DIGDIA - CES 2010 Free Photos & Comments

2010 CES & ICCE
Click on photos to enlarge - scroll down to see it all

Also - See photos and comments from other CES & ICCE, Showest , CTIA, SCTE
Get on our distribution list - click here

CES Pre-Show & Press Events
		Day 1: Here is my favorite - a Pocket Radar. You've all seen them, but now you can own your own. Measure your son's pitch, daughters tennis serve, teenagers speeding past your house, your downhill speed on the black diamond run. 7 to 375 MPH. Available in March, $249. pocketradar.com.
	Wizzy toy with a twist. This is the AR Drone from Parrot. It can fly up 3 meters and away from you up to 15 meters away. You control it with your iPhone via WiFi! And, it sends back videos to your iPhone of what it sees. Now there is an App for that. July, but no price.		This is the Zomm. Perfect gift for your absent minded friend that forgets their phone and can't find it (you never lose your own phone). The Zomm uses Bluetooth and buzzes and lights when your phone gets too far from you. $79.99 this Summer.
An unexpected move by an old name in speakers - Klipsch. I have a set of their speakers, but not like these. These screw into the ceiling can where your flood light normally goes. It has an LED light and wireless speaker. It uses 2.4 GHz, but a broadcast version, not WiFi. The unit with buttons is the remote control. Not for the casual buyer, but can be useful for the high-end home owner - $599 for two speakers and remote. Available via the web end of this January.
		Expect to see lots of pico projectors. These two are from 3M (MPro150, $395) and Microvision (ShowWX, $500). The latter is set up to work with your iPod or iPhone. The 3M unit has its own 1 GB memory and player. It looked a little brighter than the Microvision unit.
Marvell's new application processor integrates the e-ink graphics processor for e-readers. Look for more of these dual-screen B&W + color devices in 2010.		Samsung announced a modified Moment Android smartphone with integrated ATSC mobile TV receiver. First trial will be in Washington D.C.
	Used to be that flat panel TVs were rare and expensive. Now you can buy one for your 3 year old toddler's bedroom. 19" LCD for $299. Available in March.		Logitech recently bought Lifesize, a maker of telepresence equipment. This unit plugs into your TV and your Internet. It works with professional level telepresence systems, like Cisco's. While they are working with Skype, it does not do Skype video (see below). $2,500.
Can you guess what these are? Read answer below.		Liquid Image has enhanced their underwater 5 MP still/ 720p video camera with lights. $350 in May. Just in time for your trip to Hawaii.
	LG pre-announced their Skype feature, but here is a shot from a live demo of a Skype video call through your LG TV between LG's CTO Woo Paik and Skype exec. The UI for picking the person to call includes a photo of each person. Several other TV Mfrs. announced their version of video calls, but LG (and later Panasonic) announced it with Skype.		Thin is still in, and LG has gotten theirs down to 6.9 mm. Note comparison with a CD case. Also note the big base which appears to hold everything else. This TV also has a 240 block LED back lighting system for blacker blacks (this feature started to show up in simpler versions last year).
Netgear showed up on Press Day again. This time they focused on their core competency - networking. Shown right: Stora NAS. 1 TB for $299, with a 2 TB version coming. HTTPS link via a service lets you access your stuff via the Internet (through you iPhone, for example). Also has RSS support for linking to their photo frames.		Toshiba finally brings their Cell-based TV to N.A. Cell is their unique 8 core 200 GFLOP multiprocessor, which they said would be put in TVs when first introduced. They use the power for resolution, 480 Hz frame and color enhancements.
	Sharp introduced their QuadPixel TV that adds Yellow to the RGB pixel cell. The addition expands the gamut a bit for yellow and aqua colors. See 2nd photo.		Sharp is adding LED lighting to their portfolio. Initial versions will be for commercial use. With a remote control, one can change the color temperature of the lights, as shown here. Separately, check out Sharp's new thin film solar technology.
Samsung tried to underline their 3D TV and Blu-ray by bringing Dreamwork's Katzenberg and Technicolor's Fred Rose on stage to deliver the very first 3D Blu-ray disc (Monsters vs. Aliens). Sorry for fuzzy picture - room was very large and crowded.		Impossible to get to front of Samsung press event to take photos, so visited their booth pre-show to get a shot of their thin TVs. They announced 0.3" thin (slightly thicker than LG). Series LED 9000.
	Panasonic showed a non-working 3D camcorder at NAB last year. This is a photo of the real thing. It is a pro-sumer camera if you can afford $21K, but it is the first 3D camera produced by a major cameral manufacturer. Be interesting to see if others follow.		Line up of several Panasonic products. Notably, you can see the 3D Blu-ray player and some stylish 3D glasses.
