Archive for January 13th, 2008

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In the beginning, Bluetooth headsets were a bit off-putting. You stuck one in your ear, called a friend on your mobile phone, and watched as people on the street looked on as you had a conversation — seemingly with yourself. But things have changed drastically since then. These small, wireless gadgets are now ubiquitous, gracing the earlobes of everyone from the guy on the next treadmill to your grandma in her car. So what are the coolest, most innovative we saw at CES that’ll find their way to store shelves this year? Take a look at our five favorites:

BlueAnt Wireless V1: Forget playing with buttons, checking on blinking lights or messing with your cell phone when you want to make a call. The BlueAnt V1 is the first completely voice controlled Bluetooth headset and it’s superneat. With just one button to activate it — all you do is talk and it will talk right back. Want to call the operator? Just speak and your wish is its command. Speed dial has never been so easy, either. Using advanced Voice Recognition and Voice Synthesis technology, the V1 also has dual microphones and proprietary Voice Isolation Technology, which allows the headset to hear you clearly and provides amazing noise reduction, echo cancellation and even protection from wind. Small and lightweight, the V1 gets up to six hours of talk time or 200 hours of standby with one battery charge. And all this for just $119. (Image by way of MobileWhack.com)

 

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The early results are in. No, not for the next presidential primary. It’s Thumplay’s list of the top mobile phone ringtone downloads thus far for 2008. At $2.99 a pop is it worth it to you? Give them a listen and decide for yourself.

DJ Khaled ft. T Pain, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross and Plies
I’m So Hood

Fergie
Clumsy

Playaz Circle ft. Lil’ Wayne
Duffle Bag Boy

Shop Boyz
Party Like A Rock Star (Totally Dude)

The Dream
Shawty Is Da…(10)

J. Holiday
Bed

Rihanna
Hate That I Love You (Rihanna Chorus)

Timbaland ft. OneRepublic
Apologize

Rihanna
Shut Up And Drive

Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em
Soulja Girl

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Laser TV from Mitsubishi is Unreal

The market for HDTVs is flooded with competing technologies and not to mention perplexing acronyms and abbreviations — DLP, LCD, OLED, Plasma, SED. Now you can add Laser TV to your list of display technologies to know. Mitsubishi unveiled a 65-inch laser television at an event during this week’s CES — and people at this week’s CES show were buzzing about the incredible color and contrast.

Mitsubishi isn’t revealing details about exactly how it works, but we do know it is based on a rear projection system, meaning that this is never going to be as thin as those sexy OLEDs on display. And who knows what the future holds for big and bulky projection TVs, whose stars are falling almost as quickly as those of HD-DVD. But the laser TV does have a leg up in the image quality department. Apparently, colors were so intense and contrast so dramatic that Greg Adler at PC World described it as “artificial” looking.

Pricing isn’t available, but Mitsubishi plans to have the displays on the market by fall of 2008.

From Engadget

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Soon it may be easier to list the companies that don’t have navigation devices in their roster of products than those who do.

If the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show proved anything about the personal navigation category, it’s that finding your way from point A to point B is what manufacturer’s think will get you to find your way to the store to buy a new GPS device.

Garmin and TomTom, the two leading personal navigation device (PND) makers, are certainly looking over their shoulders as major brands such as Sony, Panasonic and Pioneer introduce new devices. Rather than being simply test products for a burgeoning market, the new GPS devices by these major cross-category consumer electronics companies are serious contenders, offer a plethora of the latest features.

Nevertheless, even upstart companies such as the one below are adding innovative features into the mix. The result? There has never been a better year to take the plunge and buy yourself a GPS device.

If you’re in the market for a new GPS device this year, you should take a look at our roundup. We’ve compiled a list of the most anticipated new navigation devices coming out in 2008, along with release dates.

Improved real-time traffic data: No new products at the show, but a continued push to get consumers to pre-order its upcoming product launch. What’s special about DASH? It offers real-time traffic data based on the position of other DASH-equipped cars (plus data from a host of other sources). If the product works as promised, the extra bulk of the unit on your windshield won’t matter because you’ll be getting where you need to go in less time. The DASH Express will cost $599.99.

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Ad Notam parades mirror TVs

[CES 2008] Mirror TVs are old hat by now, but Ad Notam’s booth was certainly interesting to look at as they presented a fair bit of variety. The Ad Notam representative claimed that these custom displays measure anywhere from 2.5″ to 3.9″ thick while featuring low heat emission. The power source is located outside, hence the opportunity to keep temperatures low. The bathroom units are (naturally) waterproof, and the wires are all protected with a metal pipe. There isn’t any specific price tags attached to these displays, but logic dictates they ought to retail for a premium over regular LCD TVs. There’s a new feature available with their line now – a wireless bathroom mirror TV. Indulgence or necessity? You decide with your wallet.

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Take a break at the Oxygen Bar

[CES 2008] CES is huge, so all the walking around and jostling with more than a hundred thousand folks can get pretty tiring after four days. Take five at the Oxygen Bar - I know that the Japanese have these oxygen cans on sale for quite some time now, but this is something refreshing to look at even though it is not new. Hopefully all those tired and gloomy-looking faces you see on top will brighten up once they’re done with a dose of pure oxygen.

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HyperDrive COLORSPACE gets an upgrade

[CES 2008] Remember the HyperDrive COLORSPACE that you saw last year? Well, there is a new version that will be released this month known as the COLORSPACE O. It shares the same dimensions as the previous COLORSPACE, measuring 133mm x 75mm x 25mm while parading a new and improved QVGA LCD screen (larger, too) at 3.2″ with 262k colors. I like the automatic image orientation that is useful when you’re previewing photos of different orientations. Unfortunately, it supports 7 less memory card types compared to the previous COLORSPACE’s 18. Other than that, everything else is pretty much the same. The COLORSPACE O will hit the streets sometime this month for $249. You’ll need to supply your very own 2.5″ hard drive though. For those who are out of the loop, the COLORSPACE O is a memory card backup device that does away with the need for a computer.

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Brica does 8 megapixels on its phone

[CES 2008] Looks like China is catching up with the rest of the camera phone world in terms of megapixels with the Brica KT600 handset touching the 8 megapixel mark. You don’t get any sort of fancy optics with this unlike Sony Ericsson and Nokia offerings, but the KT600 ought to more than capture decent images on the go in 8 megapixel glory and the Xenon flash light. The KT600 also does video capture, but you can forget about 3G with this since GPRS is about as fast as it can go where mobile data is concerned. The FCC have not yet taken a look at this, so until then there won’t be any word on pricing or availability.

  • VGA MPEG4 30fps recording
  • 900/1800/1900 GSM
  • GPRS connectivity
  • Xenon flash light
  • miniSD memory card slot

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Foxda 6687 MP3 player pulls a Sony

[CES 2008] Foxda’s 6687 MP3 player takes its styling cues from Sony, featuring a negative LCD display that can be seen only when you activate it, otherwise the screen disappears into the glossy and shiny background. I’d say you would best get some sort of protective case (or the Invisible Shield) for it lest it picks up nicks and scratches the moment you open the box.

  • Supports MP3, WMA and VBR formats
  • Memory range from 128MB to 4GB
  • Multi-language options
  • FM stereo tuner and optional FM recording
  • Negative LCD display
  • Auto-power off
  • Digital Voice Recording

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Smells like cheap knockoff spirit.

 

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