“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the hottest of them all?” Brothers Grimm style questions will soon be answerable by NEC Avio’s Thermo Mirror SX-01, which bundles a contact-free digital thermometer inside a mirror so as to make checking for flu symptoms more straightforward for businesses and public venues.
The SX-01 doesn’t rely on new technology – NEC Avio have been offering infrared thermography devices for a long time now, supplying kit for airports and seaports during SARS and flu epidemics – but it does promise to make it more affordable. A regular NEC Avio contact-free thermometer costs upward of $6,000; however the Thermo Mirror is expected to come in at around ($1,186) for the entry-level SX-01A.
To achieve that it only measures temperature at a single point – usually the forehead – and uses basic lights to show health: green for the all-clear, red (and an alarm) if you’re burning up. A more advanced version, the SX-01B, will be able to trigger external devices and combine its own measurements with those of external sensors.
I used to take guitar lessons as a kid and my instructor would tune the guitar every time I went in using a tuning fork and his ear. Things are a lot simpler now with high tech tuners like the new Intellitouch CT1 Capo tuner from OnBoard Research. The turner clips to the guitar and will work with 6-string and 12-string guitars.
The tuner uses vibration-based tuning technology with a single action capo. The thing is automatic and shows the measures note on a large backlit LCD for easy tuning. The backlighting on the screen changes from red to green when the note is correctly tuned.
The tuner can be put on any fret on the guitar and can be put on the headstock when the capo function isn’t needed. The device is made from aluminum and uses a CR2032 battery. Users can also change the A-Reference from 430Hz to 450Hz if wanted and the tuner will shut off automatically after 3-minutes of inactivity. The CT1 sells for $54.95.
Before the Consumer Electronics Show kicked off in Las Vegas, I wrote up a piece about how I was excited, and equally uneasy, about the trip to Vegas and the impending show. It’s the biggest tech show around, and while it may not seem like it, there really is a lot to do. But, time marches on, and here we are a couple days after the show has officially wrapped up. So, I figured I’d tell you how it all went, and whether or not I’m looking forward to next year’s extravaganza.
This year’s CES was one of the best. That’s what Ben Bajarin had to say about the show, and I think I’d have to agree with him. The truth is, seeing it from down on the showroom floor, or inside the press conferences, is completely different than reading about it, or even writing about it from a remote location. I’ve covered CES before, but not from the thick of it. It was a new experience, and it was one that I’ll always remember, for sure. But, before I got there, I had heard the horror stories, and took them to heart: limited or no WiFi access at all, bad food, too many people, and horrific traffic. I accepted it as a truth, but let me be honest: I wasn’t expecting what I found.
First and foremost, the traffic and Las Vegas is absurd. I’m not sure what’s happening there, but the drivers are simply insane. Either that, or they just like living life on the edge so much, that they push that way of life to its limits while on the road. I’ve been in a taxi in New York City, Los Angeles, and in Chicago — nothing compares to the crazy things I saw in Vegas. I wouldn’t even get in one of them, had I been given the opportunity. I’ll just go ahead and say this: if you’ve never been to Vegas and you don’t drink or gamble, then you should still go just to watch the traffic. It’s a show in of itself.
And let’s not forget about the pedestrians. They don’t seem to much care about traffic signals, or signs. I can’t even tell you how many times I watched a pack of people just go ahead and cross a busy street, despite the fact that it said no crossing. They just came in droves. And the bigger the initial pack, the longer the trailing line of people was. And, it didn’t matter that the vehicles had the right of way — it’s not like they were just going to run them all down, right there in the crosswalk. So, I watched as traffic got backed up a countless number of times, all because people were brave enough to just do what they wanted.
As for the show itself, it really is huge. Spanning two buildings, with one central hall in between them with even more gagets and devices, and booths, the entire event is one that you can probably see from space. And there are so many people. Trying to catch a break is impossible, because no matter where you are, there’s going to be someone else there. Or someone else walking by. There were plenty of times where I found myself on the fourth our fifth floor of the Venetian hotel, trying to find a WiFi connection that wasn’t being hampered by thousands of other computers. Even if it was quiet for the most part, there was always someone close by.
