Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts

IBM's Watson: Now for 'Top Chef'?



Watson in his "Jeopardy" days.



(Credit:
IBM/YouTube; screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)


Great chefs are crazy.


There are many kinds of crazy. Some of these culinarians rant, rave, and spit fire and brimstone. Some pore over their ingredients like scientists: quiet, brooding, and deeply serious.


All believe they can create their own particular gastronomic dreams, ones nobody else can copy. Especially not a computer.


IBM thinks different.


Having seen its Watson computer crush mere humans at the trivial game of "Jeopardy," the company is now setting the machine's sights on bigger business.


According to The New York Times, the world of haute cuisine is one in which IBM would like to make a robotic incursion.



Indeed, Watson has already put a tiny part of his mind into creating something called the Spanish Crescent.


This breakfast pastry comprised cocoa, saffron, black pepper, almonds, and honey -- but not butter. Oh, yes, Watson is a very California chef.



More Technically Incorrect



This little pastry was served only to insiders. And the cooks who had to execute it had to battle with the idea of using vegetable oil rather than butter.


So one can only imagine what the exalted palates of chefs like Jose Andres, Eric Ripert, and "Top Chef"'s Tom Colicchio might make of Watson's recipes.


However, what if the Watson name was put behind a restaurant concept? Wouldn't that be something that would fascinate?


Imagine the restaurant's interior design. There'd be servers all around the room. Large, lumpy computers, that is.


As for human servers, perhaps there'd be little need. Perhaps you'd just order on an
iPad and the food would shoot up from below your table on a futuristic dumbwaiter.


And the food at Chez Watson? His handlers believe one of Watson's great strengths is to know very quickly what the wrong answers are.


So one can only hope that he would create inventive but wonderful combinations that would then be executed by compliant cooks who would bow to his HALness.


One can also hope that Chez Watson would get a better review in The New York Times than did Guy Fieri's American Kitchen & Bar In Times Square.


But in case it didn't, IBM's engineers have already taken precautions. They discovered earlier this year that Watson had memorized the Urban Dictionary. Like so many chefs, he had a proclivity for profanity, which has now been dampened.


So Chez Watson's kitchen will be, in every sense, pristine.


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Kick a Soccket soccer ball, power an LED lamp



Soccket ball

You'll get a kick out of energy generation with Soccket.



(Credit:
Uncharted Play)


Portable generators just got a lot more fun with the introduction of the Soccket, an energy-harnessing soccer ball raising funds on Kickstarter. Kick the ball around, play, and have a good time. When you're done, connect an LED lamp into a port built into the ball, and light up your night.


Playing with the Soccket for 30 minutes can power an LED lamp for 3 hours. For those of us fortunate enough to have reliable electrical grids, the Soccket isn't the most necessary object in the world. For people in developing countries without many lighting options, however, it could be a fun and functional option for providing light for working or doing homework in the evening.




A pendulum-like mechanism inside the ball captures kinetic energy and stores it in a rechargeable battery. The ball is made of foam so it won't deflate. It also only weighs about an ounce more than a regular soccer ball.


The Kickstarter project is offering backers a Soccket ball and matching LED lamp for $99. The Soccket has already been prototyped and put into small-scale production. The goal of the fundraising is to scale up production. Uncharted Play, the company behind Soccket, says it will introduce a USB adapter if funding is succesful. That's the logical next step for this kickin' creation: power more types of devices.



Soccket with lamp

After playing, the Soccket can power a light.



(Credit:
Uncharted Play)


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Buy your ticket for the new Titanic (no iPads, thanks)



Icebergs be damned.



(Credit:
Clive Palmer)


Tempting fate is a very human pastime. We know it will all end badly sooner or later, so why not see whether we can skirt the edge of disaster and experience how it feels?


Such an impulse will surely drive many to book an early ticket on Titanic II.


No, this is not another Donald Trump project. It is, instead, the idea of Clive Palmer, an Australian mining tycoon known for his dreamy qualities.



He once suggested that Greenpeace was funded by the CIA. He erected a 26-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex at his Coolum golf course, home of this year's (but not next year's) Australian PGA Championship.


So the idea of a new Titanic seems entirely sensible.


As USA Today reports, Palmer showed off the plans for the new ship this week and promised it would be a "full-scale re-creation."


He also insisted that "the Titanic II will be the ship where dreams come true."


This is the height of salesmanship for the successor to an original that offered more than its fair share of customer disappointment.



More Technically Incorrect



Naturally, the ship will have a few more modern conveniences than its predecessor. There are to be Turkish baths, a gym, a swimming pool, and casino among other attractions on its 883 feet of length.


Yet there is a curiously anti-technological bent to Palmer's intentions.


Firstly, there will no TVs. Stunningly, there will "probably" be no Internet.


What sort of human being can survive without their iPads or Galaxy S3s on a voyage that might be their last?


I say this not to suggest that this ship will be anything other than seaworthy, but to suggest that the average age of those who go on cruises may be quite elevated.


Still, Twitter is bubbling with excitement about this vessel, which ought to be ready to sail in 2016.


The #Titanic II hashtag bristles with anticipation.


Some, though, offer sobering thoughts. Tom Crabtree, for example, tweets: "I'm going to build an exact replica of the iceberg that sank the Titanic and follow the Titanic II around for awhile."


And The Daily Candy cannot resist getting in on the dampening act, tweeting: "All aboard 'Titanic II'? Hopefully, it's not run by Carnival."


This is a rather priggish reminder of the tribulations endured recently by those who sailed on the presciently named Carnival Triumph.


I am confident that Palmer's vision will make this project smooth sailing.


I look forward to the launch campaign featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet lounging on the deck and a new Celine Dion song called "Your Heart Will Stop. But Only Temporarily."


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What is the Eicar testfile?



When Apple updates its XProtect anti-malware system in OS X with new definitions, it often means a new or updated threat has been found for OS X.


Earlier this morning, Apple issued an update to XProtect, which now includes a new definition for a malware package called "OSX.eicar.com.i," that comes from Eicar.com. This update suggests the new definitions are for a novel malware package, but this is not so with this latest update.


"Eicar" stands for the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research, which is a group that investigates malware and security issues, and maintains an anti-malware test file for testing various antivirus utilities. The testfile is a simple text file called "eicar.com" that contains the following ASCII string, which when saved and scanned with antivirus utilities, should show a positive result for malware:


X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

This ASCII string is actually a DOS program that should print out the string "EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!" when run on a DOS system.




XProtect update showing Eicar definitions

The new XProtect update includes definitions for OSX.eicar.com.i.



(Credit:
Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)


This test file is just one of many out there, which are generated by security companies to allow people to more safely test their software without using true malware.


Are definitions for the testfile needed?
The file is intended to serve as a test for antivirus utilities without the need to pass live threats back and forth between systems. Many security software vendors create such files for checking their software, as doing so is far safer than issuing live malware packages to be detected on a test system.


