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January 9, 2006
Leaving on a Jet plane
The Sleuth is back in the Valley, the Test Bed (Las Vegas branch) is closed and the rest of VNUnet are coming home today.
It's been busy, hard work and exciting.
With a few days recovery we will be ready, willing and able to tackle MacWorld.
As ever we will be bringing you all the news, gossip and buzz from the show floor, courtesy of the Silicon Valley Sleuth
January 9, 2006
Don't blog it Vlog it! The rise of video blogging
Video blogging has been making an impression at CES, with software, services and web cams aimed at people that want to take their blogs to the next level.
Serious Magic is bringing out its Vlog It software within a couple of weeks, which lets people script, film and create their own video blogs. We've got an early copy of the software and will be testing it over the coming days – you'll see the review on the Personal Computer World site.
John Felts from the company told us that they took the idea of the traditional video editing software and “scrapped it because it's too complicated for the average person”.
You write your script, which then
appears on a teleprompter. Any effects or images are dragged and
dropped to appear at a particular point of the script. Once filming
the image automatically appears on screen at the right point in the
script.
It costs $50, but will also be bundled with Creative Labs' web cams in future. Creative has launched Zen Cast Organiser over the past few days. A public beta, it is the company's answer to iTunes, and ties users to Creative's products (just as iTunes ties users to Apple's products) – in this case the Zen Vision and Zen Vision:M.
At the moment the site, zencast.com, is a little like an RSS feed, where it aggregates information, but in future you'll be able to add your video blogs.
January 8, 2006
I'll Drink you drive: DARPA’s Touareg
It might not be a fireapple red convertable that can burn through Baker, Barstow and Berdo on its way to Las Vegas on a savage search to find the American dream, but its still a pretty cool motor.
You may remember “Stanley,” the Touareg who won the $2 million prize at the DARPA’s race back in October. Well Stanford went and brought the champion out here for all to ogle. The Stanford robot Volkswagen Touareg finished the course in 6 hours 53, minutes beating everyone else to take the record, so it’s pretty cool to see something this expensive and powerful up close. I noticed they had a tent to hide it from the sun. I suppose they were afraid it’d drive off on it’s own and run over the CES crowd. Johnny 5 is alive!
January 8, 2006
What do CES delegates do at night?
All in the name of research, naturally, as we have never seen a bull in a bikini..ahem
January 8, 2006
Robosapiens get outclassed at Las Vegas Hilton
Its Saturday, CES convention goers get $10 off, so resistance is futile. And if you want to check out the future of graphics and what films and games engines could be like in the fuuture go check out The Star Trek Experience: its: "Awwwwwwwwesome," as they say over here.
And don't forget to have one of these, a Borg Sphere complete with C02--although you may need the assistance of another officer.
January 8, 2006
World Poker Tour and VNU Competition Winners
When VNUnet contacted ComputerActive reader Stan Harris to tell him that he had won the prize to go to the CES show at Las Vegas courtesy of our partners at the world poker tour (WPT), he initially thought it was another one of those irritating sales calls we all seem to get when we are in the shower or just leaving the house.
"I thought it was someone trying to flog me a time share at first," Stan said but when he was told it was for real he was delighted because he said he had never "won" anything in his life before and had never been to the US.
Now, Stan and his wife Jean are hooked on Vegas and hope to return. In preparation for the trip, Stan also told us that his daughter had bought him a poker set in anticipation. So watch out users of VNUnet's poker rooms, you might see our Vegas high rollers in the rooms very soon.
January 7, 2006
The sights, sounds and smells of CES part #6
January 7, 2006
The sights, sounds and smells of CES part #5
So if you have a crash you just press ctrl, alt, delete right?
January 7, 2006
The sights,sounds and smells of CES part #4
$35 for 10 rides, eeeeh, it were $20 last year and I remember when't monorail were free, lad.
January 7, 2006
The sights, sounds and smells of CES part #3
Ever
ything is big in Las Vegas....
January 7, 2006
The sights, sounds and smells of CES part #2
If you have room after your two bacon, two sausage, french toast, home fries etc breakfast.......The Daddy of lunches!
January 7, 2006
January 7, 2006
Google keynote picture by picture
The last keynote of the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show came from Google. Just on the day of the keynote, its shares rose from $455 to $470 just before the start of the event. At the current rate, Google is valued at $137.62 billion.
Why is that relevant? It's valuation amounts to shareholder mandate to allow Google to do whatever it wants. Nobody can ignore Google, but Google can ignore everybody.
Google co-founder Larry Page enters the stage riding on the back of Stanley, the vehicle build by Stanford University that won the Darpa challenge last year. Page and his co-founder Sergey Brin were PhD students at Stanford when they founded Google. Page makes the point that great innovations have come out of universities (and will later add: corporations tend to focus on the commercial value too much, stifling innovation).
