Surround sound-ready egg chair

Acousticom manufactures audio communication equipment utilized by the US Department of Defense and leading aerospace companies. The company is well-known for its flight helmets, but it is coming to CES 2010 with something almost everyone can enjoy--the Sound Egg.

The egg chair is back, but with a 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound system and an intimate media experience not intended for sharing. The chair can be connected to a television or computer and its unique foam insulation means no more complaining from your significant other. Go ahead, play Call of Duty all you want--he or she won't hear a thing.

The Sound Egg was initially manufactured as a demonstration tool for trade shows. Although this is still a marketed use, Acousticom is making it available as a consumer electronics item. The US$1,450 seat is not for everyone, but audiophiles might call it an "investment."

Via CNET.com

Induction-based Wii remote charging kit

Nintendo has possibly the least elegant implementation for its Wii remote as far as battery power is concerned. While users can recharge their PS3 and Xbox 360 controllers easily via USB, they generally have to rely on third-party chargers for the Wii, which may be incompatible with silicon sleeves and the latest Wii MotionPlus attachments. Nonetheless, Energizer is addressing these issues with its Wii Energizer 4x charging station. This mousepad-like gadget utilizes induction technology that enables contact-free battery recharging for up to four remotes in any configuration.

Game portal Kotaku has given the US$49.99 Wii Energizer 4x charging station a go and has published a review here. There's no indication of Asia availability and pricing for this product, unfortunately.

Via Kotaku

US Air Force enlists 2,200 PS3 for their Cell processors

Engineers outside of the game industry continue to find uses for the powerful Cell processors housed within Sony's PlayStation 3. Last week, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Cyber Crimes Center said that it had begun using networked PS3s to crack encrypted caches of child pornography. The console has also been used as part of the Folding@home disease research project.

This week, it's the US Air Force that has begun to expand its current network of PS3s used for supercomputing research. As reported by Information Week, the Air Force plans to purchase 2,200 PS3s to add to its current network of 336 systems, which is housed at the Air Force Research Laboratory's information directorate in Rome, New York.
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Japan unveils remote which runs without battery

Don't you hate it when your TV remote runs out of juice? Or when your clicker gets totaled by a battery leak? NEC and Soundpower Corporations' new battery-less remote control may be the solution. This technology is based on three key components:

Vibration power generation which harnesses energy created by clicking a remote button.

A microprocessor which transmits and receives data in varying bandwidths.

A power supply controller that drives the electronics with minimal electricity.

It will probably take some time for this technology to mature, but both companies are planning to promote its adoption in the consumer electronics market as early as 2011. That said, do we have to click such remotes furiously just to get them running fresh out-of-the-box?

Via Tech On

Filed under:  Future Tech, Home AV
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3D-ready PS3 scheduled for 2011

Sony has a strategy for upping the quality of its content and providing an incentive for gamers to upgrade their home entertainment systems next year, and it involves the PS3 going 3D.

A presentation to investors yesterday underlined that the PlayStation 3 will be a fully 3D-capable game console by the end of 2010, and that a firmware update would share this upgrade across all existing PS3s. A few demos of PS3 3D gaming have been shown previously, but the news of an across-the-board firmware update is new. Of course, a gamer would still need a 3D-capable Bravia HDTV and glasses, the latter of which haven't been announced yet.

We're curious how the quality will be--Nvidia's 3D game technology, now being embedded into laptops, looks great, but requires a 120Hz monitor for fluid motion. But it's a smart idea, if manufacturers want anyone to adopt 3D tech, to include it as a Trojan horse inside laptops and game consoles. And we hope it works on HDTVs other than specific Bravias. It doesn't sound like the PS3 will double as a 3D Blu-ray player, but we certainly hope that's the case.
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