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Tag: CES 2012

  • Nest Learning Thermostat Brings The Cool At CES 2012

    Amid the barrage of technological wonders sure to stream out of CES this week, one device that deserves your attention (especially if winter ever belatedly arrives) is the Nest Learning Thermostat, the thermostat that learns from your dwelling habits.

    In spite of my yearning to make Hal 9000 jokes about a thermostat that learns from people’s habits and then takes the wheel to control temperatures, that’s as close as I’m going to get; it’s too brilliant of a device to defile with my half-baked humor. The Nest Thermostat is a welcome innovation that finally brings the antiquated science of home energy use within pace of today’s technology. “It was unacceptable to me that the device that controls 10 percent of all energy consumed in the U.S. hadn’t kept up with advancements in technology and design,” said Tony Fadell, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nest Labs. “Together with the team, Co-Founder Matt Rogers and I set out to reinvent the thermostat using advanced technologies, high-quality manufacturing processes and the thoughtful design elements the iPhone generation has come to expect. The resulting Nest Learning Thermostat is like no other thermostat on the market. We hope it will not only save money and energy, but that it will teach and inspire people to think more about how they can reduce home- energy consumption.”

    Once you’ve replaced the thermostat in your home with a Nest Learning Thermostat – and these guys are insistent that their goal is replacement of your outdated climate technology – Nest automatically learns from your personal schedule within the first week of use. After it’s figured out your patterns of heating and cooling at home, Nest will begin controlling the temperature based on when you’re around and when you’re away in order to conserve energy (and, more immediately, money you spend on controlling your energy costs). The people at Nest Labs provided the following video to show you how it works:

    Whenever the seasons change, Nest can re-learn your habits for the seasonal adjustment in order to make sure you stay cozy all year long. What’s more, Nest can connect to your home’s WiFi network so that you can control the temperature of your home from your smartphone, tablet, or computer. Wanna make sure the house is pre-emptively warm by the time you arrive home from a frigid day at the salt mines? Just log on using the Nest Thermostat app and set the temperature via your mobile device. The apps necessary to control Nest from your mobile devices are currently available in both iTunes and Android Marketplace.

    Ahead of this week’s CES extravaganza, Nest Learning Thermostat already earned CES’s Best of Innovations Award in Eco-Design and Sustainable Technology last year shortly after the device debuted. Following that celebrated award, don’t be surprised if you hear many more a splendid thing about Nest Labs and their intelligent technology to help control energy consumption and costs.

  • Acer announces world’s thinnest Ultrabook at CES

    Acer announces world’s thinnest Ultrabook at CES

    Ultrabooks are the new norm for consumers looking for powerful yet sleek laptops and Acer just upped the game.

    Acer unveiled the world’s thinnest Ultrabook at CES with the Aspire S5. The device measures only 15 mm at its largest point. It weighs less than 3 lbs. and has a 13.3-inch LCD.

    The computer features “Acer Green Instant On” for fast boot up times. The service provides instant-resume functionality which essentially means that the Aspire S5 will go from sleep mode to awake in 1.5 seconds. It will also ensure that the battery life will last several weeks which is a life-saver for any laptop user who has found their battery dead after only a few days in sleep mode.

    It also features “Acer Always Connect” which is part of Acer’s new AcerCloud service. This allows users to connect their Ultrabook to any smart device for easy retrieval of all documents and media stored on the Aspire S5. The other advantage of the service keeps users constantly connected with their favorite social services by keeping Facebook, Twitter and Outlook email services open during sleep mode. This allows the user to see all updates instantly upon resuming their work.

    The Aspire S5 keeps up the slim form factor of Ultrabooks with a black chassis that is built to look good while being sturdy enough to protect the computer.

    The S5 is Acer’s first ultrabook to feature what they dub the MagicFlip I/O port panel which is located just beneath the hinge. It allows access to a variety of I/O ports including HDMI, USB 3.0 and 20 Gbps Thunderbolt.

    The innards of the Aspire S5 are nothing to scoff at with an Intel Core processor, SSD storage, Dolby-home theater v4 and a battery life that lasts 3 times longer than traditional batteries.

    The Acer Aspire S5 will start shipping in Q2 2012.

    Acer is looking to compete more aggressively with Apple’s popular Macbook Air line, so it will be interesting to see how Apple reacts to this. 2012 is looking to be the year of the Ultrabook so expect to see more announcements during CES.

  • SolarKindle: Solar-Powered Kindle Cover, CES 2012

    When the first iPad debuted in 2010 it caught the fledgling e-reader market off guard. The iPad was a device that allowed users to do everything they could do on their Kindles or NOOKs, and a whole lot more. As Amazon suddenly found itself playing catch-up, one of the selling points they hit hardest when advertising the Kindle was the fact that the e-ink display was easier to read in bright sunlight (which, to be fair, is absolutely true).

    Now, SolarFocus wants to bring a whole new dimension to Amazon’s argument. The new SolarKindle, just unveiled at CES in Las Vegas, is the first solar powered e-reader cover. Designed for the Amazon Kindle, the folio-style cover sports a large solar panel, a high-powered (up to 800 lux) LED reading light, and a reserve battery. Able to function in a variety of lighting conditions, the solar panel charges both the Kindle and the cover’s built-in reserve battery. The reserve battery charges the Kindle when necessary, as well as the LED reading light. The cover also includes an external port that matches the one on the bottom of the Kindle, allowing users to charge both the Kindle and the reserve battery via USB, if they want or need to. The reserve battery requires 8 hours of sunlight to charge fully, but once charged nearly doubles the battery of the Kindle.

    SolarKindleSpecs

    The SolarKindle is available for preorder on SolarFocus’s website. It costs $79.99 and will be available on January 14th. Also, the SolarKindle earned SolarFocus recognition as a 2012 Design and Engineering Award Honoree at the Consumer Electronics Show, which is going on now.

