SlashGear Week In Review - Week 2 2010
The week of CES each year is a week that geeks in the industry and geek consumers look forward too with glee. At the same time those of us who have been to the show have to temper the gadget lust we get going into the show with the knowledge that his is one of the most grueling weeks of the year to be a pro geek. Just look at the number of new items announced this week; it was hard to even whittle the list down to some of the coolest gear of the week for our second week in review of 2010.
Before CES even officially kicked off, there were product announcements coming hot and heavy. The L5 Remote dongle piqued our interest with its ability to turn our iPhones into universal remote controls. Early last week a cool new big screen Skiff Reader turned up sporting a LG Micro Foil screen. The device has an 11.5-inch 1200 x 1600 resolution screen.
Lenovo unveiled its first smartbook set to use AT&T 3G service running a 1GHz snapdragon processor and Linux this week. The price makes me really wonder why you would choose it rather than just getting a netbook. Marvell updated its Plug Computer with WiFi and Bluetooth along with a HDD. The little machine is a full computer in a device about the size of a power brick that hangs totally from the outlet.
Parrot unveiled what may be the coolest iPhone accessory ever called the AR.Drone. The device helicopter is controlled form your iPhone. Amid all the new product announcements at CES Apple threw out the little tidbit that downloads from the App Store have now topped three billion. That is a lot of apps.
ESPN, Sony, Discovery, and IMAX all announced this week that they would be bringing new 3DTV networks to market with some channels coming this year and others tipping up in 2011. This was the year for 3D tech at CES. We went hands on with the Google Nexus One this week and it was cool. We will be doing a full review over the next few days.
Klipsch unveiled a strange an interesting speaker at CES that puts sound into a light bulb. The bulb is an LED unit and the device is called the LightSpeaker. Gateway unveiled its new LT21 netbook with the N450 Atom processor. The little netbook has a 10.1-inch screen and promises up to ten hours of battery life.
SlingMedia has unveiled a couple new placeshifting devices called the Sling Receiver 300 and the Slingbox 700U. The devices are aimed at DVR users on satellite companies like DISH Network and EchoStar. Amazon announced a new version of the Kindle DX with global wireless service. The new global wireless model replaces the current US only model.
Apple is rumored to be using chips from PA Semi for the coming iSlate tablet rather than Intel chips. The iSlate is expected to break cover later this month. We have seen virtual keyboard keyboards before that project onto any surface for smartphones and other devices. Light Touch showed off a similar device that turns any surface into a touchscreen.
Alienware unveiled a cool ultraportable computer at CES that is capable of gaming at a surprisingly low starting price of $999. The machine is called the M11X has an 11.6-inch screen and NVIDIA GT335M graphics. We went hands on with the T-Mobile Vega Android tablet at CES and the thing is what you call gynourmous. Interestingly it's aimed at moms.
Borders announced that it would be teaming with Spring Design to provide content for the Alex eReader. The Alex is very cool and I am interested to hear what happens with the Nook suit. Vuzix unveiled the cool WRAP 920AR augmented reality eyewear. The idea is that the glasses use two cameras mounted on the outside to project games and other content onto your surroundings.
We spent some quality hands-on time with the Plastic Logic Que at CES. The thing is very large and sports WiFi and 3G service with a massive price tag of $649 for a WiFi only version and $799 with 3G added in. Panasonic unveiled a massive 152-inch plasma TV with a resolution of 4K x 2K that is also full 3D ready. It scares me to think how expensive the thing will be.
The Apple iSlate has been rumored to launch in Q2 with an aluminum casing. That is a different rumor than we have been hearing with some pegging the launch for later this month. Thanks for reading and have a great week! Keep warm!