Since the file is simply a test, having definitions to single it out are not needed by a system like Apple's XProtect. However, having the definitions available do allow a user to run the testfile through the XProtect system and see if the system is running properly. The file is ultimately available to be detected, so even though having static definitions for the file itself bypass any behavioral analysis features, it does serve to show XProtect is active and working.




XProtect detecting Eicar test file

If you download the "eicar.com" file from the Eicar Web site and try to open it, you will be met with an XProtect error that warns you of potential harm.



(Credit:
Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)


Therefore, if you download the file from the Eicar Web site and try to open it in a program like TextEdit, XProtect will prevent you from doing so and issue a warning that the file will harm your system. Even though this is an incorrect assessment, it shows that XProtect is able to see the file, associate definitions to it, and properly block it from being opened.




Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or !
Be sure to check us out on Twitter and the CNET Mac forums.


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Countdown begins for Galaxy S4 reveal


Monday's CNET Update does it with stylus:


Countdown begins for Galaxy S4 reveal



The mother of all mobile trade shows, Mobile World Congress, kicked off in Barcelona. Today's video roundup highlights the buzz over Samsung, WebOS and a new way to talk to your phone:

- Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S4 on March 14

- Visa's mobile payment program will be built into the Galaxy S4

- More on MasterCard's mobile payment plan, MasterPass

- First impressions of the Galaxy Note 8 tablet

- Samsung HomeSync to rival Apple TV

- WebOS lives in future LG smart TVs

- HP tries tablets again with the Slate 7

- Indigo is a Siri-like app for multiple platforms

Watch CNET Update in the video above, and subscribe to the podcast via the links below.

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Nvidia Tegra 4 supercharges smartphones (hands-on video)



See the Nvidia Tegra 4 (and 4i) in action




BARCELONA, Spain--Nvidia's latest mobile processor, the Tegra 4, and its little brother, the Tegra 4i, will soon be turning up in all manner of smartphones and tablets. I went hands-on with some of Nvidia's reference devices at Mobile World Congress and found the new silicon to deliver some impressive results.


Like the Tegra 3 chip before it, the Tegra 4 is a quad-core processor with a fifth power-saving core for less intense tasks. Based on ARM's latest Cortex A-15 platform, it boasts a faster clock speed and a whopping 72 GPU cores -- that's six times the graphics grunt offered by the Tegra 3 chips.


There aren't currently any devices running the new chips, but Nvidia had some reference
tablets to show it off. I booted up the Geekbench 2 benchmark test on one of the 1080p slates and was quickly given the superb score of 4,166. By comparison, Google's Nexus 7, running the Tegra 3 chip, achieved 1,536 -- and that's far from sluggish.


I was shown the game Zombie Driver, too. It's been optimized for the Tegra 4 chip, making full use of dynamic, real-time shadows and high-definition graphics on the 1080p display. It seemed to run extremely smoothly with high frame rates that will no doubt keep casual gamers satisfied.



That sort of power will typically have a huge drain on battery life, but Nvidia reckons it's able to be surprisingly sparing with the juice. Indeed, I saw a phone running a high-definition video clip on a 1080p display that was generating around 900 milliwatts of power -- around 25 percent less than the typical smartphone. We'll see how those figures really stack up when we get finished products in our hands.


The Tegra 4i is the little brother to full-fat Tegra 4. It packs in fewer GPU cores, but still boasts the four-plus-one CPU, delivering up to 2.3GHz clock speeds. Unlike the super-elite Tegra 4, the 4i is aimed more toward the midrange market. I wasn't allowed to touch the Pheonix reference phone, but the glossy game Real Boxing certainly looked impressive. Perhaps not enough to challenge consoles, but certainly better than you'd expect from most current phones.


The Tegra 4 chip is due to make its appearance in devices from the second quarter of this year -- so far, ZTE has announced it will use it -- with the Tegra 4i arriving toward the end of the year. As well as a whole slew of
Android phones and tablets, Nvidia tentatively mentioned it will also appear in Windows RT slates. With its increased speed, it's likely the next wave of RT devices will have the power to challenge even today's low- to midrange laptops.


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Was a texting pilot behind JFK runway fail?



Texting? Or just trouble getting a signal?



We all know that we shouldn't use our cell phones while driving.


Yes, of course we do it anyway, but always with a tinge of guilt.


Surely, though, few would take that same cavalier attitude if they were piloting a plane. Somehow, one imagines that this task requires a little more concentration, amid the prospect of even more serious danger.


Yet it seems that one pilot of a small charter plane may have needed -- or perhaps merely wanted -- to use his cell phone while he was taxiing toward takeoff on Thursday evening.


As it happens, he wasn't wafting along the slipways of some tiny regional airport in Alberta. No, he was at JFK.




More Technically Incorrect



As NYC Aviation reports, its information suggests he was taxiing across the active Runway 31R on taxiway Echo.


He was at the controls of a Swearingen SA226-AT Merlin IV.


The result, one suspects, incited a little swearing. For he plowed into ground lights, damaging the plane's propellers. (NYC Aviation has the pictures.)


The FAA is reportedly investigating the incident, which allegedly caused the runway to be closed for two hours.


I confess I've never heard of a pilot being involved in an accident while using a cell phone.


In this case, it isn't clear whether he was allegedly talking or texting.


Some small part of me hopes that he was texting, as this would prove that no one is immune from the peculiar temptation of typing and chatting while you're supposed to be doing something far more important.


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The 404 1,213: Where Sphere says no to Yes to the Dress (podcast)

Sphere's Law of Recurring Subject Matter argues that, given enough time, all conversations with Steve Guttenberg will inevitably become audiocentric. As usual, The Audiophiliac brings a ransom list of talking points today, including Spotify robbing musicians, Benford's law, Say Yes to the Dress, and a Monoprice controversy.

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Egypt accused of crowdsourcing censorship



The film has incited riots all over the Arab world.



(Credit:
Russia Today/YouTube; screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)


The Web has made it hard to censor things.


Principally because it is both so open and so Byzantine that there are simply so many things out there for a budding censor to sink his opprobrium into.


I can remember when I lived in Singapore and my NFL VHS's -- mailed to me from Switzerland -- were pored over by men and women with extremely sharp eyes and ears that became highly attuned to the sound of John Madden saying "Boom!"


So imagine how much hard work the world's online censors are having to do.


Egypt has reportedly come up with an idea to solve this problem. It comes from our most modern thoughts and times. It is called crowdsourcing.



More Technically Incorrect



Indeed, Fast Company is reporting that the country's National Telecommunications Registry Agency is encouraging ordinary citizens to register any instances of blasphemy that they might encounter.


This is in conjunction with the outrage over the film "The Innocence of Muslims" and consists of simply indicating the URL of an allegedly blasphemous site, in order for officials to review it.


A few days ago, there were reports that the Egyptian government was trying to shut down YouTube over copies of this movie that were circulating on the site.


The odd thing about "The Innocence of Muslims" is that hardly anyone has actually seen it and everything that seems to surround it -- from its dubious director to the actors who claim they had no idea what the movie really was -- reeks of a very bad scene from "Wag The Dog."


