With the consumer electronics industry reaching nearly $170 billion in business and the video game software and hardware industry totaling nearly $50 billion, there’s a lot at stake for how, where, when and why the products are presented to retailers and industry experts and then to the public. Does Best Buy’s chief video game buyer feel the energy when Nintendo floods their giant E3 July presentation in Hollywood with cheering ringers, who are NOT media,… View this story

A year ago, a few upstarts at CES were showing prototype systems for “Wireless HDMI.” These companies intended to remove that bulky and expensive wire between your cable box and your big-screen TV by providing a full-rate wireless connection. A year later, there is one shipping product, and a lot more promise that full rate technology will reach the shelves in 2008. The problem hasn’t become any easier. Uncompressed full-resolution (1080p) signals require a throughput… View this story

At CES this year, there was a resurgence among purveyors of home automation systems.  Companies like Control-4 and Monster, among others, were showing complete systems for home control.  Each manufacturer had the same general selection of keypads, touch-screens, remote-controlled light switches, and plug-in modules.  However, each offering was based on one of several incompatible standards, including Universal Powerline Association (UPA), HomePlug, Z-wave, and INSTEON. And therein lies the problem:  With no single technology standing out… View this story

If star-gazing is your thing, Stewart Filmscreen can take you to a whole new level. The company came out with its stunning StarGlas screen technology last year, and at this year’s CES introduced StarLift, a motorized mechanism to raise and lower the StarGlas rear-projection screen. The device can go into a piece of furniture, so your video screen can be even less obstrusive in whatever room you want to view it, as visually striking as… View this story

The Consumer Electronics Show is like one massive birthday gift for those into tech: you like TVs, it’s got ‘em. HD players and audio systems, yep. Gadgets and gizmos, sure. And since it takes days to see even a tiny percentage of what’s there, prepare to do some intense walking. But if you can avoid PR hype and don’t mind carrying around 50 lbs. of CDs, flash drives and other promo stuff you can at… View this story

CES ‘08.  Three days of walking, walking, and, well, you get the picture. After staring at yet another big-screen TV (Panasonic took the “biggest” prize with a 150” monster), I started looking for the new and the different. The most interesting new ideas I found were about connectivity (mostly wireless).  Here’s what caught my attention… I’m really impressed when someone takes a number of readably available technologies and combines them for a totally new purpose… View this story

GPS has saved us many man-hours in U-turns and drawing out directions, but there’s no denying that it’s distracting when clutching the wheel, a Big Gulp and trying to change the DVD for the kids. The Garmin nüvi 880 allows you to keep your hands on the wheel (or whatever else) and exercise some in-vehicle road rage, giving you an interface to bark commands out to. Push the button mounted on the steering wheel, and… View this story

Some green news is trickling out of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, as HP yesterday committed to reduce the energy consumption of its business-based desktop and notebook PCs by 25 percent by 2010. HP expects to reach the goal by using more efficient power supplies and lower-energy chipsets and other energy-saving technologies across its “volume” PC portfolio. As an example, HP cites its HP Compaq dc7800 Business Desktop PC that uses the… View this story

The Insteon camp is growing. SmartLabs just announced the IRLinc, a plug-in interface that enables control of Insteon-compatible lighting and other appliances using almost any universal remote. That’s a nice perk. As much as we all love new toys, some are very addicted to their existing remotes. It’s comparable to the groove in the couch—it takes time to achieve that kind of magic! Hide the sensor in your A/V gear and use your remote to… View this story

Can you make your hours of TV watching an environmental cause? That might be a good argument for getting the Philips Eco FlatTV (also known as the 42PFL5603D). This HD LCD just took home CNET’s ”Best of CES” award in the TV, not just because it’s 42 inches of 1080p fun, but because it sucks up a lot less power than the couch-friendly potato that you have right now. The Eco TV has the ability… View this story