That’s right: I’m now 3D-printable.

This 3MB file is all you need to download and print my head on your own rapid prototyping machine. Why not add rabbit ears or a longer nose? Why not give me pustules or place me on the hood of your old Ford Fairmont. Why not use me in a puppet play that is a weird and obtuse commentary on the banality of human existence. Why not use me as a sex toy? I’m game.

I’m not sure how I feel right now about this, but it’s a fascinating exercise. To think that my profile can eventually be printed in life size and/or an android mask can be made in my visage is humbling and a little scary. Why me? Why now? Why am I so puffy?

I can’t answer these questions, friends. But the future is here.

What’s interesting is that neither one of the companies but a government-backed investment fund will take a major stake in the new entity, which is expected to be established by the end of this year. That fund, Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, will likely control 70-80% of the entity, according to Japanese business daily The Nikkei (the rest will be shared between Sony and Toshiba).

Toshiba Mobile Display and Sony Mobile Display will cease to exist, and the yet to be named entity will compete with Sharp, the Hitachi-Foxconn alliance, and others in the global small LCD panel market.

Another interesting point is that the Sony-Toshiba move is aimed at getting both companies ready for a post-LCD future: the new entity is supposed to streamline all future R&D in OLED technology by the Sony and Toshiba. So far, big S and big T have been developing OLEDs separately, but they are far behind Samsung, the current global leader in that market.

Acer today announced the addition of three new notebooks to its Aspire TimelineX family of products: the 13.3-inch 3830T, the 14-inch 4830T and the 15.6-inch 5830T. All three notebooks tout Dolby Home Theater v4 audio, and are powered by second-gen Intel Core i5 and i3 processors with Turbo Boost. Models with integrated graphics should see up to nine hours of battery life, and those with integrated graphics will get up to eight hours. Acer claims that the batteries in these notebooks have a life-cycle of up to four years.

Watching movies, TV, and video on these bad boys should be a treat, thanks to the addition of Dolby Home Theater v4 audio and the notebooks’ built-in 3DSonic Stereo speakers, as well as support for HDMI 1080p output. Or, if you opt not to use an external source, you can still get pretty good video quality over the TimelineX models’ HD Widescreen CineCrystal LED-backlit display at 1366×768 pixels of resolution.

In terms of hardware, the Acer Aspire TimelineX notebooks measure about an inch thick across all three models, and sport a USB 3.0 port for quick and easy transfers. Plus, that USB port can charge any USB-supported devices without the notebook ever booting up. The new Acer notebooks also feature an HD webcam with 1280×1024 resolution, with a built-in digital microphone for clear video chat. All three new models have 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi support, and many configurations of the hardware include Bluetooth support.

The 13-inch model (3830T) weighs 4.12 pounds, where as the 4830T and 5830T weight 4.88 pounds and 5.6 pounds respectively. However, the 14-inch and 15.6-inch models sport integrated DVD drives and feature a dedicated numeric keypad.

Software pre-loaded on the hat trick of new technology from Acer includes Windows Home 7, along with extras such as Nook for PC, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Reader, WildTangent Demo Games, Skype, and Norton Online Backup. Microsoft Office 2010 will also come pre-loaded on the notebooks, but will require online purchase before use.

The new Acer Aspire TimelineX 3830T, 4830T, and 5830T are available now at U.S. retailers, with models starting at $599.99.

Unfortunately, Toshiba is only making 100 of them, and they’re already reserved for disaster victims. They don’t expect to sell them to consumers, I’m guessing because they’d actually be quite expensive. Bright OLED panel, high-capacity battery pack, solar charging? This ain’t your daddy’s desk lamp.

Too bad, but good for Toshiba. By the way, if you want to donate, you still can.

[via CNET]

The Kindle Wi-Fi with offers costs $114, twenty dollars less than the Wi-Fi Nook. Both are available now.

Product Page

After all, Samsung abandoned the Pentile display found in Galaxy S phones, a display I personally found problematic, noting the jagged edges and visible pixels in my review. But at an effective 300 pixels per inch, will those artifacts even be visible? Samsung seems confident, also touting the lower power requirements and higher brightness levels.

Whether the screen is better or not can really only be determined in person, though — and they’re going to be on display next week in LA. We’ll have more on the topic then, but for now let’s just cross our fingers. If it works, it could be the makings of that Retina iPad we heard rumors of — or else Samsung could just keep it for itself.

More information and a “comparison” tool (that really doesn’t do Pentile any favors) can be found here.

Last year, we heard Canon was vaguely planning on getting into the M4/3 camera market. More recently Canon Europe’s head of consumer imaging, Rainer Fuehres, said that Canon has no need to enter the mirrorless compact system (CSC) segment.

Canon Europe head of consumer imaging Rainer Fuehres says “The idea of the compact system camera is nothing to do with whether the camera has a mirror or not, but about creating a small and more portable system. If Canon does take part I hope we won’t introduce just a me-too product, but we’ll use the opportunity to do something different. For Canon it would be about connectivity and providing high image quality in a small form.”

It hasn’t been ruled out that Canon will introduce a CSC. Fuehres indicated that if it were to happen it would only be because Canon could do it in a different manner.

[via electronista]

Here’s the short version, but watch the video below to get the info straight from the Mighty Eagle himself!

• Reached 100 million downloads
• Angry Birds Rio arrives March 22
• Raised 42 million in Series A funding…
• Social game launching in May
• Sold 2 million Angry Birds plush toys
• Movie, TV deals possibly coming soon
• Rovio Books
• Payments platform is moving along as planned

Would you buy a toy fish that flew in the air wagging its tail as if it were swimming? If you answered yes, then check this out: it’s called Air Swimmers. Air Swimmers consist of a helium-filled balloon with motorized fins that flap in the air. From the video you can see it looks pretty cool and the ‘swimming’ doesn’t look too bad either. One battery in the fish, three in the remote, and the bag of helium should last a few weeks.

They’ll be about $40 when they come out in July.