Happy 2010, everyone! Let's start the year off right by catching up on the cool stuff that happened while we were all on break ...
-As we did last year, Byte-Sized is putting a reporter on the floor of this year's CES! As a preview, here is a list of the hot gadgets already making some waves.
--For those of you who can't get enough Star Wars ... and who also love shoes (?), here are some kicks you're sure to get a kick out of.
--There were some great games released in 2009 -- CNet has compiled a list of the year's best! My pick is Assassin's Creed II ... if only because Ezio is such a cutie!
--Oh, good lord. This is what happens when social media meets a-holes with too much time on their snobby little hands.
I’ve been a sucker for laptops for a while. The smaller, lighter, faster and, let’s face it, sexier looking, they get- the more I want one. Every month there’s a new superlite/ ultraportable that I’m coveting. So I was excited to check out the latest & greatest here at CES.
Sony Sony has 3 new additions to their Vaio line of laptops. 2 are extensions of current models, 1 is new. First, my favorite.
TT 200 – to my eye, this notebook fell right into the sweetspot of tiny & light, yet without a cramped keyboard and microscopic screen. At 2.8 lbs, my shoulder immediately wanted to swap it with the larger notebook weighing it down now. 11.1” screen, comes in a slew of colors, including this handsome gold number pictured here. (Again, like the Canon camera, not shiny gold, nice muted, gold.) It’s made of carbon fiber, which is 400x stronger than plastic used in other notebooks, and looks great. Amazingly, despite the incredibly thin styling, Sony fit in an optical DVD and/or Blu-ray drive / recorder. Battery life was offered up at 6 hours, but a fellow attendee mentioned he routinely got 8 hours from the last version of this laptop. That’s impressive. He laughed when I asked him what he was doing for those 8 hours, and he promised it wasn’t just in standby mode. Price starts at $1999, so it’s definitely on the higher end, but wow, quite the stunner. And with the drive built in, if you can afford it, this is the machine I would choose. Z600 – Also made of carbon fiber, this laptop is also quite lovely. At 3.5 lbs it’s slightly heavier than the TT200. Also has a built in DVD/Blu-ray drive.
Lifestyle PC – the Vaio P500 – this one got the oohs and aahs – it’s tiny. Absolutely tiny. You can see in the pictures, with the hand next to it, just how small it is. I was wondering if folded up this laptop might fit into the back pocket of some jeans. I think it might. It has built in WWAN (mobile broadband), GPS (so you can get directions even without an internet connection) and only weights 1.4 lbs. The keyboard is a bit cramped, but then you’re probably not using this machine to type out your long awaited novel. No touchpad on this one, only a pointing device. It can boot in 20 seconds to some non-Windows apps, and gets 4 hours of battery life. Great to carry around, but this to me seems like an additional device, rather than a replacement like the TT200.
Next I moved over to Toshiba to investigate their offerings. At first I wandered over into their business section, and quickly realized I was in their no frills, black plastic box, nondescript laptop section. Is it mandatory that every manufacturer have a line like this? The no fun line? Just so the IT department can order them in bulk and rest safely knowing that no one will be tempted to have any fun with this thing. I quickly regained my bearings and found the Protégé & Tecra lines.
Tecra R10 – Looks generic enough, nice silver finish, and I thought it was like every other notebook in the place. Then I picked it up- nope, not like every other notebook. It felt noticeably lighter. 14.1” screen (which is my favorite size) but still only 4.4 lbs. Also has an accelerometer which parks the heads on the hard drive if it senses a fall. That’s a great idea. 4 hours of battery life. Price starts at $1549. Solid package. I like this one almost as much as the Sony TT200. Hmmm, decisions.
Tecra under water – Most people live in mortal fear of spilling an ounce of liquid on their laptops. I know I’d expect smoke, fizzling and massive problems if my coffee ever tipped over onto mine. Well wasn’t I surprised when I turned the corner and saw water being continuously spilled onto a similar looking Tecra. I had to take a picture & video just to prove it. There the computer sat, running fine the entire time, with water just pouring down the keyboard. Impressive. The Toshiba reps were quick to point out that you can’t actually immerse the laptop in the water, it’s just if something spills onto the keyboard. So you’re out of luck if you drop kick the thing into the pool, and sadly the world will have to wait for underwater computing. I think the spill protection is plenty. It’s part of Toshiba’s Easy Guard 4, in case you were wondering.
