CES - Must-see products

Vizio announces ultrawide 21:9 LED LCDs

LAS VEGAS--Today Vizio announced it would be shipping a pair of TVs shaped a bit wider than usual.

The new displays, sized at 50 and 58 inches, will be known as Cinema HDTV, and their LED-backlit LCD screens will have an aspect ratio of 21:9. That's visibly wider than the 16:9 shape used by nearly all other plasma and LCD TVs shipping today in the United States.

The advantage of the shape, according to Vizio, is that it allows the sets to "display 2.35:1 (CinemaScope) movies without any black bars." As the company … Read more

Spot Connect transforms your smartphone into a satellite messenger

LAS VEGAS--If you're the outdoorsy type, chances are that you've often found yourself off the beaten path and away from the safety of a strong wireless signal. What if you wanted to update your family with your location from the top of a mountain? What if you found yourself trapped under a rock in the middle of nowhere and needed help? The Spot product family of GPS-enabled satellite messengers is one solution to your lack of signal bars, with the newest of these devices being the smartphone-enhanced Spot Connect.

The Spot Connect interfaces with a Bluetooth-paired smartphone via … Read more

CES: HP debuts AMD Fusion in 11-inch Pavilion dm1

LAS VEGAS--Continuing the march toward 11.6-inch laptops, HP is making the new Pavilion dm1 its CES 2011 showpiece. At slightly less than 1 inch thick and 3.5 pounds, the dm1 is one of the first laptops to use AMD's new Fusion platform, which is powered by AMD's new "APU," an accelerated processing unit. AMD's new platform combines a traditional CPU and better-than-integrated graphics (and DirectX 11 support) on a single chip. The actual CPU is AMD's new 1.6GHz dual-core E350, with AMD Radeon HD 6310M graphics.

The dm1 also includes HP's CoolSense technology, which we've seen on a handful of other HP laptops. It's essentially a user-adjustable fan control, for setting your ideal system temperature; this is handy to have, but also the kind of thing most consumers would never bother to tweak.

HP promises more than 10 hours of battery life from the dm1, with options including hard drives up to 750GB in capacity, GPS, and an external Blu-ray drive. Standard is HP ProtectSmart's hard-drive-locking capability, which is the same kind of HDD accelerometer found in many business laptops.

The dm1 is being positioned as a hedge against the declining fortunes of the Netbook market, and in fact, HP describes the the system by saying:

The HP Pavilion dm1 has more muscle than netbooks in a package that's more mobile than most notebooks. It's an all-new breed of compact notebook for students and mobile professionals who want an ideal balance of power, convenience, cool-running comfort, and connectivity.… Read more

AMD Fusion family kicks off

Forget about the CPU (Central Processing Unit). Chipmaker AMD would like you to think instead about what it calls the APU, its Accelerated Processing Unit. The combo product uses a single die to contain, according to AMD, "a multicore CPU, a powerful DirectX 11-capable discrete-level graphics and parallel processing engine, a dedicated high-definition video acceleration block, and a high-speed bus that speeds data across the differing types of processor cores within the design."

That means AMD hopes a Fusion APU in a laptop will take the place of the traditional dedicated CPU/dedicated GPU combo, as well as improve on laptops with a CPU and mediocre integrated graphics. Interestingly, Intel is aiming at some of the same goals by vastly improving the integrated graphics in its new Sandy Bridge line of processors.

Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of the AMD Products Group, says, "In one major step, we enable users to experience HD everywhere as well as personal supercomputing capabilities in notebooks that can deliver all-day battery life. It's a new category, a new approach, and opens up exciting new experiences for consumers."

AMD calls the combined processor/graphics platform Fusion, and says it will support 1080p video playback, DirectX graphics, and 3D video and game content. … Read more

Toshiba's 10-inch Honeycomb tablet, hands-on

Let's all give a round of applause to Toshiba, who instead of giving us a prolonged tease for its Android Honeycomb tablet (ala Motorola), had the courtesy to just lay it all out there for us. CES may be in Vegas, but that doesn't mean every great product needs to go all "Showgirls" on us.

Here's the deal. Toshiba has a 10.1-inch Android Honeycomb tablet due out the first half of 2011 (price TBD, but in the iPad ballpark). The system uses an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, capable of 1080p video decoding, smooth Adobe Flash support, and full-resolution video output via the integrated HDMI port.

Like the iPad, the screen is glass-covered, capacitive, LED-backlit, and supports multitouch and accelerometer screen reorientation. Unlike Apple, Toshiba set the screen resolution to a 1,280x800-pixel resolution, fixed at a 16:10 aspect ratio. Users are also treated to a haptic feedback touch-screen keyboard and dual cameras--one facing you with a 2-megapixel resolution, and the other facing out with a 5-megapixel sensor.

Around the edges you get ports for HDMI, full-size USB, Mini-USB sync, and SD card expansion. Onboard storage is yet to be announced, but other specs, such as 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, stereo speakers, GPS, and digital compass, all come standard.

