CES 2010

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CES 2010
Something Fishy at CES2010
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jan 05, 2010  | 
Despite what you’ll hear from the other journalistic types, the only real reason why anyone who pontificates about electronics makes the annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show is the free food and booze. And the free hats and t-shirts…and the pampering of the press…and the potential for (maybe) a free set of earphones or iPod case… Then, of course, there are all the attractive female booth greeters and canned-demonstration presenters who make you feel like you’re the first person they’ve talked to all week and that you’re someone very special…if you’d only sit through this incredibly fascinating presentation. I guess there are also some cool gadgets and gear to see here, too, but it really comes down to the free food. (Did I mention free booze, too?) Tonight, it’s the “Annual Pre-CES Sushi Feast 2010” sponsored by DTS. Can life get any better?
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CES 2010
Sonneteer Has Storage Covered
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 09, 2010  | 
Sonneteer's Morpheus audio server will play anything your home network dishes up through a PC or other device. You can supplement it with Sonneteer's 3TB external hard drive, which adds the convenience of a slot-load CD drive for burning. The basic unit has 50 watts times two and sells for $3995. Double that if you add the extra drive. One angle that came up in our discussion was the fact that the system rips with metadata from free providers; a more deluxe service costs extra. If you're buying a pricey audio server, find out where it's getting its metadata and consider how that will affect the experience of using it.
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CES 2010
Sony Has An Angle
Tom Norton  |  Jan 09, 2010  | 
In addition to its usual tsunami of new sets, Sony is offering an optional angled stand for many of its models up to 55". The stand tilts the set upwards slightly, so when the set is positioned on low, European-style furniture (think IKEA) it aims upward at the viewer. If you like the stand but not the angle it will also accommodate the usual vertical stance.
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CES 2010
Sony KDL-52XBR9
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 08, 2009  | 

Sony repeated many of the day's themes at it's press conference—green is good, 240Hz, Internet TV—but conspicuously missing were any new LED-backlit LCDs. The current XBR8 line will remain available, and a rep hinted that the company has more up its sleeve than it revealed today. What was revealed today was the XBR9 series, including the largest KDL-52XBR9 (pictured). This conventionally backlit panel is chock full of connections for accessing Internet and networked content, and it offers true 240Hz operation.

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CES 2010
Sony Networking
uavKim Wilson  |  Jan 08, 2009  | 

Sony's latest AV Receiver as well as some new Sony televisions will be Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) compliant, enabling easy access to digital photos, music and video that is stored on a PC or other DLNA servers. In fact, if there is any key theme running through this year's CES, it would be NETWORKING.

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CES 2010
Sony Offers Glimpse of Heaven
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 07, 2010  | 
The Sony booth included a vision of an Italian town with distinctive conical roofs -- about as far from the horrors of Vegas as you can get.
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CES 2010
Sony OLED
Scott Wilkinson  |  Jan 12, 2009  | 

Sony's OLED demo included several 27-inchers and some 11-inch XEL-1s as well as a new 11-inch model (in the center of this shot) that's less than 1mm thick. The prototypes were all mounted in super-cool brushed-aluminum flat stands. As OLEDs are wont to do, these looked stunning. I only wish this technology was practical and economical from a manufacturing perspective.

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CES 2010
Sony Towers Boast Cold-Climate Timbers
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 09, 2010  | 
The Sony SS-AR1 has been around since 2006 but we didn't notice it till this show. The three-way, four-driver floorstander features a chambered enclosure with a baffle of Hokkaido-grown maple and side panels of Finnish birch, both of which the designers prize for their "generous reverberation." Drivers include aluminum woofers, sliced-paper midrange, and a tweeter backed with six concentric neodymium magnets. Pricing in mid to high four figures. This is the kind of thing a big manufacturer will do just to prove it can. But don't scoff. We've reviewed other Sony SS-series speakers in the distant past and they were, in fact, superbly musical.
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CES 2010
Sony's Got You Covered
Tom Norton  |  Jan 09, 2010  | 
As with all of the major set manufacturers, Sony introduced more new sets than any blog can cover. Models in the new LX and HX ranges will be fully 3D capable, using active shutter glasses (most manufacturers plan to use shutter glasses rather than the cheaper but less effective (according to some) polarized glasses). There are models with LED backlighting (edge-lit and backlit local dimming) and others with conventional CCFL lighting.
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CES 2010
Stop Chronic Ear(bud) Aches
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jan 08, 2010  | 
It's an age old problem. You have a pair of ears. You have a pair of earbuds. Unfortunately, they aren't the same size - and even when the size is about right, the flippin' earbuds are darn uncomfortable to wear for anything longer than a few minutes. You could pay big bucks to have special custom-fit earbud covers made for you personally. Or you could spend $20 (plus shipping) for a set of yurbuds from yurtopia. The company makes 12 sizes of earbud adapters out of surgical silicone. The yurbuds slip over your existing earbuds and channel the sound directly to your ear canal. They're soft and flexible, so they're quite comfortable.
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CES 2010
Striking Stryker
Darryl Wilkinson  |  Jan 10, 2010  | 
If I'd had $299 for the Show special price, I'd be flying home with one of these RCX4 Stryker RC flying X-wing craft from EZ2Fly, Inc. (The regular price is $399.) They say it's a full-function 4-channel hovercraft with an integrated 3D gyro system. It's not quite as cool as Parrot's AR Drone quadricopter that uses Wi-Fi, has two on-board cameras, and can be controlled by an iPhone or iPod touch - but the AR Drone isn't available for purchase yet.
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CES 2010
Swans M6HT
Tom Norton  |  Jan 07, 2010  | 
The M6HT system from Swans is more modest than the 2.3B system described above, but just as classy in its solid wood threads. Unfortunately, however, it was not on demo.
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CES 2010
Swans' Song
Tom Norton  |  Jan 07, 2010  | 
The audience is all ears listening to the flagship home theater system from Swans (more below), via Arcadia of California via Hi-Vi in China. For those who are interested, they were listening to Yanni Live at Mandalay Bay on a multichannel DVD.
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CES 2010
Swans' Song II
Tom Norton  |  Jan 07, 2010  | 
This is the system to which the crowd in the above photo were paying rapt attention. Or rather the left and right speakers in that system (my photo of the entire system didn't fare well).
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CES 2010
TAD Does Amp and Source Component
Mark Fleischmann  |  Jan 08, 2010  | 
TAD, already one of our favorite speaker manufacturers, now offers both a mono-block amp and a SACD player cum DAC, both priced at $26,500. Stereo amp and preamp are on the drawing board. The final version of the Compact Reference speaker is now shipping for $37,000/pair. A demo with female vocal and piano was startling in its directness, marred only slightly by the sight of the chandelier gently swinging, apparently as a result of a subwoofer on the floor above.
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