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Click here LG, Netgear, Toshiba & Audiovox new product overviews

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--Peter

Taser said they studied other solutions to driver distraction and found many of them to be either too strong or too weak. Either the phone was completely disabled, which frustrates users because they can’t do anything with the phone, or it was too easy to bypass the safeguards by overriding them. They sought to strike a balance where the phone is still usable for parts that can be made safe while driving.

Driver Protector will be released later in the spring, with final pricing TBD, but expect about $200-300 for the device that connects to your car to monitor whether it’s moving, and then $10-30 / month.

Taser’s other new product speaks to parents who have ever wanted to give their child a cell phone for the convenience of being able to reach them anytime, but didn’t want them to be able to use all it’s features at all times. Until now, it was pretty much an all or nothing proposition. Either you give them the phone, and take the risk they could start txting 5,000 times each month, not only running up your phone bill but probably not studying too hard for school while doing that, or you didn’t. Taser’s Mobile Protector seeks to give logical parental controls for your kid’s cell phone.

Again, only working with smartphones, it is aimed at the first time a child gets a cell phone, amazingly 8-12 years old, according to the company. (Why an 8 year old needs a BlackBerry is another story. If there was a way this product could work on a plain phone, I think it would be even more beneficial. Due to the technology that goes into it, sadly, it only works on smartphones.) So, 8 year olds toting BlackBerries aside, this is a very innovative product.

It has an app that is installed on both the parent’s & the kid’s smartphone which, essentially, first routes all communication to the parent’s phone. For example, the first time your child receives a txt from a certain number, it first routes to the parent’s phone. The parent can then decide if that txt is safe to be allowed through. Naturally, to do this every time the kid gets a txt is pretty cumbersome, so you can assign certain numbers “safe” status. In other words, all txts from Uncle Mike (who you trust) are allowed through automatically, but all txts from your child’s friend Rodney (who you never trusted anyway) are still routed to you.

There is a similar functionality to voice calls as well. Calls can be first routed to the parent’s phone, and again, safe ones are allowed through. Obviously for working parents this can become a bit cumbersome, but there is a desktop version of the parent’s monitoring app which can run on the parent’s work computer.

A few other great features of Mobile Protector… it automatically screens txts for a predetermined list of problematic words (based on categories like sexual content, drugs, etc) and alerts you if those words are used. Txts are monitored even from people you have put on the “safe” list and the txts go directly to the kid’s phone. Another feature is that each time a call is made or received, or txt made or received, Taser’s system takes a GPS snapshot of where the communication occurred. This can be helpful in locating a child, should that need arise. They’re quick to point out this isn’t a monitoring device- those GPS locations are only revealed with police involvement in a missing person’s case.

--Peter

The company has their foundation in the medical industry with years of hearing aid technology, so these guys know their stuff. They use those 6 years of research to improve upon their noise cancelling technology, and apply them to headphones now rather than hearing aids. They’re available at Best Buy, BJs and other major retailers now.

I like to think I’m pretty up on tech trends and electronics companies. So I was a little surprised to walk by 2 booths at CES that featured a full lineup of GPS navigation units, digital camera, digital picture frames, netbooks and more- from companies I hadn’t even heard of! Cydle- a Korean company that has been around since 2006- and aigo- a Chinese company that has been around since 1993- are 2 companies that have been known in Asia but are now making a push into the US market.

One product that stood out was a cell phone from aigo that doubles as a Wii style controller. They were demoing a tennis game that you played on your TV using the cell phone as your controller. Pretty cool. It’s a GSM phone, so you buy it, insert a SIM card from AT&T or T-Mobile and you’re off and running.

--Peter

Sony has introduced TransferJet – a technology included in their new digital cameras which allow you to transfer pictures from one camera to another without wires. I immediately saw great possibilities for this. Use one Sony camera to take that master picture, and then instantly share it with everyone at the birthday party. Problem solved.

TransferJet, I later learned, is actually a consortium of electronics manufacturers who will all develop and use this technology. Even better! Canon, Kodak, Nikon, Panasonic, Samsung, Epson, Sharp, Toshiba, JVC, Kenwood, Pioneer and many more are on the list. This technology will also allow you to transfer files from your digital camera to your computer using a wireless TransferJet dock, to your printer, TV or digital picture frame- all without wires! I love simple improvements that make a great product even better.

Another great unveil at Sony’s booth was their new Bloggie – their new HD camera that captures HD video, 5MP pictures and costs only $169! A friend of mine had an earlier version of these cameras, and shot a great skiing video on a trip last year, so I can vouch for the quality of these. We’re not talking professional quality, but certainly good enough to carry around on a trip, snap some quick highlights and easily share memories with family & friends. The camera is tiny (about the size of a compact digital camera) and the battery will last about 90 minutes when shooting video.

