Items tagged with ces2012
In this latest episode of HotHardware's Two and Half Geeks, Marco, Iyaz and Dave discuss highlights from CES 2012 in Las Vegas, including OCZ's new blistering fast PCI Express and SATA SSD technologies, Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga, Intel Medfield Smartphones, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF700T, Samsung's Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD, and AMD's Trinity APU. We also cover some recent HotHardware articles featuring a Toshiba Ultrabook and Intel’s Core i7-3820, and talk about our current contest in which someone could win great PC gaming gear from Gigabyte... Show Notes: 01:36 - Storage Vision, OCZ's Suite at the Aria - ZDrive R5, Everest 2 etc. ...
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As is always the case, CES 2012 was a complete blur of big product announcements, bleeding-edge technology and a mass of humanity clamoring to see it all. Our coverage of the event and the various product announcements came so fast and furious that, unless you were checking the page every few minutes (not a bad idea actually), you probably missed at least a few highlights. Fear not, as we're going to aggregate all of the major product announcements to hit our news channel, here in one big roll-up on the following pages. In addition, some of what we considered to be the "Best of CES" type products were featured in our full detailed coverage atop the home page, but we'll run down those...
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We don't want to go so far as to call the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the Rocky Balboa of technology conventions, but let's face it, there's a bit of uncertainty in regards to its longevity. In the past few years, CES didn't seem to bustle to the same extent it once did, and the gut punch this year came when Microsoft announced this would be the last time it would have a major presence at the show, giving up its floor space and not committing to future keynotes. Is CES done for? Not quite. As it turns out, CES 2012 was the largest in the event's 44 year history with a record number of more than 3,100 exhibitors across the largest show floor the convention has ever had -- 1.861 million...
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We still can't get over the irony: Although Microsoft now owns Skype, the video calling service is still not available on Microsoft's Windows Phone platform. Microsoft has promised Skype will be available someday to Windows Phone users, but that's still a pretty vague timeframe. It would appear the Windows Phone Skype app may be nearing its release. During an interview at CES 2012, Skype's VP of products, Rick Osterloh, said the company is working on a Windows Phone product that will be "coming out soon." Although we still don't know an exact timeframe, this gives us a bit more hope that the app will actually be available sooner rather than later. With Mobile World Congress coming up next month...
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"Smart" is still in, and while 3D took a back seat to a lot of other things at CES 2012, intelligence is still at the front of most companies' minds. Samsung is tapping into a technology developed by Flixster and Rovi, where consumers will be able to import their existing Blu-ray and DVD collections from participating studios into the UltraViolet Cloud, which will make them viewable on a wide range of products. Moreover, Disc to Digital can work with any authorized retail service and will initially be available using a new Flixster application on Samsung's Smart Hub. When consumers insert an eligible physical disc into a 2012 Samsung Blu-ray player and select the Disc to Digital icon, they will...
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Small is in, and there's little questioning that. And the latest "small" gizmo is coming to us courtesy of HSTi. The company's Moboplay Pocket Media Player is said to be the world's smallest, measuring just 60mm x 64mm, which is smaller than a credit card. Even being that compact, it's capable of playing back 1080p material via HDMI, and there's a USB port / SD card slot if you want to load media up via either of those methods. Or, you could plug in the company's Wireless Media Stick to make similar things happen without wires. Best of all, it's just $89.95; trouble is... how will you keep yourself from losing it?...
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Mobile payments are quite clearly riding the wave into the future, and with Google Wallet taking charge on just a few phones, there's plenty of opportunity for others to come in and steal some of that pie. Visa has recently begun the certification of smartphones for use as Visa Mobile Payment Devices. In particularly, NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Research In Motion approved for use with Visa payWave, Visa's mobile application for payments at the point-of-sale. Visa payWave will support the Galaxy S II, LG Optimus NET NFC, BlackBerry Bold 9900, Bold 9700 and Curve 9360, as well as the Curve 9380. All the new devices certified by Visa host the Visa payWave...
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GoPro? Nah, it's GoBandit. The company has launched what they're calling the world's first "action cam with integration Wi-Fi" at CES 2012 this week, and while we've seen Wi-Fi make its way into a lot of new stuff recently, this one definitely takes the cake. The first action cam in the world to integrate wireless connectivity, gobandit LIVE allows adrenaline junkies to view, edit and share their videos with their smartphone instantly. With gobandit LIVE, athletes can now share their experiences on the fly. Like the first gobandit action cam, gobandit LIVE allows users to integrate performance data, such as speed, altitude and position to name a few, into their videos. Journalists and sports-minded...