Still, this is hardly the first time the principle of crowdsourcing government action has been witnessed.


Ordinary citizens have often been encouraged to participate in keeping their nations free of whatever their government deemed was deleterious.


The Web merely makes governments believe that more citizens will participate.


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Cell phone germs as art: Gross or gorgeous?



Ick? Actually, this cell phone appears to be one of the cleaner of the bunch.



(Credit:
Simon Park/University of Surrey)


It's not news that cell phones harbor bacteria, but there's a difference between knowing that about your device and seeing the germs up close in all their furry, florid glory.

Molecular biology undergraduates at the U.K.'s University of Surrey recently got a stark view of just how much bacteria crawls their phones when instructor Simon Park had them imprint them onto petri dishes filled with a bacteriological growth medium and wait a few days to see what bloomed.




Spoiler alert: The experiment turned up lots of bugs, though Park says most of the bacteria were harmless varieties normally found on the skin. Disease-carrying bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus were also found, however.


"The ecological niche on the body for Staphylococcus aureus is the nostrils, so a furtive pick of the nose, and quick text after, and you end up with this pathogen on your smartphone," Park told Wired.co.uk.

Park -- who dabbles in all sorts of microphotography of natural phenomena -- describes himself as a "poet scientist who works with living matter in order to explore the inherent creativity of the natural world and to reveal its subtle, and usually hidden, narratives."

Indeed, it's as if each bacteria-covered cell phone tells its own story. Click through the gallery below to see what tales they have to tell.




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Russian meteorite fragments pop up for sale online



This little guy once packed enough of a punch to shatter a city's windows.



(Credit:

eBay/danieldeffo)


Capitalism is certainly alive and well in today's Russia, as demonstrated by the growing number of attempts to cash in on the recent and much-recorded (thanks to the help of ubiquitous Russian dashboard cams) meteor strike in Siberia.


The meteor that broke up over the city of Chelyabinsk while also producing a window-shattering sonic boom and momentarily outshining the sun has become a cash cow for many opportunistic folks now offering up purported fragments of the space stone on eBay and elsewhere online.


One eBay item that has already sold advertises quarter-size "samples from the scene of a meteorite" for $200 a pop.


That's got to make plenty of Russians thankful that the technology to vaporize rogue asteroids wasn't quite ready for action last week.


If $200's a little costly for your blood, the current bid on a handful of pebble-size pieces of the meteor allegedly composed of "stone and chondrite" is only $76.



After the meteor streaked across the sky, apparently crashing into a frozen lake more than 50 miles from Chelyabinsk, it was reported that thousands of people fanned out across the region looking for fragments and other evidence of impact.


It should go without saying that meteorite collectors should exercise a little bit of caveat emptor here, as it would be nearly impossible to verify that any spacey-looking rock is actually from the great Russian meteor of 2013 before making a purchase online.

With prices rising into the thousands of dollars for some larger chunks of the meteorite, it's a likely target for online fraudsters. And if anyone offers to throw in some great deals on Viagra or Cialis with your meteorite purchase, you'll definitely want to shop elsewhere.


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Sony trims Vita price, adds new color





In Japan, gamers can now choose from silver, white, black, red, and blue PS Vitas.



(Credit:
Sony Computer Entertainment Japan)


With a little less than 48 hours to go before the world gets a glimpse at the PlayStation 4, there's some news for the PS Vita coming out of Japan today.


Sony announced that the company lowered and equalized the price point for the Wi-Fi and 3G/Wi-Fi-versions of the PS Vita to 19,980 yen ($212) from 24,980 yen ($265) and 29,980 yen ($319), respectively. Sony didn't carry the announcement over to the U.S., but it's possible that the company may use a portion of its
PlayStation event in New York on February 20 to announce a similar price cut.




Naturally, those prices depend on currency conversions and don't represent the effect of a Vita price cut in the States, which could see prices for the handheld fall to $199 or less.


In related news, Sony introduced a new color, Ice Silver, for the PS Vita. The Wi-Fi-only gaming device features the same innards as a regular Vita and hits Japan on February 28.


These announcements came way by a video feed shown to Japanese consumers today. The video contained many previews for upcoming Vita titles, including highly-anticipated role-playing games such as Valhalla Knights 3, Eiyuu Densetsu: Sen no Kiseki, Dragon's Crown, and several others.


This long-awaited preview of Final Fantasy X HD for Vita generated a lot of buzz:



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The making of Bungie's Halo successor: Destiny



Halo's Master Chief watches over Bungie headquarters in Bellevue, Wash.



(Credit:
Bungie)


BELLEVUE, Wash.--Halo, the multibillion-dollar-grossing video game franchise, set an incredibly high bar for its creator, Bungie, to meet with its next title.

"After Halo, a bunch of us thought, 'What comes next?'" Bungie co-founder Jason Jones told a group of journalists visiting Bungie's Bellevue, Wash., headquarters Wednesday.

Jones and Bungie's leadership, who sold the company to Microsoft in 2000 and then spun it out of the software giant in 2007, wanted to find a project worthy of the groundbreaking work in Halo. They wanted to come up with not just a new game, but a new model for gaming, something that could change the way gamers play.

Jones thinks Bungie's Destiny is exactly that. Destiny is something of a first-person shooter with bits of massively multiplayer online role-playing gaming mixed in. Bungie, which has kept mum about the title while gamer sites fulminated for the last two years about what it might be, is beginning to rev up the hype machine for its next title.

Eric Hirschberg, the chief executive of Activision, which will publish Destiny, said the game defied typical genres, giving it a new one -- "shared-world shooter." Even so, there are plenty of parallels with the Halo franchise, particularly that you're still shooting up aliens. Players guard the last city on Earth, while exploring the ruins of the solar system, moving from Mars to Venus, in order to defeat Earth's enemies.

One of the big differences this time is that the game is a persistent online universe, where players come across others, matched to their skills. They're encouraged to work together to rout evil, visit new worlds, and earn rewards.

"This is one of those areas (collaborating with strangers) where I was most skeptical," said Hirschberg, whose company has also published such franchises as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.


Bungie concept art for its next game, Destiny.



(Credit:
Bungie)

But gamers don't have go through the awkward dance of hooking up in a lobby before setting out on their adventure. They naturally come across allies and, if Bungie and Activision succeed, feel entirely comfortable teaming up with complete strangers to set out on the next adventure. While Bungie didn't share how those interactions come about, it could be similar, perhaps, to the wildly popular indie title Journey for the Playstation 3, which did away with the premise of playing with your friends in favor of encountering others randomly.

"It almost feels scripted," Hirschberg said.

Gamers also will be able to play solo. But Bungie Chief Operating Officer Pete Parsons said the goal for Bungie is to get gamers working together.

"If you want to do it yourself, that's totally OK," Parsons said. "We want to slope the floor and prove to you that there are a bunch of cool things you can do with others."

