Reality shows get new Life in rerun Marathons

Topic:

By James Hibberd

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - If reality TV is junk food, then the full-season daytime reality marathon has become the equivalent to a daylong, couch-bound Del Taco binge.
Read more

Posted on Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:01:42 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Alternate Reality Games blur Reality and Fiction

Topic:

By Lisa Baertlein

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In 2001, Jonathan Waite was living in South Korea and lurking around in a futuristic online whodunit called "The Beast."
Read more

Posted on Thu, 29 May 2008 23:37:20 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Fox schedules Sci-fi and Reality for new Season

Topic:

By James Hibberd

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Sci-fi action dramas and hourlong reality shows populate Fox's schedule for next season, which includes new shows from top producers J.J. Abrams ("Lost") and Joss Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer").
Read more

Posted on Fri, 16 May 2008 00:31:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Q&A: Hits keep coming for Reality Guru Darnell

Topic:

By James Hibberd

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Fox president of alternative entertainment Mike Darnell is responsible for some of the most vilified reality series ever created -- "The Swan," "Married by America," "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?" and "Temptation Island."
Read more

Posted on Thu, 8 May 2008 01:07:17 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Oprah seeks Sainthood with phony Reality Show

Topic:

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The first oddity (but certainly not the last) about the eight-week Oprah Winfrey infomercial "Oprah's Big Give" is that there is nary a single genuine giving moment to be found during the opening hour.
Read more

Posted on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:11:16 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Thirteen Fox Stations fined over 2003 Reality Show

Topic:

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. communications regulators on Friday imposed indecency fines on a scaled-down list of Fox television stations for airing episodes of a reality TV show in 2003.
Read more

Posted on Sat, 23 Feb 2008 01:04:44 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Model Team tapped for Fashion-mag Reality Series

Topic:

By Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The CW has green-lighted an untitled fashion-magazine reality series from Tyra Banks and Ken Mok, the duo behind the network's No. 1 show, "America's Next Top Model." Read more

Posted on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Without Writers, TV loads up on Reality, Reruns

Topic:

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. television viewers looking to settle back into such favorite series as "Desperate Housewives," "CSI" and "The Office" will be in for a rude awakening after the Christmas and New Year's holidays. Read more

Posted on Wed, 12 Dec 2007 13:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Booze Cruise Video Game gives Teens Reality Check

Topic:

By Wojtek Dabrowski

TORONTO (Reuters)- The Canadian developers of a video game that simulates drunk driving hope it will make teenagers think twice about getting behind the wheel after a night of heavy drinking. Read more

Posted on Sat, 6 Oct 2007 12:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Yahoo pacts with Reality-TV Producer

Topic:

By Andrew Wallenstein

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In an increasingly rare collaboration with Hollywood, Yahoo Inc. has signed a production deal with the company behind such reality shows as "Temptation Island" and "Joe Millionaire." Read more

Posted on Tue, 7 Aug 2007 06:46:18 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Vulcan FlipStart UMPC Closer to Reality

Topic:

Way back in the technology dark ages, or 2003 as it is commonly known, we heard a bit about an UMPC from a company called Vulcan known as the FlipStart and that was about as far as things ever went.

Long assumed to be nothing more than vaporware it seems that the FlipStart may actually materialize into a real product. PCmag.com has a full review of the FlipStart E-1001S that closely resembles a notebook that was filled with candy I saw on the shelves of the gas station the other day. Read more

Posted on Mon, 5 Mar 2007 15:26:42 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Augmented Reality On Mobile Phones Gets More Sophisticated

Topic:

There is a very cool use for the camera in mobile phones: augmented reality.

I have seen the first games show up one or two years ago where you could shoot down insects flying around the room and similar ones. Augmented reality on mobile phones is getting more and more advanced. Siemens announced (German) Kick Real, which lets you kick a virtual soccer ball with your foot. You have to kick the ball into a virtual goal. The software calculates based on the movement of your foot the direction and intensity of the kick.

Mobility Site reports about the research of an Austrian student in the field of Augmented reality for mobile phones. A video shows a virtual character simulated onto reality visible through an i-mate SP5 Windows Mobile Phone. Read more

Posted on Sun, 12 Mar 2006 10:54:01 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

IFA 2005 Reality Check

Topic:

So today is the last day of the IFA 2005. The presenting manufacturers are apparently happy with the amount of orders they got from retailers. For me the number of new product announcements were limited. But I feel this way after each consumer electronics show.

The big topics in the mainstream press were HDTV (still...) and TV on handheld devices (mhm...). Funny enough that those two topics have been surrounded by lots of controversy in Germany.

HDTV manufacturers for instance blamed TV stations to not quickly enough roll-out HDTV broadcasting. The first HD broadcast in Germany will be a Soccer game on a private Pay TV channel this November. It will only be via satellite. Of course the TV stations blame the manufactures that they just want to sell stuff (really?).

