Both Netflix and Amazon stream in 4K. Cameras like the Sony a7S and the Panasonic Lumix GH4 can shoot in 4K. Even smartphones have been getting in on the act, with handsets like the LG G Pro 2 and Sony Xperia Z2 capable of recording 4K video. So with the amount of 4K content available increasing every day, you may have been thinking about buying a 4K set so you too can bask in the glow of 3, 840 x 2, 160 resolution. But 4K sets don’t come cheap, and you’re going to want to do a bit of research before dropping that much cash. While we don’t really review televisions here at Engadget, we’ve done the next best thing, compiling the opinions of trusted critics from across the web. Which set offers you the most bang for your buck? Do bells and whistles like a curved screen make a difference? Check out a few members of the 4K Class of 2014 below. Panasonic Life+Screen AX800 At first blush, the Panasonic AX800 series has a lot going for it. It’s a nice-looking set that PC Mag says is “minimalist and unique, ” suited for both TV stands and entertainment centers. Turn it on, and the picture is equally impressive, delivering what AVForums calls “rich textures and nuanced lighting, ” while Reviewed.com thinks this LCD could stand toe to toe with a good plasma set, due to its “good black levels, accurate colors and reliable screen uniformity.” But if you’re looking to sit down and enjoy some House of Cards in beautiful 4K, you’ll be disappointed — Netflix on the AX800 is limited to 1080p (and lower). Given the relative scarcity of commercial 4K content, the inability to watch a major provider like Netflix is a big ding on an otherwise stellar UHD set. Price: $2, 300 and up Samsung U9000 Walk into a room and the first thing you’ll notice about the Samsung U9000 is its curved screen, which CNET says adds a “unique, futuristic look” to a set that is overall “drop-dead gorgeous.” It says the picture is equally stunning, offering “deep black levels, accurate color and great bright-room viewing qualities.” But what about that curve? Though it’s meant to create a feeling of depth and immersion, CNET found it “didn’t have any major effect on the picture aside from reducing reflections somewhat, ” and Reviewed.com found it actually made some reflections worse, such that “lamps and lights are occasionally stretched across the entire arc of the screen.” It’s worth noting that the U9000 also includes an improved Smart Hub experience, but you can also find other Samsung sets that are a lot cheaper (and less curvy). Price: $3, 297 and up Samsung U8550 The Samsung U8550 is a set that eschews the curved screen of its high-end sibling U9000 in favor of “trim bezels and a very narrow panel” that Reviewed.com says “lend this television a modern air.” The picture also does it credit, with LCD TV Buying Guide complimenting its “brilliant images in 4K, ” while Sound+Vision was impressed with the “crisp detail and the clean, smooth clarity” of its upconversions. As on the U9000, the Smart Hub has been upgraded with “subtle improvements” that “hit the mark” according to LCD TV Buying Guide , and Reviewed.com says it provides “all of the streaming content and web-browsing functions you’d expect for the price.” And that’s a price that undercuts the competition by $1, 000, leaving you some extra cash for an awesome sound or gaming system on the side. Price: $1, 597 and up Sony X900B At first glance, it’s clear that the Sony X900B is very different from other UHD sets, and even many regular ol’ HDTVs, due to its huge set of front-facing speakers. The sacrifice of a slim bezel is well worth it, though, as What Hi-Fi compliments its “rich, open and detailed sound quality, ” while CNET calls it the “best sound of any TV we’ve heard, bar none.” The picture is also up to the challenge, offering quality that HDTVTest calls “spectacular” and CNET says is the “best picture quality of any 4K TV we’ve tested so far.” Sure, the X900B isn’t as cheap as some other sets, but unlike the AX800, it supports Netflix and, with those massive speakers flanking the screen, you won’t need to fork out the extra dough for a quality sound system. Price: $2, 998 and up Filed under: Home Entertainment , HD , Samsung , Sony Comments

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Which 4K TVs are worth buying?