Another key feature worth noting: a removable battery. Granted, with all that horsepower, you'll probably need more than one battery to match the iPad's 10 hours of runtime--but it's still a feature not offered by any competitors. … Read more

CES: Toshiba's glasses-free 3D laptop, hands-on

LAS VEGAS--3D was a megatrend across consumer electronics in 2010, but its biggest hindrance to acceptance still lies in those awkward plastic glasses. The truth is, nobody really wants to wear them.

There is hope: the Nintendo 3DS will introduce glasses-free 3D gaming, and glasses-free 3D TV is on its way. But could glasses-free laptops be far behind?

We got an advance look at glasses-free 3D laptop technology in a custom-built Toshiba Qosmio laptop, and though the technology has its limitations, it's an impressive proof of concept that's surprising to behold.

The effects worked, but they weren't … Read more

CES: Intel debuts 2nd-gen Sandy Bridge Core i-series CPUs

LAS VEGAS--On the eve of the 2011 CES show, Intel has officially unveiled the details about its new line of desktop and laptop CPUs. Code-named Sandy Bridge, these chips will in actuality carry the same Core i3/i5/i7 naming as the 2010 generation of Intel processors.

The basics of the Sandy Bridge platform have been known for some time, and a few PCs with the new chips have even leaked onto the market early.

According to Intel, highlights of the second-generation Core processors, built around a new 32nm microarchitecture, include more energy-efficient performance and improved 3D and graphics performance. … Read more

Cricket to debut unlimited music downloads on new Samsung Suede

Cricket Wireless is getting into the music biz this CES. Today, the regional, no-contract carrier revealed a new service plan that wraps unlimited music downloads, playback, and ringtone creation into the customer's monthly charge. For $55 per month, the MuveMusic ("move") plan includes music downloads, ringtones, and ringback tones in an unlimited talk, text, e-mail, and Internet plan. (And yes, labels EMI, Sony, Warner, and Universal are all signed on).

This is the first carrier-driven service that doesn't try to sell you either a separate music subscription or piecemeal ringtones and tracks through an online store. Interestingly, the music is completely tied to the phone. Song files are stored on the phone's microSD card, but aren't transferable to a computer.

And since the all-you-can-eat music buffet is fueled by your monthly plan, customers get access to their beats as long as they settle their bills. Skip a month and the full-track downloads--along with calls, e-mail, texting, and browsing--disappear until the piper's been paid. In that sense, Cricket's musical leanings follow the renter's model.… Read more

GoldenEar SuperCinema 3: How big can a little 5.1 speaker system sound?

Sandy Gross was one of the founders of two major speaker companies, Polk Audio and Definitive Technology, and now with GoldenEar Technology he's going for one more. I recently spoke with him about his new venture, and he didn't seem the least bit concerned about entering a rather tough retail market. He is in fact off to a good start and already has 100 brick-and-mortar U.S. dealers, and he will have overseas distributors coming aboard in the near future.

As soon as I heard Gross' SuperCinema 3 I understood why he's so confident. It's a lifestyle-friendly satellite/subwoofer system that sounds remarkable.

It comes with four SuperSat 3 satellites ($249 each), one SuperSat 3C center channel speaker ($249), and a ForceField 3 subwoofer ($499). The gloss black speaker cabinets feel extremely well-built, which is because they're fabricated from injection-molded marble powder infused polymer, a big step up from the more typical plastic, medium-density fiberboard or metal cabinets. That said, the wedge-shape, textured black finished sub is made from MDF, but it also appears to be well-built. GoldenEar Technology speakers are only available in black.

At 12 inches by 4.75 inches, the SuperSat 3 isn't tiny, but it's a mere 2.7 inches deep. The gently curved cabinets are decked out with two 4.5-inch mid/bass drivers, and one high-velocity folded ribbon tweeter (similar in operating principle to a Heil tweeter). Ribbon tweeters are the hot ticket for lots of high-end speakers, including my two personal references, the Magnepan 3.6 and the Zu Essence, but ribbon tweeters are rarely seen on speakers in the SuperSat 3's price range. The tweeter really does play a big part in the speaker's extraordinary sound quality. The SuperSat 3C center speaker sports the same driver complement, but the 3C's drivers are oriented for horizontal speaker placement.

Both speaker models can be wall-mounted via keyhole slots on their backsides, or used with the included table stands. GoldenEar Technology will offer floor stands for the speakers sometime in 2011.

The ForceField 3 subwoofer features a proprietary 1,000-watt digital amp with digital frequency shaping electronics; a front-firing 8-inch active driver; and a special 9.6-by-11.4-inch quadratic planar infrasonic (passive) radiator on the bottom panel. Connectivity options include a direct RCA input as well as speaker-level inputs and outputs. GoldenEar Technology will have an optional wireless kit for the sub for $130 early next year. The sub measures a tidy 11.5 by 15.75 by 11 inches.… Read more