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Tag: CES 2012

  • CES 2012: iPhone Finally Coming to T-Mobile?

    With the launch of the iPhone on Sprint last year, every major carrier in the country offered Apple’s flagship device. Except one. T-Mobile has been left to twist in the wind for years now. Though rumors of a T-Mobile iPhone have cropped up periodically, nothing has ever materialized. With the collapse of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger, it was beginning to look like T-Mobile might never get the iPhone.

    It looks now, though, like that might be about to change. Speaking at CES in Las Vegas, T-Mobile’s chief technology officer Neville Ray says that the next iPhone will carry a chipset that supports T-Mobile’s unique wireless network. The band of spectrum that T-Mobile uses for its phones, called AWS, is considerably different than that used by AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon. That difference has presented an obstacle to bringing the iPhone to T-Mobile’s network. Ray claimed that the chipset in Apple’s next iPhone will support AWS, though he admitted that Apple may choose not to make the necessary deal to bring the iPhone to T-Mobile.

    With the launch of the next iPhone still several months away, it will be some time before any possible deal between Apple and T-Mobile could be confirmed. A deal between the two companies would not be a surprise, however. Though T-Mobile is the smallest of the four major carriers, their customers still represent an untapped market for Apple. Look for more news on this front in the coming months, but a formal announcement is not likely to come before the iPhone’s unveiling later this year.

    [Source: CNet]

  • CES 2012: Fifteen Years Of Microsoft Keynotes In Two Minutes

    CES 2012: Fifteen Years Of Microsoft Keynotes In Two Minutes

    Though Microsoft’s CES keynote may not have contained any earth-shattering product news, there was apparently one little gem thrown in to entertain the crowd. As part of the keynote, which is the company’s last, Microsoft showed a video that recapped the company’s fifteen years of CES keynotes in two minutes. The best part? It’s a music video made from autotuned snippets of Bill Gates’ and Steve Ballmer’s keynotes. Check out the video below, and let us know what you think in the comments. Personally, I’m going to be hearing Ballmer’s “Bing Bing Bing” in my head for the rest of the day.

  • CES 2012: PriceGrabber Launches DealGrabber To Find Local Deals

    Daily deal programs like Groupon, LivingSocial, and the like have been gaining significantly in popularity recently. These sorts of services offer amazing deals on a wide variety of products and services. Navigating and sorting through all the deals that these sorts of programs offer is not always easy, though. Whether its an inbox full of emails, each with different deals, or multiple apps on your smartphone, keeping all these deals straight can be a bit tricky.

    To make sorting your daily deals easier, PriceGrabber has launched DealGrabber [iTunes link]. Announced at CES today, the free iPhone app collects deals from several daily deal sites and displays them for you in a single convenient list. Users can view deals from Groupon, LivingSocial, Restaurant.com, Eversave, Gift City, and more. The app includes a variety of sorting options, allowing users to see which deals are newest, which end soonest, and which are closest to them. Unfortunately the app does not include support for signing in to your individual accounts with these deal sites, which means you’ll have to sign in and pay for the deals manually – either via the web or the various services’ native apps.

    Other features of the app include a map view that allows users to see deals by location, and a hybrid view that merges the map and the list. The app accesses the iPhone’s on-board GPS, allowing users to see the deals closest to their current location (it also allows you to input location manually). It also includes the ability to email deals to yourself, or to share them on Facebook. Filtering by price, location or category, as well as home screen customization and the ability to save favorite searches make finding the kind of deals you want easy.

    The app is currently available in the iTunes Store for the unbeatable price of free. Check it out, then come back and let us know what you think in the comments.

    [Source: PriceGrabber Press Release]

  • CES 2012: Shadow Ebike Plays Nice With Your Phone

    CES 2012: Shadow Ebike Plays Nice With Your Phone

    Everything has to be smart these days. The smart bike just happens to be next on the list.