And there is a lot of walking to be done. While on the showroom floor, you have to move from one booth to another. Constantly on your feet, even for product demonstrations and hands-on, you’re never sitting for long. If you do find a seat in the press room, you’ll find yourself hoarding it like it was food, and you haven’t eaten in days. Especially if you manage to connect to the Internet for longer than five minutes with a quick connection.
And then there’s the food. It’s really hit or miss. Most conferences ended with a table next to the exit with plenty of food in boxes, waiting for the attendees to scramble out and grab one. Soda was certainly on hand in abundance. For me, it wasn’t necessarily about finding food, but finding food I wanted to eat. I found some of the craziest sandwich combinations, most of which I couldn’t even imagine eating on any given day. But, considering how busy I was, getting time to eat was pretty thin, so I managed to eat whatever they put in front of me.
Except seafood.
In the end, a lot of the horror stories are true. There isn’t a constant, reliable WiFi connection anywhere near people; the food is usually terrible; and there certainly is a lot of walking to do. But, was it worth it? Without a doubt. Will I do it again? Without hesitation. Seeing and meeting so many people, all of which are great and integral parts of an industry I love so much is something I would never pass up. Seeing old friends, making new ones, all while getting to play, see, and talk about the latest and greatest in gadgets, phones, and the tech industry in general is something that, for me, I would never think twice about.
Any busy family or professional has to write things down on occasion. I know in my house we go through more scratch paper and note pads than I never dreamed we would. A company called Kent Displays has a cool digital replacement for all those paper notes some folks make called the Boogie Board.
The device is a LCD writing tablet that is pressure sensitive and uses a LCD from Kent called the Reflex No Power LCD as a writing surface. The tablets are surprisingly cheap at $41.95 each and the company has unveiled six new colors for people to choose from. More features and more colors will also be unveiled this year according to the maker.
The new colors and tablets are on display at CES 2011 right now. The table comes white, red, pink, yellow, black, green, and blue. You can order this up now.
When you buy something, hopefully your first instinct isn’t to just return it. Sure, things happen, and that’s more than likely why Best Buy, one of the nation’s largest electronics retailers, has decided to go ahead and start looking at making it possible for customers to sell their wares back to the store. First it was killing restocking fees. Now they’ve got something new. They’re calling it the Best Buy Buy Back Program, and it’s designed for those who are worried about their devices becoming obsolete after they make their expensive purchase.
The program will be set in place for cellphones, laptops, tablets, netbooks, and TVs — as long as the TVs are priced under $5,000. Best Buy is ready to kick things off on January 5th, but the commercials won’t start hitting the airwaves or print until a month later, to build customer awareness of the program. The way that Best Buy will work this depends on the product you’re trying to “buy back.” A TV, as long as it is under $5,000, will get you a 50% return as long as it is brought back within 6 months of the original bill of sale. Between six to 12 months, and you’ll receive 40%. At 12 to 18 months, you’ll be able to get 30%, and 20% for returning it between 18 and 24 months. In the third and fourth years of ownership, you’ll still be able to get 10% of the MSRP.
You won’t be getting cash for your “buy backs,” though. Best Buy will be happy to fork over a gift card, though. So, while it may not be perfect, it’s still good to see that Best Buy is expanding their perception of a return, and giving the customers more options.
Despite the fact that I’ve been writing about technology for a while now, I consider today a big day for me. Actually, I consider today a day that will be one that I remember for the rest of my life. Sorry for beating around the bush, but I imagine that the title of this column probably gave it away: this is my first visit to Las Vegas while the Consumer Electronics Show is in town. Why is today such a big day? Because today’s the day I’m taking my flight to Vegas, and teaming up with the rest of the SlashGear and Android Community crew, where we’re going to run around with a chaotic purpose to do just one thing: bring you images, stories, and videos of what’s happening at this year’s show. But, while we’re doing that, here’s the truth: I’m going to be scared out of my mind.
