CES 2008

Napster kicks it old school with MP3

For my money, one of the most exciting pieces of news coming out of CES this year is Napster's announcement that the service will be offering up its entire download catalog in the DRM-free MP3 format. It may not be free, but it still hearkens back to the olden days of Napster. Of course, Amazon.com's digital music store has been selling MP3 files for months now (and eMusic much longer than that), but having another major online music service push for the most universal of digital music formats is just one more step in the right direction--it … Read more

LG's watch phone shows up at CES

Sure, it's not quite the one that Dick Tracy had, but LG showed off a prototype model of a watch phone here at CES. It sat behind a display case the whole time, but we did snag a few details about it: it will have Bluetooth, as well as text messaging. When asked how you would text message with it, the LG rep said that there's a scroll wheel at the bottom of the watch's face that'll let you scroll through letters and numbers. This sounds horrendously tedious, but at least making calls promises to be … Read more

Westinghouse shows off new consumer LCD HDTVs

Westinghouse has unveiled two new model lines for its 2008 LCD HDTVs. The VK and TX series of flat panels both sport 1,920x1,080 resolutions allowing support for up to 1080p.

The VK series offers four HDTVs with 42-inch to 47-inch screen sizes and range in price from $1,099 to $1,499. Standing out among the VK series is the VK-42F240S 42-inch LCD HDTV that offers four HDMI inputs compared with the rest of the line's two HDMI inputs. The VK series will be available to consumers in March 2008.

The step-up TX series offers three HDTVs … Read more

Seagate CEO: Blu-ray won the battle but lost the war

LAS VEGAS--The winner in the Blu-ray and HD DVD war is the hard drive, according to Bill Watkins, CEO of Seagate Technology.

"People are saying Blu-ray won the war but who cares? The war is over physical distribution versus electrical distribution, and Blu-ray and HD lost that," he said during a breakfast meeting at the Consumer Electronics Show here this week. "In this, flash memory and hard drives are on the same side. The war is over and the physical guys lost."

Watkins, naturally, speaks from personal interest, but he's got a point. (A former … Read more

Funai announces Blu-ray player for less than $300

The major gripe against Blu-ray has always been that the hardware is just too expensive, especially when $99 HD DVD players were flying off the shelves at Wal-Mart a few months ago. While videophiles on a budget could opt for the $400 Sony PlayStation3, there hasn't been a real alternative for those looking for a cheaper standalone unit. Funai is looking to fill this gap with its latest announcement of a Blu-ray player slated to come in the second quarter of 2008 for less than $300--which is the lowest price we've seen on any Blu-ray player.

Other than … Read more

Westinghouse new wireless TV isn't for consumers--yet

Westinghouse Digital is showing off a wireless LCD flat-panel TV here at CES--but the model is currently targeted for use in the digital signage market. The LCD uses PulseLINK's integrated CWave UWB (ultrawideband) Wireless HDMI protocol to broadcast a full bandwidth HD video signal from a separate base station (to which the video sources are connected). As a result, the only wire needed for the panel is the power cord--a near ideal solution for store windows and other retail locations where clutter and wires are unacceptable. Westinghouse is touting the commercial applications now, with hopes that the technology will … Read more

XStreamHD beams 1080p HD video and DTS-HD Master Audio into your living room

Anytime the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray is discussed on the Internet, there's always a commenter that chimes in to say that digital downloads are going to beat them both. While we've seen some successful products using the digital distribution model, such as Vudu, we've always been skeptical about true high-def digital distribution taking off in the near future, mostly because high-bandwidth Internet access just isn't cheap enough.

Instead of waiting for cheap, super-fast internet connections, XStreamHD is looking to an older technology to provide the extra bandwidth--a satellite dish. The XStreamHD system consists … Read more

Dell teases with XPS 630 gaming desktop

As it has in the past, Dell put a new desktop on display at the show this year, but without revealing any specifics. We're not able to tell much by looking only at the exterior of the XPS 630, other than the fact that it retains the overall look and feel of the high-end XPS 700 series, including the external case lighting.

Dell pulled a similar move with the XPS 710 H2C at last year's CES, and that system shipped in February 2007. If Dell follows that same pattern, we hope to have a review unit in our … Read more

Ion brings old and new together

Everything these days comes with an iPod dock, its a fact of life. Keen to not be left out, Ion have grafted on an iPod dock to their USB turntable. The LP Dock allows transfer of vinyl to PC or Mac via USB as well as directly copying to an attached iPod. All the standard turntable features are present as well as a built in preamp for connection to any device with a line level input. The included software will remove any clicks and pops as well accessing Gracenote's database. Any incoming audio is analyzed and all the track … Read more