We're back! Jeff and Wilson are joined in the studio today with "Kenri," and Justin chimes in from San Francisco via phone. It's back to our usual shenanigans again, and we recount our holiday break. Plus, we have an apology to make to James Cameron.

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Jeff tells us about his near-death experience on the ski slopes. Listen to how a patch of ice almost did away with our favorite CNET emcee. Wilson recounts his Christmas vacation to visit his dear ole Ma. Finally, Justin tells us about how he's currently sunbathing in California, while we all freeze to death here in NYC.

With the exception of "Kenri," we all caught James Cameron's "Avatar," and boy was it mind-blowing! The film is just incredible to watch, and we're pleasantly surprised to see it bring in more than $1 billion at the box office worldwide. Wilson is not sure though that the movie is any good in 2D. The clips and trailers still look silly, so we're still recommending people catch it in IMAX 3D or Real3D. (Editors' note: please catch "Up in the Air." Two words: Vera Farmiga.)

Tomorrow is the first day of CNET's annual International CES coverage. There won't be a show tomorrow because we'll be en route to Las Vegas. We'll be hosting a live show Wednesday at 5 p.m., Thursday at 4 p.m., and Friday at 4 p.m. PST. We have some surprises up our sleeves, but honestly, we're just trying not to kill ourselves while partying it up in Vegas. If you're there, come by the CNET booth in the North Hall at the Convention Center.

Although Rock Band comes pretty close to the "real thing," there's something missing: the vibrations that hit your heart when playing a real drum set.

Immerz, which until recently was a one-man company, created a device that lets you feel real-life sensations of a game, movie, or music. KOR-fx is made up of two plastic devices that lay on your chest and synchronize vibrations with received audio signals.

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President and physicist Shahriar S. Afshar, calls it acousto-haptic technology, something he turned to after three years participating in privately funded research. The result of Afshar's experiment contradicted a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics. Just as he expected, the physics community rejected Afshar's findings.

Lucky for us, his attention shifted to KOR-fx. The idea came from irritation with college students playing video games so loudly. Can't they just turn it down? No, he realized, increasing the volume to disturbingly high levels was an attempt to feel bass, like the physical sensation of a bomb explosion in Counter Strike.

Is this ... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

It's National Toilet Day today, and Justin isn't here to celebrate. Fortunately, we more than make it up with dozens upon dozens of fecal jokes. Mark Licea of The Green Show joins the show today to talk tech and...lingerie?

(Credit: CBS Interactive/Wilson G. Tang)

Admittedly, we here at The 404 celebrate National Toilet Day at least three times a day, but we're glad to see that people across the planet are starting to recognize the importance of the porcelain throne. It may sound a bit unusual for us to be so beholden to the toilet, but most New Yorkers can sympathize. After all, most of us here have to deal with a mixed bag of ethnic food and $20 dollar fees to use a public restroom.

In nonpoop news, we talk about a Warner Bros. program to let DVD owners upgrade their discs to Blu-ray versions. The program is called DVD2Blu. This only applies to Warner Bros. films, and viewers must pay a fee of $8 to $10 per disc. We think this is a great idea. Wilson is especially keen on not having to pay $30 for each disc in his "Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars" collections.

Also, Jeff has a follow up to our video game censorship series. He interviewed Major Nelson of Microsoft to talk about racism, misogyny, and homophobia in online gaming. Check it out. A keen chat room listener though points out the irony of talking about derogatory words when players are shooting people in the head.

If you're worried about your cheating wife or girlfriend, a Brazilian line of lingerie from LindeLucy that comes with a built-in GPS tracking device. Now, the device is not exactly subtle, but for the paranoid ones out there, this might be the trick to keep your lady in line--or get her mad at you, again. Trust, after all, is the bond that holds all relationships together.

Finally, we get to some voice mails and viewer feedback about cool moms that play video games before their children do and an early review of "2012." Wilson is disappointed with the fact that the film won't be available in IMAX. He just wants to watch the world burn. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew remember the movie magic of the first "Jurassic Park" movie. The t. rex at the end: Priceless.

Send in your feedback and callbacks to the404 [at] cnet [dot] com. Or call us! We are after all an audio podcast too! The number is 1-866-404-CNET (2638). Thanks again!

