Crave giveaway: Viewsonic 7e Android tablet

Post a comment--and only one--for a chance to win this Viewsonic 7e Android tablet (click to enlarge).

(Credit: Viewsonic)

Not buying into all the hype of the Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet but still interested in a tablet? Well, we're giving away an alternative to those two 7-inch models, the Viewsonic 7e, which actually has several features that the Kindle and Nook are missing--and this one comes in white.

Here are some of the key specs of the Viewsonic 7e:

• Screen: 800x600-pixel, 7-inch screen (4:3 aspect ratio)
• Processor: 1GHz single core (Samsung Cortex)
• RAM: 512MB
• Internal memory: 4GB
• Memory expansion slot: supports up to 32GB microSD cards
• OS: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• Built-in microphone
• Dual cameras: Rear: 3 MP autofocus/Front: 0.3 MP
• Video output: Micro-HDMI out
• Kindle Appstore for Android included for app downloads (you can download Kindle for Android but not Nook for Android)

The Viewsonic 7e normally costs $170, but you have a chance to get it for free.

So how do you try to win this week's prize? Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test.

• Register as a CNET user. Go to the top of this page and hit the "Join CNET" link to start the registration process. If you're already registered, there's no need to register again.
• Leave a comment below. You can leave whatever comment you want. If it's funny or insightful, it won't help you win, but we're trying to have fun here, so anything entertaining is appreciated.
• Leave only one comment. You may enter for this specific giveaway only once. If you enter more than one comment, you will be automatically disqualified.
• The winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) Viewsonic 7e tablet with a retail value of $170.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified via e-mail. The winner must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Monday, November 28, at 12 p.m. ET.

And here's the disclaimer that our legal department said we had to include (sorry for the caps, but rules are rules) :

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 UNITED STATES OR D.C., 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Sweepstakes ends at 12 p.m. ET on November 28, 2011. See official rules for details.

Good luck.

How 3D TV is going to change the look of 2D shows

SAN FRANCISCO--Despite the relative dearth of 3D television programming, sales of 3D TVs are on the rise. But for those who make that programming, the biggest challenge of all may be simultaneously producing 2D versions of the same shows.

In order to film in 3D, two normal cameras are placed side-by-side.

On a recent Tuesday, I had the chance to visit the Treasure Island set of "I (Almost) Got Away with It," an Investigation Discovery (ID) channel program about fugitives' near escapes from the law that's made by Indigo Films.

Although most people who watch the show do so in normal 2D, Indigo has recently been shooting a 3D version of it at the same time for 3Net, the 3D programming joint venture owned by Discovery, Imax, and Sony. 3Net is aiming to be among the earliest to take advantage of growing sales of 3D TVs.

In a recent study, NPD reported 6.6 million sales of the new TVs in the third quarter, up 27 percent from the previous quarter. But NPD also said that there is a "lack of 3D content and services" available to those buyers.

And that's where production companies like Indigo Films, which have been creating the content that will fill 3Net's schedule, come into play. According to David Frank, Indigo Films' president and executive producer, ID asked Indigo to start making 3D episodes of "I (Almost) Got Away with It," but didn't want that new production to impact the filming of the 2D version. So Frank's mandate became producing the two in tandem.

You might think that means filming the 3D version and then going back and doing it again in 2D. Or vice versa. But Frank said that's not the case at all. Rather, his team had to figure out how to shoot both versions at the same time.

In truth, Frank told me as we watched the filming of an episode about Mexican authorities' capture of some drug suspects, shooting the 2D and 3D versions isn't really the hard part. That's because the 3D content is shot in stereo using two normal cameras placed alongside each other. In order to create the 3D version, the film from both cameras is used. For the 2D, only one is used.

But there are a series of informal rules that govern 3D content, Frank explained, such as how long a single shot can go. Go too long and audience members may start to feel ill. So while the cameras may be the same, the need to adhere to these guidelines are likely to start affecting the shots used even in the 2D versions of shows. And if that's true, those watching the legacy versions of shows may begin to see shorter and shorter scenes as directors attempt to avoid giving 3D viewers headaches or nausea.