One thing gamers won't be able to do is play Destiny without an Internet connection, a bold move for the console gaming crowd that expects to be able to play offline. Even so, Activision has no plans to charge subscription fees to play the game. And while he wouldn't talk about a release day, Hirshberg told analysts on the company's earnings call earlier this month that the new Bungie game was not factored into the company's 2013 guidance, implying that the game won't likely arrive until 2014. It will be available on both the
Xbox and Playstation platforms.

Bungie showed no game play during the presentation and gave little detail about how far along the development actually is. Instead, executives talked in sweeping themes about the new universe Bungie created, while highlighting production art, engineering details, and some of the music in its plans for its first post-Halo effort.

It's not just the first time Bungie has talked about the new game; it's really the first time Bungie has given a glimpse into its post-Microsoft life. Two years ago, the company moved from Kirkland, Wash., to an old movie theater and bowling alley in the Bellevue Galleria retail complex. It rebuilt the site, adding a theater, a fireplace, and a climbing wall. Bungie also added a motion-capture studio dubbed Spandex Palace, as well as a massive production floor where 280 of the companies 360 employees work on game development and design.

It's one of those new-age workplaces, where every desk has wheels, so that teams can be reconfigured on the fly as problems or opportunities emerge. The floor has a neon blue glow and is eerily quiet as the crew develops Destiny. Nothing on the floor is more than 6-feet high, so that everyone can see where the action is, where they might be needed. "This is a great space for making a great universe," Bungie's Parsons said.


The main production space at Bungie's Bellevue, Wash., headquarters.



(Credit:
Bungie)

There's little doubt, when you walk in the door at Bungie, that this is the company that Halo built. A giant Master Chief, the hero of that series, stands watch in the hallway. And a massive trophy case, brimful of awards for the Halo series, with a few other titles sprinkled in, greets every visitor.

The company is focused solely on Destiny now. The Halo franchise is now entirely handled by Microsoft Studios. And Bungie has cast its lot with Activision.

Last year, the Los Angeles Times dug out details of the deal with Activision from a legal dispute between the publisher and Call of Duty developers Jason West and Vincent Zampella. Activision's contract with Bungie, unsealed in that suit, calls for Bungie to develop four "sci-fantasy, action shooter games," under the code-name Destiny, released every other year, starting in the fall of 2013. The deal also called for Bungie to release four downloadable expansion packs every other year starting in the fall of 2014.

Under the terms of that contract, which may have been modified since it was unsealed, Bungie was to receive royalties of 20 percent to 35 percent of operating income from the game. Activision was also to pay Bungie $2.5 million a year in bonuses between 2010 and 2013 for meeting quality and budget milestones. And the deal called for Activision to pay Bungie $2.5 million if the first Destiny game scores 90 or higher on GameRankings.com.

The executives didn't address the unsealed contract, except for a few passing quips during a question and answer session. But there's little doubt that much is riding on Destiny for both companies.

And Bungie is putting its resources, much more considerable now with its Activision partnership, behind the new title. Its audio director, Marty O'Donnell, is working with Paul McCartney on the music for Destiny. O'Donnell played a few of the pieces recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London with a 106-piece orchestra and a choir of more than 40 singers.

O'Donnell, whose music is as responsible for the tone of Halo as the graphics and gameplay itself, gushed about collaborating with McCartney. Rather than dictate the way a piece should work, McCartney has shared ideas with O'Donnell and left it up to him how the final arrangements should work.

"He said, 'Some of my melodies, some of your spooky bits, it's going to be great,'" O'Donnell said. "So far, he's been really happy with it."



Bungie Audio Director and Computer Marty O'Donnell



(Credit:
Bungie)


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Microsoft job post gives more info about 'Windows Blue'




If there's any doubt that the Windows client team is laser-focused on the coming Blue refresh of Windows 8, a new Microsoft job post makes it even plainer.


A February 15 post for a software development engineer in test on the Microsoft Careers site (to which Charon at Ma-config.com alerted me), mentions "Windows Blue." According to that posting, the Core Experience team in Windows Sustained Engineering (WinSE) is involved in making improvements to the start screen, application lifecycle, windowing and personalization. Windows Blue will "build on and improve" these OS components, the posting says.


Here's an excerpt:


We're looking for an excellent, experienced SDET to join the Core Experience team in Windows Sustained Engineering (WinSE). The Core Experience features are the centerpiece of the new Windows UI, representing most of what customers touch and see in the OS, including: the start screen; application lifecycle; windowing; and personalization. Windows Blue promises to build and improve upon these aspects of the OS, enhancing ease of use and the overall user experience on devices and PCs worldwide."


Blue is the codename for the next wave of Windows-related operating system and services updates from Microsoft, according to my contacts. There will be a Blue update to
Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows Phone 8 and the Windows Services like Hotmail and SkyDrive -- all of which are slated to wash up in roughly the same timeframe, my sources have said. Last year, one tipster told me Microsoft was aiming to deliver Windows Blue around late summer 2013.


Blue isn't simply a fancy new name for a service pack. With Blue, Microsoft is working to transition to a more rapid update pace.


On the Windows and Windows Phone fronts, Blue is expected to include new features and even new programming interfaces designed to bring the different flavors of Windows closer together, from an app model/development model perspective. That said, it's not just Windows internals that will be updated with Blue. As the job posting above verifies, user interface and experience updates will be part of Blue, too.


Microsoft officials have declined to comment on Blue. It's unknown what Microsoft officially will name Blue once it's released, but it's likely to be positioned as a refresh to Windows 8, not a whole new version of Windows (like a Windows 9), I continue to hear.


By the way, there are plenty of mentions of "blue" on Microsoft's career site that have nothing to do with the coming Blue wave/refresh." Blue links," "blue screens" and "wavy blue lines" all show up -- and have nothing to do with the upcoming Blue refresh.



Update: @h0x0d (Walking Cat on Twitter) just found a Microsoft job reference to Windows Phone Blue, too. Here's his screen shot of it:



As he notes, there's also a reference to "Excel MX" in that job post. Excel MX is likely a not-yet-delivered, fully touch-optimized and Metro Style/Windows Store version of Excel -- similar to the OneNote MX and Lync MX versions of two of Microsoft's Office apps that are in the Windows Store now.


This story originally appeared on ZDNet under the headline "Microsoft job postings confirm more about Windows and Windows Phone Blue."


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The 404 1,208: Where we're a heartbeat away (podcast)





Leaked from today's 404 episode:


- Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn Google internship trailer debuts


- NY restaurant offers fake "homemade" meal to go for amateur chefs, pre-dirtied cookwear included.


- In high-tech Japan, the fax machines roll on.


- Most definitely the scariest Valentines day app around.


- Guns in movies: Find your favorites in the Internet Movie Firearms Database.


Bathroom break video: Jackie Chan - "Love Me"





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Bodum bounces clear into baking



Even with a clear transparent top, the Bodum stand mixer stands out.

Even with a clear transparent top, the Bodum stand mixer stands out.



(Credit:
Bodum)



Kitchen appliances for generations have been sleek, shiny things not designed to particularly appeal to our senses as much as to convey a sense of almost clinical utility. The hearth of the home, being what it is -- a place of warmth and sustenance -- has in recent years seen a growing trend of kitchen gear and gadgets being more colorful than shiny. Bright splashes of color appeal to a broad range of consumers, but sometimes it is the complete lack of color that offers something more.



