2010 CES

LAS VEGAS--TrendNet was one of the first networking vendors, together with D-Link, to start the green-networking initiative more than a year go. The company invented and implements what it calls GreenNet technology in most of its networking products.

The company announced Friday the latest addition to its green product portfolio, the eight-port Gigabit GreenNet switch, model TEG-S80Dg, which uses significantly less energy compared with traditional products of the same type.

GreenNet is a TrendNet switch-based technology that determines and supplies the appropriate amount of electrical power to each hardwired switching port as required by the connected device, the port, or … Read more

CES 2010 isn't over for a few more days, but the big news regarding 3D Blu-ray players is out. There hasn't been many specifics announced, but we've broken down the most important details below.

Four standalone 3D Blu-ray players were announced

The four 3D Blu-ray players announced are the Panasonic DMP-BDT350, Samsung BD-C3900, Sony BDP-S770 and Toshiba BDX3000. Sony also announced the BDV-HZ970W home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) system with a built-in 3D Blu-ray player. Samsung announced a 3D Blu-ray HTIB but didn't have a specific model name.

The Panasonic DMP-BDT350 is the only player with dual HDMI outputs… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Alongside the recently announced Wind Top AE2420 configurable all-in-one desktop, MSI also used CES 2010 to announce a series of concept products, so we stopped by the MSI booth to check them out.

The group includes a 3D all-in-one PC with wireless glasses, another all-in-one with an LED display and a unique sliding design, and finally a fully built computer housed in a small projector. Before you start drooling, we should be clear that all three products are still only proof-of-concepts and have no further information or release dates...yet. Let's take a closer look at the three … Read more

LAS VEGAS--On his first visit to CES as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski on Friday reiterated key policy objectives to free up more wireless spectrum and encourage competition in the TV set-top box.

Top on the chairman's list of issues to emphasize while chatting with Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro here at 2010 CES was the need for more wireless spectrum to be used by wireless broadband providers. He said spectrum scarcity is a key issue that he faces on a daily basis as he deals with communications policy. And he said it was crucial … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Motorola's new Backflip Android phone captured most of our attention at CES, but the company also displayed two recent touch-screen devices destined for the Chinese market.

The XT800 has an attractive slim design with a 3.7-inch, 16 million-color WVGA display. I handled it for a few moments and liked how solid the device is and how it fit squarely my hand. It runs Google Android 2.1 and sports a standard 3.5mm headset jack.

The feature set is respectable. You'll find two SIM card slots, a 550MHz processor, Wi-Fi, A2DP Bluetooth, a 5-megapixel camera with … Read more

Sean "Diddy" Combs may be a bit over-the-top, but I have to give credit where credit is due: the cat's got style. And that's definitely part of the draw with the new earbuds he's putting out with Monster and Dr. Dre, the Diddy Beats.

These in-ear 'phones are clearly designed by a fashionable eye, from the tapered, conical earpieces to the chrome accents and lowercase "db" initials stamped on the outer edge. Add to that Monster's signature flat ribbon cable, and you have a head-turning style that's sure to attract listeners … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Less than a month after Intel launched its redesigned Atom processor, the Atom D-510 dual-core, QNAP is now the first vendor to introduce new NAS servers powered by the new Intel chip.

The company showed off at CES four new high-performance Turbo NAS servers: the TS-259 Pro, TS-459 Pro, TS-659 Pro, and TS-859 Pro, which is a QNAP exclusive as it's the only eight-bay server on the market.

According to Richard Lee, QNAP CEO and president, all of these NAS servers have been certified as compatible with VMware's vSphere4 (ESX 4.0) virtualization platform and are designed … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Iriver fessed up to plans for its latest portable media player, the Smart HD. The touch-screen player is due out in Korea at the end of January, and includes a 3.5-inch screen, along with Wi-Fi, a calculator, a voice recorder, a Web browser, FM radio, music playback, and a slew of supported video formats (MKV, Mpeg4, XVID, WMV, and H.264).

The Smart HD will actively transcode most HD videos down to the screen's 480x320-pixel resolution. There's no word on whether the Smart HD will include TV output capabilities to make HD video resolutions worthwhile.

Details … Read more

LAS VEGAS--At CES here on Friday, graphics chipmaker Nvidia showed a tablet, or slate, computer running a "demo" Motorola-Verizon tablet interface on top of the Google Android operating system.

I stopped by the Nvidia booth, where an Nvidia representative gave a quick demonstration (see video) of the tablet from Seattle, WA-based ICD. It has an Nvidia Tegra 2 chip, which is expected to find its way into a number of tablets this year.

The tablet performed well for a prototype, though the unusable Wi-Fi connection on the CES show floor made wireless connectivity impossible. The device will also … Read more