Toshiba also had the beautiful Protégé R600- 2.4 lbs, 6 hours of battery, 12.1”, 128 GB SSD (solid state, the kind that doesn’t move and gets better battery life) and a transreflective screen that adjusts to direct sunlight. Very nice.
After that was HP’s turn. Interestingly, HP has a number of models that are similar in size to the Sony’s & Toshiba’s, but lack the built in DVD drive. HP has stepped up the design department with sleek looks everywhere. One of their brand new laptops that they just unveiled at the show really caught my eye, though, the HP Touchsmart tx2. They call it a convertible because you can use it as a regular laptop, or flip the screen and use it as a tablet. I loved being able to move programs on the screen with my fingernail. Plus the ability to draw right on the screen is pretty cool. And finally, after HP I slid over to Asus, makers of the Eee PC, the one that kicked off the Netbook movement. They had a few nice entries as well, pictured here. Their Bamboo line really stands out- the name says it all. Their S101 Eee PC looked to be one of the thinnest models around. But I don’t want this to become endless specs. We’ll report back once we have some demo time with them.
All of this is to say I’m a “know it when I see it” type of guy when it comes to laptop and these definitely caught my attention. I’ll be excited to test them out and see if they can prove they’re more than just a pretty face!
If there was a heaven for cameras, when the time came, St Peter would be ushering my Canon PowerShot SD800IS through the Pearly Gates with no questions asked. What a workhorse.
Maybe 3 years old at this point, it’s been dropped on concrete at least twice, and as luck would have it, just snapped it’s 10,000th picture at CES. (I know because the counter reset. After picture IMG_9999 it went back to IMG_0001. I now inadvertently know what Ford Truck owners feel like in the commercials as their trusty steeds roll over 1,000,000 miles and they're back to mile 1.)
As if knowing the end was nearing after passing such a milestone, it’s case cracked open on it’s top seam in the middle of the convention center. Not from any drop or fumble, simply from taking it out of my pocket. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. I’m fairly convinced my camera wanted to pass on at CES, where it knew it was loved.
Luckily, I’m not one to dwell on tech toys lost, especially when this one’s had such a good life and delivered so many beautiful pictures. So it was off to the Canon booth to discover what new iterations of the PowerShot the geniuses of the pocket cam had come up with recently.
Upon showing the Canon rep my now fading friend and asking what the new version of it was, he quickly snapped into defense mode. “How long ago did you buy it? Maybe it’s under warranty.” I smiled and said it’s been many years, the warranty long since expired, I’m not here to complain, just want help selecting my 4th Canon PowerShot in 7 years. (Yes, Canons are the only digital cameras I’ve ever had. I can’t recommend them enough.)
Luckily, the new Canons didn’t disappoint. They have an amazing array. Canon point & shoots tend to be a bit larger than the tiniest point & shoots- not big, mind you, just not micro sized like some from Sony or Casio. I’ll happily take the extra smidge of size for the image quality that rarely disappoints.
Very quickly we had it narrowed down to the SD790IS and the SD880IS. I don’t want to get into technical names and model numbers, but I was struck how 3 years later, the updated versions of my camera still had model numbers in the same ballpark. My 800 vs the new 790 and 880. Why one is higher and one is lower, I have no idea.
In the context of full disclosure, before I'm accused of being on the take from Canon, I will ask why their model numbering system doesn’t go in order of, say, least to most features (worst to best, in other words). As a lifelong techie, I’m very used to the credo of the super gadgetron 300 being great, the 400 being better and the 500 being unbelievable. Simple, a higher number means better. Why would Canon abandon this tried and true formula? Their SD1100 is actually not as good as the SD880. Bizarre, no?
