Enjoying the 3D TV Experience

Thanks to the movie Avatar, 3D movies are more popular than ever, and 2010 will see the introduction of 3D TV into homes. 3D TV lets you experience the content on your TV (TV shows, movies or games) with a stereoscopic effect. It adds the illusion of a third dimension and depth to your viewing experience.

Most of you probably remember the old-fashioned glasses with the redand-cyan lenses. This type of 3D is the anaglyph method, where the red and cyan are used to combine two false color images. If you recently watched a movie in the IMAX theater, you wore passive polarized 3D glasses. The 3D TVs we’ll see available soon use alternate-frame sequencing, and you’ll have to wear active liquid crystal shutter glasses or headgear.


The shutter glasses work by very quickly blocking the left then the right eye in sequence (typically about 120 times per second), and sync to the TV via infrared or Bluetooth.

At the Consumer Electronics Show this year, the six major TV makers announced their 3D TV models - LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and Vizio - with the best coming from Panasonic (VT25 series) and Sony (Bravia XBR-LX900 and XBR-HX900 series).

Panasonic’s VT25 series won the prestigious CNET “Best of Show” and “Best in Television” awards at CES this year. Boasted to deliver a full 1080p resolution to each eye, these 3D TVs will ship sometime this spring and range from 40 to 65 inches. Sony’s line of 3D TVs will be available in the summer and comes in 40 to 60 inches. Neither company announced any pricing points for its 3D TVs.

While it’s cool the technology exists, at this point the biggest issue with 3D TV is the lack of content. So far, some of the Blu-ray 3D titles announced this year are Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Monsters vs. Aliens and Disney’s A Christmas Carol. Also, DirecTV will be the first provider with 3D content that will have three 3D channels of its own, and ESPN and Discovery will launch 3D channels this year. There are currently no Blu-ray players that support 3D unless you have a PlayStation 3 (PS3). When Sony’s new 3D TVs are released, there will be a software update for your PS3 that will allow you to view 3D content.

Overall the 3D TV experience is great, probably best for sports or gaming. But the downside is watching 3D TV for long periods of time can be difficult and may give you a headache (some people may not even be able to perceive 3D). The glasses can be bothersome and expensive (anticipated to be about $100 a pair). If you do decide to invest in a 3D TV this year, I suggest sticking with the Panasonic or Sony series mentioned above. But, if you’re patient enough, I suggest you wait!

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Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Glow Doodle
Glow Doodle is a fun way to draw with lights/glow effect on your iPhone or iPod touch. The best part is you can save your light glow doodles to your photo albums and share them. You can draw in red, green, blue or yellow and erase your previous stroke if you make a mistake. If you have a tendency to doodle on paper when you’re bored, this is a better way. It sells for 99 cents on the iTunes App Store.

Oceanic's Road Runner Mobile

A technology called WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) came to Hawaii in December, and brought us 4G mobile broadband service. In conjunction with this innovation, Oceanic Time Warner launched its 4G Road Runner Mobile Service earlier this month (available on Oahu and Maui).

I used the Franklin Wireless CMU-300 modem to connect to Road Runner Mobile network. It’s the first USB mobile card that supports both WiMax and 3G (EVDO) mobile networks. It’s fairly small - about the size of a wide pack of gum - and has a 64MB storage capacity if you need to throw some files on there. Just to give you an idea on speed, typical high-speed Internet service on your home’s network can give you up to 15 megabits (Mbps) for downloads and 1 Mbps for uploads. It varies on which service/plan you subscribe to. Road Runner Mobile’s speed averages from 3 to 6 Mbps, depending on your physical location.

“Road Runner Mobile offers customers a superior 4G mobile broadband experience away from their home or office by simply plugging a Road Runner Mobile device into their computers,” says Kiman Wong, general manager for Oceanic Time Warner Cable’s Road Runner Mobile. “Road Runner Mobile includes all the features as Road Runner High Speed Online, including a full security suite, e-mail, data storage, Photoshow, the Road Runner portal and Road Runner Speed Zones. With Road Runner Mobile, virtually everywhere on Oahu and Maui is your hotspot.”

As mentioned above, you receive the same features of Road Runner High Speed with Road Runner Mobile. Additional items include Mobile Manager (track your mobile data usage or add features, etc.), Road Runner Video Channel (watch on-demand videos) and Road Runner Radio (53 stations/12 genres). The security suite includes anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware, anti-spam parental controls and a security center console.

Road Runner Mobile’s pricing ranges from $39.95 (with existing Road Runner service) within Hawaii or $56.95 (with existing Road Runner service) for the national plan. Unfortunately, at the moment, the service is not available for Macs, but will begin Feb. 1. For more information or to subscribe to Road Runner Mobile, check out http://rrmobile.oceanic.com or call 643-2337.

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Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: CauseWorld
CauseWorld is the first app that lets you earn “karma points” and lets you “do good deeds by simply walking into a store.” You earn “karma points” when you check in by walking into or coming close to a participating store. These points can then be spent on real world charities that are partnering with CauseWorld: American Red Cross, Feeding America, American Forests, GlobalGiving, DonorsChoose.org, Prevent Child Abuse America, Carbonfund.org, American Humane Association and Room to Read.

Your karma points are funded out of nearly $500,000 provided by Kraft Foods and Citigroup. Additionally, while you’re shopping in a participating grocery store, you’ll be able to click on recipes from Kraft products. Find CauseWorld for free at the iTunes App Store.