    Daymak Inc. announced at CES the Shadow Ebike. Yes, it’s a bicycle that interacts with an Android phone to control the bike’s functions.

    Daymak is billing the Shadow Ebike as the first wireless ebike that’s powered by their proprietary Daymak Drive. The Shadow Ebike will use the Android phone as the “key” to turning the bike on and off. The phone app includes the ability to create user defined pedal assist modes, tracking of top speeds, GPS, odometer, speedometer, trip data, altitude, battery life and history of all usage states.

    With the bike being wireless, it avoids the usage of wires which cause most accidents with other leading ebikes.

    The bike will go into production spring 2012 and is being currently demoed at CES in Las Vegas. For more information about the future of bicycles, you can check out the Shadow Ebike’s Web site.

    It does of course beg the question of how many more smart devices do we need. I never once thought before today that I would need a smart bike. I would like to see the market that this device is being targeted at. I can’t deny, however, that it’s pretty cool tech. It’s still not as cool as the “Board of Awesomeness” though.

  • CES 2012: Polaroid Builds Android-Powered Smart Camera

    Polaroid has announced a new take on the digital camera at this year’s CES. The new SC1630 Smart Camera is a digital camera built on Google’s Android operating system. The 16 megapixel camera comes with 3X optical zoom, a 3.2-inch touch screen display, and wi-fi connectivity. The camera promises users the ability to capture HD images and video, and then immediately upload them to the social media site of their choice.

    The camera weighs only 5 ounces. It comes with a variety of interesting features, including automatic face and smile detection, as well as a Smart Album feature that organizes images by date, location, and people. It also includes a number of editing features built in, allowing for cropping, red-eye reduction, resizing, and color correction. In addition to the built-in wi-fi, the camera also includes the option to connect to other devices via Bluetooth, and to access the internet via cellular data connection. What’s more, since the camera runs the Android operating system, it includes access to the Android app market.

    Digital camera makers have increasingly found themselves in competition with smartphones. As the cameras on these phones have gotten increasingly better, people have found that they need their standalone digital camera less and less. By and large, the camera industry has had a great deal of difficulty stopping this trend. Polaroid’s solution is intriguing. Indeed, it is even a little poetic: the camera industry fares poorly because manufacturers are putting cameras in their smartphones, so Polaroid put a smartphone in its camera. The SC1630 offers users all the advantages of taking pictures with their phones – ease of upload, mainly – but also gives them the opportunity to take far better pictures than their phone ever could.

    The camera’s price has not yet been determined, though Polaroid expects availability sometime this year.

    What do you think? Can Polaroid convince people to start carrying their cameras again? Sound off in the comments.

    [Source: Polaroid Press Release]

  • CES 2012: Dell Entering Tablet Business Later This Year

    CES 2012: Dell Entering Tablet Business Later This Year

    It’s surprising that Dell has not entered into the tablet business, but that will change this year.

    Reuters spoke to Dell’s CCO, Steve Felice, at CES about the company’s entry into the tablet business. He spoke on Dell’s attitude towards the tablet business and why they didn’t jump into it when all of their competitors did.

    It’s strange that Dell would not want to jump right into the tablet business when everybody else did. It has proven to be a growing market even though Apple’s iPad has proven to be a superior device to Android tablets currently out on the market. Speaking to Reuters, Felice had this to say on their late entry:

    “We have been taking our time. The general failure of everyone that’s tried to introduce a tablet outside of Apple” suggested Dell made a prudent choice, Felice said in an interview. “You will see us enter this market in a bigger way toward the end of the year. So we are not really deemphasizing it, we are really being very careful how we enter it.

    Dell is looking at the overall environment of tablets and smartphones as they see them in a very different light from their PC business. Felice said that the focus is on hardware with PCs while the it’s the ecosystem that’s important to consumers when it comes to these mobile devices.

