Phiips has just announced that on end of February 2009, they will be introducing the world's first 21:9 aspect ratio TV, which will go on sale in Europe in Spring 2009. The 56" LCD TV features 3 sided ambilight, and an aspect ratio identical to a cinema screen. Below is the official press release from Philips. I will update this post as more info becomes available.

Philips premieres the ultimate home cinematic viewing experience with the Cinema 21:9 LCD TV

Philips breaks new ground in the realm of home entertainment with the world's first cinema-proportioned LCD television. Cinema 21:9 lets you enjoy movies as you would in the cinema and just as the director intended. Cinema 21:9 boasts a 56" screen that is shaped in the 21:9 aspect ratio, so movies in the 2.39:1 format completely fill the screen - exactly as you experience at the cinema. Complimentary three-sided Ambilight Spectra combines with the on-screen action to completely immerse you in the movie and deliver the ultimate home cinematic viewing experience.

Traditional LCD televisions compromise on this experience by distorting the picture to fill the screen - losing the full scope of the original shot - or by displaying the picture in letterbox format with black bars at the top and bottom. Cinema 21:9 solves these issues to give the viewer an uncompromised and absorbing cinematic viewing experience, never before available in the home.

Using highly advanced formatting technology, regular 16:9 content from sources such as TV broadcasts and games consoles is also adapted to fill the 21:9 screen.

Des Power, Senior Vice President Marketing Television, Philips Consumer Lifestyle, commented: "With our unique Cinema 21:9 we have developed a television which takes you as close to the experience that you enjoy at the cinema as you can get without buying a ticket. We believe that to really become absorbed in watching a film at home consumers are looking for a real cinematic viewing experience, so we have launched the world's first cinema-proportioned TV screen perfectly complemented by our immersive Ambilight technology."

He added, "Philips new Cinema 21:9 takes enjoying movies at home to an entirely new level, the advantages over a traditional 16:9 ratio screen in side by side comparisons are truly striking."

The Cinema 21:9 LCD TV will be available in spring 2009. More detailed product specifications will follow at the end of February 2009.

Creative Labs, a company that is always on the edge of technology when it comes to multimedia products, has launched a teaser about Zii, claiming that Stemcell computing (whatever it might mean) is going to change everything as we know it (check image below). Whatever it is, you might want to register for further news by going on www.zii.com or www.creative.com. Let's hope it is really some sort of revolutionary new technology, not just a marketing ploy to launch a new gaming console (does it remind you of any console in particular?).

After having given the issue it's fair share of thinking, and trying to dig up what all this could be about, I leave the console option open, however I am also considering the that the Zii could well be an add-on card based on the Cell processor - a branch (stem) of the Cell processor - therefore - Stemcell. The IBM PowerXCell 8i processor (or a similar CPU, in single or multi-unit configuration) will allow super-computing power to the normal desktop PC (and who knows... maybe even a notebook). This would work somewhat like the nVIDIA Tesla add-on cards/systems. The system could allow for new unexplored territory for the standard computing, typically - enhanced decoding for multi video streams in HD for HD TV reception (picture in picture split screen... etc. - will marry well with that hi-def TV you just got for Christmas). It would probably also allow high quality video stream upscaling (for DVD and Youtube/internet videos) for the PC. It could also boost gaming performace, both where it comes to graphics and also in sound. Probably there would be different models, targeted at different audiences/market segments, like it has always been with many other Creative products. 

It could appear as different devices/add-ons, typically:

• A PCI-e add-on card for desktop PCs
• A USB add-on for notebooks/PCs
• A totally dedicated HTPC
• A gaming console???

In the meantime, we welcome your comments on what you think this new product is going to be.

Just hot off the press - the British Royal Navy is now operating their nuclear weaponry control system with Windows - immediately bringing to mind pictures like the one below:

For a full resolution image, go to the Photos section and download file from there.

Jokes apart... The British Royal Navy is ustilising Windows XP and 2000 in the submarine systems. The project is codenamed SMCS-NG (Submarine Command System Next Generation), and takes control over sensor and weapon control applications. The major reason for this move was that software was available off-the-shelf and at a very affordable price, not to mention that the implementation of the system proved to be very quick. Another advantage is that hardware required to run these operating systems is also cheap and widely available, although we can rest assured that they used extremely rugged and resistant hardware for the job.

For those of you who have security in mind - the UK parliament has stated that the use of Windows is low risk and the systems run in an isolated mode - thus there is practically no chance of an outside cyber-attack starting the end of the world .

South Korea - a group of scientists has created a transparent non-volatile memory chip (like the ones used in flash drives), a breakthrough that can open the way for see-through computers and other devices. The technology, named TRRAM (Transparent Resistive Random Access Memory) could take the place of the metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS), widely in use today. CMOS chips are widely used in USB memory devices, and employed in the manufacture of microprocessors, microcontrollers and various types of digital logic circuits. The technology used to build TRRAM is very simple. The circuit is designed using a transparent oxide film with electrodes on glass or plastic circuit boards. The new transparent memory chip has an operational life expectancy that exceeds 10 years.

The good news doesn't stop here. The full-scale commercial production of the TRRAM chips and other similar technologies could take off in less than 3-4 years, opening a new dimension of the development of electronic appliances and machinery. Below are some transparent gadget designs... the future looks bright transparent .

A team of researchers at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Japan have come out with a technology that is allowing them to reconstruct images from inside a person's mind and display them on a computer monitor. They are indicating that in the non-so-distant future, they will be able to visualise people's dreams while they sleep. The idea behind this technology is nothing complex, and several similar experiments have been tried out in the past utilizing different machinery and sensors, but this is absolutely the first breakthrough of the sort, and an extremly promising one.

The technology utilized was the changes in the cerebral blood flow monitored by a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) Machine. The subjects were given tablets containing various images and texts (shown above and below) in tha 10 x 10 pixel matrix. 400 ot these tablents were shown to the subjects for a period of 12 seconds each, and whilst the fMRI monitored changes in brain activity, and a computer elaborated the data with each of the different designs presented. Then when the subjects were demonstrated the tablets with the words N-E-U-R-O-N, the computer was able to reconstruct the words based solely on the subjects' brain activity.

Even though at present the technology is able to reproduce only monochromatic images, Dr. Kang Cheng, a researcher from the RIKEN Brain Science Instititue, indicated that by improving measurement activity, it will be possible to reproduce images in colour. He also stated that in 10 years time, the advancements of the technology will allow us to read out a person's thoughts within a certain degree of accuracy.

But what are the applciations for such a technology? It would be possible to access quickly and easily images within artists' and designers' heads. The technology might also lead to a new approach in the treatment of some psychiatric disorders involving hallucinations, whereby doctors will be provided with a window on the mind of the patient.

That's more to it. According to the ATR chief researcher Yukiyasu Kamitani, the technology can be applied to other senses, making it possible in not such a so distant future to read feelings and complicated emotional states.

Doesn't this make the famous lie detector machine look absurdly absolete?