Page then goes on to demonstrate a project where Volkswagen used Google maps for a concept in-car navigation system.
He then kicks off a lengthy plea for open standards in consumer electronics devices. Pointing at the army of photographers taking pictures in keynote room, he suggests that cameras should be able to share content.
Open standards also could allow Page to create a custom alarm clock using just a touch display. The device would collect data from his calendar and use the speaker system to wake him up.
The point is: innovation happens elsewhere. Companies shouldn't try lock in their customers because that stifles innovation. The open standards of the internet and software have allowed for tremendous innovation, why not create the same for the world of consumer electronics?
An open standard for power adaptors could cut the clutter under Page's desk. And ours, and yours.
So open standards make everybody happy.
Having lectured the consumer electronics industry, Page moves on to Google's realm. Instant messaging, he points out, was largely developed by corporations. And so there is no interoperability that would allow MSN messenger to communicate with Yahoo Messenger or AIM. Google's IM client however is build on open standards and therefore doesn't lock in its consumers.
The open IM movement is collecting momentum, Page points out. Nokia has just decided to include a a messenger on its Nokia 770 Tablet that is compatible with Google Talk.
Even in software not all is well, Page argues. Users who are installing a new system have to go through an abundance of license agreements and configuration windows, as he himself experienced just recently.
So the first Google announcement of the day: Google Pack. A bundle of several applications including Norton AntiVirus 2005 SE (6 month trial version), Adobe Reader, Firefox, AdAware anti spyware and pretty much all Google applications (Talk, Desktop, Picasa, Earth). Users only have to do one download and agree to one unified license agreement.
After the initial download, the software will then download the individual applications in the background. The same goes for future updates.
Time to have some fun: Page brings actor Robin Williams on stage.
The two make jokes (mostly Williams), but where is this heading?
Ah, back to business.
Page unveils the Google Video store, where content creators will be allowed to upload video content and sell it at whatever price they want to sell it at.
The store launches with 3,000 videos, including footage from the NBA, as former NBA star Kenny Smith (right) tells. Game footage will be made available 24 hours after the game is played.
CBS, owner of hit shows including Star Trek, Survivor and CSI too is on board. It will sell TV episodes for $1.99 each.
That's if for the news part. Page moves on to a question and answer session with the public, although most questions came from the media.
Williams came in handy to help deal with some of the harder questions. Most notably, he did a pretty good impression of a Frenchman when a French reporter asked about non-English content for the Video store. "And will it have a smoking section?" Williams responded.
The English didn't get off much better by the way. "English technology, be very careful," Williams warned Page when a reporter from the Observer took the microphone. "The English space programme has done so well. It's called: 'Man on a ladder'.
Tags: google, larry page, robin williams, google video store
January 7, 2006
Apple gets the Flip
Belkin has developed a switch to sit between the Mac Mini and a PC for Apple for anyone with both systems and only one monitor, and Zalman plans to develop a water cooled power supply.
You can read the stories here.
Belkin gives Apple the Flip
Zalman plans water cooled power supply
January 6, 2006
Yahoo keynote picture by picture
Yahoo CEO Terry Semel got to kick of the final day of CES keynotes - later today Google founder Larry Page gets to wrap up the final keynote of the show after which the show floor will remain open for another two days.
Semel starts off by boasting about the reach of his internet portal, reaching 400 million unique users per month.
He then brings on Elen Degeneres on stage, a former stand-up comedienne and sitcom actor (from the 'Elen' show) who currently hosts a daytime talk show. She jokes around about the pains of owning an managing several gadgets in today's world, which turns out to be a way for Yahoo to set the stage for the unveiling of their Yahoo! Go service.
Chief operating officer Dan Rosensweig and Marco Boerries, Senior vice president for Yahoo's connected life group are then brought for a live demonstration of the new service.
They start off however by demonstrating Yahoo Widgets, a service that is anything but new. Widgets, as any Apple user will tell you, are small applications that display information from the internet or from a local system. The two widgets on this photo show upcoming appointments (top) and an address book entry (bottom).
Yahoo Go Mobile however is somewhat new.
The application will allow users of select Motorola and Nokia mobile phones to access Yahoo services including Local Search...
... including a map and driving directions from their current location...
...Yahoo! Messenger...
... and email from both Yahoo and outside email accounts.
For those users who are rich brave enough to pay $900 and up for the ponied up DVR that is called Viiv, Yahoo will also be available on a television. There they will also have access to features including movie trailers.
A demo of the movie trailer however fails, which Rosensweig conveniently blames on the Microsoft software that is running the Viiv device.
It turns out however that the "failure" is merely an excuse to bring in Tom Cruise, the devoted followed of the Scientology cult. He shows off the trailer of his upcoming Mission Impossible III movie.
