Extreme Ultrabooking at CES

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

In a city where a woman stood on a street corner dressed as Catwoman didn’t even bat the eyelids of passers-by, it can be pretty hard to grab people’s attention. But Lenovo achieved that feat at CES today, by sending out someone to test drive its new Ultrabook – on the roof of a stretch Hummer.

You might think driving around with a man sat using a laptop on the roof of the car would attract the attention of the local constabulary, and you’d be right…

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Samsung Series 9 15in: first-look review

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

A few months ago Engadget posted a blog about what people would like to improve about their Series 9. If the official line is to be believed, the 15in version was a very specific reaction to this.

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Samsung Series 9 13.3in: first-look review

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

There are some times when photos of laptops can fool you: they look beautiful when blessed with stunning lighting and clever angles of photography, but when you actually see them in the flesh it’s like going on a blind date with a “slim, athletic and handsome man” and ending up with Danny de Vito (sorry Danny).

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Video: Sony Phone Watch demo at CES 2012

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

The phone watch is an idea that just isn’t going away, with a different spin of the concept produced pretty much every year at CES. But this time, Sony assures us, it’s really going to happen and it’s really going to be fabulous.

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Video: Autonomy’s augmented reality technology in action

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

CES Unveiled is the traditional curtain raiser for CES, allowing a limited number of companies access to journalists for three hours on the Sunday evening before the show starts proper. Autonomy, the company that reportedly cost HP a cool $11.7 billion back in August 2011, was one such company, and we caught a demo of its augmented reality technology.

The video is streamed directly to the app once it recognises the image, and then saved locally so that it can be viewed without eating up your data on subsequent occasions. For people like me, who can’t recognise faces almost a minute after I’ve been introduced to someone, the business card application looks particularly interesting.

First look: Lenovo ThinkPad S430

Monday, January 9th, 2012

We laid our hands on a hand-built Lenovo ThinkPad S430 at the first CES press event of 2012, CES Unveiled. Packing in a treasure trove of up-and-coming technology, there’s much to like.

First up is this:

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Sony VAIO F Series 3D laptop review: first look

Friday, January 7th, 2011

Sony may have waited longer than Dr Livingstone for his friends to arrive before releasing a laptop capable of 3D playback, but it’s taken the plunge with gusto at CES this year. The VAIO F Series isn’t just for playing back pre-created 3D content: it can instantly transform 2D video into 3D too.

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Would someone remove the CES elephant from the room, please?

Wednesday, January 5th, 2011

I’m worried. CES hasn’t even started yet, and the looming presence of Apple is already lurking in the wings. And I mean presence in the most non-physical of ways, for heaven forbid that Apple would condescend to appear at a mere trade show.

But it’s here, make no mistake about that. As Barry Collins reported, more than 100 tablets are likely to be announced at this year’s event. And I really don’t need to spell out whose tablet they’re all trying to beat.

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New Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook: first look review

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

While at the Dell suite at CES 2010, I took the opportunity to play with the all-new Dell Inspiron Mini 10. Despite having the same name as its predecessor, this is a substantially different design: in particular, the hinge is now set back around an inch from the rear edge, which allows future designs to integrated more ports at the back. For now, though, only the power input has moved.

The change of design also means Dell can use a prismatic lithium-ion battery that squeezes in six cells rather than the three cells of the ordinary battery – all without adding any bulk to the chassis. The end result should be nine-and-a-half hours of life rather than the four or so hours of the three-cell battery.

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Roll-up keyboard: first-look review

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

The roll-up keyboard is one of those devices I’ve read about with some bewilderment, but never tried. So, when I saw it on a stand at CES I had to give it a try. The result was the bizarrest typing experience I’ve ever, well, experienced.

The keys are all rubber, and as you’d expect they don’t hit down in the normal way of a keyboard. Instead they wobble under the finger, rather like typing might be if keyboards were made of jelly. It’s odd.

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