The 3-D Age is Upon Us: The Geek Girl Report

For a lot of people, the term "3-D" used to mean wearing those dorky-looking red and blue glasses and watching bad movies where objects "popped" out of the screen for no good reason. But what used to be a fad back then is quickly becoming the future of entertainment today, or so it seems. Here's just a few examples of the latest technology that use 3D:

1.) 3D TVs

Back when I was a kid, if you had a big-screen TV, you were on the cutting edge of technology. Then, it became all about having the biggest high-definition TV. Now today, everybody wants the 3D TVs.

But is it really worth it right now? Well, the technology is great. The 3D TVs work just as well as going to a 3D movie. But for me, there's still a lot of issues here. Aside from the glasses being crazy expensive ($150 for one pair!), I don't think the library of 3D programs is big enough to constitute such an expensive purchase. The 3D movie library is growing, but is still pretty small, and very few channels are broadcasting in 3D right now.

It's cool to have a 3D TV right now, but I would have liked to have waited a little bit for the selection of 3D titles to get larger, and for the price to get smaller...(good luck with that.)

2.) Nintendo 3DS

The latest hand-held video game console from Nintendo claimed to give gamers a 3D experience without the glasses. And overall, they did it, but not without some drawbacks.

The 3D effect is admittedly impressive, but staring at it for a long time is really hard on your eyes. To be more precise, staring at the 3D graphics for longer that about a minute is really hard on my eyes. Thankfully, the system has a slider on the side that allow you to control the intensity of the 3D, or turn it off completely. And in addition, you have to have the system at just the right angle in order for the 3D to work.

Kudos to Nintendo for being the innovators and giving us this new kind of 3D experience. But like most innovations, it's far from perfect.

3.) 3D camera

3D cameras and camcorders are already in use by Hollywood right now. But Lytro plans on bringing a 3D camera into the hands of consumers.

Lytro is a new 3D camera that will allow you to focus and zoom after you have taken the picture. Using "light field technology," the camera claims to take "living pictures" that can be edited endlessly after putting the picture on the computer. In theory, it sounds like a really cool idea. But since the cameras haven't been released in stores yet, we'll just have to wait and see if it works as well as the company says it does.

Bottom line: The 3D age is here, but not without its faults. As new technology is introduced, hopefully some of these issue will be addressed. But right now, things are looking promising for 3D technology. And hey, at least you don't have to wear those dorky-looking red and blue glasses anymore.