Since Semel started talking about Viiv, Intel chief Paul Otellini uses the occasion to drop by and talk up the entertainment platform that he announced in his keynote presentation on Thursday.
Otellini also shows off a "Slide" concept design that looks an awful lot like the "Carry Everywhere PC" that Bill Gates unveiled earlier last April at WinHEC in Seattle.
Slide comes with a keyboard that slides out, Otellini demonstrates.
By this time, Semel is pretty much done. He brings back Elen Degeneres who gets to show some photoshoped pictures of herself with high tech executives. For those of you who want to guess, I'll save the answers for the bottom of this post.
Answers:
1: Bill Gates, Chief Software Architect, Microsoft
2: Ed Zander, CEO, Motorola. Picture taken in Egypt.
3: Paul Otellini, CEO, Intel
4: Terry Semel, CEO, Yahoo! Picture taken in San Francisco.
Tags: paul otellini, yahoo, yahoo go, terry semel, bill gates, tom cruise, elen degeneres, ces
January 6, 2006
Intel announces Yonah pricing
As well as announcing the new Centrino Solo/Duo (Napa) laptop platform using Yonah CPUs, Intel has also introduced lots of other new processors. You can get the full list of new products and pricing (in US$, 1000-unit quantities) here.
January 6, 2006
War of the Wireless World
When you are attempting to capture the hearts and minds, as well as the wallet share, of consumers that want to join the wireless revolution, getting the odd celebrity to endore your product is usually a good tactic to help your products fly off the shelves.To this end, Intel was the latest vendor to show off its celebrity friends today by rolling out its Top Gun Hollywood A-list.
Yesterday, we saw Morgan Freeman and Dan Brown, the writer of the Da Vinci Code, today Intel rolled out its Top Gun by arranging Tom Cruise to do a celebrity tour of its stand here at CES.
One minute we are looking at Intel and Skype partnerships on the stand, the next minute we turn round and we see the cream of the Hollywood A-list, cruising round its stand.
"Show me the money," or at least the latest in Voice over IP.
January 6, 2006
More CES podcasts
If you couldn't get enough of Rob Jones yesterday, then there's more today.
Rounding up the highlights of CES so far, Rob even has genuine visitor noise in the background.
http://www.pcw.co.uk/podcasts/
January 6, 2006
Sanyo pushes $799 high def camcorder
We played with Sanyo's new high definition camcorder, the Xacti VPC-HD1 today.
It's
an mpeg 4, 720p camcorder that records straight on to SD-card. A 2GB
card can hold about 42 minutes of high definition footage and over
two hours at standard resolution.
It also has a 5megapixel stills camera, a 10x optical zoom and has separate attachable wide angle and telephoto lenses.
It will cost about $799 and be available from early March. We'll have a review on the Personal Computer World web site as soon as it has been through our labs.
January 6, 2006
CES: High def dominates day one
The packed opening day of CES in Las Vegas saw high definition take centre stage, and big was the theme.
Both Panasonic and Samsung claimed to have the world's largest plasma TVs on their stands. Both are 1080p high definition displays but unfortunately for Samsung, Panasonic's is 103inches compared to Samsung's 102.
These TVs are unrealistic for all but a few people, but we are seeing LCD TV sizes finally begin to rise and compete with mainstream plasmas.
Samsung had an 82inch LED-based LCD TV, which again it claimed as a world's largest, plus LCDs from 15 to 57inches. Two, the 40 and 46inch TVs, boast 1080p resolutions.
And Sony had seven new Bravia LCDs, ranging from 26 to 46inches. Joining Panasonic's 103inch monster will be three large screen LCD TVs this year - at 52, 56 and 61inches. There was no indication of release date though.
January 6, 2006
Intel keynote picture by picture
When Intel chief Paul Otellini took the stage at CES on Thursday, we knew exactly what he was going to talk about: the Viiv entertainment platform and Napa, the codename for the next generation Centrino mobile platform.
The only questions were: which would be first, and which celebrities would join Otellini?
Napa, it turned out, got to go first. Sean Maloney (left), who heads up Intel's mobile division, joined his boss. Together they pulled the new system out of the magician's hat: Centrino Duo. Not a very flashy name, but given the brand name that Centrino has build up over the past years, this is probably a wise decision.
Michael Dell makes his third CES appearance of the day after joining Sony and his own event. This time he gets to talk up Centrino Duo. And he again shows off his laptop concept design.
But let's not waste time on an incremental improvement of a mobile platform. Viiv is far more interesting. So we are introduced to Dan McDonald, general manager of Intel's digital home group.
He gets to show of some of the Viiv enabled devices that are in stores today. But Viiv isn't so much about the hardware as it is about the services that it enables.
This decoder from DirectTV for instance will allow consumers to distribute television shows throughout home and transfer them to a portable device and watch them while on the road.