There's an interesting article over at Slate titled "The problem with 3D." I'd encourage you to read the whole thing, but the subtitle pretty much sums it up: "It hurts your eyes. Always has, always will." Author Daniel Engbar argues that today's digital-assisted 3D technology isn't so far removed from earlier incarnations of the 1950s and 1980s, and that it's still effectively hacking your brain's depth perception triggers--and putting a lot of strain on your eyes in the process.

This matters, of course, because Hollywood is doubling down on 3D technology in a big way. In addition to new movies like "Monsters vs. Aliens" and James Cameron's upcoming "Avatar," studios are repurposing existing favorites for eventual 3D releases. And why not? With increasingly affordable giant-screen TVs in the home (and ever-shrinking theater-to-DVD release windows), the industry needs new and more elaborate gimmicks to get customers into the theater.

But it's not just the movie theater. ... Read More

The first time I bought into this this whole digital 3D thing was a 2006 showing of "Superman Returns" on an IMAX screen. In the scene, various objects floated around the screen and seemingly, right in front of my face. For me, this was the first time 3D had lived up to its promise.

If Dolby Laboratories has anything to say about it, it won't be the last. On Tuesday, the company announced that theater exhibitors will now be able to play Dolby 3D Digital Cinema content on screen sizes of up to 70 feet (42 feet was the previous cap).

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If you went to the "Jonas Brothers 3D Concert Experience!" on a 42-foot screen thinking, "You know that was cool, but I still have most of my face attached," just wait until a full 70 feet of pure Jonas Brothers rock completely melts your f#*@ing face off!

Dolby went on to talk about its "environmentally friendly and reusable" Dolby 3D Glasses, which, according to the company, can be used repeatedly, significantly reducing the cost per viewing for exhibitors. My guess is that this probably won't translate into lower ticket prices, though.

Seemingly timed to coincide with the Dolby announcement, Texas Instruments announced its next generation DLP Cinema technology on Tuesday. The new platform is compliant with a newly adopted set of Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) standards and integrates the DLP Cinema tech onto one single board, down from three.

According to Texas Instruments, the new DLP Cinema chipset integrates high-security requirements and specification architecture defined by the DCI while providing a cost reduction to OEM partners.

Again, just my opinion, but moviegoers will probably only see higher ticket prices. Right now in San Francisco it costs $34 for a couple to see a movie in IMAX at night. Here's hoping all of this cheaper technology one day translates to cheaper seats. I won't hold my breath.

With the U.S. economy in the toilet and the world facing increasingly uncertain times while we select the next president, it's good to know you can still go out and buy an array of 12 24-inch monitors for 13,000 bucks.

On Wednesday, CineMassive announced the OmegaPlex, an "Ultra High Resolution Multimonitor Desktop Display Wall." If you're into world domination, you're probably gonna want one of these. For everyone else, well, that will depend on your salary level and, possibly, your sanity.

Study strategic global coordinates in the comfort of your own lair home.

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For those of you who are interested--you rich, crazy sociopaths you--CineMassive insists that viewing images on this thing can only be described as "having a personal Imax."

CineMassive cites some notable features:

• World's "most advanced," dynamic, high-definition, multiscreen, video playback technology plays video of any format across the entire array with a single mouse click.
• High-performance cooling system ensures whisper-quiet thermal management for 24/7 mission-critical reliability.
• Available as is or combined with a fully customized professional workstation for optimal performance.
• Utilizes CineMastery & CineMatrix multimonitor-management software for optimal Windows multiscreen performance.

The OmegaPlex also comes with a premium three-year warranty and a zero dead-pixel policy.

For those of you sitting around trying to figure out what to do with that new golden parachute you just floated in on, hey--there are crazier things to spend your money on!

Joking aside, I'd really have a problem watching a movie or playing a game on this thing. I'm sure the image clarity would be great, however with multiple monitors comes multiple bezels. That seems like it would be distracting. With Imax, you're looking at one huge screen--or least the impression of one huge screen--but here it's 12 connected together.

This shot of the queen floating eerily above Beowulf's head as if swimming in water showed off the possibilities of 3D computer-generated movies.

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The race for the best 3D movie projection technology began in earnest last week with the release of Beowulf, and I'm here to judge the first lap.

Beowulf, which recounts the Anglo-Saxon adventures of a Swedish prince of that name, is the first wide release of a 3D movie, showing on hundreds of screens in 3D. And for the first time, viewers had the choice not only of watching with Imax 3D and Real D projection technology, but also newcomer Dolby 3D.