Everybody seems to be excited about watching TV on mobile phones. The idea is to fully launch it in Germany just in time for the Soccer World Cup 2006. Only problem: it might not be ready by then. There are legal issues, infrastructure is not there yet and the license deals are not in place. On top of that there is still a standards discussion. DVB-H versus DMB. DVB-H does not have standards yet for interactivity. DMB, which is already in use in Korea for quite some time is ready, but the German companies seem not to be very eager to let Samsung and Co. take over the German Mobile TV market.
Bottom line, the Consumer has to wait. More details on this topic in this report on Heise (German). Read more

Posted on Wed, 7 Sep 2005 00:39:30 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Virtual Reality Kick Ass Kung-Fu

Topic:

Maybe the Kick Ass Kung-Fu immersive game system is the best reason to get up and visit the Wired Nextfest in Chicago this weekend.

QuenteCafe has spotted it at the show. The system consists of two projection screens placed opposite to each other. The player is captured via a video camera and inserted into the virtual world. Judging from the demo videos on the Kick-Ass Kung-Fu site, I would say this is the most advanced video immersion system I have seen so far. It is extremely fast. The Kick Ass Kung-Fu system has been created by Finish Animaatiokone Industries.

Read more

Posted on Sat, 25 Jun 2005 12:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Augmented Reality GPS enabled Pacman Game

Topic:

Hey! Look! The guy on the other side of the street looks like he is playing real world Pacman.

Researchers in Singapore are developing a Pacman game that is augmented onto the real world (see photo on the left by BBC). The players are tracked via GPS and a central computer keeps track of the game - the future will be beautiful.
The human Pacman is on display at the Wired Nextfest 2005 in Chicago in a couple of weeks. I was at the Nextfest 2004 and it was really a great event.
More details on BBC News.

Read more

Posted on Tue, 7 Jun 2005 01:51:45 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Holo Display a Reality?

Topic:

Provision offers a display system that provides the projection of high resolution holographic like 3D aerial images into space detached from any screen, without any glasses.

The Provision site states that McDonalds has a POS system with a spinning 3D coke can in the field. Has anybody seen it? If yes Email us.

Story First seen on Josh Rubin's CoolHunting.

Read more

Posted on Thu, 4 Nov 2004 03:38:57 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

RoboNexus Coverage: House-Bots Becoming a Reality

Topic:

eHomeUpgrade has a report from the RoboNexus Robot Conference that took place in Santa Clara last weekend.

Quote:
"Over the weekend I checked out RoboNexus (“The Nation's Largest Business and Consumer Robotics Expo”) in Santa Clara, California and couldn't help being blown away by all the innovation in the robotics industry, specifically in the area of personal robotics where enthusiasts and consumer product developers are making impressive strides. Typically you would associate robotic technology with the sciences, manufacturing, or even the military, but believe it or not the craze is making its way into people's homes in the form of super “robo” toys like Robosapien, QRIO, AIBO, I-CYBIE and practical house-bots like the Roomba vacuum cleaner (by iRobot), as well as, a product, in my opinion, which has the most potential for becoming your personal Star Wars R2D2, the White Box Robotics 912 multimedia, surveillance and security PC-Bot. More...
" Full RoboNexus Coverage on eHomeUpgrade.

Read more

Posted on Tue, 26 Oct 2004 09:53:34 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Philips Electronic Paper a Reality?

Topic:

Philips Research publishes information about a flexible active-matrix monochrome electrophoretic displays based on organic transistors on 25micrometer thick polyimide substrates.
The displays can be bent to a radius of 1 cm without significant loss in performance.
With 1,888 transistors, these are the largest organic integrated circuits reported to date says the report. Meaning the control electronic of the electronic ink is on the foil as well.
The Display itself is actually from the e-paper pioneers at E-Ink. Philips has a Technology Transfer Agreement with E-Ink.

The Research report will be published in Nature Materials Magazine. Read online abstract.

Read more

Posted on Mon, 26 Jan 2004 07:53:18 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Virtual Reality Therapy for Arachnophobia

Topic:

Betterhuman.com has an interesting article on the advances in using Virtual Reality in treating Arachnophobia - the fear of spiders.

Treating phobias requires eliciting anxiety through exposure to a fear-inducing stimulus. Virtual reality therapy offers advantages in terms of control, confidentiality and the ability to mimic prohibitive stimuli such as height. The HITLab at the University of Washington could improve the results by combining tactile feedback with VR.
read more at Betterhuman.com.

Read more

Posted on Mon, 3 Nov 2003 23:02:55 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Mobile Video Phone Service an Affordable Reality!

Topic:

Hutchison 3G Austria starts commercial mobile Video phone service in Austria.

Hutchison introduces one of the first UMTS services to offer video phone capabilities. The Hutchison service Drei (Site in English via Google) offers the NEC e606 mobile phone to use the service. The phone sells for 576 Euros. The phone supports bandwith up to 384 kbps, allowing for reasonable video streaming quality.

The video phone service starts at a low rate of 39 Euro/month.

Currently the UMTS coverage only includes the major cities in Austria. In other areas the phone switches to GSM, without the video capability.

Read more

Posted on Mon, 5 May 2003 22:55:19 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr