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CES 2009 North Hall tour: like Hot Import Nights minus the tire smoke
We may not have covered too many products in the North Hall at this year's CES, a mecca for vehicle customizers and their wares, but that's mainly because we have a hard time keeping up with the latest in LED and hydraulic technologies as applied to motorized pursuits. But, there were a few sweet rides scattered about, and while we can't say we'd necessarily allow ourselves to be seen in most of them, there was at least one intelligently modded muscle car in particular that we just couldn't resist capturing some video of. We think you'll recognize it below. %Gallery-41628%
Koolu's Android-equipped FreeRunner hands-on
It's not just running Android -- it's running Cupcake! That alone should make it the envy of every G1 owner, though Koolu's custom-loaded FreeRunner lacks 3G and a physical keyboard (which, when you think about it, pretty much makes Cupcake a must anyway so you can type stuff). Ultimately, your average Joe still isn't going to want to use a FreeRunner day in and day out -- regardless of what operating system it's running -- but it's really awesome to see that the right hardware and software platforms are now out there and readily available for quick 'n easy hacking.%Gallery-41528%
Video: Digeo Moxi DVR user interface tour
It's been years since TiVo has had any serious competition and although an HD DVR with a CableCARD tuner isn't the most mainstream of products, it is a god send for those who refuse to settle for the POS DVR your cable company will provide. The Moxi started shipping from Amazon about a month ago for $800 which isn't bad if you consider there aren't any subscription fees. The Moxi user interface is really nice and exposes how dated TiVo's 10 year old UI is, but the most interesting feature will be the Moxi Mate -- when it's released. This cool little fan-less box will let you enjoy your Moxi on another TV as if you were on the real DVR, and unlike TiVo's multi-room solution, it doesn't require an additional subscription fee. The only real complaint we have about the new Moxi is the fact that an ATSC tuner wasn't included. Sure, not everyone will use this but considering the cost to include such a feature is minimal, there's no reason not to include it. %Gallery-41666%
Ibiza Rumble prototype hands-on: a touchscreen PMP with Rhapsody, webkit browser
Behind closed doors at the Haier booth, we got a chance to check out two Ibiza Rhapsody PMP prototypes, codenamed Rumble and Rumble mini. Here's what we know so far: the Rumble's got a 2.8-inch WQVGA capacitive touchscreen, 8GB NAND flash, and a Freescale i.MX37 ARM 11 processor. It also has a Webkit-based browser, but it -- along with most of the operating system and virtual keyboard -- wasn't functional at the moment. There's support for AAC, MP3, and WMA, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H263, H.264, VC-1, and DivX. The Rumble mini trades out touchscreen in favor of an input pad and a smaller 2.2-inch screen. Beyond Rhapsody service, both models will feature integration with Flickr, Audible, and the ever-vague "popular social networking" sites. Battery life for the Rumble is expected to be about 15 hours for audio and 6 for video, while for the mini it's 14 and 4, respectively. It's surprisingly lightweight at the moment, but other than that we really don't have much to say until we can see the interface in action. Both players are on track for a June release for a penny under $150 for the touchscreen and $100 for the mini. %Gallery-41548%%Gallery-41561%
CES 2009: Eyes-on with Sony's Real 3D games
Have you ever had one of those moments when you looked at the graphics being generated by a brand new console and suddenly knew without doubt that you wouldn't be able to go back to your old games without feeling like you were missing something? As we've gotten older and seen more consoles come and go, the intensity of that feeling has continued to wane. But as we checked out the PlayStation 3 games Sony was presenting in Real3D at CES we were struck by the surprisingly potent sensation that we were staring at the future through geeky tinted glasses.The effect was shockingly good in the demo loop of MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, WipEout HD and Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. Seeing debris and opposing vehicles actually fly towards us instead of appearing to fly towards us is as much of a graphical leap forward as any console iteration of the past decade.When we handed back our borrowed glasses (like good citizens) we have to admit it was with a little sadness. To see the future that closely and to know it's still a long ways out makes the waiting that much worse. Tomorrow can't get here soon enough.