At least, that is in essence what DirectTV chief executive Chase Carey tells Otellini.
He's followed by AOL chief Jonathan Miller, who unveils that the provider will make available 14,000 old television series free of charge to Viiv users, supported by advertising.
And last but not least, Otellini receives actor Morgan Freeman and producer Lori McCreary, who are the two driving forces behind the ClickStar video download service.
They are soon joined by some more Hollywood dignitaries, including Tom Hanks (in his second CES appearance of the day, here standing next to Otellini) and Danny DeVito (not in picture... but you can see his hands waist-high next to Tom Hanks).
The group explains how ClickStar will enable small movie productions to reach the audience, and soon start goofing around. Otellini gets to pick up the pieces and wraps up his keynote.
Tags: intel, viiv, napa, Centrino, ces
January 6, 2006
Dell goes for supersized at CES
Dell founder Michael Dell might had to do with a significantly smaller stage than Bill Gates or Paul Otellini for his presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show, his keynote didn't suffer from it.
Following a theme that fit Vegas, his product unveilings along the lines that: "bigger is better".
Most notably, Dell unveiled a 20-inch concept notebook computer (more info here). You won't truly appreciate the gadget's size until you see someone walking off with it (picture below).
Dell also unveiled a new gaming desktop system that is bound to help a lot of games through the night. And in a personal favourite, the company developed a new 30 inch wide screen LCD display - not a TV but a monitor for your computer... sweet!
Before you spend your $2,199, make sure you have one of the five graphics cards that are required to power up this puppy.
Tags: michael dell, dell, concept laptop, monitor
January 5, 2006
Rocking Out With Yamaha Guitars At CES
Yamaha is big in the musical instrument biz and thinks that your prodigy son who wants to learn the guitar is the greatest thing in the world. So Yamaha has introduced 2 new “learning” guitars targeted at beginners to help with strumming techniques, learning chords, and playing in general, the Gizmodo team at CES have spotted: The EZ-AG and EZ-EG. Shaped like Acoustic and Electric guitars, 15 pre-recorded songs are included for playback so you can learn at your own pace with the ability to just strum, just fret, or do both. A built-in speaker is included for jamming and they can run off batteries, but they also have MIDI functionality and a 9V adaptor. You’ll also be able to download new songs once you’re done learning the initial 15 that come with the guitars. No tuning is required either so the beginner can on to a real guitar to learn that and other techniques. The EZ-AG goes for $199.99 while the EZ-EG will be $249.99 because fretboards that light up are purty and it’s cooler to have an electric guitar. Duh.
Technorati tag: ces blog
January 5, 2006
Internet Hot Spot on Wheels at CES
More road trip news for ya. The SpeedRay 3000 by RaySat basically turns anything on wheels into an instant WiFi zone. Just place this round antenna onto the roof of your car and you’ll get satellite TV as well as broadband access in a lickety-split. Using GPS, the system will give you an always-on connection —so as long as you have a line of sight to the satellite, you’re golden. Of course, unless you’re living in your automobile, you may not want to drop the $7000 this thing will cost you. Although if you’re a fan of motor homes, this would be your chance to upgrade the old homestead. Look for it sometime this summer.
RaySat SpeedRay 3000 [BBC]
Technorati tag: ces blog
January 5, 2006
Sony keynote picture by picture
Sony chief executive Sir Howard Stringer took the stage on Thursday morning for the official kick-off of the Consumer Electronics Show (Gates only gets the "pre-show keynote").
The Welshman is the first non-Japanese executive at Sony. And he brought some much needed humour to the company.
The company launched all its new products on Wednesday at a press conference. But Stringer got to do it all over again. Here: the new W810 Walkman mobile phone.
Another one of yesterday's announcements: the Sony Reader, a device that downloads and displays ebooks. Shipping later this spring.
Stringer takes the reader for a ride...
... and then pulls Dan Brown on stage, the author of the hit novel "The Da Vinci Code" to talk up digital books.
Moving back to terra cognita, Stringer plays around with the hugely successful PSP. And can't help but point out that it outsold the Xbox 360 in the past holiday season.
But the Da Vinci Code would come back with a vengeance. The book is being made into a movie staring Tom Hanks as the lead character. "I just got in to town this morning, so I need a goodie bag or gambling money," Hanks quipped.
In an effort to please his host, he then started pitching all kinds of random Sony products while pretending to be reading off the teleprompter.
Moving to high definition television, Stringer was joined by some host of some sports show (can you tell that we don't really care about sports shows. And after Tom Hanks, we already had our celebrity shot). But he did mention that a golf game in HD is much more interesting.
Dell founder Michael Dell was brought on to talk up the Blu-ray high definition DVD standard. But Dell used the occasion to tout his company's television business. Stringer quickly recovered: "If you want a really expensive laptop, buy a [Sony] Vaio."