Another difference 2D viewers may see is more wide or medium shots, which are better for 3D programming. While a traditional shot may include a close-up of something like a pen, the 3D version doesn't need to do that. Rather, a wider angle of the pen may do the trick, Frank said.

At the same time, the ideal pacing of 3D shows is likely to be different than that of 2D versions, with 2D shows going at a faster pace and 3D scenes unfolding more slowly in order to allow the magnitude of the wider shots to impact the audience, Frank explained.

One way to implement that is to use different music scores. As a result, those watching the same show in 2D and 3D will likely see all the same footage, and the same script will be used, but the different versions will feature music scores set to the different speeds of the two versions.

"For 2D, the regular version, it's fast paced editing," said Frank. "It will have fast music, maybe with rock and roll, or drums...With 3D, you'll have a wide shot, with the trees or the street popping, and you hold on the shots. So the editing is slower, and the pacing is slower. And the music is a slower beat."

Next iPad to be thicker, and next iPhone all metal?

A side view of the iPad 2

 

 

 

 

 

Would Apple eschew its thinner-is-better ethos in the name of new hardware features? That's what might happen with the next iPad, if a report in iLounge is to be believed. 

Citing "our most reliable source," the Apple news and reviews site said today that the third-generation iPad could be thicker than the existing model, but not by much. That's to incorporate the recently rumored dual-light bar backlighting system that's needed to brighten up a higher-resolution display. Accessory makers may be able to breathe a sigh of relief though, with iLounge claiming it will be a 0.7mm difference. 

Another noteworthy claim in the report is that there could be some very serious changes coming to the next iPhone, which the site says is set to arrive next summer. Once again, iLounge resurrects the notion that Apple is making the screen bigger, and moving to a 4-inch display. The move was widely expected with any serious redesign in the run up to the unveiling of the iPhone 4S last month, given the popularity of the size among rival device makers. 

Besides the screen, iLounge's source offers that Apple is making a move to a metal body for the phone. That too was another popular rumor mill item in the run up to the iPhone 4S. Apple has used metal in the casing of all its iPhones thus far, going from using it around the edge of the screen as a bezel, to an external antenna band that makes up the side of the iPhone 4 and 4S. But during the company's unveiling of the 4S last month, Apple made a point to note that it was still using glass. 

Last but not least, iLounge throws in that we can expect an overhaul of Apple's MacBook Pro line next year. The site is scant on offering up any features, except to say that we should "think thinner." Rumors have circulated for months now that Apple's Pro notebook line is jumping generations in 2012. The last big shift in that line was in 2008, in the move to unibody construction.

Originally posted at Apple Talk

Twitter rolls out real-time activity, username streams

When Twitter tweaks itself, most users don't see much. 

Twitter's new real-time activity stream. 

 

That's because when the social-networking and microblogging service tests or rolls out new features, it often does so incrementally and with a limited number of users. 

That seems to be the case with Twitter's new activity and username streams that the company announced back on August 10 and that TechCrunch started to see cropping up over the past day or so. 

So while Sean Parker, the digital impresario behind Facebook, Spotify, Plaxo, and Causes, was one of the lucky Twitterati (@sparker) to see the latest changes today, user Dan Rinzel (@dan2bit), was not, although he did see the activity streams for a few minutes this morning. "Bad performance experiment?" he tweeted. 

 

Both new features, according to Twitter, are designed to boost content discovery on the site. Clicking on the new @Username tab (your username), lets you to see which of your tweets have been favorited, retweeted, or aimed at you and your followers. The new username feature will replace the @Mentions tab and the Retweet tabs. 

Clicking on the new activity tab, meanwhile, reveals the latest favorites, retweets, and follows from the folks you follow at Twitter. 

Twitter's new changes resemble Facebook's newsfeed where users can see a near real-time flow of updates, posts, and the like from their friends and followers. And by having the latest real-time streams revealed all in one place, in a more visual presentation, it makes the social sharing and discovery process more fluid too.

