That’s according to the latest TV Tracker report from IHS iSuppli, which eyes the prices and specifications of TV sets in the U.S. market.

Prices of flat-panel TVs climbed an average of $78 between December and the end of April, the report says, from an average cost of $1,119 — the largest increase during any four-month period in the U.S. TV market over the past year.

Last month, average pricing for U.S. flat-panel televisions, including LCD and plasma sets, reached $1,248, and average prices of 3-D LCD TVs in April rose 3 percent to $2,492.

The price surge contradicts reports from late last year that suggested TV prices could drop in the first half of this year.

“LED-backlit LCD panel prices will likely continue falling in 2012, but at a much slower pace than in the second half of 2011, which will slow retail price erosion,” NPD DisplaySearch said.

Part of the reason for the price surge: Features. The report notes that high-end features like Internet connectivity in “smart” TVs and LED screens have contributed to an 11.4 percent climb in flat-panel prices since December 2011.

Even if consumers weren’t actively looking to buy a fancy TV with all the bells and whistles — because as I noted during the Consumer Electronics Show this past January, some features like 3-D are taking a backseat, and consumers have been somewhat slow to adopt this technology — they may have been persuaded to buy something more expensive.

Retailers have been shifting their strategies and looking to “upsell” customers, iSuppli says.

“Retailers are working to convince buyers to move up to either a larger-sized TV or to one using LED-backlit panels,” the report says, noting that the cost of upgrading to a bigger-screen TV has been greater than the upgrade cost of going with the same-sized screen, but in LED. “The larger price premium for upgrading to a bigger TV size indicates the market was aware that buyers were willing to shell out more money to obtain larger-sized sets over a similar-sized TV model with LED backlighting.”

For consumers that have held off but are still in the market for a new TV, it’s not all bad news: In the second quarter of the year, sellers are expected to close the price gap between certain features, to maybe a 10 percent premium per feature. Which means some buyers might be able to have their big-screen smart TV and eat their 3-D LED, too.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr/Best Buy CA)

The technology has been built into everything from cellphones to TVs and laptops, but remains largely a niche in each category.

MasterImage 3D, a company that already does 3-D technology for the cinema, is turning its attention to tablets.

As is the case with a number of other 3-D phones on the market, MasterImage can create 3-D displays that don’t require special glasses. Its technology puts a special layer over traditional screens to create a second image, and then switches rapidly between the images to be seen by the left and right eyes.

The result is an impressive image that can be used to create the illusion of bubbles or confetti that appear to shoot out several inches from the screen. It’s equally adept at displaying 3-D Hollywood movies or playing adapted 3-D versions of existing games.

Unlike rival technologies that alternate line by line, MasterImage alternates smaller groups of images, a feat that the company says allows it to produce brighter images and allow 3-D to be shown regardless of which way the device is held.

Of course, the big challenge remains convincing consumers that they even want 3-D technology in the first place.

“A lot of people, their exposure to 3-D has been minimal,” said VP Matt Liszt. “It’s not a day in, day out experience and that’s what this can change.”

Another issue is that the amount of content for such devices is growing, but still relatively small.

MasterImage, which is based in Hollywood and has offices in Korea, has been talking with anyone who will listen — game makers, book publishers and studios.

“We’re not naïve,” Liszt said.

MasterImage hasn’t announced any deals with tablet makers, but says it has held advanced talks with a number of manufacturers, and hopes tablets using its technology will be on the market by early next year. For now, it is showing off a Qualcomm reference design that includes its display technology.

Updated, 11:45 a.m. PT, to note that the company has offices in Korea, but is based in Hollywood, as well as to say that the company has not announced any deals with tablet makers, but hasn’t said if it has signed any pacts.

Narrated by Meryl Streep, it follows — in what appears to be extraordinary high-definition shots — a mother polar bear and her two 7-month-old cubs. High tech brings nature’s high drama to light.

Incredible:

Others think (non-iPad) tablets and daily deals.

According to new consumer data from PriceGrabber.com, topping the list of electronically-oriented Valentine’s Day gifts purchased over the past couple days are the HP Slate 500 tablet — remember that one? — and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF 101 tablet. The results, which will be released in full later today, are based on merchant referrals through PriceGrabber, a Kayak-like, Experian-owned site for comparative shopping.

Also in PriceGrabber’s Valentine’s Top 3: A 55-inch 3-D LED TV from Samsung; with a price range of $1,995 to $3,528, this love offering is probably best for someone you’re truly committed to.

This latest report only factors in purchases made on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Over the weekend, Apple’s 64 gigabyte iPhone 4S was one of the most popular purchases, alongside that big Samsung TV.

The shopping survey also indicates that the daily deals sector might get some love this year, with 42 percent of shoppers saying they plan to use an offer from Groupon or LivingSocial for purchasing gifts.

In my own inbox, I’ve gotten some pretty interesting deal offers over the past few weeks — including (but not limited to) his-and-hers massages, half-off flower bouquets, and a “bargain”-priced private dinner at Le Cirque (no sign yet of last year’s shooting-range deal for Valentine’s Day).

Despite the lean toward coupons — and in spite lingering economic woes — the majority of U.S. consumers plan to spend the same amount on this Valentine’s Day as they did last Feb. 14, according to PriceGrabber’s report.

(Image credit: Harle/Flickr)

Here’s the new official movie trailer for next summer’s latest take on the moody web-slinger of New York City, Peter Parker.

“The Amazing Spider-Man” looks at the comic book hero’s origins more deeply, but mostly it will be about the special effects and 3-D.

Here’s the video:

Fearless Studios was co-founded two years ago by notable game makers Haden Blackman and Cedrick Collomb.

Blackman was the creator and senior executive producer of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and Collomb was formerly director of engineering at LucasArts. The two will immediately join Kabam, along with all members of the team from Marin, Calif.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Acquisitions in social gaming are common, especially as emerging companies try to gain scale. But it is not often that a social game company purchases a console game developer.

