Gadgets can radically alter our lives — they can save us time and money and improve our health. And then there’s the crapgadget, a breed of technology seemingly designed for little more than draining our already microscopic bank accounts. But hey, it’s your money, and if you want to spend it on, say, an inflatable outdoor movie theater, a speaker shaped like a tiny bird, or a case for your iPhone with a terrifying fake beetle attached, that’s your call. If you need us, however, we’ll be recovering from our solo table tennis game by fanning ourselves off with our smartphone. Check out the latest craptastic roundup below, and be sure to vote for your (least) favorite.
Continue reading Crapgadget: ‘money to burn’ edition
Crapgadget: ‘money to burn’ edition originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We generally prefer to do our movie viewing in our own home theaters, but when we succumb to the temptation of public moviehouses we often choose digital projection hoping for a flawless viewing experience. Unfortunately, this report by The Boston Globe indicates that may not be the case. It is alleged by unnamed theater employees that theaters are leaving the 3D lens adapters on their Sony 4K digital projectors even when showing 2D. Just like viewing 3D, this cuts the light output and it’s worse for 2D films not made with that in mind, but theaters do it because removing the lenses is overly complex and many moviegoers don’t seem to notice or complain. The Globe suggests checking the digital projector yourself — if you see two beams of light from on high at a 2D flick then something is rotten in Denmark. Check the article at the source link for a rundown of many of the chains using these types of projectors and why that’s the case (money), but after this and Liemax premium VOD is starting to sound better and better.
Movie theaters could screw up your 2D movies by leaving the digital projector set up for 3D originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 May 2011 01:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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To achieve balance in all things, a new startup called Prima Cinema apparently figures while the proletariat are rejoicing over Netflix all you can eat $7.99 streaming and Redbox $1 rentals, there’s room at the high end and will offer a $20,000 digital delivery system to bring home first-run movies as soon as they come to theaters in theaters for $500 a pop. Beyond simply achieving the goal of making proposed $20-30 movie VODs on cable seem downright reasonable, The Wall Street Journal reports the company figures it can work this system into as many as 250,000 homes in the next five years. The idea is to deliver these flicks beyond the lucky few who currently receive copies for private screening to people whose home theaters make our Engadget HD Flickr group look low-rent, although theater industry insiders have already pointed out the increased risk of piracy. We’re not sure exactly what hardware that initial $20k buys, but at those prices we’ll probably still be looking at TS and cam rips for most bootlegged flicks after this service launches next year.
Prima Cinema plans to offer $500 first-run movie downloads, with a mere $20k setup fee originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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