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Avatar special edition takes another dip on iTunes Tuesday, brings exclusive extras

Ahmet — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:41:00 +0000

If you’ve made the switch to watching movies delivered via the internet instead of disc, one of the things that you’ll usually give up is interactive special features, but Fox is turning that trend around with its latest repackaging of Avatar . The iTunes Extras Special Edition of the movie goes on sale Tuesday and includes “Green Screen X-Ray” features letting viewers deconstruct the extensive special effects during 17 scenes as they watch, as well as an original screenplay from director James Cameron, his scriptment, and a gallery of 1,700 images. You can get an idea of how the X-ray feature works from the images here and a trailer (included after the break), but at $20 for an HD copy, we figure it will be just the most dedicated fans taking a trip back to Pandora before the 3D Blu-ray is freed from exclusivity next year

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Avatar special edition takes another dip on iTunes Tuesday, brings exclusive extras

Google’s Androidify holiday wardrobe update lets your bot ring in the New Year

Ahmet — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:15:00 +0000

Ready to celebrate the holidays this year? Google has gone and refreshed its free Androidify app with some season-appropriate gear for your avatar. The new virtual wardrobe selections should certainly please a variety of tastes, whether you’re itching to fit your robo with an ugly Christmas sweater or just a pair of New Years party specs

Telesar V robot brings new meaning to escapism (video)

Ahmet — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:13:00 +0000

The esoteric art of telepresence is all about that sweetest of dreams: being somewhere you’d rather be. So far, though, it’s hardly teleported much beyond our head movements and kisses. What we really need is a fully-fledged avatar that can also feed sensory information back to us — and that’s exactly what the Telesar V claims to be. The user dons a pair of VR goggles that control the robot’s head and see through its eyes. A pair of gloves not only control the Telesar’s hands, but also transmit force and temperature data back from its sensors. Drag yourself away from that violent BF3 simulator and check out the smoochiness after the break. (And yes, the inventor’s surname is just about perfect.)

Continue reading Telesar V robot brings new meaning to escapism (video)

Telesar V robot brings new meaning to escapism (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s Face-to-Avatar blimp soars through SIGGRAPH, melts the heart of Big Brother (video)

Ahmet — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:30:00 +0000

Telepresence, say hello to your future. Humans, say hello to the next generation of Chancellor Sutler. All jesting aside, there’s no question that Big Brother came to mind when eying Sony Computer Science Laboratories’ Face-to-Avatar concept at SIGGRAPH. For all intents and purposes, it’s a motorized blimp with a front-facing camera, microphone, a built-in projector and a WiFi module. It’s capable of hovering above crowds in order to showcase an image of what’s below, or displaying an image of whatever’s being streamed to its wireless apparatus. The folks we spoke to seemed to think that it was still a few years out from being in a marketable state, but we can think of a few governments who’d probably be down to buy in right now. Kidding. Ominous video (and static male figurehead) await you after the break.

Gallery: Sony’s Face-to-Avatar blimp soars through SIGGRAPH 2011

Continue reading Sony’s Face-to-Avatar blimp soars through SIGGRAPH, melts the heart of Big Brother (video)

Sony’s Face-to-Avatar blimp soars through SIGGRAPH, melts the heart of Big Brother (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Visualized: Objet’s 3D printer breathes plastic life into Hollywood creatures, layer by layer

Ahmet — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:13:00 +0000

It ain’t easy being plastic, you know? Objet — the 3D printing house that aimed to replace your office’s all-in-one Epson back in July — brought a few of its snazziest pieces here to SIGGRAPH, and we popped by to have a gander. Targeting the animation-inspired crowd that showed up here in Vancouver, the company brought along some Hollywood examples of how its multi-material Objet260 Connex helped movie makers craft prototype creatures before they were inserted into the storyline. Thor’s Destroyer and Avatar’s Na’vi were both on hand, as well as the two critters shown above. The hothead on the right was crafted in around 18 hours (and subsequently painted), while the cool cat on the left was built in three fewer. Wildly enough, that fellow required no painting whatsoever; so long as you’re cool with shades of grey, you can program your object to be colored from the outset. Oh, and as for his cost? Around $80 for the materials — slightly more for the printer itself.

