From Avatar to Apple – new dimensions
01 February 2010
The next revolution seems ready to jump out of our screens, not just in the big screen but soon to be an option as a consumer choice.
I refer of course to 3D. My past comments on this have referred to its role in a cinema, but now I think its place in the big screen mainstream has been assured by the phenomenal success of Avatar. In fact I was toying with the notion of taking my son to see it for the second time as we had both really enjoyed it first time round. Normally that is enough for me and I will wait until a film comes out on DVD or hit the satellite channels, but Avatar is different – not because it is THAT good, but because of the 3D. I imagine, in every sense, it would be a bit flat in 2D. So maybe the very fact that 3D is not yet a viable option for home viewing is providing the added bonus for film makers of attracting repeat viewers.
I also mentioned a few weeks back that I was surprised that the Consumer Electronics Show, held in January in Las Vegas, had selected show highlights that had largely ignored 3D, but this was rectified by the reviews after. 3D TV seems set for its mass roll out later this year and it could be that the unique nature of the 3D picture, as opposed to the improved quality of the HD picture, might mean that 3D TV sets might be one of the success stories of the next few years.
This weekend saw the introduction of an interesting step forward in the 3D revolution, the live screening of a football match in a pubs in the UK. I should probably explain to our North American readers, who now outnumber our European readers incidentally, that the above sentence should read ‘...screening of a soccer match in a sports bar…’. The next venture will be to screen some of our international rugby matches (that is American football without the body armour) in cinemas, which if successful could be another major step in establishing 3D as the future, rather than an expensive novelty. Doing clever things with the tall blue computer generated people on Avatar is one thing, but when 3D is about real life it becomes... well, more real.
The pictures of the football (soccer) fans in the pub (bar) did remind me of the sort of Mediterranean resorts so favoured by the British drinking public, where the majority of the time is spent in the gloom of a bar, but still the sun-glasses are mandatory.
In terms of new technology that may help drive the electronics manufacturing sector in coming years, I can’t let the week go by without a quick word about the launch of the iPad. With no hyped left unturned, we have been shown the future of tablet computing and whatever fusion between other devices it is meant to represent. It will, unquestionably be a massive success and be carried along on the usual wave of desirability that new generation Apple products seem to generate. The thing that surprises me though, is that I don’t want one.
Let me frame this by admitting that when iPods were launched I knew that I had to have one. The various Mac platforms have what can only be described as sex appeal. And when the iPod touch was launched I equally knew that it was our destiny to be together. But do I really want an iPod Touch that is three times bigger in every physical dimension? A pocket companion that needs to be carried in a bag?
While the iPad boasts the sleek iDesign of the rest of Apple’s iRange, it still is something that iDon’t either need or want. But then I haven’t got my hands on one yet, and that can change everything.
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