CES 2011

CES: iHome iA63 iPhone speaker dock puts a spin on the traditional alarm clock

LAS VEGAS--The new iHome iA63 speaker dock and alarm clock makes it easy to switch your iPhone or iPod from vertical to landscape mode. With the touch of a button, the dock rotates your device with a snazzy spin so you can watch your movies and view images in wide-screen video mode.

The iA63 is iHome's newest addition to its line of alarm clocks, so it's compatible with the iHome+Sleep and Home+Radio apps with additional access to six customizable FM radio presets.

The iHome iA63 motorized alarm clock will be available soon for $99.

'Top Chef' techs it up at CES

Nestled amid all the tech products and services at CES this week is the Bravo TV booth, featuring cooking demos by former "Top Chef" contender Richard Blais. But Blais isn't totally out of place here: he applies a bit of science and tech to cook up his culinary delights.

Narrowly losing the Top Chef title in season four of the series, Blaise is well-known to fans of the fast-paced cooking show for his molecular gastronomy approach to food preparation, a process that dives into the chemical reactions that occur as different ingredients are combined.

One of Blaise'… Read more

CES: Philips intros first wireless HDMI Blu-ray player

LAS VEGAS--If you always wished you had a Blu-ray player equipped with wireless HDMI to stream video from across the room to a wall-mounted TV, Philips has a new solution: the BDP7580 wireless HDMI Blu-ray player.

Due out in April with a price tag of $499.99, the BDP7580 offers 3D playback, NetTV, Netflix, and Blockbuster streaming, as well as Philips MediaConnect, which allows you to stream content from your PC to your TV via a Wi-Fi connection. NetTV is Philips' integrated Internet TV feature that offers a built-in browser for accessing standard Web sites, including Facebook and Twitter. The … Read more

Hands-on with the Olympus E-PL2

For its latest addition to the PEN ILC line, Olympus makes a few design and feature enhancements to its E-PL1 Micro Four Thirds camera, resulting in the subtly--but not significantly improved, E-PL2.

The most obvious functional differences include a larger LCD, multiple variations for come of the Art Filters, support for the new accessory connector and redesign of the buttons. It also supports an extra stop of sensitivity, up to ISO 6,400.

  Olympus E-PL1 Olympus E-PL2 Panasonic Lumix DMC-G10 Samsung NX100 Sony Alpha NEX-3 Sensor (effective resolution) 12.3-megapixel Live MOS 12.3-megapixel Live MOS 12.1-megapixel Live … Read more

CES: Huawei Ideos X5 First Look (video)

LAS VEGAS--One of the most interesting (and possibly best) things about the Huawei Ideos X5 is what it lacks.

The Ideos X5 is one of a couple Android smartphones we've seen without a customized skin on top of the stock Android operating system. Not all of those skins are bad by any means, but Android purists will welcome the simple, straightforward interface. Take a look at the phone and its features in this First Look video from the CES show fly.

CES: On Windows Phone 7's upcoming speed boost

LAS VEGAS--Despite not announcing any new phone hardware during its CES keynote speech, Microsoft paid special attention to its Windows Phone 7 platform with some live demos of existing features, as well as the promise of an update that would bring new features like copy and paste along with performance improvements.

But how much of a boost will phones be getting when firing up applications? The answer, it turns out, is hard to quantify.

"It impacts apps differently," Aaron Woodman, director of Microsoft's mobile communications business, told CNET in an interview yesterday. "It's not the … Read more

CES: BitTorrent plans torrenting ecosystem, hardware partnerships

LAS VEGAS--The grandpappy of the torrenting world, BitTorrent, announced yesterday at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show that it will bolster its torrent-managing software later this year with search and playback features. Similar to competitors such as Vuze and Miro, the ecosystem comes as part of the development of Project Chrysalis, an effort to give BitTorrent a more robust feature set and give consumers a seamless workflow from finding content to playing it back. BitTorrent recently announced that it had reached more than 100 million active monthly users.

The new version of BitTorrent is due in a public beta near the … Read more

CES: Slingbox functionality comes to Google TV

Slingbox functionality is on its way to Google TV, according to a new report.

Technology blog ZatzNotFunny is reporting that Sling Media has developed a Web-based application for Google TV that allows users to control their DVR and access programming from the site.

Sling, which is currently showing off the product at the Consumer Electronics Show, reportedly told ZatzNotFunny that the Google TV option features the same interface available on the company's SlingPlayer Mobile Android app, which launched in June.

ZatzNotFunny says the Google TV-optimized site streams content at 1080i and should launch "sometime this year."

Further … Read more

ViewSonic ViewPad 4, hands-on

LAS VEGAS--More products seem intent on blurring the line between smartphones and tablets. The 5-inch screen on the Dell Streak, for example, really threw us into a philosophical tailspin. It was awkwardly large to make calls with, but too small for tablet-style Web browsing and productivity.

In spite of ViewSonic's insistence on calling the ViewPad 4 a tablet, I have no qualms telling you that it's really a smartphone. As the name implies, the ViewPad 4 uses a 4.1-inch screen, putting it behind the 4.3-inch screen used on the Motorola Droid Bionic and other unabashed smartphones. … Read more