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Navigadget: Back at CES2007 Navigon was also promoting a new GPS navigation system called P9611, a colloboration between Navigon and Porsche. This system uses Navigon’s MobileNavigator Premium software which in our opinion looks better than any of the Garmin interfaces.

The hardware on the P9611 is also pretty impressive. It features a 4.3″ screen, bluetooth hands free communication support, 1400mAh Li-Ion battery. (…)

AE: the Navigon Porsche P9611 should be available for Europe in Spring 2007.

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BBC: In-car technology, or telematics, is a thriving business in the United States. At the recent CES technology show in Vegas they showed-off dashboard TV screens to watch whilst you waited for a parking space.

But other technology aims to make sure that you don’t even have to wait. Big city car parks are often full, so one US satellite radio station is aiming to stream information about space availability directly into the cockpit.

“There are hundreds of different parking garages spread across the United States where the garage owner has computer technology to tell them which spaces are empty or full,” said David Butler of XM Satellite Radio. “We are tapping into that information and sending it to your navigation system. The map will tell you where the parking garages are located, and how many empty spaces they have.“

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is at the core of many in-car streaming information systems. One US device that relies on the technology is able to warn drivers about hidden speed cameras. It compares the location of the vehicle with a database of known camera co-ordinates.

European drivers are already familiar with the idea, but the next step is to deliver more detailed knowledge about a car’s environment to the person behind the steering wheel.

“There are lots of kinds of visual information that we see happening in the future,” said Dave Marsh of manufacturing company Cobra Navigation.

“Things such as school zones, railway crossings, dangerous intersections, blackspots, those kinds of things. In the future those kinds of things will be detected by this kind of detector.”

You can also expect to see a lot more portable navigation units that are integrated with many other features in the car, from the CD player to Bluetooth devices. One snap-in, snap-out screen controls them all.

“With portable on-demand we’re able to have the full functionality of an AM/FM CD, Bluetooth, iPod capability, as well as a portable navigation system that we can take with us at any given point,” said Ed Meenan of Eclipse.

Probably the most important slot on your dashboard at the moment is the cigarette lighter and charger, but it is about to be joined by a USB port.

Sync is a new joint initiative by Microsoft and Ford. Once your gadgets are connected by USB or Bluetooth, the system phonetically reads all the information in your gadget’s database, which you can quickly access by simply talking to it using the latest voice recognition technology.

Of course you can scrap the radio altogether and just rely on a petrol pump for your music – there are pumps that allow downloads into your car via wi-fi.

So now you can pump and play songs at the same time.

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Gadgetcandy: Sony has snapped out some Twiggy-esque goggle boxes at CES. The prototypes are so skinny that their collective BMI’s would definitely fail to reach 18. Thank goodness, they’re not catwalk models then…
They’re wafer thin because they house new OLED technology and give brilliant quality images as well as looking perfect from every angle.

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Back in the Eighties, the adult industry was one of the deciders in the battle between Betamax and VHS. Experts say they could play the same role in the new contest between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Leading adult film company Vivid Entertainment had yet to decide. But Digital Playground takes position. T3 reports…

Next door to CES, at the much ruder Adult Entertainment Expo, the first ever, adult HD DVD title was announced by Digital Playground. Porn star, Jesse Jane reveals all in an exclusive interview with t3.co.uk.

Next week, Island Fever 3, the first of four adult HD DVD titles, will go on sale, hailing a new era in high-definition porn. Four more skin flicks – Pirates, Jack’s Teen America 3 and Island Fever 4 – will follow later in the month.

Jesse Jane and the director of all four films, Joone, were delighted to explain the decision to go with the HD DVD format.

Jesse: “Everyone loves high definition TV over here in the States and they’ll pay a premium over DVD to have it. We [Digital Playground] were the first to put out a DVD in ’93 with ‘Virtual Sex’ too and everyone went crazy for that. Then when we did Island Fever 3 with the WMV HD disc, it broke all the records for an adult movie. It sold even more than Deep Throat.” (…)

Joone: “My first thought was to go with Blu-ray, but Sony doesn’t want this kind of content on their format and their answer was no. It’s reminiscent of the Betamax versus VHS battle back in the 80s when Sony said exactly the same thing. You think they’d have learned a lesson from that.” (…)

Joon: “The adult industry took a big hit with the internet and people downloading their porn for free. HD DVD adds value and quality that the internet can’t provide. The other adult companies will follow us onto HD DVD when they can because they’ll see how much it’s doing for us.”

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Yahoo: (…) The first shots between Blu-ray, backed by a Sony-led consortium, and HD DVD, whose group is led by Toshiba Corp., were fired last year when the formats made their splashy debuts at the International Consumer Electronics Show.Analysts and executives thought that by this year’s show, there would be a clear winner, especially after Sony in November released its Playstation 3 video game console, which comes standard with a Blu-ray disc drive.

Instead, both sides have hunkered down for what could be a long fight and some are even conceding that both formats may be here to stay.

