As you can see, the medium is "catching on," at least in the wacky Twitterverse:

"The new iPhone is doing for tall-screen video what DVDs and HD did for widescreen. Sweet." - Dan Frommer, Editor, Silicon Valley Insider

Thanks to the iPhone 3GS and YouTube, our kids will laugh at our old-fashioned "widescreen" movies. "Tallscreen is way better!" - Cabel Sasser, co-founder, Panic

For the record, I prefer the superior widescreen, if for nothing else than to adequately capture the growing waistlines of my local area American countrymen.

The Philips 56PFL9954H Cinema 21:9 uses the same aspect ratio of most movies out there, which means that it eliminates the black bars while watching a Blu-ray title. And while every single consumers electronics expert in the UK is raving about the amazing quality of this 8.3-million-pixel TV set, the Philips Cinema 21:9 still has to do zooming to make the movie to fill its 1080-pixel vertical resolution. In other words: It looks great, but it's still not perfect. [Daily Mail]

It's true, you'd fill up the entire Philips Ultra-Widescreen with picture on a 2.40:1 movie, but you're just exchanging having black bars on the top and bottom when you're watching movies with black bars on the side when you're watching TV. You don't actually "miss" any of the action.

But still, that's a pretty awesome video, and that's a slick looking TV. [Philips Cinema and Beam.tv - Thanks Dave!]

Like we pointed out before, this TV is only practical for movies; and even then, some movies that weren't filmed with big old Panavision 70mm film still very well might show up in something closer to 16:9, so we can't say this will completely rid letterboxing from your life. If that's on your bucket list.

Details are still pretty shady, but the Megawhat TV folks are estimating it'll run around £3,000 (around $4,275) and be released in the Spring (in the UK). [Pocket Lint]

Or even watching the large number of films that aren't filmed in 2.40:1? If all you watch is big-budget blockbusters (2.40:1 is the aspect ratio of Panavision 70mm film), then this will be great for your rich-guy home theater.

But if you're thinking about watching HDTV (native aspect ratio of 16:9) or any of the many, many thousands of films shot in less-than-21:9, you'll have to throw some letterboxes on the side. You won't even get to enjoy those IMAX scenes from Dark Knight in their glorious full-frame beauty. But if you never take Iron Man out of your BD deck, this is the TV for you. Philips is looking at a Spring '09 release, with more details coming next month. [Philips via GadgetVenue]

When held in one position, the phone looks a lot like Nokia's traditional QWERTY candybars, but the screen can swivel up and out to present a widescreen, presumably for media or web browsing, apps that need a lot of screen real estate. It's a cool way to combine the appeal of a giant touchscreen with the utility of a QWERTY keyboard, except unlike sliders like the T-Mobile G1 or the Sidekick, the keys are always available on this concept. The screen can also apparently rotate side to side, though I'm not really sure what use could be had from that.

It's just a patent, and I'm sure there are a number of reasons why this idea won't come to fruition (how is that screen attached?). But I like the idea and maybe we'll see elements of it in future products from Nokia. [BGR]

Vuzix Announces iWear® AV310 Widescreen, The First-Ever Widescreen Personal Video Eyewear

The iWear ® AV310 Widescreen has a 16:9 aspect ratio, providing the user with a virtual 52’ home theater experience in 2D and stunning 3D video formats.

Rochester, NY – September 16, 2008 – Vuzix Corporation is thrilled to announce their latest innovation to the Video Eyewear market; iWear® AV310 Widescreen. This first-ever consumer iWear with a true widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio giving users a true home movie theater feel. The AV310 projects a virtual 52’ screen from 9-feet and will run for five full hours on a single AA battery. Additionally, the AV310 offers independent focus adjustment, adjustable earbuds and nosepiece for unmatched long term comfort. Users can also expect improved compatibility, as the AV310 is compatible with all NTSC or PAL devices with a video output. Compatible devices include:

• All iPod models
• Portable media players
• Video cameras
• Cellular phones with video output
• Gaming consoles
• Digital cameras
• DVD players

“We are committed to providing our customers with the latest innovation in this exciting category and are delighted to provide the world’s first and only widescreen video eyewear,” said Vuzix CEO Paul Travers. “The revolutionary iWear® AV310 Widescreen is the ideal choice for the mobile consumer who’s craving a way to significantly enhance their portable viewing experience,” added Travers.