I’m already scared, and my flight isn’t for another few hours. I’ve been reading all of the stories, the predictions, the hints and guesses about what’s to come at this year’s show. I’ve got a few assumptions of my own about what’s going to be unveiled, and about how things are going to go about, but the truth is, nothing I can do on my own is going to prepare me for what’s about to happen. The next several days are going to be some of the most chaotic, disruptive, stressful, but ultimately memorable that I can imagine, and I’m looking forward to them like I was a small child waiting for Christmas day.
That’s probably a good correlation between events. A lot of people believe that these shows are much like Christmas, where we get to see all of the brand new toys heading to the market some time in the future. I can see that. And that’s probably why I’m so nervous. Because this isn’t just a few presents under the tree. This is huge. This is several hundred toys, but instead of being under a tree, they’re in booths. There’s going to be showing them off, and other people taking photos, or video, and asking question after question. And I’m going to be in all of it, moving from one booth to the next, talking to the people showing off the products, playing with the products, and then writing it all down to tell you about it. To tell you about the toys. About the events.
And thinking about it just terrifies me even more. But, truth be told, it is what it is. This is one event in 2011 that may go down in history as the show for tablets, or 3D, or the sweep of 4G devices. Whatever the takeaway is, I’m going to be right there, figuring out how it all makes sense in this crazy world. And no matter what, it’s going to be something that keeps me on my toes the whole time. Exercise, all the while getting to play with some of the greatest things to hit the market since sliced bread. It doesn’t get any better than that, now does it?
And what’s better, is the fact that I get to meet the people that I work with every day, face-to-face. Finally. We’re brought together by this event, and what’s a better way to get a bunch of people who love technology, and who love to write about it, then an event like CES 2011? And despite the fact that I may be terrified of the next few days, it boils down to telling all of you about what’s coming, and showing you all the great things that you’ll definitely be excited about for the next couple of weeks, or months. Maybe you’ll find the next gadget you want so badly, that you mark its release date on your schedule. That’s what it’s all about.
So even if I’m scared out of my mind, I can’t wait to tackle it, and get it done. So, wish me luck. Here’s to my first CES.
We’ve already told you what to expect from 2011 and the imminent CES 2011 show next week, courtesy of Tim Bajarin’s excellent editorial, but it wouldn’t be fair to the departing twelve months to let them pass without a SlashGear wrap-up. 2010 has seen its share of highs along with a fair few worrying lows, with Apple extending its much-coveted brand to include a best-selling tablet, Android growth bursting through the roof, and privacy becoming the buzzword seldom from headlines.
Apple iPad
We were calling 2010 the year of the tablet all the way back at CES in January, and there are two companies that have epitomized that theme in the intervening months. Apple’s iPad put years of rumors to rest when Steve Jobs confirmed the tablet’s existence in late January, and went on in April to do what Microsoft never quite managed: drive tablet computing into the mainstream. Decried and praised in almost equal measure for the structured nature of its software environment – labeled both as limiting and user-friendly – the iPad prompted dozens of knock-offs and even more analyst pondering on what exactly the Apple tablet was cannibalising.
Notion Ink
The second company shaping tablet discussion this year could hardly be more different in scale, but still managed to muster a hugely loyal and forgiving fanbase. Notion Ink burst onto the Android tablet scene back when it was in its fledgling stages, and has punctuated the year with its own share of highs and lows. Branded vaporware and the “one true iPad killer” by those to whom extremes are everything, it’s been a fascinating story of an ambitious start-up that promises to culminate in early January 2011 as the first units are finally delivered. Still, pushing out a product is almost the easy part – just ask the JooJoo team – and it remains to be seen how Adam will fare against the torrent of tablet alternatives expected next week.
