Archive | January, 2011
Oh Yes, Microvision Stuffed a Laser Projector Into an Android Handset
For some reason, I have a silly infatuation with projector phones, even though no phone makers have attempted to put one into a modern smartphone handset.
At a pre-CES event Wednesday, pico projector maker Microvision was hoping to plant the idea in manufacturers’ heads. They’ve cobbled together a prototype Android “tablet” — a phone, really, minus the phone guts — with a laser projector. The device is unlikely to be released as it appeared at the show, but it served its purpose of throwing videos and photos onto a wall in a well-lit room.
The projector phone is a bit chunky, measuring 0.67 inches thick, and when I picked it up, it was warm to the touch. When the projector is running, the device lasts for about two hours.
Bulk and power consumption aside, Microvision’s biggest hurdle is price. The company won’t say how much it expects to charge manufacturers for its embedded projectors, but Microvision’s standalone ShowWX projector costs $400 at retail. My guess is that we’re still a couple years away from seeing laser projection as a feature in any widely-available smartphones. I wonder if Android will still be the reference device du jour then.
The Mac App Store is Live
6. January 2011
Apple’s Mac App Store has launched. (You’ll need to download OS X 10.6.6 to get it.) I wrote about it for Techland and will be back with more thoughts once I’ve had a chance to use it a bit. (First impression: “Wow, this really is virtually identical to the iOS App Store experience.”)
Zynga Buys Flock
6. January 2011
Flock, the “social browser” that was my favorite browser, period, for a time has been acquired by social gaming giant Zynga. Flock CEO Shawn Hardin’s post about the news has me worried–it doesn’t make clear what’s going to happen to the browser. That’s a bad sign in itself–if Zynga was going to continue work on it, wouldn’t he say so?–and his references to the Flock team working on social gaming and his use of the past tense when discussing Flock’s user base lead me to assume the worst.
CES 2011: Samsung Previews Slider Tablet, Air-like Ultraportable
6. January 2011
Comments Off
Samsung's TX100 Slider PC
With so many mobile PCs hitting the market, hardware makers are doing all they can to differentiate their products, a trend particularly evident right now among tablets vying to unseat Apple’s iPad. Samsung is differentiating to the hilt with two Windows 7 mobile PCs unveiled on the eve of CES: a new “slider” tablet PC, and a slimline ultraportable notebook.
Samsung previewed both the TX100 — also referred to as the Slider PC 7–and the Notebook PC 9 at a news conference during CES Press Day on Wednesday in Las Vegas, amid a flurry of Samsung TV announcements.
Microsoft’s Touch Mouse An Idea Two Years Late
5. January 2011
Microsoft is certainly promoting its new gesture-enabled mouse with great fanfare, saying it’s the result of two years of research and prototyping. But I honestl can’t tell what separates it– or makes it better–than Apple’s Magic Mouse, released in 2009.
As Seattlepi.com reporter Nick Eaton said earlier today, it seems to be a common theme with Microsoft’s presence at CES this year: a lot of nothing new.
Redmond has apparently been working in its Research labs since 2008 on touch-enabled navigation devices, something Apple has offered to consumers for about as long. The mouse is the combination of work from two divisions within the company.
Apple’s Mac App Store Debuts Thursday
5. January 2011
With all the hubbub surrounding CES and everything non-Apple, chances are you may have forgot that Thursday will be a big day for Apple itself. As it had previously confirmed, the Mac App Store will launch — although we’re not exactly sure when.
Jim Dalrymple at The Loop claims that sources are telling him the service would become available at noon ET, and it will follow a similar structure to Apple’s successful App Store for its iOS products. The goal is simple: users will have a simple one-stop shop to purchase both free and fee-based applications.
No doubt many folks will scoff at Apple’s attempt to once again exert its control over the experience of its customers, but it will have benefits. For example, smaller developers would be able to benefit from the widespread exposure Apple would be able to give their application, while at the same time not having to worry about the expenses of delivering the product to the consumer.
Last Gadget Standing: It’s Time to Vote
5. January 2011
A two-screened laptop. A color e-reader. A camera that does 3D. A scanner to go. A state-of-the-art Android phone. A next-generation integrated chip. A camcorder you wear. A watch with GPS. Blocks with brains of their own. And earphones that customize themselves for your particular ears.
Ten innovative products with nothing in common except one thing: They’re our Last Gadget Standing finalists. And now it’s time to figure out which one will be, indeed, the Last Gadget Standing.
If you’re in Las Vegas for CES, please come to our live event at 10:30am on Saturday, where you can see live demos of all ten products and vote for your favorite. That event will determine the Last Gadget Standing. But if you’re not in Vegas…vote anyway! This online poll that will determine the winner of our People’s Choice award.
CES 2011: Steve Ballmer’s Keynote
5. January 2011
Comments Off
I’m in the audience here at the Las Vegas Hilton for Steve Ballmer’s CES 2011 keynote. Come join me, and I’ll tell you the news as it happens. [UPDATE: It's over! No huge surprises.]
Last Gadget Standing Finalist #10: A Hybrid Watch for Runners
5. January 2011
What do you get when you combining Nike’s “just do it” athleticism with the GPS expertise of TomTom? You get a running watch–and our tenth and final Last Gadget Standing finalist.
The Nike+ SportWatch GPS powered by TomTom is a hybrid gadget that combines both GPS technology and an accelerometer, located in the Nike+ shoe sensor. Runners can upload their data to the well-regarded Nikeplus.com website, where they can track their favorite routes, set goals, receive coaching, and challenge their friends.
