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CEA kicks off process to standardize active 3D glasses
This one's still in the earliest stages, but it looks like the Consumer Electronics Association (a.k.a. the CEA) is doing its part to add a bit of order to the wild world of active 3D glasses. To that end, it's just put out a request for proposals on a standard IR sync interface for active 3D glasses, and it's encouraging companies that wish to participate to join the 3D Technologies Working Group -- they'll have to work fairly fast, though, as proposals are due in by March 31st. The ultimate goal, of course, is to ensure that 3D glasses sold by one manufacturer are compatible with 3D TVs made by another manufacturer, although there's no word on any companies that have actually signed on to the plan just yet.
Ford Focus Electric confirmed to not support fast charging, EV fragmentation looms large
Thought that fragmentation was reserved for the mobile OS realm? Think again. With the first (and second) waves of electric vehicles dribbling out to the streets, an obvious problem is becoming even more obvious. The city of Chicago is fixing to install 73 fast-charging EV stations by the end of the year, but two of the most commonly driven ones won't be able to take advantage. Chevy's Volt and Ford's Focus Electric will only support the slower Level 2 charging, leaving those faster ones for Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i MiEV owners to enjoy. As if that weren't headache-inducing enough, a slew of other automakers are reportedly planning to "sign on to a new standard for fast charging that would be incompatible with Chicago's infrastructure," and if you think the Windy City is alone in this mess, you're wrong. We've already heard of similar issues in the nation's capitol, and Jack Pokrzywa, manager of global ground vehicle standards for SAE International, still doesn't seem convinced that auto producers are really ready and willing to commit to a single fast-charging standard. HD DVD vs. Blu-ray was one thing, but thousands of vehicle chargers crowding up our cities once they become obsolete in a year? That's so not green.
European Union's 'One charger for all' starts sampling, coming this year
It was way back in summer of 2009 that Nokia, Apple, RIM, and the rest of the mobile world agreed to make micro-USB the connector around which all future European chargers would be built. Since then, most of those companies have transitioned their hardware to micro-USB without further prompting, but the European Union is still pushing ahead with a universally compatible charger standard to make sure everything is nice and harmonized. The details of what's expected of these chargers were published in December and now the first samples of the new hardware have been produced. The EU expects all manufacturers to have chargers adhering to the new guidelines by the end of 2011 -- and if you're wondering about how Apple, one of the signatories to this agreement, will handle it, there's a note to say that adapters will be allowed on phones without a micro-USB port. Full press release after the break.
Study: 802.11ac devices to hit the one billion mark in 2015, get certified in 2048
Okay, so there's a good chance that the developing 802.11ac Gigabit wireless standard will receive its official seal of approval long before 2048, but by 2015? Given that it took 802.11n a full seven years to move on from Draft N status, we aren't holding our collective breath. Regardless, there's obviously a need for a far faster interface than what we're using now, and the Wi-Fi Alliance is obviously doing everything it can to keep on keeping on. According to a loose study by In-Stat, Planet Earth will go from zero 802.11ac devices in 2010 to one billion by 2015, with Vice President of Research Frank Dickson noting that a draft of 802.11ac should be cleared at some point in 2011. As for backwards compatibility? Looks like you'll just have to wait and see.
SAE and Zigbee team up to make plug-in cars charge smarter
We're no strangers to Zigbee around these parts, using the various Alliance-certified devices to monitor our power usage and let our refrigerators talk to our washing machines. Soon our cars might be able to get in on that little conversation with the Zigbee Alliance and SAE International starting to work together. SAE develops standards and certifications in the automotive industry (amongst many others) and it embracing Zigbee Smart Energy means that we should see many more auto manufacturers adopting this tech to enable their cars to talk to the grid straight through their plugs. They'll be able to do things like provide charging status updates and to pull down utility pricing information, ensuring your ride charges when rates are lowest. Many current and most upcoming electric cars can do this sort of thing, but they rely on wireless data connectivity to do so. Zigbee would eliminate that. No word on which manufacturers will jump on first, but given the pull the SAE has we think many will.
