CES 2010 home theater preview

Brace yourselves. Less than a week after New Year, the consumer electronics industry will be reminding you that all those new gadgets--touted as lustworthy just days earlier--are already obsolete.

OK, maybe that's a tad cynical. But it's certainly true that the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (January 5-10) codifies the trends and sets the bar for what you can expect to see on store shelves for the following 12 months. That's especially true in the home theater category. For 2010, here are the trends we expect to see at the show. Some of these are new, but most are incremental follow-ups to those of last year:

3D comes to Blu-ray
We already know there will be a huge push for 3D TV products in 2010. But those TVs will need 3D programming sources, which will be slow in coming to TV networks who are just reaching the end of a costly transition to digital and high-definition. Blu-ray, on the other hand, offers the perfect DIY solution. Of course, the devil is in the details here. Is there enough 3D content on deck? Do consumers really have any interest in 3D technologies in the living room that will require another huge investment in hardware, software, and accessories? Personally, I'm skeptical--especially knowing these technologies all still require special glasses to view.
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HTC Russia's tweet says HD2 will get WM7

HTC Russia's official Twitter account seems to have leaked news that the HD2 will be upgraded to Windows Mobile 7. Posted in Russian, the Twitter status update indicated that the HD2 will be the only HTC device currently on the market to get the upcoming version of Microsoft's mobile OS. The tweet has since been deleted--you can draw your own conclusions as to what that implies.

There have been rumors that the HD2 will receive such an update and this recent leak appears to validate them. In any case, we won't hear anything official from either HTC or Microsoft, so let's just wait and see.

Via WMExperts

Report: Apple event to be held January 26

Whatever news Apple has up its sleeve--tablet or no--it appears something will be announced on January 26, if an unnamed source of Fox News' turns out to be correct.

The Financial Times reported last week that Apple had rented out the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for several days in late January, immediately leading to speculation that the event might give the world the first glimpse of a tablet device rumored to be in the offing in Cupertino. And now, Fox News writer Clayton Morris says he has a source at Apple who's confirmed that an event will be held there Tuesday, January 26, and that it will be focused on the company's mobile offerings.
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Samsung and HP announce Pine Trail Netbooks

Let's keep this sweet and simple. The HP Mini 210 and Samsung N220 are the latest Netbooks to sport the new Intel Atom chipset, complete with the Atom N450 1.66GHz chip and Intel GMA 3150 graphics processor. Both models are 10.1-inch machines with the standard ports and features we expect from a low-cost minilaptop.
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Long-awaited Bibble 5 raw photo editor arrives

Bibble Labs has released the long-awaited version 5 of its software for editing and managing the raw photos higher-end cameras can take.

Bibble 5 adds a number of new features for editing, cataloging, and performance. The company had hoped to release Bibble 5 in 2008 but ran into delays.

Also new is the price. The Pro version of Bibble 5 costs US$199.95, up from US$129.95 for Bibble 4 Pro; those who bought Bibble 4 Pro after September 1, 2006, however, get a free upgrade. Bibble 5 Lite hasn't been released yet, but the company said Bibble 4 Lite customers may use Bibble 5 Pro until it is.
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