And speaking of Blu-ray, did Stringer mention that the forthcoming PS3 gaming console will support the standard? Well, he did now.
Tags: CES, psp3, sony, howard stringer
Technorati tag: ces blog
January 5, 2006
Batman Returns at CES
January 5, 2006
First Edge Blackberry to hit the UK
Blackberry fans will be pleased to see that a new model hitting the UK soon.
The 8700F will work on the Orange
network and is Rim's first Edge version of the Blackberry. It also
uses an Intel processor, so is faster than previous generations, and
incorporates features such as a speakerphone, Bluetooth and a backlit
keyboard.
As you can see, it's also a tad smaller than the current model. There was no information on pricing.
January 5, 2006
Clarion’s In-Car Mulitmedia System at CES
New and improved (like just about everything at this show) the Clarion VRX765VD will make life in your car a dream, and shut up any crying child in minutes (not guaranteed by company, unfortunately). With a 7-inch flip- out touch-screen to play with, the DVD multimedia system comes with a soil resistant (I love that. Because we’re all soilers, aren’t we??) finish touch-screen controlling DVD menu options and an improved user interface that now offers video playback for the Video iPod. Also includes 200 watts of max power, 24- Bit D/A Converter and a single play DVD mechanism that plays DVD Video, CD Audio and Video CD and a bunch of other audio formats including MP3/ WMA and encoded CDs.
This post was originally on Gizmodo US, thanks guys hope the heads are not too sore today ;-)
January 5, 2006
Sony launches new Walkman phone
Sony outlined a number of new products yesterday, although showstoppers were thin on the ground. Chief among its products were new Bravia high definition TVs, including a slim design 55” SXD, a 46” XBR LCD and an 82” HD TV with triluminance back lighting for improving the image quality.
As you'd expect, Blu-ray was also pushed heavily, and we can expect to see products in early summer, including recordable players and internal and external drives. Sony is also bringing out a desktop with Blu-ray recordable capacity.
By spring, there'll also be 20 Hollywood titles in Blu-ray.
The fifth generation Sony Walkman phone was also announced, the W810, which includes a 2megapixel camera with auto focus. This is similar to the Sony Ericsson D and K750i, which we tested several months ago.
Although the image quality on the Sony Ericsson would disappoint hardcore camera enthusiasts, for those used to snapping on a digital camera the quality is fine. We expect the Sony Walkman to be of similar quality.
We'll add a link to our Podcast giving
more details on the W810 a little later. 
There was also a nine ounce Sony
ebooker Reader, with over 10,000 books available for download from its service. Sony claimed this would
'revolutionise reading', but we seriously doubt the reader will ever
be anything more than a very niche product. 
Finally, Sony talked extensively about its Location Free TV adaptor, and that was interesting enough to warrant a story by itself, so you can read about that here.
January 5, 2006
Gates at CES picture by picture
Short of giving you the full video for Bill Gates' opening keynote presentation, we thought we'd provide you with a picture by picture demonstration and keep the text to a minimum:
No CES without a Bill Gates opening keynote... this should get interesting. Gates certainly looks like he feels like it.
Gates gets off to a good start: he gives us a sneak peak of what our lives might look like in about 5 years. First the large interactive display. On the top part we find some kids drawings. Below that, you can watch news and other information. The bottom shows a map that tracks the whereabouts of your family members. Big brother? Of course, but this is just a concept anyway.
The display is interactive: touch, click and drag all you want.
On to the office, Bill calls a quick meeting by dragging contacts to the communications panel. That display in reality however is created by three projectors hidden behind the desk... nothing fancy there.
Hey, isn't that a table PC? Like those will still be around five years from now.
Next scenario: a public place like an airport. By placing his mobile phone on a display surface, Gates creates a personal workspace. He can also store a contact in his mobile by simply placing an (RFID equipped) business card on the appropriate surface.
Back to 2006. Gates leaves the stage, promising that a Group product manager will display some "never before seen" features of Windows Vista. First up... the glass display and sidebar featuring 'gadgets'. Wait... those aren't new at all but have been demonstrated ad nausea.
But surely this "Sideshow" is new... Wait. That's just a new name for the auxiliary display. Intel first demonstrated that in February 2004. Giving it a new name doesn't make it new.
As the manager kept showing previously announced features, we started to doze off. Until we landed at this "photo gallery". That we hadn't seen before. Making in easy to organise, browse and edit photos, that's a first for Windows. But not for iPhoto or Picasa.
The new Media Player too is a first. Again: easier to browse through and find information.
Than Bill Gates is allowed back on stage, and he brings with him a suit from MTV: Van Toffler. Together they get to officially launch their new Urge online music service.