The Bodum Bistro 5-Quart Capacity Electric Stand Mixer ($400) updates a kitchen classic with a modern design. Featuring a clear, transparent rounded top, the stand mixer adds an element of intrigue to a time-honored kitchen essential. True to Bodum's style, the body housing is rubber-sprayed and available in a variety of bright colors meant to add a unique texture into any kitchen.



Complete with a beater, a dough hook, and a whisk, the set of included attachments lets home bakers put the kitchen to good use. Considering the amount of baked goods that can be made with the one appliance, that could mean a lot of cookies and cake in the near future. How it stands up to the classic examples of stand mixers (read: the KitchenAid) remains to be seen, but those looking to bounce their kitchen in a new direction may want to take note.


Read More..

Bill Gates defends Bing and Windows 8



Bill Gate hearts Reddit.



(Credit:
Bill Gates)



Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told Reddit users today that Bing is a "better product" than Google and that Windows 8 is a "huge advance."


A Redditor asked the ridiculously wealthy philanthropist during a Reddit Q&A event, dubbed an an "ask me anything" session , "Do you guys really use Bing? I mean seriously..."


Gates respond and referenced Bing's campaign to prove that it produces results faster than Google search: "Seriously Bing is the better product at this point. Try the challenge. I am biased but the work to make Bing better has been amazing."


Gates also stuck to his guns when asked if
Windows 8 has failed. He responded that Windows 8 is "a huge advance for Windows which people will see even more as the great applications and hardware come out."


When a Redditor posted, "Windows 7 or Windows 8? Be honest Bill," Gates simply responded, "Higher is better."


In addition to keeping up his Microsoft loyalties, Gates discussed his personal life, philanthropy and other ideas on tech during the session, which lasted more than an hour. Gates also talked about his greatest product regret: WinFS, a database technology that never made it to market.



Although Gates is known for his contributions to technology, he let the Reddit community known early on that his full-time focus now is on the foundation he and his wife, Melinda Gates, started.


"Melinda and I believe that everyone deserves the chance for a healthy and productive life -- and so with the help of our amazing partners, we are working to find innovative ways to help people in need all over the world," he wrote in his introduction post under the handle thisisbillgates.


Gates won over Redditors quickly, answering questions swiftly and even responding to follow up questions. Of course, he was using a
Surface Pro, which he wrote "it is very nice," and "will come down in price over time and be pervasive."


He wouldn't say if he's ever owned a
Mac, but he did say that he has tried all of Apple's products "from time to time," and commented on his relationship with late Apple CEO Steve Jobs:

He and I respected each other. Our biggest joint project was the Mac where Microsoft had more people on the project than Apple did as we wrote a lot of applications. I saw Steve regularly over the years including spending an afternoon with him a few months before he tragically passed away...


When asked about the next big thing in tech, Gates talked about technology that helps you interact with computers:

Robots, pervasive screens, speech interaction will all change the way we look at "computers". Once seeing, hearing, and reading (including handwriting) work very well, you will interact in new ways..


Gates also shared his thoughts on the eradication of polio, leaving his kids a $10 million trust fund instead of a hundred million dollars and waiting for Spinal Tap to go back on tour. He added a dose of humor all along the way.


Before his session started, Gates posted an animation on YouTube answering three of the more popular questions he expected, including whether he would rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck.


Then, to bid the Redditors farewell, Gates linked to this meme:


Classy.


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Bang With Professionals goes out with a whimper



It was all over before it even began. So sad.



(Credit:
Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)


There is a sudden trend for casually obtained sex.


By "casually," I mean effortlessly, entirely without trying or even seeming to try.


The New York Times noticed it, describing how contemporary dating in New York is little more than the booking of an appointment.


Then along came "Bang with Friends," a site that, as a famous British ad campaign once held it, does exactly what it says on the tin. Or at least claims to.


Hot on its stilettos, there appeared Bang With Professionals, a site that decided to refine the casual sexual urges of the masses.


It claimed that it could "anonymously find co-workers ready to get more intimate with you."


It claimed it could do this by dipping into LinkedIn.


Some wondered whether there might be obstacles in this quest. One could imagine that LinkedIn might not have warmed to this attempt at bringing warm bodies together to make a fire.


And so it has proved. Bang With Professionals now has a notice on its home page, headlined: "We all had a good laugh."


The notice continued: "We all knew it was only a matter of time before our API key was revoked. Well, it just was! Don't worry, your data was safe all along. We just deleted all of the user ids and the only thing that will be left is this landing page."


One wonders about the proportions of disappointment versus relief that greeted this announcement.



More Technically Incorrect



You will feel as giddy as an administrative associate on their first day at work on Wall Street when I tell that LinkedIn issued a statement.


As reported by Computerworld, the company thought long and hard and decided that Bang With Professionals was "inconsistent with the goals of our developer program."


There's development. And then there's development.


The people behind Bang With Professionals want developers -- or even real, ordinary human beings -- to have hope.


They explain in their parting words that they garnered 73,281 visitors. And, to set up the site, they paid a mere $40 for stock images, $12 for a domain name, $5 for a Couldflare account and absolutely nothing for Appengine hosting.


You see, the Web makes business -- and sex -- very easy indeed.


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Parents appalled that school principal is sexy YouTube rapper



Junior High School 80, where the principal is El Siki.



(Credit:
Google Street View)


We all have an alter ego.


For some of us, it comes out when the drinks are flowing and the inhibitions have taken a vacation.


For Emmaneul Polanco, principal of Junior High School 80 in the Bronx, it comes out when he makes rap videos and posts them online, hangs out with comely ladies, and parties as a good rapper should -- at least if a report in the New York Daily News is to be believed.


According to the report, Polanco uses the name El Siki, and in music videos, he raps in Spanish about the things rappers like to rap about -- you know, pressing against other bodies, getting it on, and making love.


Subjects that, say, Elvis Presley broached more than once.


El Siki is seen dancing sexily. He is seen in seductive poses with women in evening wear.



Naturally, the minute some parents discovered his nighttime amusements, shock and rage filled the air.



More Technically Incorrect



As the Daily News reports it, that wonderful phrase "role model," has reared its features.


"Someone has to hold this guy accountable," Cecilia Donovan, the mother of a seventh-grader told the Daily News. "It's ridiculous what he's doing there."


It is, indeed, ridiculous.


We all, though, enjoy ridiculous pursuits on occasion.


Just as there are parents whose saucy nighttime games with the Radcliffes across the road might not meet with universal approval, so there are school principals who indulge their rapping tendencies.


What might also be pertinent is that no one seems sure when he made the videos or whether he is still pursuing his rapping career. (I've contacted Junior High School 80 for comment on the Daily News report and will update this post when I hear back.)


But the mere fact that these videos have been discovered on YouTube (I couldn't find any remaining when I searched, but the Daily News says it obtained them) has been enough for the school to investigate whether Polanco -- who has worked in public schools since 2003 -- is any better a role model than Charles Barkley.


