d3

We've just received some juicy news from Toshiba regarding the company's latest plan for its glasses-free 3D TVs. According to Sharon Soon, senior sales and marketing assistant from the company's Asia office, Toshiba is considering a simultaneous launch in the U.S., Europe, and other countries.

These glasses-free 3D TVs will probably come in screen sizes of more than 40 inches and are tentatively due out in the second half of this year. However, the actual launch schedule is still pending confirmation subjected to market developments.

Toshiba is currently offering smaller 12- and 20-inch glasses-free 3D TVs only in Japan for $1,500 and $2,900, respectively. It's not hard to estimate the premium on a 40-incher using these prices as benchmarks, though the Japanese TV maker may be able to keep costs down by mass-producing these panels.

(Source: Crave Asia) … Read more

Tired of wearing those same-ole, same-ole 3D glasses at the movie theater? You're not alone. There's nothing like a hundred Wayfarer-wearing zombies to make you crave individuality.

Marchon Eyewear (a licensed manufacturer of glasses for brands such as Coach, Fendi, Michael Kors, and others) debuted a new sub-brand of passive 3D glasses called EX3D this week at the CeBit tech fair in Hannover, Germany.

The curved, scratch-resistant lenses offer full UV protection, and the glasses minimize peripheral light intrusion with a variety of wraparound designs. Passive 3D glasses usually have open sides, which can make nearby ambient light a big distraction. The EX3D glasses come in 25 styles; their above-average design makes these shades craveworthy, as does the very reasonable price of $35. … Read more

It used to be that movie merchandise and memorabilia meant posters, clothing, and toys, but now we even have things like the Hasbro Transformers Cine-Mask 3D glasses.

Available in either Optimus Prime or Bumblebee versions, these kid-size 3D goggles cost $10 each and are supposedly compatible with most 3D cinemas featuring RealD 3D technology. Could this be the beginning of an era of funky 3D masks? Looks like Hasbro and Hollywood have just found a new cash cow to milk moviegoers.

(Source: Crave Asia via Engadget HD)

Any hard-core audiophiles out there probably have a soft spot in their hearts for Cowon. The Korea-based manufacturer made an early splash in the iPod era with products like the iAudio X5 and the D2 and their exhaustive spec sheets, supporting every file format under the sun and propping them up with a wide array of sound enhancement tools.

And while most manufacturers have fled the field of dedicated portable media players, Cowon has bravely (or foolishly) decided to stick it out. Cowon's latest device is the Cowon D3, a $370 premium portable media player running a heavily skinned version of Android 2.1, packed with 32GB of storage.

As expected, it sounds wonderful, and features the full suite of JetEffect sound presets Cowon is known for. Codec support is outstanding for both audio and video, the latter of which supports resolutions of up to 1080p. Other features include FM radio, a Web browser, e-mail, calendar, photos, and all that Android typically brings. Well...almost.… Read more

LG wants to prove that 3D eyewear can be comfortable as well as attractive. Toward that end, it's partnering Alain Mikli International from Paris to introduce a new line of premium goggles. The French design firm has more than 30 years of experience in manufacturing glasses and runs a chain of boutiques worldwide in cities like New York and Milan. The chaebol has cited lackluster 3D eyewear as a key hurdle for consumers to adopt the 3D TV technology and hopes to raise the bar in design, fit, and user comfort through this collaboration. … Read more

"Cool" is not the word you'd use to describe the look of people wearing 3D glasses.

The glasses are ill-fitting, made of cheap plastic, and usually pretty uncomfortable to wear. So naturally a glasses manufacturer whose hipness is its brand calling card is trying to change that.

Oakley is now announcing its first model of 3D glasses.

The first model is based on a current style of sunglasses Oakley already sells, called the Gascan. But in place of polarized sunglass lenses are lenses optimized for watching 3D content. These lenses have a technology inside them Oakley calls HDO-3D, which the company's optical scientists have developed over the last two years. The way the lenses have been constructed is an attempt to make watching 3D comfortable and minimize eye strain.

And not to mention, improve the style. Oakley CEO Colin Baden isn't shy about sharing his feelings about the 3G glasses you're handed at the theater today. "They make you look like an idiot," he said in an interview.

Few would probably disagree. One of Baden's biggest complaints about the current crop of 3D glasses? "They don't wrap," he said.

Oakley's signature look is that wraparound style, but Baden swears it's not just for looks.

"It's better for peripheral vision," according to Baden.

But there's a cost to looking cool and being comfortable in a dark 3D theater: the first pairs, with a choice of black or white, will sell for $120.

If your eyes bugged out of your head when you read that, you're not alone, but Baden insists the value is in all the places you can use them, and the "optically correct" lenses. … Read more

Our admiration of Japan knows no bounds--we frequently wish we lived in the land of vending machines and tentacle porn. Chalk up another reason to move east: two Sharp Android 2.2 smartphones that offer no-glasses 3D visuals in the style of the Nintendo 3DS.

Sharp has rolled out two mighty-sounding Galapagos 3D handsets in Japan, the touch-screen-only 003SH and the Qwerty keyboard-packing 005SH. Both have 3.8-inch LCD screens and a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, powering Android 2.2 Froyo. They have impressive-sounding cameras too, the touch-screen version with 9.6 megapixels and the Qwerty one 8 megapixels, capable of … Read more

There are quite a number of mobile phones from India that don't make it to the rest of the world. Here's a new one that has a 3D display and costs less than $100. The QVGA screen on the M-67 from Spice Mobility shows a 3D image or video without glasses, much like the upcoming Nintendo 3DS game console.

3D screen aside, the M-67 is a 2.5G phone with two SIM card slots, a 2-megapixel camera, and an FM tuner. It's available only in India, so we don't expect to test it out any time … Read more

I am sure many people have been looking forward to the next episode in the J.K. Rowling-penned child-nerd movie series Harry Potter, this one entitled "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1."

True child-nerd movie creationists will have been desperate to see it in 3D. Because if Harry Potter were alive today, that is what he would surely wish.

Sadly, Warner Bros., the producer of this new movie, has declared it has run out of time and will not be presenting a 3D version when the movie launches November 19.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 | … Read more