“In an optimal world you would have one format,” Kevin Tsujihara, president of the Warner Bros. home entertainment group said this week. “But there are many industries where multiple formats have existed and flourished.“

Tsujihara noted that in video gaming, three incompatible formats — Playstation, the Microsoft XBox and consoles from Nintendo, including the recently released Wii have existed for years. (…)

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Some clear trends are emerging from the big name Flat Screen manufacturers at CES and it looks very much like that despite the continuing improvement of LCD and the imminent arrival of SED technology, plasma is still going to be a hard fought ground in the HDTV market.

Samsung:
Following on from Pioneer, Samsung revealed a new 50-inch and 42-inch HDTV, which provide improved picture technology and advanced features. And what makes it so special? Is an ultra low price tag? A new technology? No. Actually they just look rather nice, or as the video montage spokesperson put it: “It is an object d’art in your living room”.

Alongside these, two, which are part of the 64 series, Samsung also announced two 84 series models, weighing in at 58” and 50”, and two 54 series models at 50” and 42”. These are also Samsung’s very first plasma HDTVs that offer full 1080p resolution. [Source: Tech Digest]

Panasonic:
Panasonic has revealed several new plasma screens including a 50-inch and 58-inch 1080p high definition model, complimenting their current 65-inch and the world’s largest plasma, the 103-inch, to provide a wide choice of plasmas in the 1080p resolution arena.

The 2007 line features both 720p and 1080p plasmas, offers consumers a new sleek –and not so unique cosmetic design – a piano black bezel. [Source: Smarthouse]

Philips:
Philips is exhibiting a 52-inch LCD TV and a 63-inch plasma.

With 1080p resolution, the 63-inch PDP model also features a host of connectivity options including multiple HDMI and USB inputs.

Philips is also announcing a new range of Ambilight LCD TV in size from 32 to 52 inches during the show. Among the new LCD TV products, the 42-, 47- and 52-inch models boast 1080p resolution. [Source: DigiTimes]

Hitachi:
Hitachi continue to put their support behind plasma, but it doesn’t stop them from announcing a few new LCD TVs as well.

This year they are most proud of their 1080p Plasma, no not the TureHD one, the 1024 variety, which they say is “an excellent match for today’s broadcasting standards”.  The company will be releasing 42, 50 and 55-inch plasma screens.

Hitachi will also be shipping a new CineFormTM T501 Series available in 42-inch, 50-inch and 55-inch models.

They also announced 32 and 37-inch LCDs, which of course include three 1080p HDMI inputs as well as ATSC/NTSC/QAM. The main difference between the two lines is the T301 has the latest craze; 120hz and an all black industrial design. [source: Engadget]

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Chris Crotty from isuppli expects some bold moves at CES:

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Crave: Toshiba’s long awaited SED TV will not be appearing at the Consumer Electronics Show after all.SED TV, which stands for surface conduction electron emission display, will provide a better picture than LCD or plasma TVs, say Toshiba and its partner Canon. Toshiba also claims that they have managed to cut the manufacturing costs so that the TVs won’t cost much more than similarly sized LCDs or plasmas.

Toshiba was going to show off a 55-inch SED TV at CES in January, but then sent a note out on Friday saying they won’t be doing that after all. A Toshiba spokeswoman declined to explain the reason for the cancellation but a note sent to people with appointments to see the SED TV at CES said it wasn’t due to technical issues. The cancellation may be the result of an ongoing lawsuit over SED between Nano Proprietary and Canon, said a source close to Nano Proprietary.

The two companies have shown off various SED prototypes at CES, Ceatec, a large Japanese trade show, and other conferences. This picture comes from Ceatec in October. The company showed off the 55-inch TV, which is similar to the one that will hit shelves, for the first time in October at Ceatec. At most of these shows, the SED exhibit attracts large crowds.

The TVs have been stung by a series of delays. Toshiba and Canon started working together on SED in 1999 and said that the first TVs would hit retail shelves in 2005. In October, Toshiba pushed out the release again, and said the first SED TVs, a 55-inch TV, would come out in late 2007.

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Newlaunches: When we think of buying a home theatre system what exactly do we picture? a few towers speakers or maybe stylish stands and a subwoofer and some more pieces of technology strewn here and there in our living room.

But then, not all of us who can afford those jumbo entertainment systems or live in houses large enough to accommodate all the equipment.

The Philips One Piece DVD Home Theater System showcased at CES 2007 is the solution to the problems of such. Providing all the assets that home theatres provide, in a single unit (save the independent subwoofer), it includes a DVD player with a HDMI output and a 1080p upconversion. It provides mind blowing surround sound with Sonowave speakers (that are conveniently in-built).

The Philips One Piece DVD Home Theatre system is brilliantly sleek to look at and is blessed with a very futuristic styling and finish.
A very covetable piece indeed but then there hasn’t been much say about pricing and the date of release. So let the desire to own this one burn on and on (or at least till the system makes its grand entry into our markets).

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