Or even Gnarls Barkley.


Some might think the most important criterion might be how well he's doing as a school principal.


A naive thought, that.


Read More..

How we test: TVs



Go behind the curtain with David Katzmaier (left) and Ty Pendlebury, your friendly neighborhood TV geeks.


Did you know CNET reviews TVs by comparing them directly in a side-by-side lineup, after each has undergone a thorough calibration? Did you know that the main instrument we use to calibrate and measure those televisions costs about $28,000? Did you know that last year we reviewed and rated 54 individual TVs and revamped our ratings system to incorporate value?

Yes, I'm biased, but I consider CNET's TV reviews the best in the business. We've come up with a set of tools and procedures designed to arrive at unbiased results by utilizing industry-accepted video-quality evaluation tools, objective testing criteria, and trained experts. The goal is to tell you what TVs are better than others, and why. Here's the complete guide to how we do it, updated in anticipation of 2013's crop of new TVs.


Test environment and equipment


The most important piece of test equipment is a trained, expert eye. Test patterns and the latest gear are no substitute for a knowledgeable, keen-eyed evaluator with a background in reviewing similar types of TVs. CNET's TV reviewers, David Katzmaier and Ty Pendlebury, have extensive experience reviewing and calibrating displays, and perform all measurements and tests themselves.

Our main TV lab is a 1200-square-foot room where we set up our comparison lineups. A curtain can divide the room in half so we can set up two different, independently light-controlled lineups at the same time. Light control is a big deal for TV testing. We have blackout shades we keep down (resulting in complete darkness) for most tests, but we can also raise them to evaluate a TV's bright-room performance. The walls are painted black and the floor and ceiling are dark gray to minimize contamination from light and maximize background contrast.

Our primary mechanical test device is a Konica Minolta CS-2000 spectroradiometer (right; about $28,000), which replaced an older
CS-200 in June 2008. The CS-2000 improves upon the CS-200 in its capability to measure low-luminance sources, and is regarded as one of the most-accurate devices of its kind. It measures luminance and color from any type of display, including plasma, LCD and LED-based flat-panels, as well as projectors and even rear-projection TVs (if they return from the dead).

Here's a list of our other test equipment and hardware:

  • Current reference displays: A reference display provides the best baseline possible to compare various aspects of TV performance. CNET uses the Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-111FD, which as of early 2013 it still produces the best overall 2D picture quality we've tested. In 2013 we will also use the Panasonic TC-P65VT50 and Sharp Elite PRO-60X5FD for reference to compare to other high-end TVs, as well as the Samsung UN55ES8000 for 3D reference. We also use other lesser TVs as references for mid-range and budget lineups.


  • Quantum Data 780: A signal generator that outputs a variety of test patterns at various resolutions and formats, including all HDTV resolutions, 1080p and 3D, via HDMI. As of early 2013, this is the primary generator we use for calibration and evaluation.

  • AV Foundry
    VideoForge:
    Our secondary test pattern signal generator, with similar capabilities to the Quantum Data. Depending on the test we're performing, we may use it instead.

  • Key
    Digital 1x8 HDMI distribution amplifier, Key Digital 4x1 HDMI switch:
    This eight-output HDMI distribution amplifier/switch combo can send any of four HDMI sources (including 3D) to as many as eight displays simultaneously without any signal degradation. We use this setup for side-by-side comparison testing. There are two such combos in our lab, one for each comparison lineup.

  • Extron DA6 YUV A: A six-output component-video/RGBHV distribution amplifier that can send one SD or HD source to as many as six different displays simultaneously without any signal degradation. We use it primarily for side-by-side comparison testing of component-video.

  • Sony PlayStation 3 Slim: Blu-ray player (reference, 3D compatible). There are two PS3s in our lab, one for each comparison lineup.

  • Oppo DV-980H: DVD player

  • Motorola QIP7232 High-definition DVR for Verizon's FIOS service. In late 2012 we upgraded from DirecTV to FIOS, which provides better picture quality on most HD channels.

  • Monoprice, Amazon Basics and Key Digital HDMI cables (Reminder: All HDMI cables are the same.)
Here's a list of the reference and test software we use:
  • CalMAN 5 Ultimate by SpectraCal: This flexible software program controls both our spectroradiometer and signal generators via a laptop PC to aid in the calibration process. It provides a step-by-step procedure for adjusting TV picture controls, including advanced grayscale and color management, according to guidelines used by the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF). Every TV CNET reviews is calibrated prior to evaluation using this procedure, and the reports and many of the numeric evaluation results at the end of the review are generated by CalMAN.

  • Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics (Blu-ray): This test disc is a secondary source for the patterns used for calibration and evaluation.
  • HQV Benchmark (Blu-ray): Patterns from this disc are used to help evaluate video processing.
  • FPD Benchmark Software for Professional (Blu-ray): Patterns from this disc are used to evaluate motion resolution.

TV review samples and series reviews

Unless noted otherwise, CNET HDTV reviews are based on one reviewer's hands-on experience with a single particular sample of one model. While our experiences are usually representative of other samples with the same name by the same manufacturer, we can't always be sure of that since performance can vary somewhat from sample to sample--particularly if newer samples receive updated firmware, or if manufacturers make changes without updating the model name. We typically review models as quickly as possible, so we often receive early versions of firmware that are sometimes corrected later. However, we never review preproduction samples. All of the samples used in CNET HDTV reviews represent, as far as we can tell, shipping models. Sometimes a firmware update will have a direct effect on the performance of a television, and thus on its final review score. When this is the case and we're made aware of it--usually after a CNET reviewer or a reader finds a performance-related problem--we'll post related follow-up information in a note referenced in the review body.

It's worth noting that CNET obtains most of its review samples directly from manufacturers, typically by an editor asking a public relations representative for the desired model. This, unfortunately, can lead to manufacturers sending nonrepresentative samples, or even tampering with the units before they are sent, to help ensure more-positive reviews. If we spot a blatant case of tampering, we'll note it in the review, but we can't always prove it (and in case you're wondering, no, we've never spotted a case of tampering that we could prove enough to mention in a review). If a manufacturer cannot ship us a sample or doesn't want us to review a particular set, we sometimes buy the model in question ourselves.

TV makers generally group their models into series, which share identical features, styling, and specifications across multiple screen sizes. In 2009, CNET's TV reviews were expanded to cover other sizes in the series, not just the one size we typically review hands-on. While we don't test these other sizes directly, we feel that the performance-related remarks, as well as other portions of the review, apply closely enough to all sizes to warrant a "series review" approach. Even so, we are careful to check with the manufacturer to make sure there aren't any "odd" members of the series to which the review wouldn't apply. Check out our in-depth explanation for more.

Test procedure

We strive to consistently test all TVs we review using the procedure below. In cases where not all of the tests are followed, we'll note the missing items in the review.