Denon and Marantz release AirPlay update for $49
Denon and Marantz announced that owners of select AV receiver models can download a highly anticipated AirPlay update. The update will let you stream video from your iOS 4.2 device or from your iTunes library on your PC or Mac. Receivers eligible for the update include, Denon AVR-4311CI Denon AVR-3311CI Denon AVR-991 Denon AVR-A100 Denon N7 Networked CD Receiver and 2.0 Channel Speaker System Marantz SR7005 A/V Receiver Marantz AV7005 A/V Preamplifier Marantz NA7004 Network Audio Player Marantz M-CR603 Networked CD Receiver Denon and Marantz originally promised to deliver the update for free until November 7, but the company missed that mark and is now delivering the update for the full $49. Denon and Marantz are not the only AV company embracing AirPlay. Earlier this week, both Klipsch and Bowers & Wilkins announced AirPlay-compatible AV equipment. [Via Engadget]
Klipsch shows off AirPlay-enabled speaker docks at CES
One day before CES begins here in Las Vegas, Klipsch invited journalists to visit a gallery of their products, and that's where we got to see the company's new line of "soundbars," specially made speaker docks that will come equipped to support Apple's own AirPlay system. The docks we saw were prototypes only, so they weren't actually running any music from an iOS device, but eventually, they will stream music directly from any iOS 4.2 or higher equipped device through the AirPlay protocol. The docks come in three different models -- the Studio model is the smallest, and it can fill a small room with sound for US$399, the Forum model is a little bigger for $599 and the Arena model, above, checks in at a whopping $799. That's pretty pricey (even considering the sound quality), but these are basically meant to be all-in-one solutions for audio, with the added bonus of streaming iOS music from anywhere. The Arena model has both a USB port on it (for older iPod models), and an auxiliary input for a television or another sound source. Klipsch told us that it was excited to use Apple's AirPlay standard for these devices, and it eventually expects that Apple will allow for a "one-to-many" streaming service, where you can send different audio feeds out to different speakers throughout the house. There's no release date yet for these docks, but those in search of a quality all-in-one, Apple device friendly solution can look for them in Q2 or Q3 of 2011.
SD Association triples SDHC and SDXC speeds with UHS-II standard, adds secure eBook specification
Don't ever knock the SD Association for lagging behind. A scant seven months after the aforesaid entity revealed the UHS-I specifications, in flies the predicted successor at CES. UHS-II is a newfangled bus-interface system that promises high-def recording speeds of up to 312 megabytes per second, enabling pro shooters and videographers to actually consider an SDHC or SDXC-based camera rather than relying solely on CompactFlash or SSD. The protocol will be an integral part of the SD 4.00 specification that's going out to members later in the quarter, and naturally, it'll only be useful to SDXC and SDHC cards. We're looking at a 3x increase in transfer rates, and these same upticks will be gracing UHS-II microSDXC and microSDHC cards, too. Best of all, UHS-II cards will be fully backwards compatible with older devices and readers, as the speed increase simply relies on a new row of pins on a familiar form factor. In related news, a new eBook SD application has been announced, though the details surrounding it are murky at best. So far as we can tell, eBook SD cards will have their content pretty well contained, giving publishers the ability to rest easy while still getting content out to the myriad products that can understand SD. Peek the full release after the break. %Gallery-112383%
European standardization bodies formalize micro-USB cellphone charger standard
It's been more than a year since Nokia, Apple, RIM, Motorola and just about every other major cellphone manufacturer agreed on a micro-USB cellphone charger standard for Europe, but the two key European standards bodies have just now finally followed up on their end of the bargain. CEN-CENELEC and ETSI have today published harmonized standards for a universal cellphone charger based on micro-USB, which has now put the ball back in the manufacturers' court to actually produce phones that rely on the newly standardized chargers. According to the European Commission, the first of those are expect to arrive sometime "in the first months of 2011," and it expects the chargers to be "predominant" within two years. Head on past the break for the official announcement. [Thanks, Pavel]
ZigBee finalizes low-power, RF standard for input devices, could finally kill off IR for good
Over the years of idle channel surfing and menu browsing you've surely developed some finely-honed IR shootin' skills, knowing which surfaces will and will not reflect the signals from your under-powered universal remote control as you try to bounce that beam around a pile of magazines and soda cans on the coffee table. Those skills are on a fast-track to obsolescence thanks to the new ZigBee Input Device standard, which finally could bring all TV remote controls to the world of RF wholesale. Well, it could, if it finds more success than the already existing ZigBee Remote Control spec has managed. The new Input Device standard builds on that, said to require less juice than IR so those tired and mismatched AAs could last even longer. It'll also work with mice and keyboards and the like, but naturally we're most optimistic for remotes, even though this comes a little too late to let us turn off our PS3s with our Harmonys.
