Week in Geek: Apple’s quiet 8-Core Mac Pro launch, Pictopia, and more

By Jonathan Blum and Seth Elkin

Apple quietly released its new 8-Core Mac Pros desktop computers this week.
But the buzz about these won’t stay quiet for long in the TV production
industry. Simply put, these 8-Core models can give producers absolutely
absurd amounts of video processing and image manipulation power. And the
$4,000 price tag isn’t bad either.

Pictopia, an e-commerce photo company, has partnered with CSTV to allow
college sports fans to purchase photo reprints suitable for framing of their
favorite teams. At some point, we figure someone will offer a similar
service of photos and video they themselves make of sporting events. And
then the consumer generated content wave will come to sports. And exactly
will the leagues do? Forbid cell phones at games?

Light Emitting Diode Digital Light Processor (LED DLP) televisions aren’t
getting any love, and we’d like to know why. Making their debut at the end
of 2006, LED DLPs hold out the promise of plasma-like TV quality at
rear-projection prices. Samsung and others have sets on the market. But they
don’t seem to have caught on, and that’s a shame. The technology is
marvelous, offering fantastic picture quality. And the LED bulbs have a
tremendously longer life than DLP chips.

In other tech news of the week, the retail industry is starting to get
serious about the shutoff of analog TV. NARDA, a retailer trade group, is
sponsoring training sessions for sellers … Google gets mixed reviews on
its TV advertising venture: they sell mostly fringe time and low quality
inventory … And Ikea will get into the electronics game. Will they fair
better than Circuit City?

And finally, an utterly pointless contraption.