Hasta La Gadget!

LAS VEGAS — Pop star Taylor Swift kicked off Sony’s press conference Wednesday night, loosely establishing the theme of the event: 3-D video.

“I feel like my fans are all very cutting edge, so when it comes to technology I’m very interested in what’s the newest and best,” Swift said on stage. “My tour starts next month in Australia and Japan and I’m looking forward to documenting all that footage using 3-D.”

After Swift played a song with her band and her silver, glitter-adorned guitar, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer took the mic to close her performance with a surprisingly self-deprecating (and honest) statement.

“Maybe you’ll call us cool again, who knows,” Stringer said regarding having Swift as a guest. Kanye West was not present in the audience for comment.

In its press conference, Sony made a large number of product announcements, ranging from new VAIO notebooks to Cybershot digital cameras, and from memory cards with bigger storage to a touchscreen picture frame called the Dash. But 3-D televisions were the highlight item, as well as content partnerships Sony established with ESPN, Discovery and IMAX to create 3-D content. Of all the video manufacturers at CES, Sony appears to be the most serious about 3-D.

“We intend to take the lead in 3-D,” Stringer said. “Sony is the only company fully immersed in every link of the 3-D value chain.”

The major product announced was Sony’s first commercial 3-D TV series, the Bravia LX900 (below). Ranging from 22 to 60 inches, the 3-D TVs incorporate a frame sequential display, active-shutter glasses and Sony’s high frame-rate technology to produce high-definition 3-D images.

Sony claims its 240-Hz frame-rate technology reduces the mixing of images of 3-D content assigned to the left and right eyes. The company also says its Bravia Engine 3 digital-video processing technology uses enhanced algorithms to reduce noise, enhance image detail and optimize contrast so scenes look sharp and lifelike.

Sony did not specify a shipping date or a price for the 3-D TVs — which seems to be a trend among manufacturers announcing similar products. That means so far, this is still vaporware.

In addition to showing off the 3-D TVs, Sony announced it was the official sponsor of 3-D video for ESPN — so when 3-D TVs actually ship, Sony will be the company providing the 3-D technology for sport events televised on the channel. Sony also said it was partnering with Discovery and IMAX to create a new 3-D channel.

Dashing all hopes of Wired ever calling Sony cool again, the company announced a high-definition pocket camcorder called the Bloggie (right).

“Yes, you heard me right — Bloggie,” said Brennan Mullin, Sony Electronics’ senior vice president of the personal imaging and audio business, to a snickering audience.

Sporting a pistol-grip design, the Bloggie shoots 1920-by-1080 MP4 video and 5-megapixel still photos. The camera is called Bloggie because it includes software to share your content on social media sites including YouTube, Dailymotion and Photobucket (but not Blogger, ironically). Shipping today, the Bloggie starts at $170.

Gadget Lab will follow up soon with the other products Sony announced tonight. Stay tuned.

See Also:

• Toshiba Introduces Web-Connected, 3D-Capable Cell TV
• ESPN To Launch 3D Network In June – USATODAY.com
• Wired Explains: How 3-D Television Works

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com, Sony