ces 2010

LAS VEGAS--CES press conferences aren't always exciting, and Samsung' Mobile's event early Friday morning proved to be particularly underwhelming. Though the company normally buries us in phone announcements at technology trade shows, this year Sammy announced no new handsets in Las Vegas.

We started with a brief recap of the last year. Samsung managed to earn the biggest market share in the U.S. market, which is not surprising to us considering the range of its handsets that passed through our hands. Company execs also recapped current design and feature trends, like the TouchWiz interface, AMOLED displays, and … Read more

LAS VEGAS--We liked most of the Blu-ray home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) systems we reviewed in 2009, but the Samsung HT-BD1250 stood as the best, thanks to its excellent sound quality (for an HTIB, at least). Samsung has announced a new line of Blu-ray HTIBs at CES 2010, adding features like DLNA-compatibility, Samsung Apps, and Wi-Fi. Here are the details.

Key features of the Samsung HT-C6500:

A new technology from Zyxio allows you to control your PC by breathing. Obviously this is good for accessibility, but it could also mean good and bad news for gamers. We'll discuss. We also rundown the latest news from CES, including the Intel keynote. And we talk with the winner of the Apps for Innovation contest about his Web site that makes it easy for you to find out what the government is about to do to you and gives you a chance to make a comment.

Sure, we really like the PS3 Slim's brand new-sleek design, but unfortunately some pre-existing PS3 accessories don't play nicely with the console's updated form factor. To fix this, Nyko has revamped most of the company's PS3 accessory lineup for the Slim and improved on the Media Hub in the process.

The Media Hub Slim doubles the system's amount of USB ports to four and adds an SD card reader slot as well. The unit fits snugly under the front left lip of the console and plugs into both of the Slim's existing USB ports. … Read more

With the advent of 4G bandwidth, the time may finally be ripe for high-data mobile video calling to take root. That's what video chat company OoVoo is banking on: it just announced its intention at CES to translate its desktop and Web video chat interface to the mobile phone.

Oovoo's desktop video-calling apps (Windows|Mac) can handle up to six conference-call lines at once, and can record conversations, to boot.

We can only guess at this point if video conference calls will figure into OoVoo's mobile app, since it won't even have a product to formally … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs is about to speak here at CES 2010. We'll be posting frequent updates once he gets started, in about five minutes.

Update 11:20 a.m.: Jacobs opens his speech with a prediction: that all consumer electronics devices will essentially be phones one day. Because inside they'll have chips from cell phones for downloading books, apps, and connecting to other devices. This is what he'll be talking about today.

Update 11:25 a.m.: A lot of computing power is going into mobile phones, and that will impact the user experience, Jacobs … Read more

While Amazon's Kindle, Sony's Readers, and the Barnes & Noble Nook remain the most popular e-readers in the U.S. market, literally dozens of companies are putting out new e-readers this year--and they're all on display at CES.

They range in price from less than $200 to more than $750 and one even includes dual screens. Which ones truly have a chance of breaking through with consumers is debatable, especially if Apple should go ahead and announce a slate device later this month. But here they all are.

As always, feel free to comment, and let us … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Nyko is taking an interesting approach at voice chat for the Xbox 360. Ditching the conventional headset and microphone, the Speaker Com 360 offers two different ways to chat on Xbox Live.

Using a design that incorporates magnetic earbuds, the accessory can be worn like a necklace with a hanging speakerbox that works like a speakerphone. It should really come in handy when playing on Xbox Live with someone else in the room who wouldn't be able to hear chat otherwise. Of course you can also choose to wear the buds in-ear for a more traditional headset experience. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--There's really very little to say about the DXG 3DView camcorder because it doesn't seem to exist yet. At least not in any sort of final form.

Outside the camera and camcorder manufacturer's booth at CES 2010 is a small setup of some 3D images being played back on a special screen. I got the impression that they weren't created with a DXG product--current or future--but simply a demonstration of what 3D looks like. Around the corner from this display, though, is this poster advertising the dual-lens 3DView camcorder. (Why the giant ram's … Read more