Sony clears the Emmy Sixaxis ‘controversy’

Sony Computer Entertainment America(SCEA) has cleared the mess it created, that Technology and Engineering Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, it had won was for the PS2 Dual Shock controller and not the PS3 SIXAXIS wireless controller, as originally stated. The confusion began when Sony had announced that the PS3 SIXAXIS wireless controller had won a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

They cleared the confusion after National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences contradicted their statement at the press conference.They said, that they would like to confirm that Sony did not win for their PS3 controller, they won for their PS2 Dual Shock analog controller. The award was presented at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on the 8th of January in Las Vegas.
Sony Computer Entertainment America(SCEA) has said that the confusion was created due to the “miscommunication.” They quoted: “In a press release dated January 8, 2007, SCEA announced we had been recognized by NATAS with a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for the Sixaxis wireless controller.Due to miscommunication between the two organisations, this information was incorrectly reported.”
SCEA also bagged several other awards includingthose for technology and innovation behind the PS3, including the CES Best of Innovations Award for 2007, PC World’s 20 Most Innovative Products Award, Sound & Vision’s Editor’s Choice Award and Digital Entertainment Group’s (DEG) Emiel N. Petrone Digital Innovation Award.
Jack Tretton, President and CEO of SCEA said. “The overwhelming consumer demand and critical acclaim for PS3 is a testament of the platform’s strength and the industry’s desire for a true next-generation entertainment system.”. The president further added: “The full potential of this powerful machine has yet to be realized - what you’ve seen so far is just a taste of what will be on the table for 2007 and years to come.”
Scea’s award winning creation PS3 is displayed at the 2007 International CES tradeshow in the Sony Electronics Booth (no. 14200). The show runs from the 8th of January to the 11th of January in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Centre.Main competitors for the PS3 are X-BOX from Microsoft and WII- from Nitendo.

SanDisk launches the, Sansa Connect Wireless Internet MP3 Player

SanDisk, the 2nd largest seller of MP3 players in the US, announced the Sansa Connect, a Wi Fi enabled MP3 player that lets consumers enjoy and recommend music from almost anywhere. The SanDisk Sansa Connect un-tethers consumers from their PCs allowing them to connect to music and online photos through any open wireless “hot spot” Internet connection.

The Sandisk Sansa Express (1GB) takes after the form factor of the latest Sansa, but replaces the color screen with a monochrome display. What’s cool is that the Express will also have a microSD card slot and thus can double as a microSD card reader. FM tuner, FM recording and a rated 15 hour battery life.
The announcement was made at CES 2007, where SanDisk is exhibiting in the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Sansa Connect provides superior sound playback and will come equipped with a microSD card slot. The expansion slot adds additional storage capacity as well as portability of music to other devices.
The pocket-able and durable SanDisk Sansa multimedia player also comes equipped with an integrated speaker for watching and listening to any content on the player with a friend. The new SanDisk Sansa View media player has 8GB of internal flash memory to store up to 33 video hours or 2,000 songs or thousands of photos. Its flash memory expansion slot allows for additional memory capacity and playback of content found on SD and SDHC cards, such as Disney Max Clips.
SanDisk Sansa View demonstrates following features : Sleek, thin pocketable design at 78.5 x 123 x 16.9mm (0.66-inch thick)Support for a wide array of video, music, and photo formatsIncluding WMV, MPEG4, DiVX 5.0, WMA, MP3, and JPEGH.264 video format at 30 fps enables high video quality and better battery lifeLarge 4-inch widescreen color displaySD expansion slot for additional memory capacitySupports SanDisk TrustedFlash cards and the new SD High Capacity cards (SDHC)Slideshow capability for photos with the ability to add background musicAV-output of audio and video content to a TV screen through a 30-pin connectorUp to 1080i with docking station or 3.5mm headphone jackIntegrated speakerSimple interface with backlit controls for easy navigationRechargeable, removable Li Polymer batteryPreloaded content, including full-length movies, short films, video clips, music and photosWorks with most download and music subscription services, including Rhapsody, MTV Urge and Yahoo! Music

iRobot Create, the first programmable robot, unveiled at 2007 Consumer Electronics Show

iRobot Create, which is unveiled at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, can pick up clutter and create designs on the floor. Thus, it provides aspiring roboticists, students and robot developers with an affordable, pre-assembled programmable robot—iRobot Create.