Showing photos of 3D TV sets is hard to do, so here is a shot of Sony's 3D glasses, developed with RealD. There was a pink, blue and black version. Expect to see a proliferation of styled 3D glasses from everyone in coming years.		Sony introduced their "Dash" - another in the line of Internet connected frames. To date, all have missed the mark because one needs to put a TV in these to make them pervasive.
	This is the Mophie Market Place credit card reader ofr the iPhone. It lets you work with any credit card merchant. The card data is encrypted, unlike some apps that have you key in the data. No price yet, but guessing about $100.		Mirasol has a unique e-ink display that uses a technique borrowed from butterflies. When static, it draws no power, much like other e-inks. But, it can also display color and video. Cost is in LCD range. A 5.7" display is coming out this Fall with XGA resolution. Looks promising.
OK, you're jogging with your iPod and the earbuds keep falling out. Yurtopia has an answer. Hold a quarter to your ear, take a photo of your ear with their iPhone app, send the photo in. One day later you get custom shaped rubber fittings for your earphones. $20. I had a little trouble getting them in, but I could see that they would stay in.		You're on a hot date, but you are wondering in the back of your mind "is this person a sleaze?" You reach for your iPhone and call up Date Check from Intelius. It searches public databases and gives your the run down. Free version gives a summary. Premium version ($40) gives all the dirt.
	Maybe you are biking instead of jogging. The Tune Bug Shake ($120) attaches to your helmet and turns it into a speaker. It communicates via Bluetooth.		This digital control sets the temperature and flow for up to four shower heads. You can create presets and personalize it. Aimed at CEDIA types. Costs $2,400, though simpler models sell for about half this price.
CES - Day 1
Unless you've been sequestered in jury duty all week, you know that the big theme this year was 3D. Here, to make the point, are a couple of folks sporting different colors of the Xpand active glasses. They've been hot in European theaters, and now with 3D TV, they have a shot at consumers. Thus the many colors. These are the model X103. A future model will work at home as well as in the theater.		You won't be able to buy these Full HD 3D Blu-ray discs of Monsters vs. Aliens until Q2. Technicolor had to face a few interesting challenges to make these discs. Theory says "no problem" - reality says "wait a minute". By the way, these were in the Technicolor booth. I'd normally see these people at NAB, not CES. But, it turns out that Thompson is rebranding the company to Technicolor soon.
	Here is a good view of the Panasonic active glasses. Note the unique way the lenses are held. This design fits more comfortably over glasses. I give this the "best 3d glasses" industrial design award.		Not all TVs are racing to be thin. Panasonic showed off their 153" 4K plasma. Note the woman standing to the right. "4K", or 4x the pixel count of HDTV, showed up in a number of company booths. No real content yet, unless you tap into theater-grade stuff (which is not possible today). But, since many postproduction files are 4K or beyond, it may be a matter of time. Just when you thought things were settling down after 3D came out...
Here is a pair of photos of LG's 6.9 mm thin LED TV. Assuming you can hide the electronics box that sits below, you have a pretty impressive wall piece.		You may have heard a TV company boast about 256 LED Blocks. They are talking about selective dimming of the LED backlight to match the brightness of the scene at that spot. This trick gives better dark images, and thus better overall dynamic range. This demo shows how the LEDs look behind the LCD. It was a clever illustration of their system, and it showed off the fact that Toshiba's TV has 512 LED blocks.
	This is the Samsung Sync Master MD 230 (who came up with this name?). It relies on an ATI Eyefinity card (available soon) to drive the 6 displays. Gamers and stock brokers can't wait.		Long ago HP made automotive diagnostic readers that read the codes from your car. Now you can buy an even better one from Car MD for $99. It tells you what is wrong and estimates your repair costs. Also tells you if your car has been recalled.
The first time I saw FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared Radar) it was in a classified briefing many years ago. Now you can buy it for your BMW, or buy a $3000 handheld Scout for hunting. Unlike light amplifiers, this relies on heat from the objects in view. Look closely and you can see my image as i took this photo. Excellent if your buddy falls overboard at night, for example.		Fuji introduced this 3D camera system a little while back, but this was the first time I saw the 3D prints. To get the prints you need to send your file to SeeHere.com and they arrive a week or so later. The prints are based on the lenticular lens approach and it works fairly well. I am waiting for the do-it-yourself version - anyone listening?
	This is the Plastic Logic Que, a nice 17 ounce touch sensitive reader. Definitely hgih-end. $799 version has 3G, WiFi and BT, with 8 GB memory. $100 less omits 3G. Readers were everywhere at CES (took photos of several others).		Ford gave the morning keynote. They were showing off their next generation Sync (partnered with Microsoft). I remember Bill Gates doing a demo of their CarPC a decade ago - miserable failure. I also remember sitting with a Ford manager while Gates gave another talk about the Car PC - again a miserable conclusion. But, as it goes, wait for version 3.1 and you might have something. Note the game-style controls on the steering wheel.
