Last Wednesday at his CES keynote, Steve Ballmer showed off three examples of what he called “Slate PCs,” from Pegatron, Archos, and HP. He said they were “perfect–perfect–for reading, for surfing the Web, and for taking entertainment on the go.”
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Job Postings Suggest Twitter Looking to Generate Revenue
Twitter has long been derided by those interested in the financial side of tech as a money pit. The service really does not have a way to make money, although it was able to pull a profit this year thanks to content syndication deals with both Microsoft and Google. Thus several job listings on its website seem interesting considering the ever so common criticism.
Of the roughly two dozen listings, four include the word “monetization.” Those jobs would involve working on projects — seemingly as yet unreleased — which would give Twitter its much needed revenue stream.
Analysts told Reuters last week that its fairly likely that making money is a priority for the service in 2010. One analyst suggested that in order for Twitter to be successful in the long term, it has to start generating revenue in the short term.
Makes sense: you just can’t keep on losing money forever.
I am curious to see what Twitter does. We have seen that the company is open to some type of premium services, ones that would likely be sold to businesses. The commercial sector has increasingly turned to Twitter to supplement its customer service options, and going after these folks first seems like the most logical choice.
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Electronic Guitars Battle for Music Game Supremacy
You know how musicians like to moan about how music games don’t inspire people to play real instruments? I wonder how they’d feel about Inspired Instruments’ You Rock guitar and Gambridge’s Z-1 Hybrid guitar.
Both axes, on display at CES’s gaming showcase, are MIDI guitars that also work as controllers in Guitar Hero and Rock Band. They’ve got actual, strummable strings for your picking hand and plastic frets that respond to the touch. Along several frets, there are also color-coded bars, marking them as buttons for music gaming.
I’m a guitarist and a gamer, so I couldn’t wait to give You Rock’s capable hired musician a rest and to try both guitars on my own. One thing’s for sure: Playing Guitar Hero on these instruments was considerably more fun than using the actual game’s paddle-and-buttons guitar controller. Being able to jam on strings brings the experience closer to real life (but still pretty far off, of course).
Playing the guitar wasn’t half-bad either. You definitely lose some important abilities, like bending strings and full control over muting, and it takes a little getting used to, but I was able to kick out some blues without too many problems. I actually preferred Gambridge’s guitar as a musical instrument, as it felt more responsive to muting and sliding, and its frets have a little give, making them feel more like real strings. But it’s heavier and its design isn’t as sleek.
It’s probably a good thing that there are two companies pursuing this, because it increases the chances that the product will get to market. The $179 You Rock guitar is available for pre-order online with ship date unknown (you’ll also need a $25 Bluetooth dongle for your game console of choice, available in Q1 for Playstation 3 and Wii and Q2 for Xbox 360), and the company is hoping to land retail deals at CES. Gambridge is shooting for a September launch with the $199 Z-1, whose prototype works with the Playstation 3 only (Gambridge eventually wants to support all consoles) via wired USB.
Would I buy one? Maybe, as the ability to use these guitars as instruments in Garage Band sweetens the deal if you’re an actual musician, but if I was looking to teach a Guitar Hero enthusiast how to play, I’d probably opt for a cheap starter electric guitar instead.
Update: I’ve clarified that the You Rock guitar can mute and slide strings, but it felt a little more natural on the Z-1 in my brief time with both.
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USB Drives in Disguise
I’m usually immune to the charms of novelty USB drives, but I really like these Transformers ones being shown at CES–the result of an entertaining partnership between Toshiba and Hasbro…
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Oh the Indignity
The more you love Polaroid, the sadder it is to see its name slapped on products like this.
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Wi-Fi that Goes the Distance
When I use my laptop in a hotel, I’m used to it finding dozens of Wi-Fi networks belonging to random strangers. When I turned on my trusty Asus X5 this morning at Harrah’s on the Las Vegas Strip, it pulled up a network belong to a friend: Xavier Lanier of Noteboks.com. I was amused. And then I was startled–Xavier told me that he wasn’t staying at Harrah’s at all, but in the next-door-but-still-far-away Venetian. His Apple Airport Express just has remarkable range. More details here.
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3D TV for the Rest of Us? Maybe Next Year
When Las Vegas cab drivers start asking you about the 3D TVs at CES, you know 3D is a big deal. The question is, how soon will it become a real deal for most of us?
There’s no question that 3D content is coming. Last month, the Blu-ray Disc Association announced the specs for 3D content on Blu-ray; ESPN plans to broadcast 85 events this year over a new 3D channel; Panasonic and DirecTV announced 3D delivery plans, as did Sony in conjunction with the Discovery Channel and IMAX. Everyone is buoyed by the phenomenal success of Jim Cameron’s 3D blockbuster, Avatar, which is introducing many to the artistic possibilities of today’s sophisticated technology. “This is not your father’s 3D” was a mantra for attendees at a CES panel called 3D: Hope or Hype?
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ioSafe’s Solo SSD Survives One Disaster After Another
The most spectacular demo I’ve attended at CES this year–or, maybe, any year–didn’t involve 3D glasses or showgirls or a guest celeb such as Lady Gaga (who showed up at both the Monster Cable and Polaroid booths on Thursday). Actually, it was held in the chilly early evening at the parking lot of a sports bar off the strip, by ioSafe, a maker of rugged disk drives designed to protect essential data from fire, floods, and other disasters.
The product being demoed: The company’s new Solo SSD, its first drive incorporating a solid-state disk rather than a traditional rotating one. To show how disaster-proof it is, ioSafe subjected it to an extended physical assault that might have freaked out even David Blaine.
After the jump, the demo in photos. Warning: It isn’t pretty….
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iType. In One App
Okay, I should have known that it isn’t really possible at this point to build a practical external keyboard for an iPhone. Hope Apple helps make it possible at some point…
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Too Many eBook Readers
The Las Vegas Convention Center is bursting at the seams with new e-readers, and for every one with a high profile. there seem to be seventy-three anonymous ones from companies you’ve never heard of. Hanvon had rather feral-looking pseudokindles and fauxsonys, and that slogan-“New Book, New Life”–kind of scares me…