For the most part, portable energy generators are intended for modest uses. They can charge your phone , but they won’t drive high-powered laptops or small appliances. That might change if Omni3D gets its crowdfunded AirEnergy 3D off the ground. The 3D-printed wind turbine should fit into a backpack, yet produce up to 300W of power — enough that you can keep a whole slew of devices running, including those that wouldn’t run at all on solar or thermoelectric systems. It will be open source, too, since part of the goal is to let those in Africa and other developing regions create their own reliable, renewable power sources. If you want to help out and get one of the first AirEnergy 3D models when it arrives in February, you’ll need to act fast. Omni3D is only offering a handful of early units to those who pledge £290 ($484) or more. Take heart if you’re not part of the first wave, though. The team expects to bring the cost of a basic production model down to $350, which is just cheap enough that it could either supplement your home power or keep your gadgets alive during long camping trips. Filed under: Household Comments Source: Kickstarter

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3D-printed wind turbine puts 300W of power in your backpack

After a few stumbles toward the finish line, the first wave of the latest Oculus Rift prototype shipment has concluded is well under way. It’s no small number, either. Oculus’ vice president of product Nate Mitchell tells Road to VR that his company shipped over 20, 000 DK2 headsets in this initial push . Crazy, right? Consider this then: there are still over 40, 000 orders left to fulfill. If you happened to order later than the first on-sale day, though, you may not be one of those lucky enough to call the second development kit your own. Ro ad to VR has spotted a change to the prototype’s order page , however, that should give you a better idea of when to expect the second next shipment if you order today. Hopefully your Halloween costume isn’t planned out just yet because once your virtual reality goggles arrive in October, you might not want to take them off. If you need something to keep you busy until then, well, there’s always Google Cardboard . Filed under: Desktops , Gaming , Home Entertainment , HD Comments Source: Road to VR , Oculus VR

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The next wave of Oculus’ latest VR headsets start shipping in October

AMD and Intel have been in a race to stuff their highest-end processors with as many cores as possible , and it appears that this that one-upmanship isn’t about to end any time soon — much to your advantage. As Macworld UK notes, Intel is close to releasing a new range of Xeon E5 processors where more cores (and thus more parallel computing power) is par for the course. According to ChipLoco ‘s leaked roadmap , even the lowest-spec chips start with six cores versus today’s four; the best model touts a whopping 18, which should help heavy-duty systems juggle a huge number of simultaneous workloads. You may get to see this new Xeon in action, too. The new E5 is expected to launch on September 9th in Dell Precision workstations, and it’s also a direct upgrade to the chips used in the Mac Pro . Sadly, you likely won’t find an 18-core desktop in an Apple Store any time soon — that processor will be too hot and power-hungry — but it’s entirely possible that a 14-core Mac will show up. Whichever platform you prefer, you shouldn’t have to wait for much longer for a dream 4K video editing rig. Filed under: Desktops , Apple , Intel , Dell Comments Via: Electronista Source: Macworld UK , ChipLoco

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Intel’s next Xeon chip stuffs up to 18 cores into very powerful PCs

Wearables have become popular among athletes for monitoring training progress , but on its recent Rise campaign stop in Shanghai, Nike took a different approach. Inside the so-call House of Mamba, NBA star Kobe Bryant hosted 30 young players from all over China who trained on a full-sized LED basketball court — complete with projected graphics and motion tracking. The playing surface displayed reactive visuals based on players’ movements for drills based on Bryant’s own regimen. A dozen athletes will compete this weekend in Beijing with three winners moving on to the Nike World Basketball Festival in Barcelona next month. Curious to see how it works? Well, there’s a pair of videos after the break that show just that. Filed under: Misc Comments Via: Gizmodo (Sploid) Source: Nike

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Nike’s LED basketball court boosts training with motion tracking

Apps that use your smartphone’s microphone need to ask permission, but the motion sensors ? No say-so needed. That might not sound like a big deal, but security researchers from Stanford University and defense firm Rafael have discovered a way to turn Android phone gyroscopes into crude microphones. They call their app ” Gyrophone ” and here’s how it works: the tiny gyros in your phone that measure orientation do so using vibrating pressure plates. As it turns out, those can also pick up air vibrations from sounds, and those in many Android devices can do it in the 80 to 250 hertz range — exactly the frequency of a human voice. By contrast, the iPhone’s sensor only uses frequencies below 100Hz, and is therefore useless for tapping conversations. Though the system can only pick up the odd word or the speaker’s gender, the researchers said that voice recognition experts could no doubt make it work better. They’ll be delivering a paper next week at the Usenix Security conference, but luckily, Google is already up on the research. “This early, academic work should allow us to provide defenses before there is any likelihood of real exploitation.” Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile Comments Via: Wired.com Source: Stanford University

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Hackers transform a smartphone gyroscope into an always-on microphone

