We are watching television together less and less
often. In the past, watching TV was a social activity that brought
people together. The whole family watched the same program on the same
TV set, and when people went to work the next day they could be fairly
sure that most other people had also seen the same program. This is no
longer the case. What once brought us together is now a source of
fragmentation. Most families have several TVs, and they sit in different
rooms and view different programs - if they watch TV at all. What's
more, the channel offerings have become so large and varied that few
programs qualify as shared topics in the lunchroom at work. Read More
Modern technologies have made so many forms of
collaboration possible that oft times the basics are overlooked, says
Duke University management professor Jonathon Cummings. Globally
distributed teams cannot rely entirely on technology to overcome time
and space barriers; they still need to talk. And that probably means
working some overlapping hours. Cummings developed these recommendations
based on a multi-year study of 108 project teams in 53 locations in 22
countries at Intel. Read More
Olympus goes to the dogs with their new Stylus Tough-3000
By Alan Brandon
January 20, 2010
Olympus has updated their go-anywhere Stylus
Tough line of compact digital cameras with the new Stylus Tough-3000.
This new rugged shooter features 720p HD video capability, plus a
special "pet mode" that automatically tracks and focuses on Man's best
friend. Of course, the Stylus Tough-3000 is also shockproof, waterproof,
and freezeproof, with image stabilization and an array of Olympus art
filters. Read More
Sharp four primary color TVs enable over one trillion colors
By Jude Garvey
January 20, 2010
Although Sharp seems to have a slightly shaky
grasp on the number of primary colors - last time we counted, there was
only three - it has come up with a fairly breath-taking LCD television
that made its debut at CES.
The Aquos LED LCD TV series are set to revolutionize television color
as we know it. They boast an industry-first four-color filter that can
create brilliant blues and sparkling yellows. Called quad-pixel
technology, this means that colors which were difficult to reproduce on
conventional LCD screens will now be available for your viewing
pleasure. And for a total home-theater experience, one of the models has
an industry-first 68-inch screen. Read More
Tell both sides of the story with the Ion Twin Video camera
By Alan Brandon
January 19, 2010
Consumer audio electronics maker Ion has
announced its new Twin Video, a pocket video cam with a twist. The Twin
Video features front and back cameras so you can simultaneously record
your subject, and your reaction to it. The Twin Video is designed to let
you easily shoot interviews or create dual-POV movies for YouTube,
Facebook, and video blogs. In-camera controls allow you to be creative
on the fly by swapping video feeds or switching between
picture-in-picture and split screen modes. Read More
They first showed it in June 2009, then teased us with a Q2 2010 release,
now Sony Computer Entertainment has pushed back the worldwide release
window for the still-tentatively-named Motion Controller for the
PlayStation 3. Wii-less gamers won't be waving their arms around like
lunatics, or smashing their expensive HDTVs until some time in Q4 2010 -
presumably in time to catch the Christmas retail wave. Read More
Aleratec has released its new portable hard disk
drive duplicator, the HDD Copy Cruiser Mini. Designed for the
budget-conscious consumer, the Copy Cruiser Mini offers 1-to-1 copying
of 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA I and II hard disk drives. Aleratec says
the device is aimed at consumers who want copy their HDDs for backup or
when they move to a new computer, but who don’t need the bulk and high
price of an industrial model. The Copy Cruiser Mini can also be used for
external storage or data backup by connecting it to a computer using
its USB port. Read More
Another landmark in the unrelenting evolution of
the digital camera was reached this week when Samsung announced two 12.2
mega-pixel point-and-shoot digital cameras with 15x optical zooms. The
top of the line camera, to be known as the WB650 in Europe and the HZ35W
in the U.S., sports a 3.0” AMOLED display, Dual Image Stabilisation
(both optical and digital image stabilizers), a GPS (for geo-tagging)
and 720p video at 30fps. It’s a stunning achievement to fit all this
into a compact camera body just 30mm thick and with the PMA Show
approaching, one wonders if this camera will still be winning the
“mine’s bigger than yours” contest a month from now. Expect it in the
showroom in March. Read More
Denmark's audio manufacturer TC Electronic
launched a new tuning pedal at this year's National Association of Music
Merchants (NAMM) trade show in California. Guitarists needing to do a
quick tuning tweak will be now able to strum all six strings at once and
the Polytune will advise if any are in need of some attention. Read More
Despite the reputation that First-World
populations have for consumerism, a new study has shown that citizens of
emerging countries are twice as likely to purchase and use consumer
technology within the next year. They are also more willing to pay a
premium for environmentally-friendly consumer electronics, and value
innovative new products over brand loyalty. The study was conducted by
Accenture, a global management consulting firm, and its findings will
have profound implications for the consumer tech marketplace. Read More
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