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Sony shows off 13-inch VAIO Ultrabook behind glass, we go eyes-on
There seems little doubt that CES 2012 will go down as the year of the Ultrabook, and like clockwork, Sony's getting in on the action, as evidenced by that 13-inch laptop on display behind a plate of glass. Granted, it's not quite as sexy as the further-off hybrid devices we saw the other day -- or even, say the Acer Aspire S5 and HP Envy Spectre, but Sony certainly knows how to design a handsome laptop. And, heck, there's no telling how much the final version will look when it's released later this year -- Sony's not really letting up a lot of information at the moment. As you can see for yourselves, that notebook has a silver color, but even then, Sony tells us that might change before it actually hits the market. The cover has a brushed aluminum texture, with a shiny stylized VAIO logo stamped in the center. When closed, it's not the thinnest Ultrabook, from what we can tell. It also has a glossy 13-inch display and Sony's signature chicklet keyboard. Above the keyboard, you've got a row of small physical buttons, denoting power on / off, VAIO, Web and Assist -- familiar functions, all. In front of the keyboard is a seamless clickpad, with another VAIO logo sitting to the left. Along the left side of the unnamed Ultrabook, you'll find an Ethernet jack, VGA and HDMI output, a memory card slot and a headphone jack. On the other side, sits the power port, a fan and two USB ports. Sadly, we were unable to actually touch the thing, this being an early build, but you can be sure we'll keep you posted on finer points like pricing, availability and specs as we learn them.
IK Multimedia introduces new iRig mic, mixer, and stompbox at CES
IK Multimedia is showing off new products in the North Hall of CES 2012 in Las Vegas this week, and they were one of our first stops around the Las Vegas Convention Center. IK Multimedia is behind the popular Amplitube software, and has seen a lot of success with the iRig guitar port for iOS, and its followup, the iRig mic. In fact, given all of that success, IK is really going all out with the iRig brand, introducing a slew of new products to both bring audio in and out of iOS devices. The most impressive new tool on display at the show is the iRig Mix, a mobile two-track mixer that's designed to work with your iPhone or iPad. At its base, this is just a really solid mixer -- audio comes in via two 1/8" jacks at the top, and while those jacks are meant for iPad or iPhone audio, they'll really work with any input of that kind. Each side of the mixer has separate knobs for gain, treble, and bass, and of course either track can be cued through another headphone jack at the bottom and buttons above each slider. There's a master volume and sliders for both tracks, and of course there's a third slider to choose which one (or both) of the tracks is playing. The really interesting switch on the mixer is something labeled "X-Sync." This one is designed to work with a new app coming from IK called DJ Rig, which itself will allow you to mix and match two different songs (so technically, you could mix four songs together, with two iOS devices and the iRig mixer). Basically, it will use the DJ Rig app to beat match any audio coming in from one track with the other. So you could have a CD player hooked up to one side, and the DJ Rig app hooked up to the other side, and X-Sync will figure out the beats per minute of the CD player's song, and command DJ Rig to automatically match it up when mixing. The process is pretty cool, and adds yet another feature to an already very powerful (and relatively tiny) $99 mixer. The casing is plastic, however, so that likely helps keep the cost low. IK also was showing off the new iRig Stomp at the show -- it's (as you might have guessed from the title) a stomp box that's designed to work with the iOS version of Amplitube, so on-stage guitarists can control their audio output just by hitting a button with their foot. The Stomp will run about $60, and be available "soon," according to IK. Elsewhere at the booth, we also got to see the new iRig Mic Cast, which is a tiny little microphone designed to plug right into the iPhone or iPad's headphone port. It's relatively inexpensive, for just $39.99, and has two different settings, depending on whether you're recording close sound in a loud environment, or louder sounds in a more quiet setting. The Mic Cast also has a headphone port on it so you can listen in while recording, and will work with IK's VocalLive app, or any other app that accepts audio through the headphone port. And finally, we were shown the iRig Preamp, which is $49 and should be out in April. It's pretty simple -- a preamp for balanced mic use, which means you can use an XLR mic with your iPhone or iPod touch. The iRig Mic of course plugs right into the phone, but the preamp allows you to go between your own mic and the iPhone or iPad. iRig Preamp IK Multimedia has a long history of making audio products, but with these releases, the company has almost completely decided to focus on products compatible with Apple's iOS devices. As IK's rep told us, the company now has a full set of gadgets to record a band with, all going into its own iOS apps. The Gorrilaz did just that, in fact. Previously, IK made projects for a niche set of musicians looking for high quality audio software, but with Apple's App Store and all of the products that have come out of Amplitube for iOS, IK now focuses on a much wider audience of musicians (with iPhones and iPads) of all skill levels and budgets. It's very interesting to see such an established company get changed so much by the App Store, and I'd doubt this is the last we've yet seen of IK's popular iRig brand.