32 GB versus 32GB: Almost everyone is writing it wrong
Fair warning, dear reader: this may be the most pedantic post in the history of TUAW. Maybe in history, period. But I can't help it: someone is wrong on the internet. Here's a fun trick. Go to the Apple menu on your Mac and select "About This Mac." A little window will come up listing your processor and RAM specs. Mine describes a 2.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM. If I click "More Info" to open System Profiler, I'll also learn that I have a 250 GB hard drive. Now go to Apple's product page for the MacBook Pro and click on "Buy Now" to see descriptions of tech specs. The 17-inch model is currently listed with a 2.53GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. Other than the obvious differences in specs, did you notice anything different? All the spaces disappeared. 2.53GHz instead of 2.6 GHz. 4GB and 500GB instead of 4 GB or 250 GB. Almost everyone in the computer industry is writing tech specs this way on their product pages, and they're all doing it wrong. Click "Read More" to find out why.
Samsung Galaxy S first smartphone to be Wi-Fi Direct certified
Samsung has generally been on the cutting edge when it comes to giving its smartphones the latest and greatest in terms of compatibility, with the Omnia being the first DivX certified handset in America this month two years ago. Now, it's looking to wrangle yet another first, with this one having the potential to be far more important. The outfit's hot-selling Galaxy S smartphone (GT-I9000) is now listed on the Wi-Fi Alliance's Wi-Fi Direct certification docket, and while we knew that a handful of Wi-Fi modules and chipsets were about to get green-lit, this marks the first actual device to join that crowd. As we mentioned before, any modern-era WiFi device is capable of becoming Direct certified (via a firmware update given that there's no hardware change in the protocol), but it seems as if Sammy is being Johnny-on-the-spot. We'll keep an ear to the ground regarding an actual update that brings this functionality to life, but for now, let's all cross our fingers and hope those other phone makers get their handsets in line, too.
Wi-Fi Direct certification begins today, device-to-device transmission starting soon
So, Bluetooth -- last fall didn't end up being as frightful as you had probably imagined, but this fall is bound to be different. Or so the Wi-Fi Alliance says. If you'll recall, Wi-Fi Direct promised to do what Bluetooth had been doing for years, but with far less fuss and on a protocol that's much more widespread. A solid year has come and gone, and we've heard nary a word from any company who plans on implementing it. Thankfully for us all, that changes today. Starting in mere moments, Wi-Fi Direct devices will begin the certification process, and while we couldn't extract exact product details or a release time frame for future wares on a media call regarding the announcement, we did get the impression that at least a few partners were trying to get Wi-Fi Direct wares onto shelves before Christmas. As for functionality, the claims are fairly impressive. In order to make a direct device-to-device connection over WiFi, just one of the two need to be Wi-Fi Direct certified. In other words, a Wi-Fi Direct printer can recognize and interface with your Latitude D410 laptop from 1999, as all Wi-Fi Direct certified devices have to be able to control the one-to-one relationship. The goal here is pretty simple -- it's to create a protected connection between two devices over WiFi with as little hassle as possible. Think Bluetooth, but using WiFi. We also learned that "most" products certified will also support "one-to-many" connections, enabling a Wi-Fi Direct laptop to be in contact with a printer, connected HDTV and a tablet simultaneously, with no router in-between at any point. We should also point out that while 802.11a/g/n is supported over 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, there's no requirement for Wi-Fi Direct products to support 802.11b, so legacy users may want to pay attention to that quirk. There's also no new hardware requirements here, so in theory, any existing WiFi chipset could be upgraded via firmware to handle Wi-Fi Direct -- whether or not that'll happen on a large scale was a question the Wi-Fi Alliance couldn't answer for us. Finally, they noted that the app ecosystem is likely to make this whole rollout a lot more interesting, particularly considering that Direct is simply a pipe that software can dictate as it sees fit. We'll be keeping a close eye on the developments here; we've waited way too long for this to blossom, but we're pretty jazzed about the possibilities. Head on past the break for a video overview of how Wi-Fi Direct works.
Wireless USB reaches revision 1.1, makes for smarter and more efficient toys
Wireless USB 1.1 is here, whether you like it or not, and we're betting you're going to like it if manufacturers make it work. The USB-IF's new spec, finalized this week, is still capped at the same 480Mbps of its wired cousin USB 2.0, but it reportedly brings with it reduced power consumption and near-field communication for proximity-based pairing. And if the idea of, say, touching your smartphone and a wireless Pixel Qi panel together to automatically connect the twain doesn't make you jump for joy, we're not really sure what would. Perhaps you're still waiting for the one-gigabit-per-second Intel's Jeff Ravencraft promised three years ago this month? Download the full spec at our more coverage link to see what's what.
