LG, Samsung spelling the end of 3D televisions

Two of the world's biggest TV makers -- LG and Samsung -- are apparently ready to start progressively phasing out production of new 3D televisions in the future, reports South Korean news site ET News, essentially signing the death warrant of 3D technology in the consumer market.
A total of 40 per cent of LG's TVs made in 2015 came with 3D functionality. This could drop to 20 per cent in 2016, before being cut further. In fact, the manufacturer may keep 3D for premium models only in future TV ranges. Samsung's decision is apparently even more drastic, with reports of no new TVs getting 3D technology. However, neither LG nor Samsung has yet confirmed these claims.
Since the first models launched in 2010, 3D TVs have struggled to win over consumers, put off by the need for special equipment that's costly and not necessarily compatible from one brand to the next. Plus, the hassle of wearing 3D glasses and the eye strain they can cause soon curbed the public's enthusiasm for 3D TV, despite its innovative nature.
With the choice of available content slowly dwindling, the end of 3D TV won't come as a surprise to some. After the initial enthusiasm, buoyed by the 2010 movie "Avatar," interest in the format seems to have waned.

Other types of TV technology have proved more appealing in the consumer market, pushing 3D out of the limelight. Manufacturers now prefer investing time and effort in chasing pixels, with the arrival of ultra-high definition (4K), or enhancing image quality with OLED or developing their own smart TV platforms.
Today, 3D has become the realm of Virtual Reality (VR) headsets. This emerging sector makes it possible to explore three-dimensional environments with no need for a compatible TV set. It remains to be seen whether 3D entertainment will prove more successful in this new immersive form. Currently, Facebook, Microsoft and Google all have VR headsets in the works.

Virtual reality set to transform filmmaking

Chris Milk stepped onto a TED Conference stage and took the audience on an awe-inducing trip into the future of movies. While much of the early attention on virtual reality has focused on use of the immersive technology in video games, Milk and his US startup Vrse are using it to transform storytelling and filmgoing. "We have just started to scratch the surface of the true power of virtual reality," Milk said. "It's not a video game peripheral. It connects humans to other humans in a profound way... I think virtual reality has the potential to actually change the world." He had everyone in the Vancouver audience at TED , which ended Friday, hold Google Cardboard viewers to their eyes for what was billed as the world's collective virtual reality experience. Google Cardboard gear is literally that -- cardboard

Explained: Camera Improvements in the New HTC 10

With the HTC 10, the Taiwanese company is promising to undo the past wrongs in the cameras of its previous flagship phones. The camera has long a weak point in HTC devices. At first, HTC sacrificed image resolution in the M8 and made the size of individual pixels larger to capture more light (what HTC called Ultrapixel). But the resulting 4 megapixel images were often fuzzy, especially when cropped or enlarged. To fix the issue, in its next flagship - the M9 - HTC went with smaller individual pixels in a 20-megapixel camera last year, but it still underperformed in extreme situations, such as indoors and close-ups. In the HTC 10, the company attempts to strike a balance with larger individual pixels (1.55µm), but not as large as before and a 12 megapixel sensor in its camera coupled with a ƒ/1.8 lens. HTC accepts that in the imaging performance in the M9 was not up to the kind of spec of what they really like to see in a flagship. HTC is giving a slight boost to the selfi...

Freedom 251: 30,000 Units Sold, Components for Up to 2.5 Million Will Be Imported

Ringing Bells, the makers of the Rs. 251 smartphone - the Freedom 251 - confirmed to Gadgets 360 on Tuesday that it has still only accepted payments for 30,000 units of the phone. It also added that the components for these phones will be imported, and only assembled in India, not made here. Ringing Bells stopped accepting orders on February 19, and claims to have received over 70 million registrations. The company President and Director both repeatedly stated that the price of the phone would be made possible through economies of scale, and making the phone in India to cut out import costs. Economies of scale? However, in a discussion with Gadgets 360 the company revealed that it had only sold 30,000 units of the phone on day one. The company has now confirmed that it has not sent out the payment emails to anyone else who registered - "we were working out details of cash on delivery, which we are announcing now, so we will be sending emails to the first 2.5...

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