We're pretty sure this camera setup won't be putting the Wachowski Brothers out of a job any time soon, but some folks at Carnegie Mellon slapped this Matrix-style rig together for a "mere" $22,000. The cameras are mounted on linear guides, making them self-reconfigurable, and each can shoot 640 x 480 video at 30 fps. Their purported aims are "Image-based rendering," creating 3D objects with little scene geometry info, but we're sure they're doing plenty of bullet time scenarios in their free time. Coming to a YouTube near you: Matrix Restitutions.

[Via MAKE]

Yeah, we've seen wristwatches that did their duty with nary a hand in sight, but few have looked as striking (or peculiar, we can't decide) as this one. Truthfully, the Matrix M6001 is arriving to the oversized watch face party a tick too late, but we're almost willing to forgive the tardiness thanks to its clever method of telling time. Atop the face sits the hours, while minutes (in increments of five and a single 1-4 slot) are listed beneath; put simply, bars on the LCD are lit above the corresponding number(s) as the day whisks away, leaving those freaked out by perpetually moving sticks with nothing to fear. 'Course, you won't find this thing for sale on US soil just yet, but it can be had in South Korea for ₩69,000 ($74). Now, if only it played Pong...

[Via UberReview]

That wireless USB hub you peeked this morning was just the calm before the storm, as Gefen has now unveiled a smorgasbord of HD converters, extenders, and other accessories that you just can't do without. Up first is the $249 Component + Digital Audio to HDMI Adapter, which pipes that recently one-upped component and Toslink connection into a single HDMI cable. Next, it looks like Gefen is expanding its PVR lineup with an HD iteration that supports HDMI and is capable of recording HDCP-compliant sources in 1080p. Moving on, you'll find a 4x4 HDMI CAT5 Matrix to string your HDMI signals along up to 200-feet using vanilla CAT5 cabling, and the $399 Component Audio Extender enables nearly any audio source to be transferred 330-feet away over Ethernet. Last (but certainly not least), the $699 Wireless HDMI Extender delivers a plug 'n play method of extending HDMI signals up to 33-feet over the air with no loss in quality. Unsurprisingly, Gefen's latest niche convenience products won't enter your AV system without a premium, so be sure and avoid the gallery below if you're already being negatively tempted to pick something up.

Read - Component + Digital Audio to HDMI Adapter
Read - Personal Video Recorders
Read - 4x4 HDMI CAT5 Matrix
Read - Component Audio Extender
Read - Wireless HDMI Extender

Just in case you didn't already piece it together, many (if not all) of the new HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc titles set for release on May 22nd will feature the latest revisions to AACS. Right, the update hinted at by those forced user updates to the WinDVD and PowerDVD software. Yeah, well no worries... it's cracked. That's right, a week before the disks have even hit the shops, the kids over at Slysoft have already released AnyDVD HD 6.1.5.1 (beta) which kicks AACS MKB v3 swiftly to the curb. Thus you can continue to rip all your newly purchased HD DVD and BD flicks for playback any damn way you like. The update has already been demonstrated to work with an early-shipped release of The Matrix Trilogy on HD DVD and will likely work for Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest when it arrives on Blu-ray. Come on AACS LA, you're gonna have to at least try. Better yet, why not just give up this silly charade.

[Thanks, Garth M.]

One of the reasons why we still love component video is because of the availability of component video matrix switches. Matrix switches are like a Ethernet switch for HDTVs, they allow any source to connect to any HDTV throughout your house. That way you can stack up all your equipment in your closet, and enjoy any one of your sources on any one of your HDTVs. Finally regular consumers can get the same matrix action out of their HDMI gear, with Gefen's new 4x4 HDMI Matrix switch, which routes your video and sound, and can be controlled via IR or a RS-232 connection for your home automation system. As cool as this product is, it isn't for everyone. The switch costs $1,999, and who knows how much those long HDMI cables from the closet will cost you, but if you have four HDTVs, a Series3 TiVo, an Xbox360, an HD DVD and a Blu-ray player, you can probably afford it.

Apparently, the US military forces have hired some seriously good R&D help, as we've seen the Navy's 8-Megajoule railgun, the Army's war-tested iRobots, and now the Air Force has something of their own to boast about. Nova Sensors of Solvang, California has designed the Variable Acuity Superpixel Technology (VAST) system, which is reportedly capable of tracking "anything slower than a bullet," but the shifty part is that this camera can home in on speeding shells as well, hopefully lending a hand in protecting soldiers in the years to come. The machine focuses on heat bursts emitted in the infrared range by moving bullets in order to detect an incoming projectile; ideally, it would be connected to "active armor" that could move, expand, or otherwise protect an individual or a entire platoon if a stray (or purposeful) bullet was headed their way. The system includes software that "mimics the fovea in human and animal eyes," and essentially provides high-resolution focal points of the incoming shells while making everything else low-resolution in order to showcase what's really important life-threatening. While we're fairly certain these guys won't be coming out with a commercial rendition suitable to block those laser-guided office missiles that nail you in the kneecap every morning, be sure to click on through for a short demonstration of VAST in action.

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a weekly column about the future of technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:

The scene: A hotel room on a rainy night. Pentius and Duo face each other near large, comfortable red chairs that look like leftover props from Pee Wee's Playhouse, yet no one is filming a Radio Shack commercial.

"Pentius! It's an honor to meet you!"

"Please, have a seat, Duo. The honor is mine. I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like a noob in the middle of a large computer store. You're here because you feel something that's eating at you that you can't explain. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

"What is..." (squinting at the badge on Pentius's computer) "V eleven v?"

"It's pronounced 'vive."  Do you want to know what it is?"

"Actually, there's this E! True Hollywood Story about "Who's The Boss" that I -"

"VIIV is the hype that surrounds the industry. You can see it in every computer magazine, in Intel's booth at CES, in keynotes from Microsoft. Soon it will be in your living room, your bedroom, anywhere you have an Intel-based desktop. Duo!"
   
"Yes?"

"Were you listening to me or staring at that big pile of co-op funds from Intel?"

"I was, uh... OK, so this vi'iv thing? What is it again?"