Two related projects from Mozilla and Google, each with the similar goal of bringing hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the Web, appear to be joining forces after a change in Google tactics.
The two projects emerged at nearly the same time in 2009: the O3D browser plug-in from Google and the proposed WebGL standard from Mozilla and the Khronos Group, which standardizes the OpenGL graphics interface on which WebGL is based. O3D is a higher-level technology, whereas WebGL is more concerned with the nuts and bolts of 3D graphics.
Earlier this week I had the very awesome opportunity at attend the first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in Seattle. This is usually Daniel Terdiman's beat, but knowing that I'm a huge airline geek, CNET let me take a break from cell phones to cover the first flight. Daniel wrapped up the event with blogs and great photos of the take-off and landing--I helped by shooting the take-off video--but I also had the opportunity to visit the Dreamliner Gallery.
There are two types of digital camera in this world: the one you want and the one you end up buying. Either way, that camera is typically fully focused on capturing pictures and/or video. In 2009 we saw a third category emerge: The camera that defies design conventions, does more than just shoot pictures, or has a gimmick or a one-of-a-kind feature. How about a camera that instantly prints your snapshots? What about one that will project your images and video onto a nearby wall? Or one that browses the Web?
It used to be an expensive and time-consuming task to custom-build a dedicated home theater PC (HTPC). But today, mod guru Anthony Verducci shows that the process is a lot easier—and cheaper. Here's how to build a tiny dedicated HTPC with Blu-Ray drive, 2 GB RAM, 128 GB hard drive and heatsink for less than the price of most off-the-shelf Blu-Ray players.
The netbook formula is simple: Take one ordinary notebook, strip out some of its processing power, shrink its size by a little and reduce the price tag by a lot. And while early models lacked the ability to handle anything much more demanding than a Web page or a text document, new netbooks cram performance once reserved for full-size laptops into 2-pound packages costing around $250 to $500. These machines aren’t designed to serve as your primary PC, but they are ideal as low-cost, low-mass secondary systems for carrying on a plane or around the house.
PICO PROJECTORS The first pico projector hit the market late last year: a pocketable, rechargeable, iPod-size box that could project a six-foot image onto a wall, a sheet or an airplane ceiling (my favorite). This year, several rivals appeared — and now companies have started building projectors into other gadgets.
Nikon, for example, released the first camera with a built-in projector, a shirt-pocket model called the Coolpix 1000pj. No more connecting cameras to TVs or downloading to computers; you just say “Hey guys, come ’ere!” and push a button for a communal slide show. It’s novel, amazing and surprisingly useful.
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