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WOWee ONE, a company well-versed in ultra-portable speakers, and MicroVision, an outfit responsible for a number of ultra-miniature laser display technologies, are joining forces at CES. They're unveiling their collaboration to bring enhanced mobile visual and audio experiences to smartphone and tablet users in more than 120 countries, and they're teaming together to bring customers a portable, immersive digital consumption experience, by combining WOWee ONE’s revolutionary Gel-Audio based portable speakers with MicroVision’s award winning products based on PicoP portable display engine technology giving users the ability to instantly share and enjoy their content with colleagues,...
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More Classmate PCs based on Intel’s Learning Series are coming down the pipe; CTL showed off two new models at CES, as did Lenovo, and both companies are offering traditional clamshell laptop and convertible form factors. CTL’s 2go Classmate PC E12 laptop and 2go Convertible Classmate PC NL3 have 10.1-inch screens and feature a dual-core Intel Atom N2600 (1.66 GHz), up to 2GB of DDR3 RAM, and either up to a 320GB-capacity HDD or 128GB SSD, as well as WiFi and Ethernet for connectivity. (The NL3 also has a 3.5G chip inside.) Both have audio jacks, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, VGA, HDMI, 2-in-1 card reader, stereo audio, and an omni-directional microphone and come packing educational software....
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Perhaps Dish Network should just pull the plug on Blockbuster completely, but instead it looks like the once popular DVD rental store is destined to die a slow death. The satellite service provider indicated it would be closing more Blockbuster locations in the coming months than originally planned, and those that remain will turn into quasi-Dish Network customer service locations. News of additional closures comes from Dish Network Chief Executive Joe Clayton, who spoke with Reuters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. Clayton said that any location not making a profit will be boarded up. Source: Flickr (lucias_clay) "We are committed to keeping the profitable stores open...
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Samsung isn't among the world's top five PC vendors, not according to IDC or Gartner, both of which lump the manufacturer in the "Others" category behind Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, and Asus. That's just the way it is, though it hasn't stopped Samsung for setting some pretty ambitious goals for itself. One of those goals is to become the market leader in notebooks. Samsung had plenty of new notebook models on display at CES 2012, indicating the company is ready to hit the ground running. Gregory Lee, who serves as Samsung's Executive Vice President, said that the notebook category is becoming an increasingly important sector for the company, according to DigiTimes. Samsung has so far...
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Our coverage of the latest technology on display as CES continues today, with some goodies from Zotac. In addition to offering some hot graphics cars, Zotac has also been innovating in the small form factor and mini-ITX motherboard markets, especially over the last couple of years. As such, it should come as no surprise that Zotac had a number of their diminutive ZBOX systems on display, along with a handful of new / upcoming mini-ITX motherboards. Zotac ZBOX Nano ID61 Plus Two new ZBOXes were on display in Zotac’s suite, more specifically, the ZBOX Nano ID82 Plus and the ZBOX ID61 Plus, both of which are based on Intel platforms. The ZBOX Nano ID61 is a Sandy Bridge-based machine...
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Well, well -- Microsoft seems to be making more money these days from Android than their own mobile OS. As it turns out, Microsoft has good reason to demand royalties from Android, and so any major company selling Android devices is ripe to be plucked for cash. This week, Microsoft and LG hammered out a patent agreement that covers Android and Chrome OS-based products. The deal is being kept under wraps outside of that, but the implications are clear. Now, 70% of US Android smartphones are covered by these agreements; so when you buy Android, there's a good chance you're benefiting Microsoft. "We are pleased to have built upon our longstanding relationship with LG to reach a mutually beneficial...
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Plextor's made a few announcements during the CES stretch, and here's another. The company has just revealed a snazzy new PlexEasy DVD/CD burner, which aims to provide PC-free backups. It's a stand-alone optical storage solution, consisting of a compact 8X DVD/CD Writer with a built-in SD/MMC card reader and a USB connector. It has the ability to connect directly to a wide variety of devices including both mass storage devices and Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) devices such cameras, smartphones, tablets, and camcorders. Now for the first time, users can burn photos directly from a camera (point-and-shoot or DSLR) or smartphone (iOS, Android, Blackberry, etc.) without going near a computer or...
