Every once in a while we get lucky enough to see an actually cool product. This is the Lensbaby, an odd lens that allows you to create selective focus images, meaning you can “sharpen up” on spot on a scene leave the rest in sporty blur. This would have been great for taking action shots on the floor, but we didn’t get a chance to try it on our gear. → Read More
X-Fi is a technology for improving audio quality from standard sources including MP3 players and streaming sources. They’ve stuffed this technology into a set of wireless devices, the XDock Wireless dock and the X-Fi Wireless Receivers. You plug in an iPod into the XDock and can play music out to an optical or RCA-enabled receiver. Then, you can transmit the audio to a Wireless Receiver in another room. The receivers are $99 and the XDock is about $199 for the iPod. The package will cost about $300. → Read More
for the PC that could read both Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that LG has announced a standalone player that will play both disc formats. The BH100 Super Multi Blue Player will support 1080p resolution via an HDMI 1.2 output. The suggested retail price is $1,199 and the player is supposedly to be released by April. Not that LG would ever let us down! Product → Read More
We got a chance to see the Simpsons phones in the wild. It’s all clamshell all the time over there with an A717 for Cingular, an M500 for Sprint, and a U740 for Verizon ensconced in glass cases and colored yellow as Homer’s sun-kissed pate. The phones will be available during the film launch in July. → Read More
Got some hands-on time with the SCH i760, the Blackjack Deux, with an external keypad and fold out QWERTY keyboard. It’s probably coming out on Verizon, although the kids at Samsung weren’t talking. More as we get it. → Read More
Of all the products and technologies I’ve seen so far at this year’s CES, the most impressive is, without a doubt, from Kleer. Its technology utilizes a 2.4GHz radio for full lossless audio. I had a chance to test it out with an iPod adapter and I’m thoroughly pleased with the results. I noticed no distinction in audio fidelity between wired headphones and the Kleer reference set. Kleer plans to license the technology for use in other products. We could see it available in headphones from people like Sennheiser in the near future. RCA has already announced that Kleer will be integrated into its new Jet Stream MP3 player due out later this spring. I’ll be watching this one intently and I’ll let you all know where it’s headed. Kleer → Read More
San Francisco, CA
