Category: CES 2008

It appears that the high-definition disc format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is nearing the mop-up stages, as Blu-Ray sales have accounted for 93% of the market share for set-top players since the second week of January. Coming on the heels of Warner's announcement to support Blu-ray rather than its rival, HD-DVD, these figured indicate that HD-DVD could be in its death throes. Interestingly, ...

Now that everyone has declared BluRay the winner in the high-def war, what with Warner's announcement and Sony finally allowing adult films to be published on the format, I think it's important to take a look at HD-DVD's long walk back to the locker room after a game well-played. It would be a mistake to say that HD-DVD will cease to exist tomorrow. In fact, expect to see just the opposite of ...

Robots are everywhere. Especially at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show last week. But here's the good news -- you'll be able to buy many of the robots you'll see talking, posing, and rolling around in the above exclusive Switched video. Check it out. ...

Hot on the heels of the announcement that the Eye-Fi Wi-Fi enabled SD memory card won the Yahoo! Last Gadget Standing Award at CES comes the joint announcement that T-Mobile and Panasonic will release a Wi-Fi enabled digital camera that can directly upload to Google's Picasa Web Albums. The new wireless Panasonic LUMIX will allow you to wirelessly transmit digital photos from the camera to your ...

  In the beginning, Bluetooth headsets were a bit off-putting. You stuck one in your ear, called a friend on your mobile phone, and watched as people on the street looked on as you had a conversation -- seemingly with yourself. But things have changed drastically since then. These small, wireless gadgets are now ubiquitous, gracing the earlobes of everyone from the guy on the next treadmill to ...

The market for HDTVs is flooded with competing technologies and not to mention perplexing acronyms and abbreviations -- DLP, LCD, OLED, Plasma, SED. Now you can add Laser TV to your list of display technologies to know. Mitsubishi unveiled a 65-inch laser television at an event during this week's CES -- and people at this week's CES show were buzzing about the incredible color and contrast. ...

Soon it may be easier to list the companies that don't have navigation devices in their roster of products than those who do. If the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show proved anything about the personal navigation category, it's that finding your way from point A to point B is what manufacturer's think will get you to find your way to the store to buy a new GPS device. Garmin and TomTom, the ...

So what can you look forward to in 2008 for your in-car media system? More integration with digital media devices (ie. iPods), better sounding compact speakers, lower prices on those high-end all-in-one units, and technologies to enhance the quality of the sound, not just the volume. More than anything it seems like 2008 will be the year that iPod integration and Bluetooth become standard on all ...

Someone here at the Switched has a bit of an obsession, if you hadn't noticed yet. We just can't help but cover every novelty or development in the world of paper shredders. Sadly there was nothing as powerful as this $30,000 shredder on display at CES, but there were a few noteworthy entries into the world of document destruction. Whether they were pretty, paranoid or just plain weird, they ...

Canon this week introduced a lineup of new consumer camcorders with the moniker "VIXIA". This line includes a dual solid state (no hard drives or moving parts) unit that on the face of it is quite impressive. The HF10 Dual Flash Memory camcorder uses both a 16 gigabyte internal flash drive and a removable SDHC memory card to store your captured video and still images. Flash memory is good ...

Your heroes at Switched came away impressed after our hands-on with Philips' latest high definition (HD) LCD television sets last night. The new sets comprise Philips' 2008 "Design Collection", featuring round-edges surrounded by acrylic framing in all TVs ranging from 19 to 52 inches (diagonal). Forgive us for jumping to the dessert course of the meal, but we think it best to go into detail ...

With flavors like marshmallow, kiwi, bubblegum, black cherry and espresso the new line of Fabrik SimpleTech's Signature Mini Drives are ready to be filled up even as they make you salivate. The fashion-forward drives were designed by powerhouse Italian designer Pininfarina (of Ferrari fame) and sport 120, 160, 250 and 320 gigabytes of storage space in a small and stylish form factor. But the ...

We've been reporting how Green Technology is making the headlines at this year's Consumer Electronics Showcare. Whether developing atmosphere and energy-friendly cars that run on hydrogen fuel cells or batteries made with no lead, cadmium or mercury, businesses are increasingly becoming eco-conscious as they make new products for the consumer. These sometimes wacky, sometimes futuristic items ...

Our never-ending search for items at the Consumer Electronics Show that are true statement pieces continues with a visit to KEF, maker of the Muon -- perhaps ironically named since a muon is a smaller particle than a quark, yet these speakers, evidenced by the picture above, are clearly not tiny. Nor is their price tag. At $140,000 for the pair, the Muon speakers are meant for only the most ...

Most of us never think twice about our car stereos. They come preinstalled in your automobile, and you take it for granted. But there is a whole subculture of people whose greatest pleasure in life is crafting absurd mobile entertainment centers that put many peoples' home theaters to shame. TVs galore, more sub-woofers than your bowels could possibly stand, and chains of amplifiers that drive ...