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Weak consumer demand and a limited impact from the Thailand floods in the last part of the year drove PC sales down significantly in the US, while the global market saw a smaller 1.4 percent decline. The impact of the HDD shortage is expected to bite partly in Q1; while the floods hit in Q4, most manufacturers had sufficient inventory levels to see them through much of the end of the year. “Continuously low consumer PC demand resulted in weak holiday PC shipments,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “While economic uncertainty in Western Europe had an effect on consumer PC shipments, expectations of a healthier economic outlook in North America could not stimulate...
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This will make Apple cult members swoon, and on-the-go musicians will at least find it worth checking out: iConnectivity is debuting its new iConnectMUSE, a portable digital audio mini-mixer designed specifically for iOS devices. The iConnectMUSE features six stereo inputs and outputs, two USB ports for other devices, a pair of 1.4-inch in/out jacks, a MIDI pass-thru interface, a headphone jack, an Ethernet port, and DSP processing. The device will be available in Q2 2012 with an MSRP of $299.99. iConnectivity™ Unveils iConnectMUSE™ Digital Audio Mixer, Bringing Studio Grade, Professional Mixing Capabilities to iOS Devices Everywhere Ultra-portable, compact digital audio mixer features...
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Well, well, well, it looks as though a Verizon employee "dropped" a carrier document containing the company's latest MAP (minimum advertised price) list for several make and model smartphones, including Motorola's upcoming Droid 4. Lucky for you, the MAP list was picked up and posted online -- strange how that always seems to happen. In any event, the Droid 4 is listed at $249, which is the price after a two-year service agreement. The $249 price tag will be valid up until July 10, 2012, though curiously missing is any mention of a release date, something Big Red is apparently still deciding on. According to Motorola's published spec sheet, the Droid 4 will boast a 4-inch qHD screen (down slightly...
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Rockchip isn't a name like Qualcomm or Intel, but their in a lot of the lesser-known products that hit lower price points. The Chinese company is here at CES 2012 to reveal the new RK2918 chip for Google's Android 4.0 Operating System, and announce the pending arrival of their eHome Cloud Solution as well. The chip will be featured in a number of upcoming slates with Android 4.0. As for the eHome Cloud Solution, Rockchip says the technology will be compatible with Android 2.3 initially, and will update to 4.0 in February 2012. This will allow users to wirelessly sync tablets and smartphones with all computers in their family network, exchanging resources, sharing and even playing. Someone's in...
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HDTVs? Yeah, CES 2012 has plenty of those to go around. Panasonic just introduced their 2012 line of Smart Viera Plasma sets, which center on five new points: Networking, Easy Operation, Picture Quality, Eco and Design elements. There's 17" new models, which range in size from 42" to 65". Also new for 2012 is a cloud-based architecture to increase the VIERA Connect IPTV platform to an unlimited number of apps, thereby cementing its reputation for creating innovative and cutting edge products and focusing on providing the consumer with the ultimate in home entertainment. New to select VIERA TVs is the inclusion of a browser, further enhancing the internet platform, as well as the addition of "3D...
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We already told you about some of Gigabyte’s next-gen motherboard technology, but as expected, the company has lots more in the offing, including a bevy of mobile gear and new 28nm Radeon HD 7970 graphics cards. And of course, we have loads of pictures for you. Starting with the upcoming Z77 motherboards, we’ve already seen images of the GA-Z77X-UD3H, G1.Sniper 3 and G1.Sniper M3, and the small business-oriented B75M-D3H. Now, we have photos of a few more Z77 boards, as well. Bear in mind that these are mostly engineering--note the lack of the G1 series' trademark green-and-black color scheme, for example--so things will likely change somewhat, but it's still a great look at what...
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Remember when Plextor ruled the optical drive market with premium ODDs that typically performed better than the competition? That was long before the price of CD/DVD burners fell to around the cost of a case of water, and these days Plextor appears fully focused on solid state drives (SSDs). Announced at CES 2012 is Plextor's new M3 Pro Series, an improved version of the original M3. The M3 Pro Series uses high-grade 24nm Toggle Flash memory, includes updated firmware, and boasts a new 7mm height form factor for use in ultra-slim notebooks. Sequential read and write speeds have been bumped up to 540MB/s and 450MB/s, respectively, and random read/write speeds have gone up about 7 percent to 75,000/69,000...
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