    When Dell launches their tablet later this year, there will be two major operating systems to use: Windows 8 and Android. Both are viable options to Dell, but Felice did tell Reuters that he liked “the feel of Microsoft’s touch-enabled operating system.”

    In the end though, it all comes down to the choice of the consumer. Knowing Dell, they will probably offer tablets with both operating systems.

    When it comes to Apple, Dell thinks they have a decided advantage. Felice told Reuters that their tablets are going to be “very compatible with the business marketplace” which he thinks Apple has not really addressed.

    “There’s lot of use in the commercial sector that requires security and more compatibility, and I think we will be able to address that in a better way,” Felice said.

  • CES 2012: CEA President Shapiro Blasts SOPA In Keynote

    CES 2012: CEA President Shapiro Blasts SOPA In Keynote

    Speaking yesterday morning at the Qualcomm CES keynote, Gary Shapiro blasted SOPA and its backers and supporters for their efforts to stifle both free speech and innovation. Shapiro is president of the Consumer Electronics Association, the organization responsible for CES.

    Shapiro pulled no punches in his criticism of the act and its backers. He called SOPA a “threat to innovation,” that was supported primarily by “politicians who are proudly unfamiliar with how the internet works, but who are well familiar with favors from well-heeled copyright extremists.” These extremists, he says, “seek to inhibit free thought and speech.” Conversely, Shapiro praised the OPEN act (PDF), which has been proposed as an alternative to SOPA/PIPA.

    This is not the first time that Shapiro has been in the news for his opposition to SOPA. Just last week he offered similarly sharp criticism of the bill in an interview with VentureBeat. He said that SOPA is a distraction from what Congress should really be working on. He lamented that “in Washington, the urgent replaces the important,” and noted that opponents of SOPA “are being outspent 10 to 1 by the copyright extremists.” He went on to say that “[t]here are two types of members of Congress: those who understand the internet and those who will vote for SOPA because they have made commitments to the copyright extremists.”

    Shapiro’s comments at CES came on the same day as an announcement by Reddit that they would be blacking out the site for 12 hours on Wednesday, January 18th to show opposition to the SOPA. The popular link sharing site surpassed 2 billion pageviews in the month of December alone.

    [Source: DailyTech; International Business Times]

  • CES 2012: Sony Can Not Stop Making New TVs

    In the beginning was the LCD display, then technology brought forth the LED display. Sony is now introducing the Crystal LED display.

    Sony, never one to leave well enough alone, announced at CES the next-generation of televisions with the crystal LED display. The company is using a 55-inch prototype model to show off the new technology.

    The new display is self-emitting that uses Sony’s method of mounting ultrafine LEDs in each of the RGB colors, equivalent to the number of pixels. There are approximately six-million LEDs in full HD. The light source is mounted directly on the front of the display which will increase light use efficiency and more importantly, a much more vibrant and colorful picture. The display will be able to produce images with higher contrast, wider color gamut, superb video image response time and wider viewing angles when compared to current LCD and plasma displays. The power consumption is also extremely low at under 70W which is pretty amazing considering the technology.

    The new technology is ideal for large screens with 55-inch displays only being the beginning. With any new display technology, smaller screens are the best place to start. The fact that the small start is a 55-inch is extremely promising. I would not be surprised to see this new technology leading the charge to ridiculous heights like a home theater system that’s equatable in size to an actual theater screen. Bigger is always better especially with televisions.

    Sony wants to bring crystal LED displays to professional and consumer use at some point in the future, but we’ll just have to deal with giant 80-inch or tiny 4mm thick televisions for now. I think we can wait.

  • CES 2012: Pandora Owns The Digital Airwaves

    CES 2012: Pandora Owns The Digital Airwaves

    Everybody loves Pandora Radio and 125 million users can’t be wrong.

    Pandora used CES as an excuse to boast their ridiculous number of registered users and new partnerships that further cement them as a major player in the Internet radio business.

