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[CES 2009] Hands (And Fingerprints) On With The Samsung P3

By Andrew LiszewskiSamsung announced their P3 touch-screen portable media player at their press conference yesterday, but the only unit they had on hand at the time had a dead battery. Thankfully their booth had a small collection of them on display this morning, and I got to spend a few minutes playing around with it
By Andrew Liszewski

Samsung announced their P3 touch-screen portable media player at their press conference yesterday, but the only unit they had on hand at the time had a dead battery. Thankfully their booth had a small collection of them on display this morning, and I got to spend a few minutes playing around with it and snapped a couple of photos; though apparently that was a big no-no. Oh well. The P3 comes in 4, 8, 16 and 32GB capacities and features a 16:9, 3-inch WQVGA touch screen with Samsung’s EmoTure touch interface plus haptic feedback. In other words, it vibrates in response to certain button presses.

The die-cast metal housing comes in silver or black matte finishes, and like most touch-screen devices, the screen collects more fingerprints than a CSI. (As is apparent in the photos I took.) It’s also got an FM tuner and a voice recorder, and for some reason it can connect to a mobile phone over bluetooth and be used to answer calls. Not really sure why though. But the feature that Samsung was really pushing at their press conference (and another ‘CES2009 buzzword’) was the P3’s widgets. This includes touch-friendly mini-apps like a calendar, world clocks and games, but the ones they had running at the booth were kind of lame. You see that mini-gingerbread man? When you touch him he breaks up like a shattered cookie, and then resets. Hopefully that’s not as good as it gets, but with no wi-fi, it’s not like you’ll be downloading new ones every day. The UI however was rather nice, if a bit slow, and if you’re looking for an alternative to something like the iPod Touch, you can get your hands on the P3 sometime in the first half of 2009.

Source || Under General by Gajatheking - few hours ago

[CES 2009] eCoupled Wireless Charging Module May Be Available With Motorola Phones Sometime

By Evan AckermanThe Motorola rep wouldn’t give me any specifics, but the company is “exploring” a potential partnership with wireless power products from eCoupled which would allow for wireless charging of your cellphone. The big barrier (one of them) to the introduction of wireless power is that people won’t use it if you have to

By Evan Ackerman

The Motorola rep wouldn’t give me any specifics, but the company is “exploring” a potential partnership with wireless power products from eCoupled which would allow for wireless charging of your cellphone. The big barrier (one of them) to the introduction of wireless power is that people won’t use it if you have to buy a whole bunch of complicated accessories to get it to work. Motorola and eCoupled have been working on a replacement battery back and induction coil that’s a direct replacement for the Motorola extended battery. The only tradeoff is a decrease in the capacity of the battery to make room for the coil: 1200 mAh instead of 1800 mAh.

This is exactly what needs to happen: the introduction of wireless charging solutions that can be integrated seamlessly with existing products, allowing consumers to experience the advantages and make the transition.

Source || Under General by Inspire - few hours ago

Buzzwords of Web 2.0: RSS Down, Microblogging Up

Conclusions?Discuss

Source || Under General by Buggs - few hours ago

[CES 2009] Flatwire - The Sexy Solution To Home Wiring

By David PonceSomething has got to be said about a useful product that’s able to convincingly double as a “fashion accessory” on the barely-there outfit of a booth babe. Questionable (but not entirely ineffective or unenjoyable) marketing tactics aside, FlatWire makes some amazing products that make me wish I’d have a few large to

By David Ponce

Something has got to be said about a useful product that’s able to convincingly double as a “fashion accessory” on the barely-there outfit of a booth babe. Questionable (but not entirely ineffective or unenjoyable) marketing tactics aside, FlatWire makes some amazing products that make me wish I’d have a few large to drop on a home entertainment system. Like the name sort of implies, these guys make flat wires. But I mean, really, really flat. They gave me a sample of 18 gauge electrical wire, and it’s paper thin.

So when you’re wiring pretty much anything in your home (audio equipment, home theater setup, etc.), instead of drilling holes in your walls, knocking down potentially load-bearing studs to get your cables out of view… use flat wires. Stick them on your wall, put a little plaster over them, and paint. No one will ever know they’re there.

You could argue that laying some plaster and painting is almost as labor intensive as drilling holes… but what happens when you’re faced with a brick wall? In any case, it’s nice to have options, and Flat Wire definitely impressed me with their product.

And no, not just because of the booth babe.

Prices vary depending of length and type of cable needed, but of course you’ll be paying a bit of a premium. Nothing outlandish though: 25ft of 18 gauge speaker wires will set you back $38 for instance. Not cheap, but this ain’t no Monster cables.

