NerdBeach

Sony releases waterproof portable TV with mini DVR

Personal electronics are great when you are out and about, but too often they met their demise in some of the not so gadget friendly aspects of our environment.  The Sony XDV-W600 LCD TV is built to survive casual harsh conditions, and will even work in three feet of water for up to 30 minutes.  The 4 inch screen will run up to 23 hours on its batteries, and their is even a 2gb mini-DVR built in. 

Unfortunately, right now it is not compatible with North America digital standards, so if you want one in that part of the world you will have to wait until a compatible version is launched – importing one will only serve best as a paper weight until then.

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Panasonic incorporating 1TB DVR in Viera TVs

Panasonic recently released information about the extreme life of their new Viera Plasma TVs, but it looks like they are bringing even more to the line.  The PZR900 line of Panasonic Viera TVs feature a strong list o features, including a whopping 1TB DVR (digital video recorder) built in to the units.  This would give the TVs up to 121 hours of recording time.  The 1920×1080 HD displays can connect to an online service ("TV Net") which offers streaming content as well as YouTube videos.  There is also a card reader to view media, and Viera Link from Panasonic allows for remote monitoring of video content, such as security cameras and local media sources.

All this TV technology goodness comes with a price, and that price starts at $3,800.  Currently the PZR900 line is available in Japan, and it is expected to be elsewhere soon.

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Panasonic VIERA plasma TV could last 42 years under normal use

The argument over which television technology lasts longer, LCD or plasma, has been argued for several years now.  But Panasonic has probably answered the question once and for all with its VIERA plasma sets.

Panasonic has announced that their new plasma 1080p VIERA TVs  can last up to a whopping 100,000 viewing hours before the TV display dims to half brightness.  Not to be looked over, their 720p VEIRA TVs are rated for 60,000 hours brightness half-life.

Let's put that into some real life numbers.  On average American viewers watch 6.5 hours of TV per day (well, at least have the TV on).  At 6.5 hours/day, the 1080p model could last up to 42 years.  The TV could literally be the last TV you need to buy (at least until it becomes obsolete with the next HD standard).

Now, I have seen some old BW tube sets that have worked for many years, but this would even give those sets a run for their useful life. 

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Cryptic Announces Star Trek Online On Track and In Development

The time to go online and become the captain of your own starship is getting closer at hand.  The Star Trek Online game, which has for years been in development limbo, is on track to be ready for players in the near future, at least according to developer Cryptic Studios Inc.  At this  time no exact release date has been announced.

The ideal is that players would start as the captain of their own ship, and as the game progresses the player would interact with new alien races, gaining experience, larger vessels, and a bigger crew.  According to Jack Emmert, Cryptic Chief Creative Officer,

 

You'll venture through space exploring new civilizations and life-forms.   You'll also beam down to planets and have adventures inside your ship. It's a galactic-wide game. There's going to be tons of space to investigate. We have a great system for exploration, which will allow for almost infinite possibilities.

 

Cryptic picked up the rights to Star Trek Online after Perpetual Entertainment had plans to kill it.  The purchase involved no assets other than the name, so it is a new build from the ground up. 

The game will take place a few generations after the last "Trek" film, so characters from the TV shows will probably not be part of the gameplay experience.  

There might be a ship called Enterprise flying around, but it's probably not the same ship anymore. Most of the characters will have either retired or passed on, but you'll definitely be going to all the places you know and love from 'Star Trek.' Expect to see oldies like Vulcan and Bajor but also fan favorites like Andoria and Qo'noS

 

Cryptic has the development of "City of Heroes" and "City of Villains" under its belt, as well as the ongoing "Champions Online", so it looks like Star Trek Online has a really good chance this time around.  We can hope that a large game like this does the franchise justice, and if it does I have no doubt it will be very successful.

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