Author: Serkadis

Vizio just dropped three mobile LED displays on the world, capable of pulling down ATSC broadcasts and delivering an 800×480 picture in 7, 9 and 10-inch form factors, while only an inch thick in the other direction.

The 10″ VMB100 and 9″ VMB090 Mobile Razors are capable of pulling down not just ATSC and NTSC broadcasts, but also the new mobile ATSC-MH broadcasts as well. They come complete with an HDMI 1.4 input, composite inputs, headphone jack and a USB port for uses such as MP3 playback.

The 7″ VMB070 model loses the USB and HDMI ports, along with the ATSC-MH capability, but its only 0.75 inches thick. All models feature only touch-sensitive controls, and can run for three hours on a single charge. The 7″, 9″ and 10″ will be available “later this year” for $150, $200 and $230, respectively. [Vizio]

Tamra Barney, one of several stars of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Orange County, has been slapped with divorce papers from her husband of 11 years, Simon Barney.

The once fun-loving parents of three have appeared on the hit reality series for the last three seasons, but in recent months both have complained of marital strain, with Simon going a step further.

He accuses his estranged wife of verbal abuse, disloyality, and infidelity.

“Petitioner contends that Respondent has been verbally abusive and has committed acts of disloyalty and infidelity,” read papers obtained by RadarOnline.

Most recently, the couple sparred over Tamra’s decision to bury the hatchet with nemesis and fellow Housewife Gretchen Rossi. Simon moved out of the family’s home earlier this week and confirmed the split when approached by Radar reporters, curtly replying: “The papers speak for themselves.”

Touchscreens and multitouch technology make up a significant majority of Apple’s research into future user interface improvements, and the iPhone introduced some of those UI paradigm shifts into our increasingly mobile computing. Since almost all interaction with the iPhone—and presumably the hopefully imminent Apple tablet—involves a touchscreen, Apple hopes to improve on touchscreen technology by using each individual LCD pixel as a touch sensor.

Apple has filed a patent application, published today, for a “display with dual-function capacitive elements.” By mixing display and sensing functions into each individual pixel, it would make touchscreens thinner, lighter, and brighter than they currently are today.

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These new Eclipse keyboards and mice from Mad Catz are pretty standard fare, except for one key feature—touch sensitivity. The keyboard has a 3-in-1 touchpanel keypad, and the mouse is able to understand finger gestures.

The Eclipse Wireless Litetouch keyboard comes in wired and wireless variants, and is distinctive because of it’s 3-in-1 LCD touchpad that lets you switch layouts and use it as a number pad, media controller, or a customizable app/website launcher. The keyboards also have backlit keys, along with mouse buttons and a scrollball for all-in-one PC navigation.

Looking like a futuristic race car, the Eclipse Wireless Touchmouse replaces the standard scroll wheel with an optical “touchscroll module” that allows you to scroll in any direction, and can be programmed to act on certain gestures. It also has bluetooth, and lasts six months on a single AA battery.

Available this January, the keyboards will run you $130 and $100 for the wireless and the wired models, respectively. The mouse will cost $60. [PR Inside]

At a FierceWireless panel during the CES show today, panelists from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile discussed the progress the embedded sector has seen over the past year and is expected to show in 2010. Embedded wireless, from a consumer electronics perspective, means factory installing a cellular radio into a (non-phone) device. The devices range from the obvious Netbooks and Kindles, to the less obvious cameras and media players, and more. The panelists were keen to point out that in the past year, the pieces of the puzzle all fell into place — what had been lacking was affordable embedded modules, strong data networks, and flexible enough rate plans that didn’t try to capture $60 a month from every device. I would agree that the carriers have finally become eager to consider a range of pricing models, all in the past year. From ad hoc daily netbook connection fees, to the integrated pricing seen on the Kindle, the Nook, and Garmin Nav devices, we’re finally seeing some flexibility in the way carriers charge for data access. It’s about time, too: for too long mobile data followed the $80 Rule, where the only way to get cellular data was an $80/mo lengthy contract.

As an example of the changes from just the last year, Verizon Wireless previously offered just a $60/mo contract for laptop connectivity, where now they sell a prepaid day pass, a week pass, and different tiers of subscription plans. That’s good progress, but market forces are going to demand a wider range of solutions, and at more reasonable discounts for lower tiers. For example, how long will the market support Verizon’s 5GB/mo subscription at $60 and their 250MB plan at $40? The lower plan is 5% of the throughput at 66% of the price! Clearly, there is room for these prices to move a little more.

An interesting point raised by Sue Marek of FierceWireless was whether embedded connectivity deals like that on the Kindle relegate the carrier to dumb pipe status. After all, when a great embedded wireless user experience is created, the carrier becomes invisible. Good question, but I think the answer is no. The carrier becomes a white label partner, but not a dumb pipe. That’s because, so far, most of these deals have involved cooperation between the CE vendor and the telecom operator, in order to make the activation seamless and simple for the user. The carrier has been integral to the development, activation, and service management. That trend is likely to continue for the reason I explain in the following paragraph.

