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LAS VEGAS--Last year we and our readers were pretty excited to hear about the Sony XBR-HX909, which was the company's first television to include our favorite kind of LED backlight--full array with local dimming--since the excellent KDL-XBR8 from 2008. In our full review the HX909 did a lot of things right, including production of some of the deepest black levels we've seen on any TV, but in the end a couple of flaws kept it out of the top ranks.

For 2011 Sony's flagship television, the XBR-HX929, offers a similar LED backlight and a few improvements. … Read more

Update March 29, 2011 LG has announced that this series of TVs, along with the LW7700 series, will not be released. Instead the company tells us that it will release another series (or maybe more than one)--featuring the full-array local dimming Nano backlight detailed below and using passive 3D technology and not active--in mid-September 2011. We expect to hear more details closer to the products' launch. In the meantime we're keeping the information below for reference since we expect the new models, whatever their model names end up being, to closely resemble the ones here.

LG's … Read more

Update March 29, 2011 LG has announced that this series of TVs, along with the LW9500 series, will not be released. Instead the company tells us that it will release another series (or maybe more than one)--featuring the full-array local dimming Nano backlight detailed below and using passive 3D technology and not active--in mid-September 2011. We expect to hear more details closer to the products' launch. In the meantime we're keeping the information below for reference since we expect the new models, whatever their model names end up being, to closely resemble the ones here.

LAS VEGAS--LG … Read more

The human brain is truly awesome.

A typical, healthy one houses some 200 billion nerve cells, which are connected to one another via hundreds of trillions of synapses. Each synapse functions like a microprocessor, and tens of thousands of them can connect a single neuron to other nerve cells. In the cerebral cortex alone, there are roughly 125 trillion synapses, which is about how many stars fill 1,500 Milky Way galaxies.

These synapses are, of course, so tiny (less than a thousandth of a millimeter in diameter) that humans haven't been able to see with great clarity what exactly they do and how, beyond knowing that their numbers vary over time. That is until now.

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have spent the past few years engineering a new imaging model, which they call array tomography, in conjunction with novel computational software, to stitch together image slices into a three-dimensional image that can be rotated, penetrated and navigated. Their work appears in the journal Neuron this week.

To test their model, the team took tissue samples from a mouse whose brain had been bioengineered to make larger neurons in the cerebral cortex express a fluorescent protein (found in jellyfish), making them glow yellow-green. Because of this glow, the researchers were able to see synapses against the background of neurons.… Read more

Intel traditionally builds chips for its own use, but it's now branching out to create one for another manufacturer.

Intel will create chips based on its 22-nanometer technology for Achronix Semiconductor, Achronix announced today. This marks the first time Intel is designing a chip for another manufacturer and may indicate that the chip giant is looking to do some contract manufacturing for outside customers.

Based in San Jose, Calif., Achronix will use Intel's 22-nanometer chips to develop its own Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). FPGAs are integrated circuits that can be programmed after they've been manufactured, allowing … Read more

Sony announced three series of 3D-compatible TVs at CES in January, and on Wednesday the company filled in the remaining details with pricing, availability, and a list of included 3D material. The principal throw-in is "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" on 3D Blu-ray, as well as vouchers for 3D games on the PS3.

Pricing, as with that of rivals Samsung and Panasonic, is pretty high. Sony's 3D models, all with LED backlights, start at 40 inches and $2,100 for the Sony KDL-40HX800. Samsung's least expensive LED-based 3D TV at that size is the UN40C7000 ($1,800), although the similarly-priced 50-inch Samsung PN50C7000 plasma and the non-LED-based 46-inch Samsung LN46C750 LCD (about $1500) both provide bigger screens for the buck. Panasonic, for its part, charges about $2,500 for its cheapest 3D TV, a 50-inch plasma known as the TC-P50VT25/TC-P50VT20.