We are soon forced to reach for a vomit buckets however, as Toffler says words that even the worse marketing executive couldn't come up with: "Today it is our mission to create a truly immerse, emotionally engaging and entertaining experience with music." Bullshit bingo, anyone?
So this is it? Very immerse indeed.
Hey, isn't that Justin Timberlake? He's even joking around, claiming that he will sing with Gates. That is, we hope he's joking...
Back to business, Gates moves to mobile and shows a device whose makers for years said that Windows sucked. But as of Thursday it will be available in the US running Windows: the Treo smartphone.
Another company that build something cool with Microsoft software: this Philips phone isn't just a cordless phone, but also allows users to place VoIP calls to subscribers of MSN Messenger.
Speaking of partners: Microsoft must loooooove Intel these days. It's Viiv platform will likely give a major push to Windows Media Center Edition.
This new portable media player from Toshiba now plays movies (was we predicted below). And it supports downloads from the new Starz Vongo service, featuring more than 1,000 movies. Video iPod, move over.
Windows Media Center Edition will also get a visual make-over. The new user interface will cater towards wide screen displays, allowing for instance to display album art of a digital music collection.
Finally, the Xbox 360. Sure it's been selling like crazy. But it's not like we don't know that. But then Microsoft promises a live demonstration of the forthcoming game Fight Night by Electronic Arts.
In the left corner, Bill Gates is announced as: "He floats like an MSN butterfly, he sings like a bee." His opponent? "The sultan of security, the prince of productivity": Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.
Just like in real live, Bill Gates wins.
Tags: CES, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, microsoft, vista, xbox
January 5, 2006
See-through Raptor targets modders
From next month you'll be able to buy an additional version of Western Digital's new 150GB Raptor hard disk. It's aimed at modders, and comes with a see-through top, enabling you to see the platters spin.
You can read more here.
January 5, 2006
High defintion TVs hit 103inches
Panasonic showed off its new high definition plasma TV today and it is a whopping 103inches. It is claimed to be the world's largest plasma screen and has a resolution of 1080p, giving it stunning image quality.
It's way too big to fit into the homes of most people, but in the UK that won't be an option as Panasonic currently has no plans to release it anywhere but in the US. Which is a shame because from what we saw, the image quality was impressive. Hopefully you can get a sense of its size from the photo - check out the DVD players sitting underneath.
It is also releasing a 65inch 1080p plasma in the US, so in the UK we continue to miss out on such high quality TV. Hopefully this will change once high def broadcasts launch in Britain. If you want really big screens, plasma still rules, but LCDs are beginning to catch up, and this year there will be 52, 56 and 61inch models hitting the streets. Yet again though, they'll be US only.
There was a lot of jockeying for position today in the flat panel TV market, with Philips and Sony also stressing their credentials. Naturally, every company was a market leader...
Philips launched the latest generation of its ambient light TVs - Ambi Light 3 - and Sony announced seven Bravias. These are from 26 to 46inches in size.
January 5, 2006
The Skype demo that couldn't
Netgear today unveiled a new Skype handset that is the first to allow users to place phone calls without the use of a computer (more details here).
As usual Skype chief executive Niklas Zennström didn't make it to the event. As the former CEO for the Kazaa file sharing venture, the story goes that he still fears that the RIAA will have him arrested if he puts as much as a toe on US soil. Not taking any changes, he always calls in.
It also makes for a nice way to demonstrate the Skype VoIP service, as it did this time. But Zennstrom demonstrated more than just the Skype technology. He also showed that Skype shouldn't be used for conference calls at events. He could barely be heard because the volume was either too low or because he was interrupted by interference.
Netgear CEO Patrick Lo holds up his new Skype handset before making an inaudible phonecall with Zennstrom.
Tags: Skype, netgear, Zennström, voip
January 4, 2006
Toshiba to ship HD DVD players at last
Toshiba has just unveiled its first set of HD DVD players. They are the first devices supporting the next generation high definition DVD standards.
Two players will start shipping in the US in March at $499 and $799. The company will also make available a laptop computer with a HD DVD drive, but didn't provide a launch date or retail pricing.
Additional details are available here
The $499 HD-A1...
...the $799 HD-XA1...
...and the media media circus around it.
Tags: CES, hd dvd, blu-ray, toshiba
January 4, 2006
Kodak shows off dual lens digicam
Kodak showed off its new dual lens Easyshare V570 digital camera last night at CES Unveiled.
You can read about it here.
January 4, 2006
Gates to take on video iPod tonight
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is expected to unveil a new portable video player from Toshiba tonight during his opening keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show here in Las Vegas, one source told vnunet.com.
The video player will be part of Toshiba's Gigabeat line up of portable music players. The product currently offers only hard drive based players with photo viewing capabilities.
Toshiba stayed numb on a portable video player during a press event this morning, but did say that it will be shipping a flash-based 512Mb and 1Gb portable player player in February for $119 and $149 respectively. The player features a full colour display is about the same size as an iPod mini.