Aside from the bright-room portion of the test (see below), all CNET HDTV reviews take place in a completely darkened environment. We realize that most people don't always watch TV in the dark, but we use a dark environment ourselves for a number of reasons. Most importantly, darkness eliminates the variable of light striking the TV's screen, which can skew the appearance of the image. It makes differences in image quality easier to spot, especially perceived black-level performance, which is severely affected by ambient light. Darkness also allows viewers at home to more easily match the experiences written about by the CNET reviewer. Finally, darkness is the environment we find most satisfying for watching high-quality material on a high-performance TV.



Calibration

Before we perform formal evaluations of HDTVs, we first calibrate their picture settings, with the help of the CalMAN software, to achieve peak performance in our dark room. Though it may seem more realistic to test TVs in the default picture settings, those settings often don't represent the TV's peak picture quality. Some are designed for maximum brightness, saturation, and impact on the showroom floor. That might sound desirable, but we believe a more natural, realistic picture looks better--in other words, one that most accurately reproduces the incoming signal. Calibration also provides a level playing field for comparisons.


Unlike some of the third-party TV calibrations offered today, the ones performed for CNET TV reviews do not utilize settings in the hidden "service menus" of televisions. Nearly all TVs have these menus, and previously we would access them to better calibrate our review samples. In the last few years, however, we have posted our ideal dark-room picture settings as part of our reviews, and since users cannot typically access those service menus (at least, not without voiding the warranty), we decided to no longer use them in our calibrations. We recommend that TV viewers avoid accessing the service menus themselves, because without proper training they can do more harm than good. Happily, many new HDTVs offer ample controls to achieve optimum picture quality without having to resort to service menus. Check out this Q&A for more.

CNET TV calibrations follow a few steps, utilizing CalMAN 5 and patterns from the Quantum Data signal generator at 1080p/60 connected via HDMI to the TV.

  • Choose the picture mode (typically Movie or Cinema) and color temperature preset (typically Warm or Low) that produces the most accurate initial dim-room picture, allows full access to detailed controls and comes closest to D65, or 6500K.
  • Disable or minimize any automatic picture adjustment controls, dynamic contrast, ambient light sensors, auto black, auto color/flesh tone, or other circuits that change the picture on the fly. Engage settings, such as local dimming on LED displays, that generally improve picture quality.
  • Adjust brightness and contrast for maximum dynamic range without clipping, using the Black and White Pluge patterns.
  • Adjust maximum light output to 40 fL (footlambert) from a 100 percent window pattern. This light level is bright enough to provide excellent contrast but not be overwhelming in dim and dark rooms; it is achievable by most TVs we test.
  • Choose the gamma preset (if available) that comes closest to an average of 2.2, the standard for professional monitors.
  • Calibrate color management system, if available. We attempt to achieve proper absolute luminance for primary colors and proper hue for secondary colors, as dictated by CalMAN and the Rec709 HD color standard. CMS adjustments are made using 75 percent luminance window patterns. If CMS can't improve on default settings or introduces artifacts, we disable it.
  • Calibrate grayscale using 2-point and/or multipoint system, if available. We attempt to adjust all levels of gray, in 5 percent increments using window patterns, to come as close as possible to D65 (x=0.3127, y=0.329) while maintaining 2.2 gamma.
  • Adjust brightness, contrast, light output (luminance), color, tint, and sharpness a final time

The results of the calibration are captured in a CalMAN report posted at the end of the review.



All of our picture settings used to achieve the calibrated image are published on a post specific to each TV in CNET's picture settings forum. Each review contains a link and image (right) to that page. The picture settings are usually accompanied by detailed calibration notes as well as a link to the calibration report (see below). Users are free to reply and even submit their own picture settings. Here's an example.


Side-by-side comparison
Every HDTV CNET reviews is compared with others in the room during the evaluation. This is a direct, side-by-side comparison; the TVs are literally lined up next to one another and compared in real-time, with the reviewer recording observations on a laptop computer. We use numerous sources fed through a switch and a distribution amplifier--a device that can feed multiple TVs the exact same signal with no degradation. TVs being compared often share similar price points, screen sizes, and other characteristics, but can just as often be more or less expensive or have different characteristics to better illustrate major differences (such as between LCD and plasma, or an extremely expensive set versus a less-expensive model).

These comparisons allow CNET's to make definitive, in-context statements about virtually every area of a TV's performance, and their accuracy depends on each of the TVs sharing a level playing field. For that reason, we compare only calibrated televisions. We know of no other professional publication that regularly performs side-by-side comparisons as a part of nearly every review.


Image-quality tests

We perform a broad range of tests on all televisions we review, organized into a few key categories. Most comments in a TV review's picture quality section are based on observations of a Blu-ray movie, since Blu-ray is the highest-quality source typically available to HDTV viewers today. We use a variety of films, as opposed to one or two "reference" films, to better illustrate that performance characteristics are universal and apply regardless of which movie's being watched (they also make the reviews more fun to read and write). An argument can be made for using the same movie every time, and we do have a few scenes in certain films that we return to over and over, but in general we prefer to spread it around.

Here are the main picture quality areas addressed in CNET reviews:

  • Black level: We comment on the depth of black a TV is capable of producing. Since deeper, "blacker" blacks lead to more-realistic pictures, higher contrast, and more "pop" and color saturation, we consider black level the most important single performance characteristic of a TV. We may also talk about shadow detail, gamma and dimming-related processing in this section. Subjective observations are supported by the "Black luminance (0%)" and "Avg. gamma" measurements in the Geek Box (see below).

  • Color accuracy: We evaluate the combination of color temperature and primary and secondary color accuracy according to the Rec709 HD color standard. Subjective observations are supported by the majority of measurements in the Geek Box, everything from "Avg. grayscale error" to "Yellow error."


  • Video processing: This broad range of tests includes objective measurements such as resolution capabilities and 1080i de-interlacing and subjective tests with both patterns and real-world material. One of the most important is the ability to properly handle 1080p/24 cadence (see HDTV resolution explained for more). As of September 2008, we also began testing for motion resolution, which has both subjective and objective elements and so is usually reported as a range, e.g. "between 300 and 400 lines." If a TV has motion processing, such as 120Hz or 240Hz smoothing (dejudder), we also address its real-world effects in this section. We'll also talk about excessive video noise here, if we can trace its fault to the TV, as well as other miscellaneous issues such as false contouring (aka solarization) not dealt with elsewhere. The remainder of the Geek Box below hue is devoted to video processing.


  • Uniformity: With LCDs and rear-projection sets, we use this section to address backlight uniformity across the screen, making subjective observations with full-raster test patterns, letterbox bars and flat-color scenes, such as shots of skies, from program material. We also talk about off-angle viewing in this section, using similar material and subjective comparisons. Plasma TVs usually have effectively perfect uniformity and off-angle viewing, so we don't typically don't include this section in plasma reviews--but we will if the plasma's uniformity is atypical to our eye.


  • Bright lighting: We turn on the lights in our testing area and open the windows during daytime to see how the TV handles ambient light. We note the screen's reflectivity compared with its peers, as well as its ability to maintain black levels. This test is entirely subjective.


