2013

The era of exclusive smartphone deals may soon be over.

That's according to Sprint product chief Fared Adib and device executive Ryan Sullivan, who believe the industry is slowly getting away from the practice of locking up smartphones for a single carrier.

Ideally, this means consumers will eventually be able to pick any phone they want on any carrier.

"We in the industry have focused too much on this concept," Adib said.

"It makes less sense for exclusive deals," Sullivan said.

That goes against the longtime tradition of a handset manufacturer striking a deal to … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Huawei's CES roll continues with the announcement of the Huawei MediaQ, a physical cube that shares content among multiple screens.

Huawei isn't divulging many details at the moment, except to say that the MediaQ -- a companion device for smartphones and tablets -- has voice search functionality and can facilitate HD video calls.

So far it doesn't sound like a complete imitation of Google's circular Nexus Q. I'll know more once I track the MediaQ down here at CES. Stay tuned for more details!

LAS VEGAS--Your laptop might already have dual-band Wi-Fi, but how about Tri-band for a change?

Qualcomm and Wilocity today announced at CES 2013 the first Tri-band reference design that combines Wireless-N (802.11n), 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and 802.11ad (also known as WiGig) in one single networking product.

The new chip is based on the Qualcomm VIVE 802.11ac Wi-Fi chip, which was launched just a few days ago, and Wilocity 802.11ad WiGig wireless technologies. It's the first chip with tri-band Wi-Fi, meaning it offers wireless networking signals in all three existing bands of the Wi-Fi standard -- … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Buffalo upgraded its cloud-based service for NAS servers today, introducing the new LinkStation 400 Series. This is the first NAS server to come equipped with the company's updated BuffaloLink cloud storage system.

In a nutshell, the cloud-based service is intended to offer users an easy and secure way to access their digital content remotely via the Internet. Prior to this Buffalo has been offering Pogoplug-style cloud-based features via its CloudStor line of NAS servers, but that hasn't been much of a success.

The company says BuffaloLink was redesigned from the ground up and is hosted on … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Cricket's Muve Music service has surpassed the 1 million subscriber mark, the company announced today.

This year's CES marks the second anniversary of the Android rate plan, which bundles unlimited music downloads, ringtones, and ringback tones to text, talk, and Web plans, starting at $50 per month.

Although 1 million may not sound like a large number for wireless giants like Verizon and AT&T, the milestone is significant for Cricket's much smaller prepaid subscriber base of about 6 million, and a demographic that typically shies away from purchasing expensive plans.

Deals with national retailers … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Call it a minor upgrade, but that's what G-Technology has to offer this year at CES.

The storage vendor, which is now part of Western Digital, announced at CES 2013 that it now ships all of its popular G-Technology G-Drive Mini and G-RAID Mini external storage products with high-speed 1TB, 2.5-inch 7,200rpm hard drives.

Thanks to this, the G-Drive Mini, a compact single-volume external drive, now offers up to 136MBps performance speed. The drive offers both USB 3.0 and FireWire 8000 connection types and is bus-powered. It's preformatted for Mac and is now available … Read more

LAS VEGAS--With Intel now pushing its mainstream processors into tablets and convertibles, some PC vendors are opting for high-performance designs that offer no-holds-barred performance.

Lenovo is delivering probably the best example. The PC maker announced the ThinkPad Helix at CES (see video below) which is built around Intel's low-power "Ivy Bridge" Core i5 and Core i7 chips.

Surprisingly, Lenovo's Helix doesn't skimp on battery life, offering a total of 10 hours when used in conjunction with its keyboard base.

So, why would Lenovo stick an ultrabook chip in a tablet? Intel's most power efficient … Read more

LAS VEGAS--People are getting very used to having robots like Roomba running around their floors. They're very popular as animal and baby vehicles too.

Chinese vacuum-maker Ecovacs, though, wants more functionality in domestic bots. At CES 2013, it demonstrated its Famibot and Minibot, which can perform a host of handy functions while you're busy being lazy.

Shown off at IFA 2012, Famibot is a service droid that can be controlled via your smartphone or any Wi-Fi connection.

Its primary function is to roam around your floors and purify the air. When it senses a particularly dirty zone, such as cigarette smoke, it will focus on that area. … Read more