Toshiba's Yoshi Uchiyama shows off his flash media player
Tags: CES, Toshiba, bill gates, ipod, apple
January 4, 2006
Seagate works on 8GB Compact Flash and pausing live TV
Seagate talked extensively about its work with Humax to integrate 2.5inch hard disks into LCD TVs at CES Unveiled. This would turn the TV into a Personal Video Recorder, giving it functions such as pause, rewind and fast forwarding of live TV, without needing a seperate box.
You can read more here ,
plus listen to the podcast
interview .
Meanwhile, Seagate was also
pushing its 8GB Compact Flash card, which it launched in December.
Although aimed at digital SLR photographers, the company believed it would also attract people that like to also shoot video clips using their compact cameras.
However its current cost of $259 will put off many buyers, although prices should quickly drop over the coming 12 months.
Seagate and its rivals in the flash media sector are also working on how to make other flash drives, such as SD, 8GB.
January 4, 2006
Podcasts from CES unveiled
We've got two podcast interviews from PCW magazine's Rob Jones produced from CES unveiled - the official press event that took place yesterday.
In the first, Rob Pait of Seagate on the future of PVR technology. Rob then talks to Diana Braun from Skype about Skype 2 and Simon Crane from VoIP company VoIPvoice.
You can subscribe to PCW's podcast feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/pcwpodcasts
Or download these two from http://www.pcw.co.uk/podcasts/
January 4, 2006
The good news about Pepper Pad? Eh… they are still around
Pepper last year at CES unveiled their Pepper Pad, a Linux powered tablet device that aims to allow the user to surf the web from the living room couch. It started shipping in July and would have been utterly forgotten if Nokia wouldn't have launched the highly similar Nokia 770.
At $849 however the Pepper Pad is far more expensive than Nokia's $359 toy. The main differences are that Nokia doesn't offer a hard drive and has a smaller display. But both are designed to allow users to surf the web from the comfort of their living rooms, and both run Linux.
The Pepper said that it has had trouble keeping up with demand, but declined to give out any sales figures that would silence cynical observers.
At the same time it unveiled an additional model, the Pepper Pad Plus. It has a 30 Gb hard drive (up from 20 Gb), Wifi b and g (versus just b in the "regular" version), Bluetooth 2.0 (up from 1.2) and 60 per cent more battery life.
The "Plus" pad is scheduled to start shipping by the second quarter of this year. Pricing information wasn't disclosed. Existing users will receive the option to upgrade their regular Peppers to a Plus version, but again no details about the cost were available.
Tags: nokia 770, pepper pad, ces
January 4, 2006
Xavix: realistic gaming without the annoying reality
After last year's failed attempt to make a lame game look cool through a celebrity endorsement from Jackie Chan, gaming company Xavix has kicked it up a notch.
Their games have evolved since last year, when gamers had to hop on a sensor mat. This year Xavix was demonstrating POWERBOXING, a virtual boxing game where the player wears sensor equipped gloves. But failing to make for truly realistic gaming, there is no chance of getting punched back.
In BassFISHING, players pretend to be using a fishing rod – for those fishing enthusiasts who are driven crazy by the soothing sounds of nature when practicing the real thing.
If this company is allowed back of CES 2007, could someone at least teach them how to turn off caps lock?
Xavix lady plays the media - the blue monitor shows the boxing game
Tags: CES, Xavix, Jackie chan
January 4, 2006
CES in numbers
We won't even try to explain the size of the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show, but let these figures speak to themselves:
The show takes up 1.6 million sq. ft. or 148,650 sq. metres of show floor space (and for the first time is spread out over two locations)
2,500 exhibitors will flock to the event, not including companies who rented a private suite to display their products to an invitation only public.
CES 2006 will see an estimated 20,000 product introductions, according to estimates by the show's organizer.
January 4, 2006
Lipstick in my pocket? No dear, it's my headset
Far from being lipstick in a designer holding case, this is the Plantronics Discovery 640 Bluetooth headset. After seeing the LG headset it was a relief to get to the Plantronics stand and see some decent alternatives.
This has actually been available since about autumn and cost from about $99, but unfortunately Plantronics told us they aren't announcing any new products at CES, so this is about as close as we'll get.
It's a discreet headset, in that the earpiece sits in your ear, but doesn't also need a hook to go over it. Aimed at business people, it comes with a case full of recharging options, including an AA battery connection, and clips-on with that can take any mobile phone charger.
If you don't want to wear it all the time, it beeps when you are receiving a call, and is pretty quick and easy to slip out of its case and into your ear - we know, because we tried.
January 4, 2006
For the executive in you and me
It's perfectly fine to create a useless toy, but please be honest about it.