  • 3D: Our final tests involve 3D picture quality, and at the moment they're entirely subjective as well. Moreover we don't perform calibrations in 3D, although if the default "Movie" or "Cinema" settings for 3D seem particularly incorrect, we'll do some tweaking of the basic controls. In this section we usually address crosstalk, the depth effect, overall luminance, and video processing in 3D (see the 3D TV FAQ for more on these issues). We don't normally evaluate a TV's 2D to 3D conversion, however. Note that a TV's 3D picture quality is the sole item from this list that doesn't factor into the TV's numeric Performance score.

In 2012 we also stopped testing TVs with PC sources since we saw little variation in how TVs handled digital (HDMI) video from computers, and analog (VGA) computer connections are less common. Check out How to use your TV as a computer monitor if you're interested in doing so.


In early 2013 we began currently implementing new tests for projectors, as well as a test for input lag. We'll update this article when those tests are finalized.



TV sound quality (by Ty Pendlebury)
Due to reader demand we began subjectively testing the quality of TVs' built-in audio in 2013. To test a TV we first set the sound mode to Standard or Flat at 50 percent volume and turn off modes like Surround or "Enhanced Voice". If a TV has a specific music mode we may test it at our discretion, but most importantly we want to test how clear dialog is. We use the following three components.

  • Speech: A prerecorded CBS News broadcast. The newscast starts with a helicopter-based report which means it is a good test of both sonic detail and speech clarity.

  • Movie: Mission Impossible III Chapter 11 (Blu-ray). The scene involves some scratchy dialogue and highly dynamic sound due to
    car crashes and explosions. Action movies really stress your TV's speakers and are a good test of how it will perform from quiet moments through to the loudest.

  • Music: "Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in lossless feed via a
    PS3. This song features a deep bassline and Cave's baritone. The song features both strong dynamics and subtle details and as such is a good test of a TV speakers ability to handle music playback.

Geek Box and CalMAN report



The Geek Box (example) is where we put many of the objective results we attain from measurements. It's been overhauled continually over the years as our testing evolves, and changed again in 2013 when we switched to using CalMAN 5.

The box contains three columns: Test, Result and Score. Each test is detailed below. The result of each test is either numeric or pass/fail. Each score is either Good, Average or Poor. We determined the cutoffs for those scores based on guidelines in the CalMAN software (namely delta error levels), data gathered from past reviews and editorial discretion.

Note that while these numbers and scores are useful, they don't necessarily represent the full picture quality of a display, and we consider many other factors when arriving at the numeric performance score in a CNET review.

Unless otherwise noted, all test patterns measured are windows--a rectangle of white, gray, or color in the center of the screen surrounded by black--generated by the Quantum Data 780; all numbers reported are taken directly from CalMAN; "error" is Delta Error 2000 (dE2000) per CalMan; all percentages refer to test pattern's luminance, where 0 percent is black and 100 percent is white.

Geek Box key

Black luminance (0%) Example result: 0.0140
This is the measure of the luminance of "black" in fL (footlamberts), and a lower number is better. It's often referred to as MLL, for minimum luminance level, but since this measurement is taken post-calibration it may be higher than the TV's minimum. We consider the post-calibration black level most important because the calibration process aims to prevent crushing of shadow detail and "tricks" like dynamic contrast that can affect this measurement. The measurement is taken of a completely black screen (except for a 5% stripe on near the bottom), created by using the Quantum Data's 0% window pattern.
Good: +/- less than 0.009
Average: +/- 0.009 to 0.019
Poor: +/- 0.02 or higher

Avg. gamma (10-100%) Example result: 2.24
Gamma is a measure of how much light a display produces when fed a certain level of signal. The score is based on the result's +/- deviation from 2.2, the standard for professional video monitors.
Good: less than 0.1 deviation
Average: 0.2 or less deviation
Poor: more than 0.2 deviation

Error tests and results After gamma, the next 11 tests report results as an "error." Every result is reported as Delta Error 2000, where zero is perfect, and a lower number is better. The cutoffs for scores are based on targets within CalMAN 5, designed to represent human perception. Generally errors less than 3 are not perceptible.
Good: 3 or less
Average: 5 or less
Poor: more than 5

Avg. grayscale error (10-100%)
An average of all ten error results from 10 to 100% luminance grayscale windows. dE 2000 in this context (and for the next three tests) combines errors from gamma and the color of gray.
Good: less than 0.1 deviation
Average: 0.2 or less deviation
Poor: more than 0.2 deviation

Near-black error (5%)
The color of gray at 5 percent luminance, slightly brighter than black. Near-black is often difficult to get correct.

Dark gray error (20%) and Light gray error (70%)
The color of gray at 20 percent and 70 percent luminance, the points at which we perform 2-point grayscale calibrations.

Avg. color error
The average of all six of the color error numbers below. Color errors in this context (and the next six tests) combine errors for luminance, saturation and hue.

Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow error
The three primary and three secondary colors' errors, measured using a 75% luminance window.

1080p/24 Cadence (IAL) (Pass/Fail)
In this subjective test we look at our favorite test for proper film cadence, a helicopter flyover from the Blu-ray of "I Am Legend" (Chapter 7, 24:58 in) played back at 1080p/24 resolution. If the TV, in its most favorable setting, delivers the same look to the scene as our reference display, it passes. If it introduces smoothing or the hitching motion of 2:3 pull-down, it fails.
Good: Proper film cadence (denoted by "Pass").
Poor: Improper film cadence (denoted by "Fail").
No average score possible

1080i Deinterlacing (film) (Pass/Fail)
We use the HQV Benchmark on Blu-ray's Film Resolution Loss Test to determine whether the display can recognize film-based content recorded at 24fps and convert it to the display's native resolution without losing detail.
Good: Fine horizontal lines visible in corner boxes (denoted by "Pass")
Poor: Boxes exhibit strobing and/or vertical bands (denoted by "Fail")
No average score possible

Motion resolution (max) and (dejudder off)
We use the FPD Benchmark Software for Professional Blu-ray's moving Monoscope pattern to measure the maximum number of horizontal lines of resolution the display preserves during motion. Higher results are better. This test is often difficult to evaluate so it's subjective to a certain extent; we report the higher number in the range if in doubt. Check out our in-depth explanation for more. In the (max) row the TV is set to the most-favorable picture setting, while in the (dejudder off) row video processing that introduces smoothing is disabled to the largest extent possible. If such processing is impossible to turn off, we list a result of "N/A."
Good: 900 lines or more
Average: 500 to 899 lines
Poor: fewer than 500 lines




A sample CalMAN report


Calman report
Beginning in April 2011, CNET reviews include the complete calibration report from CalMAN, available as a PDF document at the end of the review. It's generally entitled "CNET review calibration results." The report provides a visual representation of the TV's color and gamma characteristics both before and after calibration.

TV power consumption
As of 2012 CNET no longer tests the power consumption of LED and LCD-based TVs 60 inches or smaller. The differences in energy use between them amount to only a few dollars per year. We will test larger LED and LCD TVs, however, as well as all sizes of plasma and OLED TV.

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