With just three weeks to go before Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hits theaters, Samsung is using the bullwhip-cracking adventurer for a tiny bit of promotion. Both the 50-inch and 58-inch models of its Rose Crystal HDTV come with an Indy DVD, as well as motion picture theater tickets. Personally, I’m looking forward to the scene in the film when Indy and Mutt are tied up to a pagan statue and, as a glacial Cate Blanchett advances on our heroes with an ice pick, Mutt’s Samsung Soul cellphone rings in his pocket. It’s Mother Marion, asking if he’s going to be home for supper, and if he’s, not to be late, because she’s made him a soufflé and she doesn’t want it to collapse. [i4U ]

Via [Gizmodo]

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This startup has an ambitious plan: to unify and replace all your TV-related services and combine them into one box. Satellite Television? Check. Cable? Check. On-Demand Video? Check. Sezmi is working with some of the major distributors and content providers to create a one-stop box for all the stuff that comes separately these days. The […]

This startup has an ambitious plan: to unify and replace all your TV-related services and combine them into one box. Satellite TV? Check. Cable? Check. On-Demand Video? Check. Sezmi is working with some of the major distributors and content providers to create a one-stop box for all the stuff that comes separately these days. The idea is that the separate services will still be there in the background, but there will be just one box and one seamless delivery system. With a terabyte hard drive, broadband connection, and probably about fifty cables snaking out the back, integrating the services is possible, but may be challenging from a usability point of view.

Anyhow, it’s an admirable idea, but I’m afraid it might be slow to catch on, as people tend to view their DVRs, Apple Televisions, and Vudus as investments, not to be replaced on a whim. Sezmi will have to have some strong incentives to move consumers to their system. Fortunately, they’re playing with the huge boys and have millions in backing funds, so if they go down, it won’t be with a whimper.

Via [crunchgear]

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Microsoft’s not only delaying Windows XP SP3 temporarily, but they’re also pulling off Windows Vista SP1—which has already been pushed out to automatic software update—because of potential incompatibilities. Most of us don’t need to worry about it since this is just an issue with MS’s SQL Servers that affect Microsoft Dynamics Retail management systems. Unless you’re running a SQL database at home to track the chore distribution for your family, you can go ahead and manually fetch the update and install it yourself. [PCWorld]

Via [Gizmodo]

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It’s confirmed. Apple will release all new movies from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Photos Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios on the same day as their DVD release, for $14.99. Full press release after the jump.

Purchase New Movies on iTunes Same Day as DVD Release CUPERTINO, Calif., May 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) this day announced that new movie releases from major film studios and premier independent studios are available for purchase on the iTunes(R) Store ( http://www.itunes.com ) on the same day as their DVD release. New releases and catalog titles will be available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Photos Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios. Movies purchased from iTunes can be viewed on an iPod(R) with video, iPhone(TM), Mac(R) or Computer or on a widescreen Television with Apple TV(R), with new releases priced at $14.99 and most catalog titles at $9.99. “We’re thrilled to bring iTunes Store customers new films for purchase day-and-date with the DVD release,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We think movie fans will love being able to purchase their favorites from major and independent studios.” New releases available for buy on the iTunes Store this week, concurrent with their DVD release, include “American Gangster” and “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” Other popular titles now available for buy include “Juno,” “Cloverfield,” “I Am Legend,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks” and “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.” The iTunes Store is the world’s most popular online music, TV and motion picture store with a catalog of over six million songs, 600 TV shows and over 1,500 films including 200 in stunning high definition video. With Apple’s legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as new iTunes Movie Rentals, integrated podcasting support, iMix playlist sharing, the capability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod and iPhone, the iTunes Store is the best way for Mac and Personal computer users to legally discover, buy and download music and video online. Pricing & Availability Movie purchases and rentals from the iTunes Store for Mac or Windows require iTunes 7.6.2, available as a free download immediately from http://www.itunes.com. iTunes motion picture buys and rentals require a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of buy. iTunes Movies are available in the US only and are $9.99 (US) for library title purchases and $14.99 (US) for new release purchases and $2.99 (US) for library title rentals and $3.99 (US) for new release rentals, and high definition rental versions are priced just one dollar more with library title rentals at $3.99 (US) and new release rentals at $4.99 (US). Short films are available to rent for 99 cents (US). Movies can be previewed, bought and watched on iPod classic, iPod nano with video, iPod touch, iPhone and on a widescreen Television with Apple TV.

Via [Gizmodo]

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Wired hates that, even though our cellphones are wicked cool, there’s a distinct lack of development in the area of practical gadgetry. Umbrellas—really, there’s no way to improve that? (Oh, right.) And so on, and so forth. Capturing that zeal, Wired lists 12 gadgets that, and I quote, are “just crazy enough to work.” Super! Included […]

Wired hates that, even though our cellphones are wicked cool, there’s a distinct lack of development in the area of practical gadgetry. Umbrellas—really, there’s no way to improve that? (Oh, right.) And so on, and so forth.

Capturing that zeal, Wired lists 12 gadgets that, and I quote, are “just crazy enough to work.” Super! Included therein: a solar cooker, which I gracelessly post here; some sort of earthquake-proof bed, which would be handy for any number of our continental U.S. readers right now; and a crank-powered radio, the scientific principles of which I learned in high school, proving that America’s public school system isn’t entirely broken.

