| Vizio XVT CinemaWide TV goes on sale, 21:9 movie purists celebrate the end of black bars Jun 27th 2012, 20:34  It's been a long, long wait for Vizio's ultrawidescreen LCD TV to show its face: the company was promising such sets starting around this time last year that ultimately missed the October and subsequent March targets. Vizio is one to eventually make good on a promise, though, and has just started shipping the first XVT series CinemaWide set. The lone 58-inch model's focus remains on that 2560 x 1080p screen, whose stretchy 21:9 aspect ratio fits what you often see at the movie theater without having to crop or adjust like you would with a typical 16:9 set. Whether or not you have a chronic aversion to black bars, the CinemaWide is still a respectable set in its own right, with edge-based LED backlighting, a 120Hz refresh rate, a Bluetooth remote and the common host of Vizio internet apps. The TV maker must be doing a form of penance for taking its time on the 21:9 display: the $2,800 regular price is a lot lower than the originally quoted $3,500, and you can pick up the CinemaWide TV for $2,500 if you act quickly. Vizio XVT CinemaWide TV goes on sale, 21:9 movie purists celebrate the end of black bars originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Vizio Blog |  Vizio | Email this | Comments | | More Google Glass details: experimenting with connectivity options, control possible via voice Jun 27th 2012, 20:08  While Vic Gundotra wasn't willing to talk Glass in our run-in here at Google I/O, a few others were. In speaking with folks from Google, we learned a few new details about the project, while confirming some whispers that we'd heard floated in the past. Here's a quick rundown: - Engineers are currently 'experimenting' with connectivity options. Existing prototypes -- including those worn in the skydiving stunt this morning -- do not have any sort of built-in WWAN connectivity.
- While it's possible that a 3G / 4G module could end up in production devices, the general idea is that latching onto nearby WiFi hotspots or relying on a wireless tether with your smartphone will be the primary way that Glass gets its data to the web.
- Controlling Glass will eventually rely on a mixture of inputs: it'll recognize voice commands, while also taking cues from the right sidebar. There's a touch-sensitive pad on there that'll understand gestures.
- It's entirely probable that Glass will also be able to be controlled via one's smartphone, but physical inputs will be the preferred ones.
- Glass has an accelerometer and a gyroscope, enabling wearers to tell Glass what to do by nodding, shaking one's head, etc. (For what it's worth, we've seen similar demoed by NTT DoCoMo.)
- The internal battery sits just behind the ear on the right side; the capacity and longevity weren't confirmed, though.
- Glass will be able to record locally, but the idea is to have 'most everything' streamed live to the web; it's the "live, right now!" nature of Glass that Google intends to push as one of its differentiating factors.
- In an area where wireless data isn't available (like a remote National Park or a hospital room that forbids phone usage), storing video locally would be possible for uploading later.
We also confirmed that the team is playing around with various colors, with orange, white, black and blue editions being sported here at I/O. Whether or not all of those hues make it to market remains to be seen, of course, but we're adequately jazzed about the possibilities. More Google Glass details: experimenting with connectivity options, control possible via voice originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Google Earth 7.0 for Android brings new, super-detailed 3D maps for some cities Jun 27th 2012, 19:25  Here's a bit of a surprise that slipped under the radar during the Google I/O keynote: Google Earth for Android has been updated to 7.0 to take advantage of the new 3D map technology it unveiled at another special event just a few weeks ago. As a refresher, the visuals are automatically created from 45-degree aerial imagery and can pick up 3D elements as subtle as trees. Before you go racing to your hometown to see how it looks in 3D, be aware that just a handful of cities and regions exploit that dimension. Besides San Francisco Bay, the full coverage extends to Boulder, Boston, Charlotte, Lawrence, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Portland, San Antonio, San Diego, Santa Cruz and Tampa in the US, with Rome being the lone international hotspot. If that's too few places to visit, there's always the addition of guided tours. Android users can head over Google Play to get the update today; iOS users shouldn't fret, as they'll get the new maps soon. Google Earth 7.0 for Android brings new, super-detailed 3D maps for some cities originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Google Play | Email this | Comments | | Photos of Google's Vic Gundotra wearing the latest, blue-hued Glass prototype Jun 27th 2012, 19:24  Sergey Brin briefly pulled out a light blue prototype of Google Glass whilst on stage at Google I/O, and as it turns out, those are evidently the latest and greatest models that the company is willing to wear around. We ran into social exec Vic Gundotra after this morning's keynote, only to find him donning precisely the same set that was teased on stage. We asked if the blue was just part of Google's experimentation with coloring Glass, and he chuckled while confessing that he wasn't authorized to speak further about the project or its ambitions. Still, the man looks good in blue. And something tells us you would, too. Photos of Google's Vic Gundotra wearing the latest, blue-hued Glass prototype originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | |
