Another bit of consolidation in the mobile advertising space — this time with an ad-tech twist: Amobee, the mobile ad company that itself was the subject of a takeover by Singtel only two months ago, has now bought an ad startup of its own: AdJitsu, a specialist in “3D” advertising technologies that let users “touch” objects in ads and explore them.
Trevor Healy, the CEO of Amobee, says that financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed. Prior to the acquisition, AdJitsu was a wholly-owned division of another mobile advertising company, Cooliris.
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Blockbuster movie director James Cameron made the top two worldwide grossing films of all time – Titanic and Avatar. This week in Las Vegas he spoke not to the movie industry, but to television broadcasters at the NAB convention about how important TV is to the future of 3D. TechCrunch also got a chance to talk to him about 3D on tablets and tweeting from the bottom of the ocean. → Read More
Update: The live event has ended. We will put an archived video below if it becomes available.
James Cameron, director of the just-released 3D version of Titanic, as well as Aliens, Terminator, Avatar and so many other major blockbusters, is spilling some secrets today. He’s speaking at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas about how to make money making 3D movies. The event starts live at 10:30am PT.
The original “Titanic” and the 3D re-release has just passed $2 billion in lifetime ticket sales. The only other movie to top $2 billion is Cameron’s “Avatar.” → Read More
The Stix project is just a concept now, but what a concept it is. It’s essentially a way for glasses-wearers to enjoy 3D movies without having to put on oddly-shaped and potentially ugly 3D glasses.
The Stix peel off a piece of backing plastic and fit right on your real glasses. When you’re ready to face the real world again you simply peel them off. Lucy Jung and Daejin Ahn designed the concept because Lucy found herself having to wear her contacts when she went to the movies. → Read More
Of all the peculiar gimmicks a smartphone manufacturer could lean on to make a device stand out, 3D always seemed like one of the most pointless. Sure, it sounds great in theory — who doesn’t want fully immersive video and apps — but actually using it on-the-go can be a completely different story.
As it turns out, Samsung is right there with me. In an effort to combat some of the more fanciful Galaxy S III rumors floating around, the company told Engadget today that they have no intention to release a 3D smartphone any time soon. → Read More
Last September, YouTube began offering new tools that allowed users to convert their uploaded 2D videos into 3D videos with just a click. That feature, which has been in beta testing, was available only to YouTube creators at the time. Today, YouTube is rolling out the beta to all of YouTube’s users – creators and viewers alike – by offering the option to automatically convert short-form videos that were uploaded in 1080p to 3D.
In other words, viewers no longer have to wait on YouTube creators to convert their videos into 3D – you can now do it yourself. → Read More
It seems that 55-Inch OLED TV wasn’t enough for LG: the Korean company today announced it’s ready to showcase another monster TV at the CES 2012 in Las Vegas (which kicks off on January 10). This model comes with a 84-inch 3D LCD display with 4K resolution (3,840×2,160 pixels).
To put things into perspective: 4K resolution, which LG calls “Ultra Definition”, is four times the resolution of full HD. Other details are scarce at this point, but LG promises “slim and narrow bezel design”, controllable 3D picture effects, and 3D sound zooming capability. → Read More
NXP Software, developer of the CineXPlayer mobile application, is launching a new iOS app for recording and converting video into 3D. The app, VideoCam3D, lets you record in both blue/red and split screen 3D and works in conjunction with the CineXPlayer video viewing app, which also supports 3D movie playback.
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Do you remember that 55-inch monster of a naked-eye 3D TV Toshiba unveiled back in October? The company now announced [JP] a date (December 10) and confirmed the final price (US$11,700) for the device. But there’s a drawback: Toshiba has still to decide if they will release the TV outside Japan, too.
To recap, the TV features 3,840×2,160 pixels resolution in 2D mode (that’s four times the resolution of full HD) and a solid 1,280×720 resolution in 3D mode. Users are not required to use glasses, just with the smaller naked-eye 3D TVs Toshiba started selling in Japan late last year. → Read More
Since 2006, Tokyo-based Burton has been working on Aerial 3D, a technology that makes it possible to produce pictures in 3D in mid-air or underwater – without using a screen (that’s what I call “True 3D Technology” indeed). Burton says their laser-based system is the only one of its kind.
