The Nintendo Wii has been proved to be a danger to TVs and relatives if you accidentally let got of the Wiimote in mid game -but doctors in the UK think this Christmas is going to result in a sharp spike in Wii-related injuries.
The Wii might be getting gamers off the sofa and making them more active but all that activity could come at a price this Christmas, as the Wii tops Christmas shopping lists.
Doctors claim that those spending too long on the Wii – especially those unused to moving more than their thumbs when gaming – are at risk from strain. In fact, researchers at Leeds Teaching Hospital have already identified an injury they call "Wii knee". Bizarre, but true.
Dr Andrew Coley, a paediatrician at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, said playing the games for too long in the first flights of enthusiasm could lead to injury. He diagnosed one of his patients when he recognised an injury similar to that he had also sustained over-using his Wii.
"This patient had got a Wii for Christmas, hadn’t exercised in a while and overdid it. I hurt myself by trying to get an Ace on my serve in the tennis game."
Though this probably means that there is a market for a warm up/cool down game for the Nintendo Wii
A Japanese company have announced the launch of a hybrid Blu-ray/DVD format in the New Year, allowing people to play their movies in both Blu-ray and regular DVD players.
The disc comprises of a blue laser top layer (25GB), underneath which are 2 DVD layers (8.5GB). They are separated by a semi-reflective film that reflects blue light but lets the red light lasers of DVD players to pass through.
The new disc Blu-ray/DVD format has been created by Infiniti Storage Media and uses hybrid disc technology developed a few years ago by JVC. The advantage of Infinitis new HD format is that the company has put both technologies on the same side – so there is no need to turn the disk over to select the DVD or Blu-ray content.
The first movie released on this format will be “Code Blue emergency helicopter Blu-ray BOX” – one would have thought that the Dark Knight, Iron Man or one of the big blockbuster movies would have been a better bet. We suspect that there may well be more announcements at the CES Show in January – stay tuned for more CES news!
The latest technology that is appearing on the consumer TV market is the OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes). Conventional LEDs are familiar to everyone from the early red LED displays in calculators and watches in the 70’s, to the wide range of colours that can now be found in torches, car lights – the Audi A5 and Audi R8 are an example and the back lights in LCD TVs.
An OLED TV display is actually closer to a traditional CRT based screen than a LCD or Plasma display, as OLED’s have a triad of three red green and blue colored dots and these are laid down as the film of organic compounds.
OLEDS have many advantages compared to other thin screen technology and as they don’t need a power hungry back light, OLEDs can be made very thin and even can be produced on flexible and roll up forms. The lack of a backlight also means that OLEDs consume much less power than a LCD or plasma display.
OLED based displays enable a greater range of color gamut, brightness, and viewing angle than LCDs because OLED pixels directly emit light. OLED pixel colors appear correct and unshifted, even as the viewing angle approaches 90 degrees from normal. LCDs use a backlight and cannot show true black, while an “off” OLED element produces no light and consumes no power. Energy is also wasted in LCDs because they require polarisers which filter out about half of the light emitted by the backlight.
OLEDs also have a faster response time than standard LCD screens. Whereas a standard LCD currently has an average of a 4-8 millisecond response time, an OLED can have less than 0.01ms response time.
Sony is the only manufacturer that has a OLED TV on sale, the Sony XEL-1 which is an 11 inch model on sale in the States and Japan and will be on sale in the UK early next year. Larger OLED TV’s and displays are expected to feature in the CES show in January.
Sony’s goal is to produce a 42inch OLED screen which is probably a year or so off though prototype OLED screens of this size have been shown.
A new battery technology is beginning to show up in the stores in the states and a large number of NiZn announcements are expected at next months CES.
Genix is debuting its NiZN batteries at Ritz Camera shops across the USA. The Nickel-Zinc (NiZn) AA cells, called Quantaray Super Zs, pack up to 30% more voltage than other rechargeables. Whilst this doesn’t sound much a lot of battery powered devices don’t work well with the slightly lower voltage (1.2v) that traditional rechargeable batteries deliver.
A rechargeable cell that can deliver the full 1.5V that battery powered devices expect and are designed for is a big advantage and as NiZn is much much less toxic that some other battery types they will be much easier to recycle as they have no nasty heavy metal in them.
If you just managed to get your hands on a 42-inch TV you better enjoy it now because according to Sharp your TV will be old hat by 2015.
The prediction is based on the sales numbers in the last 12 months, sales of 46-inches TVs and above have risen 272% suggesting big screen TVs are becoming the norm rather the exception. Other screen TV sizes have also increased sales, 40-42 inch TVs sales are up 123% and 37-inch TVs sales are up 308%.
Mr Mike Gabriel, Head of Marketing and Communications for Sharp Electronics UK, said:
“Big screens are no longer for just shop windows or shiny office receptions. The demand for HD-ready 1080p picture quality in the home has led to an increase in both the affordability and availability of larger TVs. People can now expect a home cinema experience from their TV and technology that was once associated with the rich and famous is now accessible to homes across the country.”