For a cool add on, spring the extra $20 and get a 270 degree fish eye lens on their $189 version- pictured to the right. (They also throw in a 4GB memory stick for your extra $20, which makes it even more worth it.) I tried a demo model with the fish eye, and this thing is just plain cool! You hold it above your head and walk normally- the camera will capture everything around you as you go. The cool trick comes on playback- it doesn’t play a giant circle video file (as it does on the screen to the right), it actually converts your video to look normal, with a scroll bar underneath that lets you move your vantage point. For example, you start off watching what was happening in front of you, then you slide the bar under your video and look at what happened to your right, then slide to see what happened on your left. Great way to capture parts of your life when there is a lot going on!

--Peter

Wasting no time at Press Day, LG was nice enough to greet everyone with bright lights and a full array of TVs illuminating their press conference at 8am. Functioning like an extra shot of caffeine in case the coffee hadn’t kicked in yet so early in the morning, the bright lights made sure you knew CES was under way! LG got us up to speed on their plan for home domination, I mean their product line, by showcasing their TVs, washers, dryers, refrigerators, solar power technology and projectors.

I’ll start with the most entertaining part, which actually isn’t even a product but a recent advertising campaign. If you haven’t yet seen LG’s “Give It A Ponder” series of “PSA’s” (commercials), click here (http://www.giveitaponder.com/). James Lipton of Bravo’s “Inside The Actor’s Studio” fame does a fantastic job highlighting the perils of gossip txting, sexting and mean txting facing today’s teens and tweens. I was amused by the campaign when I first saw it, and was surprised to learn the amount of research that went into launching the campaign. LG commissioned a study of teens & tweens (the same people who use their popular Chocolate cell phone and other cell phones) and learned how prevalent nasty txt messages were in that age group. No shock there, but LG took saw an opportunity to spread a positive message in a humorous way.

The campaign shows teens at the moment where they might send a nasty text and urges them to think it over. Watch the videos- it immediately made me think that all advertising should be required to be this creative and amusing.

Now to the fancy and shiny new gadgets LG unveiled…. (quick note here: CES Press Day is all about announcements from the podium – a very hand’s off way to learn about new technology. So I’ll share a whole lot of what sound like great ideas and technology, but in no way am vouching for whether the products are as good as they sound. This was quickly proved by the incredibly awkward Skype test call demonstration on stage at LG’s unveiling.)

-the LG Expo smartphone has an optional PICO projector attachment(a tiny projector that allows you to project video onto the wall in front of you) – very cool idea made even better by being built into the phone! – the phone also has a 1Ghz processor which LG says will allow you to multitask much easier with your phone- no hiccupping or lags when changing apps or moving among music or video (most phones have less than half that speed of processor)
-a new Skype option for their TVs- you can now easily connect a webcam to your TV and use it to Skype your friends without using your computer
-TruMotion 480 Hz TVs- up from 240 Hz last year- making fast motion TV even smoother
-the LGX120 netbook- which runs Windows 7 yet has LG’s “smart on” operating system allowing you to boot in 7 seconds- sounds too good to be true!
-LG showed the latest model in their “Chocolate” cell phone line- it looked great, featured a 4” screen, but I had to chuckle when the gentleman introducing it touted it as “perfect for watching movies”- I don’t know about you, but when I think movies, a cell phone screen isn’t my ideal viewing experience
-they unveiled a new LED TV that is 6.9mm thick- this was a big theme last year, thin TVs, which I still don’t think are completely necessary (my plasma is 4” thick and I have never particularly worried that is too thick). But I will admit that these super thin TVs that keep popping up everywhere are awfully sexy!
-LG is expanding their Netcast TV to pull in more content- the aforementioned Skype, also Picasa, AccuWeather
-solving a common problem of people not wanting to run a standard network cable to their TV, LG now makes connecting their TVs to the internet a lot easier with their USB wifi adapters


Netgear

Netgear started with a simple premise – that all these wonderful tech gadgets people are unveiling need to connect to the internet and Netgear wants to be the company to make that happen. It’s a smart idea, and some of their gear seems not only ready connect your devices, but help you access your content in a variety of ways as well.

With their “Anytime, Anywhere, Any Media, Any Screen” philosophy, Netgear launched into a very energetic presentation. One item that caught my eye is their Stora network storage device. NAS (small cube like boxes that connect to your network for all your home computers to use for file backup) have been around for a little while, but now it’s capabilities have expanded. Netgear aims to let you “Access, Backup and Centralize” your important files. Not only can you backup your pictures onto your Stora, but you can then view them from any web browser on any device anywhere in the world. Pretty cool.

It basically gives you access to your files anytime & anywhere. You can both place files onto the Stora and retrieve files from it using any browser. It’s a great branch on the growing tree of cloud computing. Rather than uploading your pictures to a nameless storage location, you actually place them on your own device. You can then control access to friends, family and anyone else you want to be able to see.

The demo showed pictures from the Stora on a laptop, as well as an iPhone. I love the idea of being able to access all your pictures (and other content) at any time. Someone asks you at dinner if you have pictures of your latest vacation and you can just pull out your iPhone and show them.

