Bleeding Edge TV 240: HawkingTech home automation via cell phone

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gizmatic, Short Bytes, Broadband, Cell Phones, CES, CES 2008, Features, Internet, Podcasts, Software, Videocasts, Wireless / WiFi

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Home automation is becoming a big theme at consumer electronics trade shows like CES. Many companies have been promising the ‘smart house’ for years – a house that automatically anticipates and responds to its inhabitants wants and needs. HawkingTech was showing off some preliminary tech which could help hearken the days of the smart house with a variety of available now products – check out the video for a demonstration of what is to come.

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CES 2008 Video: eJamming online live jam sessions software

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gizmatic, Short Bytes, Broadband, CES, CES 2008, Features, Home Entertainment, Internet, Music, Podcasts, Videocasts

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eJamming.com was at Showstoppers during CES 2008 and saw fit to show off their new, cool offering. eJamming is an online live jam session tool, comprised of software that allows geographically disparate artists to get together, play together and record together live on the net. The software accounts for latency by forcing a small delay back through each of the players monitors of between 10-30 milliseconds, which they say takes a musician about 30 minutes to get used to. (And is similarly experienced in some live systems.) By matching the latency based on distance and adjusting for it appropriately, the musicians can play together and record together fully in synch. What’s more, they’re moving towards a model that will allow them to sell access to guest users, to hear the live music.

It’s an interesting concept, though I think they may run into some attach rate trouble with regards to getting fans to pay to listen to the live performances, no matter the price. Still, the service definitely has its merits with regards to musicians being able to get together with no geographical barriers.

Check the video to see us chat with co-founder Alan Jay Glueckman about his service.

Speaking of price, the software is free with a subscription fee of $10 a month.

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CES 2008 Video: Meraki mesh networking system

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gizmatic, Short Bytes, Broadband, CES, CES 2008, Features, Internet, Podcasts, Videocasts, Wireless / WiFi

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While most consumers never need more than a single WiFi router, any hardcore wireless geek knows how tricky it can be to cover a large area with multiple WiFi routers bridged together.

Enter Meraki, with their sleek new mesh based indoor/outdoor solution. To enable coverage for a large area, you just need to buy a series of these devices, connect any one of them to a hardline Internet connection, and let the rest of them do the rest. They automatically link up and create a robust network spanning 2-2,000 of the autonomous routers to provide the tubes to everyone within range.

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CES 2008 Video: The new Sharp AQUOS LCD HDTV line

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, Broadband, CES, CES 2008, Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Podcasts, Science, Videocasts

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We visited Sharp at CES and checked out their TV specifically for gamers. It’s the GP3 Series of 1080p LCD TVs, with a 6 millisecond response time, which reduces lag time between your beloved console and the TV. It’s even available in 3 cool colors: Red, White or Black. Available for $1500. We also checked out their D64 Series of 1080p LCDs, 20% lighter and thinner than the previous D62 Series. Sizes range from 32” - 65” and are available now.

We loved AquosNet, an internet service in which up-to-the-minute, customizable information (weather, stocks, sports, traffic, Hollywood news and more) appears on the side of the TV screen at the push of a button. AquosNet is free with the SC94 and D74 Series.

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CES 2008 Video: Creative inPerson videoconferencing device

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, Broadband, CES, CES 2008, Features, HDTV, Podcasts, Videocasts

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New to the videoconferencing market is Creative‘s new inPerson videoconferencing device.  The inPerson, which has been in development for four years, is an ethernet-enabled high resolution videophone that will work on cable or DSL connections from 256k to 1 megabit up.  It functions on both 802.11b and 802.11g standards, and at 7.5” x 6” x 1” and 1.6 pounds is small and light enough to bring on the road for conferencing while traveling.

The inPerson features dual microphone, a speaker and input jack.  The seven inch 640x480 VGA screen can be output to an HDTV or projector for meetings with multiple people on either end.  Video calls can be placed to Internet users who don’t have inPerson devices.  The telephone keypad dials like a regular phone, and the inPerson stores contacts in an internal contact list.

Creative’s inPerson is available now for $699 and a $10 monthly subscription fee.

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CES 2008 Video: All about Blu-ray

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gizmatic, Short Bytes, Broadband, CES, CES 2008, Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Movies, Podcasts, Videocasts

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Sony showed up in force for CES 2008 with a bevy of Blu-ray players in tow. Check the video above for a good run down of the Blu-ray technology. Some of the new interactive features are sure to impress, although many of the features have been available within HD DVD for some time.

Take note of the awkward cut that occurs when we ask them about the whole format war thing and the fact that studios are jumping over to Blu-ray left and right. That is when they stopped and told us they didn’t want to talk about that subject. We pushed the issue a bit, but they wouldn’t budge, so we just cut that portion out. Not sure what the big deal was though, I mean, it seems victory may be at hand for the Blu-ray side of things.

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Bleeding Edge TV 153: VeriSign Intelligent CDN Technology

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gizmatic, Short Bytes, Broadband, CES, CES 2007, Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Videocasts

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VeriSign is throwing down the content delivery gauntlet with their Intelligent CDN technology. We are talking about full high definition video content streamed directly to your television at very high speeds. They show off a 200 MB file that is encoded at 5 mbps 1080p, which downloads completely in under 30 seconds. This is the kind of technology we hope to see on our set top boxes in the near future, and VeriSign is promising that it isn’t far away at all. Give it a view, and let us know what you think. Could both HD DVD and Blu-ray be dead in the water with tech like this soon to be available everywhere?

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