In the case of Kabam, it matches with what that company is trying to achieve. It is the goal of the Redwood City, Calif., company to challenge the notion that all gamers on Facebook are housewives in their mid-40s. Instead, it wants to bring some of the high-end games found on consoles to social networks in order to attract more engaged players, who are willing to play — and pay — more.

In a release, Kabam CEO Kevin Chou said the team at Fearless has the right game-design skills and technology set to help social games become higher fidelity.

“Having the background and emerging technologies and proficiency in making the transition from 2D to 3D on consoles mesh perfectly with Kabam’s strategy,” Chou said.

It is not clear if Fearless Studios ever released any games, but in an interview with USA Today, the founders did say the team was interested in developing for the Xbox, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, and for other devices, such as the iPhone.

Fearless will be joining a much more established organization, with roughly 400 employees. But there are already some common threads between the two companies: Kabam’s COO, Chris Carvalho, worked at Lucasfilm for a decade; and Blackman spent 13 years with LucasArts.

Nintendo Wii U
The gaming company didn’t have a spot on the show floor at CES, but Nintendo offered private demos of its upcoming Wii U console, the successor to the popular Nintendo Wii.

The “new Wii” comes with a 6-inch tablet-like motion sensor control that offers a full touchscreen and alternative views of the game being played on the TV set. While using a larger controller to play games might seem cumbersome at first, the interactive options it adds can be fun. The new console also works with the standard Wii controllers, as well as the Wii Nunchuk and Balance Board. It supports 1080p HD output, and the games in the demo were remarkably crisp and clear.

But there are still more questions than answers about the Wii U. Its launch date is still pegged to sometime in the later part of the year, but exactly when and how much it will cost is still unknown. And while Nintendo was the front-runner in motion-sensor gaming with the Wii, Xbox Kinect, in the meantime, has been setting new gaming-console standards with its gesture-control technology, content partnerships and even basic voice command.

When asked about content partnerships in the works, Nintendo declined to comment on any specifics. As for voice-recognition technology, Nintendo also declined to say whether it would be added to the Wii U prior to launch; the company did point to some audio capabilities built into the tablet-like controller, and said it is exploring all kinds of possibilities right now.

Samsung Dual-View 3-D OLED TV
That’s quite a mouthful for a television set, so let’s simplify it: This is a TV that lets you watch two programs at the same time on the same screen — and not by creating separate boxes within the screen. Instead, users wear active-shutter 3-D glasses, and each wearer has a different 2-D image projected to them, or even a different TV show or movie.

What about audio, you ask? Good question: The audio for each program is streamed right through the glasses, so you’ll hear your own program, while your significant other sitting on the other side of the couch will hear his or her choice of entertainment.

A dual-view screen has a certain appeal for gamers, and both Sony and LG have introduced such screens for gaming purposes.

For the average TV watcher, this is notably both high-tech and isolating.

LG’s Blast Chiller
You might have heard about this one by now. We still think it’s cool, no pun intended.

It was apparent at this year’s CES show that appliance makers think we want fridges that tweet and washing machines that send messages to smartphones when the laundry is done. While interconnectivity within the home is still in its teenage — if not even earlier — stages, there was one feature of LG’s refrigerators that seemed quite smart: The Blast Chiller is a compartment that chills cans of soda or beer in about five minutes, and can cool down a larger bottle of wine in about eight minutes. It will be available in LG’s new line of refrigerators — price is unknown, but current models cost around $2,500. The Blast Chiller was definitely a favorite with conference-goers — likely because, by the end of the week, many may have wanted a cold beverage.

Corning Gorilla Glass, the Sequel
You might wonder where glass fits in at a tech show, but this isn’t just any soda-lime glass: It’s the ultra-thin, chemically strengthened Gorilla Glass that forms the displays of many smartphones and tablets, and even coats some laptops. Last week, Corning showed off Gorilla Glass that was 20 percent thinner and just as durable (which I was unable to break with a metal stick, as you can see from the photo here, although you might not want to use my arm strength as your gauge).

Gorilla Glass can be used to create stronger, brighter product displays, the company said. Last year, Corning had also said that it believed the future of glass was “3-D” or flexible glass that can be used in different form factors, including keyboards and kitchen countertops. At CES, the company showed how Gorilla Glass 2 can be used in home appliances and dashboard display systems.

Sleeper Pick: “The Patch”
As anticipated, armbands, accelerometers, exercise gear and health-and-fitness-focused apps dominated the digital-health section of CES this year (and even Jawbone’s UP armband made an appearance). But if you’re not ready for a full-time commitment to some of these devices, BodyMedia and Avery Dennison have come up with a temporary adhesive patch to test your resolve. Meant to be worn on the back of the left tricep for up to seven days, the patch combines the sensors of BodyMedia armbands with Avery Dennison’s wearable tech to aid in weight-loss management.

The patch is still awaiting U.S. regulatory clearance, so it may not be available until the third quarter of the year, or later. I’m told it will be less expensive than BodyMedia’s armbands, which run from $150 to $179 (and now work in conjunction with a new digital-wellness platform from fitness guru Jillian Michaels.)

But in future-form, a potentially inexpensive, disposable patch that has some of the same sensory capabilities of an armband could be an interesting fitness “gadget”: Slap it on, forget it’s there while you exercise, save the data and throw it out.