Based on watching the movie start to finish three times, the 3D winner is Dolby 3D--and not just by a nose.

Dolby's technology gave a sharp image that showed every beard bristle, the colors were relatively rich, flicker from moving objects was nonexistent, but most significantly, the sense of depth was strong. Even the subtle differences between a character's facial features were perceptible, and group shots with a host of characters showed as true depth, not as a number of gradually more distant two-dimensional layers. I was truly impressed.

Before I go further, a qualifier. Three viewings of this movie was a lot to endure, given the comic-book-grade plot and cardboard characters, but it's not much as statistical samples go to judge projection technology.

It's hard to say how much of my experience was based on the underlying merits of the technology and how much on the particulars of the theater and viewing. But the Dolby 3D experience was significantly better enough that I'm comfortable awarding it the crown.

This crossing-the-burning-bridge scene was supposed to be a 3D spectacle, but it wasn't as immersive as it could have been.

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Compare and contrast
All three 3D technologies were compelling, but none was perfect.

My first viewing was with Imax 3D, which was displayed on the company's famously large screens.

Of the three, Imax 3D was the most in-your-face experience of 3D effects, with swords, castle spires and spear points jutting sharply out of the screen. The company deliberately adjusts movie perspective to achieve this effect.

"When you experience 3D with us, you experience the 3D at the bridge of your nose. It is an immersive, full-contact experience," said Greg Foster, Imax's chairman and president of filmed entertainment. And he's right.

However, I was distracted many times during the movie by "ghosting," in which some of the light intended for the right eye leaks into the left and vice-versa. In high-contrast moments, such as a brightly glowing, gold drinking horn held against a dark cave wall, the result is dim secondary copies of elements of the scene.

More disappointing, though, was my befuddled perception of some high-motion 3D scenes. I often found it hard to track objects and people during fight scenes with rapidly moving objects and a whirling camera perspective, for example.

So when I went to my second viewing, in Real D, I was favorably impressed. It wasn't as crisply focused or immersive as Imax 3D, but there wasn't as much ghosting, and I had much better luck keeping track of the fast-moving scenes. For example, in one early scene where King Hrothgar flings gold coins at his subjects, I actually saw coins rather than distracting gold flashes.

Instead of occupying most of my field of vision, the action seemed to take place in a box on a stage in front of the audience. And most of the action was "behind" the front of the screen.

Dolby 3D was promoted earlier on Paramount's Web site, but it's not an option for the 3D theater search process.

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The Real D audience seemed more wowed than Imax 3D viewers. Despite the more understated 3D, I observed a lot more flinching and startled gasping among audience members than in the Imax show.

Dolby 3D, though, beat out Real D for clarity, color, and coherent 3D. I was looking hard for ghosting and found it only twice, once with a sword and once with Grendel's mother's snaking tail. Many scenes that hadn't worked before came together--one example being the flying gravel pushed by Beowulf's ship as it's towed up the beach--and I found myself relishing the depth of flying dragons and other subjects. Falling snow, driving rain, and blowing embers imparted a feeling of space, not mere distractions.

That said, I still had problems. Not once was I able to make sense of the clouds of sand billowing around an underwater dragon or the froth of bubbles seen in the lair of the monster Grendel and his mother. A chain moving through a pulley knocked me cross-eyed. I also had troubles with foreground objects such as cave stalactites or characters half off-screen.

3D movies: The future
Beowulf is set in Denmark during the sixth century, the darkest of the Dark Ages, but watching it is a view into the future of movie making. I was impressed by various clips, but now having seen what a director with forethought can do with the technology and what it adds to the movie itself, it's clear to me 3D isn't just the flash in the pan it has been in the past.

For me, the 3D movie experience ranged from remarkable to gimmicky, but at no time did I find that it had faded unobtrusively into the background. No doubt part of that is because it's a spectacle that movie makers are using to pack theaters and charge premium prices.

The three 3D technologies all share a common principle: alternate rapidly between two slightly different vantage points, one for the left eye and one for the right, so human brains in the audience can reconstruct the third dimension just as they do in the real world. To keep left-eye light out of the right eye and vice-versa, the audience wears special glasses; the cheap cardboard hand-outs with red and blue plastic lenses are long gone.

There are differences, of course, in the projection technologies. Imax 3D, with about 120 3D screens installed so far, uses the oldest approach--two separate but synchronized reels of film and polarized light to split the views--though it will start going digital in 2008. Real D, whose technology is on more than 1,000 screens, uses a digital projector passed through a device that polarizes light one way and another for each eye.