P.S. The booth babe didn’t hurt though.

Source || Under General by Jercy78 - few hours ago

[CES 2009] LG Booth Highlights

By Evan AckermanLG Objet 15″ AMOLED TV, 720p resolution, 0.85 millimeter thick (!) and super bright. It’ll be showing up in the US, but there’s no price or timeframe yet.LG Prada cellphone controlled by matching watch via Bluetooth. 600 Euros for the phone, another 300 for the watch.LG digital TV chip, watch DTV on your

By Evan Ackerman

LG Objet 15″ AMOLED TV, 720p resolution, 0.85 millimeter thick (!) and super bright. It’ll be showing up in the US, but there’s no price or timeframe yet.

LG Prada cellphone controlled by matching watch via Bluetooth. 600 Euros for the phone, another 300 for the watch.

LG digital TV chip, watch DTV on your phone in realtime. Works in mobile devices without a significant cost increase, 4+ hour battery life in cellphones. Will be available in LG phones in September, after the US transitions to digital TV from analog.

Source || Under General by Skrishnasantosh - few hours ago

Startup Tips: Surviving & Thriving in a Down Economy

Discuss

Source || Under General by Iread - few hours ago

Microsoft Tag: The CueCat Returns on Your Mobile Phone

Do It YourselfWill it Succeed Where the CueCat Failed? The Scannable World: Mobile Phones As Barcode Scanners The Scannable World, Part 2: Scanning Your Web Printouts The Scannable World, Part 3: Barcode Scanning In The Real WorldDiscuss

Source || Under General by Gajatheking - few hours ago

[CES 2009] iGo Green Technology Surge Protector Saves You “Vampire Power”

By David PonceiGo is known for their line of multi-device chargers. They use an array of interchangeable tips to allow you to charge pretty much anything under the sun. But they do other things as well, and one product that caught my eye is the iGo Green Technology Surge Protector. It’s basically

By David Ponce

iGo is known for their line of multi-device chargers. They use an array of interchangeable tips to allow you to charge pretty much anything under the sun. But they do other things as well, and one product that caught my eye is the iGo Green Technology Surge Protector. It’s basically a glorified powerbar with a halfway decent design that won’t look terrible next to your entertainment center. But more importantly, what it does is stop your devices from sucking power when they’re on standby. It features 8 sockets: 4 regular ones, and 4 with the iGo Green Tech. So, lets say you plug your plasma into one of the 4 green ones, when you turn it off, it wont keep on drawing power. In the long run, this can save you a bunch of money, and well, like pretty much everything at CES this year, is Green.

It’s going to cost $69 and be available this summer.

Source || Under General by Skrishnasantosh - few hours ago

[CES 2009] Panasonic Easy Touch Remote Controller Concept

By Andrew LiszewskiPanasonic is showing off a new remote concept at their booth that uses a Wii-like controller with two distinct touch pads and a small collection of unlabeled buttons. The idea behind the remote is to put all of the button labels on-screen via an overlayed GUI so that you never need to look
By Andrew Liszewski

Panasonic is showing off a new remote concept at their booth that uses a Wii-like controller with two distinct touch pads and a small collection of unlabeled buttons. The idea behind the remote is to put all of the button labels on-screen via an overlayed GUI so that you never need to look down at a complicated collection of buttons, and away from what you’re watching.

The remote is smart enough to know when it has been picked up, and can tell if you’re holding it in your right, left or even both hands so that you can use it as a traditional channel changing remote, or as a keyboard. It also has a built-in gyro allowing you to flick your way through a collection of photos, and the dual touch pads can even be used to perform ‘pinch zoom’ type functions, without the added cost of an actual multi-touch capable pad.

I particularly like that your fingers show up on-screen as a virtual representation, so you always know which buttons you’re currently hovering over, or are about to press. And if you’re using the remote to type on the virtual on-screen keyboard, you’ll see both fingers (or thumbs) moving independently. Sadly, the Easy Touch Remote Controller is just a concept at the moment, but from what I saw it’s a fully-working concept, so actually bringing this to the market is not out of the question.

Source || Under General by Dotrock - few hours ago

Dandelife's Struggles Offer Lessons for Startups

Dandelife's StrengthsWhat Went Wrong?No matter how hard I wanted the site to be successful, and no matter how good the pitch for Dandelife was, I always feared success. Staying small and non-profitable became an excuse for failure to scale. Why won't this site grow? I kept asking myself. But in my heart of hearts, I knew why. I was pouring all of my effort into product development and in particular finding and fixing bugs, that I had no time and no confidence in marketing the site.Discuss