Android
A fair chunk of those alternatives are expected to run Android, and 2010 has seen Google’s mobile OS bulldoze its way to a significant chunk of market share and an impressive amount of consumer brand recognition. Android smartphones have arguably been at the forefront of the year’s key developments: WiMAX on the HTC EVO 4G, Google’s attempt to usurp carrier dominance with direct sales of the Nexus One. In the course of twelve months, Android handsets have effectively replaced BlackBerry devices as Verizon customers’ smartphones of choice, and turned the smartphone race into, for many, a two-horse battle between Google and Apple.
iPhone 4
Apple’s response was the iPhone 4, the company’s fourth-generation smartphone and an advance in both performance and usability. The high-res Retina Display shook the WVGA handset world out of its complacency, while the A4 processor left the iPhone 4 as the smoothness benchmark against which other devices were measured. Almost as interesting, though, was the growing backlash among the industry toward the handset, a love/hate relationship that saw the smartphone’s launch scooped with a controversial pay-for-play leaked prototype, vultures circulating as reception and durability concerns plagued the iPhone, and Apple’s ecosystem control mentioned alongside such traditional bogeymen as Microsoft. The iPhone 4 ended up at the top of many 2010 retrospectives, but getting there was not the smooth ride Steve Jobs perhaps expected.
App Stores
Manufacturers continued to push smartphone hardware, but chipsets and megapixels increasingly had to share space with software in 2010. Apple’s App Store set the blueprint for mobile software downloads, the benchmark that joined device sales in judging the success of a platform. Ironically, in the race to secure the “most apps of any platform” title, how users would actually wade through that software and pick out the gems was left unexplored. Microsoft made a play to capitalize on that with the launch of Windows Phone 7, working with – and in some circumstances paying – developers to build them a best-of-breed grounding to get the Windows Phone Marketplace off to a solid start.
Smart TV
Apps are a trend that look set to jump to our larger electronics, too, with the growth in attention toward Smart TV offerings like Google TV and Apple TV. Netflix announced a shift in direction as it placed increasing emphasis on streaming content over DVD mail-outs, and the idea of cloud-based media being a solid alternative to downloads grew more acceptable as home broadband speeds increased. For all its subscribers and bandwidth, though, it’s still a fledgling industry, and questions over DRM and content owners getting paid will carry on into 2011. When content can be blocked from Boxee, Google TV and others at the simple whim of the networks, companies can’t expect user confidence that their new STB will continue to do what was promised on the box.
Net Neutrality
Seldom understood and bitterly contested, net neutrality has in many ways been the fight for the internet that many users haven’t even realised was going on. At stake is the equality of our connectivity, and the rights that ISPs and others have to limit, block or otherwise control what we can connect and at what speed. Recent FCC rulings in the US have addressed some, though not all, concerns, and the arguments and legislation are no way near over yet.
Privacy
Data leaks are a fact of life when we live digitally, but privacy stories clinched headlines repeatedly in 2010 as we generally failed to successfully walk the fine line between sharing everything or sharing nothing. Whether it was hacked, accidentally disclosed or simply misused, we’ve seen big companies, websites and more get their hands burnt with increasingly valuable personal information and location data. Over-arching all of that has been WikiLeaks, itself prompting arguments over the compromises we accept in the name of security, the rights of governments to their own kind of privacy, and journalistic integrity. Over-sharing isn’t going away, and now the stakes are much higher. Facebook has overtaken Google as the most popular site, and there are rumors of Apple, Google and others planning social networks of their own.
SlashGear Team
Online publishing is always evolving, and the SlashGear team love being at the forefront of what’s brightest and most exciting (and, yes, shiny) in this electronic world. We’ve had some exciting additions to our line-up, too, with both industry analysts helping us put today’s tech into tomorrow’s context, and columnists voicing at times challenging views on digital lifestyle. We also launched our own iPhone and iPad SlashGear apps. 2011 promises to be even bigger, and we’ll continue to bring our independent voice to help you sift through the best and worst of consumer technology.
So, that’s 2010 over and done; remember to check out Tim Bajarin’s editorial on what to expect at CES, Ben Bajarin’s 2011 tech predictions, and join us next week for all the SlashGear CES 2011 coverage! From all on the SlashGear team, we hope you have a very Happy New Year!
Agree with our wrap-up or think we’ve missed out something obvious? Let us know your high – and low – points of 2010 in the comments.