Back to the cameras… My girlfriend’s mom just got the 790 and loves it. There’s a great scroll wheel on the back to easily navigate your pictures. You point, shoot and are done. But for me, I loved the look & feel of the 880. The gold version – sounds cheesy, it’s not – stands out. I was told Canon is now up to a “Digic 4” image processor, which is great, mostly because I’m a huge fan of Digics 1-3. (Kidding, I had no idea, I’m not that much of a geek.)
What they have added in version 4 is something called “Face Detect”. When the camera sees a face in a picture, that takes priority over everything else. Even with your subject standing in front of a bright background, the camera recognizes the face, and makes sure that what comes out looks perfect. It works. I wanted to take a picture and show you, but my dying camera doesn’t have that technology. Soon it will be recycled and welcomed into that camera heaven in the sky after my new 880 arrives. So long old friend.
Canon, to be sure, isn’t a one trick pony. Their Digital SLR cameras produce some stunning images, like these 2. How amazing are these? (A picture of a picture! I know, how ultra-geek of me!) I asked why my Digital Rebel never takes pictures 1% as good as these (seriously, I asked), Canon’s expert politely told me about lenses, and how important they are. He talked about the right glass, and using manual settings. Oh, and then he mentioned that those pictures were taken by professional photographers. Yea, sums it up nicely. I mean, I can get good pictures, but seldom do I get gorgeous, and never are they as visually arresting as these. Such rich color, such deep texture. Taking amazing pictures is on my “wish I could do” list- right next to play the drums, carry a tune and draw anything resembling what it’s supposed to be.
Moving on, they also had their photo printers on display. The Selphy ES30 (pictured here) caught my boss’ attention as something she has to get for her daughter. Cute and square, while spitting out beautiful 4x6 prints.
Next to it was the Pixma iP100, a short and compact rectangle, with a marvelous 8x10 printout sitting on top of it. This couldn’t have been printed with this small, at home, printer, could it? Yup, sure was. I’d never be able to tell the difference between this and something professionally printed at my local photo shop. It also features something called “hybrid ink”- basically a complete separation of inks for photos and inks for everyday black & white printing. The color ink is self contained with all the colors including its own black, then there’s a separate black ink cartridge, only used only for printing black text. But, in a pinch, if you run out of black for text, you can manually override and allow it to use the other black. Very cool way to maximize ink.
What a day! Can it get any better? I’ll find out as I check out the latest in ultra-portable laptops (not Netbooks, I’m talking fully functioning, full power laptops with DVD drives under 3 lbs), laptops that you can put under the faucet without damage, how you can unlock your front door using your BlackBerry, if the iPhone app store’s competition has anything to worry about, live TV in the backseat of your car, oh, and I think I saw a TV or two kicking around here somewhere…
[Amber's Note: Peter, bring me back one of those laptops!!!!]
Thoughts from inside a packed ballroom at the gorgeous Venetian ballroom with about 3,000 of my closet tech-loving friends listening to Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer & friends deliver the pre-CES keynote:
-Wow! Microsoft has fans! Genuine fans! There was actual cheering when various products were announced! That shocked me. I thought only Apple had a rabid fan base like that. Way to go Redmond! [Amber's note: I've always loved Microsoft....]
-Windows 7 can be downloaded in beta form on Friday by everyone. Wow again! Pricing, trial length, or anything like that (read: details) was not mentioned, but still, that’s soon! All of a sudden I don’t care as much about my ongoing battle with Vista on my 8 month old laptop. Bring on Windows 7!
-They demoed some pretty cool features of Windows 7, combined with Windows Live, but I couldn’t help thinking- I’ve seen a lot of those features before! Oh yea, on a Mac, an iPhone, in Firefox, etc.
-There was a Microsoft mapping type program that was eerily reminiscent of Google Earth. You start in the stratosphere, then zoom, zoom, zoom, until you see the buildings in Manhattan. Been there, done that. But wait, then you drag your finger and move from an overhead camera angle to a street level view . Very cool. Advantage Microsoft.
-None of Windows 7 will mean a thing if it takes 3 minutes to boot like Vista does.
