CNET LIVE: January 8, 2008

[ Music ] ^M00:00:04 >> Coming up on CNET Live, we're in Las Vegas for CES. Anything going on? >> Oh, just the biggest collection of technology in the entire world. And the largest consumer electronics show in the world. Thousands of gadgets. We're going to show you a few of our favorites on today's CNET Live. ^M00:00:21 [ Music ] ^M00:00:29 >> Hello everybody. >> Hey, welcome. >> Oh, you're in our room. >> To CNET Live here in Las Vegas. >> Welcome to CNET Live. I'm Brian Cooley with Tom Merit. This is the show that normally happens Thursdays at 1 o'clock Pacific. >> Or eastern. >> Out of our Christ Church would be? You know this. >> I used to know this. >> He'll work on it. >> I'll work on it. >> Out of our San Francisco studios normally. >> Seven. >> We're here at, listen to the rusty cogs turning. We're here at CES, the Consumer Electronics Show here in Las Vegas. This is the super bowl of what we all do and love folks. But we're still taking your calls as if we're back in the studio. >> Yeah, that's right. So 888900CNET, 8889002638 and of course we got a microphone over here for all of you here at CES. >> Look at the studio, we got a camera on the studio audience. Look at this great crowd we've got here in the South Hall of the Las Vegas convention center in at CNET. Give yourselves a hand. >> They're all standing over there. Come have a seat, don't be. >> These are our people. >> Alright. >> We love you guys. >> As we do every show, it's time, we'll get started off with things we crave. [ Music ] These are some of our favorite things from the craved blog and crave.CNET.com. We're going to start with my crave from CES so far. It's not my favorite gadget of all time, but I think it's kind of one of the most interesting from Eaton who makes the Groom Dig Short Wave Radio. >> Yeah. >> It's the Groom Dig G 4 World Recorder. Now what this does is takes a short wave signals and records them to 2 gigabytes of built in flash memory and has an SD card slot, so you can record short wave radio on to the SD card. Worldwide broadcast. >> I would expect no less from the man who can like boot OS10 off an iPod. So it's a radio. >> I can't do that yet. >> You're close. It's a radio, it's a short wave radio with a built in digitizer and recorder. >> Yes. Yeah, exactly. >> Pretty cool. >> Anything on the short wave. If you know the Groom Dig radios, you know they all usually have the short wave. >> Because they're very European. >> I've got two of the crank ones at home. >> The emergency ones, right. >> You know just in case I need them, they're right there. They got the flashlights on them. But then with this, you could record programs. >> BBC. >> Yeah. >> World service, what have you. Alright, check mine out. This one's got a little global feel to it as well. This is from Magellan. Its part of a new category of things that came out at CES, connected GPS. This is the Magellan Maestro Elite 5340 GPRS. Not the most elegant name, but it has a wireless connection to the Internet via cellular, GPRS, and will connect to Goggle local. So you can use this thing to search for what you want and then also tell the device to take you there. Also dash rolled out a device somewhat similar to this here at CES. So we now have two real products on the market that are GPS with Internet search connectivity. That's a big idea to me. >> Well then Garmin has got the V880. >> Yeah. >> That connects to MSN Direct. >> That's right. >> I can find the gas prices for your area. >> Similar idea. >> So, but a lot of these folks kind of converging on this idea of like not just put the Internet in your car, because a lot of when they first said that were like, why would I need that. >> Right, give it a purpose. >> This guy has a purpose. >> 1300 dollars, not cheap. The dash is 600, I don't know how much the new V880 is. Okay. >> Yeah, we'll figure that out for you. >> We'll figure that part out. I think it's time for us to get to some calls, right. >> Let's start off with Eddie down at Downy, California I assume. Hey Eddie. >> Hey guys, how you doing? >> Good, thanks for giving us a call, all the way out here in Vegas. We're actually routing your call into California to Andrea and then back out to Vegas. >> Oh fantastic. >> So there's a bit of a delay. What can we do for you today? >> Let me ask you guys something. With the Warner Brothers going now with the Blu Ray, backing Blu Ray, is that officially going to be the death of HD DVD? >> Matter of opinion. Mister Cooley? >> It sure looks like it, but we've seen HD DVD snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at least once before in this battle. You can't count them out. That's been a very rascally, wily crew, but it doesn't look good. I mean, if I have an HD DVD player and a few disks right now, I'm not feeling good. >> The nail in the coffin almost came this morning. There was a rumor that Paramount had switched back to Blu Ray. >> Oh I didn't hear that. >> Paramount came out and said we are currently, they used the word currently, sticking with HD DVD. >> Oh, but it's looking wobbly. >> Yeah, it's looking very wobbly. >> Okay. >> And I, you know really