January 2009
20 posts
4 tags
Headset Odyssey: Part 1
Everyone has that someone in their lives who just isn’t right with things. You might call them fussy, or the “complainer in the group,” or as Senator John McCain recently remarked during a presidential debate, “that one.”
I’m not that guy.
But I have stumbled on one area of my life that just isn’t right: my headphones.
In the next several installments,...
8 tags
CES Technology Trend #4: TV Manufacturers Rename...
You could excuse yourself for the head-snapping double take when visiting television manufacturers’ booths at CES this week. Everybody, and by that I mean, in fact, everybody, was trying to really, truly, honestly, cross-my-fingers-and-hope-to-die convince us that they were doing everything conceivable to protect our fragile planet. In booth after booth, TVs were plugged into volt meters to...
6 tags
CES Technology Trend #3: Cool Tech You Can't Have...
Walking the floor at the Consumer Electronics Show is an exercise in shiny, blinky light overload. Most of the products on display are available in stores now, or are shipping within the next few weeks.
These three delights, below, are prototypes and concept builds each a year or more from store shelves.
Samsung showed off an impressive 52 inch LED display at an impressive 6.5 millimeters thick....
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CES Technology Trend #2: Play Like a Rock Star
Riding high off the success of the Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises, ample offerings upgrade the original gear packaged in these systems. On the high end the same technology is being used to train punk rocker wannabes on their necessary licks.
For the game console systems, check out the Universal Wireless Slider Guitar from Cypher Groups. The model shown is PS2/PS3 compatible. Key new feature...
CES Technology Trend #1: Sound Bars
Yamaha effectively created a new market segment for speakers with its introduction of the YSP-1 in 2005. The short, wide-bezeled housing crouched above or directly below your TV was designed to be a high fidelity sound experience as an alternative to 5.1 and 6.1 systems of the day. Yamaha’s precience is now fully realized with new offerings from Bowers & Wilkins, JKL, and just about...
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Sharp Yawns then Bites Hand that Feeds It
Like other TV manufacturers on Press Day at CES, Sharp introduced their product line refresh and new models targeting the 120Hz market.
An area of sensitivity for Sharp, somewhat more than some other manufacturers, is screen lag. This is the amount of time the set needs to process each frame. This isn’t a problem of motion fluidity but rather of response, which is particularly important for...
8 tags
Toshiba Announces Kitchen Sink TVs
In remarks at the 2009 Consumer Electronics show, Toshiba announced an ambitious set of product upgrades effectively eliminating the need for distinct components attached to televisions. Among the new integrated features are USB ports, external hard disk connectors and SD card slots as video sources.
Building on its existing lead in the combo TV/DVD segment, Toshiba will release TVs with a new...
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Netgear Debuts 3G Mobile Data Sharing Router
At the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show, Netgear is introducing a 3G wireless router. The device, available shortly (MSRP $129), allows a 3G-capable USB WWAN stick to share its data connection as a wifi access point to multiple devices. Just like the 802.11n home access point you have now, except instead of a cable or DSL connection for uplink, you use 3G wireless. The model shown at CES used a...
1 tag
Consumer Electronics Show 2009
I’m in! With press credentials dangling authoritatively about my neck, Well Known Fact will be breaking newsworthy technology products this week from the floor of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Additionally, I’ll be reporting on home organization and life helping products on Unclutterer.com. Please check that out, too. Check back here often for updates, or subscribe to the...
6 tags
Reading This on a Dim, Power Guzzling Behemoth...
Used to be in computer land that you kept that monitor until it gave out. And by “give out” I mean really, truly die: no blinky lights, no faint trace of shadowy is-that-a-question-mark-or-exclamation-point-so-I’ll-retype-it dead-to-the-pile-of-rubble-it-shall-go DEAD.
»Learning for business leaders. Today’s displays are green, bright and inexpensive. Upgrade them. If...
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Programming Update: CES 2009
This week, I’ll be on the road covering the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for Well Known Fact and Unclutterer. If you have any particular requests for consumer products that really fancy you (e.g., desktop speakers, gaming keyboards, Skype headsets, etc.), please provide feedback at the end of this column, and I’ll be sure to seek them out.