-One of the key points was how seamlessly all their products tie in together. And they showed an example using Hotmail, Windows Messenger, Internet Explorer 8, Windows Mobile & Windows Live. But all I could think was, hmm, I don’t use any of those products now, and nothing they just showed me has swayed me from Google, Gmail, GChat and BlackBerry. Points for effort, but nothing wowed me to the point where I’m thinking “when does that come out?!”
-You gotta hand it to Microsoft- they play the 3 million pound gorilla quite well. If you don’t like their products, they’ll be sure to remind you that: ---1 billion people have PCs ---20 million phones have been sold with Windows Mobile on them ---10 million people each month use Windows Media Center ---28 million Xbox consoles have been sold ---17 million people use Xbox live ---25 million units of Halo have been sold ---60 million music downloads have stemmed from bands working with 3 Xbox games (Lips, Guitar Hero & Rock Band- and fascinatingly, 80% of those are from Rock Band) ---45 movie studios and content partners are involved with Xbox Live
I just kept thinking, man, they’ll club you over the head with their sheer size! And don’t you forget it! (Those were all stats mentioned during the 90 minutes keynote.)
-They demoed a display that was the size & depth of a placemat- but had a full image on it. Amazing.
-Microsoft mentioned a number of new partnerships, but I sensed a continuing undertone from the companies who weren’t part of their new partnerships. It’s setting up to be a fascinating few years in the Microsoft vs Google vs Apple battle.
-My overall feeling walking away, though, was still one of awe. That one company can be so involved with our lives.
Next up was Toshiba… nothing really stood out here, mostly because they spent more time talking about their products than showing them… one big PowerPoint presentation… I’ll have to see these in action on the floor before I form a real opinion…
Quick question… what was the name of the company with their name directly under the Times Square NYE ball? Can’t remember? Me neither. Turns out it’s Toshiba. Money well spent.
But, their Times Square sign is tied in with their 51 foot x 52 foot HD LED display. Now there’s a TV! Forget 52 inch, when you measure your TV in feet, you’re getting somewhere!
We’ll breeze through a couple thoughts, just for fun…
-Toshiba will have a new 26” model of their popular TV/DVD combo LCD, which they tout as “perfect for any room in the house”. Really? What if I want a big TV in the living room? I hate over-hyped PR.
-they’re going to integrate “TV Widgets” into their TVs featuring partnerships with Intel, Yahoo and Microsoft. Sounds cool, but it was a lot of fluff with no details, too bad.
-Quick question #2- what’s Toshiba’s high end LCD called? Sony has the Bravia, Sharp has the Aquos, Pioneer had the Elite, Toshiba has the….???? Regza. Don’t worry, I didn’t know either. Maybe I missed it, but typically I’ve at least heard of the names.
-Quick question #3- what percentage of flat panel TVs are LCD (vs plasma)? 87% That blew me away. I didn’t realize it was that lopsided.
-One of the themes here at CES is “ultra flat” TVs- OLED and the like. I completely agree with Toshiba when they pointed out “I’ve never heard anyone complain their plasma is too thick”.
-From here, Toshiba launched into a cornucopia of an LCD TV lineup- first “non-Regza” and then Regza. It’s a tiered system where the more you pay, the more you get. They kept showing models, adding more features, and all of a sudden I felt like I was in a car showroom. “On the base model, you get cloth seats… but if you pay a few dollars more, you get the leather seats… a little more and you get heated seats.” A little overwhelming.
-One promised feature that did stand out was called “Resolution+”- the ability to up-convert all SD content to HD-like quality. That’s a big one for me. I hate that on the HDTV I have, HD looks great, but SD looks worse than it ever did on my old TV. Have to see it to believe it, but if it’s true…
-Another promised feature is 4k x 2k resolution (technically, 3820x2160- but that doesn’t look as good on your marketing materials). That’s 4 times “better” than current 1080p HDTV. Anyone heard complaints that 1080p was too fuzzy? Me neither.
