Saturday, January 08, 2011

Philips bringing ultrawidescreen TV, wireless Blu-ray player, apps and eventually Android TV to USA

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/08/philips-bringing-ultrawidescreen-tv-wireless-blu-ray-player-ap/

And here we were worried that Funai's takeover of the US arm would lead to a falloff. Whatever its name or corporate structure, Philips has brought plenty of US-bound heat to CES 2011, with none bigger than the news that we will see the company's sweet 3D-capable 21:9 ultrawidescreen HDTV on this side of the Atlantic in the second half of 2011. Today it also announced plans for a Blu-ray player with wireless HDMI, the world's first (meaning you'll probably need a dongle on any TV to use it until compatible displays arrive later in the year) but no surprise for an outfit that's been pushing HD streaming for some time. On a similar front its MediaConnect app on new TVs and Blu-ray players will let it stream anything playing on a PC to the TV screen WiDi-style (video embedded after the break.)

Continue reading Philips bringing ultrawidescreen TV, wireless Blu-ray player, apps and eventually Android TV to USA

Philips bringing ultrawidescreen TV, wireless Blu-ray player, apps and eventually Android TV to USA originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 07:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Liquid Mini and BeTouch E210 hands-on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/08/acer-liquid-mini-and-betouch-e210-hands-on/

Acer didn't just land in Vegas with Iconia tablets galore -- it brought along its new Liquid Mini and BeTouch E210 Froyo smartphones. The 3.2-inch Liquid Mini is the most interesting of the two, and like its larger older brothers, it's made of a black glossy plastic, which is bound to pick up more fingerprints than Sherlock Holmes. It will be actually be available in quite a number of hues, but Acer only had the black one on display. Still it's one cute phone, and with a 600MHz Qualcomm 7227 processor, 512MB of memory, and a 5 megapixel cam it's bound to fill Acer's mid-range smartphone offering quite nicely. That said, the unit we saw hanging around Acer's private suites wasn't working all that well -- in fact, it rebooted itself twice. This one was running Acer's own software layer on top of 2.2; the BeTouch E210 seemed to be running stock Froyo. Speaking of the BeTouch, it's a lot like the E130 with its BlackBerry-like form factor and awesome physical keyboard, except the E210 has been slimmed down and upgraded to that aforementioned 600MHz Qualcomm CPU. The E310 on display was working much better than the Liquid and while it wasn't blazing fast, it kept up with our scrolling and navigating in and out of menus. No word on US availability, but they should be hitting the UK market sometime soon. Hit the break for some beauty shots.

Acer Liquid Mini and BeTouch E210 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 07:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kingston launches USB 3.0 roadmap, SDHC UHS-I UltimateXX card

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/08/kingston-launches-usb-3-0-roadmap-sdhc-uhs-i-ultimatexx-card/

The SD Association took the opportunity to introduce the UHS-II standard here at CES, but Kingston's doing its best to just make the most of the protocols that are available in the here and now. The outfit has just introduced its latest range of SDHC cards, the USH-I UltimateXX, which is set to ship later this month and be perfectly backwards compatible with Class 4, 6 and 10 equipment. We're told that it'll hit read rates of 60MB/sec and write rates of 35MB/sec, with pricing set for $69.99 (8GB), $179.99 (16GB) and $349.99 (32GB). In related news, the outfit's also launching its DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 USB flash drive, and it has plans to launch an entry-level flash drive in "late Q2 / early Q3." Head on past the break for the full skinny.

Continue reading Kingston launches USB 3.0 roadmap, SDHC UHS-I UltimateXX card

Kingston launches USB 3.0 roadmap, SDHC UHS-I UltimateXX card originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 09:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iRig Mic: because your iPad, iPhone and iPod just aren't complete sans a microphone

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/08/irig-mic-because-your-ipad-iphone-and-ipod-just-arent-complet/

IK Multimedia, the same dudes and dudettes responsible for the downright hilarious iKlip, seem to be on somewhat of a hot streak. This week, the company's hitting back with the iRig iMic, hailed as the first handheld condenser microphone for the iPhone. The image above truly explains it all -- it's designed to plug directly into your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, and so long as you've got a recording app of choice, you'll be capturing your vocals in no time flat. The obvious next step is to run everything through the T-Pain app, but for those who'd rather roll more naturally, IK's VocaLive effects processor is tossed in gratis. Pricing details are being kept under wraps for reasons unknown, but let's be honest -- you're buying one even if it means losing two arms and a leg.

Continue reading iRig Mic: because your iPad, iPhone and iPod just aren't complete sans a microphone

iRig Mic: because your iPad, iPhone and iPod just aren't complete sans a microphone originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 08:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel's been wishin' and hopin' for a Microsoft tablet OS, Windows 8 rumors recommence

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/08/intels-been-wishin-and-prayin-for-a-microsoft-tablet-os-wind/

We're not going to lie, Microsoft's news on the tablet front here at CES has been quite a disappointment. While it teased that it's working on "the next version of Windows" for ARM, it didn't talk about its plans for a tablet-based OS at all. It's been Windows 7 and more Windows 7. And according to CNET, we're not the only ones that want Microsoft to show some movement on the tablet UI front -- Intel has been pushing Microsoft for a long time. In addition, Intel's marketing chief Tom Kilroy seemed to imply that Microsoft's tablet solution is still a ways off. Now, of course, Microsoft seems to be moving away from Intel and starting to work on some flavor of Windows for ARM chips, and perhaps related to that, ZDNet's Microsoft maven Mary Jo Foley has heard quite a bit about a new "application model" for Windows 8 called Jupiter. Foley has heard that Microsoft is working on a new XAML user interface for Win 8, which will support "smoother animation," more media capabilities, and "immersive apps." It will also be lightweight, and thus, ideal for tablets or slates. Microsoft's Vice President of Microsoft's Developer Division Soma Somasegar actually seemed to confirm the project to Foley, but claims it has changed directions quite a bit. So, what does this all mean? In sum, Microsoft's in no better position on the tablet front than it was a few weeks or months ago. And the wait continues...

Intel's been wishin' and hopin' for a Microsoft tablet O! S, Windo ws 8 rumors recommence originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 16:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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