During CES 2010 Tom Merrit and Rafe Needleman of CNET sat down with Karlheinz Brandenburg, co-inventor of MP3. Brandenburg is a professor at the Institute for Media Technology at Technical University of Ilmenau and also serves as director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Ilmenau.

MP3 is short for MPEG- 1 Layer 3 and is enjoyed by millions of people daily.  Audiophiles often discredit MP3 for compressing and removing audio data found in the original recording.

Interview Discussion:  (video is roughly 17 min.)

  • Origins of MP3 (what was it trying to solve, how was it named, file extension?)
  • Reasons for success of MP3
  • Problems with MP3 (pre echo issue with percussive material)
  • MP3 vs. AAC (”AAC is what MP3 should have been from the beginning”)
  • How MP3 works (Psychoacoustics, masking, quantization noise)
  • Audiophiles and MP3s
  • Best encoding bitrate
  • Blind testing
  • Future of MP3… MP3 Surround, MP3 metadata databases

[via Audio Design Line, via CNET]

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Vizio Internet-Enabled TVs Up for Pre-Order

by Eric on February 8, 2010

If you caught the Super Bowl last night, then you saw Vizio’s wild commercial featuring Beyonce their 240Hz Internet Apps LCD HDTVs.  Amazon has them up for pre-order at reasonable prices.  Check them out here.

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MacGruber

MacGyver creator, Lee Zlotoff, wants to put the hiatus on the new MacGruber movie, which is due out April 23.  Zlotloff’s lawyers think that the MacGruber movie infringes his copyright to the MacGyver series, even in light of the obvious fact that MacGruber is a parody. [click to continue…]

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SideWinder X4 Keyboard From Microsoft

by Joe on February 3, 2010

Microsoft has debuted the X4 Keyboard.  Specially designed for gamers, the Sidewinder X4 has anti-ghosting technology developed by the Applied Sciences Group.  Gamers can press up to 26 keys at one time thanks to independent key scanning by the keyboard hardware.   The SideWinder X4 also features macro recording, mode and profile switching, and adjustable backlighting.

The SideWinder X4 Keyboard will be available in March and can be pre-ordered from Amazon now for $59.99. [click to continue…]

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Consumer level 3D televisions and Blu-ray 3D made big waves at CES 2010 back in January and now less than a month later Panasonic has announced that Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory has recently equipped the Advanced Authoring Center with the latest 3D technologies.

The newly upgraded facilities is capable of making 3D Blu-ray movies available this Spring.  Read more in the press release after the break. [click to continue…]

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Otterbox iPhone Commuter TL Case Review

by Eric on February 3, 2010

Otterbox Commuter

The Otterbox Commuter TL is a case for the iPhone 3G or 3Gs.  The Commuter TL comes in a variety of colors, including the black and pink versions shown in this review. [click to continue…]

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Previous Generation iPod Deals at Amazon

by Joe on February 3, 2010

Amazon is selling off previous generation Apple iPod Touch and iPod Nano music players.  The deals expire Feb. 18, 2010 or until they’re gone.

16GB iPod Touch (2nd generation) – $224.99

23GB iPod Touch (2nd generation) – $239.99

16GB iPod Nano (4th generation) – $139.99

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JVC Everio GZ-HM340

by Eric on February 2, 2010

JVC Everio GZ-HM340

The JVC Everio GZ-HM340 is a HD video camera with 16GB of internal flash memory and an SDHC card slot for memory expansion.

The GZ-HM340 should be available in February 2010 at an initial retail price of $499.95.  Check availability on Amazon.com.

JVC Everio GZ-HM340 Key Features

  • 16GB Internal Flash Memory and SD/SDHC card slot
  • 1/5.8″ 1.37 Megapixel CMOS Sensor
  • 20x Optical Zoom (KONICA MINOLTA HD LENS
  • Advanced Image Stabilizer
  • Time-Lapse REC & Auto REC
  • One Touch Upload to YouTube�* (HD Compatible)
  • Seamless Recording over two media
  • Face Detection & Face Flow Thumbnail
  • Laser Touch Operation
  • 2-Way Grip Belt
  • Everio MediaBrowser

More details in the press release below. [click to continue…]

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Nexus One Coming to AT&T and Sprint 3G

by Eric on February 1, 2010

Google Nexus One

Based on recent FCC filings and other tidbits, it looks like the Google Nexus One may soon be available for use on AT&T and Sprint’s 3G networks.  As it stands now, the Nexus One is only compatible with T-Mobile 3G in the US, and is relegated to the Edge network for AT&T customers and is completely incompatible with Sprint’s service. [click to continue…]

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Didn’t catch the iPad keynote?  Here’s a hilarious condensed version that sums up what Steve Jobs and the other Apple cronies think about the new gadget, all pulled from the iPad keynote.

Isn’t it great?

[via YouTube]

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