GeekBeat.TV - The TV Knows Who You Are! GB165

Whew! I’ve been moving stuff into the new Livid Lobster studios, painting and organizing.
My body says I’m tired, please go to bed, but *I* say not too tired for some awesome
tech news! I’m Cali Lewis. Welcome to GeekBeat.TV!
JackThreads
Everyone knows just how crazy and brilliant Richard Branson is. He never seems to do anything
small. These days, he’s working on a couple major projects. Virgin has conquered air travel
up to 40,000 feet. Soon it’ll be conquering BOTH space and the oceans. The BBC is the
first to get a sneak peak at Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, a vehicle that’ll transport
not only scientists, but also YOU to space. As any Virgin vehicle, the technology inside
is impressive. It’s bigger than SpaceShipOne - about twice the size, and will hold six
people in addition to the two pilots. The vehicle is made out of carbon composite, and
has a hybrid rocket motor. Instead of the normal space ships we’re used to that start
on the ground and zoom upwards into space, the SpaceShipTwo starts out like a normal
plane. It takes off from the runway, but once it’s at 50,000 feet, the spaceship then
detaches and launches into space. This way, it’s safer and requires less weight than
trying to launch FROM the ground.
As Trace points out, there are more windows on Virgin Galactic than on any other space
vehicle we’ve seen, so you can rest assured, you’ll get a good view for your $200,000
price tag. If you have $20,000 now, you can go ahead and reserve a spot. They’re also
working on Virign Oceanic to dive deep down to the bottom of the ocean. Oceans I should
say. For now, it seems to be primarily for scientific research, but I don’t think Richard
can keep the public out of his projects, so I expect to hear in the not too distant future
that they’re making it possible to send you to the bottom of the ocean as well.
Toshiba is working hard to make 2D to 3D conversion happen smoothly and reliably. They just announced
a new line of HDTVs. The 55ZL1 has a seven core CEVO CPU that supposedly can do 2D to
3D conversion on the fly. It also has a face recognition feature. Let’s say you have
four people in your family. Each of you can save your personal preferences. Favorite channels,
recorded videos. When you sit down in front of the TV, it’ll do it’s magic and pull
up YOUR settings. Each of you can have your own. I assume whoever sits down first will
be the one “in control”, but that remains to be seen. It’ll be available later this
year in 42, 46 and 55 inch options.
Doing what we do around here at Livid Lobster - lots and lots of video, we’re constantly
looking at steadicams. They’re very cool (in my opinion), very useful, and a good one
is super expensive. On the flip side of video, almost all of you are probably using your
phones from time to time to record video that you can then share on Facebook or YouTube.
Having cameras in our phones is great and makes video accessible, but sometimes that
shakiness is just terrible! Steadycam Pro is an iPhone 4 application that aims to fix
that issue. Instead of carrying around a physical steadicam, they’re fixing it WHILE you shoot.
It looks like it works well, but I haven’t tried it myself - don’t have that fancy
iPhone 4! There is a free version that gives you 15 second watermarked videos. The paid
version is $3. Regardless, geekbeat.tv/steadycampro (with a y) will get you right to the download
page.
Are you like me and don’t particularly love the whole shopping process? I don’t blame
you! That’s why Jack Threads exists. It’s a members only online shopping club that does
the dirty work for you and saves you a boatload of cash! JackThreads gives you the hottest
brands at up to 80% off what you could get it for in the store. It’s private and members
only, but I’ve got your back - go to jackthreads.com/geekbeat and get right in. It’s free!
A company called Robopec combined two awesome things. Robots and media center PCs. REETI
is an adorable little thing that talks to you, makes faces and most importantly serves
up and plays your media files.
Now I can have a little company while watching the entertainment of my choice! Though, I
might wind up only paying attention to cute little Reeti. They are planning on selling
this, though no word on when or how much he’ll be.
We have more pictures and video from the new studio coming soon. Best way to catch it all
is on our newsletter - geekbeat.tv/signup. Thanks to those of you who tell your friends
to subscribe to GeekBeat.TV. I appreciate ya! I’m Cali Lewis. Bye!