iRobot Create, is an affordable, programmable robot designed for aspiring roboticists, advanced high-school and college students, and serious robot developers. Create comes pre-assembled, so developers can design new robots without having to build a mobile robot from scratch. “Innovators dream of creating useful robots, but they often get bogged down with designing a mobile platform that works,” said Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman of iRobot. “iRobot Create fills a need in the robot industry for a standard, durable hardware platform on which to rapidly develop new, innovative mobile robots.”
The Create platform provides access to robot sensors and actuators via an open interface. It also features standard connections for electronics and threaded mounting holes that allow users to secure their inventions to the robot, streamlining the integration of third-party electronics such as sensors, cameras, arms and wireless connections.
A slew of methods and programming languages can be used to control Create. Beginners can observe the robot’s behavior in one of 10 demonstration modes or they can program the robot directly by downloading short scripts with any basic terminal program. More advanced users can write programs for completely autonomous robot behavior in C or C++ using the iRobot Command Module. Developers can also create custom software and interact with Create using a variety of methods including Microsoft Robotics Studio, a Windows-based development toolkit.
At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), iRobot will stage ongoing demonstrations of Create at the company’s booth in the Sands Expo, No. 70415, till Thursday, Jan. 11. Attendees will also see demonstrations of Create applications, including a robot that picks up clutter and one that creates designs on the floor.
Create which is based on the core technology of iRobot Roomba, the vacuuming robot that is cleaning millions of homes worldwide, and is compatible with Roomba’s rechargeable batteries, remote control and other accessories. Create can be acquired at a retail price costing $129.99.

Kodak Launches a wide range of Easyshare digital cameras, frames at the CES2007

Kodak is providing plenty of reasons for people to visit their booth at 2007 CES. They’ve announced two new digital cameras - Easyshare V803 and Easyshare V1003 - and an entire line of digital photo frames.
In addition to the “gadgets”, they’re also announcing additional services for storing, sharing and organizing your images - their kiosks will now write DVDs, they will have an image backup service via Kodak Gallery, and they’re working on software that will be able to scan through your images to find similar faces. Their booth personnel will certainly be hopping with all of this to show off.
“As consumers look for more ways to expand their picture taking experience, the KODAK EASYSHARE 10- and 8-megapixel Digital Cameras make it fun to personalize the camera look and feel,” said Pierre Schaeffer, chief marketing officer, Kodak’s Consumer Digital Imaging Group. “Kodak continues to delight consumers by providing new ways to express themselves, enhancing the overall digital photography experience.”
Now, a new menu feature called “Maintain Settings” stores your preferred settings for flash, white balance, ISO and resolution between uses, saving you time and assuring you have the camera set up your own personal way. With the Favorites feature, you can keep your special pictures on your camera all the time for showing and sharing, without filling up your internal memory.
The Kodak Easyshare V1003 and V803 Cameras produce vibrant shots with dynamic picture quality that can be viewed on the large 2.5-inch (6.4 cm) color LCD screen.

Kodak Digital Photo Frames:

The frames are color tuned to Kodak standards and use KODAK Color Science for vibrant colors and pleasing skin tones—displaying pictures in brilliant color and crisp detail. Set up is a snap, and you can enjoy any JPEG picture, most video types (MPEG 1 and 4, MOV, AVI) and MP3 music using all the popular memory card formats (CF, SD, MMC, xD and MS). You can also source digital files from any digital still camera, home PC, Jump Drive and Flash Drive via USB 2.0. Stereo speakers are built into the frames for dramatic sound accompaniment to your slide shows.

