Hasta La Gadget!

Celebrate Inauguration Day by helping the economy. And you don’t have to spend a fortune to do so: Check out Gearlog’s deals for Tuesday:

1. TimBuk2 is having one-day sales through Friday. Today’s sale is on the laptop messenger bag with Hemp/PET fabric. Originally $165, the bag is on sale for $82.

2. Let your inner child come out with Excalibur Electronics Micro Zoomers. Yes, toy cars. It’s Two-for-Tuesday at Woot, so get two R/C cars. Choose from a blue or red Mini Cooper, a Pajero Rally, or a silver or black BMW X5, for $12.99.

3. Save 65 percent off the Band of Brothers Blu-ray set from Amazon. Normally $99.98, get the set for just $34.99. The sale ends today, so hurry!

Arcam may not be at the top of your list of must-have brands, but it’s about to join the flourishing Blu-ray player market in the near future, regardless. Sadly, the only details about the deck you see above — which was seen sporting a high-end-signifying FMJ-xxx logo at CES — are that it’s likely to be staggeringly expensive and it should ship next month. ‘Til then, it looks like you’ll be testing your patience.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Future Arcam Blu-ray player spotted at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today, with the floor open, is the first real day of CES. By now we’ve seen a good deal of gear from the big companies, and here’s the best so far.

Palm Pre : Number one with a bullet. If we told you three months ago that Palm would own CES, would you have believed us? But this phone is for real, and from the looks of it right now, it very well could be the morale lift Palm so badly needed.

And the rest, in no particular order:

Samsung BD-4600 Blu-ray Player: Wall-mountable, networked, 1.5-inches thick, and really, really nice looking.

Samsung Luxia LED TV Lineup: Samsung loosed a whole series of ultra-thin, LED-backlit, network-connected LCDs, winning the Battle of the TV Announcements hands down.

Vizio Connected HDTVs: These Vizios stream just about everything possible over wireless-N: Amazon, Blockbuster and Netflix VOD, Pandora, Flickr, Rhapsody, plus any other Yahoo web widget.

Sony Vaio P: Sony’s Vaio P is something we haven’t seen before: a 2.08:1 aspect ratio (1600×768) on a 1-inch thick portable. Something different in the very, very generic netbook field.

Casio 1,000fps Point and Shoot Cameras: Both the EX-FC100 and the EX-FS10 bring the EX-F1’s slo-mo capture goodness to a point and shoot. Casio’s still the only folks in the super slo-mo field, and they’re continuing to kill.

LG’s GD910 Watch Phone: It was a non-working, behind-the-glass prototype last year, but one of every gadget head’s boyish dreams will come true later this year: A watch that’s a phone.

Eee Keyboard: Asus took the crazy cake with their still-shadowy home theater keyboard. With an onboard processor (of some kind), a touchscreen and keyboard and wireless HDMI, it makes perfect sense as a unique home-theater machine.

Sony Cyber-shot G3: We’re all about putting web browsers on as many things as possible, and Sony’s found another way to get one into our pants: A super-slim wi-fi-equipped Cyber-shot G3 that’s the world’s first to surf the web.

Panasonic Portable Blu-ray Player: Panasonic’s DMP-B15 is the world’s first portable Blu-ray deck. Your laptop probably doesn’t have a BD drive, but this will ensure you can watch hi-def 1080p on a tiny, tiny screen on your next flight.

And there you have it. Good stuff you may or may not be able to afford in ’09? Disappointment of disappointments? Discuss.

• Also out CES day two’s Best of the Rest.
[CES 2009]

We didn’t have high hopes going into Panny’s press conference today, but the company still managed to unveil a few surprises here in Vegas. One of those shockers was the world’s first portable Blu-ray player, the DMP-. Said device supposedly includes the ability to pump out 1080p content, and while we’re not terribly enthused about the design, we suppose we’ll give it a pass being that’s a world first.

Filed under: CES, Home Entertainment, Portable Video

Hands-on with Panasonic’s DMP-B15 portable Blu-ray player at CES 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s latest two BD-Live Blu-ray decks are design conscious to the max—one is a wall-mountable 1.5-inches thin (BD-P4600) and the other is a low-profile, sleek tabletop deck (BD-P3600), and both stream Netflix and Pandora.

Nice to see some creativity in the BD player zone—the wall-mountable 4600 especially, which reminds me a lot of Naoto Fukasawa’s awesome wall-mounted CD player (now if only you could watch the Batman logo spin with no door). And on top of Profile 2.0, (via ethernet or USB slots which can accommodate and included wi-fi dongle) and Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD HR/MA decoding and audio bitstream output, both decks will stream Netflix Watch Instantly or Pandora radio. They’re available the first half of 2009.