The current system projects objects at 50,000 dots per second and with a frame rate of 10-15. The Aerial 3D works by focusing laser light, producing “plasma excitation from the oxygen and nitrogen in the air”. → Read More
Epson Japan announced [JP] the so-called Moverio today, a see-through 3D head-mounted display (HMD), which is the first of its kind, according to the company. Think of it as mix between of NEC’s transparent HMD Tele Scouter and Sony’s cool 3D OLED head mounted display HMZ-T1, powered by Android OS.
The Moverio creates the experience of watching 3D (or 2D) pictures on a virtual 80-inch display that’s 5m away – while still being able to see what’s happening around you in the real world. Apart from the display itself, users get a small controller that offers 1GB of internal memory and a microSD card slot. → Read More
Naked-eye 3D displays, even large-sized models, are nothing special anymore, but they usually have a common problem: the 3D effect when viewing pictures isn’t as strong as with displays that require users to wear glasses. Professor Kakeya from Tsukuba University in Japan is trying to solve the problem.
The way his 3D display works is actually pretty simple: it uses multiple layers and lenses to boost the sense of depth perception. → Read More
Digital photo frames are a dime a dozen nowadays, and recently, 3D models have been popping up, too. Fujifilm today announced the FinePix REAL 3D V3, a so-called “digital viewer” that displays pictures in 3D and doesn’t require users to wear glasses.
The company says its new device is the first in the world to support 3D movie and picture playback and compatibility to other 3D devices via the HDMI interface (camcorders, consoles, 3D Blu-ray players, etc.). → Read More
Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications (NICT) and JVC Kenwood have developed what they say is the world’s biggest 3D display. The device boasts a screen size of 200 inches, offers 57 different viewing angles, and best of all, it doesn’t require you to use glasses to view pictures in 3D.
The auto-stereoscopic display is based on 57 projectors in an array, produces 3D pictures in full HD and weighs 500kg. It was first announced by the NICT in January this year but appears to have been altered since (the earlier version used 64 projectors, for example). → Read More
Truth be told, I wasn’t very impressed with what electronics makers showed at the CEATEC 2011 tech exhibition – especially because a lot of the new products were “leaked” to the Japanese press before the event started.
However, here are a total of five of the coolest innovations Japanese companies showed at CEATEC 2011 in video form, delivered from our friends at Diginfo TV (YouTube channel). All the videos were shot directly on location and are in English. → Read More
If you’ve ever dreamed of getting an super-realistic replica of your face for whatever reason, here’s your chance: a Japanese company called REAL-f [JP] is creating so-called 3DPFs (“3 Dimension Photo Forms”), copies of human faces “in 3D”. The startup offers two versions, a mask type replica and the so-called mannequin type, a replica of the head.
The way it works is that REAL-f first shoots pictures of a person’s face from various positions and imprints the image on vinyl chloride resin stretched over a mold. According to the company, it’s unique production technology makes sure that even details like the iris and blood vessels are replicated accurately (see the pictures to judge for yourself). → Read More
The CEATEC 2011 exhibition in Japan is just one day away, and Hitachi is already showing one of its coolest products: the company has been working on glasses-free 3D projection systems for years and is apparently making progress.
The newest version [JP] uses a set of 24 projectors, lenses, translucent half mirrors to superimpose 3D images on an object in the real-world. In the picture above, for example, the hatchling isn’t real, but the cradle is. → Read More
If you thought Sharp’s 4K TV we’ve shown you last week is impressive, think again. Toshiba today unveiled a 55-inch LCD that boasts the same resolution (3,840×2,160 pixels, 4x full HD) but can also display pictures in 3D – no glasses required. The TV will be shown starting tomorrow during the CEATEC Japan 2011 exhibition near Tokyo.
Needless to say, the REGZA 55X3 [JP] is the first TV of its kind. Unfortunately, the resolution stands at “just” 1,280×720 in 3D mode. → Read More
Sony, which provides many theaters with the projectors and hardware needed to display 3D cinema, has informed those theaters that starting this spring, it will no longer provide 3D glasses for free. From now on they’ll have to foot the cost themselves — and by “they” I mean “we,” because obviously the theaters aren’t going to voluntarily pick up this extra expense. → Read More
While there’s a bit of a learning curve, 3Defy is a great demo of, at the very least, the latest in Flash programming. It’s basically a site that lets you add 3D effects to 2D photos that you upload or link. Using a fairly rudimentary set of brushes and tools, you set an object in a scene and try your darnedest to push, pull, and bend it until it looks realistic.
It’s a bit wonky right now and there’s a ridiculous sign-up process just to play around, but the resulting images are fairly striking and you can embed them in web pages or link them out to friends and neighbors. I made this one. It’s horrible. → Read More
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