    First up, Pandora declared that they have now moved up to more than 125 million registered users. This is most likely due to the fact that Pandora is now deployed on more than 450 consumer electronic devices, up from 200 products the same time last year.

    They announced that the average listener time has increased to 18 hours a month. Considering that more and more people listen to Pandora on their smartphones, that’s a lot of data and money for the mobile providers.

    As a final boast that is sure to make Pandora the envy of Internet radio companies everywhere, they announced that they now own 68% of the market share. At least they did in November according to Triton Digital.

    Pandora is also now in partnerships with 23 automotive companies. Some of those include Acura, Kia and Audiovox, with the last one being an aftermarket company. They also announced a partnership with Dish Network for their new set-top box and DVR.

    Jessica Steel, EVP of business and corporate development for Pandora said, “The car is one of the most popular venues for radio listening and incorporating Pandora into the native environment of automobile dashboards makes listening to personalized internet radio as easy and natural as listening to traditional radio.”

    Do you contribute to Pandora’s 125 million users? Or do you prefer one of the other providers? Sound off in the comments.

  • BOND 50: Fifty Years Of James Bond In One Gold Box; CES 2012

    Speaking at a Directors’ Panel discussion at Panasonic’s CES booth today, the directors of ten James Bond films gathered to announce BOND 50, a massive boxed set containing all 22 movies on Blu-ray. While many of the bond movies have been available on Blu-ray for some time, this represents the first time they have been brought together in one collection. In addition to the 22 movies, the set contains over 130 hours of bonus features.

    The release of the set celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the first James Bond film, 1962’s Dr. No. The set is also meant to provide a convenient way for fans to prepare themselves for the 23rd movie: Skyfall, which has Daniel Craig returning as 007 and releases this fall.

    The official press release gives no information on pricing or availability, though presumably the set will be available well before Skyfall releases in late October.

    Will you be getting this massive box of Bond? Let us know in the comments.

    [Source: Press Release]

  • CES 2012: Razer Has Won The Tablet War

    CES 2012: Razer Has Won The Tablet War

    Tablets can play games, sure, but this tablet can really play games.

    Razer announced during CES Project Fiona, a gaming tablet that is more akin to a gaming PC.

    The device itself looks really weird at first. It’s a tablet with handles on the side featuring dual analog sticks, four face buttons and two shoulder buttons each. It’s designed to play all major current PC games without a hitch.

    The actual innards are the most surprising though as there’s an Intel core i7 crammed into its tiny body. This is what makes the tablet perform like a gaming PC and I believe it. The i7 is the best processor out on the market right now and to see it performing in a tablet is mind-blowing.

    Some of the best news is that it also performs like a gaming PC in that many PC games out on the market today run natively on Project Fiona. There’s no need to port and specifically program games to run on the device.

    “Project Fiona’s combination of high performance Intel-based gaming hardware and innovative tablet design is specifically focused for PC gamers. It will unleash the PC gamer to play their existing and future high-end games in one of the most exciting new form factors – a tablet,” Brad Graff, Director of Partner Marketing, Netbook & Tablet Group, Intel, said.

    With its dual analog stick handles, Project Fiona will run gamepad-enabled PC games right out of the box.

    Along with the controllers, Project Fiona will also sport ultra-precise accelerometers and a multi-touch screen. They claim it will ensure that current-generation PC games can run on the device while also supporting any games optimized for tablets. To top it all off, the controllers on the device deliver full force feedback.

    “While multi-touch screens have become the de facto user interface for tablets, they are not the right interface for serious PC gaming,” Min-Liang Tan, CEO, Razer, said. “The user interface we have designed for Project Fiona allows all existing PC games to be played right out of the box and also provides game developers new opportunities as they develop next-gen games on a highly-intuitive platform. Both developers and gamers are going to love the new user interface that combines the best of a gamepad, multi-touch screen and accelerometers for an all-new gaming experience on-the-go.”