What's New in 2010

First, I need to apologize for my Dec. 30 column titled Monitoring Home Energy Usage. After it published I realized - and several readers pointed out - that in the fourth and fifth paragraphs, when referring to “kilowatt hours (kWh),” I meant to say “kilowatts (kW)” and not “kWh.” Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

Now for the fun stuff: What toys we will see in 2010. For starters, as I write this, the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is kicking off in Las Vegas, and there’ll be no shortage of new products on display - more than 20,000 in fact. This year boasts a record number of exhibitors, with 330-plus new companies joining the 2,500 that are usually there. This year’s CES features 20 market-specific TechZones that highlight the latest trends in emerging markets, including Lifestyle Gadgets, Mobile DTV, Safe Driver, eBooks, Experience 3D, and my new personal interest, the Mommy Tech and Kids Play TechZones. I also noticed that a couple of companies have power cells that convert water into electricity.

Considering all of those, and looking at the coming year in general, I anticipate the hottest items will be 3D TV, netbooks (especially the ones that include Intel’s new Atom N450 chip) and, of course, e-readers. There are many e-readers coming out of the woodwork, but the big one everyone is talking about is coming from Apple, and it will not be at CES.

Apple’s e-reader is rumored to be more of a tablet PC and will be unveiled at the end of the month. Supposedly, it will have a 10- to 11-inch touch screen with a $1,000 price tag. This is about three times the cost of the current mainstream competition, the Kindle and Nook. With this higher price, people may not be as likely to go out and buy one as a “must-have” device.

On top of all that, Google jumped on the trying-to-compete-with-the-iPhone bandwagon and announced its Nexus One phone. The “super-phone” is what they kept calling it during the launch event because of the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, the Android 2.1 operating system and the Google apps from the Android Store. I’m skeptical, but if you want to give it a try, the Nexus One costs $179 with T-Mobile service, or $529 if you want to use your own service and insert a SIM card (google.com/phone).

Overall, 2010 will be an interesting year for tech. Stay tuned for news from this year’s CES. Since I couldn’t attend (again), Mr. Click Chick is there covering it for me.

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Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: White Noise Baby
As new parents, my husband and I have been blessed with a well-behaved baby (she even sleeps through the night). The only time she ever cries is when she’s hungry (so far). I downloaded the White Noise Baby app hoping I’ll never have to put it to its real use, but it seems to be helpful if you have a fussy baby.

The app features a variety of ambient sounds, including an air conditioner, car ride, classical music, conch shell, doppler ultra-sound, hair dryer, vacuum cleaner, blue noise, gray noise, pink noise, red noise, violet noise, white noise, dripping water, grandfather clock, a heartbeat and wind chimes. A shut-off timer is included so you can let it run for a set amount of time.

A New Year, A New You With NextFit

Thankfully, staying in shape and being motivated are not problems for me, but I know it can be an issue for some individuals. It’s nice to have that extra push from someone else, especially if it’s a personal trainer or fitness class instructor. The next best thing is a virtual trainer, such as the NextFit Keychain Trainer that Brian Fowler, a personal trainer and health consultant, brought to Hawaii.

”I like the NextFit from a trainer perspective, and I think it can help a lot of people who need some motivation or something to stay attached to,” Fowler says. “Having been in the fitness business for so long, I have seen how difficult it is for some people to stay active. Some people need accountability from a partner. Some people like the tech side, where they use a product. But ultimately I see this device as a way to keep people motivated and hopefully accountable to themselves.”

The NextFit unit is nothing fancy - a retractable USB dongle with an OLED screen so you can see where you are in your session, basic buttons (play, stop, volume controls) and an earphone jack. It’s so small that, if you drop it, it’s no big deal. It has a 10-hour rechargeable battery and includes 150 songs.

To begin your sessions, you first plug the device into your computer (works on both PC and Mac) and launch the NextFit program. Here it asks you questions on your goals, your work-out experience, current fitness level and what type of equipment you have at home. Just to try it out, I indicated that I need to lose “20 or more lbs” (after all, I did just have a baby a couple weeks ago).

Realistically, because of my condition, I really shouldn’t be doing full-blast workouts, so I indicated my fitness level as “medium” as opposed to my usual “high.” It gave me a few options, and the best one looked like a 44-minute walk-jog. It downloaded the workout to the USB device, and I took it with me on my first post-pregnancy work-out.

All throughout it played music you would hear in a fitness class at the gym (no hit music included with those 150 songs). It was a different experience for me, considering I’ve recently trained myself to run without music (most helpful when on the long 10-plus milers because my iPod/iPhone just gets in the way after awhile). In addition, the trainer’s voice came on every so often to give a push to keep going. I can see this being helpful and useful for someone who needs motivation, but probably not for me.

You can purchase a NextFit unit for $150 at mynextfit.com/hawaii or contact Brian Fowler at nextfithawaii@yahoo.com or 388-9085. Additionally, note the prices on the NextFit’s programs vary, starting at $25.

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Click Chick’s iPhone App of the Week: Gorillacam
When it comes to getting a picture with me, along with my family and friends in it, I’m picky and prefer to stick my camera up in a tree as I frame the perfect shot rather than ask a stranger to take it for me.

That way I can have a perfectly framed picture. I could never do that with my iPhone before, but it’s possible with the new Gorillacam app from Joby (creators of the popular Gorillapod line of flexible tripods).

You don’t necessarily have to use Gorillacam app with your Gorillamobile iPhone stand, but it’s meant to work with it. As long as you can find a stable surface on which to position your iPhone, the app will work just fine. Gorillacam mainly adds a self-timer, time-lapse (short as one second or long as two minutes) and continuous rapid-fire shooting (up to 1.6 frames per second) to your iPhone’s camera.

Additional features include a three-shot burst, press anywhere (turns your entire screen into a shutter button), grid overlay (perfect for lining up landscapes or buildings), bubble level (to take level shots - works in both vertical and horizontal) and share (easily upload or share photos). Download Gorillacam for free at the iTunes App Store.