A Red Scarlet-X 4K tour around CES 2012 (video)
For the third CES in a row, our old friend Ted Schilowitz has stopped by to let us drool over Red's latest high-end cameras. And boy, this is one helluva camera we have this time. You may recall that last year we were shown a working Scarlet prototype with 3K video resolution and a fixed lens; but fast forward to 2012 and we have the Scarlet-X, a sturdy 4K beast that not only supports interchangeable lens, but it's also actually out on the market. Obviously, the $9,700 base price (excluding the Canon EF lens mount; Nikon and Leica mounts coming soon) is aimed at film studios instead of us regular Joes, but Ted was kind enough to spend a whole afternoon showing us all the goodness on the Scarlet-X -- we even got to play with it on the CES show floor, and unsurprisingly, this Red kit became quite the celebrity. Read on to find out how we got on with it.
Wrap-up: Engadget editors sound off on CES 2012
If you've spent any time on this site since Monday, then you know that we've just reached the end of another very successful Consumer Electronics Show, and are packing up to head home (and rest up) until we get ready to return in 2013. As always, there were plenty on gadgets on hand -- far more than even our enormous Engadget team could capture during four long days on the show floor -- so we've opened up the floor to the entire CES crew. Tim Stevens and Darren Murph chime in just below, but jump past the break to hear from the rest of us. Tim Stevens, Editor-in-chief If this paragraph makes any sense it will be a remarkable thing. It was another insane week in Vegas yet this one felt a little smoother than years previous. I hope you enjoyed our coverage as much as I'll enjoy my next nap. Oh, and I'll never forget those 55-inch OLEDs. Never. Darren Murph, Managing Editor My fifth CES. That's kind of nutty. I'll just say that this CES has proven that the industry is surging, and the hidden gamechangers will surface again in the coming months. Compared to CeBIT 2009 -- which felt hopelessly throttled by the economy -- CES 2012 just felt alive.
Toshiba Portege M930 prototype hands-on (video)
And the hybrid devices keep on coming. Sitting high on a shelf in Microsoft's booth, hidden among the earthly clamshell laptops, is the Toshiba Portege M930, a prototype whose 13-inch screen slides down to completely cover the keyboard. All told, it's awfully reminiscent of the ASUS Eee Pad Slider -- complete with a propped-up display and squat keyboard. The keyboard is so narrow, in fact, that Toshiba had to forgo a traditional trackpad and instead put a touch sensor and buttons over on the right edge. Though it's a bit heavy for an Ultrabook, at 4.2 pounds, it has some Ultrabook-grade innards, including a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, Intel HD 3000 graphics and a 256GB solid-state drive. Take a tour around the device and you'll also find the usual array of ports: dual USB 2.0 sockets, HDMI, an Ethernet jack, an SD reader and separate headphone and mic ports.Even when we previewed the Slider we weren't keen on sacrificing that much deck space in the name of bold industrial design and here, too, the keys feel unnecessarily crowded. The good news is that the hinge mechanism feels smooth and controlled -- not too tight, but rigid enough to inspire confidence in its build quality. That 13.3-inch screen also looks bright enough, though we imagine that 1280 x 800 resolution will be a turn-off for more than a few of you. Unfortunately, the M930 is so early its development that the touchscreen wasn't even working, though it responds just fine to the pen, which stows in the back of the laptop. No word on pricing or availability (Toshiba isn't even showing it at its booth), but even if this thing never materializes we've got some hands-on photos and video below.Mat Smith contributed to this report
Behind the scenes at CES 2012: getting to a hands-on (video)
Getting to and from an announcement, meeting, or keynote is one of the things we find ourselves doing countless times a day. To truly appreciate just how far we sometimes have to trek to get to the things we're covering at CES is hard to understand unless you've done it. Crowds that delay because they're ambling along, booths that are hard to find, and the time you burn getting to and fro is always at the back of our minds. We thought it a good idea to put together a little tour of how we find and then travel to a booth at CES. Enjoy the video after the break.