YouTube, Disney cut video deal, report says

Google and Disney are partnering on an effort to bring more attention to their respective brands.

Disney and Google's YouTube are expected to announce a partnership tomorrow in which the two will spend $10 million to $15 million on original series, according to a report in The New York Times. Disney will produce the shorts, which will be distributed on a co-branded channel on Disney.com and YouTube, the newspaper reported. It will also reportedly feature amateur video uploaded to YouTube.

YouTube representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

News of the partnership comes as competition heats up for consumers' entertainment dollars. Google itself recently announced a $100 million investment to develop original content for dozens of new YouTube channels.

But the Web giant isn't the only looking for more exposure from the deal; Disney is tapping a proven Internet video brand to attract more children searching for video on line.

"It's imperative to go where our audience is," James A. Pitaro, co-president of Disney Interactive, told the newspaper. The goal is to "bring Disney's legacy of storytelling to a new generation of families and Disney enthusiasts on the platforms they prefer."

This apparently is just one step in Disney's plan to increase its exposure on the Internet. The company recently renewed a licensing agreement with Netflix and inked a new deal with Amazon that will give both a crack at much of the same content.

Why my new digital watch is an iPod Nano?

The Nano, with new watch face and Hex Vision watchband.

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK, I'm ready for the backlash. I'm wearing an iPod Nano on my wrist as a watch. I already own an iPhone. And an iPad. What's wrong with me? 

Would you believe me if I said that I'd have done the same thing if there was any watch that could do what this one does? Would you believe me if I said I didn't do this for the iPod? 

Let me explain. 

I've always been a fan of digital watches and funky watch design, especially tech watches (I even defended them on TV). I'm a watch geek. I wore a retro Casio watch. I just got a cool Diesel one. A long time ago, I tried the Fossil Palm-powered watch, the Fossil Wrist PDA. I still have it in my desk drawer. Microsoft Spot watch? Check. 

The iPod Nano-as-watch is a proud successor of that line, a gadget that I believe will stand the test of time for its novelty. Apple may not make a true iWatch, and the iPod's long-term destiny may not inevitably be on my wrist, but for now it's the most innovative use of iPod technology since, well, the first iPod. 

A geek watch museum: iPod Nano watch (left) next to a Fossil Palm watch. Notice the legacy.

I'm late to the party on the iPod Nano watch, I'll admit it. When the Nano was first released, I thought it was ridiculous. Stupid, even. It was a Super Shuffle, robbed of its video playback and recording features. Then I saw the watchbands. What started as a clever entrepreneurial idea turned into a movement that resulted in Nano watchbands in Apple Stores and the latest update of the Nano showing off, first and foremost, its expanded collection of 18 digital watch faces. 

The recently dropped price did it for me, along with the arrival in the mail of a sample Nano watchband made by Hex. I was going to pull the trigger. Stopping by an Apple Store, I realized that my wife--normally an extreme tech skeptic--actually thought the Nano was cool. She thought the idea of a Nano watch was even cooler. How could this possibly be? I indulged my watch obsession.

My graphite iPod Nano slots into the gunmetal-steel Hex Vision band like a glove, clipping in solidly and locking into place. I walked around with the watch and stopped by fellow editors, went to a coffee shop, had lunch with friends. Most never knew I was wearing a Nano until I expressly showed it to them. It's not ugly--it's square, but it's pretty damn cool. 

If any other watch manufacturer had a digital watch that had 18 different faces and an easy way to swap bands, I'd have considered buying that watch. Having the iPod, 8 to 16GB of storage, and an FM radio is gravy. Yes, there are serious drawbacks I haven't mentioned. The Nano charges via a 30-pin port that's exposed on the side, a long silly open port. The headphone jack's adjacent to it. That's a lot of open ports on a wearable device, and the Nano is absolutely not waterproof, not even water resistant. An accidental hand-wash or a sudden downpour could ruin me. The good news is, in cold weather, that 30-pin port is on the inside, under my shirt cuff, where it's generally protected. Still, I'm cautious.

