Planet 9

**K-Man S** · #1 01-08-2009, 12:42 AM

Tonight we had our private press/analyst event with a number of vendors who are at CES. We had a chance to get some one on one time with the lead people at each vendor represented and to check out free products and other goodies. Here are some things I noted that I think are worth checking out.

OQO - small portable computer with great OLED screen and lots of power.

OLED - Samsung showed us a 40" OLED screen that was awesome, also a translucent screen, a bendable screen and a folding screen, all with great picture quality. I'm waiting for the 65" version.

Nvidia has a 3D glasses with transmitter unit announcing tomorrow, I played Left4Dead with it and it was great, no headaches, no vision problems, first really good useable 3D specs I've tried. No word on price of course.

Samsung MP3 player - very slick, and feedback sensitive touch screen was pretty cool. Dare I say much nicer than the ipod touch because yeah it is.

I saw a guitar hero like program for real guitars to help teach people to play guitar, spent some time talking to the lead developer and swapping music industry stories.

TiVo has a new search feature which looks across all sources that you have access to via TiVo which is nice, also talked to their lead person about SDV, and my guide not getting updated, he promised to get his top people on it when I return. Ahhh good to have these contacts....

The fine folks at TDK gave me some Blue Ray recordable disks to try in this Sony laptop, the double sided 50GB ones that retail for $35/pop, thought that was nice.

Saw some laptop software that when you close the lid and later reopen that you can immediately start using your laptop. Supposedly some sort of quasi sleep state with instant on and useability which lowering battery consumption dramatically yada yada, from hyperspace.com will have to check it out and see if it works as advertised.

Saw some nice Lenovo laptops, but none with a screen as nice as this Sony laptop I am typing on.

Qualcomm put me down on the attendee list for the private ***** Cat Dolls concert tomorrow night at the Hard Rock which is where Gator Bite is staying, maybe I can sneak him in. Are they any good?

Saw a couple of upcoming mobile devices from HTC, nice interface, but I still think they are too thick.

Blackberry folks handed me a new battery for my Storm, something smoked it last night, dead as a doornail and would not charge. They also gave me a nice case for it. I like free goodies!

I did not see much that was automotive specific other than the Garmin and a few other GPS folks I talked to, but I know there are several on the main floor tomorrow so I expect to have more automotive related items tomorrow.

Microsoft TAG was pretty cool, and I got to see Halo Wars which I have been waiting for, although they would not hand me a copy.

Tag is a new barcode postage stamp type image that goes on products that you can scan with your cell phone to get more information. Works really well too. It was funny talking to the Microsoft Research types again, they are so cute when they let them out of the building. Speaking of Microsoft they have a whole automotive area set up that I will check out tomorrow.

I also spent some time with Corning who makes glass for large displays and even fiber optics and they were showing some image analysis software that shows you how much of a picture you miss on a standard HD set because of how little bandwidth cable companies have and how much they have to compress the picture, same was true for satellite. The best images were through something like Verizon Fios at 20mbs the image quality was markedly better, most cable companies are 1/2 that or less and image quality suffers. It was an interesting analysis and software tool. Made me want to call up my cable provider and scream for fiber to my house!!!

Well it is getting late and that's what I remember off the top of my head. Any questions, etc. just let me know!

**Kagemand** · #2 01-08-2009, 02:40 AM

Ken, did you hear anything about the new SD-card standard, SDXC? It should support cards with a capacity up to 2 TB!

**K-Man S** · #3 01-08-2009, 08:47 AM

Originally Posted by CoolAIR

Ken, did you hear anything about the new SD-card standard, SDXC? It should support cards with a capacity up to 2 TB!

I saw their booth but didn't stop by yet. I'll try to make it a point of doing so, but sounds incredible to get that much memory on a card the size of the SD card unless the SDXC is bigger.

rrosen · #4 01-08-2009, 09:26 AM

>>>Saw some laptop software that when you close the lid and later reopen that you can immediately start using your laptop. Supposedly some sort of quasi sleep state with instant on and useability which lowering battery consumption dramatically yada yada, from hyperspace.com will have to check it out and see if it works as advertised.<<<

As I understand it, it doesn't really turn Windows on and off. It really just gives you a limited subset, e.g., a browser. So it's almost like a dual boot system in function. You can turn hyperspace on or off independent of Windows. I haven't actually used it so this is just what I've read about it.

**Cold Croc** · #5 01-08-2009, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by rrosen

>>>Saw some laptop software that when you close the lid and later reopen that you can immediately start using your laptop. Supposedly some sort of quasi sleep state with instant on and useability which lowering battery consumption dramatically yada yada, from hyperspace.com will have to check it out and see if it works as advertised.<<<

As I understand it, it doesn't really turn Windows on and off. It really just gives you a limited subset, e.g., a browser. So it's almost like a dual boot system in function. You can turn hyperspace on or off independent of Windows. I haven't actually used it so this is just what I've read about it.

Back to the future.... The original HP OmniBooks from circa 1995 had this feature.... I really miss it...

***DaveN007*** · #6 01-08-2009, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by CoolAIR

Ken, did you hear anything about the new SD-card standard, SDXC? It should support cards with a capacity up to 2 TB!