Distro's CES Special Edition Part II is ready for download
The tips of our fingers are numb from typing, we're seeing 55-inch OLEDs in our sleep (when we can get it) and we haven't eaten a green vegetable in over a week, all in the interest of bringing you the biggest news from the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. If you haven't been glued here since Sunday afternoon, we've put a Distro-flavored bow on our coverage for you. Following up on our first CES special edition, issue 23 collects the biggest breakouts from days four and five, and pulls together a collection of our favorite photos of the robots, autos and crapgadgets we peeped on the floor. Also in this issue, Box Brown brings you a cautionary comic, Ross Rubin talks app stores and Don Melanson recaps the week's best writing from around the web. We're going to submerge ourselves in an isolation tank now, but we'd recommend you download this very special edition, published live from a parking lot at the LVCC.Distro Issue 23 PDFDistro on the iTunes App StoreDistro in the Android MarketDistro APK (for sideloading)Like Distro on FacebookFollow Distro on TwitterUpdate: And... we're back up and running after some technical difficulties. Enjoy!
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with MakerBot (update: video embedded)
MakerBot has sparked a mini industrial revolution, giving us the DIY tools to fabricate our dreams. MakerBot founder Bre Pettis joins us live at 7:30PM ET.Update: Interview video now embedded.
Haier Brain Wave TV mind-on
We'd all love to be able to control stuff with our minds and seeing as Haier's 58-inch Brain Wave TV was at CES we had to try. To use the mind control, you have to snap a controller on your head which attaches to your earlobe and with a small metal pad on your forehead. Unfortunately, this time around, we couldn't interface with the set to change channels and adjust volume and such but there was a game where you try to fly a bird through a maze. How'd we do? Well, we made the bird float up and down but that's about all. So, for those of you with dreams of never again having to relinquish the remote control because you're wearing it, keep dreaming. Video and pics below the break.
megaPhone iPhone stand is rubbery, battery-free amplification
Here's another quickie for you from CES. I've seen a few physical amplification attempts, some good, some bad. The megaPhone from iSimple sort of sits in-between. It's a little rubbery megaphone for your iPhone which provides some acoustic amplification of your iPhone's tiny speaker. There's a port for the sync cable, and you can use it in portrait or landscape position. How does it work? About as well as you might imagine. Enough to boost the sound a bit, but not so much that it'll fill the room or anything. Still, it's small (basically you can squish it) and if you need a bit of a boost in your audio without resorting to something like this, the megaPhone may be worth the $14.95 to you. I could see using this to placate the kiddos while waiting for food at a noisy restaurant, and I'm sure there are plenty of other uses for it.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with CEA's Gary Shapiro (update: video embedded)
CEA's Gary Shapiro takes time out of his busy schedule to talk about all this CES business that we've geeking out on all week. Join us live at 6:45PM ET.Update: Interview video now embedded.
Ultrabook or tablet? Compal shows off hybrid reference design (video)
We knew CES would bring a slew of Ultrabooks, but who could have predicted 2012 would be the year of the franken-gadget? So far this week, we've seen Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga, two hybrids from Gigabyte and a pair of 13- and 5.5-inch tablet prototypes from Toshiba. And that's saying nothing of Intel's Nikiski prototype and its promise of accelerometer-based gaming on Ultrabooks. With that as our backdrop, we have the Compal QAV20, a reference design sitting in Intel's booth, alongside all the plain, months-old laptops we've already reviewed. From afar, it looks like the Samsung Series 7 Slate, but up close you'll see it has a larger, 13.3-inch, 1366 x 768 display, along with a keyboard dock. On the inside, meanwhile, it packs a Core i5 ULV CPU -- the same guts you'll find inside other Ultrabooks.In our brief hands-on, we were stunned by how light the fiber glass device feels -- certainly, it's much less dense than the similarly sized Yoga. The dock itself is home to various ports, including Ethernet, dual USB 2.0 sockets, HDMI and a headphone jack. And though it's no Transformer Prime dock, it's still light enough that you shouldn't have problem stuffing it in your bag. No word on what, if any, OEMs will re-badge this, but no matter -- we've gotten video and photos for you to peruse even if this thing never makes it to market. And no, we didn't film this in the Batcave; Intel just loves it some blue mood lighting.
CES 2012 sets all-time records for attendance, exhibitors and claimed floor space
CES 2013 has already been scheduled (it's January 8 - 11, for those curious), and it'll have new records to break once things get going again. A source close to the CEA informed us today that CES 2012 has broken a trifecta of records already, and the final tallies aren't even in yet. For starters, more people attended CES this year than ever before. That's people who actually showed up and claimed a badge -- not just those who registered and flaked -- with the final figure already confirmed to be upward of 153,000. That trumps the 152,203 that arrived in Las Vegas back in 2006, as well as the 149,529 that hit the ground here last year.Furthermore, a record amount of exhibition space was claimed, with 1.86 million net square feet used this year; the prior record was set in 2008 when 1.857 million net square feet were claimed. Finally, a new record was set when looking at the total number of exhibitors, with over 3,100 outfits checking in this go 'round. The prior record? 3,072, which was set in 2008. There's no question that CES felt busier than ever for us this year, and now we've got the numbers to prove our suspicions -- naturally, we're already mentally gearing up for CES 2013. We'll be here, and hopefully so will you.Update: The official PR is out! It's embedded after the break.P.S. - You can relive our CES 2012 coverage right here in our hub!
