There finally piloting Nokia's Home Control Center in Finland

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/23/there-finally-piloting-nokias-home-control-center-in-finland/

It sure started out as something promising. When Nokia spun off its Home Control Center technology to There Corporation last year it seemed that easy DIY home automation and power management was just around the corner. Yet here we are, almost two years after first hearing about the effort with nothing but a convoluted mess of unfriendly ZigBee and Z-Wave (to name just 2 "standards") home automation products to choose from. There is hope, small as it may be. There Corporation just announced that it's working with Mitox Oy to conduct a pilot in Finland for customers of Helsingin Energia (Helen) using a There-provided web-based solution built around the ThereGate. It allows individuals to monitor their total power consumption in real time as well as the individual devices and systems that consume energy. Better yet, There Corp employs a "rate control concept" that automatically adjusts power usage to hours when energy costs less based on simple guidelines programed by the user. Unfortunately, There Corporation's focus is on Nordic countries until 2012 before looking to dominate European home energy management in 2015. Call us crazy, but this market seems ripe for domination by a major consumer electronics company right now, not in 5 years.

Continue reading There finally piloting Nokia's Home Control Center in Finland

There finally piloting Nokia's Home Control Center in Finland originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adobe shows off plenoptic lenses that let you refocus an image after it's taken (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/23/adobe-shows-off-plenoptic-lenses-that-let-you-refocus-an-image-a/

Yes, you read that correctly. The fevered dreams of crime scene investigators up and down the country are being brought to reality by Adobe, with just a single extra lens and some crafty software knowhow. Basically, a plenoptic lens is composed of a litany of tiny "sub-lenses," which allow those precious photons you're capturing to be recorded from multiple perspectives. The result is that you get a bunch more data in your image and an "infinite" depth of field, meaning you can toggle at what distance you want your image to be focused after the act of taking it. These plenoptic lenses are inserted between your shooter's usual lens and its sensor, though commercialization is sadly said to still be a fair distance away. Never fear, you can get hold of a video demo much sooner than that -- you know where it's at.

Continue reading Adobe shows off plenoptic lenses that let you refocus an image after it's taken (video)

Adobe shows off plenoptic lenses that let you refocus an image after it's taken (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scosche freedomMIC for Flip Video cameras is the wireless microphone add-on for Real Americans

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/23/scosche-freedommic-for-flip-video-cameras-is-the-wireless-microp/

Freedom. Justice. Microphones. We're pretty sure you can find all of those in the constitution, or inside the pure essence of eagle tears, or in Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" played backwards. Scosche understands, and that's why they're unveiling the freedomMIC add-on for Flip Video cameras. It's one of those new FlipPort-compatible accessories that we're sure we'll be seeing plenty of now that Cisco's new wave of cameras are out for public consumption. The mic itself offers a pretty neat solution to the perennial problem of sucky Flip audio: you plug the receiver base into the bottom of the Flip and hand the wireless lapel mic to your subject. Conveniently, you can start and stop recording with the microphone itself, and a 4 hour rechargeable battery should get you through the most trying of interviews or impassioned YouTube monologues. The mic will be out in "late December" for $100.

Scosche freedomMIC for Flip Video cameras is the wireless microphone add-on for Real Americans originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Epson rolls out new 3LCD projectors for budgets big and medium

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/23/epson-rolls-out-new-3lcd-projectors-for-budgets-big-and-medium/

Since it's CEDIA time, Epson has seen fit to unveil several new 1080p projectors, ranging from price brackets in the (reasonable for this crowd) sub-$7,000 category with the new Pro Cinema 6100 to the Home Cinema 8350 which comes in at less than $1,300. The Pro Cinema 6100 (above) debuts the company's new 3LCD Reflective and UltraBlack tech courtesy of a dual-layered auto iris that is its first to reach dynamic contrast ratios of up to 1,000,000:1, while the Pro Cinema 31000 and Home Cinema 21000 beamers feature similar lens technology with appropriately lower-end chipsets, stats and prices when all of them ship in December. The next jump down is the Home Cinema 8350 and 8700UB models that eschew the new HDMI 1.4 ports and more exotic lens technology of the higher end models while still bringing improved specs over last year's lineup to retailer shelves when they ship later this month. Detailed specs follow after the break if you're wondering just how far an extra dollar or two will go.

Continue reading Epson rolls out new 3LCD projectors for budgets big and medium

Epson rolls out new 3LCD projectors for budgets big and medium originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 18:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mitsubishi America offers up two new 3D projectors

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/23/mitsubishi-america-offers-up-two-new-3d-projectors/

The first new projector for the US is the HC4000 (pictured) which is touted as a great price for the performance DIY HT projector and features the 1080p DarkChip 3 DLP light engine. It is capable of 1300 lumens and provides up to 750:1 ANSI contrast ratio. It has support for an optional anamorphic lens for those 2.35:1 movies and is rated at a very quiet 25dBA in low mode. The estimated price is $1495 and should be available immediately. The bigger brother is the Diamond 3D which evidently has no price, but does use the 120hz Sony SXRD light engine, has an auto-iris function for easy setup, only musters 19dBa of noise while it is running and features two HDMI 1.4 inputs and an RS232 port for control.

Continue reading Mitsubishi America offers up two new 3D projectors

Mitsubishi America offers up two new 3D projectors originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 19:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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