"Support" means that 2TB could be potentially recognized and addressed. We are still years away from 2TB on a fingernail sized device, but it is amazing to consider.

A 1TB 3.5 inch form factor device is almost possible, but let's just say they are WELL BEYOND $100k each, while a spinning disk of the same size/capacity is around a hundred bucks.

Nitro8472 · #7 01-08-2009, 07:28 PM

Well several years back if someone told me I'd have an SD card that is 1GB I'd dismiss them as dreamers... Or witches

**Santa Fe** · #8 01-08-2009, 08:05 PM

Ken, someone told me that www.Starplayr.com was going to show their upcoming iPhone Sirrus/XM iPhone app. Have you found it or seen it? Chris Phillo has a good preview. It would be a nice app since I already pay for the service in the car and could use it riding the tractor....

**Oshkey** · #9 01-08-2009, 09:49 PM

ken,

pussycat dolls are hot, so in my opinion, worth seeing

RobMason · #10 01-08-2009, 09:53 PM

Have you seen the new Palm Phone, supposed to be similar to an Iphone, for Sprint network?

**Chris S** · #11 01-08-2009, 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by Oshkey

ken,

pussycat dolls are hot, so in my opinion, worth seeing

+1 Def. worth seeing, listening is secondary.

I saw them 4 or 5 years ago @ Lollapalooza, and they were fun.

**Chris S** · #12 01-08-2009, 10:05 PM

LOL it's kind of amusing that ***** gets censored, but pussycat is OK.

**K-Man S** · #13 01-09-2009, 01:28 AM

Originally Posted by Oshkey

ken,

pussycat dolls are hot, so in my opinion, worth seeing

Yep I saw them tonight, and they were fun, better than I expected. I had a chance to talk to Jessica (no idea last name) one of the members a bit and she was very nice and friendly. The event was sponsored by Qualcomm, so thank you qualcomm technology owners out there for free food, drink and and entertaining concert. I met Gator Bite in the bar afterwards along with some Viper owner.

**K-Man S** · #14 01-09-2009, 01:29 AM

Originally Posted by RobMason

Have you seen the new Palm Phone, supposed to be similar to an Iphone, for Sprint network?

Yes saw it, and in my opinion much nicer than the iPhone, you'll want this device when it comes out in 6 months, John did a good job of taking the best things of the iPhone, Windows Mobile and Palm and getting them in one device. The only downside is the lock-in with Sprint.

**Kagemand** · #15 01-09-2009, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by DaveN007

We are still years away from 2TB on a fingernail sized device

Not according to the SD Association... Bring out your HD recorders!

http://www.sdcard.org/developers/tech/sdxc

**K-Man S** · #16 01-10-2009, 09:21 AM

Yes they said larger sizes will be shipping very soon, not years from now...

**Tess Tickle** · #17 01-11-2009, 06:52 AM

Isn't the lead singer of the PussyCats now Lewis Hamilton's girlfriend ??

beez · #18 01-11-2009, 09:57 AM

Originally Posted by Tess Tickle

Isn't the lead singer of the PussyCats now Lewis Hamilton's girlfriend ??

Yes - it was reported in the papers here that Lewis was in town for a couple of days..

From the LV R-J Norm! column:

"Pussycat Dolls' lead singer Nicole Scherzinger, with her boyfriend Lewis Hamilton, the Formula One champion, at The Bank (Bellagio). The Dolls performed for a private event last night at The Joint (Hard Rock Hotel) before heading back to London to jump back on their tour."

brad

***DaveN007*** · #19 01-11-2009, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by K-Man S

Yes they said larger sizes will be shipping very soon, not years from now...

Larger as in 64 GB...128GB...

Because the previous spec could not recognize more.

But NOT 2TB.

Give us two years to drive density that high.

At least two years.

***DaveN007*** · #20 01-11-2009, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by CoolAIR

Not according to the SD Association... Bring out your HD recorders!

SDXC - SD Association

So 32GB to 2TB...BAM...WHIZ...SHAZAAM!

No offense intended, but the fact that they are getting mileage out of the 2TB marketing message with you doesn't change the facts. They are not, in fact, contradicting me. You would read about it eWeek if that were the case. LOL.

They are NOT claiming that an SDXC device that will store 2TB will be available sooner than two years from now. A guy at a trade show winking and nodding doesn't count.

Stating how many HD movies you can store on 2TB is a clever message...but it is not the same as actually having a 2TB device that is A) that small and B) anywhere near a consumer price point.

Look for 2009 closing out with 128GB as the sweet spot...with 256GB announced or available at a crazy price.

Today in a 2.5 inch laptop drive format you can cram roughly 240GB in for $499. (State of the industry) A laptop drive is a bit bigger than SD card.

Yes...I know that a 50TB insect DNA based bio-storage device is "right around the corner". LOL.

Please don't take this post the wrong way. Just imagine someone contradicting what you know to be true based upon your area of expertise. The one you get paid for. The one that allows you to buy a Cayman.

Solid State data storage is literally going to change the world, and SDXC is awesome.