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[CES2010] Gunnar Makes 3D Glasses Almost BearableBy Evan Ackerman 3D TV is a huuuuuge deal at CES this year. I’m not sure whether it’s as huge a deal for consumers as it is for the companies making the TVs, but either way, it’s what...Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 7 Jan 2010 | 3:30 am Samsung puts it all on display - TG Daily
Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 7 Jan 2010 | 3:15 am Microsoft shows off Windows tablets at gadget show
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 Digitaltrends.com | CES 2010: Toshiba To Use PS3's Cell Processor In TV Sets ITProPortal It's a busy morning before the CES show floor opens, and it's the one day of the year when you're guaranteed lots of exciting news from the biggest names in consumer electronics. Betanews' Tim Conneally reports live from Toshiba's press conference. ... Toshiba Crams Supercomputer Guts Into 3-D, Web TV Toshiba Cell TV to Display 2D content in 3D? Toshiba Announces 3D HDTV with ... |
By Kelly Jackson Higgins, Senior Editor, DarkReading
The researcher who conducted a successful spear-phishing experiment with a phony LinkedIn invitation from “Bill Gates” is about to reveal the email products and services that failed to filter the spoofed message — and that list includes Microsoft (MSFT) Outlook 2007, Microsoft Exchange, Outlook Express, and Cisco (CSCO) IronPort.
Joshua Perrymon, CEO of PacketFocus, had previously revealed that the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Palm Pre smartphones had all fallen victim to the spear-phishing exercise.
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By Mercedes Bunz, Media Reporter, Guardian
Don’t be surprised if you find some porn among the sport highlights, children’s cartoons or music videos you are looking for on YouTube today. A web forum, the notorious 4chan, has declared today YouTube Porn Day.
To take vengeance for the apparent removal of the popular YouTube account of Lukeywes1234, 4chan called on its members to upload hidden porn onto the site.
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Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google introduced the term “superphone” to the world yesterday when they unveiled the Nexus One Google phone. Right from the beginning of the hour+ presentation, Google execs were referring to the Nexus One as the first “superphone,” a term not previously widely used (of note – GigaOm has a reference to the term last summer).
So what’s a superphone? It’s a marketing term and nothing else. Google VP and Android founder Andy Rubin talked about the term at length in the Q&A session, and we’ve grabbed the relevant parts of the video from the ustream archive and embed it below.
Here’s part of the transcript (bolding added):
The definition of a superphone…the difference between superphone & smartphone…the evolution of the platform is such that the openness, coupled with these marketplaces and these app stores, that makes it really easy for people to download 3rd party content; an ecosystem by which 3rd party developers can participate in the ecosystem; the Ghz processors; the more memory; the gigabyte storage…. these are all things that didn’t exist 2 years ago. So we thought that the industry needed another term to refer to these innovations. And again, this is as powerful as your laptop was 4 years go. If anything, you’re carrying these around in your pocket, they’re with you all the time they’re always on… these are all new. So we wanted to refer to it by something and we think that “superphone” is the right way to refer to it.
The bar is raising…These superphones are getting more and more sophisticated…everybody knows about Moore’s law…today’s superphone is tomorrow’s smartphone…
“Today’s superphone is tomorrow’s smartphone,” says Rubin. I immediately thought of Highlander and the “there can be only one” quote (the immortals in the movie had to kill eachother until there was just one left). As soon as a new superphone comes out, any previous superphone is relegated to being a mere smartphone. There can be only one superphone.
But what Google is really doing is making a not-so-subtle jab at the iPhone and other competitors. The Nexus One, he implies, is as powerful as laptops were four years ago. All those smartphones from two years ago (iPhone) aren’t superphones. Presumably even the iPhone 3GS, which may have been a superphone last summer when it launched, is a mere smartphone today. Only the Nexus One is a superphone. And soon, it will only be a smartphone as new devices are launched.
It all makes my head spin. But that’s ok. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s phone. The Super-Duper-Phone (too late, I already registered it). It’s tomorrow’s superphone, when today’s superphone has become a mere smartphone. And today’s smartphones are something icky and untouchable.
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By Mark Cuban, Blogger, Blog Maverick
I get pitched continuously. Email after email. 99pct get deleted within 10 seconds.
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This looks like a Chinese viral video for Dell’s new OPhone Android smartphone line, but we’ll bite. In this video a faceless designer cuts up – and then reassembles – a Dell netback into a phone, complete with start-up sounds.
Real? No. Fun? Yes.
AFP - A breathtaking wave of 3-D televisions has hit the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), where the technology is being touted as the next big thing in home theater.
By Michael Wolff, Contributor, Newser, OffTheGrid Blog
Dear David,
I read your piece (well, most of it) in yesterday’s Times about how the Apple (AAPL) tablet is going to save print. It occurs to me that you may now be the most dedicated voice for old media—a bit William Jennings Bryan and a bit Pollyanna.
Read the rest of this post on the original site
Here are some of yesterday’s stories:
Hands-on with the Monster Cable MCC AV50
The toys of CES Unveiled
Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T. is the ugliest mouse known to man
Panasonic finally releases its 3D camcorder, and it looks like WALL-E
Contest: Guess what John just sat in
For most people on the prowl for employment, job fairs are something of a mixed blessing. Yes, they can sometimes lead to job opportunities. But it’s often very difficult to separate yourself from the dozens (or hundreds) of other prospective applicants in attendance — at the end of the day, you’re probably just another resume in the stack. The Hacker Dojo, a community center that caters to developers in the Mountain View area, is looking to turn that model on its head with The Hacker Fair. Where developers actually get to show off their coding talents to the employers in attendance.
Here’s how they describe it:
At the Hacker Fair, the job seekers are the ones giving demonstrations, and the recruiters are the ones walking around.
Think of it as a “science fair” where the “science projects” are the developers’ personal and side projects, the “judges” are recruiters, and the “prizes” are interviews and hopefully job offers!
The event will be taking place on January 16th from 10am – 1pm, in Mountain View CA (you can find more details on signing up here). It will be attended by some of Silicon Valley’s most well known companies, including Yahoo, Microsoft, Mozilla, Yelp, and plenty more. Microsoft is even sponsoring breakfast.
For those who attend, feel free to let us know how it goes in the comments. I’m guessing a few of the hackers may get creative with their projects, and employers won’t know what to expect, which should make things even more interesting.
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 CNET News (blog) | Motorola Introduces New Android Phone, the Backflip Wired News LAS VEGAS –Motorola launched its third Android smartphone, an attractive, compact device with some surprising hardware innovations and a user interface that aggregates social networking feeds, email and contacts. ... Motorola Backflip Android phone opens/closes backwards CES: Motorola Blackflip announced; hands-on impressions First Look: Motorola Backflip With Motoblur |
LAS VEGAS –Motorola launched its third Android smartphone, an attractive, compact device with some surprising hardware innovations and a user interface that aggregates social networking feeds, email and contacts.
The phone called Backflip has a 3.1-inch touchscreen, a QWERTY physical keyboard that opens up in an unexpected way, a touch sensitive navigation panel on the back and a nifty mode that allows it to be postioned on the table top to act like an alarm clock.
The device is expected to hit the market in the first quarter of the year but the company did not disclose pricing or a telecom partner for the device.
“This is a phone with a great keyboard, a big screen and integration with social networking,” says Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha.
Since Google debuted the open source Android operating system in October 2008, Android devices have flooded the market. More than ten Android handsets are currently available with more waiting to burst into the spotlight. AT&T announced Wednesday that it will offer five new Android smartphones this year. On Tuesday, Google introduced its own Android handset, the HTC designed Nexus One running the latest version of the Android OS, Android 2.0
Motorola is trying to stay a step ahead, says Ross Rubin, an analyst with The NPD Group. ”We have seen a lot of Android models appear quickly on the market,” he says. “So it’s starting to become more important for manufacturers to differentiate themselves.”
An eye-catching phone
Like the Motorola Droid, the Backflip has a physical keyboard and a touchscreen. But Motorola seems to have listened to complaints about the Droid’s difficult to use keypad.
The Backflip’s keypad feels solid and has generously spaced buttons that ensure you don’t end up hitting the wrong keys. The keyboard also opens up differently.
“Most people are used to a forward flipping keyboard or an upward slider,” says Paul Nicholson, global marketing director for Motorola. “The Backflip’s keyboard opens up in the reverse direction.”
That allows the phone to fold up and sit on a table top like a horizontally placed picture frame. In that mode, the Backflip displays a clock, turning it into a bedside timepiece.
Another interesting innovation is a one-inch touch sensitive swatch on the back of the phone. That trackpad supports gestures such as swipe and double-tap. So users can browse the internet or flip through the device’s seven home screens by touching the back of the phone.
The idea works well enough and it won’t be long before other handset manufacturers offer the feature.
Beyond that, the Backflip has all the usual features–Wi-Fi connectivity, 3G, a 5-megapixel camera and a video recorder.
Motorola did not disclose what kind of processor is powering the phone. With the 1 GHz Snapdragon processor–included in the Google Nexus One–setting the standard for speed, much will depend on how powerful the innards of the Backflip turn out to be.
Chaneling the Cliq
When it comes to the user interface, the Backflip is identical to Motorola’s first Android phone, the Cliq. The Backflip has Motorola’s custom skin called MotoBlur that combines information from social networking feeds such as Twitter, and Facebook with email contacts and the phone address book. It also offers free online backup of the data on the device and a find-my-phone service for lost devices.
Models of the Backflip at the Motorola event were running Android 1.6 but the company says it hasn’t decided which version it will ultimately ship with.
Overall, the Backflip is a gorgeous piece of hardware and cements Motorola’s position as a handset manufacturer that can create phones strong enough to stand out from the clutter.
Though Motorola hasn’t announced the pricing for the Backflip, NPD’s Rubin says it could cost about the same as a Cliq–$100 with a two-year contract. And being a GSM phone, it is likely this device could end up on AT&T.
See Also:
 Geekzone | AT&T to Sell Android Devices Wall Street Journal AT&T Inc. said it will soon start selling mobile phones that run on technology backed by Google Inc. and Palm Inc., hedging its bets as its exclusive contract to host the iPhone in the US ticks to an end. ... AT&T to Sell Smartphones Using the Android System WebOS Phones Coming to AT&T CES: AT&T bets big on apps in 2010 and beyond |
AFP - Microsoft announced Wednesday that "Project Natal" gesture recognition games, where the human body serves as the controller, will be released at the end of the year for the Xbox 360 videogame console.
(Image: Claes Andreasson, via American Public Media's "Weekend America" archives)
Boing Boing reader Genise Schnitman says, "Parke Meek, the self-taught steampunk technical wizard who worked in the Eames office and was the curmudgeonly doyen of Jadis, the retrofuturist wunderkammer on Main Street in Santa Monica, passed away at 86."
