The Media Interchange

IOGear

2009-01-11T16:49:00.001-05:00

I've always liked their gear and this year they had an HDMI splitter and KVM on display. A nice dual-DVI KVM too. Some other stuff too like their digital scribe, which I still haven't tried yet.

NJoy

2009-01-10T19:46:00.001-05:00

This is... I... What... Who came up with this?

www.NJOY.com. The electronic cigarette device.

Hey, at least there's no second hand smoke.

Cable Technology Ecosystem: Understanding Next Generation Interactivity - Programming and Technology and the Digital Consumer

2009-01-08T16:33:00.001-05:00

Wan from Cisco
Trantor from NDS
Shannon from MacroVision
Malone from Sling
Lariu from McKenna
Harrison from Ensequence
Fausch from Alcatel-Lucent

Wan said in 4 years that IP traffic will hit the zetabyte level-1 trillion gigabytes. Also there will be between 3-4 billion IP devices(where is IPv6???)

Wan-Anything that can be powered will have IP eventually.

Malone - It's all for nothing if we are not giving the consumer what they want. Operators don't really want to open up their walled garden, but open up a little like Facebook on the STB.

Shannon-Operators are moving from broadcast to client server world and metadata will become even more important. Webservices will become more important as we go on and integrate systems together.

Malone - You guys are fooling youselves if you think the consumer won't give up cable or DBS and get their media online. If you do, you are out of touch with the younger generation.

Lariu - For advertising, the micro-niche is becoming more important than the mass shotgun approach we currently have for advertising.

Harrison - TV/EBIF is able to do advanced stuff that the Internet can't right now. Content providers realize they still have the eyeballs over the Internet and are trying to take advantage of that mass audience.

Lariu - ITV needs to get into deep engagement with consumers, such as a scenario with Lost, but ITV is not doing that yet.

Faust - I worry that the days of unlimited bandwidth are over and what will that mean to IP video?

Shannon-EPGs get more 'pageviews' and interactivity than Internet, but we are not taking advantage of it.

-------------

Overall the panel discussion was good, but let me down. It was more of a bashing or 'we should do this' type of thing instead of a more definitive 'This is where we are heading with interactivity', which was what I was looking for.

Breathalizer?

2009-01-08T14:17:00.001-05:00

I thought it was amusing when I saw 1 personal breathilzier, but for the 2nd one I saw, AlcoHawk, they are giving away free a beer coozy! That just seems wrong.

ArkNav

2009-01-08T14:04:00.001-05:00

G-forces recorder... Can save to miniSD or interface via RS-232. Has adjustable sensitivity/triggering and internal clock.
It'll be ready in 2 months for about $100. www.arknavgps.com.tw

My posts

2009-01-08T14:03:00.001-05:00

Some of the technology in my posts might seem odd, but it's usually because I think I might be able to use them in projects for work.

eBox mini-PCs

2009-01-08T13:31:00.001-05:00

Nice micro PCs... About 4"x4"x1". Up to 1g ram on the board and you can install a 2.5" drive(although I would worry about heat.) I saw a 1ghz processor running with 1gb ram. VGA, com ports, ethernet, USB, and CF ports all built in.

HyPC from Yoggie.

2009-01-08T13:17:00.001-05:00

Interesting device... A PC in an ExpressCard. Says it's 'untouchable' from the host...I don't know about that. This is from the guys that made the portable hardware firewall.

Wildcharge

2009-01-08T13:10:00.001-05:00

Which I talked about last year, has come up with batteries for the 3 major game platforms. That could sell a lot of these things. Even my kids can just put the Xbox controller on the table.

nPowerPEG

2009-01-08T13:07:00.001-05:00

Kinectic energy charger... Available in April for about $150. Power comes out of a standard mini-USB port. I 'charged' an iPod myself.

Goldendance

2009-01-08T13:00:00.001-05:00

Um, I'm not too sure about this one. Sends sound to your ear through your bones instead of your eardrum. I tried it and it works, but I can't tell if the headache I have is from that or lack of coffee.

