Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Emerging Tech
  3. News

Disney gets daft with pricey TRON gear

By

Following on the heels of the TRON: Evolution video game series, Disney consumer products is rolling out a slate of TRON: Legacy merchandise especially designed to appeal to fans of French electronica duo Daft Punk. In collaboration with Monster Cable (the same folks behind things like Beats by Dr. Dre), Disney is rolling out Daft Punk Edition TRON: Legacy headphones, complete with an LED Light Drive system. And for the younger set, Disney has collaborated with Medicom Toy for new Daft Punk-inspired BE@RBRICK and Kubrick figures—both done up to match the costuming used by Daft Punk in their TRON: Legacy cameo.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

“To complement the futuristic TRON: Legacy soundtrack created by Daft Punk required cutting-edge products that utilize the most innovative technology and high-end design,” said Disney consumer products VP for toys and electronics Chris Heatherly, in a statement. “We sought out true industry leaders to bring to life Daft Punk-inspired merchandise that will take the TRON: Legacy experience to a whole new level for fans.”

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Those fans had better have deep pockets: the Daft Punk Tron: Legacy T1 headphones reflect the “design sensibilities” of Daft Punk, while aiming to be high-end headphones for music, gaming, and home theater fans. Monster claims the headphones are the “first ever” optimized for both stereo and a fully immersive surround sound experience. The headphones feature large over-ear drivers and an LED Light Drive System (a first in Monster headphones) that produced TRON-like animated effects. The headphones also feature noise isolation technology to block out external sounds, a removable boom mic (that can be mounted either left or right) for gaming, and Monster ControlTalk for handsfree calling. And—just for the fans—the headphones come with a surround sound mix of the Daft Punk soundtrack for TRON: Legacy. The T1 headphones are available now with a suggested price of $349.95, although online retailers seem to be offering them for about $300.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

But that’s not all! Disney is also rolling out an iPod dock inspired by Tron disks and delivers a “world-class listening experience”—and fans with the free TRON app from the iTunes App STore will be able to unlock a TRON-themed alarm. The Tron: Legacy audio dock carries a suggested retail price of $249.95.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Other Disney TRON: Legacy paraphernalia includes BE@RBRICK and Kubrick figures from Medicom Toy, with prices ranging from an easy $4.99 all the way up to $229.99—with the latter being 12-inch Daft Punk action figures decked out in their TRON: Legacy costumes. Fans will have to wait for a bit, however: the big guys won’t be available until April 2011, although a Daft Punk TRON: Legacy BE@RBRICK will start being available this month, with more variations coming in January.

Image used with permission by copyright holder
Topics
Geoff Duncan
Geoff Duncan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
Digital Trends’ Tech For Change CES 2023 Awards
Digital Trends CES 2023 Tech For Change Award Winners Feature

CES is more than just a neon-drenched show-and-tell session for the world’s biggest tech manufacturers. More and more, it’s also a place where companies showcase innovations that could truly make the world a better place — and at CES 2023, this type of tech was on full display. We saw everything from accessibility-minded PS5 controllers to pedal-powered smart desks. But of all the amazing innovations on display this year, these three impressed us the most:

Samsung's Relumino Mode
Across the globe, roughly 300 million people suffer from moderate to severe vision loss, and generally speaking, most TVs don’t take that into account. So in an effort to make television more accessible and enjoyable for those millions of people suffering from impaired vision, Samsung is adding a new picture mode to many of its new TVs.
[CES 2023] Relumino Mode: Innovation for every need | Samsung
Relumino Mode, as it’s called, works by adding a bunch of different visual filters to the picture simultaneously. Outlines of people and objects on screen are highlighted, the contrast and brightness of the overall picture are cranked up, and extra sharpness is applied to everything. The resulting video would likely look strange to people with normal vision, but for folks with low vision, it should look clearer and closer to "normal" than it otherwise would.
Excitingly, since Relumino Mode is ultimately just a clever software trick, this technology could theoretically be pushed out via a software update and installed on millions of existing Samsung TVs -- not just new and recently purchased ones.

Read more
AI turned Breaking Bad into an anime — and it’s terrifying
Split image of Breaking Bad anime characters.

These days, it seems like there's nothing AI programs can't do. Thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence, deepfakes have done digital "face-offs" with Hollywood celebrities in films and TV shows, VFX artists can de-age actors almost instantly, and ChatGPT has learned how to write big-budget screenplays in the blink of an eye. Pretty soon, AI will probably decide who wins at the Oscars.

Within the past year, AI has also been used to generate beautiful works of art in seconds, creating a viral new trend and causing a boon for fan artists everywhere. TikTok user @cyborgism recently broke the internet by posting a clip featuring many AI-generated pictures of Breaking Bad. The theme here is that the characters are depicted as anime characters straight out of the 1980s, and the result is concerning to say the least. Depending on your viewpoint, Breaking Bad AI (my unofficial name for it) shows how technology can either threaten the integrity of original works of art or nurture artistic expression.
What if AI created Breaking Bad as a 1980s anime?
Playing over Metro Boomin's rap remix of the famous "I am the one who knocks" monologue, the video features images of the cast that range from shockingly realistic to full-on exaggerated. The clip currently has over 65,000 likes on TikTok alone, and many other users have shared their thoughts on the art. One user wrote, "Regardless of the repercussions on the entertainment industry, I can't wait for AI to be advanced enough to animate the whole show like this."

Read more
4 simple pieces of tech that helped me run my first marathon
Garmin Forerunner 955 Solar displaying pace information.

The fitness world is littered with opportunities to buy tech aimed at enhancing your physical performance. No matter your sport of choice or personal goals, there's a deep rabbit hole you can go down. It'll cost plenty of money, but the gains can be marginal -- and can honestly just be a distraction from what you should actually be focused on. Running is certainly susceptible to this.

A few months ago, I ran my first-ever marathon. It was an incredible accomplishment I had no idea I'd ever be able to reach, and it's now going to be the first of many I run in my lifetime. And despite my deep-rooted history in tech, and the endless opportunities for being baited into gearing myself up with every last product to help me get through the marathon, I went with a rather simple approach.

Read more