December 25, and a fair chunk of the SlashGear audience is probably ripping off brightly covered wrapping paper and getting to grips with a new toy or two. It’s a day when crossed fingers, letters to Santa and heavily dropped hints finally come to fruition, and the tech plaything of your dreams hopefully ends up in your sweaty grasp. All that anticipation, building up to something shiny to play with. Maybe I’m unusual but for me, sometimes, the anticipation is better than the gadget itself.
Perhaps it’s geek-masochism, but I’ve always found the run-up to a new gadget is more exciting than the thing itself generally turns out to be. The research, planning and mental-juggling involved, as you hunt out new reviews or keenly scan through spec sheets and make up comparison checklists. Yes, there’s plenty of joy to be had in finally signing for delivery, ripping open the box and marvelling at whatever it is you’ve treated yourself to (or, even better, been treated to courtesy of someone else’s wallet), but the run-up to it can be equally pleasurable.
Sometimes its the tardiest of products that can be the most rewarding, if you’re similarly addicted to the tech foreplay. Notion Ink’s Adam is perhaps the most topical, with twelve months of build-up, but it’s certainly not the first. Sony Ericsson’s P800 was a lengthy tease, but it only made the excitement that much greater when it eventually arrived in stores and I could finally upgrade. Would I have been so keen – or, indeed, have stuck with the often-flawed P800 experience – if I hadn’t built up that swell of anticipation beforehand?
I once made the mistake of telling the SlashGear team about my love of instruction manuals; I’m one of the few people who actually enjoys reading them. I can remember, a Christmas many years ago, pestering my parents not to have early access to my new HiFi (it was a JVC and had a 6-disc CD changer and a tape deck) but just to the user guide so I could eagerly pore over them until December 25 came around.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the rest of the SlashGear team – despite being huge geeks in their own rights – teased me mercilessly for even considering glancing at the manual. But I can’t help it: there’s something about the anticipation of having a new gadget, of imagining hitting the button combinations that program a 6-disc multitrack playlist (or something slightly more modern, if you prefer) that taps into the same enthusiasm I get from researching potential new purchases.
I don’t have the JVC any more – the CD changer seized up and refused to give me back my Jamiroquai disc, which with hindsight I see was a last-ditch attempt at good taste before it spun its last. I still have the memories of the gleeful anticipation, though, perhaps even more rewarding than the HiFi itself. After all, slot in a CD, punch some buttons and there’s your excitement over with; the real thing couldn’t live up to the promise my imagination had built up. Sometimes, too, the gadget itself simply underperforms: the Sony Ericsson LiveView should’ve been brilliant, but patchy performance and underwhelming functionality meant the reality fell well short of the hype.
Happily, we have the biggest anticipation-generator of the year just around the corner: CES 2011 in January. We’ve been tracking the rumors, leaks and teasers for months now, as companies ramp up to announce what might be under your tree come the 2011 holidays. Twelve months more anticipation, twelve months of poking through manuals and gleaning first-impressions. Much will turn out to be junk, a fair amount won’t even make it to the shelves, but if you’re a geek like me who loves the chase as much as anything else, that’s all part of the game.
Merry Christmas if you celebrate it; Happy Saturday if you don’t.
House keys are generally really boring. You can go to your local Walmart and get keys in colors or with designs on them if you want to, but those aren’t that interesting to some folks. One of the coolest and most interesting keys for your house that I have ever seen is called the Keybrid. The key has its own key ring integrated into it so you can just clip the key to your keychain or just about anything else.
There is nothing complex about the design of the Keybrid, but it is certainly cool. It’s one of those products that you see and wonder why no one else did it before. Right now you can only get the key in plain silver. Next year there will be some new colors added to the line including black, gold, and pink.
The company says that the one key design will fit most of the locks on the market and they even have designs that are made for cars. When you buy, you get a blank key that you take and have cut locally to fit your lock. A single Keybrid sells for $8.99 with the SC1 and KW1 style blank in a package for $16.99.
Welcome to this week’s edition of the SlashGear Week in Review! I hope you had a good Thanksgiving and all those irritating family members you really didn’t want at your house have finally gone home. Early in the week Cox Communications unveiled a new whole home DVR solution that was sure to make fans of TV and movies with packed DVRs happy. The service lets you watch and play DVR programs on any TV in your home.
