The Father of Stereoscopic 3D visits Attack of the Show

James Cameron stopped by G4's Attack of the Show to talk a little bit about the upcoming re-release of "Avatar". The re-release will be solely in digital 3D and will include an additional 9-minutes of footage. Cameron also says that there will be more Na'avi lovin'. Pass...

More importantly he showed off the rig he used to shoot the live-action scenes of last year's cash cow. Weighing in at 28 pounds, his rig uses a beam splitter rather than the standard side-by-side in order to capture images in 3D. Cameron goes on to say that he's been working on this technology for around seven years.

To put that into perspective, seven years ago I was well on my way to gaining ten pounds from eating Wendy's everyday.

Also of news in the world of 3D, Toshiba has announced plans to release one of the first glasses-free stereoscopic 3DTVs before the year's end. Following hot on the heels of the Nintendo 3DS announced at E3 this year, this could be a sign that the industry is shifting away from the bulky glasses that a lot of people cite as the biggest complaints about 3D movies.

New Mac-1000

Over the weekend Apple signed an agreement with a Delaware-based company by the name of Liquidmetal Technologies for use of all filed patents. Liquidmetal specializes in exactly that, newly developed applications of their uniquely crafted, super-strong metal. They boast that it is twice as strong and weighs less than titanium.

Liquidmetal's website seems pretty dinky, having not been updated since 2007 and is laid out like a high school computer project. But if their products can live up to their claims this could be overlooked. check out their Youtube video of a bounce test of their material versus titanium and adamantium...or something.

I would think the main purpose of Mac's pursuit of this company would be as a new, stronger casing for Mac portable laptops. Imagine a Macbook Pro that cools fast, can take a fall unscathed and still run efficiently all while being about 20% thinner than the current models. This could mean an even longer battery charge for the already efficient models.

If this were to play out along with the rumored patent of using idle USB and Firewire ports as additional thermal vents, then the future models could be EXTREMELY efficient.

I'm kinda glad I didn't break down and buy one when they released the line-up with the new processors in April.

Slow Tech News Day...

Not much tech news these last couple days, so here's a pretty bad ass depiction of my favorite bounty hunter!

Spam JUSTICE

At long last, vengeance will be mine.

Like many people I have a phony email address for business exchanges and for potential spammers. I hate that I have to separate out my emails for business, personal and spam emails. But unfortunately after years of various curiosities I have accrued quite a lot of spam. On any given day I receive twenty to thirty unsolicited, potentially dangerous emails. Some seem almost legit and some seem blatantly perilous.

But now there is a way to find out where all this crap is coming from. This map, provided by Google, shows physical locations for malicious IP addresses that send out the inbox-clogging bullshit.

It's almost like a sex offender list. I think if these things ever move they should have to walk around the neighborhood and tell them they are spammers.

3D for the Masses!

Well, this pretty much explains itself.

Panasonic has released a consumer grade 3D camcorder for $1400 bucks and 3D lens for Lumix DSLRs.

The general gist: Blah Blah Blah, 3D camcorder. Blee bloo blah, 3D lens.

Middle america can now submit their drunken hijinks to America's Funniest Home Videos (season frakkin' 21!) in 3D!

New Mac Update Makes Me Want to Rob a Bank.

After another year of hibernation, Mac has souped up their line of wallet-shattering Pros. Gizzy talks about it here, but you can scope the new products directly here.

Granted you can't get one until August. But if you can't render CGI, process RAW photos, download new Adobe software and look at Daily Puppy at the same time, you might want to think about getting one.

They start at $5000. I'm not even sure my car is worth that. If you spec it out enough it can run you close to $30,000. I'm positive my car isn't worth that. One thunderstorm and/or a glass of Cabernet later...

At any rate, if you're just looking for a new workhorse you might just want to wait until the end of the year when Mac is expected to quietly upgrade the Macbook Pro to include a 1 Tb hard drive to go with its already sexy i7 processor, who look to be bumped up to 2.8GHz as well.

Avoid Cable Money Traps

Yet another article on Giz about avoiding higher priced cables, though this time it's about audio cables. In the past there have been some postings about how much of a rip-off Monster Cables are. It's true. If you went to Best Buy and bought a 8-foot HDMI cable it would set you back a whopping $130.

Before you do, I want you to think of all the things you could possibly get with $130 USD. Think of it as a moment of Home Theatre Zen.

OK, back?

Go here. Less than a dollar a foot. Scared about quality? Don't be. Also, grow a pair. I've had my cables from these guys for over two years and they're still great. Additionally, Firefold has all sorts of tech related deals as well as some awesome miscellaneous grabs. Take a look around.