(Blast Chiller photo courtesy of Flickr/LGEPR)

MORE CES NEWS:

• Complete coverage
• HP’s Former CTO: Ultrabooks Are Nothing New, webOS Still Has Life Yet
• Walt Shows Off CES Gadgets for Fox Business News (Video)
• What Kind of Web Video Plans Does Sony Have? (Video)
• Fujitsu Seeking Way Into Crowded U.S. Smartphone Market
• Why Rhapsody Is (Probably) Bigger Than Spotify — In the U.S.
• Microsoft Beefing Up CeBit Presence Even as It Pulls Back on CES
• Inside the CES Lost & Found
• FCC Chairman Has New Tablet, but Same Script: More Spectrum!
• Verizon Wireless: We Want to Connect Five Devices for Every Subscriber
• Ultrabooks From HP and Lenovo That Are (Kinda, Sorta) Different
• Walt and Katie Take a Tour of CES (Video)
• Schmidt-Storm Alert: The Google Chairman Didn’t Like Your Question
• T-Mobile Expands Bobsled Messaging Service
• Intel Shows Just How It Plans to Get Into Phones (Video)
• Motorola CEO: We’re Going to Release Fewer Phones This Year
• Kinect Helps Keep Aging Xbox at the Top of Its Game
• More From T-Mobile CEO: On Pricing, LTE and That Ever-Elusive iPhone
• Exclusive: New Boss Acknowledges Windows Phone Still Has “Awareness Problem”
• And You Thought Jawbone UP Was Going to Miss the CES Party!
• Interview: T-Mobile CEO Says No Second AT&T Deal Out There
• Grover Is at CES and I Am Missing It
• BlueStacks Bringing Android Apps to Windows 8
• Why the Future of TV Won’t Be Here Soon
• Nvidia’s Tegra 3 Tries to Save Battery in All Sorts of Different Ways
• Dynamic Dual Coverage: Ballmer’s Last Act in Vegas and the BCS Championship in 3-D
• Microsoft Phoning In Its Last CES Keynote
• Myspace — Yes, Myspace — Says It’s Going to Sell You Web TV
• Samsung Unveils “Super” 55-Inch OLED TV
• Nokia Unveils That LTE Windows Phone It’s Been Dying to Share
• Steve Ballmer Gives Ralph De La Vega a Very … Vigorous Greeting (Video)
• Interview: AT&T’s De La Vega on LTE, Tablets and Life After T-Mobile
• AT&T’s De La Vega: Shared Data Plans Still in the Works
• LG: 55-Inch Glasses-Free 3-D Screen Is on the Way
• LG Pushes 4G Smartphone Through Verizon: The LG Spectrum
• Live: AT&T’s Vegas Act Stars LTE and, Making Her Return to the Stage, Nokia
• CES Notebook: The Constant Search for Power and Vegas’ Worst-kept Secret
• Belkin Bringing Mobile TV to Lots of Cellphones, Will Anyone Tune In?
• Acer Introduces “World’s Thinnest” Ultrabook and a “Me-Too” Cloud Service
• There Better Be Some Cool Stuff at CES, Because CE Holiday Sales Data Bytes!
• CES 2012: Snooki and Bieber Are In, Gaga Is Out!
• Coming to a Smartphone Near You: Gorilla Glass 2
• RIM Hopes Next PlayBook OS Will Impress at CES
• Ultrabooks, the Ultra-Fancy New Name for Laptops
• At CES, Expect More Gadgets Telling You to Get Off the Couch
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Microsoft Pulling Out of CES After Upcoming Show
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Dell Will Drop the Flashy Vegas Act for CES This Year
• Ultrabook Conga Line Preps for CES 2012

One of LG's new Cinema 3-D Smart TVs: Glasses still required.

LG Electronics is no exception to the trend, as the company today unveiled a new line of high-resolution 3-D TVs — part of its Smart TV line — and a 3-D TV with an 84-inch screen.

But what about that glasses-free 3-D? It may come sooner than previously expected, says Seog-ho Ro, LG’s head of global strategy for home entertainment. LG already sells a not-exactly-cheap, 20-inch, glasses-free 3-D monitor and will display another small 3-D screen this week at the annual tech show in Las Vegas.

The company tells AllThingsD that it will have a 55-inch pilot version of its glasses-free 3-D display technology ready for 2013 and hopes to bring it to market by 2014. While it’s too early to know an exact price point, LG confirmed that it will be “expensive,” despite the fact that the company considers its current 3-D TV line to be cost competitive.

Toshiba, which has brought glasses-free 3-D gaming to laptops, has also confirmed that it plans to make “big” glasses-free 3-D TV screens available in the U.S. sometime early this year.

Because of technical obstacles, glasses-free 3-D TV has been relatively slow coming to large screens — it can be hard to experience the 3-D effects from viewing angles other than directly in front of the screen.

Until glasses-free, or autostereoscopic, 3-D becomes mainstream, companies are looking to convince consumers that 3-D glasses really aren’t all that bad (we’ll let consumers speak for themselves on that). LG, for instance, is pushing its new “passive” 3-D glasses that are 20 percent lighter than previous versions and can snap on the front of regular spectacles. LG says it has realized that consumers don’t want to pay for relatively expensive active-shutter 3-D glasses and that it is “getting aggressive about passive.”

MORE CES NEWS:

