projectors

First 4K movie available for sale

At the risk of sounding reductive, New Zealand is most famous for three things: "Lord of the Rings," those guys on HBO, and sauvignon blanc.

Now you can add a fourth item to the list: New Zealand is the home of what claims to be the world's first film to be sold to the public as a 4K resolution file you can actually own at home. Called "TimeScapes," the movie is the brainchild of Orange County photographer and former serviceman Tom Lowe and New Zealand composer Nigel Stanford. It's a 50-minute film featuring some … Read more

Artists turn aging dome into must-see light show

Omicron, directed by Romain Tardy and Thomas Vaquie, serves as a permanent animated art exhibit that resides within Centennial Hall in Wroclaw, Poland. The overwhelming light show uses an array of projectors to paint shapes upon the walls and massive ceiling.

For those not familiar with the superstructure also known as Hala Stulecia (a UNESCO World Heritage site), the massive building features a 213-foot diameter dome perfect for artsy projections. … Read more

$99 Pop Video accessory turns iPhone into pico projector

Looking into the future, concept artists often equip their dream iPhones with built-in pico projectors. That feature probably isn't coming to an iPhone anytime soon, but Micron Technology's upcoming $99 Pop Video pico projector accessory may be the next best thing. … Read more

Get an Optoma HD20 1080p projector for $649.99

Want a really big TV? Forget LCDs and plasmas -- get yourself a wall.

Just last night, while watching the incomparable "Planet Earth" on Blu-ray, I thought: "This is pretty nice at 55 inches, but it really deserves to be 10 feet."

Hence today's deal. For a limited time, BuyDig has the refurbished Optoma HD20 1080p projector for $649.99 shipped when you apply coupon code BGTaxRefund15. That's tied with the lowest price I've seen.

The HD20 delivers full 1,920 by 1,080-pixel resolution and has a contrast ratio of 4,000:… Read more

Acer intros new USB-powered pico projector for laptops

The trend these days in pico projectors is bigger, brighter, and more affordable.

Take Acer's new $259 100 ANSI lumens C120 projector. It's slightly bigger than some of the early ultraportable pico projectors, but it's still very compact, measuring 1 inch by 4.72 inches by 3.23 inches (HWD) and weighing 6.34 ounces. It has native WVGA resolution (864x480) resolution, but Acer says you can upconvert to WXGA (1,280x800). Also, the projector has a USB power option if you want to connect it directly to your computer sans AC adapter.

It's worth noting, however, that if you do go with USB power, you can't project at full brightness; you get bumped down to 75 ANSI lumens. … Read more

Tivoli's 'wireless' PAL radio

The Tivoli Audio PAL (Portable Audio Laboratory) radio is pretty small, just 6.25 by 3.7 by 3.9 inches, and it weighs a little under 2 pounds. It has just one 2.5-inch "full-range" speaker, but the little radio is one of my all-time favorite products. The battery-powered PAL is "wireless," because radio was, after all, the original widespread wireless format.

The PAL is dead simple to use: turn it on, select AM or FM radio, and tune to the station you love. You can also plug an iPod, or any device, into the … Read more

Sim2 debuts world's first LED-lit 3D DLP projector

The new Sim2 M.150 is the first DLP home theater projector to substitute the traditional lamp with LEDs as a light source. Its Super PureLED technology, utilizing high-power RGB Phlatlight LED modules, delivers the following unique propositions:

A maintenance-free light source, which lasts up to 30,000 hours with less than 5 percent drop in luminance. Auto-calibration to ensure accurate colors and brightness consistency. Negligible rainbow artifact since no color wheel is required with red, green and blue (RGB) LEDs. High 100,000:1 dynamic contrast and 1,000 lumens brightness.

The Sim2 active-shutter 3D goggles also tout an … Read more

Android Atlas Weekly 87: Updates from Mobile World Congress (Podcast)

Andy Rubin dishes on Android tablets, we examine a bowl of jelly beans, and we discuss the exciting new devices coming out of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

ANDROID NEWS:

-Android chief: We must ‘double down’ on tablets, win the market

-Google VP Dishes On Android Tablet and App Strategy

-Android crosses 850,000 activations per day with 450,000 apps in the store, Andy Rubin says

-Andy Rubin speaks out on Google, Motorola acquisition; wants nothing to do with Moto… Read more

Mobile World Congress kicks off

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Vue pico projector: A Wowee product?

Wow.

A couple of years ago we reviewed the Cinemin Swivel pico projector from a company called WowWee. However, that company is not the same as Wowee One, which is releasing its own pico projector in March called the Wowee Vue (notice the slight spelling difference).

For the record, Wowee One until now has been an audio company, known for its portable audio speakers, the Wowee One and the Wowee Slim, which incorporate "unique audio gel technology that turns any surface into a speaker."

The company is actually releasing a portable Bluetooth speaker in March called the Wowee Pro for $139.99, which looks intriguing, but the pico projector was the gadget that initially caught our eye.

We've got some specs and pricing, but there are still a few unknowns, such as what, if any, built-in speakers the Vue offers (sound is more important than you think when it comes to pico projectors).

Here are the Vue's key features:… Read more