This Oregon Scientific weather station records the weather as it happens. It then plugs into your computer and uploads recent weather data. So if you happen to forget that it was hot in July, you can spend a lot of money and go through an elaborate process to remember. I… don’t get it.
It sounds obvious, but for the first time, over-the-air HD Radio can carry talk radio with closed-captioned metadata, so that the hearing impaired can enjoy the same talk radio programming that others can.
From what I can tell, the signal will be compatible with many recent HD Radio receivers, so you don’t need a special box. The Kenwood in the picture is a proof-of-concept; the actual first-ever closed-captioned broadcast will take place on Wednesday. Leave it to the progressives at NPR to come up with it, teaming with Harris Corporation and Towson University to develop the delivery mechanism and user interface. Of course, if it takes off, deaf right-wingers will finally get their fix of conservative hate talk, too.
We’ve done a bit more investigation into this Press vs. Blogger war that CES has started, and it turns out that the Bloggers actually have more privileges than the Press! What the hell is that about?! There’s a press room for people to come and write up their stories, as shown above. Both Press and Bloggers are allowed in. It’s a big, desolate space with a bunch of round tables with Ethernet cables. Pretty boring, right? Then there’s the Bloggers Lounge, which is open only to Bloggers; Press is turned away at the door. Get a load of this shot we snapped inside there.
The Blu-ray crowd continues to be the cool kids’ party. New Line Cinema is not too surprisingly falling in lockstep with sister studio Warner Bros to go Blu-ray only. (Both are owned by Time Warner.) Upshot: Lord of the Rings on Blu-ray. [Variety, Thanks John]
UMPCPortal found this video of Lenovo’s unannounced MID, or Mobile Internet Device, that shows off some touch gestures and a bit of its functionality. It has a horizontal PSP Xross Media Bar-like navigation, a wide PSP-like body, and touch gestures (which the PSP doesn’t have). Not only can it play back video and audio, it’s supposed to have some fancy image drawing or editing and PDF viewing and internet browsing. We’re not sure what it fully does, but I think we’ll find out in the next few days. [UMPCPortal]
It didn’t look like much passing by, but the folks at Quartics have come up with a way to transmit your Windows Mobile phone’s screen to a display via a Wi-Fi dongle at 8 frames per second, allowing the world (or at least the room) to see what you see on your tiny display. A WM6 program was first on Quartics’ agenda but the guys said they were hard at work on an iPhone version that should be coming out soon. Quartics has a similar product called PC2TV, that delivers 1280×720 continuous screen shots wirelessly at 15 frames per second, with 30fps if you can get your screen res down to 1280×720. [Quartics]
The Beef: I am not a shortwave enthusiast, by any means, but the industrial design, open for a literal interpretation on the industrial. It’s got AM, FM, shortwave, longwave, SSB and aircraft band frequencies. There’s a scan or manual input by 10-key. And check the analogue gauge and yellow-glow back lighting. Very nice. There’s also an aux in for audio input. The Catch: It’s shortwave. And $350.
What’s What: With Sonoro’s cubo line of do-it-all music/clock boxes, looks are the hook. Black, shiny with soft lights, they kind of remind us of Belkin’s N1 Vision router. Well, they’re European too. The flagship cubo is the fusion, which has an iPod dock on top, in addition to the CD Player, alarm clock, radio set. The elements is more stripped down—you dock the iPod w/ an optional attachment, though one version has internet internet radio.
What’s Bleh: They don’t do anything most other wares in the category does—aesthetics are their raison d’tre. Plus, the top-of-the-line fusion is inexplicably missing the elements’ internet radio support.
We’ve been waiting for a mainstream GPS maker to go the way of the innovative GPRS-powered Dash Express. Well, Magellan jumped first, embedding its own GPRS connectivity into a navigator and partnering with Google for dynamic local search wherever you have GPRS reception. (Dash is partnered with Yahoo’s local search, which is nothing to sneeze at.) There’s no Wi-Fi, like the Dash, but the dealbreaker might be the cost: the 5340 is set to ship this month for a whopping $1,500—and that’s before the undisclosed monthly fee. (Press release after the jump.)
The Skinny: Encased in copper, this Eclipse CD7200 mkII audio head end for your car is strictly high-end. The catch: iPod songs and playlists show up on screen, but for that you’ll be buying an optional connector.