• Complete coverage
• HP’s Former CTO: Ultrabooks Are Nothing New, webOS Still Has Life Yet
• Walt Shows Off CES Gadgets for Fox Business News (Video)
• What Kind of Web Video Plans Does Sony Have? (Video)
• Fujitsu Seeking Way Into Crowded U.S. Smartphone Market
• Why Rhapsody Is (Probably) Bigger Than Spotify — In the U.S.
• Microsoft Beefing Up CeBit Presence Even as It Pulls Back on CES
• Inside the CES Lost & Found
• FCC Chairman Has New Tablet, but Same Script: More Spectrum!
• Verizon Wireless: We Want to Connect Five Devices for Every Subscriber
• Ultrabooks From HP and Lenovo That Are (Kinda, Sorta) Different
• Walt and Katie Take a Tour of CES (Video)
• Schmidt-Storm Alert: The Google Chairman Didn’t Like Your Question
• T-Mobile Expands Bobsled Messaging Service
• Intel Shows Just How It Plans to Get Into Phones (Video)
• Motorola CEO: We’re Going to Release Fewer Phones This Year
• Kinect Helps Keep Aging Xbox at the Top of Its Game
• More From T-Mobile CEO: On Pricing, LTE and That Ever-Elusive iPhone
• Exclusive: New Boss Acknowledges Windows Phone Still Has “Awareness Problem”
• And You Thought Jawbone UP Was Going to Miss the CES Party!
• Interview: T-Mobile CEO Says No Second AT&T Deal Out There
• Grover Is at CES and I Am Missing It
• BlueStacks Bringing Android Apps to Windows 8
• Why the Future of TV Won’t Be Here Soon
• Nvidia’s Tegra 3 Tries to Save Battery in All Sorts of Different Ways
• Dynamic Dual Coverage: Ballmer’s Last Act in Vegas and the BCS Championship in 3-D
• Microsoft Phoning In Its Last CES Keynote
• Myspace — Yes, Myspace — Says It’s Going to Sell You Web TV
• Samsung Unveils “Super” 55-Inch OLED TV
• Nokia Unveils That LTE Windows Phone It’s Been Dying to Share
• Steve Ballmer Gives Ralph De La Vega a Very … Vigorous Greeting (Video)
• Interview: AT&T’s De La Vega on LTE, Tablets and Life After T-Mobile
• AT&T’s De La Vega: Shared Data Plans Still in the Works
• LG: 55-Inch Glasses-Free 3-D Screen Is on the Way
• LG Pushes 4G Smartphone Through Verizon: The LG Spectrum
• Live: AT&T’s Vegas Act Stars LTE and, Making Her Return to the Stage, Nokia
• CES Notebook: The Constant Search for Power and Vegas’ Worst-kept Secret
• Belkin Bringing Mobile TV to Lots of Cellphones, Will Anyone Tune In?
• Acer Introduces “World’s Thinnest” Ultrabook and a “Me-Too” Cloud Service
• There Better Be Some Cool Stuff at CES, Because CE Holiday Sales Data Bytes!
• CES 2012: Snooki and Bieber Are In, Gaga Is Out!
• Coming to a Smartphone Near You: Gorilla Glass 2
• RIM Hopes Next PlayBook OS Will Impress at CES
• Ultrabooks, the Ultra-Fancy New Name for Laptops
• At CES, Expect More Gadgets Telling You to Get Off the Couch
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Microsoft Pulling Out of CES After Upcoming Show
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Dell Will Drop the Flashy Vegas Act for CES This Year
• Ultrabook Conga Line Preps for CES 2012

Just as the annual Consumer Electronics Show kicks off this week, according to a report from the NPD Group: Consumer electronics sales during this past holiday period dropped six percent from last year.

That should be some not-so-welcome news for the vendors at the Las Vegas gadget confab, which is seeking to show off new wares to excite said consumers.

Those offerings had better step it up, from a look at the NPD Weekly Tracking Service, which noted that the decline was coming off another decline from a year ago.

While 2011′s drop was not as bad as 2010′s, it’s not the right direction, although the tally did not include some of the more explosive device categories being prominently featured at CES, such as tablets.

Said NPD: “Total consumer technology sales (excluding cell phones, tablets, e-readers, and video games) fell 5.9 percent to around $9.5 billion for the 5 weeks ending December 24, a slight improvement over the 6.2 percent decline in 2010.”

Sales of personal computers and televisions fell 4 percent, with flat unit volumes.

“2010 was the first year in quite awhile where the real drags on the core CE marketplace were not TVs and PCs,” said Stephen Baker, VP of industry analysis at NPD, in a press release. “Revenue for those two segments outperformed while the rest of the market dropped by more than 7 percent. The accelerated rate of decline in older technology categories such as DVD, GPS and MP3 players put a ceiling on how well the industry could perform during the holiday.”

Consumers did snap up flat-panel TVs, with screen sizes of 50 inches and higher rising by 32 percent in unit sales.

And the rocky 3-D TV business also grew by more than 100 percent, with TVs with “3D capability accounting for more than one in every five dollars spent on TVs during the holiday.”

Also up: Home theater systems (10 percent) and stand-alone streaming devices (65 percent).

But those increases did not stem the overall negative tide.

For other sectors, here’s the damage to holiday revenue in percentage change from 2011 dollars spent:

Blu-ray players: Down 17 percent.

Camcorders: Down 42.5 percent.

Digital picture frames: Down 37.5 percent.

GPS: Down 32.6 percent.

HDD: Down 25.1 percent.

Mice and keyboards: Down 7.1 percent.

MP3 players: Down 20.5 percent.

Multifunction printers: Down 9.9 percent.

Point-and-shoot cameras: Down 20.8 percent.

MORE CES NEWS:

• Complete coverage
• HP’s Former CTO: Ultrabooks Are Nothing New, webOS Still Has Life Yet
• Walt Shows Off CES Gadgets for Fox Business News (Video)
• What Kind of Web Video Plans Does Sony Have? (Video)
• Fujitsu Seeking Way Into Crowded U.S. Smartphone Market
• Why Rhapsody Is (Probably) Bigger Than Spotify — In the U.S.
• Microsoft Beefing Up CeBit Presence Even as It Pulls Back on CES
• Inside the CES Lost & Found
• FCC Chairman Has New Tablet, but Same Script: More Spectrum!
• Verizon Wireless: We Want to Connect Five Devices for Every Subscriber
• Ultrabooks From HP and Lenovo That Are (Kinda, Sorta) Different
• Walt and Katie Take a Tour of CES (Video)
• Schmidt-Storm Alert: The Google Chairman Didn’t Like Your Question
• T-Mobile Expands Bobsled Messaging Service
• Intel Shows Just How It Plans to Get Into Phones (Video)
• Motorola CEO: We’re Going to Release Fewer Phones This Year
• Kinect Helps Keep Aging Xbox at the Top of Its Game
• More From T-Mobile CEO: On Pricing, LTE and That Ever-Elusive iPhone
• Exclusive: New Boss Acknowledges Windows Phone Still Has “Awareness Problem”
• And You Thought Jawbone UP Was Going to Miss the CES Party!
• Interview: T-Mobile CEO Says No Second AT&T Deal Out There
• Grover Is at CES and I Am Missing It
• BlueStacks Bringing Android Apps to Windows 8
• Why the Future of TV Won’t Be Here Soon
• Nvidia’s Tegra 3 Tries to Save Battery in All Sorts of Different Ways
• Dynamic Dual Coverage: Ballmer’s Last Act in Vegas and the BCS Championship in 3-D
• Microsoft Phoning In Its Last CES Keynote
• Myspace — Yes, Myspace — Says It’s Going to Sell You Web TV
• Samsung Unveils “Super” 55-Inch OLED TV
• Nokia Unveils That LTE Windows Phone It’s Been Dying to Share
• Steve Ballmer Gives Ralph De La Vega a Very … Vigorous Greeting (Video)
• Interview: AT&T’s De La Vega on LTE, Tablets and Life After T-Mobile
• AT&T’s De La Vega: Shared Data Plans Still in the Works
• LG: 55-Inch Glasses-Free 3-D Screen Is on the Way
• LG Pushes 4G Smartphone Through Verizon: The LG Spectrum
• Live: AT&T’s Vegas Act Stars LTE and, Making Her Return to the Stage, Nokia
• CES Notebook: The Constant Search for Power and Vegas’ Worst-kept Secret
• Belkin Bringing Mobile TV to Lots of Cellphones, Will Anyone Tune In?
• Acer Introduces “World’s Thinnest” Ultrabook and a “Me-Too” Cloud Service
• There Better Be Some Cool Stuff at CES, Because CE Holiday Sales Data Bytes!
• CES 2012: Snooki and Bieber Are In, Gaga Is Out!
• Coming to a Smartphone Near You: Gorilla Glass 2
• RIM Hopes Next PlayBook OS Will Impress at CES
• Ultrabooks, the Ultra-Fancy New Name for Laptops
• At CES, Expect More Gadgets Telling You to Get Off the Couch
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Microsoft Pulling Out of CES After Upcoming Show
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Dell Will Drop the Flashy Vegas Act for CES This Year
• Ultrabook Conga Line Preps for CES 2012