The AV310’s features include:

• Virtual 52’ screen viewed from 9-feet
• Full 16:9 Widescreen Aspect Ratio
• Independent +2 to -5 diopter focus, providing individual adjustment for each eye
• Twin high-resolution LCD displays from Kopin Corporation
• “Vuzix’ 3D” watermark compliant
• Removable and comfort fit earbuds
• Adjustable, hypoallergenic nosepiece
• AccuTilt™ viewer with 15 degrees of tilt adjustment
• Up to 5 hours of battery life on one AA battery
• On screen display settings control
• For use with or without eyeglasses
• MSRP $249.95

The AV310 will be available via Brookstone, SkyMall, MicroCenter, Hammacher Schlemmer and Vuzix.com.

The experts Sound and Vision asked tended to think not, with both Toshiba and Sony confirming they had no plans in this direction. Partly it's a question of manufacturing: the tooling is set up for production of TVs in 16:9, which mainly concerns the production of LCD panels (or OLED panels that're in the pipeline), and changing that would be pretty expensive. As a Samsung expert points out this even affects things like the glass used for the panels: manufactures are used to particular dimensions and achieving a particular yield from a "mother" sheet of glass... changing the screen dimensions would involve adjusting all this production too. And of course there's all the tech involved in getting 2.35:1 images onto the screen in the first place: DVDs and BDs aren't that ratio, though you could achieve it by throwing away pixels.

But all of these problems are not insurmountable. And I, for one, would welcome the idea of a "full" widescreen TV sitting in my living room in four or five years time: maybe because I mainly watch movies rather than TV shows. What's your take on the idea, guys?

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Available in black and white as well as hot pink, the M61SH has support for a microSD card, and will be available in Japan from next month. [Impress]

First off, for a unit this small, the C520 packs a lot. We already know about the display and the built-in wireless, so on top of that the C520 also has text-to-speech functionality and the ability to play MP3s and video files. It's got 2GB of on board memory and an SD card slot for expansion. Essentially, it brings a bit of everything to the table (this ain't your entry level GPS) and goes head-to-head with the TomTom's One XL both on price, features, and screen size.

We got our paws on a C520 this afternoon and were pretty impressed by how intuitive it is to use. I'm the "never ask for directions while you drive" type, so I'll put this one through the test and see if it's worth the $399. So far I'll say this, it's a tempting buy for anyone who wants a GPS unit with a little sumthin'-sumthin' on the side. – Louis Ramirez

Product Page

The scrollwheel, however, is a little small. But the microSD card (why not just SD?), MPEG4/WMV support, FM radio, and great sound quality make up for its shortcomings. Although it's too late to fix the scrollwheel for its February launch, everything else seems to be in order. It's no (theoretical) widescreen iPod, or even Creative Zen Vision W, since 4GB of memory won't be holding many videos. – Jason Chen

iriver X20 [CNet Asia]

Not many other details about this MP4-playing Chinese PMP are to be had, but it does look pretty cool. – Jason Chen

iMP3 [via iMP3 via The MP3 Players]

Sure, you'll need a microscope to enjoy that kind of resolution on a 2.9-inch screen, but maybe other devices with larger displays will follow suit, giving you true 16:9 widescreen goodness instead of that less-desirable 3.5-inch almost-widescreen (at 320x480) of the iPhone. – Charlie White

Hitachi phone sports highest mobile screen res anywhere [Sci Fi Tech]

iPhone's downsized wide screen [Crave: the gadget blog via Digg]

Incidentally, we figured out it was because there's something wrong with my eyes or brain—we forget which—that caused me not to see 3D in the monitor. – Jason Chen

3D Monitor Review [Gizmodo]

Even though Apple got out of the 17-inch monitor business a while back, preferring to overcharge people for the 20-, 23-, and 30-inch models, a reentry into the thrifty-end may not be out of the question. – Jason Chen

Apple and ViewSonic to unveil 17-inch widescreen LCD monitors soon [DigiTimes]

Lenovo Announces ThinkPad T60 Widescreen Notebook [via Laptop Logic]