what do you got? >> If Paramount fell off as well, that leaves Dream Works and one other of the smaller studios on HD exclusively. >> Yeah. >> That doesn't look good. >> No, it really it doesn't look good for HD DVD right now. >> No. >> Like Brian said, never count them out. I think the bigger question at this point is can either one of them, looking like Blu Ray winning, can Blu Ray compete with downloadable video? Because a lot of what we're seeing here is we're starting to get the HD delivered directly. Comcast said that they're going to have HD movies deliverable in four minutes by the end of the year. >> Right. So I don't know how these high definition disks succeed in convincing us to buy all new decks at relatively high costs. These are not going to be the 30 dollar decks we're used to buying for DVD. And do you want to buy all your disks all over again? I don't. The fidelity of the picture is not worth that much to me at 25, 35 bucks a pop. That's my opinion, but I think a lot of folk's kind of fall in that camp. >> Alright, thanks Eddie, appreciate the call. We got time for another one here? >> I think we do. >> Let's take one from Richard out in San Antonio, Texas. Hey Richard. >> Hey Tom. >> Hey, how you doing? Thanks for calling. What can we do for you today? >> Good, I'm actually stuck between two cameras right now, Casio XLM, EXC8 and the Casio XLM EX1080. They both get really good reviews from CNET and other companies. I'm not sure which one to buy. Hoping you all can help me with that. >> Okay, well give us a second to pull up the specs on it. Brian is going to do that. You were trying to decide between, let me make sure I got the model numbers straight. Casio EXV8 and the EX1080? >> Yes. >> Okay. So what do you like about them? Why are you, why did you narrow it down to these two? >> I like on the V8, I really like that its 8 mega pixels, it's a decent camera, it's more of an advanced point and shoot. And then on the EX1080 there's a [inaudible] capture mode that I really like. >> You said a video capture mode? >> Yes. It actually compresses video camera especially for You Tube. On the camera they aren't raw files. >> I'm trying to find, yeah here we go. Here's the review on both of them. So let's go to the EXV8 first. These are slim pocket cameras as you folks can see. I think they're on the screen. You know very flat like a pack of cards at least the EXV8 is. Eight mega pixels. You know we like that about it. And at the low 200 dollar range, right? Is that what you're seeing for the price there Richard? >> I'm seeing 280. >> A little high, let's go to the 1080 then. I was talking about the V8. The 1080 is a little more of a projected lens camera as you can see. Also a little higher resolution, 10 mega pixel. I would tell you this. You don't need more than 8 mega pixels. So if there are features you like better about the EXV8, in a pocket camera you don't need 10 mega pixel. That's an oxymoron. That's like having a 600 horse power Yugo. It's like what are you going to do with it? This can be fine at 8 mega pixels and I might look for the features that differentiate in terms of functionality, as opposed to the mega pixels. That's my read. I don't have full reviews on them in front of me right now. >> Okay. >> Alright, thanks, thanks Richard for giving us a ring and when we come back, what do we got coming up? >> We got Michael Kanelos [assumed spelling] coming up. >> That's right. >> One of my favorite guys from News.com. If you read News.com you know Michael the K. This man is fantastic. He's coming up in moments to give us his reflections on CES. >> But first of all, we also have another Brian, right? >> Oh, the other T. >> Brian [inaudible]. >> Yeah. >> Joining the CNETTV coverage this year. He took a look at a 20000 dollar bed and tested it with his pajamas. Take a look. [ Music ] >> Hey guys, I'm Brian Tong with CNET and we're here at CES 2008. And it's hustling and bustling behind me. In fact we need to take a break. So I'm here at the Starry Night Sleep Technology Bed. The first bed that CNET has ever reviewed and obviously I get to check it out. In fact, you know it feels so good, I'm getting tired, I think I'm going to sit back, relax and soak it all in. Woo, now that felt great. There's a whole lot of tech packed in this bed ranging from antisnore technology, separate heating and an entertainment system packed in the guts of this thing. So let's start off with the antisnore tech. Now up in the head area, it'll feel the vibrations. And when it does, it tilts up 7 degrees. So what that does is allows your air passageway to open up, no more snoring, that's a good thing. Now when we talk about heating, each of the two sides of the bed are independently controlled, ranging from 68 to 117 degrees. Now another cool features this does have is diagnostics. And over the span of 30 days, it checks out how your sleeping patterns are and it gives you recommendations of how you can sleep better. We're here at the guts of the bed and you can see here everything racked up. It's got 1 point 5 terabytes of storage space, 4 gigs of RAM, built in Wi Fi, talks to Windows Media Center. The speakers