    Now, I know what you’re thinking. This kind of device is far off into the future and will cost a fortune once it is released. You would be right on both counts but only partially. Razer is shooting for a Q4 2012 release with the cost hopefully being below $1,000. While it obviously costs more than any current tablet PC out on the market, Project Fiona isn’t like any tablet PC out on the market.

    As soon as they can be pre-ordered, you can bet I’m going to be in line. Are you? Tell us in the comments.

  • CES 2012: THX Media Director Makes Watching Movies Easier

    THX is showing off a new technology at CES today. THX Media Director is a feature that is already integrated into a variety of home entertainment devices – TVs, Blu-ray players, and more. The purpose of THX Media Director is to optimize your device’s settings based on the content you are consuming. The system bypasses all the complicated settings and menus and turns watching a Blu-ray into a plug-and-play experience where the equipment automatically adjusts itself to produce the best picture and sound quality.

    THX Media Director is integrated into a number of home theater devices, including the Dune HD Max and Dune HD Smart B1 Blu-ray players, the Sharp Elite LED LCD TV, and Indy Audio Labs’ Acurus Act 4 preamplifier. The Dune HD players are currently available, and will have access to THX Media Director via an automatic firmware update.

    THX has also partnered with several major content authoring companies to make the Blu-ray discs they create for the various entertainment companies compatible with THX Movie Director. The statement does not say what, if any, THX Media Director compatible content is already available.

    [Source: THX Blog]

  • CES 2012: Mercedes Debuting New Line Of Smart Cars

    The one thing that was not expected at CES this year was the emergence of the smart car.

    Mercedes-Benz USA is introducing and launching mbrace2 today. The service provides drivers top-of-the-line features related to safety, infotainment, personal assistance and vehicle care.

    The service was developed by Hughes Telematics and was made to work seamlessly inside and outside the vehicle. It features a new control module with two all-new categories of services: Internet and remote access capabilities. It also updates all software via a cloud network so users will always be on top of new technologies being developed for the service. It also includes a remote app for iPhone and Android smartphones. It’s first appearing in the MY13 SL-Class in the spring and will be standard in most MY13 passenger vehicles.

    “The connected services included in mbrace2 will enhance both the driving experience and the ownership experience for Mercedes-Benz customers,” Steve Cannon, president and CEO, MBUSA, said. “Traditionally, in-vehicle technology is finalized more than a year before a vehicle comes to market and is difficult to upgrade. The mbrace2 system solves the vehicle electronics lifecycle conundrum in a unique way, creating a truly networked vehicle that is always online, always upgradeable.”

    To that tune, mbrace2 features 3G network connectivity. The new Internet-based service is called “Mercedes-Benz Apps,” and includes the usual apps like Facebook and Google. It also includes open browsing, stocks, Yelp! and news headlines.

    Facebook in a car sounds dangerous and rightly so. People get into accidents over updating their Facebook while driving. Thankfully, the Facebook app is disabled when the car is in motion preventing text entry according to a Mercedes’ product manager speaking to Reuters.

    The remote access apps allow drivers to check on their vehicle with their phones. The apps include geo-fences, vehicle health diagnostics, curfew minder, driving journal, speed alerts, valet protect and remote horns and lights. This is good news for people who want to know where their car is and what it is doing at the moment. I can see this appealing to those who want to feel like Batman, controlling their car from a distance with a remote device.

    For those worried about the car not being safe with all these apps possibly distracting drivers, the company rests those fears by offering over 60 apps dedicated to safety and security. Now if only there can be an app that cures reckless driving.

  • CES 2012: Google Maps Indoors Of Las Vegas Hotels

    If maps were money then Google would be makin’ it rain this year at CES: Vegas Edition. Let’s recap: first they rolled out the Google Maps function to provide indoor floor plans for assorted airports and shopping centers. Then they customized Maps to display the convention center lay-out for CES ’12 so attendees can more easily locate booths. The combination of both of these was probably enough to help anyone in Las Vegas this week feel semi-competent with directions, but Google’s added one more function to their indoor maps for CES-goers that will make people feel like they’ve grown an extra tongue that can french kiss the future.