This company was worth a revisit. Shapeways lets you design your own 3D model and they will create it (literally printing it layer by layer) for a modest price. Last August they added stainless steel to the choice of materials. A pair of custome cuff links? $49. That alien think in the photo? $79.		We end this day with the true 3D display from Burton. Well, the photo is actually a dummy display. I saw the real thing, but could not take a photo. A laser paints dots in 3D space inside this tube. They hope to achieve VGA color levels in the future, though the one I saw was just green. Just as interesting is a much larger version that paints dots in mid-air space in 3D by ionizing air where they want the dot placed.
CES - Day 2
	There aren't too many mobile ATSC stations at the moment, but expect to see more. When you do, you may want to watch TV while out and about, such as on your phone. Several models have been introduced. Here we have a Samsung Android phone showing the Las Vegas TV schedule that can be watched on your phone.		But, perhaps you want to watch TV on your notebook PC or Mac while pretending to take notes in class or corporate meeting. Then you want the Storm mobile TV USB dongle from DTV Interactive. This will cost about $120 when it comes out next month.
A number of cameras allow you to take panorama photos by taking a sequence of shots. It works, but there are issues. Sony's DSC-HX5V lets you pan slowly across the scene and it creates the panoramic photo automatically.		This one falls into the stupid camera tricks category. Set up this special motorized tripod in the middle of your party. It rotates and moves up and down looking for faces and smiles. When it thinks it sees something interesting, it takes a photo. From Sony - IPT-DS1
	Play PSP games in 3D without having to wear glasses. A special filter fits over the display and separates anaglyph 3D images into images that the left and right eye need to see in order to perceive 3D. CubeVue is planning on introducing this later this year.		Hitachi is using a unique display that uses two LCD layers to show 3D. The top layer acts like active glasses so you don't need to wear any glasses yourself. Looked pretty good. You can buy this phone in Japan today. Sorry for the poor photo.
If you drive a car for business you need to track your mileage and report it to the IRS for tax purposes. A minor pain, but one that Mileage Tracker helps to ease. Get in the car, press a button and it tracks your mileage for you. IRS approved because it also makes it harder to cheat. $189.		Have you done your own checkout at the store yet? Now you can carry the scanner with you as you shop. It tells you how much you are buying, what you're saving, and dings when you get a special discount just for using the scanner. At the end you the final checkout takes 30 seconds. Modiv Media has already started to deploy these personal shopping scanners. Coming up - an Android app that lets you use your phone as the scanner.
	Initial Blu-ray players were very bulky. Now Panasonic has gotten it down to a sleek portable size. As you can see, the display can fold up neatly. DMP-B100.		OK, end of the 4th day of CES events - feet hurt and eyes are blurry. I must be seeing things because I swear Hyundai's booth was featuring power tools. Double checking, and it is true. Someone should talk to their VP of Marketing.
CES - Day 3
	Infinite Algorithms is a small startup that showed their unique sound bar. There are sound bars, and their are sound bars. This one stands out through its advanced signal processing that has a large sweet spot and total control of virtual sound sources. Put one in front and one in back and you have a 360 degree speaker.		It was inevitable. Victorinox has added a USB stick "blade" to their line up. Now you can have your presentation with you all the time. In fact, the model you see here is called the Presentation Master. April 1 intro. No price yet, but it will be under $300 for a 32 GB version.
LED lighting is showing up everywhere. Here is a street lamp. Ready for this? It is networked so that it can be individually controlled over the Internet.		With the popularity of tattoos and bling, it is only fitting for Ed Hardy Icing to jump into the iPhone cover business. No, not that, look at the thing in her left hand.
	Kodak's Play Sport is a handy camcorder that can record 1080p 60 fps video, even if you are 3 meters below water. Records onto SD and costs only $149.		Kodak's Pulse is an Internet connected digital frame. Not only can you email photos to it, but it will automatically get them from your Facebook page. $129, when it comes out in March or April.
Here is a gift idea for that nerd that has everything. It is an 8X telephoto lens for your iPhone. Aigo wants to sell it for $50.		And for that gal that has everything, VuPoint Solutions wants to sell you their bathtub monitor that tells you when the water level is just right. No pricing just yet.
	These days it is fashionable for every major company to have their own App Store. Samsung is no exception. Here is one for their TV apps.		Anyone remember the movie Earthquake that claimed to make the earth move under your seat? Now you can buy the ButtKicker kit and make your couch, well, kick your butt. Place the unit under one couch leg and the three risers under the other legs. Connect to your sound system and rumble. Guitammer sells it for $299,
CES - Day 4
Miniature video cameras were everywhere at CES; in helmets, scuba visors and ski masks, ruggedized for attaching to the body or a vehicle in sporting events... and this micro miniature camera that is ~1" tall. It has 640x480 resolution, built-in 2.5 hour battery, and supports up to 16GB micro SD cards.		D-link showed these prototype e-readers. They have not yet signed up content or carrier providers. The color device is intended as a reader for children's books, where parents can record their narration.