According to the expected year-end box-office data figures compiled by Hollywood.com, the industry raked in $10.1 billion for 2011 in North America.

While that seems like a nice haul, it’s 4.5 percent less than in 2010. While not enough to result a major downturn in limo-riding and Botox, the results are likely to cause entertainment moguls some worry, since they are accompanied by continuing trends, including another year of lower attendance.

And given that the revenue was unusually bolstered by more higher-priced 3-D movie-ticket prices — Hollywood released several dozen 3-D films in 2011, double the previous year’s amount — the latest numbers are even more disappointing.

While some holiday movies did well — namely “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol,” which has taken in about $70 million domestically since its opening less than two weeks ago — it pales in comparison to such digital hits as Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 videogame, which pulled in $400 million in one day from the much-desired youth market.

It surpassed $1 billion in sales in 16 days, eclipsing the box office of the blockbuster movie “Avatar,” which took 17 days to gross seven figures.

Does that mean that the continued competition for the leisure time of pretty much everyone between digital and analog has gotten worse — an epic battle of the movie industry versus game players, tablets and smartphones?

Or is it because so many movies made in 2011 turned out to be just awful? (If you saw “New Year’s Eve,” you’ll know exactly what I mean.)

One thing is clear: No one is going to pay for poor-quality content, no matter the screen size.

More number-crunching to come, as the industry debates the issue into 2012 (coincidentally, the title of a movie I happened to like, as you can see below!), and at the upcoming D: Dive Into Media at the end of the month, down near Los Angeles, in the belly of the Web-smacked beast.

Until then, let’s hope it does not come to this next year:

Tomorrow, Hewlett-Packard is launching the newest version of its HP Envy 17 with 3-D capabilities, alongside the new HP Envy 15 and Envy 17 notebook PCs, available through HP Direct.

For gamers, a 3-D PC offers different kinds of gaming options, and on a larger screen than a handheld device has. But do consumers — hardcore gamers aside — really want a 3-D PC? Let’s take a look at some of the technical specifics and other factors to consider when it comes to computers with 3-D options:

Hardware and glasses:
As the technology gets more advanced, more 3-D laptops are expected to come to market with autostereoscopic (glasses-free) screens. Toshiba, for example, recently introduced the Qosmio F750 (in Europe) and Qosmio F755 (North America); both laptops run Windows 7 and feature a 15.6-inch Toshiba TruBrite 1080p autostereoscopic 3-D display.

But most 3-D laptops — such as the Sony VAIO F 3D, the Origin EON15 3D, the Dell Alienware M17x R3 and the Dell XPS 17 with optional 3-D screen — currently have stereoscopic screens, which means users have to wear glasses to experience the 3-D effect.

Nvidia’s 3D Vision kit is commonly bundled with these laptops and includes a pair of the necessary glasses, as well as a 3-D vision USB controller/emitter.

The kinds of glasses consumers are supposed to wear vary, as well: There’s the “active” kind versus the “passive” kind. Nvidia’s 3-D glasses, for example, are active-shutter lenses (read: battery-operated) that create the 3-D image by rapidly shuttering the left eye and then the right eye. Passive — a.k.a. polarized — 3-D glasses are cheaper, look a lot like sunglasses, and work by allowing different levels of light into each eye. Note that these are different from the anaglyph cardboard glasses you might have worn at the movies as a kid.

So, if the 3-D viewing doesn’t give you a headache, the lack of standardization in this industry just might.

Content: It’s the chicken-or-the-egg problem: Hardware makers can’t sell 3-D products well without enough 3-D content for people to watch and play; content creators are hesitant to invest in making 3-D material when the format hasn’t yet been adopted on a mass scale.

But games may indeed be the shining star when it comes to 3-D on PCs. Game developers have been creating games with inherent 3-D capabilities for many years now; consumers just didn’t have the display options they now have to view the games. And 3-D PCs often include super-fast graphics cards that are optimal for game viewing.

In terms of content volume, Nvidia says its 3D Vision Kit includes software that converts “hundreds” of standard 2-D games to 3-D, including popular titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Battlefield 3.

Price points: Despite the fact that slowing demand for PCs has been pushing netbook and notebook prices down for consumers, 3-D laptop pricing still ranges on the high side. Dell’s Alienware M17x R3 and XPS 17 (with 3-D screen), Toshiba’s Qosmio F755 and the Sony VAIO F 3D all currently retail for around $1,500.

