Crestron, the company that makes crazy high-end home automation equipment that lets you turn off your lights by just breathing loudly, just announced Windows Sideshow support. You remember Windows Sideshow, right? The Windows Vista feature that lets you feed Vista’s Gadgets onto an external device. Crestron’s including this on all Crestron touchpanels and 2-way devices that support dynamic text. Not only does it read data, you can even send control information back to Windows to change a song or turn off your BitTorrent downloads because you’re about to play some Xbox Live.
We’ve seen Ricavision’s Sideshow Remotes before (and even got hands-on with their previous concept SideShow remote), but this is the first time we’ve fondled the commercial version that’s coming next year.
As a Mac user, the one Windows feature I’m constantly a little jealous of is SideShow. Particularly, I dig devices like this Ricavision VAVE100. At its heart a powerful 20-device, backlit IR universal remote, the VAVE100 also sports a 2.4″ screen SideShow compatible screen with Bluetooth connectivity. So you can have all those SideShow gadgets in what may already be your most used hand held device. More »
Dell’s secrets have gone up in smoke as Engadget picks up a leak on the Dell XPS 420. The line has Core 2 Duo, Extreme or Quad processors, a 3×2-inch LCD display that runs Vista Sideshow, a dedicated Dell Xcelerator video transcoder, SATA II, Gigabit Ethernet, 8 external USB ports, two Firewire ports, and an eSATA port. No word on price, but this sounds like it’s going to be quite costly. [Engadget] More »
Word is, Windows SideShow devices will start at a reasonable 80 bucks. More »
It’s invaded your living room, your bedroom and even your coffee table, and now Windows has its eyes set on your kitchen with a new PC-like device.
The Microsoft Tablet team is working on a new Kitchen Client that’ll include features like a family calendar, recipe center and a digital bulletin board. No word on when we can expect to see such a device, but the thought of having my toaster stream video doesn’t sound like a bad idea at all. – Louis Ramirez
Microsoft Preps Windows-based Kitchen Client [ZDNet via Clipset] More »
Just when we thought we had seen all the SideShow news from WinHEC, out comes i-mate with the View 2010. The 14-inch portable display has an XGA touchscreen, and in addition to retrieving info from your Vista PC it can also hook up to a keyboard and mouse letting you check email messages, watch videos and do simple Internet browsing. No word on pricing or availability, though it sounds like a larger version of Ricavision’s eChatte. – Louis Ramirez
Press Release [PDF]
This is something that will have the Footballers’ Wives set squealing with glee – if they’re planning a trip to the Far East, that is. LG’s new Z1Pro laptop has been designed with Vista’s Sideshow in mind. The shiny black portable boasts a 2.5-inch display on the top cover, complete with touch-sensitive buttons à la, rather like the Korean company’s Chocolate cell phone from last year. This means you can get music playback, photo slideshows, e-mail, calendars, world clocks, stock quotes, RSS feeds, etc without draining the battery. Price in Singapore dollars is $2,999 ($1,970 US)
Full specs after the jump.
Ricavision’s remote is the first to display Vista’s Sideshow interface on its big LCD.
If you haven’t been keeping up, SideShow is a Vista feature that when paired with the right “gadget” gives you the ability to read email, listen to music, or browse through photos from an external screen, like the 2.5 inch QVGA LCD on this remote. The advanced clicker also has the basic IR blaster and Bluetooth.
Before we tell you what we think, check the gallery below.
galleryPost('RicavisionVistaRemote', 8, 'RicavisionVistaRemote');