Video: Viliv S7 hands on and VAIO P comparo
As promised, we've made a run over to check out Viliv's forthcoming S7 netbook tablet, bringing along the ever-popular VAIO P to see how the two stack up (as well as an Eee 1000H for good measure). As you can see, the S7 actually isn't that much larger than the Sony, maybe 30 percent thicker and a little bit wider, but also a bit shorter. The thing manages to find room for a track pad on top of the keyboard, but it's an awfully small one, so thank goodness for the (non-multi) touch screen. Also small is that keyboard, which is one of the most painful we've yet experienced on a netbook, featuring arrow and punctuation keys that even a pygmy would fat-finger. But, compromises must be made when making machines small, and small this one is. Viliv has written a custom skin that overlays the Windows XP install, demonstrated in a video below. It's reasonably pleasant to use (minimizing the need to rely on that tiny trackpad), but is also easy to exit if you're not feeling it. We already know the specs of this tiny convertible, so the only mysteries left are "when" followed immediately by "how much." The answers we received to those questions are unfortunately a bit vague: "before this summer" and a rather predictable "less than the VAIO P." We're guessing it'll be a lot less. Oh, and for those examining the gallery, don't worry about the rough edges you might spy: this is a pre-production S7, so things should be a good bit more polished when it hits retail.%Gallery-41617%
CES 09: It's Resident Evil 5 on a seven story screen
Schmoozing it up at the Capcom hosted Resident Evil 5 partay at Vegas' Planet Hollywood, team Joystiq was kind enough to share with us how insanely amazing the setup was for the RE5 demo. Picture a seven story tall screen, RE5 goodness on the building's exterior and humungo Kijuju text everywhere. It's a seriously chilly-amazing RE5 experience. Video after the break.
CES 2009: Hands on Paleo Entertainment's Merchants of Brooklyn
There was one gaming title at CES that wasn't produced by Sony, Capcom, Microsoft or Activision, that was Paleo Entertainment's Merchants of Brooklyn. Here's an excerpt from their presser: "You take the role of an elite neanderthal fighter with a taste for blood. Having had your arm unwillingly detached from your body courtesy of a chainsaw, your new prototype biomechanical arm transforms into different twisted and brutal weaponry to aid you in the slaughter." So, does this sound like Bionic Commando meets The Flintstones?There's not much to see right now, but the level we played was pretty fragtastic and it's rendered in a cell-shaded art style that we don't see enough of. It's running on Crytek's CryEngine 2, and should be out for the PC/Xbox 360/PS3 set later this year. There wasn't enough of the game in the demo to get a feeling for what it'll become, but being able to pick up your enemies body parts and charge them up to toss grenade-style was fun. If a caveman merged with tech is your dream come true, you won't have to wait much longer. In fact, you can check out the trailer after the break!%Gallery-41547%
LG rolling out pro LCDs with integrated Control4 automation
Home automation heads don't get too happy, because while LG is definitely delivering these HDTVs with Control4 OS built in, for the time being CE Pro reports they're for commercial customers only. Small steps are still progress, so if seeing Control4 take its place as "the home OS" is your dream as well, the wait may be getting a little shorter.
CES 2009: Capcom offers Resident Evil 5 on seven-story-high screens
We always prefer you to check out what we put after the break (no sense in all our blog, sweat and tears going to waste) but this time, we're going to have to insist, as you'll be able to witness something you've never seen before and likely never will again: Capcom's Resident Evil 5 being played at the company's CES party on screens seven-stories tall. OK, so it's not exactly going to change the face of human history. But, dude! It's seven-stories tall!
Video: Engadget CES trailer tour!
We know a lot of you have been curious to see what's going on inside Engadget's sweet doublewide CES trailer, but we were so busy covering the news this week we just didn't have time to give anyone a peek until now. Hit the break for a quick video tour, and check out the gallery for a random assortment of snaps from this crazy week -- including a couple of our insane gear collection.[Special thanks to Tekzilla's Veronica Belmont and the crew at Myvu!]%Gallery-41646%
CES 2009: Joystiq's interview with Xbox's Aaron Greenberg
Xbox director Aaron Greenberg was nice enough to sit down with us at CES this week, where we talked about everything from NXE to to You Don't Know Jack and Xbox Live clubs. Here are the highlights:Were you surprised how successful the NXE has been, especially in regards to the 33 percent increase in the average size of friends' lists?I think the increased friends was a surprise, I think the increase in downloads was a big surprise. A lot of people said "Wow, you guys added all this new content to the service," and we're like "Actually, it's been there the whole time," with the exception of maybe Netflix. We just made what was there easier to find.Has the success of Avatars prompted you to think about other applications for them more? So games is absolutely the right place to start. But people have been asking us for more accessories, unlockable content from games, there's lots of stuff that has to be done. But right now it's primarily focused on game integration.