The bottom line: laptops with 3-D capabilities tend to be more expensive at a base price. Add in the cost of active-shutter glasses when they’re not bundled in — anywhere from $40 to $150 — and consumers are paying even more.

Where does the new HP Envy 17 3D fit in?: The new HP Envy 17 3D does have some nice features, such as a 17.3-inch 3-D, LED Radiance display with full 1080p HD viewing, backlit keys, an upgraded touchpad and a Blu-ray and 12.7mm DVD-RW slot. It runs Windows 7, has an Intel Core i5-2340M processor, and its list price is $1,599.99, which includes one pair of 3-D glasses (it does not work with the Nvidia 3D Vision kit). Hopefully, battery life will show improvement from the last Envy 17 3D, which some reviewers complained was short-lived.

Readers, what do you think: Would you buy a 3-D laptop?

But the 3-D handheld gaming device has gotten a boost from recent game releases, and the gaming giant hopes two more items will keep the hardware’s momentum going for the holiday season.

This Sunday, Nintendo will release Mario Kart 7 for 3DS. It’s the second game in the Mario franchise aimed at the portable device in the past two weeks. Retailing for $39.99, Mario Kart 7 includes new courses and kart abilities and supports the 3DS StreetPass feature, which allows users to wirelessly connect to other “Mii” characters as they pass each other on the street or are in the vicinity of each other.

The company also plans to release a pink version of the 3DS, bundled with one of its Nintendogs + Cats games. The pink 3DS will cost $169.99 in the U.S., the same price as the standard Nintendo 3DS system. Nintendo had previously said a pink version was aimed at girls (sigh, but they do like lots of other colors, too).

The Nintendo 3DS, the company’s first 3-D portable gaming handset, hit the U.S. in March, at a price of $249.99. The device has an autostereoscopic screen — which means glasses aren’t required to see the 3-D imagery — and a depth slider that adjusts the intensity of the 3-D.

Consumers were less than thrilled by the 3DS, with many citing vision problems and high game prices, forcing Nintendo to later reduce the price. The move resulted in a 260 percent sales jump, with Nintendo selling 235,000 units in August, ranking it the second-best-selling piece of gaming hardware in the U.S. that month.

The 3DS got another boost when Nintendo’s Super Mario 3D Land game became available Thanksgiving week, as part of a bundle with a red 3DS. Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime said the game was the fastest-selling portable Mario game in Nintendo’s history, and that interest in the game drove hardware sales up 49 percent.

“We believe more and more that software drives hardware,” Fils-Aime said.

Fils-Aime said Nintendo continues to invest in 3-D technology in terms of content, but for now, consumers shouldn’t hold their breath for a next-generation 3DS.

“I wouldn’t expect a complete redesign of the hardware in the near-term,” he said.

In addition to the new pink model, Nintendo 3DS is available in the U.S. in blue, black and red. A white version of the device is sold in Japan, although Fils-Aime noted that Nintendo’s white handheld DS and DSi devices haven’t sold as well in the U.S. as other colors have.

Hollywood director James Cameron debuted the trailer for the upcoming 3-D version of the huge movie hit, “Titanic,” on Facebook earlier this week, where he also delivered an intro.

Why? Perhaps it’s the movie’s nearly 10.5 million fans on the social networking site, which Cameron referenced.

You can only see those remarks on Facebook, but here’s the trailer for the rerelease, coming out next April, as well as a video of Cameron at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference in 2010, where he first revealed that “Titanic” would come out in 3-D:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111118/viral-video-titanic-in-3d-gets-facebook-lift/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110816/larry-page-might-be-bill-gates-but-he-wants-to-be-steve-jobs/ http://allthingsd.com/20110816/larry-page-might-be-bill-gates-but-he-wants-to-be-steve-jobs/#comments Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:12:09 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=110362

Let’s face it: Everyone in Silicon Valley — one way or another — fashions themselves as the next Steve Jobs.

And why not? Both the professional and even personal story of the legendary Apple CEO — which will be chronicled in November in a major book — are the stuff of tech legend and envy: Iconic, in charge, decisive, elegant, innovative, phoenix-like and visionary.

And, of course, more than just a little bit terrifying.

So why not Larry Page, too, and why not now?

One issue: By temperament and action — by which I mean genetically hyper-competitive and hammer-time aggressive — he’s been more like Microsoft’s Bill Gates, who has been the Yin to Jobs’ Yang in their deeply interconnected careers over the last decades.

As I wrote before Page took over again as Google’s CEO earlier this year:

After our first interview in 2001, my notes on the encounter had this one line underlined and in all caps:

LARRY PAGE=BILL GATES.

It was not meant as an insult, but I can tell you I never wrote such a note about Page’s co-founder, the jokey and affable Sergey Brin.

Even then, Gates had a fearsome reputation as a manically competitive exec, a cutting manner to those not as smart as he clearly is and a reputation as a very tough and often eviscerating boss. (And all that was also my experience whenever I was interviewing him.)

While much wonkier, friendlier and more of a sensitive new-aged male, Page, it seemed to me, had the exact same obvious drive and aggression as Gates.

The latest incarnation of that has been Page’s move — bold for now and we’ll-see later — to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, which Google announced yesterday.

By all accounts, Page was the key driver of the deal inside Google, where he now reigns firmly.

Although neither Gates nor Jobs has used acquisitions much as a key weapon in their arsenals, the size and scope of the deal is pure Gates: A focused, overwhelming and competitor-scaring display of might that speaks of industry dominance and play-to-destroy aspirations, masking what is also very reactive.

If Page’s doubling down on mobile reminds you a bit of Gates’s “Internet Tidal Wave” memorandum in 1995, that’s because the move-now tone is the same.

And, also, in that it is more than just a little bit sneaky. Case in point: Google’s yammering on about the importance of Motorola’s patents in the deal. While the patent love is true and an important element, bolstering Google’s own weak portfolio, it’s also a bit of a feint by the search giant, which can simply never come out and say what it is actually up to.