    [Source: SolarFocus Press Release]

  • CES 2012: Acer Announces New Cloud Storage Service

    Cloud storage is everywhere, and one of the biggest PC manufacturers just threw their name in the ring.

    Acer announced at CES the AcerCloud service which will connect personal smart devices and PCs across their network.

    The service’s main feature is their Always Connect service which allows users to retrieve media and data files anytime even when their main PC is in sleep mode. As long as the PC remains in sleep mode, smart devices with AcerCloud can wake up the PC through Wi-Fi to access all data that is on the user’s PC. AcerCloud will use a combination of local and cloud storage to give user’s access to all the data they need.

    Acer is stressing that users can create, acquire and consume on different devices. They use the example of being able to take photos on a smartphone, then view them on a PC later without having to transfer any data. All of it is already stored on AcerCloud for easy access across all supporting devices.

    They announced PicStream which allows users to seamlessly back up all their photos on their PC while sharing them with other smart devices. Photos are backed up permanently on a PC while all photos are accessible for 30 days on the cloud servers.

    In a move to compete with the convenience of Google Docs, Acer announced AcerCloud Docs which will allow users to update documents on their PC, upload them to the cloud and then stream them to a multitude of devices for meetings. Once again, the files will be permanently stored on a PC, and accessible on their cloud servers for up to 30 days.

    The final new software that will accommodate the new AcerCloud service is the clear.fl Media application. This allows users to access any of their multimedia off the cloud for streaming or to download for offline viewing.

    AcerCloud will be bundled with all Acer consumer PCs free of charge starting Q2 2012. It will also support all Android devices, while future support is planned for Windows-based phones. The service will be available in America, Europe, Asia and China.

    This move further solidifies cloud storage as the future. As more people move towards mobile computing, whether it be on phones or tablets, they will need more space to store all their data. It’s not much of a surprise to see Acer jump in the ring, but it will be interesting to see if any other major PC manufacturers jump in the cloud storage business during CES.

  • CES 2012: Toshiba Excite X10, The Thinnest Tablet Ever

    The Consumer Electronics Show is upon us, and the world’s top tech companies are unveiling their newest and best products. One of the early entries is Toshiba’s new Excite X10 tablet. The tablet is set to go on sale in the first quarter of this year, and will come in 16 GB and 32 GB models, which will sell for $529.99 and $599.99, respectively.

    The Android-based tablet has a 10.1 display (.4 inches bigger than an iPad), and is a mere 7.7 millimeters thick (compared to the 8.8 mm of the iPad 2). In addition to the amazing thinness the device, it packs in a staggering array of ports, including a Micro USB port, an SD card slot, and a Micro HDMI port, as well as a dock connector like that on the iPad. It also boasts a 2 megapixel front camera, 5 megapixel rear camera, a full gigabyte of RAM, and a 1.2 GHz processor.

    Though Toshiba has not been much of a player in the tablet market yet, this has the look of a very nice device. We’ll keep you informed of release date as soon as Toshiba announces it.

    Excite X10

    [Source: Business Insider]

  • Gorilla Glass 2 Coming To A TV New You

    Corning has announced that they will be unveiling the next generation of their famed Gorilla Glass at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which takes place at the end of January. The company announced that they would have a booth showcasing Gorilla Glass 2 at the Las Vegas conference.

    Gorilla Glass is specially formulated to be extremely strong and durable, resisting damage ranging from scrapes, scratches, and bumps to drops. It is currently used in a wide variety of devices including smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and even some TVs. One of its more famous implementations is in Apple’s iPhone. Both the front and rear faces of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S are made with Gorilla Glass.

    Though Corning’s announcement is light on details about how Gorilla Glass 2 differs from its predecessor, the statement does say that the company has started to focus on far more large-scale implementations of the glass. Examples cited in Corning’s press release include interior automobile surfaces, kitchen appliances, and an 82-inch multitouch LCD display that will serve as the centerpiece of Corning’s CES booth.

    There is no information in the press release about when Gorilla Glass 2 will start making its way into consumer products, but given the timing, we should perhaps not be surprised to find it making its way into the next generation of Apple’s iOS devices – the iPhone 6 at least, if not the iPad 3.

    [Source: Corning Press Release]

  • Following Apple’s Lead, Microsoft Abandons CES

    For well over a decade Microsoft has been a major fixture at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, which takes place every January. Microsoft has been involved with the show and its parent organization, the Consumer Electronics Association, for twenty years. The company announced this morning, however, that CES 2012, which begins on January 9th, will be Microsoft’s last. After 2012 the company will no longer give a keynote address or have a booth at CES.

    CES has long been an opportunity for Microsoft to unveil new products. Their keynote and booth have offered conference attendees the chance to see what Microsoft had in the works, and provided the company a ready-made platform to make its biggest announcements. In today’s press release, Microsoft cited the changing landscape of the industry and the corresponding changes in the way companies communicate with customers as the reason for their decision. In effect, Microsoft no longer needs CES to launch its products.

    In pulling out of the trade show at which it has been a major fixture for so long, Microsoft follows the lead of Apple, which stopped attending the Macworld Conference and Expo in 2009. Apple had historically used Macworld to make some of its biggest announcements. Apple cited some of the same reasons as Microsoft in its decision. In effect, it became easier and more beneficial to make announcements on their own schedule, rather than put forth the effort and expense of going to the conference.

    The departure of Microsoft is not likely to hurt CES all that much, however. Though the company has been a major part of the show for many years, it is not central to it, the way Apple was with Macworld (which survived quite well without Apple, as it turned out). CES has been around in one form or another since 1967, and has become a major industry conference. Microsoft’s absence is not likely to be much of a detriment.