Key features include the GPS tracking with the shoe sensor –great for runners off trail. The tap interface activates the backlight to mark laps during a run. And the watch has a USB connector molded into the watch strap, so you can plug it directly into a computer, no cable required. At Last Gadget Standing we’ll find out if it tells time, too.
The SportWatch GPS should hit stores in April; the price hasn’t been announced yet.
CES 2011: More Internet Video to Flow to TVs, PCs and Smartphones
5. January 2011
Comments Off
Wednesday is Press Day here at CES, a day when major consumer electronics players like LG, Netgear and Intel traditionally make big announcements in advance of the full show that starts tomorrow. If there’s an underlying message here in Las Vegas so far, it’s that companies are getting the word that consumers want to view more content–whether Hollywood- or user-generated–from and over the Internet, on devices ranging from TVs to PCs and smartphones.
In delivering a roadmap of LG’s TV plans for 2011 today, Tim Alessi, LG’s director of new product development for home electronics, listed “more content to watch” – together with connectivity to home networks and easier-to-use 3D TV – as the three key linchpins for the year ahead.
CES 2011: Yup, Microsoft is Bringing Windows to ARM Chips
5. January 2011
Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote isn’t until 6:30pm PT tonight–I’ll be liveblogging it–but Microsoft already made news today at an afternoon press event by confirming the Wall Street Journal’s report that it’s working on a version of Windows that will run on the ARM chips widely used in phones, tablets, set-top boxes and other computing devices that aren’t PCs, as well as competitive x86 system-on-a-chip designs from Intel and AMD. Windows honcho Steven Sinofksy did some demos of Windows (and Office, and IE) running on test boards powered by these processors, and said that the system requirements of phones and the system requirements of PCs are starting to converge, and that his demos were of “the next generation of Windows,” which he refused to call Windows 8. He also showed a new version of Microsoft’s Surface table build by Samsung and based on all-new technology.
And that’s about all he did–he cheerfully announced that he wasn’t talking about the user interface of the new Windows or when it might ship. More thoughts later…
Checking in on Lenovo’s IdeaPad U1 Hybrid Tablet
5. January 2011
Of all the CES 2010 tablets that turned to vapor, Lenovo’s IdeaPad U1 Hybrid was my favorite. So I was delighted to see the dual-processor, dual-OS tablet-laptop back at CES 2011 on Tuesday, in the same pre-show event at which it debuted last year.
Lenovo likes to say that the U1 has “two brains.” Underneath the keyboard, there’s an Intel ultra-low voltage processor powering Windows 7. The screen is actually a removable 10-inch tablet (known as the “LePad” on its own) with an ARM-based Snapdragon processor that switches to a customized version of Android when removed from the base. While the tablet is removed, you can still use Windows by plugging the base into an external monitor.
Xpand’s New 3D Glasses: Universal and Tweakable
5. January 2011
Comments Off
Most of the glasses people use to watch 3D are one-size-fits-all models–and I’m not just talking about the size of the frames. They work the same way for everybody, and behave the same way no matter what sort of content you’re watching. It’s a little as if everybody who wore standard eyeglasses had to wear the same prescription.
Here at CES, 3D technology company Xpand is trying to change that, with a series of 3D eyewear it’s calling Youniversal. Like earlier Xpand models, the new ones are designed to be universal–you can adjust them to work with any TV that uses active-shutter 3D. But they’re also available in multiple sizes, and work with an app available for iPhone and Android that lets you tweak their performance for factors such as whether you’re also wearing prescription glasses, the lighting environment, and whether you’re aiming for a subtle 3D effect or want stuff to fly off the screen and smack you in the face.
I haven’t tried these new goggles yet, so I can’t vouch for whether they do indeed enhance 3D–but given that I’m virtually never happy with the experience I get from off-the-shelf 3D glasses, I’m intrigued with the idea. Xpand says they’ll be available in April, and that it hasn’t set pricing yet–but these are in addition to its current $129 model, and will offer better 3D at a higher pricetag.
Engadget on the Vizio Phone
5. January 2011
Comments Off
I’m not a huge fan of any of the third-party skins that phone companies slap on top of Android, such as HTC’s Sense and Samsung’s TouchWiz–they usually make things different rather than better. But Engadget’s Josh Topolsky is surprisingly enthusiastic about the modified version of Android on the first phone from cheap-TV kingpin Vizio–he says it’s in a league with Apple’s iOS and HP/Palm’s WebOS, which is the highest imaginable priase.
Amazon Preps an Android App Store
5. January 2011
Comments Off
The Android Market is one of the Android platform’s weak spots–it has an “Android Flea Market” kind of feel to it–and Google hasn’t moved quickly to improve it. What if someone else stepped in and launched a slicker, more Apple-esque Android app store? We’ll apparently find out, courtesy of Amazon.
Vudu Does 3D
5. January 2011
Comments Off
More 3D news from CES: Vudu, the streaming service that focuses on high-quality movies and is available on a bunch of HDTVs and Blu-Rays as well as the PlayStation 3, is adding 3D films next week. (You’ll need a 3D-capable HDTV and the appropriate glasses to watch the service’s 3D streams, which will cost a bit more than the flat versions.)
Like 3D Blu-Ray, Vudu has to deal with Hollywood’s exceedingly cautious rollout of 3D in a form folks can consume at home: It’s starting things off with a deal with Disney, but it’s only got three movies so far, and they’re all from the studio’s animated-feature backlist: Bolt, Chicken Little, and Meet the Robinsons. But the company says that eventually, anything that’s available in 3D anywhere should be available in 3D on Vudu.
[Full disclosure: My wife works for Vudu's PR agency.]
 |
6. January 2011
5 Comments