I did not know him, but have peeked in the windows of that wonderful store many times. What sad news. I asked Eames Demetrios (director of the Eames Office, Chairman of the Board of the Eames Foundation which takes care of the Eames House) if he would like to share some thoughts with our readers on Mr. Meek's passing. Eames writes,
I have known Parke all my life, so it is terribly hard to imagine the world without him—without knowing he is there to reminisce with, get an engagingly/irascibly direct comment from, or just to walk through his worlds of treasures. He told me he loved his time at the Eames Office because every day he came in, there was always some new project or task at hand: "you never knew what you were going to do," he said. And he always had that spirit of fun. People sometimes called him a curmudgeon, and you can almost see why, but he was always—even to the end—having way too much fun in life for that ever to be even close to the right word.Snip from the obituary in the Santa Monica local paper:
Meek was born Jan. 1, 1924 in a small town in rural Indiana. During his youth, he would end up selling liquor out of the back of a taxi cab during prohibition, Bloch said, before moving on to the United States Marine Corps. While stationed at Guadalcanal, Meek was put in charge of a cannon at the young age of 18 because of his mastery of physics, able to aim and shoot better than his superiors.The entire obituary is a must-read: Famed Eames design team member dies (Santa Monica Daily Press)
Weekend America produced this radio feature on Meek's Jadis antique store and prop shop in Santa Monica. The photo at the top of this blog post was featured in an accompanying image slideshow. When you enter Jadis, you see "a metallic replica of the robot from Fritz Lang's 1927 sci-fi movie Metropolis flanked by model boats with big motorized flapping wings." Inside, there's all kinds of neat old lab equipment. A magical place, created by a fascinating man.
Flickr user Mark Garland has a set of photos shot inside Jadis.
Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2010 | 11:37 pm
Lenovo gave us a chance to check out their latest smartphone today at CES 2010. It's Android-based with a complete OS facelift and hardly any of the original OS sticking out. I doubt they intended it to be, but it seems like a sort of interesting mix of webOS, iPhone, and Android features. I quite liked it.
From what I was told, the plan is to release the device in China first, then expand to the US. There were no carriers mentioned, and they were still working that out for China, so I wouldn't even speculate just yet. But I was impressed by the phone and the complete little ecosystem they had going.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Lenovo gave us a chance to check out their latest smartphone today at CES 2010. It's Android-based with a complete facelift and hardly any of the original OS sticking out. I doubt they intended it to be, but it seems like a sort of interesting mix of webOS, iPhone, and Android features. I quite liked it.
From what I was told, the plan is to release the device in China first, then expand to the US. There were no carriers mentioned, and they were still working that out for China, so I wouldn't even speculate just yet. But I was impressed by the phone and the complete little ecosystem they had going.
Look out, MiFi - Sprint just pushed out your new baby brother, and he looks like a mean one.
The Sprint Overdrive is a mobile hotspot, not unlike the aforementioned MiFi. The idea is simple: turn it on, and you've got a WiFi access point pulling down data via Sprint's third and fourth generation networks.
We just got our hands on the device for the first time, and while it'll still be a few days before we've given it a rough enough run-through for a full review, we've got some first impressions to share.
We still don’t know what happened but we were down for a few hours there. Sorry for that.
Lenovo gave us a chance to check out their latest smartphone today at CES 2010. It’s Android-based with a complete facelift and hardly any of the original OS sticking out. I doubt they intended it to be, but it seems like a sort of interesting mix of webOS, iPhone, and Android features. I quite liked it.
Apologies for the noise in the video above, it was captured in an incredibly crowded area. But you get the gist. Just cruise through and check out the screens and animations.
In shape it’s quite pleasing, a little big, but with a good heft and solid feel. The screen is a gorgeous 3.7″ 800×480 OLED one, although I couldn’t confirm whether it’s the same that’s in the Nexus One. It’s got volume buttons on the left side, there, and a reprogrammable button on the right. It’s got a Pre-like dark area at the bottom that’s also touch-sensitive, and works as either a home button or for simple swiping gestures.
The OS is Android, and should be 2.0 at launch, though they declined to say when that might be. It’s completely skinned, though — Lenovo has it equipped with a sort of dual mode home screen, with one (the flower) being a contact jump-off point: you scroll through your contacts and then can pick a petal to message, call, or whatever. It’ll work if you can choose which contacts are included in that scrolling list, but if you have a couple hundred it’ll get confusing mighty fast. The other home screen is a series of widgets, they call it Widget Space, with stuff like weather, stocks, latest emails, that sort of thing.
It’s got the usual fixins: GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and all that, and it’s running on a Snapdragon processor, though I couldn’t seem to suss out the RAM or internal storage. We’ll hear more about that soon. The lady I spoke with had been using it as her phone for a good two months, so this is definitely final hardware apart from any radio bits to conform it to certain networks.
Forgot to rotate some of these shots; sorry about that. There’s also media playback and all that — there was a little screen for selecting streaming TV channels or what appeared to be some pre-prepared content, movie trailers and such. The apps “drawer” is now a series of pages, like iPhone apps. It’s a proven technique, though of course slightly derivative.
There’s a connector on the left side with a cover that attaches magnetically (Clever? Yes. Dangerous? Also yes.). It lets the Lephone connect to what is envisioned as a series of peripherals, the first you see here:
Yes, it’s a keyboard. I gave it a shot and it seemed to work just fine, although the key layout is tweaked in a slightly weird way. But it worked normally and actually closed up to form a large clamshell you could carry around.
From what I was told, the plan is to release the device in China first, then expand to the US. There were no carriers mentioned, and they were still working that out for China, so I wouldn’t even speculate just yet. But I was impressed by the phone and the complete little ecosystem they had going. I love me some Lenovo, and it looks like they know what they’re doing.
Here are the rest of the pictures: size comparison, other screens, and the usual glamour shots.
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Look out, MiFi – Sprint just pushed out your new baby brother, and he looks like a mean one.
The Sprint Overdrive is a mobile hotspot, not unlike the aforementioned MiFi. The idea is simple: turn it on, and you’ve got a WiFi access point pulling down data via Sprint’s third and fourth generation networks.
We just got our hands on the device for the first time, and while it’ll still be a few days before we’ve given it a rough enough run-through for a full review, we’ve got some first impressions to share.
What we like:
What we don’t:
That’s all for now, folks – check back in a few days, I’m sure we’ll have more to say.
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 CNET News (blog) | Twitter for cars: Ford tech reads your incoming tweets aloud USA Today Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally will announce Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that the automaker is incorporating a Twitter application into its next-generation Sync in-car communication system. ... A new setup for Sync Ford drives in-car technology to next horizon MyFord Touch revealed at Consumer Electronics show |
The era of 4G - WiMAX, basically - is dawning and the Overdrive from Sprint is the first creation in that brave, fast world. Sprint called out all the great ones, from Hesse, the CEO, to Ballmer, the other CEO, as well as a Frank Caliendo, that guy who does voices.
The device, which is shaped like a squarish hockey puck, is being touted as a hotspot away from your hotspot. It streams a 4G connection out of a package about as big as a stack of drink coasters.
The era of 4G – WiMAX, basically – is dawning and the Overdrive from Sprint is the first creation in that brave, fast world. Sprint called out all the great ones, from Hesse, the CEO, to Ballmer, the other CEO, as well as a Frank Caliendo, that guy who does voices.
The device, which is shaped like a squarish hockey puck, is being touted as a hotspot away from your hotspot. It streams a 4G connection out of a package about as big as a stack of drink coasters.
No pricing or availability, but look for it soon in a WiMAX-capable area near you.
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Thousands of would-be - wanna-be pop stars are considering what aged tech company they would want to try to revive in light of Polaroid’s move today to appoint Lady Gaga to Creative Director for a specialty line. The thinly-veiled publicity stunt will bring the pop star to the floor of CES and is sure to get the crowd looking at Polaroid in a new light. Right?
“I am so proud to announce my new partnership with Polaroid as the creative director and inventor of specialty projects,” said Lady Gaga. “The Haus of Gaga has been developing prototypes in the vein of fashion/technology/photography innovation—blending the iconic history of Polaroid and instant film with the digital era—and we are excited to collaborate on these ventures with the Polaroid brand. Lifestyle, music, art, fashion: I am so excited to extend myself behind the scenes as a designer, and to as my father puts it—finally, have a real job.”
Can anyone imagine that Ms. Gaga will give up her stadium-filling gig for a desk job in Rochester, NY? Me neither. Nevertheless, new products from the unlikely pair: Gaga and Polaroid will have products on shelves by late 2010. I can’t freaking wait.
Company site: [Polaroid] [Haus of Gaga wiki] />
Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 TG Daily | Sony Debuts New Design and 3D HDTVs for 2010 PC World Sony today introduced 12 new series of HDTVs for the coming year. The new models will start rolling out in spring and continue in summer with the company's first 3D offerings. Among the trends: LED backlighting picks up steam, with just four of those ... Sony says US holiday season sales beat expectations Sony Flaunts 3-D TVs, Taylor Swift to Regain Its Cool Sony says 3D is here to stay |
When we first wrote about Oneforty, the “App Store for Twitter” in September, founder Laura Fitton told us that plan was for the service to be a full-fledged e-commerce platform eventually. That will start happening next week, we’ve learned.
Specifically, on January 12 (next Tuesday), Oneforty will announce its e-commerce alpha launch. With it, third-party Twitter applications and tools will be able to be sold through Oneforty for the first time. The service is in the process of emailing certain developers so that they can get their apps ready to go for this launch. If they choose to try out this new feature, developers are being told their apps will be featured on the service’s main page.
So what are the details about the e-commerce solution? It looks like there will be a minimum $0.99 price on apps being sold. As with Apple’s App Store and a few other popular app stores out there, Oneforty’s cut will apparently be 30%, with the remaining 70% going to the developer. But if your app is being sold for more than $14.50, Oneforty decreases its cut to 20%.
In the alpha stage of this program, Oneforty will only support one-time purchases, meaning there will be no subscription-option. But they hint that down the road there will be more options available. There is no word on how exactly the payment structure will work, but it seems like it’s a safe bet that they’ll be taking credit cards payments.
Oneforty also notes that those who choose not to use this e-commerce option are free to continue accepting donations on their Oneforty pages. Oneforty will continue to pay the PayPal fees (up to $500 anyway) for this service, and promises the developers 100% of the donations.
Quickly after its launch, rumors started flying about Twitter looking into buying the service. Instead, they raised a $1.6 million round of funding (some of which was old, previously undisclosed money). The Series A filing also left open the possibility of raising up to $2.4 million in the round. If this e-commerce platform takes off, expect a lot more where that came from.
[thanks Julio]
[photo: flickr/photos8.com]
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Section: Gadgets / Other, Household, Trade Shows, CES
Your on a flight and can’t remember if you actually locked your front door. No problem, Qwikset’s got a lock for that: Qwikset announced today their new SmartCode Lever keyless touchpad lock for internal and external doors. Users can operate the lock remotely via a web-enabled phone, the internet or home security panel. The lock is designed to integrate with existing security systems.
