manufacturers
Zeropaid at CES 2010!
While the year, and the decade, may just be starting out, things are already heating up quickly in the electronics and technology worlds. With the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) trade conference beginning tomorrow in Las Vegas, a flood of new devices, gadgets and services will be announced, released or just rumored. The big trends we will likely see at the show include ever-more connected devices destined for networked home, the continuing convergence between increasingly portable netbooks with ever more powerful smartphones , and the long-awaited emergence of true consumer level 3D technology. Not all technology companies are willing to risk having their particular news get lost in the melee of CES, however. Google decided to pre-empt the show with their launch of the Nexus One phone, instantly making their self-released Android 2.1 phone the dominant story in the mobile space, even before the major handset manufacturers had a chance to display their wares in Vegas. Also notably absent from the CES extravaganza is Apple, traditionally remaining aloof, doing their own demo shows. Jobs and company do often let just enough scraps of information and innuendo leak, however, to make sure they still get attention, as the continuing talk of their (possibly) coming tablet device demonstrates once again. Nonetheless, despite Google and Apple’s maneuvers, CES remains the preeminent tech trade show in North America, with hundreds of companies, both big and small, showing off what they will be releasing in the coming year. I’m on site in Vegas and will be bringing news to Zeropaid readers that touch on the topics they are interested in, namely, how will all this new technology interact with open formats, like MKV and h.264? Will electronics and computer companies continue to bow to content makers’ demands for DRM ? How will new technologies disrupt or adapt to older business and distribution models to empower or limit consumer consumption? If there are any particular gadgets, companies, stories, etc.
Continue reading »Boxee heading to a box
Boxee , the well known media center application that originally began as a fork from the community created XBMC project, announced today at the NewTeeVee Live Conference that they will be partnering with a consumer electronics manufacturer to produce and sell a Boxee-branded connected device . The also announced that they expect to have Boxee technology embedded in other connected hardware devices sometime in 2010, although the details of what that could mean has yet to be determined, i.e., networked TV, game console, Blu-Ray player, set-top-box, etc. Boxee’s move to hardware is a bold, but certainly not unexpected move for the young start-up company as they attempt to bring both local downloaded content and Internet video to TVs in the living room. All kinds of companies have been trying to bridge that gap, with the race kicked off by Apple’s AppleTV in March 2007, yet that device never became the raging consumer success so many analysts expected. Since then, other entries in the field have included players both big and small, including Popcorn Hour, Mvix, Netgear, D-Link with DivX , Western Digital, and countless others, but again none of them have really taken off. The only recognizable success has been the Netflix-powered box from Roku that was able to leverage the Netflix back catalogue and a low price point of $99 to gain an appreciable foothold and kick off Netflix’s streaming business in a big way. A Boxee device will benefit from the relatively high name recognition Avner Ronen and his team have achieved with excellent consumer outreach and a truly engaging product that combines a slick interface with remarkably broad format support. Perhaps most crucially is Boxee’s very winning social aspect that allows its users to share recommendations and even some video content with their circle of friends. Of course, execution in the software world does not guarantee success in the very different world of hardware, and much of the gadget’s potential will depend on its actual specifications and price point, naturally, but having worked with Avner and his team a bit myself, I am confident that they will produce something that reflects their intense commitment to a great user experience. My guess, without any real inside information, is that the first Boxee box will likely be more of a “proof of concept” device, to get the idea of embedded Boxee out in the world and to provide other manufacturers with a basis to work from for their own product. The truth is that some of the more engaging aspects of the Boxee application on PCs will be difficult to pull off on an inexpensive and lower-powered CE device. My personal preference for this kind of functionality is however to use a small, low power and quiet HTPC . Boxee makes for a great HTPC front end, and with the overall trend towards smaller more efficient PCs like the Atom-powered net-tops , it’s hard for me to envision a standalone Boxee device being better in the end.
Continue reading »Facebook sued in California
With promises of privacy reformation made to Canada’s privacy commissioner in the background, online advertising site Facebook is being sued by five people in California who claim it’s violating local laws and, “misleading members about how their personal information is used,” says the Associated Press . Exactly the same allegations, and others, have been made in Canada. The California lawsuit, lodged by a professional photographer, two children under 13, a user of the original Facebook and a Los Angeles-based actress and model, asks for damages and attorney’s fees and includes a request for a jury trial, says the story, quoting Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt as stating: “We see no merit to this suit and we plan to fight it.” What else would he say?
Continue reading »Trade groups lobby China over Green Dam
Twenty-two chambers of commerce and trade groups have made a direct appeal to Chinese Communist leader Wen Jiabao to halt the country’s implementation of the so-called Green Dam Youth Escort, due to go into effect this Wednesday. Green Dam is censor-ware Chinese PC makers have been ordered to install on all systems starting on July 1, supposedly to filter pornography. The letter represents the world’s major technology suppliers and, “adds to pressure on Beijing to halt the plan following an official protest by Washington,” says the Associated Press .
Continue reading »