    In a blog post this morning, Google announced that they’re including indoor maps of several Las Vegas hotels in order to help tourists in town for CES find their way through Sin City’s enormous hotels (although I’m sure you don’t have to be in town specifically for CES in order to benefit from these maps):

    Today, we’ve expanded the list of places with indoor maps by partnering with MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and others, to provide indoor maps for Caesars Palace, Bellagio, The Venetian, The Palazzo, MGM Grand and many more.

    We hope that these indoor maps will come in handy when finding your way through the slots and to the shops. And for those of you who catch gadget-fever with CES in town, we’ve also partnered with a number of Best Buy stores in the Las Vegas area.


    (Click here for a larger view of the image.)

    Check out the maps in action in the video that Google provided to accompany the blog post:

    So that’s that. Other than deploying Google babysitter drones that will cradle you in their huge metallic nanny arms and literally carry you from place to place, you really have no excuse to get lost this week while you’re in Vegas. Not now, not ever again. One question remains unanswered in Google’s blog post, though: since they’re trying to make the cultural experience of Las Vegas as agreeable and navigable as possible for tourists this week, when do we get to see an indoor map of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch up by Carson City. C’mon, Google – if there’s one place a person doesn’t wanna get lost in, it might be there.

    Well. Maybe.

  • CES 2012: Victorinox Unveils 1 TB Swiss Army Knife

    Victorninox has been including USB thumb drives in certain models of their famed Swiss Army knives for several years now. At this year’s CES, though, they’ve really raised the bar. All the way to 1 terabyte. Today at CES they’ve unveiled two new devices that pack a staggering amount of storage space into an amazingly tiny package.

    The two products, the Victorinox SSD and Victorinox Slim 3.0, offer a range of features and come in a variety of sizes. The Slim 3.0 comes in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB models and includes a basic assortment of tools – blade, scissors, and nail file/screwdriver. The Victorinox SSD, pictured above, is the world’s smallest solid state drive. It comes in 64GB, 128GB, 256 GB, and 1TB models. It includes a connector that is compatible with USB 3.0 and eSATA 2/3. The drive also sports a bi-stable (i.e., e-ink) display that allows users to label the drive’s contents. The SSD also includes two bodies. One includes the standard Victorinox knife implements, and the other is a flight-friendly shell.

    Victorinox’s press release does not include any information on pricing or availability, but CNet is reporting that the SSD will start at $470 and go up to $2000, and will be available in April.

    [Source: Victorinox Press Release]

  • CES 2012: Sensics SmartGoggles Take 3D To A Whole New Level

    CES 2012: Sensics SmartGoggles Take 3D To A Whole New Level

    Today at CES Sensics unveiled their new Natalia SmartGoggles. These remarkable goggles offer users a fully immersive 3D gaming experience. They sport dual OLED displays, a sensors to detect head position and acceleration, and first-person tracking of the wearer’s hand position. The fun doesn’t stop there: the goggles run Android 4.0 and have a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor. The hand motion tracking allows users to interact with menus and control game actions – including using weapons and interacting with the environment. Wi-fi and bluetooth connectivity allows users to use the goggles with their phones or computers, and to download content to the internet.

    Sensics has opened the SmartGoggles up as a development platform for developers. They foresee a wide variety of applications for the technology, including gaming, academic, and defense implementations.

    There is no information yet on pricing, though Sensics is predicting that the goggles will be available later on this year. They have the goggles available at CES for demonstrations, and have posted a video on YouTube. Check out the video below, and let us know what you think in the comments.

    [Source: Sensics Press Release]

  • Sony Keeps Video Recorders Relevant At CES

    Sony wants to everybody to get a little bloggie with their new camera.

