Samsung Pico Projector now available in Korea

Announced at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the MBP200 Pico Projector is now in stores in Korea for approximately US$300. According to Samsung, the pocket-sized projector that doubles as a portable multimedia player will be available outside of Korea in the next quarter, though the Korean outfit wasn't specific on the markets where it will be launched.

It's probably not the kind of money most Earthlings would spend in an economic downturn. But for those willing to splurge, the MBP200 has a footprint of 107.3 x 48.8 x 19mm, weighs 160g, supports native PDF and Microsoft Office files and a host of other music and video formats. It also has a 2.2-inch QVGA LCD, 3.5mm audio jack, microSD expansion slot and HVGA (480 x 320-pixel) projection resolution.

Via Akihabara News

Sony offers up Web camcorder with 5X zoom

One of a duo of direct-to-Web HD mini camcorders marking Sony's debut in the market, the MHS-CM1, is modeled more after the traditional cheap designs from Panasonic and Samsung than the new tech toy-type Flip MinoHDs of the world.

The horizontal design does allow for a 5X zoom lens and largish 2.5-inch LCD. However, I found the CM1 oddly uncomfortable to hold. It records 1080p MPEG-4 video to Memory Stick Duos at 1,440 x 1,080 resolution, and shoots stills at a comparatively high resolution. Also like many competitors, the software it ships with, Picture Motion Browser Portable, doesn't support Macs.

You can get one of these brightly colored shooters now for US$200.

Via CNET Crave

Palm Pre launch date rumors abound

Though we're only two months into 2009, it's not too much of a stretch to say the Palm Pre is the most anticipated smartphone of the year.

Ever since it was announced at CES 2009, the Pre has created quite a buzz for its functionality and interface, and in my opinion, it comes closest to rivaling the iPhone pound for pound. Of course, the question remains of whether the Pre will actually deliver, but perhaps more at the forefront of people's minds: When will it be available?

At CES, Palm and Sprint said they expect to ship the Pre in the first half of 2009 but didn't get more specific. Well, it seems the Boy Genius Report (BGR) recently got its hands on Sprint's End of Life list, which shows which products have reached the end of their life cycle along with their replacements, and according to the document, the Pre will have an in-store stock date on or around March 15 and will replace the Palm Treo 755p.

Interestingly, our friends over at Buzz Out Loud received a listener tip Tuesday stating that he got confirmation from a Sprint customer service representative that the Pre would be in stores February 15 with an suggested retail price of US$549.99, US$150 with a two-year contract and after a US$100 rebate (You can see the chat transcript above).
Read more »

CES 2009 home audio wrap-up

The 2009 Consumer Electronics Show is history. As far as the home audio world is concerned, the product lineup and trends were pretty much right in line with our predictions.

Wireless speakers

Panasonic showcased the SC-ZT1, a unique "4.4" speaker system with wireless speakers (except for that pesky power cord, of course). But the bigger trend was wireless subwoofers: Samsung, Philips, and Polk Audio (among others) all showed surround systems with wireless subs, enabling more flexibility when placing them in the room.

Network audio

Whether it was more affordable tabletop Internet radios from the likes of Sanyo and Acoustic Research or impressive streaming audio systems from Linksys or Philips, network audio was on the rise in 2009. If you don't want a dedicated network audio product, that's OK; products like Samsung's Blu-ray home theater systems have Pandora streaming built-in, obviating the need for other hardware. And the pre-CES announcement that Apple's iTunes Store is going DRM-free means that all major music download purchases are now basically free of copy protection, making streaming between multiple devices easier than ever.

iPod- and iPhone-ready

Compatibility for Apple's iPod is essentially ubiquitous, but manufacturers are offering some incremental improvements. LG and Panasonic are including slide-out iPod docks (rather than add-on cabled cradles) on many of their home theater systems, while Pioneer's A/V receivers offer improved on-TV screen navigation for attached iPods and iPhones.

Blu-ray compatibility

Samsung and Panasonic offered the first home theater systems with built-in Blu-ray players in 2008, but they were expensive systems that were full of compromises (namely, the older Blu-ray spec). The picture is much improved for 2009: systems from JVC, Panasonic, LG, and Samsung are all Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) compliant, and many offer additional content from the Internet (Netflix and Pandora on Samsung; Netflix, YouTube, and CinemaNow on LG; Amazon and YouTube on Panasonic). Samsung upped the ante with Wi-Fi options available via an add-on dongle.

Single-speaker audio and virtual surround

Another trend that's showing no sign of abating in 2009 is single-speaker and virtual surround systems. Polk Audio, Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, LG, and Sharp were among the manufacturers showing either speakerbars, 2.1, or other configurations that aim to deliver a 5.1- or 7.1-channel experience from one, two, or four speakers. A related trend: More audio systems are being touted as wall-mountable, presumably to sit underneath a wall-mounted flat-panel TV.

The high-end

While we mostly stuck with mainstream brands and products, rest assured that there were plenty of high- and superhigh-end audio products on display at this year's show--everything from US$1,400 headphones to stereo systems that cost US$300k.

Via CNET.com

CES 2009 home video wrap-up

CES 2009 is officially over, so we can take stock of the major home video trends we saw at the show. The most obvious difference from CES 2008 is that now that HD-DVD is dead, Blu-ray dominated the show like never before.

If you've been confused by all the different Blu-ray profiles, you'll be happy to know that nearly all (tsk, tsk Philips) the players we saw at the show were Profile 2.0 compatible. That means you won't have to worry about buying a Blu-ray player that won't play Internet-enabled BD-Live features. We were also happy to see Blu-ray players with Wi-Fi from both LG and Samsung (via a bundled USB dongle), which also goes a long way toward making it easy for consumers to actually watch BD-Live features without dragging a long Ethernet cable to the living room. Our big miss in terms of predictions was that lack of a US$150 Blu-ray player, but don't be surprised if the US$200 Vizio VBR100 or Memorex MVBD-2520 hit that price point a few months after they're released.

We also saw Blu-ray break out of the strictly standalone form factor. Panasonic showed off the first portable Blu-ray player, the DMP-B15, although its 3-hour battery life seems pretty constricting. Panasonic had another first with its DMP-BD70V VHS-Blu-ray combination player, and overall we were surprised to learn that VHS still lives. The notable missing product was a US-bound Blu-ray recorder, and we're starting to be skeptical that we'll see one in the first half of 2009. It's also worth noting that we saw Blu-ray built into HDTVs and HTIBs, further signaling that Blu-ray is going mainstream.

Via CNET.com

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