While we were inundated with hardware eReaders at CES, Blio took an intermediate step and made a (free) software eReader than can run on laptops, netbooks, desktops, tablets and even iPhones and iPods.

Designed in part by inventor Ray Kurzweil, the Blio is a free piece of software that you can download for your Windows machine, and that opens up and displays eBooks in full-color with options such as 3D page turning, text only mode for smaller displays, read aloud (text-to-speech), and note annotation. The Blio reader also supports audio, video and interactive media when embedded eBooks.

Blio will also be accompanied by the Blio Bookstore allowing you to add titles to your own virtual personal library that is accessible regardless of where you are or what device you’re on. The Blio Bookstore boasts over 1.2 million titles which they claim is more than any other eBookstore.

Blio reminds me a great deal of Zinio‘s excellent software reader for their electronic magazines.

Our Take
I think they’re onto something here, as well as multi-screen eReader manufacturers like Spring Design (Alex) and enTourage (eDGe), because want fewer devices, not more. Of course, peoples’ needs differ, so in my case when I travel I’m never without my laptop, so I would much rather my laptop be able to read eBooks. Blio fits the bill here.

On the other hand, my laptop is still a tad bit heavy and warm to hold open in bed, but I’m always wanting to surf the Web, but doing so in grayscale isn’t as satisfying which is why I feel those dual-screen readers are appealing and have potential. In the end, it does boil down to your own personal preferences, and you may still elect to walk around with both a laptop/netbook and a thin eReader.

HAVA maker, Monsoon Multimedia, is still in the gadget game and in particular, the multimedia multi-function types located right at the heart of your AV rig. At CES, they announced and demoed their latest device, the Volcano, which does a slew of things. Sling should be prying this open soon with a microscope close behind.

The sleek-looking Volcano is an HD device that placeshifts (a la the Slingbox) your live TV or other prerecorded video over the Internet, a DVR, Internet TV (YouTube and CinemaNow for now, but think Boxee and Netflix in future), Apps like Facebook and Twitter, can act as a home media streamer, and can pull videos for export to external media.

There will be 2 models available in March – the 4GB Flash memory version for $200 and a 250GB hard drive model for $300. Of course, this is what people want – more integration and consolidation and fewer boxes, and at those prices, the Slings, Rokus, Tivos, etc of the world better look out.

via WebTVWire

Although the specs for USB 3.0 were nailed down in late 2008, production of devices that support or run USB 3.0 have really only now started showing up. Here’s a bit of insight as to what you can expect in the next 2 years.

At CES, a few manufacturers showed off their USB 3.0 wares. In particular, a few like Gigabyte and Asus have motherboards with USB 3.0 ports, while laptop makers HP, Asus and others joined the party, and of course external hard-drive makers like Western Digital and Seagate had their new gadgets with USB 3.0.

Availability
Unfortunately, Intel isn’t about to support USB 3.0 until 2011, which is ironic given their large role in the development of USB.

While you’ll see a trickle of products this year (2010), it’s not going to do you a lot of good, until you switch your computer to a USB 3.0-capable one. However, if you are planning to upgrade, then we definitely recommend you shell out extra (or wait) for USB 3 support.

Speed
So let’s get down to brass tacks – what can you expect in the speed department? Well, let’s caveat this upfront by saying that speed measurement can be a sticky and hotly-argued subject, so take this with a grain of salt. Bottom line is that USB 3.0 is waaaay faster than USB 2.0.

USB 2.0′s theoretical max speed is 480Mbits/sec, while USB 3.0′s raw max speed is 4.0Gbits/sec – that’s almost 10x as fast. In reality, once you include overhead, you may be left with 3.2Gbps, and of course, you’ll only go as as fast as your sender/receiver.
But just imagine going at a conservative 200Mbytes/sec… that’s equivalent to transferring approximately 50 MP3 tunes per second, or an entire 4.7GB DVD in 24 seconds!

One final thought – we can’t help but laugh at the naming of USB 3.0 – SuperSpeed? What’s USB 4.0 going to be called – UberSpeed?

Lego is not normally a company one associates with CES, but they are there demoing their brand new MMO game, Lego Universe.

Lego Universe allows players to make friends, explore, battle, and in particular build using Lego bricks of course! [press release]

via Icrontic

Image courtesy of AP

magicJack maker YMax plans to start selling a a magicJack for cell phones in about 4 months for about $40. The gadget will plug into your PC and which then acts like a cell phone tower, so that if your cell phone is within range (about 8ft) of your PC, the call will be routed through the magicJack and over the Internet via VoIP.

While YMax CEO Dan Borislow claims this gadget is legal within an individual’s home, we expect the lawsuits to roll in quickly from the carriers.

Two more vendors join what promises to become a crowded field this year – Plastic Logic and Skiff.

Plastic Logic who had previously announced their QUE proReader, premiered it at CES and says it’s aimed at business professionals. The QUE has a shatterproof 8.5″x11″ plastic touchscreen display, is 0.33″ thick and weighs 1lb.

It displays PDF, Word, Excel and Powerpoint docs and can check e-mail from Outlook. It connects to the Net via WiFi and 3G. With 2 models starting at $649, Plastic Logic faces a tough battle with the likes of the Kindle, Nook and others.

Skiff previewed their Skiff Reader teaming with Sprint for 3G connectivity for the device. The Skiff Reader is a full touchscreen 1200×1600 pixel display measuring 11.5″ diagonally. Skiff plans to roll out an e-book store, although they will have a hard climb up against established book vendors like amazon.com and Barnes & Noble who already have large ebook stores.

At this point, the Skiff Reader is mostly vaporware as no price or availability have been announced.

Dual Electronics has a new product (out later this month) that turns your iPod Touch or iPhone into a portable navigation device, the GPS Navigation & Battery Cradle.

This is interesting, but the price point ($179) seems a bit high considering that not only are there numerous smartphones with GPS and nav (Android is notable), but GPS units at half the price.

Palm is getting their new webOS handsets onto other networks. First up is Verizon which is getting updated versions of both the Pre and the Pixi.

The Pre Plus is pretty much like the original Pre, but will have twice the memory for a faster experience, and 16GB of storage. It also drops the physical center button.

The Pixi Plus will add Wi-Fi to its feature list. Pricing will probably be similar to what’s on Sprint and will be available Jan 25.

One of the more unique and compelling reasons to get one of these Palm devices on Verizon is the ability to create a mobile hotspot out of your Pre or Pixi that can connect up to 5 other WiFi devices. Unfortunately, it’s only via EV-DO. Perhaps Sprint should lobby for these phones and get Internet connections over WiMax.

[press release]

Another MID (Mobile Internet Device), this time from Dell and running Android. Called the ‘Streak’ (at least so far), it runs Android, has a 5MP camera, and hooks up to the Web via 3G and WiFi.

Image courtesy of Engadget

On the other hand, we were underwhelmed by its performance in this leaked video from some folks in Vietnam. A minute to boot-up, slow response on zooming and re-orientation between landscape and portrait modes. On the other hand, it is very sleek-looking:

COk, this just looks cool. This is a prototype 14″ laptop from Samsung showing off a 40% transparent OLED screen. Yes, you can actually see a hand through behind the screen.

Image courtesy of Engadget

Sure, it’s amazing to look at, but I don’t know if I’d want one – I think I’d get easily distracted by what’s behind the screen instead of focusing on what’s on the screen. Now, what would be great is if you could quickly change the opacity with a button and/or OS control.