Hasta La Gadget!

Though we wrote about it last month, PrimeSense is showing off its Capri sensor for the first time at CES 2013. As a refresher, the Capri is about ten times smaller than the company’s existing 3D-sensing chip, which incidentally make up the guts of Microsoft’s Kinect. With the help of potential OEMs, the Tel Aviv-based firm hopes the cheaper and tinier sensor will make it in tablets, laptops, cell phones and many other consumer-level products beyond the niche realm of video games. We saw an example of how it could be built into a Nexus 7 tablet as seen above, though the company didn’t have any Capri-compatible applications it could show us. Combined with implementations in retail, robotics, healthcare and more, the Capri is just the latest attempt by PrimeSense to create a ubiquitous 3D-sensing environment. President and founder Aviad Maizels told us he would like it to be so universal that it’s a “new way of living.” We have a PrimeSense-produced concept video of just such a world after the break, along with close-up shots of the teeny weeny system-on-a-chip.

Continue reading PrimeSense shows off tiny Capri sensor, yearns for 3D-sensing future (hands-on)

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We heard from our friends over at TechCrunch (thanks, John Biggs!) that a company called Zivix has been showing off a cool little MIDI guitar at CES, so here it is! Dubbed the JamStik, this digital instrument serves the same purpose as the already-available You Rock, except this one comes with real guitar strings, works wirelessly over WiFi, features a lower latency (under 10ms instead of about 20ms, according to Zivix’s lab test), and it also has a shorter neck plus a much smaller body for the sake of portability — even for some casual plucking on the plane. The JamStik also supports string bending thanks to the way it detects finger movement on the neck — the rows of infrared lights and sensors under the strings make the magic happen.

Of course, you’d need a PC or an iOS device (with CoreMIDI-compatible apps like GarageBand and Animoog) to get the audio, and for the latter, Zivix will be offering three apps: JamTutor guitar teaching suite, JamHero game (very much like Guitar Hero and Rock Band) and Jam Live music remixer. We had a go using a wired prototype JamStik, and apart from the slight delay between our strumming and the audio output (which will be further fine-tuned before going retail), we had a lot of fun with it. Check out the demo videos after the break, and expect to see the JamStik hit the market this summer for somewhere around $249 to $299.

Continue reading JamStik portable MIDI guitar lets you play and learn on the iPad wirelessly

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Despite hammering out the details late last year, Kodak still had to wait for the Bankruptcy court to greenlight its big patent sale. Today, that happened: Judge Allan Gropper has approved the $527 million deal between Kodak, Apple and Google — giving the floundering photo company final permission to offload more than 1,000 imaging patents. Kodak originally valued its collection of IP at over $2 billion, which Gropper deemed a bit high. Despite hoping for a higher payout, Kodak’s attorney admits the deal is probably the best it could have hoped for, explaining that the $525 million the company will collect in the agreement will give it some “patent peace.” Apple and Google, once rivals for Kodak’s intellectual property, struck a deal to bid on the patents together — lowering their respective costs and and keeping the bid war out of the courts. Less litigation sounds good to us, even if it’s only for a little while. Check out Bloomberg’s report at the adjacent source link for more info.

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Source: Bloomberg

Thinking about beefing up your IP profile? Try giving IBM a call. For twenty consecutive years, it’s been awarded more patents than any other company. According to IFI Claims Patent Services, IBM was issued 6,478 patents in 2012. To put things into perspective, its closest competitor, Samsung, trailed Big Blue by nearly 1,500 patents. No small wonder the company is the tech world’s intellectual property broker.

Some of the year’s biggest patent warriors made the top 50 list too. Both Apple and Google’s patent awards grew significantly over previous years, surpassing 2011’s numbers by 68 and 170 percent, respectively. The house that T.J. Waston built, on the other hand, grew only a meager 4.8 percent. Still, with patents in health, banking, defense, social networking, cloud computing and beyond, IBM probably has a few years left at the top. Ever onward, IBM. Ever onward.

Continue reading IBM caps two decades as heavyweight champion of the patent world

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Via: CNET, NYT

Source: IFI Claims

What will we be doing with Parrot CEO Henri Seydoux? Playing with the company’s AR.Drone, obviously. And who knows, maybe Brian and Richard Lai will ask the exec some questions, too.

Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!

Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Parrot’s Henri Seydoux

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