Ahh, the dorkiness that is/are 3D glasses. If you need to pick up an extra pair of Sony’s Active Shutter glasses, they’re available now on Amazon for $150 each. Making 3D movies some very expensive rentals or buys.

They are compatible with Sony’s HX800, HX909 and LX900 3DTVs, and the batteries last for up to 100 hours before they need charging. Don’t forget, you’ll also need an emitter for $48 if you don’t have one already and a 3D Blu-ray player. The 3DTV too of course. And lots of money.

When Aiptek introduced its i2 3D Camcorder, it promised to release a 3D photo frame to go with it. And here it is. The “Portable 3D Photo and Video Display” is a 7-inch parallax LCD display that will not require you to wear dorky glasses.

It can display photos and videos captured by the i2 or other 3D devices and releases on August 15 for just $200. So between the camera and viewer it will cost you $400.

There are many different manufacturers coming out with their own 3D glasses, but these Monster Vision Max 3D glasses are touted as the world’s first and only universal wireless 3D eyewear shutter system and its Active 3D eyewear system is the only RF Shutter system that will work with all brands of 3D HDTVs.

The stylish and lightweight high-gloss black design will allow users to wear them for hours without experiencing any fatigue, according to the company. It will fit all head sizes, and can be worn over prescription glasses.

Aspiring 3D home video shooters can start filming their version of Avatar now. Hammacher Schlemmer is offering a 3D camcorder that is capable of recording 3D video at 640 x 480 pixel resolution. The interesting part is that users will be able to view the 3D content on the device’s screen, no 3D glasses required.

When you use a 4GB SD card, the camcorder uses both lenses and 3-megapixel sensor to record up to four hours of 3D video. You can also capture 2D and 3D still images and standard 2D videos. Not bad at all right?

3D laptops just keep rolling in. Lenovo’s latest is the IdeaPad Y560d notebook. It sports a Core i7, a 15.6-inch (1366×768) display, and starts at just $1200 for the basic version. You’ll need to upgrade if you want that Core i7, ATI Radeon HD5730 1GB graphics, or 750GB hard drive.

The starting price gets you with a Core i3 processor, Intel’s integrated graphics, and a 250GB hard drive. The 3D panel, software, and glasses are all extra options, so it will cost you more to get the full 3D experience.

The current generation of 3D TVs all have one large and dorky problem. The glasses. Nobody wants to pay extra for a pair and nobody wants to wear them. We need to get rid of them. Microsoft may just do that.

The company has been working on a new lens that would allow for 3D video with no glasses needed. The display tracks the viewers eyes using an onboard computer. Then it delivers a different image to each eye. It can even handle two viewers at once. The problem right now is that it has a viewing angle of only 20 to 40 degrees.

If you have plenty of disposable income, why not spend eighty grand on a top-of-the-line 3D projector? The new C3X Lumis 3D projector by Sim2 is priced at $80,000 and would likely be the most expensive thing in your home theater.

The Sim2 C3X LUMIS 3D projector has a bunch of features including 3X Dark Chip 4, Hyper-Color, and dual-projector 3D capabilities. If you have the spare cash, why not check it out?

Gesture based technology just got a whole lot more colorful thanks to this MIT student’s ultra colorful Lycra gloves. Robert Wang and his faculty adviser Jovan Popovićt are the designers of this colorful project. The color sections on the gloves allow for a full range of hand gestures to be recognized by the computer system.

It also helps the system better recognize your hands as 3D shapes. A Webcam is used to capture the gloves, while software recognizes and translates the color patterns and compares the patterns to a database of hand gestures. After finding a match, it generates a virtual 3-D model.

3D is nothing compared to holograms. R2-D2 knew it way back in 1977 when he broadcast Leia’s message to Obi-Wan and the rest of us are just catching on. Now Japan wants to broadcast 3D holograms to stadiums all over the world for the 2022 World Cup.

They claim they will able to capture the action with 200 3D HD cameras at each game while microphones under the field would record the sound. They also assume the technology would be available for projecting 3D holograms onto the field itself, making it seem like you were watching the game in person.

Stereoscopic 3D technology has been around for a long time and it has come a long way. Toshiba has introduced a new OCB (Optically Compensated Bend) LCD panel that works in time-based type 3D glasses.

In those glasses it will facilitate high-speed shutter opening and closing, which minimizes eye fatigue caused by “3D crosstalk”, a phenomena that happens when the right image is sensed by the left eye and vice versa, causing double vision. It also means better image quality and a wide viewing angle.

Samsung has announced its new 3D Home Theater system. The Samsung HT-C6930W is the worlds first to be designed for the ultimate experience in 3D stereoscopic images and 3D sound. The system includes a 3D Blu-ray player and a 5.1 or 7.1 channel speaker setup for a 3D audio visual experience in your home.

The Samsung HT-C6930W can connect wirelessly via Wifi or via the AllShare home network to play movies or you can connect devices to the 3D Home Theater system through USB. They also throw in Internet@TV the widget-based internet service that allows you to surf the internet for news, weather, stocks and view movies for free.

You can bet that a glut of new 3D products are coming to market and before long, we will have a gob of 3D cameras and video cameras to choose from. Fujitsu is showing off some of its new products at its Fujitsu Forum 2010 in Tokyo.

Among the gear that the company is showing off is an all in one PC that sports a 3D webcam. The camera lets users have 3D video chats and conference calls.

Now here’s a use of 3D that we wholeheartedly endorse. A 3D centerfold has been a long time in coming. When Hugh Hefner launched Playboy in the 50s, he hired a photographer to shoot two nude women in 3D. But the price of bundling the glasses with the magazine was too high. This week, Hef’s dream comes true.

It should also help low readership problems which the magazine has been suffering for awhile. The June edition of Playboy hits newsstands this week and will feature centerfold Hope Dworaczyk in blue and red (anaglyph) 3D.

Damn you Avatar, look what you’ve done. Now everything has to be in 3D. Now Samsung is getting ready to introduce the world’s first mobile phone featuring a 3D display. The Samsung W960 is expected to support a 3.2-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen that will display 3D images without the need of any special 3D glasses.

Looks like this is just for the South Korean market for right now. The W960 is powered by Samsung TouchWiz 2.0, will support HSPA, DMB-T TV tuner, Bluetooth and microSD card slot. Nothing yet on the release date or the price, and we have no idea when the phone would be made available outside of South Korea.

The incompatibility of glasses from 3DTV manufacturers is another sign that 3DTV is just a passing phase. And I find it to be an annoying one personally. Now there’s word from Samsung that they should work with other TVs if worn upside down. Which really stinks because you already look ridiculous enough.

The trick was revealed during a demonstration of Samsung’s 3DTVs in the UK, with R&D chief Simon Lee using a Panasonic 3DTV to explain the compatibility. The trick will only work on sets that use Active Shutter glasses, and so far it has only been tested with Samsung and Panasonic’s sets.