have the ability to raise. Its four tweeters and four subwoofers. And if you look here, you've got the 1080 projection screen. It actually reflects off a mirror and in front of you. And we're in a convention center, so it's really bright, you can't really see it that well. But in your bedroom when it's dark, it'll look perfect. Once again the Starry Night Sleep Technology Bed. It's going to be available in 2009 and the price range will be from 20000 dollars to 50000 dollars depending on the model and its features. So there's this one setting called romance. I just want to see what it does. I hear Barry. It's vibrating guys. It's vibrating. ^M00:10:11 [ Music ] ^M00:10:17 >> I'm hearing Brian Tong out of my vision saying vibrating. Makes me nervous. So anyway, thanks Brian, that's a great piece and a lot of fun he had with that 50000 dollar bed. So, time to get back into our CES coverage without Tong firmly planted in cheek and that is when we bring on Mister Michael Kanelus. Tong in cheek. Like it. Hey Michael. >> Hey Michael. >> Thanks for joining us. >> Good, good, how you guys doing? >> Good. >> Or we're having a good throw. And you? >> Oh great. Lot of meetings, looking at different things coming out. >> So we see some pretty thin screens, right? Some LED stuff? >> Yeah that's the big talk. I mean, Sony came out with their OLED TV. They brought it in [inaudible], now bringing it to the states. Its three millimeters thick, which is three credit cards. >> Three millimeters think. >> Right. >> The screen of the TV. >> You can't mimic that. >> And you can make them curve. They're not doing it yet, but you actually have a thing. >> Right. >> That just gradually curves so your peripheral vision is perfect and things like that. Great contrast ratios. >> Did you see the Alien Work curved like around? >> Yeah I did. >> Display as well. >> But that's LCD isn't it? >> That's not OLED, right. >> Oh it's OLED? >> It's a, no its not. >> It's LCD. >> It's a box, but it's that curved screen projection. >> It's that IMAX. >> It's projection. >> Yeah, right, that's right. >> Yeah. >> So that's a big one. People are grooving on that. But the problem is this. It's only 11 inches big. >> And what's the price? >> Which is smaller than your notebook. Its 2500 dollars. >> 2500 dollars. >> Because they're having trouble making the big ones. Now the big debate, Sony wants to come out with a, well it's coming out with it now, and they can certainly take it bigger and bigger screens. Everyone else though, Panasonic, Hitachi, Sharp, Samsung are saying 2015, you know that's when. >> 2015, that's a long wait. >> That's a long way out. >> A few technical issues. Making these things big is really challenging and there's not a lot of equipment out there. And they all love it. They all say it's a fantastic image. It's going to be, it's going to replace LCD and Plasma. It's going to take a decade. >> And it has very low, because you're on the green beat so heavily. >> Low power consumption. >> Right. Because there's no big bunch of lamps in it I guess. >> It lights itself. It's self luminescent, so. >> So the pixels make their own light. >> Yeah. >> That's cool. >> And it's very elegant looking, but. >> What's the absolute black project? Project black? >> Oh project kuro from Pioneer is a set that they say, you know because most. >> 9 millimeters thick, yeah. >> But most, most flat panel TVs when they show black, they're really showing you dark gray because they're always you know fluorescing light or getting light passed through them. And that makes your colors looked washed out. But if they can really do black, the colors will just scream at you like you've never seen a TV look before. And so the Kuro folks at Pioneer are saying they can do perfect black with no measurable emitted light. >> And it's an incredible demo. They have these domes of like you know a watermelon under a waterfall or snow skiing. >> It's bizarre. >> But it's beautiful. You sit there and you watch it. You go wow, this is great. >> Let the image of you sitting there watching a watermelon under a waterfall for like an hour. >> Composing a foam. >> That's what you were doing before you came over here, I know, because you, you had to beat the taxi line to get back here. You been all over the place. So what else did you see? >> Just I got over here, I was speaking to the CEO of GM. He's going to show off a car tonight called the Cadillac Provoke, with a Q on the end. >> Huh. >> It combines hydrogen fuel cell with a hybrid, pretty much in line, battery. There's two breck's rings. >> Okay. >> And a solar panel on the roof to run all your electronics in the car. So it's not for everyone. >> Talk about green. >> But GM is getting very electric focused. Where they get the power from. >> Electric assist, electric assist. They said they won't do a full electric car. They're not that interested. But they'll do an electric car where, yeah. It'll, the gas motor will charge the battery, you can go 300 miles. >> The Chevy Volt idea, the serious hybrid. >> Right. And there was a rumor that the Volt's being delayed. And he goes nope, we're still looking at 2010. It's a stretch, it might get pushed out, but we're [inaudible]. And he said we need, there's about 1400 ethanol stations in America and people write in every day to complain that they can't find ethanol anywhere. They buy E85 cars. >> Yeah. >> He goes, we need about 15000 stations. And they're working with like Wal-Mart and Target to put in gas pumps. >> At those stores. >> To, Chevron is not too thrilled about it, you know putting an ethanol. >> Yeah, it's not their business, right? >> Exactly. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, but anyway. >> So he, you know I talked to Bill Watkins today, CEO of Seagate. >> Oh yeah, good guy. >> That Blu Ray won over HD DVD, but a hard drive is going to win the battle because like you were saying, IP TV, right? You're going to get it straight, you know straight from there. >> The hard drive guys look at all these innovations and say, fine. We win no matter what. You're going to play with more bytes and you need a place to put them. >> Right. >> You want it mobile, you want it in your house. >> Don't care. >> You want it flash, you want it magnetic, we don't care. We make both. >> We don't care, yeah. >> And did you see Extreme HD Box? >> Michael Douglas is an investor in this company. He was here being like angry like, oh you know. Greedy and satellite downloads are good. But it's a box where you get on demand from a satellite you know streaming HD. So it's [inaudible]. >> I didn't know about that one. That makes it officially a slew of devices. >> Exactly. >> For pulling TV to your, for pulling video to your television and caching it there. Michael, thank you for joining us. >> Hey, thank you. >> Michael Kanelus everybody from News.com. [ Applause ] Okay. >> We going to take break? >> Yep. >> Kent German is making his way into the wings, talk about a couple cool [inaudible]. >> Next in a couple moments. He's around cell phone genius of course. That's on the way. And of course we're going to be taking more of your calls and don't forget questions from the audience. So get on up to the microphone everybody, we're coming to you next and triple 8900CNET as CNET Live continues. ^M00:15:21 [ Music ] ^M00:15:37 >> Want to check the tech on the latest rides? CNETTV's Car Tech puts you in the driver's seat with in depth reviews of the newest models. >> Some of the worst technology implementation I've ever seen. >> And special reports from auto shows around the world. Just go to CNETTV.com. [ Music ] >> Hi, I'm Natalie Delconte [assumed spelling] from Pod Show Techstra. I got a new job in Big Apple and I don't mean with these guys. No, I'm going to work for these guys. Got a new show. Not sure what we'll call it yet. So, new show, new year, from New York, with me, Natalie Delconte from CNETTV. [ Music ] >> Hey everybody, welcome back to CNET Live, live from CES. Whoa, I'm on the wrong camera, there we go. Live from CES. >> That's how you know it's live. >> I know, I know. >> Just to prove it. >> If I see the profile of me, I thought is that a coin with me on it? No, I'm on the wrong camera. So welcome back. We are here taking your calls at tripe 8900CNET as usual, but also taking questions from our audience. We've got one question lined up I believe. So we're going to be going there momentarily after we say hello to Mister Cell Phone, Kent German. >> Hey Kent. >> Hi Kent. >> Hi Tom, how are you? >> We're doing well. Got a couple phones for us? >> We do, we do. We have a couple of our CNET, or Best of CES cell phone nominees. >> Right because we've got the nominees announced. If you go to CES.CNET.com, you can take a look at all the nominees and then tomorrow, we're announcing the winners, right? >> Two o'clock tomorrow, Best of CES awards right here. >> Alright so let's look at the pretty boy, huh? >> Sure, we have two of these. This is Motorola's Rocker E10. It was announced Friday, or Sunday night, excuse me, kind of late. But this is part of their Rocker series and so you might remember they had the Rocker E1, that was that phone that came out with the iTunes integration. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, not so good. But they've made up a little since then. They've had more phones. And so this actually is pretty cool because it has what they call a morphine technology on the keypad, or keyboard. >> Yeah. >> So what you can, what that means is well I'm sure you guys have used Nokia, the music phones and you know one of the problems is the controls for the music aren't really designed well into the phone. So you know you're using your like keypad buttons to advance songs. >> Yeah. >> And so it's just, you know it's not, it's not a good user experience. So they got around that a little bit by, you can see the keypad is all lit up. >> Right. >> And if you press the music button, all the keypad buttons disappear and only the music buttons are lit up, so. It's kind of interesting. I haven't seen anything like that before. So. >> Let me try that. I want to see that. So these are virtual sort of visual buttons, is that right? So if I. >> They actually have [inaudible]. >> So what do I hit to go to phone here Kent? >> So just hit the call end button. >> Okay