HTC's Iolite poses for new picture and gets specced
Nice to see the Iolite getting a little more play, and thanks to jouwmobiel.nl, a little more real. The specs we've heard apparently have the Iolite packing Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro, 512 MB and 288 MB RAM and ROM, UMTS / HSDPA, quad-band GSM / EDGE, GPS, Bluetooth, and WiFi. If you take a peek at the front of the device you'll see a button with a small footprint on one side and a letter A on the other which will most likely hook into its GPS system in some way. We should get a pile more information by the time Mobile World Congress rolls around in mid-February.[Via Coolsmartphone]
22 US cities on track to receive mobile DTV broadcasts this fall
The Open Mobile Video Coalition, which currently consists of around 800 local stations across America, has announced here at CES that 22 cities are scheduled to receive mobile DTV broadcasts by this fall. The announcement was joined by a number of manufacturers as they debuted prototype cellphones and in-car receivers, essentially giving hope that citizens of 22 US locales could soon be tuning into 24 while trucking home from a primetime grocery run. Details beyond that are pretty scant, as most hardware firms are still waiting for the broadcasts to go live (or get a lot closer to live) before committing development dollars to receivers. Carrier-driven video services never have taken off here in the Land of the Free, but the promise of mobile airings of the Big 4 just sounds entirely more enticing.[Via HDTVExperts]
CES 2009: Gears of War writer and Dom's voice creating new project
We heard an interesting tidbit at Capcom's CES party from out new close personal friend Carlos Ferro, the voice actor behind Gears of War's Dom. He told us that he and Gears of War 2 writer Joshua Ortega were working together on a new, non-Gears project of their own invention.Though Ferro wouldn't give us many details, he would admit that it revolved around a Latino superhero, the type of idol Ferro said he wishes he had as a kid. The plan now is centered on comics, but Ferro wouldn't rule out a leap to games. We'll let you know if we hear anything else.
TRENDnet unloads one more at CES: TEW-673GR Wireless N gigabit router
If you haven't seen enough of TRENDnet here at CES, you haven't been looking, but for those in need of a new wireless router, these choices are certainly sights for sore eyes. The latest entry from the company here in Vegas is the TEW-673GR 300Mbps Concurrent Dual-Band Wireless N Gigabit Router. Constructed with a dual-band Atheros chipset, the device can handle both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks simultaneously; essentially, this enables low-bandwidth clients to be assigned to the more congested 2.4GHz band while high-bandwidth, latency-sensitive applications (such as HD streaming and online gaming) head to the uncongested 5GHz band. Can't help you out on a price, but it should be filtering out in short order.
CES 2009: Novint CEO wants Falcon on consoles by year's end
We're big fans of Novint's Falcon controller, which replicates the sense of touch in PC games pretty convincingly. We were even more excited after we wrapped our mitts around the new pistol grip and played a little Left 4 Dead. But we couldn't help ourselves from thinking: "Wouldn't it be great if players on PC and 360 could experience the thrill of having their gun hand pinned by a pouncing Hunter?"Apparently a dabbler in the telepathic arts, Novint CEO Tom Anderson psychically absorbed our pleas and told us he wants the device to be on consoles by the end of 2009. Apparently, console manufacturers were holding out until they could see some support from game publishers, and now that companies are piling on to the Falcon, a console version of the device is more likely. We'd be crossing our fingers, if we could get this Hunter off of us.
Hands-on with Panasonic's new Blu-ray decks
We've heard about Panasonic's new Blu-ray players a couple of times now, but we put our mitts on them today. The DMP-BD60 and DMP-BD80 on the low and high side of the line, respectively, are solid players and also add in the VIERA Cast capability we heard about, but we'll be honest -- we really came to see the DMP-BD70V. This omnivorous deck will gobble up your old VHS tapes, DVDs and Blu-ray discs and upscale them to 1080p glory.%Gallery-41543%
Crapgadget CES, round 4: kinetic energy charger
You have to hold it vertically.
Video: PQLabs iTable digits-on lets us touch orcs, movies, me-too branding
Multi-touch is where it's at, but what if you already have one of those lame, obsolete, big-screen, flat-panel displays that accept only smudges from your fingers? What you need is a Multi-Touch G2 from PQLabs, an overlay that attaches to your existing 32-inch (or larger) set with double-sided tape, adding the multi-touch sensitivity that your fingertips have been yearning for. The company has also announced its upcoming iTable, effectively a multi-touch panel with a built-in computer, having something in common with Microsoft's Surface, but nothing with Apple's iPhone (from which it dishearteningly takes a naming cue). We spent a few minutes with our fingers stroking both the iTable and the Multi-Touch G2 and were impressed by both; they initially seemed a bit unresponsive but, within a few seconds, we were browsing media, building grunts, and decimating forests in no time. Playing an RTS like Warcraft 3 with gestures is a fantastic experience no strategy gamer should miss, but, at $2,399, is one that only the richest of tacticians can put in their buy queue. No pricing for the iTable just yet, but expect it to be more.