Yes, you need to attach headphones physically.

  

The Nano has no Bluetooth, so, yeah, I'm running a headphone wire to my watch. That's not terrible, though. On a subway it snags far less than a wire running to my bag or pocket, and it's great to change music tracks on my wrist rather than hold my phone. The Nano's clipped on solidly, and can't be removed without removing the whole watch. At a collected total of $220, my watch still costs far less than most high-end designer watches ($149 for the Nano, $69 for the Hex Vision band). 

The Nano also needs charging, something a regular watch doesn't need. So far, my Nano lasts a good several days before needing a charge-up, but it's fast to charge--and it encourages me to remove the watch at night, thus not accidentally groggily wake up and hop in the shower with it. 

Having some form of smart watch function--e-mail, iTunes, podcast downloading--would be nice, but it would only compromise the battery life further. It's kind of nice, as a colleague reminded me, to have a device that's not online. The pedometer feature, included, remains a temptation for when I eventually drag myself to a gym. 

I'll still wear my other watches, but I love this new addition. Silly? Of course. Cool? Absolutely. In this day and age, watches are a novelty anyway. At some point, tech might finally reach a state of miniaturization where even phones could be practically wearable on a wrist. Even if that day never happens, I still love my Apple watch. Tell me otherwise, and I won't care. Just don't throw me in a swimming pool. Hopefully, water-resistant Nanos are next.

Would you ever wear a watch like this, or are you already?

Apple gives most of its top execs $60M bonuses

It's bonus season at Apple.

A flurry of new filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show Apple's top executives getting bonuses with big payouts that hinge on them staying with the company through the end of 2016.

The company on Wednesday doled out 150,000 shares each to most of its senior vice presidents, short of recently-minted SVP Eddy Cue, who received a slightly smaller 100,000-share bonus, and design guru Jonathan Ive, who is an SVP, but does not fall under the SEC's section for directors, officers, and principal stockholders. That works out to just over a $60 million payday to those who got the 150,000 shares, with Cue's cut coming out to a little more than $40 million, all based off today's closing price.

Those who got the 150,000 shares will reach 50 percent vesting come June 21, 2013, with the other 50 percent fully vesting on March 21, 2016. The filings show that 25,000 of Cue's shares vest on September 21, 2014, with the rest vesting two years later. With all of these, the bonus is contingent on the executives continuing to work at the company.

"Our executive team is incredibly talented and they are all dedicated to Apple's continued success," said Apple spokesman Steve Dowling in a statement. "These stock grants are meant to reward them down the road for their hard work in helping to keep Apple the most innovative company in the world."

Though Cue's bonus is less than the others, it's his second major bonus in the past few months. Cue was awarded 100,000 restricted stock units when he was promoted to SVP status at the beginning of September to oversee Apple's iTunes Store, iCloud, iAd, and iBookstore. Cue, who is a 22-year Apple veteran, helped create the company's first online store in 1998, and Apple's iTunes Music Store in 2003--the latter being the business that would become the foundation for the App Store and iBookstore, places where Apple sells other digital goods.

Here's a full breakdown of the bonuses by executive:
Bruce Sewell -- 150,000 shares, 50 percent vest on June 21, 2013, 100 percent on March 21, 2016
Jeffrey Williams -- 150,000 shares, 50 percent on June 21, 2013, 100 percent on March 21, 2016
Philip Schiller -- 150,000 shares, 50 percent on June 21, 2013, 100 percent on March 21, 2016
Peter Oppenheimer --150,000 shares, 50 percent on June 21, 2013, 100 percent on March 21, 2016
Robert Mansfield -- 150,000 shares, 50 percent on June 21, 2013, 100 percent on March 21, 2016
Scott Forstall -- 150,000 shares, 50 percent on June 21, 2013, 100 percent on March 21, 2016
Eddy Cue -- 100,000 shares, 25 percent vest September 21, 2014, 100 percent September 21, 2016.

Updated at 3:26 p.m. PT to include comment from Apple.