Via [crunchgear]

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Any hope that the pay-what-you-want release of In Rainbows would set a precedent for Radiohead albums of the future has been dashed. Tortured treehugger and all-round good bloke Thom Yorke set the record straight yesterday, calling the band’s decision to let their fans agree on a price on their last release a “one-off.”

“It was one of those things where we were in the position of everyone asking us what we were going to do,” Yorke told the Hollywood Reporter.” I don’t think it would have the same significance now anyway, if we chose to give something away again. It was a moment in time.”

Yorke and Co. have remained tight-lipped about whether they think the move was a success or not, but the freebie method has been adopted by other artists, notably Nine Inch Nails. The latest group to jump on the freebie bandwagon is Coldplay, aka Radiohead Lite, who announced on Monday that their new single, Violet Hill, would be available for free, and promptly b0rked the interweb* with their selfless gesture. [Reuters]

*The band’s official website crashed.

Via [Gizmodo]

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Sharp is partnering with AMIMON — who I believe was the god of thin crust pizza in ancient Roman mythology — to offer wireless HD streaming to its ultra-thin Televisions. The X-series TVs come in 37-, 42-, and 46-inch screen models and work with an optional transmitter unit. We’re taking a meeting with these folks to […]

Sharp is partnering with AMIMON — who I believe was the god of thin crust pizza in ancient Roman mythology — to offer wireless HD streaming to its ultra-thin TVs. The X-series Televisions come in 37-, 42-, and 46-inch screen models and work with an optional transmitter unit.

We’re taking a meeting with these folks to figure out what exactly this technology will and won’t do. Apparently it sends uncompressed signals wirelessly over an unlicensed channel.

WHDI™ - Wireless High Definition Interface sets a new standard for wireless high-definition video connectivity. It provides a high-quality, uncompressed wireless link which can support delivery of equivalent video data rates of up to 3Gbps (including uncompressed 1080p) in a 40MHz channel in the 5GHz unlicensed band, conforming to FCC regulations. Equivalent video data rates of up to 1.5Gbps (including uncompressed 1080i and 720p) can be delivered on a single 20MHz channel in the 5GHz unlicensed band, conforming to worldwide 5GHz spectrum regulations. Range is beyond 100 feet, through walls, and latency is less than one millisecond.

These technologies have been brewing for years now and for Sharp to pick just one is pretty massive news.

Via [crunchgear]

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In this week’s Giz Explains—if you haven’t noticed, it’s a weekly series that breaks down a sticky piece of tech into something more digestible for people whose bellies aren’t quite made of nerd steel—we’re looking at plasma TVs. Plasma. It just sounds sci-fi.

The basic explanation of how plasma sets work is that they’ve got a cocktail of noble gases (think back to high school chemistry) in tiny cells crammed between two glass panels. The cells are zapped with electricity, which makes them light up. Phosphors coating the cells make the color magic happen. (The gas is turned into a plasma during the process, hence the name.) Since individual pixels can just be turned off (more or less), plasma can inherently produce much better blacks than LCDs,

For instance, the way Pioneer’s ultimate Kuro tech manages to pull out some disgustingly deep blacks is that its cells require less and less charge to fire, so they keep cutting down on the pre-charge that results in glowing grays that you see in lesser plasma sets.

Plasmas have actually come a long way in the past 10 years or so, since they started going mainstream. The old problem of “burn in,” where a picture is seemingly permanently etched on the screen if a static image is left up too long, is mostly mythical now. They’re not absolutely impervious—leaving the Wachowskis’ upcoming hyper-lush Speed Racer on pause for a few weeks might lead to some hideous results. But because the time it takes to reduce the panel’s brightness by half (the half-life) can be 60,000 hours or longer, at least the same life as an LCD’s backlight, it’s now a non-issue when debating LCD vs. plasma.

The so-called “Denver” altitude problem is less of one now than before as well. See, plasmas aren’t too fond of high altitudes, because it affects the gas inside (think baseball players visiting Coors Field, or the need to modify Betty Crocker recipes). Plasmas in higher altitudes can make annoying buzzing sounds. But new sets are able to withstand higher and higher altitudes, and Denver falls within the newest comfort zone of 7,500 feet. Sherpas still might want NEC’s special “high altitude” models that’ll work all the way up to 9,180 feet. Still, as Plasma TV Buying Guide advocates, you might just wanna stop by a Ideal Buy that sits at your same altitude, and see how their TVs are faring.

The one thing plasmas are losing though is bulk, both size and heft. (Unless you count the pictured 103-inch or 150-inch monsters from Panasonic.) Current models run as fat as five inches thick and 100 pounds, making self-installation a real pain in the dick. But sets shipping later this year and next will slim down to around an inch and around 45 pounds—but you will have to pay mightily for the new lightness, and may never be able to afford Pioneer’s anorexic-model-on-coke skinny concept plasma.

Something we missed, or you still wanna know? Send any questions about plasmas (or anything else) to tips@gizmodo.com, with “Giz Explains” in the subject line.

Via [Gizmodo]

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