The Lever adds to the Home Connect line from Qwikset. Also new is the SmartCode Deadbolt which features remote operation is now Z-Wave certified. Z-Wave is a mesh of home-control devices that can communicate and update each other. These locks are capable of sending text messages when they have been opened.
“The wireless, motorized deadbolt is what enables true remote locking and unlocking, and what differentiates the Kwikset SmartCode with Home Connect from other remote controlled locks that require physical interaction,” said Dave Albert, vice president of Residential Access Solutions, Black & Decker Security Hardware Division.
Today, I had a babysitter locked out of my place claiming the key didn’t work. It sure would have been easier to whip out my iPhone and unlock the door for her rather than dispatching someone to unlock it.
Product page: [Qwikset]
Yesterday, G4’s Attack Of The Show had our own MG Siegler on to talk about the Nexus One, Googles’ much-hyped new smartphone. MG’s early verdict? It’s “a nice little device”, and “by far the sexiest Android device [he's] ever seen”.
The 5-minute interview covers many of the phone’s new features, including voice-to-text and 3D graphics capable of rendering a mobile version of Google Earth. They also discuss the revelation that Verizon will be supporting Google’s new distribution model. And there’s even a brief discussion on the Nexus One’s ability to handle ASCII genitalia, if that’s your thing.
MG has long been on the Apple side of the iPhone/Android religious battle. But he’s giving the new phone a solid shot, and may even wind up switching to it as his primary phone (at least until the next iPhone comes out). I’m sure he’ll have more to say on the matter later this month.
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Our pal Joel Johnson, formerly editor of Boing Boing Gadgets, just emailed me this snapshot from CES of our other pal, Brian Lam of Gizmodo, reppin' hard on the convention floor. Rob Beschizza and I had each planned to head out to Vegas for the yearly cattle roundup, but ended up not going. I'm happy we're represented after all. I think Brian is chewing gum in this photo. He doesn't know we're blogging it. Sssh! Don't tell him. You can still buy those sweet "Get Illuminated" Boing Boing/Gama Go t-shirts for $24, BTW. And you can read Joel and Brian's CES coverage here.
Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2010 | 9:12 pm
AP - This is supposedly the year 3-D television becomes the hot new thing: Updated sets and disc players are coming out, and 3-D cable channels are in the works. But it's not clear the idea will reach out and grab mainstream viewers.
All the signs were already indicating that T-Mobile was planning on launching the gloriously beautiful HTC HD2, but good ol’ Stevie Ballmer just confirmed it during his CES 2010 keynote. Dates? Nope. Pricing? Nope. The best we’ve got is still HTC head honcho Peter Chou’s confirmation that it’d be launching in the US in “Early 2010″ – but that’ll just have to do for now.
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Section: Video, HDTV, Gadgets / Other, Household
Set top boxes that stream content across a network seem to be fairly popular as of late. Not wanting to be left out, LaCie has decided to enter the space with its LaCinema HD. To go along with its recent Rikiki external hard drive, the LaCinema HD appears to be a rather unassuming, if surprisingly small, black box.
The LaCinema HD turns out to be a media streaming box. It can also store content, however, on its 500 GB hard drive, and is has a USB port so you can add more storage. The LaCinema HD has built-in Wi-Fi to connect to your home network to access media, though it also has ethernet in case you don’t trust the dedicated stream.
The interface will seem familiar to anyone who has ever used the XMB on a PlayStation 3 or PSP. It has the options put into icon along a horizontal bar, with the options falling out from under each icon as it’s selected. The table-wide network LaCie had set up looked to run HD video smoothly, though how well it will work in the real world is unknown right now. For now, a 500 GB box to store and playback media isn’t a bad idea, even if it doesn’t have Netflix or other Internet video streaming.
Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
LAS VEGAS — Microsoft detailed plans for XBox 360 enhancements, a new gesture-driven interface for the XBox and a tablet-style Windows PC tonight at a keynote presentation kicking off the Consumer Electronics Show here.
It was the second year as CES headliner for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who took over the keynote spot from his former boss, Bill Gates, last year.
After a power outage briefly plunged the stage into darkness and delayed the start of the keynote by over 20 minutes, Ballmer ambled onstage in his trademark V-neck sweater. He touted the company’s successes with its recent Windows 7 launch, outlined its plans for enhancing home entertainment and tying together the “three screens” through which people experience media today (television, PC and mobile devices). He provided more details on upcoming enhancements to the successful XBox 360 platform and XBox Live online service.
“From the largest screen on the wall to the smallest screens in people’s pockets, we are delivering the entertainment people want,” Ballmer said.
It’s been a good year for Microsoft. Ballmer reprised the launch of the company’s search engine, Bing, which he said has attracted 11 million users since its launch. There are now more than 39 million Xboxes in use around the world, and XBox game sales have totaled $20 billion since the platform’s launch, Ballmer said.
And, Ballmer said, “the Zune HD device is getting rave reviews.” That is true — Wired’s review of the Zune HD is quite positive — but the device still has a single-digit share of the portable media player market.
But the centerpiece of Microsoft’s business in 2009 was Windows 7. After taking well-deserved criticism for its launch of Windows Vista in 2007, Microsoft bounced back with many much-needed enhancements in Windows 7. For the most part, the critical and consumer response to Windows 7 has been excellent. The operating system is more streamlined, easier to use and prettier to look at than Vista, and it seems to have injected new life into what seemed like a staggering personal-computing dinosaur. Ballmer called Windows 7 the fastest-selling computer operating system in history, and touted figures showing that it drove a 50 percent increase in PC sales the week it was launched, and a 50 percent year-over-year increase in overall sales of Windows PCs.
The Mac, it seems, has not killed off Windows.
But with rumors of an upcoming Apple tablet looming large in many observers’ minds this week, Microsoft — along with many other computer industry companies — can’t afford to ignore the persistent irritation that is Apple.
Accordingly, one of the gadgets shown by Microsoft tonight was a tablet-like device, produced by HP and running Windows 7. Not the “Courier” tablet that Microsoft previewed in 2009, this is more akin to old-school Tablet PCs, albeit with no keyboard and running the now-multitouch-enhanced Windows 7.
HP said the device would be available later this year, but provided no details on pricing, availability or specifications.
Another not-so-subtle message from Ballmer’s keynote: Apple’s iPhone hasn’t killed off Windows Mobile, either. Microsoft partners shipped 80 different Windows Mobile-based phones last year, Ballmer said, and indicated that more would be coming in 2010. As an example, he showed off the HTC HD-2, a new WinMo-powered phone that will be available on T-Mobile. The HD-2 will feature a 4.3-inch LCD screen and will be about as thick as two poker chips.
Microsoft pushed the message that it’s an entertainment company, too, on two fronts. One was the announcement of Media Room 2.0, software for viewing multimedia content (videos, audio and photos) on your computer. The new version lets you view content on any screen in your home, from a phone to a PC to a TV, Ballmer said.
And the second entertainment front is the XBox 360. Microsoft entertainment and devices division president Robbie Bach took the stage to show off the company’s achievements here. Fresh from the wildly successful pre-holiday launch of Modern Warfare 2 (one of the highest-grossing videogames in history, according to Microsoft), the company promised more games exclusive to the XBox platform to come in 2010, including Tom Clancy Splinter Cell, Crackdown 2, Mass Effect 2, Fable 3 and Alan Wake.
In the video below, Robbie Bach discusses what’s new with XBox 360 and home entertainment from Microsoft.
An update to the Halo series, Halo Reach, will enter beta testing later this year. In an unusual twist, anyone who bought the previous title, Halo ODST, will be invited to take part in the Halo Reach beta test, which Microsoft anticipates will include as many as 2 million testers.
Microsoft also showed off a new XBox Live feature called GameRoom, featuring more than 1,000 old arcade games from the likes of Atari and Intellivision, like Tempest and Pac-Man. Users will be able to create “virtual game rooms” that their XBox Live avatars (and those of their friends) can walk around in. Virtual quarters, one assumes, will be available without limit.
Finally, Bach showed off the company’s gestural interface for XBox 360, Project Natal, which first appeared at E3 last year. Natal will be available in time for the holiday season in 2010, Bach promised, as a camera plus software that will work on all existing XBox 360 systems. Developers are currently working on Natal-enhanced games and applications that will be available when the system launches.
See Also:
Sanyo officially joined the Panasonic group as of December 21st, 2009. This decision was “due to the rapid decline of the global economy,” according to Sanyo North America president Masami Murata. “This alliance will maximize and optimize Sanyo’s corporate value and will open the way for our company to realize further business development.” Sanyo will maintain its listing of common stock, the “SANYO” brand name, and its business identity.
Sanyo North America has a consumer solutions division, which develops Eneloop rechargeable batteries, sound recorders, Xacti camcorders, and various other consumer electronics devices.
New Xacti “Dual Cameras”
Sanyo is targeting a market that sits in between conventional camcorders and pocket camcorders. It’s focusing on flash-based camcorders that shoot high definition video. Sanyo actually produced the first flash memory camcorder in 2003 and the first HD flash memory camcorder in 2006. In 2009 it released the first full HD 1080p camcorder that shoots at 60 frames per second.
This year it’s announcing a pair of full HD flash memory camcorders – the VPC-CS1 and the VPC-SH1 (shown below).
VPC-CS1: $300 MSRP, available in February
Looks really nice. Very thin but still features a flip-out LCD and full HD recording (1920×1080). Will feature compatibility with Apple’s iFrame video format.
VPC-SH1: $400 MSRP, available in February
Small, full HD recording with 30x optical zoom. Features a 35mm wide-angle lens and takes 10-megapixel still photos. Also compatible with Apple’s iFrame video format.
ICR-XPS01 Sound Recorder: Starting at $150, available in March
Linear PCM and MP3 recording. Doubles as an MP3 player, too, with playlist functionality.
There’s a $200 kit available that includes the sound recorder and includes a cradle with built-in 2W speakers.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
LAS VEGAS — Pop star Taylor Swift kicked off Sony’s press conference Wednesday night, loosely establishing the theme of the event: 3-D video.
“I feel like my fans are all very cutting edge, so when it comes to technology I’m very interested in what’s the newest and best,” Swift said on stage. “My tour starts next month in Australia and Japan and I’m looking forward to documenting all that footage using 3-D.”
After Swift played a song with her band and her silver, glitter-adorned guitar, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer took the mic to close her performance with a surprisingly self-deprecating (and honest) statement.
“Maybe you’ll call us cool again, who knows,” Stringer said regarding having Swift as a guest. Kanye West was not present in the audience to comment.
In its press conference, Sony made a large number of product announcements, ranging from new VAIO notebooks to Cybershot digital cameras, and from memory cards with bigger storage to a touchscreen digital picture frame called the Dash. 3-D televisions took the spotlight, as well as partnerships Sony established with ESPN, Discovery and IMAX to create 3-D content. Of all the video manufacturers at CES, Sony appears to be the most serious about 3-D.