Consumer Electronics makers, like Garmin, could just put a GSM radio in their devices and say "connect to your choice of service provider by inserting your SIM". However, the cellular module costs are hovering just under $100, and that’s a big nugget to add to the Bill of Materials on any CE product. And the CE makers know that they have leverage, since they have the ability to steer their customers onto a specific wireless carrier, and that any carrier will be attracted to a block of new subscribers. Guess what happens… that old, familiar word, subsidy. If Garmin chooses to partner with a specific carrier, the carrier will pay for the opportunity and in effect subsidize the device’s radio. This brings down the cost, and the MSRP of the product, which in turn helps Garmin and the consumer. For this reason, until the radio modules are very cheap (like Wi-Fi modules are), we will generally see embedded wireless tied to a specific carrier.

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Before the New Year came around, GM extended the Dec. 31 deadline to sell or shut down Saab until Jan. 7, giving Spyker additional time to come up with financing to buy the brand. Well, today is Jan. 7 and if you’re wondering what Spyker had to say about this day – here is their mini press release on the situation:

Spyker Cars today has made a revised offer to General Motors for the acquisition of Saab Automobile A.B.. Victor Muller, CEO of Spyker Cars said: “We have continued a constructive dialogue with GM over the acquisition of Saab. He continued: “We believe the Saab brand has lots of potential and would be keen to close a deal as quickly as possible.”

As reported this morning, Saab delayed its board meeting today as bidders, including Spyker, made their last minute efforts to acquire the brand before GM shuts it down for once and for all.

– By: Omar Rana

Filed under: Videos

We never cease to be amazed at just how good some folks are at video games. While we’re as good at the button-mashing shuffle as the next guy, sometimes our brains and hands just won’t cooperate. Drifting is a prime example. We know we need to rev the engine to get the tires to spin, but our finger sometimes run us into brick walls when our mind has us running the line. We know we’re not alone here, but the post-jump Forza 3 drifting video is proof positive that some guys are just spiritually in tune with their XBOX 360 controller.

The proud owner of this virtual drift video chose a Datsun 510 as the super drifting car extraordinaire, and it’s obvious that this guy or girl plays entirely too much Forza 3. Solid drifts quickly turn to masterful pirouetting and backwards drifts, sliding to within inches of virtual guard rails. Pretty amazing stuff. Hit the jump to watch for yourself.

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Out-of-hand drifting in Forza 3

Video: Out-of-hand drifting in Forza 3 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Do you wish that you were famous? Know what famous people do? They get hired to sit at events like Santa Claus in order to provide photo opportunities to rabid fans. Such is the case of comic book legend Stan Lee. He’s here at CES, sitting like Santa Claus while rabid fans stand in line for photos.

I’d think that it’d be much nicer to be a minor celebrity. Some people recognize you, but you don’t have to sit if you don’t want to. Major celebrities make more money, though. But, again, there’s more sitting.

Stan Lee [Wikipedia]

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Best known for its movie stars, sun and surf, Los Angeles probably isn’t the first place you’d think to breed technology. But when you consider the influence of investors like Jason Calacanis and Mark Suster, in addition to the fact that companies like Demand Media and Docstoc call Southern California home, it’s not surprising that the community is emerging as one of the country’s hottest startup hubs. ReadWriteWeb caught up with some defining characters of the LA Tech scene to find out why they’ve made their homes away from the traditional tech haunts of Silicon Valley.

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FUNDING
Says Sean Percival, developer and founder of LA tech blog Lalawag, “The tech space in the Valley feels over saturated at every level, at least to me. Here in LA there are still so many untapped resources and opportunities.” Similarly Twiistup producer Francisco Dao remarks, “There’s certainly a smaller funding infrastructure in LA but it is MUCH more accessible. SoCal VC’s can be easily found at events looking to meet entrepreneurs. In Northern California, it’s harder to get into the loop and get to know some of the VCs and players.”

In some cases, competition to pitch angels in the Bay is so fierce that entrepreneurs have paid to present their companies. Upset by the exploitative practice of pay-to-play angel pitch sessions, serial entrepreneur Jason Calacanis recently launched the Open Angel Forum. Based out of LA, the Forum allows companies to submit an application free of charge with the best applicants invited to dinner alongside some top-tier angels. Other LA-based funding sources include firms like Rustic Canyon Partners and GRP VC. Dealmaker Media also hosts regular LA-based events where founder Debbie Landa invites some of the country’s top VCs to coach LA startups through industry trends and tactics.

MENTORSHIP
As for mentorship opportunities, in 2009 GRP VC’s Mark Suster created Launchpad LA to offer help to early-stage LA-based entrepreneurs. The group meets virtually 2 times per month and seasoned veterans pass their knowledge on to startup newcomers. Some of these newbies include companies like band app-maker Mobile Roadie and parenting social network Totspot.