Disney aiming to establish technology standards for web-connected toys
Details are still pretty light on this one, but it looks like Disney is doing its part to add a bit of order to the wild technology frontier that is web-connected toys -- the company's consumer products division will reportedly detail a proposal to establish a set of technology standards at the Engage Conference and Expo later this month. That plan will be laid out by the head of Disney's "Toymorrow" team, Armen Mkrtchyan, who will apparently discuss what sort of standards Disney is currently looking at, and how such standards could lead to things like cost-savings and "increased playability." Unfortunately, that's about as specific as things get at the moment -- head on past the break for the complete press release.
Qi wireless power standard finalized, universal contactless chargers look closer to reality than ever
The Wireless Power Consortium took a big step forward this past week with the confirmation that its precocious Qi interoperability standard has been finalized. Composed of three documents setting out the interface, performance and compliance requirements, the new dictum has set itself the not inconsiderable challenge of making wireless charging universal, so that any Qi-approved phone can soak up juice from any Qi-verified base station, dock or omnitool. This first spec is limited to devices requiring no more than 5 Watts, an appropriately humble early goal, though cauldrons are already bubbling with ideas for laptops and the like. We just hope the impressive list of big time companies on the Consortium will succeed in taking Qi into the mainstream -- who here hasn't dreamt of their phone being compatible with the Touchstone? [Thanks, MrStringTheorist]
Sharp's XMDF format looks to bring e-books into the next generation
When it comes to boring 'ol text and images, there are plenty of formats that modern e-readers can manage -- your EPUBs and OPFs and the like. But, when it comes to integrating multimedia content into a kind of next-gen e-book experience, the sort Wired is pushing on the iPad, things are rather less standardized. Sharp wants to be on the forefront of bringing that style of content together under a single standard: XMDF, or ever-eXtending Mobile Document Format. It enables video and animations and flashy presentation to be mingled in with the text, surely with the intent of distracting you from actually having to read anything. Of course, XHTML can manage all this stuff too, but it never was particularly great at the sort of precision text layout publishers crave, and presumably that's also being addressed here. Naturally we're a little more excited about hardware, and Sharp showed off two prototype readers measuring 5.5- and 10.8-inches respectively... though it didn't have much to say about them otherwise. More details later this year, supposedly.
Bluetooth 4.0 specification gets official, devices expected by Q4 2010
Outside of Samsung's Wave, we're having a hard time thinking of a meaningful device that has shipped with Bluetooth 3.0 onboard. Kind of crazy when you think about it, being that the protocol offered some pretty promising stuff when it went official in April of 2009. Fast forward to today, and it looks as if the Bluetooth SIG is storming forward regardless, as the Bluetooth 4.0 core specification has now been adopted with "low energy technology" as the standout feature. This step means that companies can begin to work towards integration of BT 4.0 in actual end-user products, and if the SIG has its way, the tech will begin to show up in minuscule devices that haven't been able to take advantage of Bluetooth thus far. In fact, they want this stuff in applications "not even possible or imagined today." Looks like someone better get those imagination gears turning, 'cause Q4 2010 certainly isn't an eternity from now.
HDBaseT 1.0 finalized; LG, Samsung & Sony ally behind one do-everything cable
Valens Semiconductor has been pushing the benefits of an Ethernet-based cable standard that easily carries HD video, audio, power, data and control (5Play) signals all at once for a while, and with the HDBaseT Alliance officially incorporated, it's found powerful friends in LG, Samsung and Sony to fill out the Board of Directors. The HDBaseT 1.0 spec has also been finalized, so we can expect to see the first DVRs, Blu-ray players, or anything else that can be plugged in with compatible hardware to ship with the technology in the second half of this year. Check the press release after the break for more details, we'll be in the back putting ends on a few new cables.
Toshiba looking to standardize wireless memory cards, crash Eye-Fi's party
We're big fans of Eye-Fi's wireless memory cards, which enable you to toss that card reader out the window and download all your pictures wirelessly. So far Eye-Fi is about the only player in that little niche, but Toshiba's looking to blow it wide open with charmingly titled "Standard Promotion Forum for Memory Cards Embedding Wireless LAN," which could be given the equally catchy abbreviation SPFfMCEWLAN (a name that is, thankfully, subject to change). Toshiba's forum, which also includes Singapore-based flash company Trek 2000, will look to create a standardized 8GB SDHC card with integrated 802.11b/g, able to transfer JPEG and RAW images either from camera to a server or directly to another camera. Toshiba is hoping other camera and flash manufacturers will join in the standardization fun and we certainly do too -- just like we hope they move past 8GB quickly.