Which is to be the dominant and overwhelming player in the mobile market that Google sees as critical to its future.

“The company obviously wants everyone to focus on the patents, but its ambitions are so much larger in mobile,” said one person close to the situation. “So it underplays as it overplays.”

Indeed, in the time I covered Google, it has always been my experience when the search giant insists stringently on one thing, Page and others are playing a more complex version of “Star Trek” three-dimensional chess.

As the New York Times’ DealBook noted correctly:

If there’s any question about Google’s motivation to own a handset maker rather than just a portfolio of patents, consider this: InterDigital, a licensing company that owns some 8,000 wireless patents and has another 10,000 patent applications being processed, has been up for auction. Many industry insiders were sure that if Google were serious about acquiring a portfolio of patents, InterDigital would be its target. The company’s market value is only about $3 billion and it doesn’t come with all the baggage of Motorola’s handset business.

That’s exactly right, because Page’s ambition is about Google playing a big part in the mobile market — which is humanity’s next critical platform in computing — for its interlocked ecosystem of Google products — from its flagship search to social networking via Google+ to Gmail to its latest Google Wallet initiative to Google Maps to Google Voice.

In other words, it’s a Google world and we all just live in it.

At the heart of it is a desire to make and completely control the object at the center of the virtuous circle: The mobile device, whether it be a smartphone, tablet or whatever doodad you might wear around your neck.

In fact, as I also remember from Google’s earliest days, Page did sport a lot of such contraptions back then, such as a communicator of some sort he once joyfully showed off to me that allowed him to reach Brin quickly. Later, it was a kind of pollution sensor that took its place.

My recollection from that time was that Page adored such objects, visibly inspired by the idea of digital devices that delivered a myriad of helpful and smart services to users as they moved around the world.

You know, like an Apple iPhone, the ground-breaking technical achievement that Jobs rendered unto the world less than a decade ago, changing everything.

With Android and Page’s firm backing, Google quickly and smartly jumped partway into that market with its powerful and fast-growing mobile operating system.

Now, like Jobs, I have no doubt Page wants to own and control the whole value chain to solidify what Google started several years ago and which is its best hope to vault into the next era of computing.

It’s a leap that Gates and Microsoft largely failed at, not for lack of trying — something else Page has to have taken note of.

So, perhaps by making things — maybe even beautiful things like Jobs — Page will transform himself from a Gates into a Jobs.

Or, more likely, a little bit of both.

Until that reckoning, here is a terrific video of Spock playing 3D chess with Captain James T. Kirk — and, yes, he does look freakishly like Page here:

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

Related posts

• Google: We’re Spending $12.5 Billion on Motorola to ‘Protect’ Android
• Motoogle: BOOM! The Mobile Business Just Got Completely Blown Up
• Google’s Motorola Deal Will Spur Antitrust Regulators to Action
• Watch Google Android Kingpin — and Motorola Acquirer — Andy Rubin Unplugged (Video)
• Defense Spending: Google Arms Itself With Moto Patents
• Is Google’s Motorola Deal the Break That Windows Phone Needed?
• Should Google Keep Motorola’s Patents and Sell Off the Hardware Business?
• Motorola Could Get Google Closer to Your Living Room — If the Cable Guys Play Along
• U.S. Carriers Silent on Motoroogle, but France Telecom Gives It a Thumbs Up
• Google-Motorola Deal Includes $2.5 Billion Reverse Termination Fee
• Google Can’t Say Hello To Hulu Now. (Can It?)
• More Google news
• More Android news
• More Motorola Mobility news

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110816/larry-page-might-be-bill-gates-but-he-wants-to-be-steve-jobs/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110718/viral-video-the-three-musketeers-now-in-3d-sigh/ http://allthingsd.com/20110718/viral-video-the-three-musketeers-now-in-3d-sigh/#comments Mon, 18 Jul 2011 07:15:55 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=94038

Here is a pretty loud video for an upcoming remake of the consistently remade movie “The Three Musketeers.”

This time, of course, Hollywood has to jack up the volume and visuals with a lot of 3-D-worthy explosions, because there does not seem to be any film that can’t suffer from high-tech special effects anymore.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110718/viral-video-the-three-musketeers-now-in-3d-sigh/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110618/viral-video-okay-3d-might-actually-work-in-the-last-harry-potter/ http://allthingsd.com/20110618/viral-video-okay-3d-might-actually-work-in-the-last-harry-potter/#comments Sun, 19 Jun 2011 02:32:00 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=88162

Here’s the second trailer for the last movie in the terrific “Harry Potter” series.

It’s also the first of the films to be presented in 3-D, which has become a much abused technology by Hollywood.

Such a bow to a dubious trend at the very end kind of depressed me, since “Harry Potter” creator, J.K. Rowling, has been so strict in keeping the production of the movie in line with her books.

But looking at this video for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” which opens July 15, it looks like it might be tremendous in 3-D, and a fitting end to the cycle.

Judge for yourself (and check out the first trailer here):

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110618/viral-video-okay-3d-might-actually-work-in-the-last-harry-potter/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110610/viral-video-the-smurfs-i-have-absolutely-no-defense-here/ http://allthingsd.com/20110610/viral-video-the-smurfs-i-have-absolutely-no-defense-here/#comments Fri, 10 Jun 2011 07:06:29 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=78742 Okay, it is the little blue peeps from the upcoming August 3-D movie “The Smurfs,” and I like them. A lot.

No more need be said. Except: Smurf happens.

Just watch the trailer:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110610/viral-video-the-smurfs-i-have-absolutely-no-defense-here/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110524/viral-video-kids-react-to-harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-2-trailer/ http://allthingsd.com/20110524/viral-video-kids-react-to-harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-2-trailer/#comments Tue, 24 May 2011 07:13:55 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=76444

Despite the now-added annoyance of 3-D, I am looking forward to the new very last “Harry Potter” movie just as much as the cute kids in this Fine Brothers video are.

It seemed like only yesterday when little Harry was stuffed in that cupboard under the stairs.

