Hasta La Gadget!

CES: part tech fest, part carnival, and all fun. Sadly we couldn’t bring you everything we saw in the booths as they’re so full and have become so immense that we’d need the entire week to take it all in; we did, however, drop by a few of the showier booths and take a handful of pics of each for your ocular entertainment. So without further ado, hop past the break and see what the likes of Samsung, Microsoft, Intel, Sharp, Panasonic, and more had to offer at CES 2011.

Continue reading CES 2011 booth tours: the best of the rest

CES 2011 booth tours: the best of the rest originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

We got a hint of this when Boxee announced one, but it’s clear now that Netflix’s plans are much larger as many of its hardware partners including Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba, Dynex, Haier, Memorex, Iomega and Roku will also offer one-touch Netflix buttons on remotes for TVs, Blu-ray players and media streamers. It’s pretty obvious, Netflix Watch Instantly is a killer app for any connected TV platform at this point and one of the most used features, making access quicker and easier is a no-brainer.

Continue reading Netflix ‘one click’ remotes coming to nearly every device it streams to

Netflix ‘one click’ remotes coming to nearly every device it streams to originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 09:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Netflix  | Email this | Comments

We’ve already heard that Sharp was planning to bring its Galapagos tablets / e-readers to the US, and it looks like they’ve now crossed one key hurdle on that path — or one of the tablets has, at least. The 10.8-inch EB-WX1GJ “media tablet” recently passed through the FCC, where it posed for the camera, went through the usual battery of tests, and picked out a nice spot for an FCC label. Not much in the way of surprises at this point, but the device’s user manual does also mention the 5.5-inch EB-W51GJ model, so it may well be following it’s larger counterpart through the FCC, if it hasn’t already. There also happens to be a rather large technology trade show happening this week, which seems like an ideal opportunity for Sharp to divulge some additional details. We’ll keep you posted if that happens.

Sharp’s 10.8-inch Galapagos EB-WX1GJ ‘media tablet’ hits the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 22:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Wireless Goodness  |  FCC  | Email this | Comments

Google TV was suppose to be center stage for CES 2011. According to a report by The New York Times, however, we might not be seeing all that much out of the service as the country’s largest consumer electronics show.

Google has reportedly asked Toshiba, LG, and Sharp to hold off on debuting their entries, thanks to poor early reviews of the Google TV software. According to The Times, the request “caught some of the manufacturers off guard.”

Google chalked the news up to “rumors and speculation” and refused to comment on it, saying generically, “Our long-term goal is to collaborate with a broad community of consumer electronics manufacturers to help drive the next-generation TV-watching experience, and we look forward to working with other partners to bring more devices to market in the coming years.”

Units from Sony and Logitech have already hit the market, of course. Samsung will apparently be the one manufacturer to introduce Google TV hardware at CES. Toshiba, for its part, seems to have confirmed that it won’t be introducing complementary hardware for the show.

Said a Toshiba exec, “We will not be announcing a Toshiba TV or Blu-ray player or demonstrating the products at C.E.S. We have an understanding with Google about the future product roadmap and will bring the right product out at the right time frame.”

Apple’s practicing its self-imposed rule of supplier polygamy this week and Japan’s Nikkei is telling us all about it. It started off on Monday, when we learned that Toshiba’s throwing down some cash to build a new smartphone display production plant, with Apple as the key investor and subsequent consumer, and today we’re hearing pretty much the same story, only with Sharp playing the role of Japanese producer to Apple’s hardware whims. A “large portion” of the $1.2 billion cost — identical to what Toshiba’s said to be spending — of expanding Sharp’s Kameyama factory is expected to be shouldered by Jobs’ cash-rich crew, a postulation also confirmed by Reuters, who’s managed to dig up a pair of sources agreeing with the Nikkei. Our Japanese team reports that Sharp has made its expansion plans official, but obviously there’s nary a peep about any Apple connection, while DigiTimes says Toshiba has outright denied any involvement with Cupertino. Guess we’ll just have to wait for the iPhone 7 teardowns to find out.

Sharp investing $1.2b in expanding smartphone LCD production, Apple fingered as the major client originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  AP (PhysOrg), Reuters  | Email this | Comments