Apple iSO 4.2 for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch landed this week. The update adds some really nice new feature to the iPad like AirPrint, AirPlay, Game Center and more. Audi unleashed its sweet TTS autonomous racecar to attack Pikes Peak. The car went up the legendary mountain racecourse in 27 minutes. A car with a driver is expected to make it in at least 17 minutes.
The NVIDIA dual GPU GTX 595 video card leaked and the thing looks very impressive. The leak claims that the card may be using dual GF110 GPUs inside. We grabbed some hands on time with the cool Dell Inspiron duo convertible tablet. First impressions are that it’s a heavier tablet than we are used to and we figure it’s more for the at home user than the mobile type.
Microsovision unveiled another of its tiny pico projectors early in the week called the SHOWWX+ laser projector. The thing is able to directly connect to Apple devices. Google Chrome OS notebooks have been delayed according to Google’s Eric Schmidt and won’t land for a “few months”. However it appears that the beta version of the OS is set to land soon.
The official website for the Notion Ink Adam tablet has gone live. The site gives you an easy to navigate area that tells all about the machine for those interested in getting hands on one. If you updated your iPhone to iOS 4.2 this week and want to jailbreak, Dev-Team has the steps you need to take. The bad news is that iPhone 4 users need to tether each time you reboot or turn the device off.
A really cool Acer 4.8-inch screen Android smartphone was unveiled with a screen resolution of 1280 x 480 and we are excited about the thing. It has a 1GHz CPU, 8MP camera, and a lot more. Acer also debuted a cool dual-screen laptop called the Iconia that is really awesome. The thing runs Windows 7 and I want one pretty bad.
We posted up our official review of the Droid Pro this week. We really liked the thing and think it has one of the best keyboards on any Android device but the small screen will leave gamers wanting more. Flash Rods took a model of that awesome Delorean from Back to the Future and crammed a 500GB HDD inside. The final product is one of the coolest external HDDs ever.
If you like to take your iPad with you everywhere and want to keep it dry and safe from dust and more the Drycase was revealed this week. The Drycase is sort of like a big zip lock baggie for your iPad and will keep liquids and more at bay. Scientists have devised a special food that can be fed to pigeons. Once the birds eat the food, their poo is sort of like soap that will clean your car and the things they crap on. This is cool and really gross all at once.
Moshi has unveiled a cool iPhone dock called the MM03i that has a Bluetooth phone attached that you can use for making and receiving calls. It reminds me of one of those old phones from back in the day. Google TVs from both Toshiba and Vizio are expected to surface at CES 2011 according to some rumors. That really is no surprise that the offerings are coming, whether or not people will be interested since networks have killed the best features of Google TV remains to be seen.
We posted up our review of the Logitech Revue Google TV box this week. The device promises lots of potential and at least for now that potential isn’t fully realized. Microsoft unveiled a new Christmas theme for Windows 7 users this week that has some really cool holiday lights images. They also promise an interesting Halo Reach theme for next week.
Russia is planning to spend about $2 billion to clean up some of the space junk in orbit around the Earth right now. The plan is for a pod that will knock stuff out of orbit where it would crash into the ocean or burn up in the atmosphere. Tokyoflash unveils a new watch called the Kisai RPM that looks really cool. The watch has a black stainless steel case and blue LEDs, and I can actually read the thing.
The TSA is the source of a lot of ire over their security practices and the penchant for fondling people. If you want to show them what you think on that full body scan you need these 4th Amendment underwear. Rumors are circulating that the long talked about Sony Ericsson PlayStation Phone will land at MWC 2011. If the thing does land then it had better be more interesting than the PSP or the PSP Go.
Some awesome space tires surfaced Friday that were granted a 2010 R&D Award and were designed by NASA and Goodyear. The tires are built out of 800 interwoven load-bearing springs and look like they were stolen off the lunar lander from the 60′s. That’s all for this week’s edition, have a great weekend!
