About Electronics

Electronista: Mio introduced four new Moov portable navigation devices in its booth at the recently-concluded CES, each sporting new Spirit software interface that is meant to be both simpler and more intuitive to use.

Hinted at near the start of this year, the interface borrowed from the Navman line will offer more POIs, along with faster access, less cluttered map views and text-to-speech functionality.

A 3D Junction View feature is added in the new flagship model, the S556, which has a 4.7-inch touchscreen display and Bluetooth support that allows for hands-free calling.

The S556 will also share basic features with the new entry-level S300, which has a smaller 3.5-inch screen. The text-to-speech voice directions are available in English, Spanish and French. The new S500 model has identical features packed into a larger body with a 4.7-inch touchscreen. Finally, the largest Moov S700 is meant for use in RVs, buses and campers with its 7-inch display.

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ITProPortal: Parents can now buy a virtual chaperon for their children to keep track of their movements in real time in what some say is a step too far in the widespread movement of tracking and logging.

The Num8 watch has been designed by British firm Lok8u and was launched at the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas and although it looks like a bog-standard wristwatch, it actually hides a GPS chip that tracks the movements of the wristwatch bearer.

Parents will be able to “ping” the wristwatch to get a real time and get up to date movements and coordinates. and will alert them if it leaves a pre-designated area. They can also log on Num8′s website to track their child’s present location.

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ipodnn: One of the final components of Sony’s CES 2009 launches includes sweeping changes to its digital audio offerings, starting with its headphones.

The MDR-XB series is the company’s first to stress bass and contain drivers skewed towards dance and urban music.

Three earcup models, the XB300, XB500 and XB700, have drivers between 30mm and 50mm in size and are cushioned for long listening sessions.

The XB20EX and XB40EX are in-ear models and contain drivers between 9mm and 13.5mm.

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Electronista: Samsung has launched a multi-tier approach to CES that includes the third generation of its Blu-ray players. The BD-P4600 is the company’s first player to show the “touch of color” design trait and is designed primarily for thinness: at 1.5 inches thick, the player can not only better fit into some AV racks but can be wall-mounted or placed on an angled stand.

It also offers subtler touch-sensitive controls and the full Blu-ray Profile 2.0 feature set with Internet access through either Ethernet or a bundled 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter.

The BD-P3600 supports all these same features in a more conservative casing but with the addition of putting its 7.1-channel bitstream surround sound through either analog or uncompressed PCM signals.

Those seeking integrated home theaters also have two choices from the expo. The HT-BD8200 is billed as the first Blu-ray sound bar and hides a full movie player inside the main bar, which generates virtual 5.1-channel surround and gets bass through a wireless subwoofer. A conventional setup, the HT-BD7200, uses discrete half-height satellites and a subwoofer to output 400W and virtual 5.1 alongside its Blu-ray reader. It too handles 802.11n Wi-Fi and Profile 2.0 playback.

One DVD player is joining Samsung’s lineup. The DVD-H1080 consciously recalls the look of a pebble and is only just larger than the DVD disc itself.

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DVICE: Korean hardware manufacturer iRiver stormed this year’s CES conference with a slew of new products, but the standout among all their announcements was the WAVE-HOME device.

This exquisitely designed work of art functions as an all-in-one multimedia device offering Internet access, a VoIP phone, video conferencing, gaming, music, video, FM radio, a built-in camera, and a set of slick widgets to keep you abreast of the latest news and weather.

All this and it even features USB and SD card ports, and a beautiful 7-inch color LCD touchscreen interface.

Pricing and release date have yet to be announced.

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Electricpig: No sooner has Sharp slagged off Blu-ray recorders than it’s sticking the knife into another bit of next gen HDTV tech, saying that OLED TVs are simply “not ready for prime time”. Sharp won’t be bringing out an OLED TV anytime soon, so what’s it going to concentrate on instead?

Sharp CEO Doug Koshima was on hand at CES in Las Vegas at the company’s keynote, where he was quizzed on the future of flatscreen HDTV. Koshima said that while OLED (organic light emitting diode) technology is interesting, it’s “not ready for prime time”.

Instead, Koshima says Sharp plans to concentrate on LED backlighting for LCD TVs, opening a brand new factory in Japan by 2010 to churn them all out, and while we were slightly disappointed by the news, he did unveil several brand sparkling new TVs to make up for it, including the world’s first TV with Blu-ray built in.

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ITProPortal: Samsung Electronics on Wednesday presented an all new range of ultra-slim, energy-efficient high-definition televisions at the Consumer Electronics Show. 

Codenamed “Samsung Luxia”, the new range is said to be extremely energy-efficient, as it sports LED as the chief light source, instead of the conventional Cold Cathode Fluoroscent Lamps (CCFLs). 

The company unveiled three distinct models of Luxia range, namely 6000, 7000, and 8000 series, with all these models having Samsung’s exclusive ‘Touch of Colour’ image display, which offers high-contrast ratios, ultra clear image details, and a wide range of colours. 

The LNXXB8000 series of the range integrates advanced ‘Auto Motion Plus’ 240Hz frame processing feature that can deliver speedier 240 Hz refresh-rate. On the other hand, the LNXX7000 model sports Auto Motion Plus 120Hz frame interpolation capability, along with 120HZ refresh rate, which is twice the capability of the erstwhile LCD TVs.

The LNXXB6000 series includes a power indicator menu and consumes 40 percent less power than the other LCD TVs.

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PC World: Cisco has won much attention from consumer news sites since the New York Times reported last week that the networking giant is expected to unveil a digital stereo system at CES that can move music wirelessly around a house, among other consumer offerings. But analysts and pundits say there are hurdles that Cisco must overcome in a market where Cisco is an unknown brand.

Jonathan Greene writing in eHomeUpgrade says he’s puzzled as to “why Cisco is not simply focusing on enabling the connectivity and distribution piece on the network rather than going for the end-point.” He adds that he’d rather see “something neutral that provides access to content where I want it – whether that’s in my house or pushed out to my mobile device.”

Directions on Microsoft Analyst Matt Rosoff points out that enabling multiroom audio is more complex than “just a few simple tweaks to [Cisco's] existing home networking products,” and that Cisco must successfully hide that complexity from users. He adds: “If it manages to hire some great UI designers and brands these products appropriately — coming up with names that are more interesting than these would be a start — it has a fighting chance.”

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