The only problem with this mega sized TVs is where to put them as our houses continue to have the same size rooms.
I’m sure you have been to a 3D cinema before, they are pretty cool eh? Now imagine having one of those in your home.
That is what LG is planning to launch next year, a 3D TV. It won’t be the world’s first 3D TV, but that suggests that we are in for another revolution in the way we watch TV in the next year or so with all the major TV manufacturers developing their own 3D TVs.
According to Choon Lee, Vice President Director at the Digital TV Research Lab, LG will be launching at least one 3D TV next year.
“3D TVs are the next big step for us,” said Choon Lee, “We will try with one or two markets in 2009″
Even though he did not specify which market LG will tackle first he added:
“The start may come from home shopping channels. It’s easier to introduce and show off the products in 3D. It’s relatively easy to make content for animation, so comics and shopping will be first. Then it will migrate into soaps and other areas.”
LG is also developing a 3Dmonitor, aimed specifically to advertising, and not for our homes.
As a final quote Mr Choon Lee said:
“Over the next few years we will see lots more 3D”
With the Christmas Holiday season almost upon us, it is time to start thinking about what to ask for and what to give as presents. Despite all the talk about the credit crunch and global recession, shop owners and manufacturers are feeling optimistic for the upcoming shopping season.
Their biggest bet is on the new touchscreen gadgets, which they believe will catapult sales figures, with more and more people willing to spend their money on these types of gadgets even if it means they lose on quality or extra features.
Touchscreen technology has revolutionized the gadget industry this past year, leaving very few devices untouched, even digital cameras were affected.
Such technology has been around for many years, commonly found in cash points and airport monitors just to name a few. Now the technology is a must in consumer products, with Apple’s iphone leading the pack and Googles new Gphone the latest phone to feature multi touch.
Following Apple’s idea, are computer desktops, calculators, mp3 players like the Ipod Touch for example, even watches have touchscreens now that let the users control functions by tapping, dragging or sliding a finger.
Customers want touchscreen devices because they are well designed, are “cool” and have no buttons.
Touchscreen devices have less functionality and degraded picture quality compared with devices that are similarly priced. But customers don’t seem to care as the demand for these devices doesn’t stop rising.
Nokia has just launched its first proper attack on the Apples iPhone with the Nokia N97. The N97 has a 3.5-inch, 640 x 360 pixel (16:9 aspect ratio) screen, a resistive touch screen display with tactile feedback and a QWERTY keyboard like the Google G1 Phone.
Nokia calls it the “world’s most advanced mobile computer.” To help back up the claim they’ve added HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth radios, A GPS, a 3.5-mm headjack, 32GB of onboard memory with microSD expansion (for up to 48GB total capacity), and a battery capable of up to 1.5 days of continuous audio playback or 4.5-hours vide, a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss glass and “DVD quality” video capture at 30fps too.
The specs are certainly impressive, the Nokia N97 will launch with a retail price set at around €550 ($693) excluding subsidies and taxes, phone to ship in H1 2009.
Robert Scobel had a look at the Nokia N97 pre launch and he reckons its better that the iphone.
- It has 16:9 video. The iPhone doesn’t even do video, So how can you go to a Daft Punk concert and record it to taunt your friends?
- It has a 5 megapixel camera. The iPhone only has a 2 megapixel camera – and the quality isn’t even close. The Nokia N97 camera also has a dual LED flash, so you can take pictures in the dark where the iPhone can’t.
- I can type three Facebook status messages on the N97’s nice QWERTY keybord in the time that I can type two on the iPhone.
- It does copy and paste, so you can copy URLs to send to your friends. The iPhone can’t do that.
- It has replaceable batteries so you can charge up three batteries and Facebook for days, while the iPhone needs to be hooked back up to the wall for recharging after a few hours.
- The GPS device does turn-by-turn and has a built in compass, so you’ll get to your parties faster than with the iPhone, which doesn’t have a compass and doesn’t do turn-by-turn.
Panasonic has started talking about producing a 3D version of Blu-Ray to be débuted in 2010. Philips have already demoed a 3D TV system that works without the traditional red and green glasses.
Panasonic is working on a Blu-ray Disc capable of storing 2-channel 1080p 3D pictures, along with an HDMI cable to carry the video to a ’suitable’ TV. The best thing about the proposal being made to the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), is that Panasonic is using existing Blu-ray and HDMI technology which will help it – and us – avoid another dumb proprietary HD format spat.
Images are encoded with the 2-channel encoder already part of MPEG-4 and the video for right and left eye each offer Full HD resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels. The discs will also be playable on existing Blu-players and Panasonic thinks the techology will be ready for rollout in 2010.
We may not need the 3D glasses but it’s possible we’ll need a TV with the ability to handle 3-D signals. There’s always a catch. Also, with Blu-ray titles still only trickling onto the market after more than 2 years of its release, how long before we see a lot of decent – yes, decent – 3-D titles?-Martin Lynch
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