Most cellphones can't do 720p yet but Omnivision is already sampling a new 1.75-micron sensor that will allow slim handsets to record at 30 frames per second in Full HD, 1080p. According to them, it gets even better:

The OV5653, based on the company's latest 1.75-micron OmniBSI technology, delivers low-light sensitivity of >1400mV/(lux-sec) – a 40% improvement over frontside illumination technology – and a two times improvement in signal-to-noise ratio (< 70lux), according to OmniVision. The OV5653 enables 720p recording at 60 fps and full HD 1080p at 30 fps, making it ideal for both 5-megapixel DSCs and DVs, according to the company.

So not only they have achieved 720p 60fps and 1080p at 30fps, but their OV5653 and OV5650 parts also have better sensibility and two times less signal-to-noise ratio than previous sensors. Not bad at all. [Digitimes via Into Mobile]

We'll laugh at this headline in the not so distant future, but for the first time, buying a 30-second ad during a Fox broadcast of The Simpsons costs less than buying the same ad on Hulu.

Television broadcast ads during The Simpsons cost $20-$40 per thousand viewers. On the web, the rate jumps to $60.

Shows like The Simpsons and CSI are now commanding higher ad rates on Hulu and TV.com than on television. It's a byproduct viewers being twice as likely to recall web ads than TV ads, according to Neilsen. (Which I would argue is a byproduct of Hulu showing us far fewer ads.)

But before we all declare TV dead, remember that Hulu has only 37 seconds of ads per "30-minute" show while a Fox broadcast includes a whopping 9 minutes of sales pitches. So there's still technically more money in TV, which will change as soon as Hulu begins cramming 9 minutes of ads into each program.

Lots more on the story here: [Bloomberg via PCWorld]

Everything seemed OK a few days ago, but as you probably know already, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and its orgy room has been delayed once again. Airplane expert Jon Ostrower explains why their toy broke again.

Is this thing ever going to fly? [Flight Global and Flight Global]

Always Innovating has hit on something very interesting with its Touch Book tablet, a sparingly-spec'd touchscreen device with a detachable keyboard, embedded Linux OS and impressively low $300 price. But, oh god, they said it'd ship by now! Don't worry.

Always Innovating has published photos of a production device on their page, which looks exactly like the dummy shell we saw back in March. Accompanying these photos is something just above a promise, and just below an announcement:

We intend to start shipping the Touch Book next month, in July 2009. Our first batch of Touch Books is already in production.

At this point, the device's ship date come down to whenever the ODM finishes building the first batch, so they're effectively imminent.

Pre-orders are still open for those of you who thought you caught an early scent of vapor, and the $300 ($400 with keyboard) price still holds. Best of all, they've held the course on hardware specs. Here's the final list:

* Texas Instruments OMAP3530 with Micron 256MB (RAM) + 256MB (NAND) Memory
* 8.9 inches 1024x600 A+ screen
* Main storage: 8GB SD card - we decided to change from Micro SD to standard SD, so that you can easily upgrade it
* USB wifi 802.11 b/g/n dongle powered by a Ralink 3070 chipset
* USB bluetooth class 2.1
* FCC, CE, UL-certified, 5V, 3.5A power adapter
* 8.9 inches pressure sensitive touch screen
* US Qwerty 24cm-large keyboard - around 95% of the size of a standard keyboard
* Cirque Touchpad
* Two Owolff high-quality internal stereo speakers
* 3D accelerometer
* Two internal batteries 6000 and 12000mAh - it can be replaced with a screw driver
* 7 USB ports: three external, four internal, three of them may be reserved for wifi, bluetooth and keyboard
* Bi-color silver/black case - see photos - with a beautiful dark-red back cover (we decided to go only for red for the first batch as it really jumps out, you won't regret it).
* Secured attachment system of tablet into keyboard
* Independent magnet system for the tablet - we don't want your Touch Book to un-magnetize all your credit cards while carrying it in your bag!

[Always Innovating—Thanks, Akos!]

A trip to beer heaven, a couple of summertime jams, and Tyson returns to the console - wrap your lips around a cold, tall glass of the week's best from Uncrate.

This week at Uncrate: We enjoy some bustin' with Ghostbusters on Blu-ray, get ourselves out of a jam with the Lifeline Ultralight Survival Kit, and crank the volume to eleven for Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire by Eels. We also wash down some freshly-grilled food with Fentimans Soda, take on Iron Mike in Fight Night: Round 4, and keep our snacks handy with the Go Plate. Finally, we go yard with the Easton 2010 Baseball Bat Lineup, take a wind-blown ride in the Lexus IS Convertible, and add some rustic flair to our wardrobe with Red Wing Iron Ranger Boots.

We finally received the official word on Windows 7 pricing. For the most part, people itching to upgrade immediately or buy a new Win 7 machine are in luck.

Odds are, you won't pay the official prices, so I'm telling you the launch specials first. If you play your cards right, you'll either get it as a free upgrade for buying a PC, or you'll pay $50 for Win 7 Home Premium and $100 for Win 7 Professional.

Free Upgrades
If you buy a PC starting Friday, June 26th, it should be covered under a free upgrade plan. (I say "should" because it depends on the manufacturer, but most of them are jumping on this with both feet.) Say you buy a computer with Vista Home Premium this weekend; you get a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade on October 22, free. If you buy Vista Business, you'll get Win 7 Professional, and if you buy Vista Ultimate, you'll get Win 7 Ultimate. There's no upgrade path for Home Basic (the reason is below) but as I understand it, the number of systems sold at retail with Home Basic on it are in the low single digits.

That should take care of most PC buyers.

