CES

Palm probably announcing new OS, Nova, at CES 2009

CES, Phones, Portable, Software / By /

Palm is set to announce their next generation OS, codenamed Nova, at CES in Las Vegas next month. They’re being a little cagey about the announcement, but all signs point to it happening.

This is a welcome update to Palm’s offerings, with Nova most likely going to be a Linux-based mobile OS, with a focus on Internet and Web applications. Naturally.

I don’t understand why so-called experts want Palm out of the OS business. I think their CEO has it right that having the OS and hardware strongly tied leads to a better product. For now. I’m a big fan of standardization; for example, the PC platform that runs Windows, Linux or Solaris (and now, practically MacOS). But we’re not there yet with smartphones. Android is a good first step in that direction, but it’s not here yet. Over time, Palm will probably switch to making Android work well on their hardware.

I welcome “Palm OS 2.0”. I’m a bit saddened that I may not be able to update my existing Treo to this OS, but excited that there will be a refresh of a cool mobile OS.

CES 2008 Coverage by Virtual Hideout

CES / By /

CES 2008 Diceman over at Virtual Hideout sent the Geeks their link of additional coverage of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES). As you know, if you can think of any technical gizmo or gadget, chances are that it’s already there. This year’s event didn’t quite have the amount of computer components as last year, but there was still plenty and High Definition was all the rave. Of course, there were still endless rows of iPod and music player stations. As a matter of fact, there were more of those than High Definition Televisions. I’m not sure we need more docking stations, but HD TVs advancements are always a good thing. The more new products that come out, the quicker prices drop on the current products.

Check out their coverage here.

Bye Bye Standby Remote Automation

2 Comments / CES, Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation, Miscellaneous / By /

Bye Bye Standby Remote Automation There were two trends in power this year at the CES: Wireless Power and Eliminating Standby Mode to Save Power. Several vendors were showing products already in the market to completely shut off products that are in standby and continue to draw electricity but the Geeks wanted to find a geeked up example of this technology and did with the Bye Bye Standby Remote Automation.

Back in 2000 (yes 7 years ago devices in Standby were know to draw power wasting money and expending the environment), researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated that Americans spend around $4 billion on standby power. Generating that electricity puts roughly 27 millions tons of CO2-equivalent emissions into the atmosphere (more than 3.7 million cars’ worth) every year.

Because of this, devices from most power device manufacturers are creating products that fully turn off these devices in Standby. Bye Bye Standby is an energy-saving solution designed to reduce the daily energy consumption of electrical devices. Bye Bye Standby works by completely cutting power to the devices plugged into it when they’re not in use, thus saving the power that these devices would otherwise have consumed in Standby Mode, and giving users convenient control over their devices by remote control.

The Bye Bye Standby Energy Saving Kit is a simple way to take control of your home while at the same time reducing your carbon footprint.

Gimmie!

Suggested Price: $39.99

The technology week in view: 11th Jan 2008

CES, Networking & Internet / By /

Most technology news you may read this week is tied up with reports from CES – the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and the GizmosforGeeks team have been hard at work reporting on all the juicy new gadgets. I haven’t been so lucky to visit and instead have been at work at the office trying to sort out a number of technology issues – however a few interesting things have popped up. The new Everex Cloudbook, a potential challenger to the Asus eee PC is promised to hit the shelves in Walmart by the end of this month – in the USA at least. The UMPC is an ideal machine for the non-technologist, and indeed for the technologist, with its no-nonsense low-cost approach offering just the applications that are really required – I really believe the UMPC, personified by the ASUS eee PC, will be successful.
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CES 2008: First OLED TV to US Market: Sony’s XEL-1

1 Comment / Audio/Video, Home Theater, CES / By /

Sony’s XEL-1 What could be hotter than CES booth babes this year? The ultra-cool Sony XEL-1 LED TV! Yes, I did just do that.

This candy for your eyes is the first available LED TV in the United States and will cost early adopters a cool $2500 for an 11″ high definition screen. This new entrant into the US market signifies the beginning of the end for the old school LCDs and older school plasma that will quickly fade out of the market as additional LEDs come out at cheaper and cheaper prices. This geek’s estimate… OLEDs will outsell LCD and plasma TVs in 2011.

You want some specs on the XEL-1, well at 3mm thick it’s a bit hard to watch from the side. The OLED picture has a contrast ration of 1,000,000:1 which provide the deepest black levels on the market. If you’re green, you’ll be happy to learn that the OLED technology is 40% more efficient than traditional LCD panels and does not require the use of harmful mercury during it’s manufacturing process.

The Geeks have been following this emerging technology and are excited that it has finally come to market.

CES 2008: LaserShield Adds Broadband Internet Connector to Security Product Line

CES, Home Automation / By /

LaserShield has had their home security system out for a while, but recently added a new product, Sparrow, which interfaces with their Master Control box and sends alerts and other monitoring information to their data center via an Internet connection instead of over the traditional phone line.

This is good news for those people without or getting rid of a POTS landline. Sparrow will retail for $130.
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CES 2008: Gibson Marries a Guitar and a Robot

CES, Miscellaneous / By /

…and naturally comes out with a robot guitar that does something useful for us humans – tunes itself. World renowned guitar maker, Gibson, recently introduced this new monster, and it was a hit at CES this year. It seems simple enough. Just watch the first 20 seconds of the video below to see what I mean. However, read a bit more on their website (btw, they went all out and produce a really nice site) and you’ll soon discover that there’s quite a bit that goes into ensuring that this whole self-tuning thing works.
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CES 2008: Depth-Sensing ZCam Rocks

CES, Gaming & Toys / By /

I really liked 3DV Systems‘ ZCam demo. The ZCam is a real-time depth-sensing camera that they’ve interfaced with video games to allow the player to control the game using hand and body gestures. The camera is able to determine where you are in 3 dimensions and quickly recalculate as you move around. The ZCam and associated games could be out later this year. This video shot by the folks from Shiny Shiny really tells a thousand words:

While I thin this and other similar ‘movement’ controllers like the Wii are cool, I still like the handheld controllers and feel there will remain a place for them in gaming. After all, one of the most popular games today, WoW, requires a keyboard.

Did Paramount Drop HD-DVD?

CES / By /

UPDATE:Paramount spokeswoman Brenda Ciccone made this statement in response to reports that Paramount is abandoning the HD-DVD format: “Paramount’s current plan is to continue to support the HD-DVD format.” The statement didn’t specify if Paramount would also produce Blu-ray DVDs in addition to HD-DVDs. It will be interesting to see how this story pans out.

I just gave the bad new to one of the guys in the Toshiba booth at CES. He wasn’t happy. Their HD-DVD focused booth looks a little silly now. …

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