-There’s a slew of other new features that went into what Toshiba kept calling a “game changer” of a TV, I just don’t see it on paper. I’m curious to see it in person. I’ll report back.
-Toshiba also unveiled “Cell TV”- basically an HD server that connects to your Regza TV. Among other things, it can record 6 HD channels simultaneously. Sounds great, but that’s taking a big leap. I’m guessing you’ll need a cable card or some partnership with DirecTV. The example given was: you go away on vacation for a week, but instead of worrying about what to record & when, you tell your Cell TV to record all primetime on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Discovery, & MTV for the full week while you’re gone. You’d need one heck of a hard drive, but hey, sounds cool.
With a feeling dormant since move in day at Syracuse University circa 1996, I looked around after stepping foot into the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas. What a setup! Talk about overwhelming! Where to start? Where do you go? I felt like a lost freshman clinging to my class schedule and campus map. Luckily, it’s easy to get acclimated, and the CES staff is amazingly helpful. Once you’re checked in, you’re good to go! So let’s roll!
You can’t miss CES in Vegas right now- starting when you step off the plane at the airport. With thousands of gadgets and innovations clamoring for attention which ones will stand out?
This morning started with some cool new products from Netgear. They put a lot of their innovations under the umbrella “Connected Lifestyle”. They’re unveiling 15 new products here at CES, but here are 2 that really stood out…
-Internet TV player- joining the likes of Apple, Netflix and many others, Netgear adds it’s name to the growing list of companies with a device that connects your TV to the internet and promises to expand your viewing options. This had a few standout features, though:
1. search- the demo showed a very powerful search feature that culls from all over the web to bring you content. One big problem with all the video on the web is that it’s so splintered, it’s hard to find anything. And further, when you bring it to your TV, there are no channels. This helps with that problem. You can search by actor, title, etc.
2. playing live TV from around the world- to me, this is one of those features that sounds great, but how many people will care? When is the last time you were sitting on your couch thinking “gee, I wonder what’s on the tube in England?” Maybe I’m alone on this one, but there are already 200 channels in the US I don’t watch. It did intrigue me though.
3. quality- I was struck by the non-grainy, non-internet style way the picture looked. It looked like, well, TV. There were only a few things shown in the demo, but most of them looked great. At least it shows “web TV’ doesn’t have to look like YouTube. However, I will say, that not everything looked great. They showed off the ability to find Tina Fey SNL clips through the powerful search, and the video was more web-esque and the audio was the typical tinny hollow web audio. Let’s see which way the majority of content end up.
There were some other copy cat features- ability to rent movies directly from the player, etc, but overall, seems like a worthy addition to the web player world
Next up was a feature I’m shocked hasn’t been demanded from manufacturers already… a USB mobile broadband router. I’ve seen other versions claiming you can plug in a PCMCIA card and share the connection, but here Netgear promises the ability to plug in any USB broadband modem (Verizon Wireless, AT&T, you name it) and create an instant hot spot. Brilliant! Netgear touted it’s ability to create a “hot spot on the fly” at camp sites or tailgating at the big game. Me, I’m thinking it’s more suited to remote offices or temporary office spaces, but I’m more curious to see how much resistance the wireless providers will put up. As it stands now, they expressly forbid sharing your broadband card connection. I similarly remember when you weren’t “allowed” to share your home DSL or cable modem connection. That was washed away in a flood of consumer demand. Hopefully the same will happen here.
More updates throughout the day! We’re just getting started!
Amber Plante is your guide through the geektastic worlds of science, technology and pop culture -- the Q to your James Bond, the Cortana to your Master Chief and the McGonagall to your Harry Potter, so to speak. She makes the technobabble make sense and shows you the fantastic wired world of the Internet in a whole new light. Are you a geek, too? Don't worry, you're in good company.
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Amber Plante is your guide through the geektastic worlds of science, technology and pop culture -- the Q to your James Bond, the Cortana to your Master Chief and the McGonagall to your Harry Potter, so to speak. She makes the technobabble make sense and shows you the fantastic wired world of the Internet in a whole new light. Are you a geek, too? Don't worry, you're in good company.