Yahoo! has launches, Yahoo! Go : a reinvention of mobile search

Yahoo! has launched a beta version of Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0 from the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show, bringing improvements in every facet of the company’s mobile service suite. A user interface redesign and content specifically created for the mobile experience are on order for this large update.It has also announced the release of a search tool, oneSearch, that it hopes will revolutionise the mobile internet.

The tool will be part of the Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 application, which has itself only just been announced. Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 allows users to access Yahoo Mail, Flickr and Yahoo News from their mobile handsets.
One of the most interesting widgets in Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0 is search, which Yahoo! calls oneSearch. oneSearch is designed to understand the type of search the user is trying to perform, returning answers and content rather than just a list of links. While traditional search results are still present, oneSearch will return actual content grouped by relevance first, such as show times in your area when searching for a movie name.
“Yahoo oneSearch changes the mobile search game by fundamentally improving the way consumers’ access and use the internet on their mobile phones,” said Marco Boerries at Yahoo.
“It delivers a mobile-optimized search experience that understands what consumers are looking for and presents answers directly in the results - not just a list of web links to PC sites,” he continued.
The Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 beta is available for download now. It is compatible with more than 70 mobile handsets.
Yahoo has teamed up with a number of handset manufacturers including Motorola. Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 will be pre-loaded on selected new mobiles from Motorola, some of which were announced yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
“Consumers crave cool experiences on the coolest devices and the desire for seamless connectivity has never been stronger,” said Scott Durchslag of Motorola. “Integrating services like Yahoo! Go 2.0 with Motorola devices enables consumers to stay connected with the people, places and information they want, whenever they want it.”

Verizon Wireless launches V-cast Mobile Television Service

America’s second largest cell phone operator, Verizon Wireless announced Sunday it is planning a new service, V Cast Mobile TV, which will help people on-the-go to watch TV programs. The service is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2007.
With initial launch planned in several major U.S. markets, the ad-supported service will offer live content and other programming 24 hours a day from CBS, Comedy Central, Fox, MTV, NBC News, NBC Entertainment and Nickelodeon. Other content providers, including ESPN, are expected to join the lineup, the company said, which will take the total number of channels to ultimately 20.

The company will be partnering with MediaFLO USA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, to deliver the content. MediaFLO USA operates a dedicated multicast network that delivers programming in a linear format.The service will be accessible on new V CAST Mobile TV handsets through a dedicated V Cast Mobile TV key.

John Stratton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Verizon Wireless, told a news conference at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show the service is intended to provide something for everyone. It will be in a TV-format.
The company did not reveal pricing details for the service. Samsung and LG Electronics will be initially making the handsets for the service. The handsets, the Samsung SCH u620 and the LG VX9400, will also have features like V Cast Music, V Cast Video, Mobile Web 2.0SM and Get It Now capabilities. The Samsung SCH-u620 will feature a 1.3 megapixel camera with flash, Bluetooth support and enhanced speech recognition with dictation for multimedia messaging. The LG VX9400 also has Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel camera, integrated speakerphone and an external memory expansion slot for music, pictures and video clips.
Verizon Wireless already offers on-demand video clips via its V CAST multimedia network, but the MediaFLO service will be the carrier’s first live mobile television offering.

Microsoft’s Gates wants to control digital lifestyle through entertainment network

Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates wants to control digital lifestyle, and at the Consumer Electronics Show Sunday night, Bill Gates announced one more project to help the company do it.A vision of a connected lifestyle, in which digital content can move across devices throughout the home and be taken on the go.
Windows Home Server software, available during the second half of 2007, will act as the center of a home’s computer network, from photo and video storage to television to accessing computers files at the office away from home, Gates said in the keynote at the conference.Building the underlying networks. Developing the technologies to get devices to communicate. Creating the hardware that can handle the digital data. Returning to the drawing board when there were flops. And finally, getting the backing of entertainment sources to embrace this new era of media consumption.
The announcement sets up a head-to-head battle with Apple Computer, which is expected to provide details of its iTV set-top box at MacWorld in San Francisco on Tuesday. Both companies are targeting the more than 40 percent of American homes with broadband that can deliver movies, TV, music and data from the Internet.
Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder, chairman and chief software architect, also highlighted deals that will bring video and online services from cable TV channels Fox Sports, Nicklodeon and Starz to its 6-year-old Windows Media Center, a less ambitious software system that will be integrated into the company’s Vista operating system coming to consumers at the end of January.
Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices group and a fast-rising executive at the company, discussed the millions-strong community around Microsoft’s online gaming service Xbox live, and plans to replicate it among users of Microsoft’s Zune, an MP3 player released in November.
Bach said that the Xbox 360 gaming console would be acting as a set-top box for high-quality, interactive Internet protocol television (IPTV) by the end of the year.
In his 11th annual speech headlining the world’s largest tech convention, Gates highlighted how Microsoft’s latest creations and partnerships aim to make it easier for people to navigate, consume, share and manage different kinds of content, whether they are games, movies, family photos, sports or work.
The consumer launch of Windows Vista later this month is the company’s first major overhaul of its operating system since Windows XP was launched in 2001.

LG Electronics launches the only multi-format next-gen DVD player

South Korea’s LG Electronics has launched the so called Super Multi Blue Player at the 2007 International CES exhibition, that has just opened. The player, LG BH100, will be introduced in the he United States during the first quarter of 2007, and is the first player on the market with the capability to play both Blu ray and HD DVD disc formats, addressing the challenge of the current format war between the two new high-definition video-technologies.
The player will be available in the US from the first week of February for $1,199 (£619) that’s significantly more than the priciest HD DVD player, but only slightly more than the average Blu-ray player.
The player includes both red and blue laser diodes, which enables it to read all three disc formats. While users can take advantage of all the interactive features included on Blu-ray discs, however, it is currently limited to simply playing HD DVDs without their interactive functions.The player will play 1080p content, currently the highest possible video resolution available, and has an HDMI 1.2 output.
LG developed the Super Multi Blue Player to end the confusion caused by the current competition between Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. Customers are no longer forced to choose between the two formats. As Full HD TV is already gaining ground, we are hoping that the Super Multi Blue Player will play the trigger role in expanding and advancing both Full HD TV and high-definition DVD market volume together.
In addition to offering Full HD 1080p picture quality from high-definition discs, the player incorporates interactive functions based on BD-Java, which allows advanced menus and functions to be displayed over the video of Blu-ray discs. And, while the same level of advanced menu interactivity is not available while playing HD DVD discs, the powerful combination of Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD audio-video playback technologies is like no other on the market, says LG.
The unit supports various A/V formats, including MPEG-2, VC-1, H.264 video, MPEG1/2 audio, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital+, DTS and DTS-HD audio, and includes multiple inputs/outputs such as HDMI out, component/composite video outputs, and optical/coaxial/discrete 5.1 channel audio outputs, among others.
Many expected the format war to be decided by which format could offer the most compelling content, and in another sign that the two camps could be forced to call a truce, Warner Bros. is also expected to announce it will sell movies and TV shows as a hybrid disc called Total HD that will play in the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats.

Nokia Electronics launches the new Nokia N800-the internet tablet

The new Nokia N800, unveiled at CES in Las Vegas, is Nokia’s successor to the 770, Nokia’s first go at an Internet Tablet. The Linux powered N800 is aimed at users that are looking for connectivity from almost anywhere or anyplace.The Nokia N800 Internet Tablet already appeared in stores over the weekend.

The Nokia N800 promises faster performance, full screen finger QWERTY keyboard, easier continuous connections through Wi Fi or via Bluetooth phone, integrated web camera as well as a new elegant design. Like its predecessor, the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is based on Nokia’s desktop Linux based Operating System. Nokia also announced a partnership with Skype for the N800. Skype for the N800 is expected to be available in the first half of 2007.