“You’re going to Napa in your Cessna? Me too! If you let me hop in, I’ll pay my share of the gas!” That arrangement is legal, but the FAA has declared that connecting brave passengers with amateur pilots for a fee is definitely verboten. The ruling came from a request for clarification by a company called Airpooler , a small plane equivalent of UberX . That service and others like FlyteNow let private pilots post listings for flight dates and destinations, along with a corresponding fee. Thanks to a 1963 decision, such sharing is legal if done by word of mouth or a notice board, provided the pilot only asks for a fair share of the expenses. However, in a rather confusing letter, the regulator told Airpooler that its service violates the spirit of that ruling. Instead of offering a bonafide “joint venture with a common purpose, ” participating pilots are “holding out to transport passengers for compensation.” That means unless you have a commercial ATP or CPL license, using such a services is DOA. [Credit: Brianc/Flickr] Filed under: Transportation Comments Via: TechCrunch Source: FAA (Scribd.com)

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Pilots banned from acting like Uber drivers in the sky

After eight months of beta testing, the Opera Max web compression app is finally getting a launch partner, and it happens to be in Vietnam. Opera’s joining forces with local carrier Mobiistar to have the app preloaded on select Android devices (Lai504m, Bean414 and Prime508). By way of multimedia content plus text compression, the service claims to save up to 50 percent of data bandwidth — it’s all visualized in the app for your viewing pleasure. For those outside of Vietnam, you can still install the beta app and try it out in the US, Europe, Brazil and Russia; or try the customized version of Opera Max if you’re in China. Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile Comments

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Opera’s web compression app can now save you some Vietnamese dong

Square’s grand plan to democratize credit card payments has inspired a clutch of imitators , the latest of which is Amazon . The company has just announced Amazon Local Register, a credit card reader and app combination that’ll enable small businesses to take payments they wouldn’t otherwise get, as long as they have a smartphone or tablet lying around. The retailer is savagely undercutting both Square and PayPal Here, offering a flat charge of 1.75 percent per payment until the start of 2016, a full percent lower than the 2.75 and 2.7 percent asked by the other two. On January 2nd, however, the fee rises to 2.5 percent, a smaller yet still significant cut compared to Amazon’s rivals in the space. The gear’s available for Android, iOS and the company’s own Fire devices, priced at $10, and there’s even a business bundle for $380 that’ll include a Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 — which we figure is a whole lot cheaper than trying to install a cash register in your taco truck. Filed under: Cellphones , Tablets , Internet , Amazon Comments Source: Amazon Local Register , (2) , (3)

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Amazon undercuts Square and PayPal with its own mobile card reader

If you plan to stay in Cupertino’s high-tech Aloft Hotel in the near future, don’t be surprised if you open your door to a 3-foot-tall robot carrying extra towels or breakfast. See, it’s the Starwood property’s new butler (officially called A.L.O. Botlr, which is short for “robot butler, ” of course) programmed to assist the hotel’s concierge in catering to your requests. The 100-pound machine comes loaded with a 7-inch tablet screen to interact with guests and staff, as well as 4G and WiFi connections so it can call elevators when it needs a ride. Let’s say you pinged front desk to ask for new toiletries — the staff then just loads the items (as long as they don’t exceed two pounds) in an empty compartment on top of the robot and inputs your floor and room number on the tablet interface. You’ll know Botlr’s lurking outside the door when it calls up the room’s phone, and instead of a crisp $20 bill, all it asks in return is a tweet with the #meetbotlr hashtag. The A.L.O. Botlr is actually a repainted, bow-tie-wearing version of a robot called SaviOne developed by California startup Savioke. It’s a new company, but it’s backed by Google Ventures and led by Steve Cousins, the former CEO of Willow Garage , which you might recognize as the developer of the PR2 experimental robot . In fact, the PR2 looks similar to Botlr, but the latter (like Softbank’s Pepper ) was designed to look a lot more approachable so as not to scare hotel guests. Also, the newer machine lacks the PR2’s limbs, which means: 1.) it’s incapable of doing tasks that requires the use of hands, and 2.) its a lot cheaper to make, seeing as those limbs are the PR2’s most expensive components. Botlr will make its Aloft Hotel debut on August 20th for a pilot program: if successful, all 100+ Aloft Hotels could have one to two at their disposal. Aloft brand’s senior vice president Brian McGuinness swears, however, that these robots won’t be replacing human employees and will even free them up for other, more important tasks. Sadly, you won’t be seeing Botlr rolling along other hotel chains’ hallways anytime soon. Starwood has an exclusive deal with Savioke until the end of 2014, though the startup plans to open the pilot to other hotels next year. Filed under: Robots Comments Via: CNBC , Mashable , Savioke Source: Aloft Hotel

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California hotel hires robot butlers to provide room service (video)