SAMSUNG’S LATEST AWARD-WINNING BLU-RAY PLAYERS OPEN UP A NEW MULTIMEDIA EXPERIENCE PORTAL

BD-P4600 Delivers HD Entertainment for the Whole Family in Contemporary Style;
BD-P3600 Satisfies Home Theater Enthusiasts with Superior Sights and Sounds

LAS VEGAS, January 7, 2009 – Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a market leader
and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today unveiled the world’s first
wall-mountable Blu-ray player, the BD-P4600, as well as the new standard for Blu-ray
performance and versatility, the BD-P3600. A 2009 CES “Best of Innovations” Award
Winner, the BD-P4600 unites a plethora of multimedia features in a svelte, first-in-class
package. The enthusiasts’ choice, the BD-P3600 promises top-notch video playback,
comprehensive audio decoding, and unprecedented networking capabilities for an
immersive, theater-like experience. Both players set a new direction for the Blu-ray
category with wireless networking, access to video and music streaming services, such
as Netflix and Pandora, as well as sleek designs. Samsung’s new Blu-ray players will
be on display at Booth #11033 during the International Consumer Electronics Show,
which will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, January 8 -11, 2009.

“Samsung is heralding a new direction for the Blu-ray industry with the BD-P4600 and
BD-P3600,” said Reid Sullivan, vice president of Audio/Video and Digital Imaging
Marketing at Samsung Electronics America. “The BD-P4600 makes it easier than ever
to bring Blu-ray into the living room with its unique, wall-mountable design, while the
BD-P3600’s comprehensive specs place it on the short list of even the most discerning
Page 2 of 3

– more –

home theater consumers.”

The BD-P4600 and BD-P3600 include BD Live™ (Profile 2.0) and Bonus View (Profile
1.1) support, Full HD 1080p Blu-ray playback with DVD upscaling, and total HD
soundtrack support. Standard CD playback, with support for JPEG photos and DivX
videos, ensure even more entertainment value with the BD-P4600 and BD-P3600.

A New Era of Functional Design
Samsung’s newest Blu-ray players continue the trend of stylish and décor-friendly
electronics, with new versions of Samsung’s groundbreaking Touch of Color™ (ToC™)
design and touch sensitive controls. The BD-P3600’s traditional set-top form is just over
two inches tall, and comes encased in deep black with charcoal gray highlights curving
along the outer edges. The wall-mountable BD-P4600 is just 1.5 inches thin with a
piano black design infused with ruby highlights, and finished with clear, prism-like
edging. If wall-mounting is not an option, an integrated stand lets the BD-P4600 be
placed on a table at a 25 degree angle.

Cutting Wires Without Cutting Back on Entertainment
Both the BD-P4600 and BD-P3600 can wirelessly connect to the latest Blu-ray features
when the included 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi dongle is connected to one of the players’ two
USB 2.0 ports, or via the traditional wired Ethernet connection. The two players can also
instantly stream more than 12,000 movies and TV episodes from Netflix and Pandora
music services (subscriptions required), to deliver an ever-expanding library of
entertainment into the living room without having to leave the house. And with 1GB
internal flash memory, both players can access the latest BD Live™ and Bonus View
Blu-ray features out of the box, leaving the USB 2.0 ports for wireless networking and
memory expansion duties when needed.

Speedy Control and Upgradeability
Samsung’s newest Blu-ray players improve traditional disc loading time to begin fast
playback and can eject a disc in a single second. The players’ touch sensitive controls
Page 3 of 3

help to create a seamless experience that is pleasing to see, hear, and ultimately, use.
To keep consumers updated with the latest features and improvements, Samsungs BD-
P4600 and BD-P3600 also can easily access upgrades wirelessly via the included
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi dongle, through the wired Ethernet connection, by connecting a USB
drive, or with a CD / DVD / BD.

Total Full HD 1080p Video and HD Soundtrack Support
Samsung’s BD-P4600 and BD-P3600 promise Full HD 1080p playback of Blu-ray discs
and crisp upconversion of standard DVDs through the HDMI 1.3 connection. For a true,
Hollywood-quality experience, both players can internally decode the latest high-
resolution digital multichannel audio soundtracks, including Dolby Digital Plus™, Dolby
TrueHD™ and dts-HD HR / MA®. The BD-P3600 can also output any of the
soundtracks as a bitstream through its 7.1-Channel analog audio outputs, or as an
uncompressed PCM signal, for consumers desiring the best cinematic sound with an
older A/V receiver.