The Half-Price Pre-Order Deal
People in the US, Canada or Japan who already own a PC running XP or Vista will be able to pre-order the upgrade disc at around half the price that they'll eventually sell for. The pre-order deal also starts Friday, June 26th, and will run for a limited time.

As I said, Windows 7 Home Premium, usually $120, will cost $50, and Windows 7 Professional, usually $200, will cost $100. Windows 7 Ultimate is not part of this discount plan, but it might get its own incentive plan later on. (You could technically buy Home Premium upgrade, then pay to convert it to Ultimate, saving at least a little cash.) The pre-order deal will be visible at store.microsoft.com and at "most major retailers."

What's this about a limited time? Mike Ybarra, general manager of Windows Product Management, told me that the pre-order deal will go away when a certain undisclosed number of licenses is sold. "We have enough quantity," he said, adding that the magic number was "equivalent to a year of Vista sales volume at retail." (Ironically, those of you who want this upgrade offer to last have to hope that the Mojave Experiment worked, at least a little.) Some Microsoft materials suggest that July 11th might be the cutoff for the deal, but from what I understand, that's an estimate—this is based on supply. Regardless, if you want Windows 7, pre-order the damn thing come Friday.

European Hijinks
Europe is getting kinda screwed in this deal, because of the European Commission's banning of IE8 from any Windows installer media. Basically, starting July 15th in France, Germany and the UK, Microsoft will be selling full versions of Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional at the discounted upgrade prices, but that means there's no way to upgrade directly from Vista.

Euros who buy Win 7 will be forced to perform a clean install, and migrate their data and apps over any way they know how. The logic is that, while the Windows team can do a clean install without IE8, there's not enough quality assurance on what an upgrade install would be like without IE8, with assorted HTML rendering apps co-existing in the OS already. Could be messy, says Ybarra. "We don't want to break anyone else's software, we don't want to break our own software, and we don't want the customer on the phone with support." That funky deal is supposed to run through December.

The Official Prices
So, now that we got the immediate realities out of the way, here are the "estimated retail prices" that we'll eventually see in stores, for the people who aren't yet moving on the upgrade offers:

Windows 7 Home Premium: $120 for upgrade; $200 for full version
Windows 7 Professional: $200 for upgrade; $300 for full version
Windows 7 Ultimate: $220 for upgrade; $320 for full version

To be clear, the term "upgrade" just means you already own and run a version of Windows on the PC you're upgrading. It's still a complete set of bits that you can clean install and even set up for dual booting. The "full" version is mostly for people who are building their own systems.

You may remember that there are other Win 7 SKUs such as Home Basic and Starter. Windows 7 Home Basic is not available in the United States or most of Europe though, along with residents of Burkina Faso and Vanuatu, Montenegrans will be able to buy it.

Windows 7 Starter will be offered to Dell, HP, Asus and other manufacturers to stick on netbooks. Just in case you were concerned, Windows XP will also be available, distributed and supported for 12 months after Windows 7 launches though limited to these same "small notebook PCs." I think Microsoft—and quite a few non-vested-interests—are expecting netbooks to ditch XP for Win 7 pretty fast.

When You Actually Get It
As we've previously reported, October 22 is the day when almost everybody gets Windows 7. Anyone, anywhere in the world, in 35 different languages, will be able to buy a Windows 7 PC on October 22. The actual box of software will be available in most countries, covering 14 languages, on the 22nd, with the other 21 languages getting their retail boxes by October 31. It's a damn fast rollout, especially given all of the terrain it's going to cover.

Stay tuned, because we're going to post more details on this pre-order business soon. In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves. Is this a good deal? Is it crap? And most importantly, are you going to pony up cash on Friday? [Windows Blog]

Why buy Nintendo's fancy Wii Classic Controller or humiliatingly turn the Wiimote sideways when your old PS/PS2 controllers are perfectly fine? Import this DualShock to Wii adapter for just under $20 and no one will even notice. [Gametech via Kotaku]

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and how many of you drive to work each morning without any pizza in your stomach? This travesty shall be amended!

The $36 Porta-Pizza Oven is a toaster oven/pizza cooker that plugs into your car's 12V cigarette lighter. Despite top and bottom cooking elements providing high and low heat settings, we can't help but maintain a little skepticism. Even in their promo shot, the pizza is spilling out of the oven (presumably onto your car's leather seats...oh...you didn't get the upgrade? That's OK, we're sure your car is very nice. No really, we all know those luxury packages are a rip. And there's a recession on. Right, you're right—tell the valet that when he snickers at your interior. But if it makes you feel any better, he's probably laughing at the fact that you just downed a large Tombstone that you cooked on the way to the restaurant. Yeah, most people consider that a weird habit.). [Stupididiotic via technabob]

Next month, Sony will give us one more morsel (or maybe two! or three!) of information about the PS3 motion controller, announced at E3. This'll be the third such motion controller info-dribble since the initial announcement, though this one, to be delivered by the company's head of developer services at the Develop conference in England, promises "much more detail on Sony's new motion controller debuted at E3."

Given the audience, I wouldn't expect a price. I'm with Kotaku on this one: just give it a proper name already. [Develop via Kotaku]

Console emulators were one of the first orders of business when the jailbreak scene took off two years ago, but they've always been plagued by stuttering framerates—especially the more ambitious ones. The iPhone 3GS fixes this, gloriously.

Jailbreak stalwart ZODTTD has ported GBA and PSX emulators to the 3GS (which isn't quite jailbroken yet), and the results are stunning, even in light of the promising benchmarks we've already seen. Most impressive? As you can see in the video above, Final Fantasy VII for the Playstation runs perfectly. For reference, it absolutely crawled on the 3G and iPod Touch, to the point that is was irritating to use, even as a novel HEY LOOK AT THIS tech demo. [ZODTTD via Nowhereelse]