Another feature Netgear is looking to provide, and a growing theme at CES, is the conversion of SD content into HD quality. With everyone moving to HDTVs in their home, and now theoretically connecting those TVs to the internet, a gap still exists in the quality the web video provides and what your TV can display. Web TV just doesn’t look good on a TV designed for HD. Think of how grainy many YouTube videos are on your smaller computer screen. Now imagine that magnified on your bid HDTV. Not an ideal viewing experience. Netgear demoed their SD upconversion to HD and it looked phenomenal. It uses a technology which they claim allows you to utilize more of your broadband’s speed to allow for smoother playback and better picture. In a side by side comparison, the picture was night and day better. While the SD picture continued to stall and re-buffer, the Netgear version played smoothly, clearly and with a better picture quality. Details were sketchy on when exactly this would be available, and how, but when it is, I’m looking forward to it.

Netgear also showcased improvements to their Range Max wireless routers which have expanded capability for streaming video. They claim it can handle more video over longer distances. The stat they used was the ability to stream video wirelessly throughout a 3,000 square foot house. I have a 900 square foot apartment and can’t seem to get good wireless connection in the back bedroom there, so if Netgear’s stats are accurate, I’m buying one of these immediately! (Competitor D-Link also unveiled upgrades to their wireless routers today, so the ability to stream more video faster over longer distances is quickly becoming another theme.)

Toshiba

If you’re curious what a CES press conference looks like, he above picture is a good example. Especially on the TV manufacturers end. It’s a big room, with eye catching TVs on stage and big screens to capture your attention. Lights, sound, glitz.

In a very stat heavy presentation, Toshiba pointed out that 2009 actually exceeded expectations in flat panel TV sales. LCD continues to dominate Plasma, with LED quickly gaining ground. To keep ahead of the curve and stay true to their “Leading Innovation” motto, they showcased the myriad of features in their new Cell TV series.

Aimed to be the Ferrari of HDTVs (notice I jumped right over Mercedes and BMW), Toshiba listed impressive stat after impressive stat for their Cell TVs. It’s 10x faster than normal computers. It has 147x more processing power than today’s average TV. It converts SD content to HD automatically. It converts web content to near HD quality. It connects to your net channels. It has video calling worthy of a big screen TV (not a crummy computer webcam blown up to look grainy). It converts standard 2D TV to 3D on the fly (this is quite the impressive magic trick if it works!). It has a 1TB built in hard drive. It has a built in BluRay Player. It has an RF remote so you can use that 1TB hard drive to send content to other TVs in the house and control the drive in any room. It has twice the brightness of the average TV today. In summary, it’s more. As Toshiba pointed out, it’s not that one or two of these features are slightly better than typical TVs, it’s that all of these features are significantly better. I’m anxious to see this one up close on the convention floor.

Audiovox

The title of Audiovox’s presentation was “Promises Delivered”. Which is to say they went to great lengths to prove they did what they said they would do a year ago. They get an A+ in thoroughness if only a B- for fresh innovation. I like the ideas, but when you spend most of your time referring back to last year, well, you get the idea.

This isn’t to say that last year’s ideas were bad. They talked about their expanded line of Flo TV enabled products. Flo is the premium mobile TV service that allows you to watch live TV from ESPN, MSNBC, Disney, etc on your cell phone and now in cars as well through Audiovox products. The big advancement this year was an easy add on product that would allow the 20 million existing TVs in cars to receive Flo TV. (Last year you had to install a fresh system to receive Flo.) You do have to pay a monthly service charge for Flo TV, but the channel lineup is fantastic. And as Audiovox pointed out, once it’s connected in the car- there’s no battery to charge, no DVDs to remember, just instant on TV to keep the kids entertained for hours.

Next up was RCA’s Lexi e-reader. Short on details, but promised to be a low cost, high quality e-reader to get RCA into this rapidly expanding category. Content will be delivered through Barnes & Nobles’ BN.com page. Sadly no wireless connectivity so you have to plug it in to receive fresh content, but depending on the price point, could be a nice addition to the e-readers currently available.

My grandmother’s dream of a way to find her lost glasses is moving closer to reality. Available soon from Audiovox is a personal tracker. While not quite small enough to attach to eyeglasses, it is small enough to easily fit in your child’s backpack. Roughly the size of the cigarette lighter, it allows you to track whatever or whoever it is attached to through GPS. You can set geo-fences or perimeters and are automatically warned when the device leaves that perimeter. Price is $129 and seems to be a great solution for keeping tabs on kids, elderly drivers, or anyone else that needs monitoring. Available later this spring.

Audiovox’ Acoustic Research arm showcased a variety of home command products which allow you to use your BlackBerry or iPhone to control your home audio and video system, open your garage door, etc. Seems like a cool tie in. Though I was surprised to hear they have no intention of expanding the product to other mobile device platforms- particularly Android. Android is set to appear on a plethora of devices this year, so I suspect they may be amending that strategy soon. I also question whether people will want to change the channel on their TV through their cell phone. Interesting technology, but sometimes just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.

In the “makes me wish I had an outdoor patio” moment of the day, Acoustic Research showcased their Outdoor Living collection of weatherproof speakers. They are a variety of speakers which look like ordinary outdoor lights, lanterns and rocks. They look great, if the sound quality matches, these look to be a great product line!

--Peter