Buglabs

2009-01-08T12:52:00.001-05:00

Buglabs.net

Cool idea of modules you can put together to build your own gadgets. They have a SDK that you can use with Eclipse. The rep told me they have about 80 modules right now and you can get kits from their online store.

CES 2009

2009-01-08T11:13:00.002-05:00

So I didn't post to this at all since last CES and here we are again at CES 2009. I used this blog as a basis for my trip report, so I think I will do it again this year and maybe after I will continue to post on here.

I'm also going to twitter from here if anyone is interested http://twitter.com/JPR7105

Motorola

2008-01-10T15:07:00.001-05:00

Stopped by for my 2nd visit at Moto and talk with an engineer about their OCAP dev environment. I'm interested because it sounds like it's a much cheaper and easier dev environment than others I have looked at. Made contacts and established ground for visits to each others facilities since they a relatively close in Lowell, MA.

Phillips WOWvx

2008-01-10T14:13:00.001-05:00

While the 3D was decent without glasses, it think the glasses experience I've seen before is better.

Sanyo

2008-01-10T14:07:00.000-05:00

Sany had some imopressive short throw projectors. The table was was especially interesting. Some possible OTS or other effects might be possible, especially in cramped studio sets. The brightness would need improvement, but the keystoning of these is impressive.

Tech and Emerging Countries

2008-01-10T13:55:00.001-05:00

Interesting stuff being shown at this display.

Voltaic Systems - The Converter solar bag w/ water bladder. A solar backpack that can charge a phopne, GPS or other handheld devices.

The famous OLPC XO Laptop - Much smaller in real life than I thought it was.

Meraki Networks - Mesh network components designed to allow networking for the OLPC XO laptop

Freeplay Weza Foot Powered Generator - Provides 12v power by just a foot crank.

North Hall

2008-01-10T13:45:00.001-05:00

Mark F and I ripped through most of the North Hall in a few minutes. Mostly car audio stuff. Sirius didn't have anything new of notes as they announced all their new stuff in October.

CES Day 4

2008-01-10T13:35:00.001-05:00

It was MUCH easier getting here this morning than yesterday. I guess that's probably because there were around 40000 less people today.

I did meet some of the guys from Engadget yesterday, had a little conversation and exchanged business cards. I'm hoping to talk to them a bit more in the future.

HP

2008-01-09T20:23:00.001-05:00

I didn't really find much at the HP booth worth noting except for the HP iPAQ 300 Series Travel Companion. Nice travel device. 3d GPS, videos, MP3. $449 retail

IO-Gear

2008-01-09T19:58:00.001-05:00

IO -Gear had a nice digital pen called the Digital Scribe. The is a wired or wireless(why bother getting wired??) attachment that goes at the top of the paper notepad. The pen itself isn't much bigger than a normal pen, which has typically been the big complaint with these types of devices.

Wireless version will retail for $130.

magicJack

2008-01-09T19:23:00.001-05:00

Yes, I laughed too when I first heard the name of the product, but it really sounds cool. Basically, you plug the device, which is about the size of a pack of gum, into a USB port on your computer. You plug a regular analog phone intop the other end of the device and you get assigned a US(maybe Canada too) phone number. Use it top make unlimited calls. The device cost $39.99 online and after the first year, the cost is $20/yr.

I liked it so much I ordered one myself.

D-Box Motion Code

2008-01-09T18:51:00.001-05:00

The D-Box Motion FX technology brings the entertainment park experience of moving furniture down to a more accessible level. The enhancement to the display movie was very good and really gave the user more of an immersive experience. There were also dedicated gaming chairs and even recliners.

http://livetheaction.com

Panasonic

2008-01-09T18:34:00.001-05:00

150" Plasma HDTV. Wow! Just ridiculous.

Tru2way - one of the more impressive OCAP/Tru2way display. They had a STB, Television, and portable TV/DVR device all running the same OCAP program guide.

Sharp

2008-01-09T17:31:00.001-05:00

Sharp was showing off a number opf new TVs, but the interesting part was the Aquos NET platform built into them all. It requres an ethernet connection, but puts web gadget on the side of the screen.

I got the developer network contact info.