The screen has a nice large and bright widescreen display (800×480 resolution) and offers a full width on-screen QWERTY finger keyboard for quick and easy text input. Other features include 128MB RAM, 2 card slots, stereo speakers, UPnP architecture, media player, Opera 8 browser and Flash 7 support.The Nokia N800 measures 75×144x13 (/18) mm and weighs 206g.
The new device allows users to connect to the Internet through a home WiFi network (802.11b/e/g), or use Bluetooth v2.0 to connect via a mobile phone. The N800 Tablet is capable of VoIP calls with video over the Internet thanks to its built-in webcam. The N800 also supports instant messaging and email as well as offers full stereo media support. N800 with the video streaming and GPS capabilities uses a wireless router and is able to play video streamed from a PC and act as a remote control to control video played on another device.

The N800 which weighs 206g (7.3oz), is a tad more than the 770’s 189g (6.7oz), and measures 144mm x 75mm x 13mm (5.7″ x 3.0″ x 0.5″). The device’s battery should provide up to 10 days of standby or 3 hours of Internet browsing according to Nokia. Nokia state that the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet should be available right away in the US and select markets throughout Europe. It will retail for US$399/399EUR. “As the Internet becomes an ever more integral part of daily life, Nokia N800 has been designed to offer quick and convenient access to your favorite Internet services regardless of location,” said Ari Virtanen, Vice President, Convergence Products, Multimedia, Nokia. “The Nokia N800 takes our offering to the next level combining speed, performance and mobility into a stylish, compact design.” In addition to adding Skype functionality, Nokia also will partner with RealNetworks to support the company’s Rhapsody music service.

Sony ships one million PS3 consoles to North America

Sony Computer Entertainment, the Japanese game giant, has finally met its goal of shipping one million PlayStation 3 video game consoles to North America by the end of 2006. In an announcement made by the company, it had stated goal of 2 million Play-Station 3s globally by the the end of 2006. Thus, the North American shipments contributed to about half of the total number, inspite of the production problems.
Sony corp. has a $30 billion share in the video game industry. The PS3s video game console can be acquired at a retail price costing $600 in the United States. Nintendo’s Wii retails for $250; and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 retails for $400. Sony had been the leader, with 70 percent of the global market, in the last generation of the console wars and done pretty good with the PlayStation 1 and 2, but its still a puzzle who will grab the market this time.
Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s Wii are the main rivals of PS3. Microsoft sold 511,000 units of its Xbox 360 , while Nintendo sold 476,000 units of its new Wii video game console in the United States in November, last year. Microsoft, which gets most of its sales from North America, has made 10 million shipments of Xbox 360 by year end.
Jack Tretton, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment America, which handles Sony’s PlayStation business says, “Within a week, at the most, a million units will be in (North American) consumers’ hands,” He further said that,”We are planning to ship 6 million PS3 consoles worldwide by the end of March 2007.We’re equally strong in all three markets Europe, North America, Japan. We can’t afford to sacrifice any one of them.”
Sony has ruled the video game console market with its two previous PlayStation models, PS1 and PS2, and has sold 200 million of them globally till date, but its launch of the PS3 was delayed due to limited supply to manufacturing glitches with blue laser diodes, the technological heart of the system’s high-capacity, high-definition Blu ray disk drive.

Bugatti Veyron the fastest car on the planet

The Bugatti Veyron, a car laden with superlatives including fastest, most luxurious and most expensive, has made its debut as the fastest car in the world.

THE widely respected German weekly car magazine Auto Motor und Sport recently took on a survey to determine which car among a variety of exotic sports models was the fastest of them all. It must have been an interesting experience for those charged with the task of evaluating the cars and of course, it takes a driver with serious racing experience to point a supercar down a long track straightaway and drive it to the limit.

Few tracks anywhere in the world have a straight long enough to explore an ultra high-performance car’s outer limits, but the team at the magazine settled on Volkswagen’s huge Ehra-Lessien test track near its headquarters in Wolfsburg.