the red here? >> The red button, sorry about that. >> So I go out of this mode, come on. >> And scroll down. >> Then it goes to the phone mode. Then I go over here the music icon, the little note. >> And hold that down. >> And it turns into, that's really cool. >> Yeah. >> How do those buttons feel? Because that's a touch. >> It's a. >> Touch interface. >> It's a flat, but it does have physical. >> Okay. >> No it doesn't. >> It really doesn't. I mean they have tiny little bumps, but it actually provides that tactile feedback, you know [inaudible]. >> That's wild. >> So it is pretty interesting and actually one of the best things about it and this is totally low tech, but you know low tech is good. >> Yeah. >> Its 3 point 5 millimeter headset jack. >> Nice. >> Good model to have for that, definitely. >> Seriously. And it's not recessed is it? >> No nothing like that. And actually the camera also has special camera buttons. So it morphs three ways. So it's kind of. >> Oh I didn't see, okay cool, very cool. >> And this is a scroll wheel. It doesn't go all the way around, but it goes three quarters, so. Not a scroll wheel, sorry, but you can just rub your finger up and down. >> Maybe not quite as pretty as the Sony Eriksson walkman, but. >> No, but equally useful though. >> Yeah. Tell us about it. >> A couple things that are interesting about this and I think actually while I was waiting the battery completely died, but I can tell you a couple of things. It does have. >> So what's the battery life? >> Well on the prototypes? >> 20 minutes. >> You'd find that on the down side. Actually a few things interesting about it. It has three 3G bands, I have to say that three times fast, three 3G bands. So that means it can be used in North America, in Europe, because a lot of times you know the phone is only, has 3G band for Europe or it has the North America. >> So let's clarify. This doesn't mean you can make calls in all countries. That's kind of easy these days. >> Capable. >> You can have broadband in all countries. >> Well that's, and, well you can. Actually it's Quad Band GSM as well which is actually very common. But, so the Quad Band GSM means that you can make calls in virtually every country in the world. >> Yeah. >> Although it doesn't mean you have a plan to make those calls. >> You can dial the cost. >> And you'll be paying for it certainly. But. >> But you can do it. >> Yeah. You can. But the 3G was something that was always a little limited. But now you can go overseas and you can get that, you can go to you know international travels. You can make calls and you can get your data, you know like your email, your web all that kind of stuff. >> Breath taking, you're traveling in Tokyo and you're surfing CNET and the register is just going like this. >> Exactly. >> 800 dollar phone bills awaits when you get back. >> In a box like I have seen. >> In a printed manual. >> And the other thing that's interesting, it actually has a sensor in it. It's sort of like you know the iPhone came out, it had that sensor where you tipped it on its side and the screen. >> Yeah. >> Well, Sony Eriksson has done a lot of that actually. And so one of the things they have in here is they have a shake control which you've seen before, where if you're in the music player is on, you can shake the phone and it will transfer. You can raise the volume like that as well. And another thing this one does it actually when you're playing games, you can tip the phone side to side and actually play the game. So earlier when I was doing the first look, I was playing a driving game. And I could control the car and make it turn to the left and right by tipping the phone. So no, you know no getting your finger on these tiny buttons and trying to maneuver it. >> Yeah. >> It's just really cool. >> Yeah, you got to check out his video at CES.CNET.com where he's playing the car game with the phone. It's pretty cool looking. >> But that's it. >> Good stuff, Kent. >> Alright, thank you Kent. >> Thanks a lot. >> Sure, no problem. >> He always has the best toys. You want to be Kent German ladies and gentlemen. Let's have a hand for Kent. >> That's it. >> Okay. >> Shall we take an audience question? >> Want to take some calls now guys? Questions? We got time? Audience, sir you were waiting patiently and you are our floor questionee. How are you? >> I am Christopher and I'm from [inaudible]. >> Thanks for coming out. >> Thanks for coming out. >> I am a long time supporter of [inaudible]. I have a [inaudible] and now I have a [inaudible]. >> Okay. >> My, my cable provider only allows my box to do [inaudible] or HDNI. I want HDMI to my TV. Why is the copyright agency causing problems for Slim Media? >> Right. Why don't they have the HDMI on Sling is essentially the debt of the question there. I talked to Brian Deckoet [assumed spelling] from Sling Media the other day when he brought the Sling boxes by and I asked him. I'm like no HDMI port, you know what's, what's the deal with that? He's like well, you know the problem is with our technology, even if we put an HDMI port in there, half the stuff wouldn't work because they'd block it because as you