    Sony at CES announced the new Wi-Fi enabled Bloggie Live HD Camera. The device is significant because it is integrated with Skype’s Qik Video service.

    The Bloggie Live camera is a fully featured video recorder that features 8GB of internal storage, full 1080p HD video, 12.8 megapixel still shots, 3-inch touchscreen, records in MP4 format and its Wi-Fi enabled as its full name suggests.

    The real kicker with this device is not so much that it’s a video recorder because there are already plenty of devices, including your smartphones, that do that. The device can upload through it’s Wi-Fi connection all the videos the user takes to Facebook, YouTube and PlayMemories Online.

    The device can also broadcast live which is a major plus as live streaming on phones is still somewhat iffy. It also allows people with compatible devices to comment on the live stream as it’s being recorded with their comments popping up on the Bloggie Live’s screen.

    The device was revealed to be fully compatible with Qik Video service on Skype’s blog. This allows the Bloggie Live to do all of its live streaming magic. It also features Qik’s full suite of video sharing features.

    With phones becoming more and more advanced, it’s going to be harder for devices like the Bloggie Live to stand out. A lot of what it can do can already be done by smartphones. Heck, Qik was made for smartphones.

    It’s still a nice device since there’s gonna be a market for dedicated mini-recorders for a few more years at least. The move towards Wi-Fi enabled video recorders will definitely extend their life as there are still consumers who prefer devices that are dedicated to a singular function unlike smartphones that are a jack of all trades and master of none.

    The Bloggie Live HD Camera will be available on January 11.

  • Sony Announces Xperia Ion at CES

    Sony Announces Xperia Ion at CES

    The amazing phones keep rolling in and Sony is ready to tempt you away.

    Sony announced during CES their first LTE smartphone, the Xperia ion. The phone is significant for more than just its specs. It’s the first phone from Sony to drop the Sony-Ericsson label in favor of just Sony.

    The Xperia ion features a 4.6-inch HD display at a 1280 x 720 resolution that is sure to provide brilliant video. While it’s not as crazy as the HTC Titan II, the Xperia ion has a camera that more than makes for up its smaller size at a not-too-shabby 12 megapixels by featuring Sony’s new Fast Capture technology that has the phone going from standby to shoot mode in 1.5 seconds. Both the front and rear cameras provide HD recording capabilities as well.

    “With Xperia ion, we’re bringing together several firsts that will take users beyond the smartphone,” Paul Hamnett, President, Sony Ericsson North America said. “Designed to deliver a seamless experience across the multiple screens we use to play, watch, listen, and share, Xperia ion is the gateway to entertainment when and – most importantly – where you want it.”

    Xperia ion will also boast its access to the massive Sony Entertainment Network. Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited provide tons of choices for consumers. The device is also PlayStation certified so it will offer some of the best gaming experiences that a smartphone can deliver.

    The phone’s innards feature a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 16GB internal flash storage and runs on Android 2.3.

    The most interesting feature is the devices’s ability to display on a variety of screens using DLNA, HDMI or Sony’s own Bravia sync service. This means that users will be able to transfer the display and information from their phones onto their TV, tablet, laptop or other smartphones.

    CES 2012 is already proving to be the year that every manufacturer tries to bring something new to the smartphone arena that is actually worthwhile. Sony has made one of the best cases so far for their new device. The ability to transfer a phone’s display to a TV or any other device for that matter might end up being a major game changer for smartphones, but we have yet to see.

    Expect to see the Xperia ion from AT&T in the second quarter.

  • CES 2012: Panasonic And MySpace Team Up For MySpace TV

    Panasonic announced during its CES press conference yesterday that it will be teaming up with MySpace to bring a social media dimension to TV. The service, MySpace TV, will be part of the VIERA Connect platform on Panasonic’s HDTVs.