“We intend to take the lead in 3-D,” Stringer said. “Sony is the only company fully immersed in every link of the 3-D value chain.”
The major product announced was Sony’s first commercial 3-D TV series, the Bravia LX900 (below). Ranging from 22 to 60 inches, the 3-D TVs incorporate a frame sequential display, active-shutter glasses and Sony’s high frame-rate technology to produce high-definition 3-D images.
Sony claims its 240-Hz frame-rate technology reduces the mixing of images of 3-D content assigned to the left and right eyes. The company also says its Bravia Engine 3 digital-video processing technology uses enhanced algorithms to reduce noise, enhance image detail and optimize contrast so scenes look sharp and lifelike.
Sony did not specify a shipping date or a price for the 3-D TVs — which seems to be a trend among manufacturers announcing similar products. That means so far, all these 3-D TVs are still vaporware.
In addition to showing off the 3-D TVs, Sony announced the company was the official sponsor of 3-D video for ESPN — so when 3-D TVs actually ship, Sony will be providing the 3-D technology for sports events televised on the channel. Sony also said it was partnering with Discovery and IMAX to create a new 3-D channel.
Dashing all hopes of Wired ever calling Sony cool again, the company announced a high-definition pocket camcorder dubbed the Bloggie (right).
“Yes, you heard me right — Bloggie,” said Brennan Mullin, Sony Electronics’ senior vice president of the personal imaging and audio business, to a snickering audience.
Sporting a pistol-grip design, the Bloggie shoots 1920-by-1080 MP4 video and 5-megapixel still photos. The camera is called Bloggie because it includes software to share your content on social media sites including YouTube, Dailymotion and Photobucket (but not Blogger, ironically). Shipping today, the Bloggie starts at $170.
Gadget Lab will follow up soon with some of the other products Sony announced tonight. Stay tuned.
See Also:
Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com, Sony
We spent a few minutes with the just-announce Backflip and, well, it’s a Moto Cliq with weird swivel keyboard. Really, everything about the device feels the same as the Cliq. Even the love-it-or-hate-it MotoBlur interface is still in place. But depending on the price and carrier, it could be a popular product.
The device is different and that’s important these day. The Backflip’s claim to fame is that there is touchpad on the backside of the screen. It allows users to interact with the phone without their fat fingers getting in the way. Controlling the phone this way wasn’t exactly instantly intuitive during our hands-on, but it was certainly.
But the interface is somewhat clunky and laggy just like the Cliq. It doesn’t have the power or the grace of the Droid — or the keyboard or the solid feel or the 5MP camera.
The Backflip isn’t anything that will change the Android landscape like the Droid or Nexus One. It’s just a solid entry-level Android device that tweens and geeks on a budget will probably dig.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
We’re live from the CES 2010 keynote, featurin’ good ol’ Steve Ballmer! We’ll keep the live blog flowing as long as Verizon doesn’t crumble under the weight of a thousand bloggers. Check out the live blog after the jump.
Section: Computers, Hardware, Trade Shows, CES
Its no secret that we’e going to see a number of netbooks and even MIDs at CES this week. A large portion of them are likely to have 3G or even 4G connectivity. Those would all require contracts and monthly fee, however. That doesn’t appear to be the case with Truecall Datawind’s MIDs.
In the second quarter of this year, Truecall looks to introduce its UbiSurfer and PocketSurfer 3. Both devices are essentially small form factors to use for the Internet. The devices boot straight into a web browser that appears to be Firefox based. They will come in both GSM and CDMA, each with 30 hours of free Internet access a month for the first year.
The biggest differences between the two is price, the Ubisurfer will cost $199, while the PocketSurfer 3 will cost $249. The extra $50 will lose the Wi-Fi in the Ubisurfer, but gain GPS. The PocketSurfer sacrifices a lot to be so small, a normal-feeling keyboard (instead featuring a flat surface), a well placed trackpad (the trackpad is located at the top right, and only has tap-to-click), though its incredibly small size could help ease those pains.
Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
In a move that baffles and, in a way, excites, Sony has released the Dash, a $199 “personal Internet viewer.” It’s basically a 7-inch tablet that will cost $199. It looks absolutely nothing like the Mylo, which is very good news
Within the device, an internal accelerometer supports vertical flip, allowing for two optional viewing angles: upright, ideal for a table or nightstand; and tilted, perfect for a countertop. It also supports multiple user profiles and channels, allowing several members of the household to create and maintain their own customized view of the Internet.
The device is actually quite thick and works more like a desktop clock than a real, full-bore tablet.
SONY’S NEW “DASHTM” PERSONAL INTERNET VIEWER OFFERS PERSONALIZED WEB EXPERIENCE AT A GLANCE
New product provides instant access to news, weather, Internet radio and other applications. It has a widget-based UI
LAS VEGAS (CES Booth #14200), Jan. 6, 2010 –Sony confirmed its commitment to providing consumers with innovative networked products with the introduction of the new dash™ Personal Internet Viewer.
Featuring a vivid 7-inch color touch screen (measured diagonally) and access to over 1,000 free Internet apps, including news, calendars, weather, sports, social networking and more, dash utilizes an existing home wireless connection to continuously deliver Internet content to its viewers.
“In today’s connected world, Sony continues to look for ways to help enhance consumers’ entertainment experiences throughout the home” said Brennan Mullin, Sony Electronics’ senior vice president of the personal imaging and audio business. “dash empowers consumers with a fun, interactive way to stay connected with their news, entertainment, interests and ultimately, their lives.”
By bundling favorite pieces of the Internet together, dash provides always fresh, personalized content at a glance. The new product offers free access to all apps from chumby industries, inc. as well as the robust audio and video content from Sony’s Bravia™ Internet video platform, including YouTube™, Pandora® Internet radio, Epicurious, Crackle, Livestrong™, Blip.tv and much more.
Other content includes a NAVTEQ® app for easily accessible traffic updates on a customized route, and a Cozi™ app for simple management and synching of family calendars. Further, Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment will be contributing exclusive dash apps for movie trailers, music videos, custom user themes and more, including an app from Dr. Oz offering daily health and exercise tips.
In addition, Sony dash can run multiple sources of content simultaneously, so for example, Internet radio can be enjoyed while browsing through online photo albums. Or, the alarm clock can be set to play selected online videos from music, sports and other news feeds. The device also allows users to choose apps either directly from the device or online through a PC, and new content for dash will continue to be added moving forward.
Within the device, an internal accelerometer supports vertical flip, allowing for two optional viewing angles: upright, ideal for a table or nightstand; and tilted, perfect for a countertop. It also supports multiple user profiles and channels, allowing several members of the household to create and maintain their own customized view of the Internet.
dash also features built-in stereo speakers as well as a USB port for simple connection to a variety of external electronic devices. An headphone output jack gives users the option to listen privately through headphones or through external speakers.
Sony’s dash will be available this April for about $199 at www.sonystyle.com, Sony Style® retail stores and a variety of authorized dealers nationwide.
We’re live from the CES 2010 keynote, featurin’ good ol’ Steve Ballmer! We’ll keep the live blog flowing as long as Verizon doesn’t crumble under the weight of a thousand bloggers. Check out the live blog after the jump.
Every day I troll SEC Form D Filings to discover new startups, fundings and investments. I put everything I find into CrunchBase. For everyone else I give you the daily digest, a quick hit of the latest and greatest SEC Form D filings in the TechCrunch sphere:
Lagotek - Wireless Home Automation
Pinch Media - Mobile Analytics & Monetization
Space Pencil - Stealth Web Analytics
Precursor Energetics - Stealth
We got shut out of the Panasonic presser (shame on them), but that doesn’t mean you have to suffer. Lucky for you, Electric Pig has a solid blow-by-blow of the event, and Giz got some great shots of the camera itself. There were other devices announced, of course, but this is the coolest thing if you ask me. 3D is obviously a big theme at this year’s CES, and Panny showed a prototype of this sucker earlier in the year, so it’s no surprise that they’ve decided to make it official.
You can see from the build and I/O panel that it’s a pro camera, but it’s priced at $21,000, which is friendly to lower budgets. It shoots at 1080p, though it’s not clear what framerates it will support. Also in question is the lens system, which is clearly a pair of fixed mystery lenses, adjustable so you can change the intensity of the 3D effect (it’s complicated). But they look a bit small; I’m wondering how far they can open up.
Details are scarce, but I’ll make a point of heading to Panasonic and asking them for more. Comment in any questions I should ask.
Here’s the press release:
Panasonic Unveils World’s First Integrated Full HD 3D Camcorder at CES 2010
Available In Fall 2010 – Solid-State Recording System Will Offer Highly-Efficient Full HD 3D Video Production
LAS VEGAS, Nev., Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Panasonic Corporation (NYSE: PC) will release the world’s first* professional, fully-integrated Full HD 3D camcorder in Fall 2010. The company will begin taking orders in April. Engineering samples of the professional Full HD 3D solid-state camcorder will be exhibited at the Panasonic booth (Las Vegas Convention Center, Main Hall, #9405) at the 2010 International CES in Las Vegas, USA, from January 7-10.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100106/NY33307)
This Full HD 3D camcorder will offer the following core benefits:
Easier to Use
Current 3D systems are large-scale setups in which two cameras are fitted to a rig in parallel, or vertically intersect across a half-mirror. Separate recorders are also required. In Panasonic’s new Full HD 3D camcorder, the lenses, camera head, and a dual Memory Card recorder are integrated into a single, lightweight body. The camcorder also incorporates stereoscopic adjustment controls making it easier to use and operate.
The twin-lens system adopted in the camcorder’s optical section allows the convergence point** to be adjusted. Functions for automatically correcting horizontal and vertical displacement are also provided. Conventional 3D camera systems require these adjustments to be made by means of a PC or an external video processor. This new camcorder, however, will automatically recalibrate without any need for external equipment, allowing immediate 3D image capture.
More Flexible
The solid-state memory file-based recording system offers greater flexibility to produce Full HD 3D videos in more challenging shooting environments. The camcorder is lighter weight and smaller than current 3D rigs, while providing the flexibility of handheld-style shooting. Setup and transportation is simplified, making it ideal for sports, documentary and filmmaking projects.
Solid-State Reliability and Workflow
Right and left Full HD video streams of the twin-lens 3D camcorder can be recorded as files on SDHC/SD Memory Cards, ensuring higher reliability than on other tape, optical disc, HDD or other mechanical-based recording systems. This solid-state, no-moving-parts design will help significantly reduce maintenance costs, and the 3D camcorder will be better able to perform in extreme environments and be more resistant to temperature extremes, shock, and vibration.
And users will enjoy a fast, highly-productive file-based workflow, with instant, random access to recorded content; easy plug-in to both Mac and PC-based platforms; and longer recording capacity.
More Affordable
Using a standardized, fully integrated design, the Full HD 3D camcorder will be offered at a much lower price than traditional 3D rigs. Transportation expenses for this handheld unit will be less and faster setup times reduce labor costs. Using standard, re-recordable SDHC/SD Memory Cards available already everywhere, media costs become almost insignificant.