Says Suster, “We historically didn’t have a ton of successful tech companies. But things have changed and now companies like PriceGrabber, MySpace and Shopzilla are well established. LA is seeing a resurgence in second time entrepreneurs and it’s this generation of people that are helping breed success for others.”

Docstoc CEO Jason Nazar also works with Dealmaker to host a monthly Startups:Uncensored meet up series. Meanwhile, Francisco Dao’s Twiistup is the event to attend for SoCal tech networking.

Says Dao, “I think the smaller more familial environment in LA may act as almost a natural incubator. Everyone talks to everyone else here.”

There’s an old saying that “a cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.” Lucky for them, the LA tech scene gets to experience warmth in more ways than one.

Photo Credit: Lisa Newton

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One month ago Google unveiled five big new technologies in one day – and then launched real-time search that afternoon. One of those five was something called Near Me Now, and it just went live moments ago.

The feature lets Google grab your geographic location and display restaurants, coffee shops, bars, ATM machines and more in your immediate vicinity. It’s available today for both iPhone and Android users. It’s enough to make a person bookmark Google.com, instead of just Googling through the browser search bar.

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This feature is much more useful than Google Latitude and it’s more lightweight than launching Google Maps. It probably doesn’t bode well for established local mobile search apps like Yelp or for innovative new ones like NextStop. Those are a lot of fun, but Google’s Near Me Now is good enough, it’s fast enough and gosh darn it, I think people are going to like it.

Next: See four more awesome new technologies Google unveiled along with Near Me Now.

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Oscar-winning actor Ryan O’Neal is heading to The CW’s primetime soap Beverly Hills, 90210.

The 68-year-old actor will play the father of teen hunk Teddy, played by former soap star Trevor Donovan, a network rep confirmed to Entertainment Weekly this afternoon. Teddy’s dad, described on the show as a famous actor, has never been seen on screen.

New episodes of 90210 return in March. Ryan is expected to make his series debut in April.

In a couple of hours, we’ll be able to provide you with official details and images on the new Chevrolet Aveo RS Concept prior to its debut at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show next week. However, you can always count on the internet for embargo breakage. So here it is, your first look at the next-generation Chevrolet Aveo. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section after the jump.

Chevrolet Aveo RS Concept (Leaked Images):

– By: Kap Shah

Source: CarSpyShots (via Jalopnik)

We have known about this powerful processor chip for some time now, but yesterday Nvidia made it official.  The system on a chip features 4 Cortex A9 cores, and can play HD videos at 1080P and process demanding 3D graphics without breaking a sweat.

Nvidia claims the new chip will even outperform an Intel Atom, as can be seen on this chart below.

Tegra 2 will be made with a more advanced 40-nanometer process than its predecessor which was sized at 65-nanometer. The chip is showing up in many tablet and slate devices, and appears to be aimed directly at taking on the desktop processors in these niches.

Read more about Tegra 2 here.

By Marisa Taylor, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

If Polaroid wanted attention by hiring Lady Gaga as its new creative director, it certainly succeeded.

I arrived 45 minutes early for Polaroid’s CES event Thursday, only to find 200 people already crowded into a press pen. The pop star’s music, with lyrics such as “I love your psycho, your vertigo stareschtick,” blared from the speakers (sadly, I know all the words).

While the brand that created the iconic instantaneous film remains well known around the world, Polaroid filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and was purchased and relaunched in 2009 by PLR IP Holdings. The troubled company made a splash on Tuesday prior to CES with the announcement that Lady Gaga, the 23-year-old singer known as much for her eccentric costumes as for her hit songs “Poker Face” and “Paparazzi,” would serve as a creative director for a “specialty line of Polaroid imaging products.” Whether or not she will actually have strong creative input remains to be seen.

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A city renowned for its excesses, Las Vegas provided the perfect backdrop for the chip bacchanalia held by Intel (INTC) on Thursday. At an event at the Consumer Electronics Show being held here, the company unloaded a slew of slew of new processors, chipsets and wireless adapters–many of them built with its latest 32-nanometer manufacturing process, which produces faster and more energy-efficient products. Among the 25 products shown off, Intel’s Core i3and i5 processors, the former rated at 2.93 and 3.06GHz, the latter at 3.2GHz. Also, talked up at the event, Intel’s new Turbo Boost technology, which allows processors to substantially increase clock speed as high-bandwidth applications come online. “Turbo is something we’re very proud of,” Sean Maloney, executive VP of the Intel Architecture Group said during the event. “It’s the first time in the mainstream computer industry that we’re dynamically changing the frequency based on the workload.”

An impressive showing for Intel, which is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results next week. And a nasty blow to rival AMD (AMD), whose 32-nanometer chips won’t arrive at market until 2011.

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