	Motorola Backflip - This new Smartphone is the first Android phone on AT&T. It folds backwards, hence the name, with an OLED display on one side and the keyboard on the other. The back of the display has a touch pad pointing device which saves room, but requires a new use model - not just thumbs.		This Japanese robot assistant gave its own demo presentation, but did not get up and walk around. It did announce its price: U.S. $70K!
Part of the traditional auto show is creeping into CES, or at least this year. Several big name brands were there, including the Chevy Volt shown here. Of note is an iPhone app that tells you what your car is doing. For example, how charged are your car's batteries? Want to see this app? Go to www.onstarmobiledemo.com		If you sew a lot, and you're older than 45, you know that figuring out exactly what your sewing machine is doing can be tedious. Now, with the Brother 6000D ($8K) you can see via the built in camera. The display is on the right. Another use a camera is to take a photo and put it through the Brother PE Design program ($700) and have your sewing machine embroider the photo automatically.
	TxT Blocker is a $9.99/month service that turns off your phone's ability to text (SMS) based on different criteria, such as you are moving in a car or at school It uses the phone's GPS, cell signal and WiFi clues to determine when to lock your phone. There is a train driver that should have had this.		Digital Group Audio sells a portable iPhone speaker amplifier. To demo it they downloaded the light-sabor app and waved it around. Great for your next Halloween, but until then you can listen to your music. $79.99.
Don't just play air guitar - use your iPhone and plug it into the $150 Fingerist from Simplsm (www.evenno.com). Strum away.		This little key chain puts out amazingly loud sound from your iPod or MP3 player. Batteries are recharged via USB and last about 2 - 3 hours. Three models for $14.99 each.
	Deos adds class to your Apple earphones. These covers are made with up to 300 hand-placed Swarovski stones. They are priced between about $30 and $98.		Here at CES everyone was worried about their phone's batteries running out. Ya gotta check your email very 5 minutes. Now you can with your solar powered Samsonite bag. Its output is a car cigarette plug and puts out 3W. Not for your notebook, however. Out in May for $200 - $150.
Expect this to show up at your favorite Chinese place. It comes from Nanobrick and each of the tips of this fan is a separate photo frame. Images can glide between fan blades for a very elegant effect. They don't have a distributor yet, but hope to sell it for about $2K.		OK - see that filter on the phone's camera lens? It is an IR filter. Result? Turns your phone camera into an "X-ray camera". Take pictures of people and see under their clothes. Last day of CES. Now with this X-ray phone, I suppose I've seen everything.

ICCE (International Conference on Consumer Electronics)
	Thomson's Dr. Thierry Borel gave a good tutorial on 3D TV. Here is a simplified chart that covers some of the issues for some of the 3D TV technologies. Want a more detailed one? Look at the 3D@home website.		You probably know about the EPA's Energy Star program. Here is a chart that shows the many issues that go into their decisions. It is not simply a matter of asking for fewer Watts.
You may have heard about 240 Hz (or more) LCD TVs. The faster frame rate is used to make fast moving images look smoother. Getting the image to look good (interpolating) inbetween real frames can be tricky if small objects move in front of a panning background. Objects get distorted (see left image). T.I. showed a simplified algorithm to fix this (right image).		NXP was originally part of Philips. Philips makes auto-stereoscopic multi-view 3D digital signage technology. Here NXP is showing an ASIC with 4 parallel processors that can be used for calculating real time depth maps from two reference images. This depth data can then be used to create 3D images for multiple points of view.
	Each year at ICCE an Ibuka Award, sponsored by Sony, is given to someone in the CE technical field for outstanding work over an extended period of time. This year the award when to James Barton, CTO and co-founder of TiVo. Barton gave a speech that began by describing the usual frustrations most consumers have when trying to operate their CE equipment. This frustration is born out of an array of stove-pipe architectures invented with proprietary business models and technologies in mind. Barton went on to propose an architecture that takes heavy queues from the Web where the UI consists of links on a TV screen, for example. Instead of dealing with OCAP (tru2way) developers would deal with the more familiar and open standards that browsers use. The result is faster development times and easier to use systems. It would be interesting to take a poll of the room, which consisted of CE engineers and engineering managers, to see what they thought or if they even understood the concept being proposed. At the least, the proposal faces a lot of inertia to overcome.		Answer to what those objects are from above: The two items on the left are massagers. The round item is an.aroma/mister. All are from Oregon Scientific, which had traditionally been known for digital weather displays, etc.