One of the three Sony series, the flagship XBR-LX900, includes two pairs of the necessary 3D glasses, which is more than Panasonic (1 pair) and Samsung (zero pair). The other two, dubbed HX909 and HX800, require you to buy the glasses ($150 a pair--the same as Panasonic and Samsung) as well as a separate emitter to synch the glasses to the TV ($50--both Samsung and Panasonic build the emitters into their TVs).

Sony does offer the most extensive throw-in bundle of the three at the moment, at least for PS3 owners. According to the press release:… Read more

If you thought all LED TVs were created equal, you're underestimating the power of confusion as a marketing tool. In their continuing efforts to compete against the picture-quality advantages of plasma-based flat-panel TVs, makers of LCD TVs have introduced numerous new technologies. The most successful in our opinion is full-array LED backlighting with local dimming. When you see the words "LED TV" in an ad, it definitely refers to an LCD TV with an LED backlight, but what type of LED backlight, and how it's configured, make all the difference.

To help you out, we compare … Read more

Editors' note: Updated June 3, 2010

I've written articles in the past explaining various TV technologies, including the differences between 720p and 1080p and 120Hz and 240Hz LCD TVs. But with Samsung, LG, Sony, and other manufacturers pushing so-called LED TVs these days, it's high time that I--with an assist from our resident video guru, David Katzmaier--sort through all the marketing mumbo jumbo and provide some insight into just what an LED TV is. Here goes.

1. An LED TV is not a new kind of TV.

I appreciate a good marketing ploy as much as the next guy, but an LED TV is just an LCD TV that's backlit with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of standard cold-cathode fluorescent lights (or CCFLs). And though they became well-known last year with Samsung's ultrathin models, LED-backlit LCDs have been on mainstream store shelves since 2007, when Samsung's LN-T4681F debuted.

Unlike plasma and OLED, which are emissive technologies where each pixel is its own discrete light source, LCD is a transmissive technology where each pixel has to be illuminated from behind, or backlit.

2.There are two LED backlight configurations

Initially, LED-based displays like the Samung LN-T4681F were backlit by what's referred to as a "full array" of LEDs behind the LCD, across the back of the panel--just like a standard CCFL backlight. But to create even thinner TVs, engineers needed to eliminate that extra layer of LEDs and move it to the sides of the display. With this form of backlighting, the LEDs are affixed to all four sides of the TV and light is projected inward to the middle of the TV via "lightguides." These types of TVs are commonly referred to as "edge-lit" LED-based LCDs, and are by far the most common available today.

3. Each configuration may also offer "local dimming."

All current LED-based LCDs with rear-placed, full-array LED backlighting--except the Sharp LC-LE700UN series from 2009--feature a technology called "local dimming." With local dimming, portions of the backlight can be dimmed or brightened independently when different areas of the picture get darker or brighter. For example, the LEDs behind the words in a credit sequence can illuminate while the ones behind the black background remain dim.

Being able to dim portions of the screen helps reduce the amount of light that leaks through to darkened pixels, and the end result is blacks that appear darker and more realistic. Since black levels are crucial to contrast ratio, the deeper the blacks, the more the picture--and colors--appear to pop. Also, the image as a whole will seem crisper. A couple of examples of local dimming done right are Samsung's UNB8500 series and LG's LH8500 series--respectively the best and second-best LCDs we've ever tested.

One downside to local dimming is an effect called "blooming," where brighter areas bleed into darker ones and lighten adjacent black levels.… Read more

Solar array manufacturing start-up Skyline Solar announced Thursday it has made a deal with auto-parts manufacturer Cosmo International to build its frames, racks, and reflectors.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cosmo, a unit of Magna International that includes 37 manufacturing plants, is known for making auto body parts and chassis for the automotive industry. Its fabrications include the door frame for the Mercedes M-Class, the tailgate for the Dodge Dakota, the hood of the BMW X3, and an "advanced high strength steel bumper assembly" for the Volkswagen Passat.

While the announcement is a "… Read more