    Since MySpace has focused its attention on the music world in recent years, MySpace TV’s initial content will be center heavily on music. As the service expands, movies and TV programming – including news, sports, and more – will be included. MySpace TV is intended to work both with broadcast content and on-demand streaming content. Users will be able to invite friends to view with them and to chat about what they’re watching. There will also be MySpace TV apps for smartphone and tablet platforms.

    MySpace TV is currently in laptop-based invitation-only closed beta, but is expected to launch in the first half of 2012. It will be available to owners of Panasonic TVs equipped with the VIERA Connect system. People who want into the beta can request an invite from MySpace.

    [Source: Panasonic Press Release]

  • CES 2012 Already Has A Best In Show Contender

    During CES, Chaotic Moon Labs announced their “Board of Awesomeness,” which may be the best product name of the show.

    While CES is always a joy to cover, the massive influx of everybody announcing new phones or TVs sometimes gets to the best of us. That’s why it’s a joy when somebody like Chaotic Moons Labs comes through for us with crazy new inventions like this that blows our minds.

    The team took a motorized longboard and rigged it up with a Samsung Windows 8 tablet, a Kinect for Xbox 360, a phidget interface module and all terrain tires. This created the “Board of Awesomeness” that is gracing us with its presence at CES this year.

    The board uses various technologies such as video and speech recognition, location and accelerometer data and other factors to follow the rider’s commands without any other aid. It can also reach speeds of up to 32 mph. The future of the school commute is here, folks. Move over, Segway, the police should be using Boards of Awesomeness now.

    The Windows 8 tablet allows the user to turn the board on or off, control speed settings and visually monitor their gestures. The only movement required by the user is to raise their hands to start the motor, then push their hands forward to accelerate and pull back to decelerate.

    I’m already willing to call this my tech of the show. It’s silly and will probably never enter into consumer use, but it put a smile on my face. That’s worth more than all the cameras parading as smartphones in the world.

    For video and pictures of the amazing “Board of Awesomeness,” check out Chaotic Moon Labs page for it.

  • CES 2012: iPad 3 Spotted In The Wild

    As the probable launch date for the iPad 3 nears, rumors have been heating up as to what the device will look like and what new features it will have. Of course, not all reports are reliable, but some are more trustworthy than others. Well, today there’s one that’s sure to make things interesting. It seems that an iPad 3 has been spotted in the wild at CES.

    Jeremy Horwitz, editor-in-chief at iLounge recently tweeted some interesting details about the iPad 3. Apparently while at CES yesterday he got the chance to see one close up. What he has to say might surprise you. It turns out that the iPad 3 – the version of it that he saw, at least – isn’t really that much different from the iPad 2. From a distance, in fact, you would never tell them apart. He compared the iPad 2 and 3 to the iPhone 4 and 4S – physically almost identical. He did, however, spot a few things that suggest some of the iPad 3’s new features. The camera on the iPad 3 is bigger than on the iPad 2, about the size of the camera on the iPhone 4S, in fact. Despite rumors that the iPad 3 would have a slightly smaller screen, it apparently looks the same as the iPad 2. Though he did not see it in action, he apparently expects the iPad 3 to have a retina display, as well. Interestingly, the iPad 3 is almost indistinguishable from the iPad 2 in size. While there have been reports that it would be thicker, the difference is apparently only about a millimeter. Which means that most users won’t even notice.

    Finally, Horwitz cautions that the model he saw is not fresh from the factory floor. He estimates its age at six months. That is not surprising given the kind of preproduction that goes into a new device, but it also means that Apple has had some time to tweak the device, so the iPad 3 that Apple releases may not be exactly like the one that he saw. He adds, however, that he saw an iPad 2 at CES last year, and the differences between the prototype and the release model were slight.

    So, assuming that the iPad Horwitz saw at CES is an iPad 3, it looks like Apple focused on under-the-hood changes this time around. Such changes likely include a retina display, faster processor, better camera, and Siri.

    [Source: iLounge]