mentioned, the industry doesn't want you plate shifting. They don't want you to watch your stuff where you want to, so. >> Yeah, they're simply locking down on your ability to make changes. >> It's essentially the same argument that we're having with DRM on music where DRM is losing. The same argument we're having with DRM on video, where DRM is winning right now. >> Yeah, right now. >> It's the same argument with this time shifting and plate shifting that's been going on. Although we kind of got over it with DVRs. Maybe we'll get over it with Sling eventually. >> Folks, this is why when you hear about the analog hole and copywriters want to close off analog jacks and make devices that don't have them so they only have digital connections like HDMI for example, because they can control that. They can never control what comes in and out of analog jacks. They're just too dumb to be controlled. This is where your freedom is, is in those little red, white and yellow RCAs. The quality is not as good, but that's your freedom of input and output. You got a follow up. >> But the output on one will never be as high quality as the HD. >> No. >> So why are they worried about it? >> Right so what are they worried about right? >> Yeah. >> I know, because it will never. Because it's not the fidelity as much as the content. >> Although the HD Pro is going to output full HD. The new HD. >> That's the brand new one. >> That they're announcing here is going to go well 720P anyway. So. >> Yeah, so not the one you have. >> Decent HD. >> Yeah, but the brand new one will put out 720P on good connections. >> And that's what they're worried about there. >> Yeah, so we, hey we feel it, we just. >> I'm with you. >> It's politics and power play. That's how it's being done. >> Alright we got another first look from our folks here that have been covering this CES show floor. Laurie Bruin is one of our photo editors out in New York. And she is hard to impress. Go watch a bunch of her videos. She does not gloat about videos. But she gets a little upbeat about the new Sony DSLR. Take a look. [ Music ] >> Hi, I'm Laurie Bruin, senior editor with CNET.com. Here is the Sony Booth at CES 2008 to show you Sony's new entrance in the consumer digital SLR market. This is the alpha A200K. It's one of the hits that replaces the A100. What's notable is the A100 wasn't really a consumer entry level model. It was a midrange model that got sucked down with price reductions into the 700 dollar price point. But it's not really a camera designed for users going for their first digital SLR. This one is. It's a much more simplified design. It's got the 10 mega pixel sensor, APS size which is the standard size for CCDs. Always notable of course is the fact that Sony is using compact flash in their digital SLRs instead of memory stick. It has a similar design to the A700. It's midrange big brother with same on screen navigation that I really liked in that camera. The camera has the same nice grooved grip that makes holding the A700 and several other vendor's models such a real pleasure. Like the A700, the A200 has the sensor that detects when you bring it up to your eye. So and it automatically turns the menus off so they don't interrupt your vision through the view finder. It's coming into the market at the same price point as the D40X and the Eos Rebel XTI kits, which is heavy competition to go against. But one thing that Sony adds that Cannon and Nikon don't is in body censorship image stabilization. And that is really important when you're stepping up from a point and shot. Everybody wants IS. And Nikon and Cannon still have it in the lenses. To be fair, their models are a bit older. And we expect to see revs of them some time maybe late spring, early fall. So like the Nikon G40X, and the Cannon ES Rebel XTI, this comes in at a 700 dollar price point with a kit lens. There's also a 900 dollar version with a longer zoom lens. You should keep a look out for this in February of this year. I'm Laurie Brunin, CES 2008. [ Music ] >> Hey, welcome back to CNET Live at CES 2008. I'm Tom Merit along with Brian Cooley. We're taking your calls and answering your questions both on the phone and in person at the CNET stage here. And I am going to build a computer. >> Oh boy. >> Right now. >> I knew it was going to come to this. >> I can do this. This is the Bug Labs project. Open source software and hardware. >> In that package. >> So the hardware in here is Open Source. >> Yeah. >> It's SDK, it's GPL for both. You can write your own programs. You can make your own hardware. But they've got some products to get you started. This is the Bug Labs base. It comes with. >> That's sort of a mother board if you will. >> I think its 128 mega bytes of RAM and its small, it's like a mini computer. Little LCD screen on the front. So you're probably thinking, you know I want a screen, I want a big screen. Great. Here you go. Boom, right? Now you have a screen. >> Okay. >> So you buy this module. You want a keyboard, right? So, you got a USB port right there. >> I want GPS. >> You want GPS? >> I want GPS. >> Give me the GPS module. Alright. >> Oh you smart ass. Okay, I want a