In addition to a camcorder, Panasonic also plans to offer a professional-quality 3D Full HD LCD monitor for field use as well as a professional HD digital AV mixer for live event production. Panasonic will offer professional production equipment to allow video professionals to efficiently create 3D content, so consumers can enjoy 3D video using Panasonic 3D home theater systems.
Major Specifications (tentative)
* Product Name: Twin-lens Full HD 3D camcorder (made-to-order)
* Suggested Retail Price for Main Unit: $21,000
* Available: Fall 2010 (made to order)
* Power Consumption: Under 19 W (main unit only)
* Weight: Under 3 kg (main unit only)
* Recording Media: SDHC/SD Memory Card* As an integrated twin-lens Full HD 3D camcorder capable of recording Full HD 3D video to Memory Cards. As of January 2010 (based on our investigation)
** The point at which the left and right-camera lenses’ optical axes converge
Howard Stern talks about the Google Nexus One on the air today, quoting from our review. Woot. I got Shatner to say TechCrunch (although I had to pay for that), and now Stern’s said it too. I’m done here, I can retire now.
NSFW. Not even close to SFW. Listen below, or here.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Steve Ballmer is delivering his annual state-of-Microsoft address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas tonight–the second he’s given since taking over duties for former CEO Bill Gates. If it’s anything like last year’s, it will offer a broad overview of Microsoft’s (MSFT) consumer strategy for the year, touching on everything from the company’s hardware-software ecosystem to its home entertainment offerings. Likely to figure prominently in tonight’s address, Windows 7 and the new touch-enabled PC form factors it has evidently inspired, Bing and Natal, Microsoft’s controllerless game control system which will launch in time for the 2010 holidays.
The keynote begins with, what else, some introductory remarks from CEA president Gary Shapiro: “Happy New Year, and welcome to 2010 CES, the world cup of innovation. The past year has been a challenge. The global recession has affected all companies. Fortunately, signs are pointing upward, and I believe CES will be remembered as a turning point.”
Let’s hope so.
Shapiro welcomes Ballmer to the stage. He begins by noting that 2009, in case you hadn’t noticed, was a year of profound economic turbulence. But innovation persisted. And with that he rolls a first video designed to demonstrated that. It features “one random guy’s” experiences with technology this past year. SNL’s Seth Meyers. Seth talks to his grandmother on a Web cam. He loses to a kid at video games. “Before texting existed, I never sent the wrong person a letter telling them they’re a jackass. Thanks, technology…Before Twitter, if I knew what someone’s cat was thinking, I would have had to be an idiot.”
Ballmer: “We’re going to focus on three things tonight. The increasing importance of the small screen, the ever-evolving PC and the future of TV. The second is the cloud. Third is natural user interface–NUI technology. The last few decades have been absolutely stunning in the changes they’ve brought.”
And here’s the soundbyte of the evening: “We Bing. And we Bing. And we Bing Bing Bing…At least in my world.” Ballmer says 2009 is a year in which the company has made incredible progress with Bing. “We added 11 million new users…We redefined what search should do for users–we work to understand user intent and anticipate what users are really looking for. We know we’re at the beginning of a long journey, but we think we’re off to a good start.”
There’s some news about Bing today, a distribution deal that makes it the default search engine on HP PCs in 32 countries.
Also figuring prominently in 2009, Xbox. Microsoft first launched it at CES in 2001. Today, over 39 million Xbox 360s around the world. More than 500 million games. The console has generated $20 billion in total game revenue.
Moving on to the mobile space now. Windows Phone–technically Windows Mobile 6.5, a necessary stopgap on the path to 7.0–which debuted last fall in a nimbus of disappointment. Ballmer notes that Microsoft is announcing a new Windows Phone partnership today with T-Mobile which is bringing HTC’s HD2 phone to the states. He says little about Windows Mobile 7, Microsoft’s “modern” mobile operating system, which at last check was scheduled to arrive at market sometime in late 2010.
Talking up Windows 7 now. PC sales jumped 50 percent the week the OS debuted, says Ballmer. And according to research outfit NPD, sales of Windows PCs grew 50 percent over the 2009 holidays…retailers sold 63 percent more PCs than they did this time last year. Gartner now sees 3 percent PC unit growth in 2009–nearly 300 million PCs shipped in 2009. For 2010, Gartner sees jump of more than 12 percent.
“Windows 7 is by far the fastest selling OS in history,” says Ballmer. “Clearly consumers are saying there’s never been a better time to be a Windows 7 PC…Windows 7 is a rising tide that’s lifting all boats in the PC business.”
Ballmer calls Ryan Asdourian, senior PM for Windows, to the stage. “We’re gonna see some of Ryan’s favorite hardware and software,” he says. Among them the Sony (SNE) Vaoi L–an all-in-one built for HD entertainment–and the Asus NX90, a very slick looking laptop designed with help from legendary audio firm Bang & Olufsen.
“Being in Vegas, you’ve got to look sexy,” says Asdourian. Ballmer: “Good thing we brought some PCs.”
Next, some software demos–Ray Kurzweil’s Blio Ereader App, then a new Skydrive collaboration in Windows Live. Ballmer: “Developers baby! Developers! I love the people who’ve built this stuff.”
Moving on to Windows Media Center and Mediaroom 2.0, which will now deliver live and on-demand TV through set top boxes, PCs, and Windows Mobile devices like the HD2. Coming to AT&T U-verse. Streaming video on the HD2 looks pretty slick.
“The world of entertainment and content will come in different forms and flavors. But no matter what the source, Windows PCs will offer the greatest entertainment experiences in the world,” says Ballmer. And with that he shows offs some new slate PCs. Sadly, the Courier–the dual-screen multitouch device that many had been hoping to see–is not among them, just as BoomTown reported earlier today. There are, however, some cool looking offerings from Hewlett-Packard and Archos.
Ballmer rolls another Seth Myers video: “Milestones in Technology.” Not funny. Yeah…I don’t really miss Saturday Night Live at all anymore…
Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices division, takes the stage. “Computer science is the only science bounded solely by our imaginations,” he says, refering to Xbox…”2010 is going to be a landmark year for Xbox customers. We’ll be offering the best line of Xbox 360 games.” Mass Effect 2, Splinter Cell Conviction. Also an episodic “psychological action thriller” called Alan Wake. “Imagine Lost written by Steven King, filmed by David Lynch,” says Bach.
Bach: “What Star Wars is to film, what Harry Potter is to fantasy books, Halo is to video games.” And with that he rolls some video of Halo Reach that I can’t see because I’m watching the event remotely. The game is coming fall of 2010, but will be available as multiplayer beta on Xbox Live this spring.
Bach announces Game Room for Xbox Live! A vintage gaming service that offers 30 classics from Atari, Intellivision, etc. The company plans to add over 1000 games to Game Room over the next three years.
And here comes the pitch for Project Natal: “We’re at an exciting inflection point in tech, where we can create an experience that is more intuitive. With Natal we’re freeing you from the last barrier, the game controller.” Bach rolls a video of the folks behind the Xbox’s new NUI (natural user interface), which is due out later this year. “Project Natal will be available this holiday 2010…It will work with your existing Xbox 360.”
“When I said 2010 was going to be a big year for Xbox 360, I was lying. 2010 is going to be the biggest year in Xbox history.“
Bach wraps things up with some big picture remarks and…well, I guess that’s it. He leaves the stage and the house lights come back up.
LAS VEGAS — If you had any doubt that the big thing in televisions this year will be 3D, then Samsung’s CES press conference would have finally convinced you. The company is throwing its rather large manufacturing weight behind 3D in the home, bringing not just TVs but 3D Blu-ray players and home theater systems into stores this year.
The TVs were the focus today, and consist of LEDs, LCDs and even a plasma model. The star, though, and the one that Jeffrey Katzenberg couldn’t keep his hands off (more on that in a second), was the 9000-series. This 3D TV features a proprietary 3D engine that, like Toshiba’s new sets, can convert 2D video to 3D (although Samsung presented this as a temporary solution until more 3D video is available). The 9000-series will come in screen sizes from 19” to 65”, but that wasn’t why Katzenberg was fingering the thing and gawking at it as the presentation wore on. One look at the photo will tell you the answer — the TVs are thin, as in a third of an inch thin. Turn one of these sideways and it all but disappears. Add to that a gorgeous steel body and you get a TV that even an impossibly rich movie mogul will covet.
Better still, the 9000 series will come with a large touch-screen remote. And why waste that second screen when you aren’t actually doing any controlling? Samsung lets you watch live TV on the remote itself while the big screen continues to play your 3D movie.
Samsung is jumping on the App Wagon, too, and in the spring there will be a range of free apps (they’re not called applications any more) in its own store, called “Samsung Apps”. The store will be open, so anyone can write software for your TV, and paid content will follow in the summer, followed by software for other platforms such as phones.
So why was Katzenberg on stage? Because his company Dreamworks has, along with Technicolor, teamed up with Samsung to get some 3D content onto the televisions. After a rather monotonous speech, he announced the company’s first 3D Blu-ray title, Monsters vs. Aliens. These 3D movies will, he optimistically predicted, “reduce piracy”.
Samsung’s New Lineup of Led Hdtvs Raises the Bar for Tv Excellence [Samsung]
See Also:
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Section: Video, Accessories, Trade Shows, CES
Simply put, the Sling Touch Control 100 gives you everything you need to control your TV-related needs. It is a remote control with a 4.3” capacitive touch LCD that is capable of controlling SlingGuide-enabled DVRs over a WiFi network. You can do things as simple as browsing channels to searching and filtering through various information (genre, network, rating, language, HD content, channel, time and date) for a specific channel, all on the device itself. With this device, browsing for a channel of interest would be a piece of cake.
Apart from that, it can control various Infrared-based devices such as Blu-ray/DVD players, audio video receives, and digital media adapters, abolishing the need for your device’s native controller. It comes with a charging cradle which is designed with a shallow angle, allowing usage of the remote while charging. Look out for the Sling Media booth at CES 2010 for a live demonstration!
Product [Sling Media]
Full Story » | Written by Cheng Hung for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Hoof shoes from Zagone Studios
Turns out hoof shoes are making a comeback, but for humans. More examples: A Closer Look At The Hoof Shoe Trend: 5 Fashionable Or Freaky Hooves. My faves are the deer ones.
Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2010 | 6:13 pm
Wil Wheaton points out this severely awesome game-themed cupcake quiz. How many can you get right?
A useful mosquito killing device by Johannes Vogl.
Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2010 | 6:04 pm
Gareth of Make Online says: "Oh my gawd, this is hysterical. These guys launched their Christmas tree on 32 rocket engines. The launch is glorious."
Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2010 | 5:57 pm
In terms of new hot startups, Square is among the hottest. And for good reason. If it takes off, it has the potential to transform the way vendors and consumers handle transactions. (There’s a reason it was worth $40 million before launch.) Not surprisingly, the talent is also flowing to them.