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Blue (update: video embedded)
Blue's been making some noise, crystal clear noise that is, here at CES with its mobile trio of mics, following up on the fan favorite Yeti line. Blue stops by, live at 3:30PM ET.Update: Interview video now embedded.
Crapgadgets at CES 2012: the best of the worst
For one week at the beginning of each year, we see the gadgets that will help define the industry for the following 12 months. The Las Vegas Convention Center is brimming with innovation and excitement at the moment, but for every hot new Ultrabook there are hundreds -- if not thousands -- of devices that make us scratch our collective heads. But we've got a special place in our hearts for the strange, sometimes frightening, and often downright useless products we spot. Check out some of the highlights after the break, and be sure to check back in, because there are plenty more Crapgadgets to come, we're sure.
Crapgadget CES, round seven: Because everything looks better in fur
This furry case was unfortunately un-priced. But nothing exudes premium more than the combination of faux pomeranian tail and leopard print.
Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 7.0 Plus get bleached, on sojourn in Vietnam
Release a device in black to much furor, and then follow it up a white variant later. That's a game Samsung's been playing all too well lately, and its latest are all-white versions of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 7.0 Plus. Otherwise identical to their existing counterparts, the duo spotted by Tran Quoc Huy in Vietnam extend the alabaster luster all the way to the bezel. Catch them in a cornucopia of photographic evidence at the source.[Thanks, Sahil]
ViewSonic ViewPhone 3 hands-on (video)
No trip to CES 2012 would be complete without spending some up close and personal time with ViewSonic's new phone for the Americas, the ViewPhone 3. Known internationally as the V350 -- which we scored a hands-on with at last year's MWC -- this model retains its dual-SIM heritage and brings a few upgrades such as an 800MHz CPU and Android 2.3. Along with a 3.5-inch HVGA, TFT-LCD display and a 5 megapixel camera (sans LED flash), the phone features 802.11b/g/n, quadband GSM and 7.2Mbps HSDPA with unknown bands (save for 850MHz, anyway). The handset has a plasticky feel, but is also well-proportioned and fits comfortably in the hand. We were less impressed with the quality of the LCD screen, which is rather low-res and distorts easily when viewed from angles. While the hardware is rather passable as a budget phone, the software is cluttered with superfluous features and effects that detract from the user experience -- both in terms of performance and navigation. Given the dual-SIM nature of this phone and its availability as an unlocked device for $279, it's actually somewhat of a rare breed. Loaded with a proper ROM, it could certainly appeal to the right crowd. For some further insight into the ViewPhone 3, be sure to check the video after the break.
Remedy: Alan Wake's American Nightmare campaign lasts 4-5 hours
GameTrailers has posted a handful of new videos on Alan Wake's American Nightmare. In the first video (embedded above), Remedy's Oskari Häkinnen discusses the game and its creation. One of the more interesting tidbits he revealed is that the average run through the campaign should last around four to five hours, depending on how much of the optional content you choose to pursue. You'll find two more videos after the break. The first is a walkthrough of Ghost Town, one of American Nightmare's 'Fight till Dawn" (i.e. Horde Mode) maps. The second is a campaign walkthrough which we refuse to watch because, frankly, we don't want to spoil a single moment before the game launches during Microsoft's Xbox Live House Party event.
KDDI and Kyocera create speaker-free smartphone, we go hands-on (video)
Leave it to the Japanese to blast us away with another sweet smartphone feature we've never seen before. This Kyocera handset, running what appears to be a heavily skinned Android OS, has had its earpiece summarily disposed with, preferring to transfer your phone-call audio through vibrational technology. Due to the way this works through physical contact, it means you can actually touch any part of the phone with your ear to transmit audio. It'll even work through hats, in-ear headphones and -- as demonstrated above by the brilliant Mr. Suzuki (above) -- over noise-cancelling headphones. So how many years until we get to see this in real phones? You'll be happy to hear that the team-up between Kyocera and Japanese carrier KDDI is a real-world technology that will arrive in Japanese customer's hands later this year. However, further availability outside of the Land of the Rising Sun remains out of ear-shot. Amar Toor contributed to this post
