Philips' 42-, 47-, and 52-inch Ambilight LCDs go 1080p, 120Hz, LED backlighting

Posted May 24th 2007 6:24AM by Thomas Ricker
Filed under: Displays

Has it really been 10 years since the first Ambilight television? Does anyone care? After all, the press release was issued back in January at CES and missed by nearly everyone, including us. Well, Philips certainly cares and aims to celebrate by dishing out a triplet of Ambilight LCDs ranging size from 42-, 47-, and 52-inches. As you'd expect, they've got all the sweetest buzzwords covered: 1080p, 120Hz, LED backlighting. They also feature Philips' Perfect Pixel HD processing engine, plenty of HDMI inputs (3x on the 52-incher) and of course, Philips' Ambilight glow for a more immersive experience with reduced eye strain -- or so says Philips. Priced at $2,999 for the Ambilight Full Surround (independent lighting on all four sides) 42-inch 42PFL9832D (pictured) or $2,799 for the 47-inch 47PFL9732D and $3,599 for the big 52-inch 52PFL7432D with Ambilight 2 for that left and right glow. All are expected to roll Stateside as early as June.

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Sony's world's first 16.7 million color flexible OLED

Posted May 24th 2007 9:29AM by Thomas Ricker Filed under: Displays

Oh boy, another bendy display we won't likely see on the market any time soon. This time it's Sony's turn to tout with this, their 2.5-inch, 160 x 120 pixel OLED display on a flexible plastic film. Better yet, this organic TFT delivers a relatively stellar 16.7 million colors compared to the 262k and 16k colors Samsung and LG.Philips, respectively, were showing off last week. That's a world's first 24-bit color depth for these types of displays. Take that Samsung. The display also measures a mere 0.3-mm thin which easily bests the hapless Korean (and Dutch) giants. The only downside (if you call it that) is the display's "greater than" 1000:1 contrast ratio compared to Samsung's 10,000:1 rating. But by now you've learned to take contrast measurements with a grain of salt, right?

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Researchers develop ultrathin compound-eye camera

Posted May 24th 2007 2:22PM by Donald Melanson Filed under: Digital Cameras

A team of researchers led by Jun Tanida at the University of Osaka look to be making some steady progress in an area where many others have tread before, developing a camera that can capture a scene and produce a 3D image of it. Dubbed TOMBO (Thin Observation Module by Bound Optics), the camera consists of nine tiny lenses that each capture a scene from slightly different angles. Some software, apparently designed to mimic the the process that insects use, then picks out the position, shape, and color of objects to reconstruct the images into a single 3D scene. The big advantage to this particular system is its size, which the researchers say could eventually be used in cellphones or placed on the wings of airplanes for surveillance without causing any drag. There are a few downsides, however, namely its 1.1 megapixel resolution, although the researchers seem confident they'll be able to improve that in short order.

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Intel's Metro laptop prototype is "world's thinnest"

Posted May 24th 2007 3:48PM by Ryan Block Filed under: Laptops

Watch out Sony, it looks like your Vaio X505's title for thinnest / lightest laptop ever is about to be challenged by some new Intel-sponsored Zima designs intended to push the envelope of portability. The 0.7-inch thick 2.2-pound Metro features an external e-ink display, and might actually stand a chance at redefining slim computing -- if it's ever built, anyway. Enjoy the eye candy, it's going to be a while before you get any closer to a laptop of this caliber than some pictures on the internets.

Lord have mercy, Intel has just created a laptop that's as pretty as a supermodel, and thinner, too. Codenamed the Intel Mobile Metro Notebook, this prototype was designed by Intel along with Ziba Design, and it's a mere .7 inches thick and weighs just 2.25 pounds. It's no dumb blonde, either, packed with Intel's speediest and most efficient components, which will probably be plenty fast by the time this machine is manufactured, maybe even as soon as the end of this year.

This one has it all. The slim, champagne-colored magnesium notebook—which is only a quarter of an inch thicker than a Motorola RAZR cellphone—will include a magnetically attached folder that will be available in different fashion colors. That folder will also be able to charge up the laptop wirelessly, and ladies (at whom this design is clearly aimed) can attach a strap to it and make it look just like a purse. Jeez, what else did they include in this beauty?

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It'll have always-on connectivity, using all Intel chips, of course, to connect via Wi-Fi, EV-DO and WiMax. It'll also have a flash memory hard drive, with an expected battery life of 14 hours. Check out the glow-in-the-dark, the screen on the outside of that folder, the beautiful gold accents, and the overall thinness of this thing. It's just astonishing.

If Intel is able to deliver this notebook anytime soon, it's going to give Apple a run for its money. The big question now? How much will this cost? According to Business Week, the main reason so many other laptops look so lame is because of cost considerations, and the designers of this notebook admit that price was no object. Even if it's expensive, this design is so thin and beautiful, it's sure to bring some fat changes to the laptop world. – Charlie White

The World's Thinnest Notebook [Business Week]

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Audi TT Clubsport Quattro Study

from PSFK Trend: PSFK by Guy Brighton

Luxist reportsvon the launch of the TT Clubsport Quattro Study which was first shown ar an enthusiast event called Wörthersee 2007. The press release says:

The Audi TT clubsport quattro study reduces the TT Roadster to a pure driving machine. A powerful engine, state-of-the-art technology and numerous traits borrowed from the world of motorsport are the dominant features of the TT clubsport quattro

The goal that the development engineers set themselves for this vehicle study was to achieve purism at a premium level. No hood, no A-post – instead, a wraparound windscreen kept extremely low which deliberately evokes images of a speedster. The flat, slightly tinted window strip surrounds the cockpit. The panoramic windscreen and the two humps located behind the interior in place of the hood compartment are reminiscent of a racing car.

The racing character of the Audi TT clubsport quattro is underscored by its technology. The Audi engineers have packed the 2.0 TFSI engine with even more power than the 260 bhp familiar from the Audi S3. The turbocharged four-cylinder unit with petrol direct injection breaks the magic 300 bhp barrier. Thanks to a modified intake manifold, it has been possible to get even more power out of this highly efficient engine (which was "Engine of the Year" in its class in 2005 and 2006).

Audi TT

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