CES - Gadgets

LAS VEGAS--Just a day after Seagate announced what's arguably the most compact portable hard drive, the GoFlex Slim, the record is now broken by what Verbatim announced today, the Titan XS SuperSpeed USB 3.0.

While it's hard to put in numbers how much smaller the Titan XS is, I've seen them both and it is indeed smaller--though admittedly not by much.

The Titan XS is a rugged portable drive, though not nearly as rugged as the ioSafe Rugged Portable. Like the name suggests, it supports SuperSpeed USB 3.0 (5Gbps) and is housed in a shock-resistant … Read more

LAS VEGAS--I reviewed the Lacie FastKey a month ago and thought it was as compact as a portable drive could be. I was proven wrong today.

Verbatim announced at CES 2011 its own version of a portable drive that's based on a solid-state drive. It's called the Verbatim USB 3.0 External SSD. It is even smaller than the FastKey and offers up to 128GB of storage (as opposed to 120GB that the  FastKey has).

Verbatim says this new ultra-slim portable drive supports transfer rates of up to 190MB/sec when used with the USB 3.0 … Read more

iPont, a Hungarian specialist in 3D technology, is showing a new device at CES 2011 that can convert 3D video data into signals needed by autostereoscopic 3D displays--the kind that don't use glasses.

The company doesn't plan to sell the converter box, but it does showcase its real business focus on 3D software and online services such as format conversion and distributing 3D content to digital billboards.

The converter box shows the company's technology for converting a variety of 3D data formats into a variety of output signals for 3D display. It can accept Blu-ray and YouTube … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Think the PC market will be just more of the same old same old in the coming years? Maybe not. Motorola demonstrated an intriguing vision of one viable PC future at CES today.

On the surface, it's pretty straightforward. Convert your smartphone into a full-blown laptop (see graphic).

This PC-like functionality is made possible to a large extent by the powerful dual-core processors going into upcoming Motorola phones, such as the ATRIX 4G, as Sanjay Jha, chief executive of Motorola, mentioned today during the Motorola event at CES.

And Motorola can thank its chip supplier, Nvidia, which is … Read more

LAS VEGAS--A year ago, Facevision introduced the first Skype-certified HD Webcam, the FV TouchCam N1, that was capable of streaming high-definition video over the Internet, turning video chat into a much better experience. It was one of a few HD Webcams at the time.

For this reason, the FV TouchCam N1 was rather expensive, costing around $120 when first released (it now has a street price of about $100).

Today, the company announced and demonstrated at CES 2011 a new version of the Webcam that offers the same capability but at a significantly lower cost, the TouchCam V1 720p HD … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Officially, the Consumer Electronics show runs for four days. But the real action happens before the show, as the world's consumer electronics companies line up to tout their latest and greatest gadgets, products, and apps via a marathon of press conferences--every hour, on the hour.

This year was no exception: 2011's "day zero" yielded a data dump of unprecedented proportions from the industry's biggest names. We're still sorting through it all ourselves, but here's a photo overview--with relevant links to earlier stories--to help put it all into perspective. Among the recurring themes … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Eight months after releasing its first USB 3.0 external hard drive, the MiniStation Cobalt, which was also one of the first on the market, Buffalo showed off today at CES 2011 a comprehensive family of external storage solutions based on the high-speed USB 3.0 connectivity.

USB 3.0 is the next generation of USB connectivity that's slated to replace, and is backward-compatible, with USB 2.0. USB 3.0 has a ceiling speed of 5Gbps, which is about 10 times the speed of of USB 2.0, which caps at 480Mbps. It's likely that most … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Ever wonder where your data is actually stored when you use a "cloud" storage service? Well, you now have a chance to learn about that in a close-up and personal way by hosting your own cloud at home with Buffalo's new NAS server.

The company announced today its brand-new CloudStor personal storage solution. In a nutshell, this is a network attached storage (NAS) server that's powered by Pogoplug.

Pogoplug itself is a successful implementation of Marvell's Plug Computing initiative that transforms a personal computer into a tiny form factor best suited for specific applications … Read more

Sony has one major focus for the near future and that's 3D.

The entertainment and electronics giant previewed a slew of new 3D-compatible products this evening during the company's keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The 3D theme transcends the company's line of products, from TVs and Blu-ray players to laptops and game titles.

Sony kicked off the event with a dramatic 3D demonstration, featuring a long clip from Sony's forthcoming 3D movie "The Green Hornet." Sony Chairman Howard Stringer was then delivered on stage in the Green Hornet's car by the stars of the action movie, Seth Rogan and Jay Chou.

Stringer--while still wearing his 3D glasses--predicted that 50 million TVs in U.S. homes would be Internet-connected via Sony products, including TV, Blu-ray players, and PlayStation consoles, by March. Calling 3D "more than a scientific gimmick," Stringer predicted that 2011 would be "a year in which 3D becomes personal."

One of the ways Stringer intends to get into U.S. homes is via a new 3D channel called 3Net, which will launch in the coming months and feature 24/7 3D content.

Stringer then introduced Sony VP Hiroshi Yoshioka, who took the stage to talk about some of the products Sony has in the works. He promised a 3D-compatible Vaio and handicams. He also showed off a prototype head-mounted display for watching movies and a prototype glasses-less 3D Blu-ray player that resembled a portable DVD player. … Read more