That's why Canadian firm Interactive Toy stole our hearts tonight at CES Unveiled, a media event previewing some of the technologies that will be on display when CES opens its doors to the public on Thursday morning.
"It's the kind of toy that executives play with when they close the doors of their offices," sales manager Collin Neal summarized the target audience for the model helicopter that he displayed.
The gadget has a patented part on its dual rotors that makes it highly stable. But as a gadget freak, do you really care? All you see is $69 toy for grown-up boys (there is also a smaller $59 version).
The device will fly for 7 to 12 minutes and comes with a build in rechargeable battery. The company is currently looking for distributors.
Interactive toy's helicopter in mid air, an pursued by a Reuters TV camera man.
Tags: CES, CES blog, model toys, model helicopter, remote helicopter, interactive toy
January 4, 2006
LG's pointless 'headset' makes public your private chat
This is LG Electronics' Bluetooth Style-i, an alternative to a Bluetooth headset for use with your mobile phone.
It's coming out in about a month, and is aimed at business people that want hands free conversations. It looks pretty neat and has a dial pad, but I think it is utterly pointless.
It can be clipped to a lapel or put in a shirt pocket, but works on speaker phone. So while you are having that high level, private conversation, you need to talk a little bit louder, to ensure you can be heard because the mouthpiece is further away. And anyone within earshot can hear the other end of the conversation too, as it blares out of the speaker.
I really can't see why anyone would buy this rather than a Bluetooth headset, but thankfully this pointless piece of technology is only available in the US, so while anyone elsewhere may think they are missing out, we very much doubt they are.
January 4, 2006
CES Unveiled: First look at new products
CES Unveiled took place tonight and it was our first chance to view and talk about the sort of products we're likely to see over the coming few days. Taking place at the Sands rather than the exhibition centre where that houses the bulk of the show from Thursday, the ballroom-sized room was packed with journalists and exhibitors, and was a real mix of both neat but pointless, and innovative ideas.
It got off to a bad start after the organisers put on a comedian - it was claimed he was one of the funniest in the US - who asked if the geeks and nerds in the room ever get laid and died on stage. Tough gig it may have been, but people were here to talk to technology and with his voice booming through the speakers, no one could hold a conversation.
Once he'd sloped off, it was down to business, and we'll be covering what we saw in the coming few blogs. The feel for CES, much like last year, is going to be high def though, and that was pretty obvious with some of the products around the room.
But Skype also had a pretty big presence, both taking advantage of its new owner eBay to get a stand, and via companies that produce products for the world's most popular voice over IP service. And as you'd expect, the room was awash with digital cameras - including Kodak's new dual lens compact - and mobile phones.
January 3, 2006
Vegas dresses up for CES invasion
Sin City is preparing to become the heaven of consumer electronics for the remainder of this week. And so the city's billboards that normally advertise shows aiming to amuse or excite are being covered up with more mundane posters selling LCD monitors.
In the airport arrivals hall, Intel succeeded at getting four side by side billboards touting the Viiv entertainment platform (Viiv rhymes with live) that chief executive Paul Otellini is expected to unveil on Thursday. The billboards showed various entertainment focused taglines and depicted people holding up both hands with their fingers in a "v" shape, which I assume indicates the first and last letters of the Viiv brand.
Warming up to Intel's new consumer focus, the company on Tuesday already unveiled a new corporate logo that is supposed to tell us consumers that the chip maker is now more about applications than about technology. But insiders will see the signature of Intel's new marketing chief Eric Kim, who was poached from Samsung in November 2004.
Prior to Intel's Viiv blast off, Microsoft's chief software architect will get to deliver his traditional opening keynote on Wednesday afternoon. You can expect a lot of talk about Windows Vista, most notably about the Media Centre edition.
But until then Vegas will be busy cleaning up the remains from the New Year's party and inevitably remain itself. That mean including rude taxi drivers who will tell you off for insufficient tipping after they just insulted you on the way over there and hotels that try to cram you into a disgustingly smelling smoking room.
Finding out the latest and greatest about consumer electronics comes at a price.
Mobile operator Cingular hopes that a CES billboard will revitalize the lacklustre sales for its iTunes phone.
Tags: intel, viiv, CES, ces blog, Microsoft, las vegas
January 1, 2006
Flying out to Vegas
We're heading to CES on Monday, and pre-show briefings kick off from Tuesday, so you'll start getting live news from before the show starts. CES is open from Thursday, and by then we'll be veterans.
Oh, and just to keep things interesting, the Adult Industry Entertainment Awards are taking place in Vegas at the same time. Obviously, we'll do our best not to end up at the wrong show.
But just think how much more interesting the Bill Gates speech would be if they did merge events (last year his speech included a few boobs anyway - and you can be sure we'll highlight any this year in all their glory)....
CES delegates get wet and wild
France
Germany
Italy
Spain
