Hasta La Gadget!

We’re here at the Showstoppers event, wrapping up the first full day of CES 2009. Aomng the highlights at tonight’s show is the cool low-priced networking device, Pogoplug from CloudEngines.

The Pogoplug features a USB and Ethernet port. Plug it into an external hard drive and your Ethernet connection at home, and you can share files anywhere across the Internet. The device also offers iPhone access, so users can get all of their media from the comfort of their Apple handsets with a single click.

The Pogoplug is hitting retail outlets soon. In the meantime, you can preorder it from CloudEngine’s site for a low $79.

Unrelated candid photo aside… it’s no lie: if you’ve managed to load Android onto your device, no matter how lame it may seem, you’re probably a good looking person. Not only that, but you might’ve built Touch Revolution’s NIMBLe, which is a billed as a Home Touch Phone, but runs the Android OS and holds a full 7-inch touchscreen. The most basic functionality is that of a speakerphone, but obviously Android — along with the built-in WiFi, Bluetooth and Ethernet connectivity — opens this up to so much more functionality. Touch Revolution is actually dabbling in all sorts of hardware and software configurations, building a “Touch Device Development Platform” for farming out to companies for all sorts of purposes. Current builds include 600MHz StrongARM or greater processors, 128MB of RAM, 512MB of flash memory, SD card slots, 4.3-inch, 7-inch or 10-inch LCDs, 2 megapixel cameras and up to 800 x 480 resolutions. The unit we played with seemed responsive and only a little bit pointless, and we look forward to seeing this sort of thing hit the market — we know MC Hammer would agree. Action video is after the break.

Continue reading NIMBLe is MC Hammer-approved, brings Android to even the most boring of countertops

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household

NIMBLe is MC Hammer-approved, brings Android to even the most boring of countertops originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today at CES, I met with Steven Sinofsky, Windows 7 development chief, and asked about the unprecedented free-for-all Windows 7 Beta available tomorrow to anyone who’s interested. Is this the “free upgrade” people wanted?

When I asked him if it was an unprecedented move, passing out the whole operating system to anyone and everyone who wants it, he said that technology limited previous rollouts. Windows 95’s beta test group was 600,000 strong, downloaded mostly from dial-up via FTP sites. He says he even remembers putting out DOS in 1992, and getting 50,000 downloads—within a day. This, though, the combination of the TechNet and MSDN subscriber downloads with the open beta for all, will dwarf those previous OS beta runs. So I asked the obvious question: Are people going to dump Vista for this, wholesale?

I can’t speak for what people are going to do. What we’re trying to do is involve people in the development of Windows 7 in a way that anyone can choose what their appropriate level is—hardware and computer makers who are deeply involved because that’s their job, enterprise customers deciding to dedicate people to work with us at a very high bandwidth, we have other enterprise customers who want to kick the tires; we have enthusiasts—your readers—going crazy to be able to download it and that’s awesome.

We have different ways we have people involved. At one extreme, they’re part of the professional beta programs and they log bugs and they have feedback. And at the other extreme, all we need them to do is run the product, and their installation telemetry—things that are optional as part of the retail product are part of the beta, the telemetry, what devices you plug in and all that, and at some level, those are all super helpful to us.

I mentioned to him that one the recurring comments from the original Windows 7 walkthrough was that this should be a service pack or, better yet, a free upgrade to Vista. So I asked: Is this a free upgrade to Vista?

Technically if you have a Vista machine you can install this and it will install an upgrade. That’s part of what we’re letting people test. But that’s not a product offering. This is an offer to test the product. I would remind readers that this is a beta product. This is not a done product. That means there are bugs in it that are in the process of being fixed, it means there are bugs we’re going to discover, and we’re not servicing it like a real product.

Basically, he’s saying enjoy it, but know its limitations in trying to be the be-all end-all answer to your Vista problems.

If there’s anything more from the interview that I need to share with you, I’ll publish it tomorrow. Meantime, let us know how your Windows 7 beta experience is going. [Microsoft Windows 7]

One very patient Netgear rep took us through the interface of the new Digital Entertainer Elite while we feverishly snapped images of every menu blade. Not every one was a keeper — expect a few gaps here or there — but this should provide you ample impressions on how you’ll be cruising around on this thing.

Filed under: CES, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Netgear Digital Entertainer Elite interface hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LAS VEGAS — Multi-Star International, famous for its netbooks, is showcasing a new family of all-in-one desktops at the Consumer Electronics Show. Of the product line, the Wind NetOn AE2208 (above) is the top-of-the-line system — and boy is it ugly.

The specifications are as follows:

• Display: 21.6-inch widescreen; up to 1920-by-1080 resolution (full HD); optional touchscreen
• CPU: 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• Memory: 2GB

The AE2208 starts at $800 and is expected to ship second quarter of 2009, according to MSI.

In terms of specifications, it sounds like a pretty decent system that offers a cheap alternative to the iMac. But boy does MSI lose in the looks department. Computers shouldn’t have nipples.

See Also:

• MSI Introduces the ‘NetTop’: Low-Cost, All-in-One PC
• MSI to Showcase Low-Powered All-in-One Desktop, Netbooks at CES …

Photo: Brian X. Chen/Wired.com