Gallery: Objet’s 3D printing breathes plastic life into Hollywood creatures at SIGGRAPH

Continue reading Visualized: Objet’s 3D printer breathes plastic life into Hollywood creatures, layer by layer

Visualized: Objet’s 3D printer breathes plastic life into Hollywood creatures, layer by layer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Aug 2011 07:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NZXT stops being so sensitive with $40 Avatar S gaming mouse

Ahmet — Tue, 24 May 2011 18:52:00 +0000

It seems that the people at NZXT love gamers almost as much as they hate vowels. The company today took the wraps off of the Avatar S, a replacement for the already discontinued Avatar gaming mouse. The new model doesn’t quite match the 2,600DPI of its predecessor — instead it’s got a 1,600 DPI laser sensor with three sensitivity settings: 1,600DPI, 800DPI, and 400DPI. The finned peripheral’s five buttons are configurable, as is the LED lighting scheme and X-Y sensitivity — customization that can be saved to the device’s 16Kb of onboard memory. The mouse has a polling rate of 1000Hz and does tracking at 30 inches / second, and those little Teflon feet should help you move the thing around a bit more easily. The mouse comes in both black and white will run you $39.99 when it launches at the end June — $20 cheaper than its predecessor’s launch price, or $10 per fin. Press release after the break.

Continue reading NZXT stops being so sensitive with $40 Avatar S gaming mouse

NZXT stops being so sensitive with $40 Avatar S gaming mouse originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 May 2011 14:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony makes floating-head telepresence avatars a reality, Sean Connery digs out gun and red speedos

Ahmet — Mon, 16 May 2011 11:39:00 +0000

The real world just got a little more Zardoz thanks to Tobita Hiroaki and his colleagues at Sony Computer Science Laboratory, who’ve built a telepresence blimp that projects the operator’s face across its meter-wide surface. The looming, translucent face can float about like any other blimp; an interior camera allows the user to see where it’s going. The whole thing is ominous in a completely different way from, say, a tiny googly-eyed robot perched on your shoulder, but something about its nearly silent movements still gives us the creeps – and unlike the Anybots QB, it’s not going to pick up your scone from the café. But if your dreams include having others bow before your god-like visage, you’ll have to wait awhile, as the technology’s still in its early stages. In the meantime, you can practice intoning “Zardoz is pleased!” while watching the video above.

Sony makes floating-head telepresence avatars a reality, Sean Connery digs out gun and red speedos originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 07:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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James Cameron picks up 50 RED EPIC-Ms, high-fives Peter Jackson

Ahmet — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 05:11:00 +0000

Looks like another director’s been on a shopping spree lately, as RED’s Jim Jannard’s just announced that he sold another 50 EPIC-Ms to one generous customer. Who’s this, you ask? Why, it’s James Cameron of Avatar and Titanic fame, and he’s probably just blown $2.9 million on his latest stash of cinematographic toys — it’s $58,000 a pop for these hand-machined professional cameras. Details are scarce at the moment, but any educated guess would point at the upcoming Avatar 2 due end of 2014, meaning our favorite blue aliens will be returning in a healthy 5K resolution. Keep an eye out for Jannard’s official announcement later this week for the full lowdown.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

James Cameron picks up 50 RED EPIC-Ms, high-fives Peter Jackson originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Apr 2011 01:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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James Cameron ponders 48 or 60fps shooting of future Avatar films, because he’s trendy like that

Ahmet — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 20:33:00 +0000

Oh, Jameson. You trendy, trendy trendsetter. After coercing the entire world of cinema to bow down and worship the art of 3D, it looks as if James Cameron will soon be spearheading the effort to back away from the tried-and-true 24fps shooting method in favor of far faster options. The Hollywood Reporter is claiming that Cameron copped to the idea of shooting Avatar 2 and 3 at higher frame rates, likely 48fps or 60fps. The reason? It’ll provide an “added sense of reality,” and it’ll probably create a wave of new camcorders, software and plug-ins to handle the dirty work. Onward and upward, we suppose.

James Cameron ponders 48 or 60fps shooting of future Avatar films, because he’s trendy like that originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Apr 2011 16:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TEROOS robotic avatar gives your long-distance girlfriend a tiny, googly-eyed face (video)

Ahmet — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:26:00 +0000

Do you pine for animatronic eyes and robots that whisper sweet nothings in your ear? Well, geeks with distant girlfriends rejoice, because TEROOS, the shoulder-mounted, remotely-controlled telepresence avatar has arrived. Created by researchers from Keio University in Japan, the little bot has a camera and mic so far away friends can see and hear what you do, while a directional speaker keeps your conversations private. Communication’s courtesy of Skype, while some custom code lets users control the device’s six-axis articulating head. It’s not an independent system, however, as it relies upon a smartphone to relay commands from a PC to the avatar through Bluetooth. Users can also change the bot’s facial expressions thanks to a couple of googly eyes and mechanical eyelids, though it doesn’t have quite the emotional range of other androids from the land of the rising sun. Intrigued? Check the vid after the break.

Continue reading TEROOS robotic avatar gives your long-distance girlfriend a tiny, googly-eyed face (video)

TEROOS robotic avatar gives your long-distance girlfriend a tiny, googly-eyed face (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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