camera. >> Alright, now you plug the camera in here. >> You son of a. >> Here's what you do. Now you don't even have to have that next one yet. There is anywhere software that will allow you to take a picture, use the GPS module, then upload it to Flicker Geotech. >> All while displaying it on your screen right here. >> Because there's also Wi Fi in here. >> It's pretty cool. >> And then yes, there's the accelerometer motion detector that you can add. And add other elements to your process as well. They've got other modules in the works. These will all be available soon, I think Q2 they said if I remember correctly. >> They mention open source, so they want people to develop not just software but also hardware for this. >> Exact, well, their hope is, they're going to continue to develop modules. >> Right. >> And you're free to develop stuff yourself. So this could be an industrial solution as well as the consumer solution. >> And they have you know just make things that are plug compatible with that particular whatever type of connector that is. >> Yeah, that's, that's, well it's not a proprietary plug right? >> But it's what they use. >> So but that's the standard plug that you would use for, for putting these things together. >> And they got a special pricing thing going on you were telling me. >> I'm glad you asked. I was about to mention they have an early adopter discount. >> Discount. >> So in other words, if you buy it early within the first 60 days, the base and all the modules are cheaper than they will be after 60 days. >> So it'll be opposite of an iPhone. >> Right. >> Whoa. >> Absolutely. >> Okay, that's the Bug Lab's Bug Lab Platform we call it. >> Yes. Go to BugLabs.net if you're interested. You can get the ACK there right now. And the modules will be available soon. Be tabs on that website to find out when. >> Okay this is the ultimate sort of real world hobbyist kit. It's not a toy, it's a real world application base with modules and the ability to create your own stuff if you go that far. Otherwise you just want to buy modules from people who are developing them and build your own CE products. Very interesting. >> Okay, let's go to a few calls. We got Christian on the line from Kansas City. Hi Christian. >> Hi, how's it going? >> We're doing well. How are things out there in Kansas? >> It's pretty good. >> Okay. >> Alright. >> What's your question today? >> Oh first thing I wanted to tell you guys that I think CNET is the greatest. It's taught me everything I've learned about cell phones. And I hope to work there one day. >> Thanks dad. >> Alright, I'll, the check is in the mail. What else can we do for you? >> Alright, I want to know because Sprint has been talking about it for a long time. What exactly is Wi Max? >> Ah ha. >> Wi Max is think of Wi Fi covering oh 100 to 300 feet from the antenna like we have in our homes or the coffee shop. Wi Max is many times that reach and greater band width. So for example, Wi Max could cover a mile or so from a single antenna if it's properly situated in a city or a metro area. And instead of having oh mega bytes, a few mega bytes of speed top end, it can do 70 mega bytes down and up. Now of course that's going to be shared by a lot of users, because it covers a lot of area. So it's not necessarily dramatically faster than Wi Fi, but it is dramatically more cohesive. So you can be mobile with Wi Max. >> There's two kinds of Wi Max. Fixed Wi Max and mobile. >> Yeah. >> Fixed is like a super Wi Fi, like you're explaining. Mobile can do hand offs. So it's more like a cellular technology so you can drive away and still get Wi Max. >> But the hotspots are still bigger so the hand offs happen less often and its coded to do hand offs. So Wi Max can be used by people who don't have cable or DSN but want broadband and don't want to use satellite which is kind of horsy. So they can just get a two way Wi Max connection anywhere they are as long as they install the technology. And the automotive market or the handheld market could use it, so that you could run around all over a city or a metro area and never have to switch cells or hotspots. So you can keep a continuous connection. It's kind of the next big thing in wireless and [inaudible]. >> And it has been. It's kind of like Blue Tooth was about five years ago. >> Yeah. >> Every year they're like well is this the year we're going to get Wi Max, right? >> This is going to hit though. >> Intel is well behind it. They're giving [inaudible]. >> In fact Intel has a Wi Max car in front of CES here. They're taking people on half hour drives where the car stays connected with broadband as they drive all over Las Vegas. >> Sprint is still tentatively on board to roll out Wi Max. >> Yeah, Sprint's had they're own. >> They haven't [inaudible] though. >> Choose and they and Clear Wire. >> Clear Wire is still on it. >> Yeah, Sprint and Clear Wire. >> Sprint has got the zone, but they're separate now I believe. >> Yeah, they're separate. So it has some hiccups, but Wi Max I think is for real and it's going to be a big idea in field wireless connectivity in the next few years. >> Hey, thanks Christian for the call. We did a whole