fences.

While superimposing graphics in post-processing has been around longer than steroids, the system unveiled last night has some truly cool tech powering it, relying on Doppler radar to instantly track and predict the ball's path in real time, just 400 milliseconds after it leaves the bat.