At CES, I managed to pick up a pair of NEMO headphones to review for the site. NEMO is a company that’s been selling its headphones in Japan and is making its first bid into the US marketplace.
These headphones aren’t your standard headphones, as you can tell by the image. For one thing, they’re not quite noise-cancelling, but they’re at least noise-blocking. In addition, the headphones work a little differently. As the product rep explained it to me, the sounds from the headphones are actually being projected away from the center of the ear. With the sound waves not rushing into the ear canal, you are actually listening to the reflection. The sound then resonates within the ear canal to produce extended base as well as the surround sound effect.
So, what’s good about these headphones? Well, the noise-blocking capabilities are very effective. I took them around on Syracuse’s Centro bus system, and in the back they have an extremely noisy heating/cooling unit back there; bad enough that you’ve got to shout over it to possibly understand another person 2 seats away. The headphones blocked out the fans to a weak hum, and I could enjoy my music in peace.
At first I thought it was just me and my late night, non-sleeping, hard-partying ways, but today as people started asking me if I was sick, I am now under the belief that someone at CES tried to kill me with their SARS or whatever other disease they brought to Vegas. Besides myself and some members of Destructoid, it seems Gizmodo caught the plague as well. Anyone else that got sick?
Sony’s booth at CES was full of toys to lust over, and most of them have a universal appeal. Plasma televisions, game systems, and shiny new computers caught most eyes, but mine were stolen by this device. The Sony Reader looks like…paper. I can’t explain it, but apparently the resolution and color are perfected to look like print, and that was apparent from quite a distance. As I moved in closer and actually used it, it looked even more like print, and this easiness on the eyes is what makes this a big deal.
This reader is about the size of a small book, and accepts Sony’s Memory Stick as well as SD cards. It can be connected to download documents, pictures and webpages on the go, and the battery life is long enough to get users through a few normal novels before needing a recharge.
Book lovers get ready: many titles are already available, and much more coming. Sony was smart and has also aimed this device at types like myself, and is working with Tokyopop to release manga. The Sony Reader is set to release this spring for about $300.
Almost all the buzz around CES this year has something to do with the large number of “big” televisions shown, and it seemed like most every manufacturer had some kind of 100″+ screen on the show floor. While we know that bigger isn’t always better, most of these TVs looked great. My pick of the show for the best looking “big TV” is the Sharp 108″ LCD Aquos pictured above. To my eyes this display looked better than most I had seen, and I stopped to ask a Sharp representative why that was. I don’t remember what she said, because, like most of the Sharp reps, she was blonde, miniskirted and quite gorgeous. Luckily, I thought to take notes.
These screens use a new, very high quality glass. The panels come from a new Sharp plant in Japan, and is the first to use this new type of glass. This display is a full 1080p, and has a contrast ratio meeting that of plasma televisions. So, that means LCD is here to stay, and is probably winning the size race, since they’ve beaten Panasonic’s 103″ plasma.
Sharp has no plans to sell this glorious TV yet, but if they did, I’m sure it would sell well. Words like “ballgame” and “Gears of War” were floating around this display every time I passed by. Seeing as how the upcoming Aquos 52″ LCD will sell for about $5000, quick math would give you a good guessing number for this 108″.
Small and so delicious, this candy bar phone makes viewers drool with anticipation. The Samsung SGH-F500 is a dual-faced phone that’s business on one side, and movie viewing pleasure on the other. This phone sports a 2.3″ widescreen that is capable of playing back many popular video formats, including DivX, and can play content back from either its internal memory (about half a GB) or from the microSD card slot. The keypad, a DVD-style navigation setup, can twist away from the screen, making for a convenient stand while content is being viewed.
I had a chance to get some hands-on time with the SGH-F500 at CES 2007, and I was truly impressed. The video (mostly movie trailers) looked great, and was clearly viewable, although I have some concerns with how subtitles will come across. Navigation was easy, and the button faces also feature the “sweeping motion” style control that is popular with many digital media players today.
The video features, combined with a 2mp digital camera and music playback support could make this media-friendly phone a big deal, although Samsung had no information on any future U.S. release.
A personal highlight so far at the 2007 CES is the appearance of Honda’s Asimo bipedal humanoid robot. Honda brought Asimo to CES to show him off and possibly get some better footing in the public eye after a well publicized incident .
The footage above, combined with the linked footage below made up the entire Asimo performance. Honda brought out Asimo to a large crowd of adoring fans, and I was among them towards the front of the stage to get the best footage.
In person, Asimo seemed strangely real, and I overheard many comments wondering if someone was inside the robot. He definitely had a fanbase in attendance, and was cheered on as he danced, sidestepped, and played soccer on stage. Honda’s robot was quick to joke around and pump his fists in the air, and seemed somewhat egotistical, but no one minded - his robotic charm shined through. The most impressive display of Asimo’s power was when he was instructed to run across the stage. He is the first running bipedal robot, and Honda wants you to know that.
If you happen to keep up on robot news, you may have seen footage of Asimo attempting to ascend and descend stairs at a showing in Japan. Japanator featured a video last month showing Asimo trying to do so. When he fell, he was quickly covered up by moving curtains to avoid more embarrassment. At the CES showing, Asimo attempted to overcome his greatest fear. Hop on over to Japanator to see how he fared this time.
Samsung showed this sexy, lovely little lass in their massive booth, and I had to elbow my way through many a geek to get a closer look. The Samsung Q1 tries to be a tablet PC, mp3 player, video/media player, pda and more in a handheld package, and seems to do so nicely. Tack on voice over IP and optional GPS navigation and you’ve got a true, all-in-one computing device.
The model on the show floor had a Pentium M processor with a gigabyte of DDR2 RAM, and seemed to be running Windows Vista perfectly, which got many a geek’s panties all in a bunch. The screen, a 7″ WVGA (800×480) was vibrant and shiny, and even the smallest text was legible. The Q1 has both 802.11bg and Bluetooth built in, and with wifi running can run up to 3.5 hours before needing a recharge.
The Consumer Electronics Show has a lot of what you’d expect in the way of products for your home, computer or entertainment center, but a few things are just beyond classification or are of particular note. I wanted to share a few of my findings as I come across them.
You may have seen these motorized rodeo devices before, and as strange as they seem in any context, they were very out of place in their setting here at CES. The majority of onlookers gave puzzled and amused looks as a video demonstration showed Chinese girls in cowboy hats singing the praises of the rodeo chair and what it could do for your inner thighs.
Found wandering around the Microsoft area of CES were representatives showing off the OQO, the world’s smallest Windows Vista capable PC. This little machine has a full QWERTY keyboard, wifi/bluetooth and runs Windows beauifully. The model that Summa and I toyed with has a 1.5ghz CPU, 60gb harddisk and 1gb of RAM. We also saw the desktop dock and external optical drives, which would make this a full computing solution. I was truly impressed and didn’t expect to be, as was Summa, though he mentioned that the device was very warm to the touch.
It’s a good thing that the rep let Summa hold it, as I was seriously considering ganking it. Dibs.
Sony shows off a device that does all the things you wish your phone did. The Sony mylo Personal Communicator COM-1 puts instant messaging, internet browsing, online voice and email in your pocket. This is all easily done with navigation buttons and a slide-out qwerty keyboard. The mylo also plays back digital music and video in MP3, ATRAC, WMV and MPEG4 formats. Instant messaging and even Skype are useable worldwide for free, and the software supports Yahoo! Mail and Gmail.
Also included free: Sony’s patented fingerprint magnet technology.