Enjoy:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110524/viral-video-kids-react-to-harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-2-trailer/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110322/sprint-unveils-4g-tablet-and-a-phone-capable-of-viewing-3d-without-glasses/ http://allthingsd.com/20110322/sprint-unveils-4g-tablet-and-a-phone-capable-of-viewing-3d-without-glasses/#comments Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:55:44 +0000 Tricia Duryee http://emoney.allthingsd.com/?p=3764 Shrugging off the news that AT&T and T-Mobile would merge to create the largest wireless carrier in the country, Sprint showed up at CTIA in Orlando to show off two very competitive new devices: a 4G tablet and a smartphone capable of displaying 3-D images without the need for special glasses.

At a press conference this afternoon, CEO Dan Hesse was expected to unveil two devices called the HTC EVO View, a 7-inch tablet, and the HTC EVO 3D.

Both will operate on Sprint’s 4G/WiMax network.

The HTC EVO 3D is notable for its ability to display and record 3-D images, much like the upcoming launch of the Nintendo 3DS. In both cases, viewers can see the hologram-like images without the need for special glasses.

Pricing will be announced later this summer when the two devices get closer to availability. With most devices now priced similarly to Apple’s iPad2, it will be imperative to be competitive, while also keeping down the cost of its mobile data fees.

On CTIA’s opening day this week, it’s already turning out to be a tablet-focused event–which as of recently has been par for the course at any wireless trade show.

For example, at Samsung’s press conference this morning, it unveiled two super thin Galaxy Tabs with an 8.9-inch and a 10.1-inch display. RIM also announced that its Playbook will be available starting April 19.

The EVO 3D will be running the Android Gingerbread operating system. It has a 4.3 inch display and packs inside a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor. It has two five-megapixel cameras for filming conventional and 3D images and videos. Similar to the original EVO, it’s the 3-D that makes it different.

This may be the first 3-D phone that doesn’t require glasses, but it’s also a niche that Nintendo is trying to carve out with its upcoming release of its 3DS. The handheld game unit launches on Sunday for $250. UPDATE: AT&T also announced a glasses-free 3-D device yesterday. The LG Thrill 4G will also let users shoot 3-D in addition to viewing it.

The HTC EVO View is the first time Sprint has launched a 3G and 4G Android together with HTC. The device will have a 7-inch display with a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and the latest version of HTC’s software overlay called Sense. The device will have two cameras, a HD-capable video camcorder, and is being described as weighing less than a paperback book.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110322/sprint-unveils-4g-tablet-and-a-phone-capable-of-viewing-3d-without-glasses/feed/ 2 http://allthingsd.com/20110222/microsoft-has-big-plans-for-kinects-future/ http://allthingsd.com/20110222/microsoft-has-big-plans-for-kinects-future/#comments Tue, 22 Feb 2011 14:00:35 +0000 Arik Hesseldahl http://newenterprise.allthingsd.com/?p=3497 Microsoft apparently has some pretty big plans for the Kinect. Best known as a gaming accessory for the XBox 360, its future potential for other things was a big highlight at an event for journalists which I attended at the Microsoft campus in Redmond Monday.

In one demo, we got to see more details about the Avatar Kinect feature that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month. In the first video below, a member of Microsoft’s development team showed how she could host a virtual “talk show” with two other live participants.

In the second, Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer, shows a video sampling of work done by enthusiasts and hobbyists using the Kinect for things like simulating a light saber from Star Wars to driving a toy helicopter. The videos show projects that people did on their own without any official help or support from Microsoft.

Sensing opportunity, Microsoft said today that it will release a software developers kit for the Kinect to academics, hobbyists and enthusiasts, but not yet for commercial developers.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s own researchers have been hard at work trying to figure out other things that the Kinect might be useful for. One of them may one day have something to do with creating 3D digital renderings of the environments we live in. In another demonstration we weren’t allowed to photograph or film, a Kinect took a series of images of a bunch of reporters sitting on a couch around a coffee table with a lot of stuff on it: toys, a telephone, a plant, a vase. The resulting image looked a little like something out of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. We could see detailed 3D rendersings of everything on the table, and of ourselves that increased in detail as the minutes passed. I was wearing a scarf and after a minute or two I could see its wrinkles, yet the renderings looked as though everything were covered with a layer of dust or snow.

During this demo, one interesting effect occurred when someone got up and walked away from the couch. On the screen, that person seemed to melt away a little at a time. Then he returned to the same place, and he slowly re-materialized into the scene as if he had just been beamed back into place by the Starship Enterprise.

This is all just at the research and experimental phase right now. But the work could one day lead to a future version of the Kinect where the avatar is a more photo-realistic version of yourself, and not a cartoon-like representation, as seen in the talk show video below. Plus? Our more realistic avatars will meet in more realistic looking environments that closely resemble the real thing. Imagine what you could do with that in the fields of communication, entertainment and others. You could use it make a detailed model of a room in your home to try and figure out how things would look redecorated.

This is all part of a theme of research at Microsoft into natural user interfaces that will one day replace the graphical users interfaces we’re so used to on the Mac and Windows today.

Avatar Kinect Demo from Arik Hesseldahl on Vimeo.

Kinect Development projects from Arik Hesseldahl on Vimeo.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110222/microsoft-has-big-plans-for-kinects-future/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20110211/viral-video-never-say-never-to-bieber/ http://allthingsd.com/20110211/viral-video-never-say-never-to-bieber/#comments Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:14:44 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=40719

Guess what movie BoomTown is being force-marched to this weekend by the Swisher boys?

Not just “Gnomeo & Juliet,” but the debut of the Justin Bieber movie hagiography “Never Say Never” in 3-D is much on the list I was presented without any ability to negotiate terms.

Now I’m a BeLieber.

Oddly enough, I am looking forward to it, because it’s looks charming and has gotten some pretty good reviews. Also, there is the hair.

Enjoy one of the trailers–this one has gotten close to 150 million views on YouTube:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110211/viral-video-never-say-never-to-bieber/feed/ 0