Square has just hired Bob Lee, a software engineer at Google. And not just any engineer, Lee led the core library development for Android — yes, Google’s mobile platform that is exploding with growth and excitement right now. And yet, Lee is leaving after 5 years at Google for something he clearly feels is even more exciting, Square.
Square’s Buzz Andersen tweeted the news today, and confirmed that Lee is on board fulltime with Square now. Lee, who is apparently known as “Crazy Bob,” will be heading up development of Square’s Android app, we hear. Currently, Square only works on the iPhone and iPod touch. Getting to the other mobile platforms will be vital for the company’s success. And of these platforms, Android is clearly the first priority.
How Square will interact with Android devices isn’t yet clear since the system requires a hardware component as well. On the iPhone and iPod touch, a little square (hence, the name) plugs into the headphone jack — something which the iPhone OS 3.0 allows for.
Update: Lee has just tweeted about the news as well.
Update 2: Square co-founder Jack Dorsey also says that there are two other hires that Square will be announcing soon.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
LAS VEGAS — Samsung’s new CL80 compact camera is a curious machine. It is less like camera and more like a camera-phone, packing in everything you’d expect of a modern phone, except the phone itself.
Why? Try this feature list: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 3.7-inch AMOLED touch-screen and an on-screen QWERTY keyboard. That sounds more like a high-end phone than a camera. Clearly Samsung has brought its phone experience to the game.
Of course, it’s not a cellphone, and the picture quality shows that. The sensor has 14.2 megapixels and can shoot 720p video. This is paired with a Schneider Kreuznach 7x zoom lens. Once shot, you can send the video and stills off to other devices via Bluetooth or DLNA (a Wi-Fi spec for easily sharing media between devices), upload to Flickr or YouTube over regular Wi-Fi or even email them direct, as the camera has a built-in address-book (I told you it was like a phone).
There are a few neat additions, too. The touch-screen and accelerometers let you control the camera by gestures — draw an “X” on the screen to delete a picture, or tilt to move between images. This last could be more annoying than helpful if it is still as bad as the slideshow feature on the Samsung Behold cellphone.
Last, and funniest, its the balancing “function”. The bottom of the 0.7-inch steel case is angled so the camera can be tilted back at 7-degrees and balance there. This will tilt the lens up just enough so you can take a self-portrait without chopping off your head. The CL80 will be in stores in the Spring, for an as-yet unannounced price. If you are the kind of person who loves to play with a feature-packed gadget, this is probably the best camera you could choose.
CL80 Press release [Samsung]
Section: Business News, Video, HDTV, Trade Shows, CES
Earlier today at CES 2010 Toshiba spoke very highly of Cell TV and how it represents the future of televisions. We reported earlier on how TriVector technology enables the television to convert everything on its screen into a 3D image, but that isn’t all Cell TV can do.
No matter how expensive a television may, the picture quality is going to determine whether it’s worth setting up in your home. Cell TV includes a feature called Auto View that adjusts every color balance based on the lighting conditions of the room you’re in. It also features built in wireless HD streaming capabilities, USB inputs, DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) and Net TV.
The Auto View technology also helps to accentuate Cell TV’s video phone feature by creating an image suitable for large televisions. It was explained how an image looks acceptable when viewed on a smaller screen using VOIP but looks horrible if that same image is many times larger. Cell TV is looking to correct that flaw once and for all.
Cell TV has the possibility of becoming the center of the home network with its 1TB home entertainment server. This allows many forms of media to be stored and viewed at will. 1TB of storage is more than capable of housing more movies than most people will ever see in a lifetime.
Cell TV will have two models named Genesis and Allusion that will be released sometime in 2010.
Read [Gamertell]
Full Story » | Written by Jeremy Hill for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Section: Audio, Headphones
Last year, Monster showed off its first entry into the headphone market with the Beats. Today at CES the company announced a few additions to it’s line up. The focus today was largely on in-ear phones including the previously announced Turbine Pro Gold.
Most of the new earphones announced are out of reach for most consumers. The first announcement came in the form of the Turbine Pro Copper earphones. The Turbine Pro Copper, contrary to the name, are actually better than the Gold. They will allow you to hear everything in a single recording, just as if you were in the sound studio. The theory being that with the Turbine Pro Copper you’ll hear all the bad parts of recordings, but also everything that’s great about them.
Another set of earphones with a similar design is the Miles Davis Tribute. The Miles Davis Tribute earphones are meant to be earphones that the famous Jazz musician would approve of, ones that will provide the “ultimate jazz experience.” The earphones will ship with the 50 year anniversary edition of Miles Davis’ album “Kind of Blue.” They will retail for $499.
Both earphones come with Monster’s new SuperTips. SuperTips are silicon tips with foam inside them to completely isolate outside sound without absorbing any of the music. The effect is meant to again mimic a recording studio with the sound isolation.
Read [Monster Headphones Miles Davis Tribute] Read [Monster Turbine Pro Copper]
Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Two days ago, I wrote a speculative piece wondering if Apple hadn’t leaked some of the information about its forthcoming tablet device to the Wall Street Journal itself. I based this on a number of curiosities in the post, the timing of it, as well as the history between the secretive company and the publication. Today, The Mac Observer suspects the same thing happened. Only they have a much better reason to believe: The author used to be in charge of doing just that for Apple.
John Martellaro, now a senior editor at The Mac Observer, was formerly a Senior Marketing Manager at Apple. As he writes in his post:
Often Apple has a need to let information out, unofficially. The company has been doing that for years, and it helps preserve Apple’s consistent, official reputation for never talking about unreleased products. I know, because when I was a Senior Marketing Manager at Apple, I was instructed to do some controlled leaks.
Lest you be suspicious of Martellaro’s claim, he did indeed hold that role at Apple (here’s some Apple developer documentation tied to him in 2001), and it’s hard to imagine he would have any reason to make up such a thing. In fact, it’s been widely believed for a long while that Apple does this from time to time.
And Martellaro goes into more details. Apparently, senior execs used to come to his team and say they need to get information out there. They were never allowed to email it to anyone, it always had to be on the phone or in person, so there was no paper trail.
He also notes that stock manipulation never factors in (one would hope not), though I suppose one could argue that if Apple did in fact leak the Jobs’ liver transplant information to the WSJ on a Friday night a few months ago, it was a form of manipulation, because they were making sure the stock wouldn’t tank on the news.
Martellaro sums up his post: “That’s how Apple does controlled leaks, and the WSJ article from yesterday was a classic example.“ So there you go.
[photo: flickr/photo denbow]
Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors
Section: Gadgets / Other, ebooks, Trade Shows, CES
A Singapore-based eBook readers producer, Gajah International, will be launching over 10 new models in 2010. Building on their success with the EB-S601 eBook reader, Gajah wil be showcasing their new models at CES 2010. The EB-S601 is an eBook reader with a screen size of 6”. The soon-to-be released models will be sporting various screen sizes and specifications to meet the needs of a large group of demographics. Among the models include a colored eBook reader and eMagazine, although it is uncertain how the display of colour will affect the battery life of those readers.
Downloading eBooks onto eBook readers by Gajah will be via a proprietory Content Management & Delivery System (CMDS). It is unknown if this service involves any sort of recurring fees, or the kind of connectivity (WiFi, 3G, etc) this technology is based on. Perhaps more information will be available at their presentation booth at the CES.
Press Release:
Gajah International at CES 2010
Singapore, 29th Dec 2009- Since winning the recent iF Design Award China (International Forum Design) with its EB-S601 eBook reader, Gajah International’s participation at the upcoming CES 2010 shall be littered with anticipation as it showcases its arsenal of eBook reader designs.
Building on the success of EB-S601, which was first launched at the Hong Kong Electronics Show 2009- Spring Edition, Gajah is planning to launch no less than 10 new models for year 2010, with various screen sizes and specifications catering to the needs of the various segments of the market. The highlight in its stable looks set to be the colored eBook reader and eMagazine, although Gajah is quietly keeping the cards close to its heart at the point of this press release.
Started by group of young but passionate entrepreneur’s, Gajah is now working with its partners globally to harness the prowess of its proprietary CMDS (Content Management & Delivery System) to seamlessly deliver content in the form of articles, books, magazines and newspapers via its wide array of eBook readers. CMDS offers a one-stop solution in content delivery and is managed by Gajah Media International Pte Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gajah International. With the CMDS, Gajah and its partners are able to offer to end-users a hassle-free experience of e-reading.
For more information about Gajah and its products and services, please visit us at :
International CES (Consumer Electronics Show)Date: 7th- 10th Jan 2010
Venue: Las Vegas Convention Center/
Booth: Las Vegas Hilton 43016
Full Story » | Written by Cheng Hung for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
FROM APPLETELL - A company called DUAL has their own solution in the form of an iPod touch case and cradle. Best of all, the unit is packed with features.
MORE »
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DannySP's Super Mario Blocks computer icons are very cute.
Source: Boing Boing | 6 Jan 2010 | 4:57 pm
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Section: Video, HDTV, Gadgets / Other, Household
The Pop Box was announced a few days ago, but was shown today at CES. The problem the Pop Box has is the fact that it’s not as popular as say the Boxee Box. There are a few things the Pop Box has over the Boxee Box, however.
One of the biggest features the Pop Box has over the Boxee Box is its social network integration. With the Pop Box while watching or streaming a video you can easily access Twitter or Facebook to update your status, should you feel the need to. Pop Box, like every other set-top box, has Netflix streaming, though it also has apps to stream video from the likes of Revision 3 and Crunchy Roll. Another major draw is the support of just about every file format available.
The Pop Box certainly has promise, though how it will fair against other set-top boxes is questionable. The lower price of $129 for the standard version or $149 for the wireless version could help. It might be hard to draw attention away from the Boxee Box, though.
Image source [Gizmodo]
Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
Here’s a marriage of convenience: A pact between Netflix and Warner Bros. that gives both sides some of what they want, at least for now.
Netflix (NFLX) has agreed not to rent the Time Warner (TWX) studio’s movies for the first 28 days after they go on sale. In return, it will pay the studio a reduced fee when it does rent the discs, and will get more movies to offer via its growing Web streaming service.
Hard to get a very good sense of the deal because no dollar signs have surfaced so far. But the broad strokes sound good for both sides: Warner gets a big distributor to help it protect its retail sales for a bit longer, and Netflix gets to reallocate the money it spends from discs to digital.
Here’s Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s Hollywood emissary, via Reuters:
Sarandos declined to comment specifically on the economics of the deal but said it represents meaningful savings in terms of what it spent on Warner’s physical discs in 2009. He said, however, Netflix was reinvesting those savings in streaming.
“On a net basis in 2010, we’re growing our spending on the studios even if we are saving on physical DVDs,” he said, adding he expects this trend to continue as more and more customers seek movies through its streaming service.
“In 2010, Netflix will spend $600 million on postage,” said Sarandos who envisions “moving that entire bucket of spending to Hollywood and out of the post office.”
