2010 CES

Sony has non-3D Blu-ray HTIBs, too

LAS VEGAS--Sony surprised us by announcing a 3D-capable Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) system at CES 2010, but the company also introduced several standard Blu-ray HTIBs, too.

Key features of the Sony BDV-E570:

5.1 home theater system Built-in Blu-ray player 1000 watts of total power Wi-Fi capable using the included USB dongle Access to the Bravia Internet Video platform, which includes Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, Pandora, Slacker, and NPR streaming capability Onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio Can control using iPhone/iPod Touch iPod playback using USB S-Air-ready (requires purchase of S-Air transmitter) DLNA compatible $550 … Read more

2010 Best of CES winner is Panasonic's 3D plasma TV

If you had to pick a theme at 2010 International CES in Las Vegas, it would have to be 3D. The dimension of depth was ubiquitous in the product announcements of CE makers, from HDTVs to Blu-ray to gaming to PCs to camcorders...well you get the idea. But to view all that spiffy 3D content you'll need a new 3D-compatible HDTV, which helps explain why we awarded the 2010 Best of CES award to the Panasonic TC-PVT25 series.

Among the numerous 3D-compatible HDTVs announced at the show, the Panasonic will likely be the first to market, at least … Read more

MP3 Insider Podcast 175: CES madness

Jasmine and Donald report live from the show floor on the Best of CES finalists and all of Monster's shenanigans.

Subscribe in iTunes audio |  Subscribe in iTunes video | Subscribe in RSS audio |  Subscribe in RSS video… Read more

Callpod gives us another cool charger

LAS VEGAS--I've not been shy about admitting that I'm a big fan of Callpod's Chargepod. I've taken it on many trips and I love that I can charge my camera, cell phone, and MP3 player simultaneously. But not only that: leaving all those individual chargers at home saves room in my suitcase.

At CES the company raised the bar a bit higher, with the debut of the Chargepod V2. Like the first Chargepod, the V2 can power multiple gadgets at once, but it also includes adapters for powering your laptop (both Macs and PCs) and it … Read more

Sony Ericsson phones cover all the bases

The spiffy Xperia X10 wasn't the only notable phone sitting pretty in the Sony Ericsson booth. We also checked out a few new models that range from eco-friendly to runway-worthy to just plain odd. Catch them in our Sony Ericsson CES slideshow, but read the highlights here.

Xperia Pureness Weighing in with more than a little wow factor, the Xperia Pureness has a transparent display on top of its otherwise ordinary candy bar design. It's certainly a conversation piece, but we're wondering just how it will perform in the real world.

Jalou If you're a slave … Read more

Ray Zone 'King of 3D art' bullish on 3D TV (podcast)

Ray Zone has been an expert and advocate for 3D since the early 1980s. A pioneer in the field, he is responsible for more than 100 3D comic books, along with plenty of movies and other 3D productions. His interest in 3D began in 1953 when, at age 6, he started reading 3D comics starring Mighty Mouse. He has been converting flat art to 3D for 25 years and has worked on many feature films. He's now involved in the revolution to bring 3D to TV.

I caught up with Zone in the 3D exhibit area of CES where … Read more

USB 3.0 demoed in HP laptop-yes, it's fast

LAS VEGAS--The president of the USB Implementers Forum discussed the arrival of USB 3.0 and gave a brief demonstration of transfer speeds on a Hewlett-Packard laptop at the Consumer Electronics Show.

In case anyone was in doubt, USB 3.0 is faster than the current 2.0 version. Below is a photo from CES of an Asus display, showing a comparison of the time it takes to drag a 2.1GB file from a laptop to an external hard disk drive using USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. (Asus was showing laptops with USB 3.0 connectors at CES.) And in the second video segment, Jeff Ravencraft, president of the USB Implementers Forum, provides a taste of the difference in transfer speeds between USB 2.0 and 3.0.

USB is more power efficient than 2.0. "This uses one-third of the power it would take on USB 2.0," Ravencraft said in an interview at CES. It's also backward compatible, he said, meaning it can also handle peripherals that use older USB standards.

Speaking of peripherals, Western Digital has announced a new WD My Book based on the USB 3.0 specification with an adapter card, which will make an existing desktop PC USB 3.0-compatible. … Read more

Hands-on with the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10

Sony Ericsson announced its first Android phone, the Xperia X10, in London two months ago, but I had to wait for CES to get my first look at the device on this side of the Atlantic.

As you'd expect, the Sony Ericsson stand at the massive Sony Electronics booth was crowded with people wanting to get a look at the handset. And there's no wonder why--the X10 is a sight to behold. Its slim profile and clean lines hit high on the beauty scale, and I enjoyed how sturdy and comfortable it felt in my hand. Front and … Read more

Apple looms over CES from afar

LAS VEGAS--The most buzzed-about device at CES 2010 wasn't even on display here.

A tablet or slate computer from Apple was basically all anyone wanted to talk about, and it's not even a confirmed product yet. As a result, Lady Gaga might be the only thing that was actually at CES 2010 that could even be described as generating large-scale buzz.

We can partly blame both Apple and Google for this. Google sucked all the air out of the Las Vegas Convention Center Tuesday, two days before this whole show even got started, thanks to its introduction of … Read more