Plex, taking over the world. Only a few days after releasing Plex/Nine and Plex for iOS, the media center announced a partnership with LG to include a version of the software on its Internet-enabled TVs and Blu-ray players. But you knew that already. Wouldn’t you know it, I have here a brief video demo. Who loves ya? → Read More
Without Sony‘s support ESPN “probably would not have launched” ESPN 3D. So said Bryan Burns, Vice-President of ESPN, at IFA earlier today. Burns, talking before a reasonably crowded auditorium, reiterated ESPN’s commitment to 3D sports broadcasting while fully recognizing what we’ve all been going on about for months now: nobody’s going to buy an expensive 3D TV—have you seen the unemployment numbers of late?—when there’s nearly zero 3D content to be found. → Read More
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is going to sell well. It won’t be a blockbuster like the iPad, but it should still do alright mainly because it’s the first consumer-worthy Android tablet. Samsung can even price the tablet well north of the iPad’s $500 starting price. It will not matter. People will buy it even if it’s, I don’t know, $800. You might not, but there are enough Android fanboys that will.
Rumors have popped up over the last 24 hours about the Tab’s price. Some European retailer’s pricing has leaked out although Samsung is saying it’s all speculative because the official pricing hasn’t been announced just yet. But still, it makes you think. The pricing ranges from €699 ($890) to €799 ($1,020) for the 16GB and 32GB respectively. Remember, the Galaxy Tab comes with a 3G modem and there likely will not be a WiFi-only model because Google requires cellular capability for the Android Market. But for a quick minute, forget that the iPad offers a bigger screen and twice the storage for the same price. It doesn’t matter. → Read More
Spotify, the European streaming music service (that’s awesome), recently inked a deal with Sonos to allow the service to work on Sonos’ home devices. Here we have a brief demo of the magic in action. → Read More
Probably the most striking thing I’ve seen so far here in Berlin was this: an array of SDXC Cards, from 64GB all the way up to 2TB. Now, I know SDXC cards aren’t exactly new—they were first shown off publicly more than a year ago—but actually seeing them in the flesh, so to speak, prompts the question: what’s the hold up? → Read More
Toshiba has dropped a pair of new camcorders at IFA, both of the genus Pistolgrippus. The P20 is the chubbier of the two, though that’s not saying much, since the S30 is only 19mm thick. Once you’re past the point where these things slip into your jacket pocket, though, a millimeter here or there doesn’t really signify much. Good for them, though. → Read More
These prices are in no way substantiated, but in case they’re correct, we’ll have wanted to have posted them as soon as they appeared. Several sites are reporting that the highly-anticipated Galaxy Tab, with which we’ve just recently posted a hands-on, is going to be sold for a mind-blowing €699 for 16GB, and €799 for 32GB – or more. That’s around $900 and $1000 respectively. If this is true… well, nice knowing you, Galaxy Tab. It’s also possible that this is just a random price someone thought they heard, and is now racing around the internet like wildfire. We’ll know as soon as Samsung clarifies things. Update:According to a Samsung executive who allegedly spoke to the Daily Mail, the Galaxy Tab is in fact supposed to cost between $200 and $300. → Read More
IFA still hasn’t even opened yet, but a few companies have been having informal “come look at our stuff!” booth tours. One of the bigger ones today was LG‘s, and this here is probably the flashiest of all their wares: a 31-inch OLED television that’s only 0.29mm thin. I can practically hear the LG managers yelling at their engineers, “Under 0.3mm or you’re all fired~!” → Read More
Well, as promised, here’s a handy video of the Samsung Galaxy Tab in action. Apologies if it’s gets a little hairy at times—juggling two cameras while trying to navigate a GUI touchscreen isn’t exactly the easiest trick to pull off. → Read More
Samsung used its IFA press conference today to introduce the widely anticipated (I suppose) Galaxy Tab, the company’s Android 2.2-based tablet. I have a video rendering as I type this, but I just wanted to get some of the pictures up as soon as possible. → Read More
Perhaps Panasonic should change its name to 3D3D3D3D. The company that has “invested in innovation” (are you kidding me?) will debut a 3D camcorder, the HDC-SDT750, in Europe this October. It will also release a 3D converter lens (by the end of the year), for Panasonic’s plain ol’ Lumix camcorder. Of course, you’d need a 3D TV to then view the recorded 3D footage. Which means you’d need to wear 3D glasses every time you wanted to watch your home movies. Hmm. → Read More
I think the message coming out of the opening press conference here at IFA 2010 (the 50th such show, by the way) was: we were consumer electronics before consumer electronics became cool. (Take that, CES!) A quick video highlight package re-traced the show’s lineage all the way back to its inaugural gala in 1924. Six years later, Albert Einstein gave the keynote address, saying that “engineers make democracy possible.” Engineers help foster communication methods, and communication helps foster humanity. It all semmed so much important back then, with the likes of radio and television bringig people together like never before. If I’m lucky, this year I’ll get to see a bunch of goofy tablets. → Read More
There is a war being waged by TV makers. A war against set-top boxes. See, TV makers like LG and Sony don’t want you going off and buying a Roku, or iTV, or what have you. So over the last couple years, they keep adding features to their TVs — apps, internet, weather, that kind of thing. LG’s latest, which it will be showing at IFA this next week, doesn’t look terribly different from the stuff we’ve seen from others, but the new control scheme might be fun. → Read More
Forgive the music because you’re going to wanna trudge through this video. It is by far the best Samsung Galaxy Tab video to date and might be some sort of official demo. The entire 2:43 video is filled with nothing but action shots and size comparisons. Is it an iPad killer? Still hard to tell, but this video certain makes a case for it. Click through for the video. → Read More
IFA is upon us; think CES but bigger. The showfloor doesn’t open until September 3rd, but most of the news should drop this week as companies try to steal 15 minutes of fame before the flustercuck begins. And this year it’s all about Android tablets and 3D TVs. I know, exciting stuff.
You could almost feel the excitement at CES 2010 back in January. It felt like the whole CE market was on the verge of something big. Tablets and 3D TVs were the buzzwords but only the big players where showing off prototypes and first-gen models. All the mid-level consumer electronics makers had ereaders instead of tablets. But IFA should be a bit different now that the Chinese OEM factories are already pumping out slates and 3D TVs are commonplace. But you might not wanna get too attached to any of the products announced in the coming days; they might not be for you. → Read More
