Hasta La Gadget!

[CES 2013] Point-and-shoot cameras have been popular for years due to their portability and quality of photos and videos they can produce. Sure, they’re nowhere near the quality of DSLRs, but considering they can be thrown into a backpack, purse and even your jean pockets, the tradeoff is definitely worth it. But Panasonic is introducing a new point-and-shoot camera the company is calling “the perfect camera for any situation.”

The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-ZS30 features a 20x Optical Zoom, 60p Full HD video recording and WiFi connectivity that introduces a number of ways to use your camera beyond just sharing your photos onto Facebook. Sure – you’ll be able to upload your photos and videos online without needing to connect to a computer, but you’ll also be able to wirelessly connect your LUMIX DMC-ZS30 to your smartphone, allowing you to take pictures from the camera remotely.

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Marking the first anniversary of the AR.Drone 2.0 since last CES, Parrot has announced that it’ll be offering an optional GPS flight recorder module as well as a bigger battery at some point this year. The former dongle simply plugs into the flying vehicle via the USB port, and it can record the flying parameters onto its 4GB memory, which can then be reproduced on the 3D AR.Drone Academy map. As for the larger battery, it’ll come with 1,500mAh worth of juice which is 50 percent more than the original one (hence a flight time of up to 18 minutes now), though we’d imagine most hardcore enthusiasts have already modded third-party batteries for the power-hungry copter.

On the software side, the AR.Drone 2.0 will soon be upgraded with a “Director Mode” for programming movements (including traveling, pan, crane and more) for more creative filming. Additionally there will be an “AR.Race 2.0” solo or multiplayer racing game, as well as an “AR.Rescue 2.0” adventure game in augmented reality. Sounds fun, and we’ll be able to see the drone in action during our live CES interview with CEO Henri Seydoux this Thursday, so stay tuned.

Continue reading Parrot’s AR.Drone 2.0 gifted with optional flight recorder module and bigger battery

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Here at Stream TV’s presser at CES, we ended up taking a look at their Ultra-D glasses-free 3D technology, and even got our eyes-on with the new tech. However, not only is it glasses-free 3D, but it’s also at a 4K resolution of 3800×2160. If you think that watching 3D content without those fancy glasses is pretty crazy, you wouldn’t be too wrong.

However, it’s not completely what it’s cracked up to be. Our experience watching the demo was subpar. We certainly noticed the 3D, not quite as much as traditional 3D with glasses, but we definitely noticed heads and hands popping out at us — it was almost a trippy experience of sorts, but the quality overall was disappointing.

Sadly, the company had to sacrifice quality slightly in order to offer the auto stereoscopic 3D technology, which takes two different images at slightly different angles and merges them together, while flickering them back and forth faster than the human eye could notice, similar to how active 3D glasses work today.

What’s perhaps even more impressive is that current 1080p content can be upscaled to this 4K glasses-free 3D tech. The company even mentioned Apple’s Retina display, saying that while the technology is certainly there, the content isn’t the same story, and Stream TV says current content can be used for the 3D.

Stream TV Ultra-D glasses-free 3D eyes-on is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While we’ve got all sorts of cool little gadgets to check out here at CES, a number of car manufacturers are also showing off whats new with their vehicles. One of these car manufacturers is Ford, which today announced that Rhapsody will soon be available in Ford and Lincoln vehicles equipped with SYNC AppLink. This is the first time Rhapsody has been fully integrated with vehicles, so this is certainly pretty big for the popular music streaming service.

SYNC AppLink has a number of benefits for the Rhapsody user who wants to use the streaming service in the car. While it was definitely possible to use Rhapsody in your car before this integration with Ford and Lincoln vehicles, AppLink will let you sync the app to your car, thus allowing you to control the app using the SYNC touch controls or the radio buttons on your steering wheel. This, in turns, lets you keep your eyes on the road, which means that you get the best of both worlds – you get to listen to Rhapsody while at the same time keeping the chances of a potentially nasty crash low.

Setup seems pretty easy too, with Rhapsody’s mobile app connecting to AppLink via Bluetooth as soon as its started up. This partnership will probably be a big win for Rhapsody, as the company recently polled its users to find out what they did for entertainment while driving in the car. 40% of them said they stream Rhapsody while only 13% listen to the radio, so if Rhapsody can make the streaming process easier for Ford and Lincoln owners, we might see that number rise.

In addition, Rhapsody has found that the number of users accessing the service through mobile devices is growing year after year, so this new team up with Ford could help that percentage grow as well. Given the fact that SYNC AppLink is available on 1 million different for vehicles (including the 2013 Fiesta, Mustang, Expedition, and F-150, among others), there should be a fair number of Ford users who can take advantage of this new functionality. Be sure to check out our CES portal for more from the show here in Las Vegas!

Rhapsody comes to Ford and Lincoln vehicles through SYNC AppLink is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

[CES 2013] How many of you think that the portable media player is no longer applicable in this day and age? Certainly to own a dedicated portable media player does not make much sense these days considering how most smartphones, if not all, sport more than decent media playback capability on their own in the first place. Well, the HP Pocket Playlist does something different from being a portable media player – and even better news is, it does not need any kind of Internet connection to work even when streaming. Just what is the HP Pocket Playlist all about?

This innovative portable device basically streams unencrypted content that range from movies, music, TV shows and photos, to up to five mobile devices simultaneously. You could say that this premium entertainment device functions as a home DVR, albeit coming in a far smaller and lighter form factor compared to the average smartphone, making it a snap to tote around with you wherever you go. You can prerecord videos from more than 50 online websites, reserving them for future playback, and there is enough memory to hold 16 full-length movies, 7,600 songs or 10,000 photos. Expect the HP Pocket Playlist to arrive in the markets this February 15th for $129, meaning it ain’t gonna cut the mustard as a Valentine’s Day gift. .

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