Note that this is exactly the agreement that Warner and other studios have not been able to strike with Redbox, the upstart rental outfit, which has led to a legal fight.
And it helps Netflix answer a question I hear more and more often these days: When will it be able to expand its selection of digital movies, which right now remains just a fraction of its physical catalog?
I’ll be able to ask CEO Reed Hastings that question myself on Friday during an interview at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, where the All Things Digital team is gathering for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. You can listen in to what Hastings has to say at CES via a Web-streaming offering of our own Friday afternoon. Some details here, and more to come.
Are you ready to take a step closer to the digital-camera big leagues? Many people who have used a basic point-and-shoot camera for several years are ready to bring it up a notch.
The next logical category of camera after basic point-and-shoots (and before digital single-lens reflex, SLR, cameras) are the so-called megazoom cameras, capable of zeroing in on a subject with around 20x optical zoom strength. They also have fairly high megapixel counts, capturing about 10 to 12 MP each, and offer several automatic and manual settings for capturing photos.
Most of the cameras in this category resemble SLRs, with bulkier builds and protruding zoom lenses. But they cost somewhere in the $400 range—significantly less expensive than SLRs, which often cost over $1,000 for the camera body alone (lenses are typically sold separately). If you don’t want to spend the money or you aren’t completely sure you want to commit to learning the ins and outs of an SLR, this midrange model is a sound compromise.
Of course, these cameras have some downsides. Serious photographers who have grown accustomed to the high-quality photos of SLRs will point out the comparatively poorer photo quality of megazooms. But for average users like me, the quality of photos captured using a megazoom digital camera is a welcome upgrade from a point-and-shoot.
Another significant difference for point-and-shoot users will be adjusting to the size and overall bulk of megazoom cameras. Users can’t toss them into a small purse or pocket on the way out the door like they do with compact point-and-shoots. Instead, megazooms are usually seen hanging from neck straps or stowed away in camera shoulder bags.
Some smaller cameras are categorized as megazooms, including the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS1K and Casio Exilim EX-H10BK, though both look more like thick point-and-shoot cameras. These Panasonic (PC) and Casio models cost between $250 and $300 and offer 12x and 10x optical zooms, respectively. But they aren’t capable of some of the more advanced features found on expensive megazooms—like 24x optical zoom or some manual settings and shooting modes.
This Christmas, I was fortunate to receive one such megazoom camera, the Nikon Coolpix P90, which costs around $400. Though I’ve used other cameras in this category, I was especially struck by how the capabilities of this megazoom altered my photo-capturing behavior.
Granted, not everyone will react as I did, but I took my camera and set out on photography jaunts around my neighborhood in Washington, D.C., scaling piles of snow to capture just the right angle, and using tree branches to frame shots of the Capitol in the distance.
The details and colors in the photos that my camera captured were so much more vivid than those on my admittedly older point-and-shoot that I wondered what took me so long to make the upgrade.
I spent the first week with this camera using it in its Auto setting—an old habit that carried over from my point-and-shoot days (also because I didn’t have time to read through the manual).
But even in the automatic mode, photos looked astonishingly good—prompting compliments from family and friends. A week later, I delved into the camera’s user manual and learned how to use many more features.
One big downside: Though the Nikon Coolpix P90 weighs only 16.2 ounces, its bulky shape prohibits it from being carried along on a whim.
I brought the camera on a family vacation, but left it in my room rather than trying to fit it in my bag during a trip to the beach and on a zip line ride through the rain forest. A compact point-and-shoot would’ve easily fit into a pocket.
But then I have my BlackBerry Curve 8900’s camera—with 3.2 megapixels, auto focus and a built-in flash—for snapping photos on the go. (Plus, I can instantly share the shots via email, Facebook or Twitter.)
As more mobile devices include good quality cameras, like Google’s (GOOG) new $179 (with T-Mobile) Nexus One super-smart phone with five megapixels and a flash, fewer people will need to carry point-and-shoots for quickly capturing digital memories.
Editing photos captured by a megazoom is a real pleasure. I cropped and zoomed to my heart’s content, noticing more details in photos after looking at them on my computer than when I initially took the pictures. When I needed to trim someone or something out of a shot, I didn’t worry about degrading the photo’s overall quality. And because of their high resolution, my photos can be enlarged with very little quality or color compromise.
In addition to Nikon, many other companies make cameras for the megazoom category. Some examples are Canon’s $400 PowerShot SX20 IS, Sony’s (SNE) $480 Cyber-shot DSC-HX1 and Casio’s $400 EX-FH20. These offer several shooting modes, as well as scene modes for common settings like sunsets, backlight, night portraits, burst mode and panoramas. They have optical and/or digital-image stabilization to thwart shaky hands, settings for focusing in on a subject manually or automatically, and ways to save frequently used manual settings.
Some megazooms have built-in flashes, while others use an external mount so that a flash can be snapped on or off for use. (My Nikon came with a built-in flash.) They often have more than one flash that fits in the mount, leaving users with the choice of which one to use.
The digital cameras include LCD viewing screens as well as optical viewfinders. (The latter is commonly left off of many small point-and-shoot cameras, but it’s really helpful for people who want to hold the camera up to one eye for steadier shooting.)
Some LCD screens, like the Canon’s, swing out and swivel around. The Nikon’s can be adjusted up 90 degrees or down 45 degrees for shooting below or above a subject.
No matter which model, the megazoom category of digital cameras offers a combination of advanced features and affordability that could entice people who are ready to take the next step into a world of more serious digital photography.
mossbergsolution@wsj.com
Write to Katherine Boehret at mossbergsolution@wsj.com
Several studies have indicated that stress resulting from ongoing white noise can induce the release of cortisol, a hormone that helps to restore homeostasis in the body after a bad experience. Excess cortisol impairs function in the prefrontal cortex—an emotional learning center that helps to regulate “executive” functions such as planning, reasoning and impulse control. Some recent evidence indicates that the prefrontal cortex also stores short-term memories. Changes to this region, therefore, may disrupt a person’s capacity to think clearly and to retain information."How does background noise affect our concentration?" (Thanks, Marina Gorbis!)
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
By WSJ Staff
If you’re wearing a Team Edward or Team Jacob T-shirt, this is probably old news, but a 112-page screenplay for “Eclipse”–the third installment of the Twilight franchise–has been leaked to the internet. The script, which is dated July 2009, is reportedly an early draft and not the shooting copy, and is attributed to actor Jackson Rathbone, who plays the vampire Jasper Hale (thanks, water-marked scripts!).
Read the rest of this post on the original site
LAS VEGAS –Remember Fitibt, the cute fitness tracker for adults that logs your every move? Now seniors have their own version of the device. Wellcore is a monitoring system that offers automatic fall detection, a web site where you can input data to track your activity and rest patterns and send text alerts.
But it is not being pitched as just another fitness tracker. Instead Wellcore executives are playing up the device’s emergency alert system. Wellcore has motion detection and pattern recognition so if the wearer stumbles or falls, it can automatically send an emergency service, a caregiver or a family member an alert.
“Traditional personal response systems require users to push a button to activate it,” says Vijay Nadkarni, CEO of Wellcore. “They have also been marketed in a way that makes it embarrassing for many to buy it. We are combining the idea of fitness and an emergency response system.”
Monitoring your lifestyle through data and data analysis is becoming increasingly popular. New devices such as the Fitbit and the DirectLife from Philips are trying to automate self-tracking. Wellcore tap into that idea but adds a feature that should get the attention of seniors.
The Wellcore system, designed by Hartmut Esslinger, founder of industrial design firm, Frog Design, has two parts. It has a base unit that acts as a charger and a clip that can be hooked on to your belt or pants. The waterproof hardware costs $200 (every additional belt clip costs $100) and the emergency monitoring service will set you back by $50 a month. The system will be available for pre-orders starting February 18 through the company’s website.
Wellcore also includes features such as an automatic reminder sent through the device’s base unit asking to be worn. If the sensor is left unworn for an extended period of time, an email message is sent to a designated caregiver or family member, so it’s a good way to remind mom or dad to use it.
The password-protected online dashboard measures the numbers of steps taken everyday and charts patterns from the data offering activity graphs that indicate if its average or above average for the user. Users can also check their daily, monthly, or 90 day progress.
While the other fitness trackers can do more, they also aren’t designed for senior users. Wellcore attempts to bring the same idea to an older group by throwing in a few services that will sweeten the idea for them.
See Also:
Photo: Wellcore system
LAS VEGAS — MSI has launched yet another upgrade for its popular Wind netbook, dubbed the U160.
The new model gains a brand new polished case, a bumpy trackpad and a Chicklet keyboard with elevated keys. It includes Windows 7 Starter, a 1.66-GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, a 250-GB hard drive and a 6-cell battery that lasts 7.5 hours, according to MSI.
I had some hands-on time with the Wind U160, and though it looks different from its predecessors, the experience is mostly the same. The U160 is noticeably lighter, weighing only 2.2 pounds. It sports a glossy champagne finish, a black keyboard and a screen with a black border. It kind of looks like a miniature MacBook Pro.
Its keyboard still suffers from an awkwardly small question-mark key. I disliked the puny trackpad on the first MSI Wind (which I used to own), and I dislike the U160’s bumpy trackpad even more: The purpose of the bumps is to mouse around more accurately, but I was doing the opposite.
This upgrade is mostly about looks, which isn’t surprising because netbooks are generally a repetitive, monotonous product category. More interesting at CES this year is the “notbook” — a new flavor of netbooks adding some variety to 10-inch mini notes. Some examples include the Lenovo Skylight smartbook, which features an ARM-based processor, and the Lenovo S10-3t, a convertible touchscreen tablet.
See Also:
Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
LAS VEGAS — Human eyesight is pathetically slow and sadly lacking in powerful telephoto magnification.
Enter the latest addition to Casio’s lineup of high-speed digital cameras: The EX-FH100, which combines high-speed photography with a 10x zoom lens in a compact body.
Last year, Casio wowed us with its high-speed burst mode photos that were capable of capturing 1,000 frames per second. Nice, especially if you want to shoot slow-motion video or capture a still of something that’s happening really fast. And while it’s not the same tech used by professional slow-mo video makers, 1,000 fps is pretty damn good for a consumer camera.
But what if said fast-moving object is far away, in the end zone perhaps? That’s where Casio’s 10x zoom lens comes in.
“You can take powerful images of crucial moments that are too fast for the human eye to see,” said John Homlish, executive vice president for Casio America, showing a slow-motion video of a Little League-r hitting a baseball.
The EX-FH100 (shown above) will be available at the end of March for $350, Casio officials said.
Casio also announced enhancements to its “Dynamic Photo” feature, which lets you create kitschy composites of movies and still images — or, now, superimpose two moving images on top of one another. The demonstration showed a woman jogging along an urban path, beckoning to an animated clip art doggie behind her.
The Dynamic Photo feature will be included in three new models: the EX-H15 (a compact camera with a 10x zoom lens), the EX-Z2000, and the ultracompact EX-Z550.