This track, has two nine-kilometre-long straights with banked turns at each end. It’s a huge track and makes the Indianapolis Motor Speedway look like a quarter-mile oval.
According to the report on this test, nine models were evaluated using a computerized speed recording system and not the cars’ instruments. They comprised some the most desirable sports cars on the planet — a true cross-section of automotive aristocracy. Taken to the track were the Aston Martin Vanquish S, Bugatti Veyron, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Dodge Viper SRT-10, Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Ford GT, Lamborghini Murcielago LP640, Mercedes SLR McLaren, and Porsche 911 Turbo.

When this exercise in “pushing the envelope” concluded, the Bugatti Veyron came out on top with an almost unbelievable 402 kilometres an hour. Second fastest was the Lamborghini at 340 km/h and third came the Ferrari, recording 335 km/h. The Veyron’s zero to 100 km/h time was under three seconds, which was just as amazing as the car’s top speed. For the record, the fastest ever been on a (long) test track was 305 km/h in a Porsche 911 Turbo.

But what does all this mean to the average car buyer? Is the availability of cars with this kind of performance a profitable ploy to attract wealthy buyers who have the funds not only to buy the car, but to take it to a test track or racing circuit now and again? Certainly the kinds of speeds these supercars can achieve are almost of no value at all in today’s traffic conditions.
For many automakers, top-of-the-line sports cars are a way of packing in every ounce of technology to evaluate what kinds of safety margins vehicles might benefit from lower down the model ranges. For example, if an automaker can build a car capable of 300 km/h and a zero to 100 km/h time in the four-second range, just imagine how safe it can build a family sedan posting half those performance figures.

In a sense, these supercars pioneer technology that eventually finds its way to everyday vehicles — and the same can be said about auto racing, too. The same dictum can be applied to the aerospace industry. Could Boeing have designed its 777 airliner to fly us across the world at more than 900 km/h if it hadn’t been able to develop, at an earlier stage, technology for military aircraft capable of twice that speed and more? Probably not.

Bugatti is part of the big VW/Audi group (as is Lamborghini) and it’s easy to believe that the kind of technology used to develop the Veyron is looked at carefully by the people who design and engineer.

Palm Launches the Treo 750 with Cingular Wireless

Palm, Inc. and Cingular Wireless launched the first smart device running on Cingular’s 3G/UMTS network, Palm Treo. It is providing mobile professionals with an amazing-fast download speeds in and an exceptional phone experience.

The highly anticipated Treo 750 five-band world phone which uses Windows Mobile 5.0 with Direct Push Technology shows Palm’s exclusive usability improvements with powerful business features, including email, security, and web access on the go. It combines a world GSM phone, email, broadband wireless, and Windows Mobile. The Palm Treo 750 is aimed at executives, sales people and other “mobile professionals” who travel worldwide and need to use e-mail,the Web and their cell phone.

With the web becoming part and parcel of the modern office, email and web access from cell phones have become a necessity. Executives on travel need to access and share data every now and then. But more than ever, a reliable wireless connection has become utmost necessity. Video too is becoming a necessary application for cell phones and so most new phones are coming in equipped with these features. Treo too is in the list.

The Palm treo will be available at Cingular Wireless retail stores and online at a retail price of $400 along with a two-year contract and mail-in rebate. In internal specifications, the Treo runs Windows Mobile5.0, and has an internel antenna, alphabetic keyboard. It has a 1.3-megapixel camera, an Touch screen of 240-240mm and Bluetooth support for headsets.The Phone has a 60MB on internal memory.

The Palm Treo 750 initially will be enabled for UMTS with a free upgrade, scheduled to be available later in 2007, to Cingular’s supercharged HSDPA technology. UMTS/HSDPA is a global standard and natural 3G evolutionary path for GSM providers with 142 UMTS networks in 61 countries currently available.

The Palm launched the Treo in September 2006.The delay was mainly due to certification issueswith carriers, some of which were not in Palm’s control. Palm Chief Executive mentioned that the rival companies got the benefit of the Palm Treo’s delay and they introduced a number of new smart phones during the same period.

Thus the Palm Treo 750 phone helps to stay connected by true means. It sports a more compact design and comes with integrated Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and world phone capabilities with all features like phone, email, messaging, web, and Windows Mobile with Palm enhancements.