Dolby 3D, which just entered production and so far is only on 75 screens, uses filtering technology so that the left and right eyes see images composed of slightly different hues of red, green, and blue. That approach caused problems for me seeing The Nightmare Before Christmas, in which elements of even red were hard to look at because the right-eye channel was significantly more orange.

Beowulf's computer-generated images are based on the real movements of actors digitized with motion-capture systems. Although I can't stand the characters' resulting rubbery features and robotic hands, the technique is a good foundation for 3D movies.

With the in-computer virtual "filming," the camera's perspective can shift gradually or dramatically, taking the audience with it. With computer-generated movies, those radical perspectives are nothing new, but 3D adds a new element. For example, when the still-unseen monster Grendel shatters open the door of Heorat, King Hrothgar's mead hall, the camera slowly moves to the front of the hall, and the sense of dread is all the greater as the vantage point approaches the entrance where we expect a vile demon.

Imax 3D gets top billing on Paramount's Web site.

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The movie, however, seemed adapted for the constraints of 3D display. One problem, for example, is that 3D movies are significantly dimmer, in part because each eye is effectively seeing black half the time and because necessary filters cut down light even more. In what was likely not a coincidence, Beowulf seems to take place entirely during the dark days of northern-latitude winter and is set mostly in wanly illuminated halls and caves.

Overall, though, the experience was engaging, even the third time around. And I recommend checking the movie out in whatever 3D format you can find. Imax's Foster makes a compelling point about the merits of 3D. And even though I'm not a big movie buff, I agree.

"What's happening is a lot of 15- to 30-year-old people were staying home, watching movies on 72-inch plasma screens and not going to the movies the way I was going when I was a 15-year-old," Foster said. "We need technologies to get them to realize they can't replicate the movie-going experience (found) in a movie theater."

Imax is following the smaller-format movie industry to digital projection technology a bit more rapidly than earlier planned.

The company plans to install three prototype systems in the second quarter of 2008 with a full transformation in the second half of the year. Previously, the company had planned to begin the transformation sometime between late 2008 and mid-2009, the company said.

"Several key exhibitors, studios and consumer research groups have already experienced the digital prototype we've been running for the past several months, and we are very encouraged by the unanimously positive reaction to the next iteration of the Imax experience," said Richard Gelfond and Bradley Wechsler, Imax's co-chairmen and co-CEOs, in a statement.

Digital movies require expensive new projectors, but they offer some advantages. Digital movies don't wear out with multiple showings, as film does, the image is steadier, and studios don't have to create expensive prints. And digital copies being cheaper, it's easier to launch a movie on a grander scale to head off sales of pirated copies.

And digital display also is a better foundation for 3D movies, which already are an element of the Imax business.

Dolby has signed up a passel of cinemas to use its Dolby 3D movie technology, the company announced Monday.

At the ShowEast conference Monday, the company offered a list of independent and chain theater companies that will use Dolby 3D: Carousel Cinemas, Cinema City, Cinetopia, Cobb Theatres, Kerasotes Theatres, Malco Theatres, Marcus Theatres, Maya Cinemas, Megaplex Theatres, Starlight Cinemas, Sundance Cinemas, Warren Theatres, Kinepolis Group of Belgium and Supercines of Ecuador.

But Dolby still isn't saying how many screens total are equipped with its technology, a key measurement of how the relative newcomer is faring against incumbent Real D. The finish line, or at least then end of this lap of the competition, is the November 16 debut of Beowulf, a Paramount Pictures film directed by Robert Zemeckis that will be available in a 3D version. Real D said it will have more than 1,000 screens equipped with its technology by the debut, but Dolby 3D is just getting started with its technology.

Theaters considering the options have to weigh several concerns, among them financial. Dolby 3D sells its equipment for about $18,500, whereas Real D rents it for about $20,000 a year. But Dolby 3D's complicated glasses cost about $50 each to 50 cents for Real D's disposable plastic ones. Dolby 3D can use ordinary white movie screens, but not necessarily the largest ones; Real D needs special $5,500 silver screens to be installed but can use larger ones, permitting more audience members to watch a single screening.

Already in on the 3D movie action, though on a smaller scale than Real D, is Imax, which boasts of a more immersive experience by virtue of curved screens designed to fill up more of a viewer's peripheral vision.