Casio also announced a new line of Digital Art Frames, which are just like other photo frames except that they now allow you to convert your photos to make them look like oil paintings, watercolors, pointillist paintings, or even Fauvist art (plus four other themes).
With filters like that, who needs Photoshop?
Photo: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com
OK, I lied about no more wonky posts. Xeni's Facebook post reminded me of something. I want to float an idea about privacy as a commodity, vs. privacy as a right.Tiger Woods, described frequently as a "very private" person, was unable to keep his private life private. Why? Because he interacted with non-private people. The reason Kim Kardashian and the Jersey Shore denizens have risen to positions of prominence in popular culture is because they each epitomize the non-private person. They have nothing to hide, so nothing that becomes public knowledge can hurt them. Ms. Kardashian can be urinated on in a sex tape and actually be helped in terms of being a public figure. My own ability to be effective as a transgender rights activist is because there's nothing anyone could expose about me that would deter me from my activism. That gives me enormous power over anonymous haters who vent their impotent fury at me to no avail. Their own fear of exposure (loss of privacy) is their greatest weakness. What does this mean for you, dear reader? Read on.
(images via WikiMedia Commons)
Although the US government has taken steps to protect privacy as a right since Louis Brandeis formalized the concept in 1890, there is always a clash with commercial interests who view privacy as a commodity. What we have seen is that those who want privacy are going to have to pay a lot for it, a trend that will continue to trickle down from public figures to the general public. Gated "communities," "identity theft protection" rackets, etc. are symptoms of the commodification of privacy.
At last year's Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium, there was a lot of debate about industry self-regulation vs. government regulation. "Wireless Advertising Messaging" (WAM) is something you'll be hearing a lot more about in coming years. The Nexus phone introduced yesterday is the clearest sign that marketers know that the future of advertising is on the mobile web and through local search. Heng Xu, John Bagby, and Terence Melonas of Penn State presented a paper at PETS on whether Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPP) compliance should be by policy or by design. This great theoretical paper lays out a good summary of the right vs. commodity debate:
"The first camp views privacy as a fundamental human right, like the right to liberty or life. Such fundamentalist position holds that privacy is tied to a cluster of rights, such as autonomy and dignity. The second camp holds privacy to be of instrumental rather than fundamental right; that is, the value of privacy comes because it sustains, promotes, and protects other things we value. In this view, privacy can be traded off because doing so will promote other values (e.g., personalization)."
The question then becomes this: what is the value of our privacy, and for what are we willing to trade our privacy? What will we pay to keep it? We are already seeing a cottage industry for people who pay to DELETE F***ING EVERYTHING, such as Web 2.0 Suicide Machine and Seppukoo.com. Both were blocked by Facebook this week for violating their terms of service. This arms race is going to escalate as businesses continue to maximize effectiveness of their messaging through more and more personalized messages and technologies. The amount of money at stake is enormous, which means the rights at stake are enormous as well.
Short of going off the grid, what do you think we should do to protect our right to privacy? Or if you see it as a commodity, what can we do to maximize its value so we can make more in trade (vs. bartering it to businesses like Facebook in exchange for using their service)?
By Nitrozac and Snaggy
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
LAS VEGAS — There’s no stopping the Android army now as AT&T, the telecom carrier that has lagged behind in Android adoption, hops on the bandwagon.
AT&T plans to launch five Android-based devices from a range of handset makers including Dell, HTC and Motorola by first half of 2010. Three of these — the Motorola smartphone, Dell’s first Android smartphone currently available only in China and Brazil, and a new HTC smartphone — will be exclusive to the AT&T network. The company made the announcement at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show.
The move is a big win for the Google-designed open source Android operating system that made its debut in October 2008. Android launched on the HTC-designed T-Mobile G1 phone. Since then, at least 10 Android phones have hit the market including devices from handset makers such as Samsung and LG. Even Google has launched its own Android phone. The Google Nexus One phone designed by HTC arrived Tuesday.
Meanwhile, telecom carriers have rushed to add Android handsets to their network. The four major U.S. carriers — AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint — all have Android phones in their portfolio. Last year, Verizon introduced the Motorola Droid and the HTC Droid Eris, both running the Android operating system.
AT&T could be trying to diversify from the iPhone. The carrier has an exclusive deal with Apple for the iPhone but that relationship could end next year, unless Apple chooses to renew it. Offering consumers greater choice in operating systems and handsets could help offset the loss of the iPhone for AT&T.
But diversity of devices is not enough, says Jack Gold, a telecom analyst with consulting firm J. Gold Associates. “AT&T’s problem is their network,” he says. “These new phones don’t hide the fact that its network is sub-par.”
AT&T consumers have become increasingly vociferous in their complaints about problems with connectivity. Last month, Fake Steve Jobs, the immensely popular character created by journalist Dan Lyons, even called for an “Operation Chokehold,” a mob uprising that would try to choke the AT&T network for a few minutes. That attempt failed but it underlined the extent of consumer unhappiness against AT&T.
Having more smartphones in its portfolio could make the network worse, says Gold. “If you are going to have more consumers with these data-intensive phones on the network, you are going to have more complaints too,” he says.
For handset makers like Dell though, AT&T’s support will bring greater visibility. Dell’s Mini 3 smartphone unveiled in November has a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen and evokes the iPhone form factor in its design. Dell initially planned to offer the phone only in emerging markets.
AT&T is also adding Palm’s WebOS support to the bag. It plans to introduce two Palm devices in the first half of the year. Currently, Palm phones, the Pre and Pixi, are available exclusively on Sprint, though Palm is expected to make an announcement this week about bringing the devices to the Verizon network.
Photo of HTC Dream Android phone: Kenn Wilson/Flickr
See Also:
LAS VEGAS — Toshiba was one of the last manufacturers to get into the netbook game last year, and its offering — the Mini NB205 — was decent. The company announced an upgrade for the netbook that eliminates some of the shortcomings seen in its predecessor.
Dubbed the Mini NB305, the 10-inch netbook carries a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, up to 2GB RAM and a 6-cell battery promising 11 hours of life.
We reviewed the NB305’s predecessor, the NB205, last July, and its standout strength was battery life (six hours from our testing). One complaint was its battery, which stuck out awkwardly and felt uncomfortable on the lap. Also, the test unit we received, a pink model, wasn’t ideal since the vibrant case tricked your eyes into perceiving purplish colors on screen.
Toshiba seems to have listened. The NB305’s battery now fits into the netbook without sticking out, and the company isn’t shipping a pink model. The netbook is available in brown, white and blue.
However, one minor issue that remains unchanged is the placement of the keyboard keys. In our review of the NB205, we noted the awkward place of the tilde (~) key awkwardly located to the right of the Alt key. After hours, I still couldn’t get used to that configuration and kept typing ~ when I meant to hit Alt; I’d expect the NB305 to pose the same problem. Still, progress is progress, especially with netbooks, which generally don’t change much.
More specs are below the jump. The Mini 305 will ship Jan. 12 starting at $350.
Photos: Toshiba
If you’re an AT&T customer and you have a Nokia phone, you probably already know that the app scene is pretty barren. AT&T’s Media Mall offers a few pages of arguably useful apps, but support for programs like AT&T’s App Beta developer initiative is limited to a single Nokia handset.
Fortunately, Nokia has just opened up their catch-all Ovi Store to all AT&T customers with one of their phones. The list of phones supported stretches back a few years – the oldest supported device is the 6555, a barebones S40 flip from over two years ago. According to their press release, customers looking to get set up need only follow a few steps:
Apart from breathing new life into some otherwise basic phones, the biggest deal about Ovi’s AT&T debut is its support for carrier billing, which makes impulse buying apps and themes easier than ever. Instead of having to whip out a credit card for purchases, charges show up directly on the bill, which in a sense is a win-win situation: customers get instant gratification and the companies involved pick up some extra, if sometimes unintended revenue.
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![Screen shot 2010-01-06 at [ January 6 ] 11.26.15 AM](http://www.mobilecrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Screen-shot-2010-01-06-at-January-6-11.26.15-AM-181x300.png "Screen shot 2010-01-06 at [ January 6 ] 11.26.15 AM")
No sooner had AT&T announced they were making a massive leap onto the Android bandwagon than Dell went and announced their part in the plan.
Just as we’d guessed in our post on the matter earlier, Dell’s contribution to AT&T’s Android endeavour is the Mini 3. We knew this long-available-elsewhere handset would be launching stateside sooner or later, but it’s nice to see a carrier finally take it under its wing.
No word yet on pricing or availability, outside of the previously disclosed “first half of 2010″ window.
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Last year we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. When I visited Berlin last November to participate in a conference entitled Breaking Borders, politicians, policy makers, netizens and journalists all agreed on the importance of freedom of expression for a functioning democracy. The web is providing once unimaginable possibilities for political participation, free exchange of information and democratic movements around the world.
They’re keepin’ mum on exactly which devices they’ll be getting, but AT&T just announced at their press developer conference that they’ll be offering up not one, but two Palm webOS devices by mid-2010. Sure, it could be the Pre and the Pixi – but at this point, that’d be all kinds of disappointing.
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You can surf the web with your iPhone, you can take payments with your iPhone, you can make music, drive a car, and even fart with your iPhone, but to date one of the few things you haven’t been able do is watch television on your iPhone.
Alright, fine, Japan’s been rocking a 1seg TV tuner for their Softbank iPhones for over two years now, and CES 2010 has already netted us a few new promising DTV-compatible toys, but FLO TV and their new partner are looking at making the whole mobile television proposition much more pocketable.
Last time we saw FLO TV trying to work with an iPhone, it came in the form of a bulky receiver that plugged into the phone’s dock connector. They’ve certainly come a long way since then, and their new partnership with iPhone accessory giant mophie is proof – in a recent announcement, they’ve outed a series of mophie’s Juice Packs with integrated FLO TV receivers for both the iPhone and iPod Touch. The units themselves are set to be released during the first half of 2010, but the bigger question here is if anyone will actually buy the thing. The Juice Pack itself is a solid accessory, but given the low adoption rate FLO TV (nee MediaFLO) has dealt with for the past two years, sticking a subscription-based receiver that only offers a handful of channels into a case doesn’t seem like the greatest idea either company has ever had.
Anyway, if you’re one of the few who have been clamoring for television on your iPhone since day one, you won’t have much longer to wait. Pricing for the cases has yet to be determined, but let’s face it – if you were really that adamant about FLO TV, you were probably going to buy the damn thing no matter what anyway.
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This page just went live over on AT&T’s site. While it doesn’t give a whole lot of specifics, it does confirm that we’ll be seeing no less than three (Update: make that five!) Android handsets hit AT&T’s shelves sometime in the first six months of this year.
The “unique form factor” Moto phone is undoubtedly the kinda-wonky Backflip, Dell’s probably throwing in something along the lines of the Mini 3i, and we might just see the HTC Lancaster that we expected last year. As for the other two? Your guess is as good as ours.
[Thanks Dave!]
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