Hasta La Gadget!

This year, Panasonic’s pretty much gone all out with a vast range of gadgets. Tablets, TVs, Touch Pens, cameras, and outrageous Hi-Fi. One smaller addition to the company’s portfolio was a pair of bone conducting Bluetooth headphones. The technology isn’t exactly new, but as more and more companies get onboard, they start edging their way into the mainstream. Panasonic’s take on them looks — at least initially — like a good start. At first, the design looks almost like any other wrap-around pair of sports headphones. Until, of course, you inspect closer, and realise that there aren’t actually any buds to place in your ears. The soft-touch outer material around the ear-hooks makes them feel nice in the hand, and adds to the sporty look. Unusually they are powered by a single AAA battery, that you sneak into the slightly bulbous section in the middle of the band. We were told, however, that this might change to a rechargeable solution when we get closer to the projected fall release window.

We were eager to see how the audio performed, but it’s fair to say that on a rowdy show floor this was pretty difficult. We were advised to put our fingers in our ears to initially hear the music, and then remove them while focusing on the music. In reality, even with ears fully plugged, hearing the demo song was pretty difficult. With ears fully open to the ambient noise, we couldn’t hear anything at all. The representative was sure to advise us that production models would be two to three times louder, and we’d go as far to say that even that might not be enough. One thing is for sure, they did definitely work, and the effect is still impressive. The product is pitched at more active use cases though, so it will be interesting to see how they work while on the move / run. Again, something that was a little difficult for us to explore, despite really wanting to. As stated above, these should see the light of day sometime in fall, and we really do hope they are louder. Price-wise, there’s no official word, but if you imagine $200 as a ballpark figure, you might not be too far off the mark.

Billy Steele contributed to this report.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

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These days, it seems that the art of taking down handwritten notes is dying. Why use a pen and paper when you’ve got a tablet or ultrabook in your bag that you can use to type things up instead? There is something to be said for handwritten notes, however – sometimes it’s much faster to write down something by hand, and during big shows like CES, taking along a pen and some paper ultimately cuts down on the amount of stuff you’re taking onto the show floor.

Of course, the environmentally-minded among us might be concerned with the amount of paper we use to take down these notes, but thankfully the folks at Improv Electronics have found the answer to that wasteful issue. Say hello to the Boogie Board Sync LCD eWriter, which is outfitted with a 9.7-inch pressure-sensitive LCD screen that lets you jot down notes on the fly and then share them in any number of ways. This isn’t the first Boogie Board eWriter we’ve seen, but it certainly is the largest of the bunch.

The Boogie Board Sync comes equipped with a micro SD slot, so if you’d like to stash your notes on a card and move them to your other devices later, you can certainly do that. There’s also a micro USB port for wired transfer, but if you’re a fan of going wireless, this baby also comes with support for Bluetooth. Using that Bluetooth functionality, you can send your finished note to any other Bluetooth-supported device, whether that’s a computer, smartphone, or tablet. You can also sync your Boogie Board with a second screen using Bluetooth, meaning that what you write down on the eWriter shows up on your second screen (perfect for presentations and the like). Fancy saving your note and uploading it to Evernote to refer back to later? You can do that too.

The models we saw during ShowStoppers certainly look nice, but at the moment, they’re only in the prototype stage. Though they do feel good in the hand at the present moment, we’re expecting a few things to change as we move toward the final product, which is scheduled to be released in time for 2013′s holiday season. Hopefully we’ll get to spend a bit more time with the Boogie Board Sync soon, but for now, have a look at our CES portal for much more from the show.

Boogie Board Sync 9.7 hands-on is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The past few days we’ve seen countless little Bluetooth speakers, JAMBOX look alikes, and various speakers but the new SoundMatters Dash 7 packs a powerful punch for such a small speaker. First mentioned earlier this year their ultra portable Bluetooth speaker was on display here at CES 2013 for ShowStoppers so we snagged a few photos.

The speaker boasts pristine omnidirectional sound for such a small device. It’s also bundled with an angled stand for directional listening. The stands design mimics an Apple smart case too. It weighs just over 7 ounces so is extremely lightweight, and stands only 0.75-inches tall. Essentially, it’s designed to be nestled below your smartphone or tablet without restricting the view.

As you can see from our images below, the device is impressively sleek and we can confirm it’s rather light and ultra portable. Being able to lightly toss it nearly anywhere your smartphone or iPad goes without wasting much more space makes it quite versatile compared to some of their competition. The front face has the power button and led, along with a volume up/down dedicated button for ease of use. Around to the side is a 3.5mm audio out if you opt not to use Bluetooth, as well as a sub out feature if you really want to push out some bass.

Just like the Jawbone JAMBOX the Dash 7 uses a woofer/tweeter setup for sound, as well as a floating and moving battery to improve bass response. This makes the sound much better, louder, and crisper than you’d expect from such a tiny little speaker. Colors include red, white, black, and silver and the SoundMatters Dash 7 will hit the streets in February for around $219. Pretty big price, but that brings big performance in a small package.

SoundMatters Dash 7 portable Bluetooth speaker hands-on is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Panasonic today announced the development of a new tablet computer that features a 20-inch IPS Alpha LCD panel with more than four times the resolution of Full High Definition, as well as a high precision digital pen. With the target to commercialize the new tablet later this year, Panasonic is gearing itself up to propose new business value this feature-rich device will offer to its customers in a wide range of industries.
Employing Panasonic’s cutting-edge digital technology, the new …

Turtle Beach has made a big appearance here at CES 2013 by announcing several new headsets that are both wireless and wired. The company announced a new headset specifically for Xbox 360 gamers, as well as an exclusive option for PlayStation 3 gamers as well. They also announced the SEVEN series for consoles, PCs, and mobile platforms that include “tournament-grade” quality and functionality. We ended up stopping by the company’s booth and getting some hands-on time with the new products.

The Ear Force XP510 for Xbox 360 and the Ear Force PX51 for PlayStation 3 are both wireless headsets that cater specifically to their respective gaming consoles. Both headsets feature Turtle Beach’s proprietary digital signal processor, Dolby surround sound, dual band WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 15-hour rechargeable battery. Pricing is set at $289 for the XP510 and $269 for the PX51. We should expect both headsets to become available sometime in Q1 2013.

The company also announced their new SEVEN series, consisting of headsets built specifically for gaming consoles (Ear Force XP SEVEN), PC gaming (Ear Force Z SEVEN), and mobile platforms (Ear Force M SEVEN). These are priced at $279, $249, and $149, respectively. What’s unique about the SEVEN series is that they include interchangeable cable kits, and feature a removable boom microphone and in-line microphone for increased flexibility for different gaming styles. These headsets will be available sometime in Q1 2013, while the TM1 audio mixer ($249), which allows greater control when team chatting, is available starting today.

In related Turtle Beach news, the company also upgraded its PX21 headset and released the PX22 ($79) by offering amplified audio, bass and treble boosts, and a “4-pole connector” for compatibility with mobile devices. The company also released two more PC-gaming headsets — the Z300 and Z22. Turtle Beach claims the Z300 as the only Bluetooth-enabled PC headset capable of answering calls or streaming music through a mobile device, and the Z22 is the first PC headset that features the company’s Chat Boost, as well as Bass and Treble Boost. All three of these headsets will be available sometime in Q2 2013.

Turtle Beach PX51, XP510, SEVEN series hands-on is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.