Belkin HDMI cable

The cable connecting your 3-D TV to the source of 3-D programming-whether it's a 3-D-enabled Blu-ray player or cable set-top or satellite box- should be a high-speed (1.4) HDMI cable, says Brian Markwalter of the Consumer Electronics Association. Watch out for stores that are still stocking the lower-speed standard (1.3) cables, which should have faded from the market after the new cables came out in the second half of last year. The older cables may not be able to handle the increased data rate of full HD 3-D video.

The bad news: For at least the next few years, cable and satellite set-top boxes won't match the full HD resolution to each eye that 3-D Blu-ray discs do(1080p). The good news: This bit of hardware probably doesn't need replacing, just a (typically free) firmware upgrade.

Box makers have for the moment pushed to keep their 3-D and 2-D content the same size image with the same number of frames per second. Inevitably, it's 3-D's resolution that suffers. "Side-by-side 3-D" (which DirectTV uses) squishes the images seen by the left and right eye into a standard high-def frame (makeing the iamge that each eye sees 960 by 1080 instead of the full-HD 1920 by 1080), while "top/bottom 3-D" does the same trick in the vertical dimension. In both cases, the set-top box splits up the image being transmitted and fills the whole of your TV screen with the left eye's image while syncing with the active glasses to darken the right eye, and then  vice versa.

Panasonic DMP-BPT350

In December, with the promise of an HDMI cable that would carry as much data as the highest- definition 3-D would require, the Blue-ray Disc. Association announced its 3-D specs. That means any 3-D HD Blue-ray player on the market today that sports the 3-D Blue-ray logo will support the highest standard definition for 3-D content-1080p 3-D to both eyes at 240 frames per second-and will also spin regular Blu-ray discs and those stacks of DVDs and CDs in your media cabinet. In addition, some late-model Blu-ray players can upgrade to full HD 3-D in firmware.

Sony Bravia KDL-HX800

The consumer electronics industry has so far lined up behind a single 3-D TV methodology-a regular HD screen with an inexpensive infrared-signal emitter on top, though other types of synchronization emitters, including Bluetooth and RF, can also be found. The signal emitter sends out chirps every 8.3 milliseconds that tell "active" 3-D LCD glasses to successively darken the right lens and then the left, and so no. This keeps down the cost of adding 3-D for manufactures. Make sure your glasses and TV use the same type of signal.

The good features of iPhone 4 are

See family and friends while you talk to them. No other phone makes staying in touch so much fun. People have been dreaming about video calling for decades. iPhone 4 makes it a reality. With the tap of a button, you can wave hello to your kids, share a smile from across the globe, or watch your best friend laugh at your stories — iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 or to the new iPod touch over Wi-Fi. No other phone makes staying in touch this much fun.

Today's smartphones do many things besides making and receiving calls. For example, they take photos, shoot video, play music, and provide drivers with directions via GPS technology.

After taking on these complicated types of tasks, smart phones can now be used for a simpler task: to function like a pocket mirror.

DLP Mobile, a mobile-application-development company that specialize in Apple iPad and iPhone, BlackBerry, and Google Android software, has released a new iPhone 4 program called the Mirror Ap(http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mirror-app/id37358304?mt=8).

The application uses the new iPhone's front-facing camera to function like a high-definition vanity mirror. The Mirror App yields an exact image rather than a mirror image.

Unlike the camera itself, which requires several input functions to activate, the Mirror App works with a single click. It has four adjustable light setting-which can help in dark conditions-and three adjustable light gradients, said DLP Mobile CEO Zak Tanjeloff. The gradients simulate the light intensity in different places and under different conditions.

Users can work with a sliding scale to make color corrections as desired to account for various ambient light sources.

Some iPhone applications that claim to offer mirror functionality simply turn off the device's display to provide a reflection in the glass display surface.

DLP Mobile is currently building a Mirror App version for the new Android phones, which also have forward-facing cameras.

Apple declined to comment on why it approved the Mirror App for iPhone 4, saying that the large volume of products available in the iStore makes it impossible to discuss the merits of each.

According to analyst Will Strauss with market research firm Forward Concepts, Apple approved the Mirror App because it is harmless and might make a few customers happy.