real deal episode on Wi Max. If you go to RealDeal.CNET.com and look at the back episodes, you can find that and learn a little bit more about that. Let's go to Sam in Pennsylvania. Hey Sam. >> Welcome to the show. >> Hey, thanks for having me guys. >> Thanks for waiting around. What's your question? >> I was just wondering with Mac World coming up, do you think they're going to announce the iPhone 2 or are they going to wait until like summer? >> Yeah, I. >> Not yet. >> It's always hard to tell what they're going to do. They are always full of surprises. I think the probability of an iPhone 2 announcement at Mac World is 6%. >> Oh, just a guess. I would say 9 and half. No, it's very slim because the iPhone is still pretty fresh as products go and they tend not to refresh those all that often when they are you know still in the heat of buying frenzy. The iPhone is still hot. >> They just drop the price, they don't refresh it. >> Yeah. Boy you loved that didn't you. Did you get caught in that? >> Yeah, oh yeah. >> You lost, you went and did the deal. >> Got in big fights will Molly about it because I was like that's my own fault. >> Love your whole free market mentality. It's wonderful. So yeah. >> Yeah, probably not an iPhone. You might see some iPhone developments like in the accessories or services or firmware. We might see firmware 113 come out and add a few things to the phone's functionality. But I wouldn't expect to see a second version. >> No, I don't either. Okay. >> That's just, that's just what I think. Alright, let's go to Mark on the line in Chicago, the Windy City. Hey Mark, welcome to the show. >> Hey. >> What can we do for you today? >> I wanted to find out if there's any new products for the Zune. >> Oh, products for the Zune here at CES? Didn't see any major innovations there, kind of like the iPhone, the Zune is freshly redone with the new solid states and the new 80 gig, you know all about that. One thing that did happen, Bill Gates gave his keynote here on Sunday night. And one of the things that he did indicate was that they were going to get more into web services. Well, you know, who isn't? But the Zune is part of that. They're going to have something called the Zune Card. It's not really a card. It's an online credential file if you will where you'll be able to present and share all of your favorite music and media in a social network way. I don't think its revolutionary, but they got to go in there. Now I don't think that iTunes has anything like that do they? Where you can share your collection with other people? >> You can share. You can share play lists, but you know you're not actually supporting the tunes as you are at Zune, you know where you can actually you know send tunes to each other and then. >> Yeah but this is separate from that, though. This isn't necessarily trading music. It's just presenting your collections and favorites to communitize. >> Oh yeah, you can go on the iTunes and you can create play lists and share them. >> And share those. >> You can get celebrity play lists and stuff like that. >> Alright, so they're playing catch up with iTunes it sounds like. So it's not a giant idea. That's about all I heard. >> There's Canadian debut. They said they're going to have a Zune coming to Canada in the spring. >> Alright, so that's kind of a new product, at least if you live in Canada. >> He's in Chicago, but maybe he has Canadian friends. >> Anyways, I didn't see a lot new on the Zune. I saw their booth. It didn't look dramatically like anything was different. It's still a very fresh product right now. So not really. >> Alright, well thank you Mark for giving us a ring. And we're well over time actually, yeah. >> I think we are a wrap folks, that's a wrap. Okay, so thank you very much studio audience and callers for joining us here at CNET Live from CES 2008. Now next week we're back on track, right? >> Yes, next week we will be back at our regular time, Thursday, 4 pm eastern, 1 pm Pacific, 10 am Hawaiian time, if you want to tune to see us live. Of course we're always available on pod casts at Podcasts.CNET.com. >> We'll have a full recap of a whole lot of other CES news because its only Tuesday afternoon. There's another two days of CES we're going to be covering, plus we'll be in the throes of Mac World. >> Mac World will have had its big announcement, whatever it is. >> Right, on Tuesday I think is the keynote. >> Yep. >> And then I'll be getting, I'll be just getting off a plane from the Detroit Auto Show on the day that we go to air next Thursday. So we're going to have a ton of stuff for you next week. >> That's all next Thursday. However, because we don't have a writer's strike going on here, we'll have our own awards show tomorrow. >> Yeah. >> Live on CNETTV.com, the best of CES. Brian will be hosting. Find out what the best 10 products, best of show and people's voice award winner is. >> That's right, here tomorrow at 2 o'clock pacific and live on CNETTV.com. So we'll see you then and we'll see you next Thursday for CNET Live. >> Thanks a lot folks and thanks for the audience for being here. It's great. >> Thank you. ^M00:35:51 [ Applause ] [ Music ]