Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Gadgets galore at CES

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2003 13:08:55 -0500

Gadgets galore at CES

By Richard Shim
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 7, 2003, 4:00 AM PT

Manufacturers are heading to Las Vegas this week singing viva los gadgets.

The annual Consumer Electronics Show kicks off late Wednesday with a
keynote speech from Microsoft's co-founder and Chief Software Architect
Bill Gates and runs through the weekend. Other industry luminaries
appearing at the show include Sony Chief Operating Officer Kunitake Ando,
Intel Chief Executive Craig Barrett and Texas Instruments Chief Executive
Tom Engibous.

Analysts expect many of the companies demonstrating at the show to announce new
products or technologies that will improve upon many of the current industry trends, such
as wireless networking and accessing digital media, and set the tone for what to expect in

2003.

"Manufacturers will focus on new
ways of consuming digital content
so that it will really be ubiquitous,"
said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst
with research firm Jupiter Research.
"They've been talking about this for a
while but they will work to mature
their products so that consumers
can more easily access digital
content."

Gartenberg added that getting digital
content into portable devices will be
a key theme throughout the year
and that there will be significant
attention paid to Microsoft and its
Smart Personal Object Technology
(SPOT) as the software giant moves
beyond PCs and handhelds to
appliances.

SPOT is software that allows devices, such as alarm clocks, to run Microsoft's .Net
Compact
Framework and gain access to data stored on a central PC. During Comdex in November,
Microsoft outlined SPOT, and said that it would present further technical details at CES.

Earlier this week, Microsoft's Mobility Group, which is responsible for handheld and
smartphone operating systems, announced that new versions of its Pocket PC 2002 and
Smartphone 2002 OS that can be used with phones running on code division multiple access
(CDMA) wireless networks were available. The new software lets Microsoft press its battle
against Nokia for the cell phone OS market by going after CDMA carriers. Nokia has largely

focused on wireless networks based on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)
standard.

Hitachi and Samsung announced that they are using Microsoft's Pocket PC Phone Edition
software in cell phones that run on CDMA networks. The phones are meant for the North
American market, which is home to the world's largest concentration of subscribers to CDMA

networks.

Intel is expected to present details on its new mobile processor code named Banias, which
is
due later in the quarter. Sources say Intel CEO Craig Barrett will announce the
processor's
official name and details about the chips during his keynote address Thursday afternoon.
Intel
has registered the names Centrino and Iomir with the patent and trademark offices for
notebook
products.

Sony is expected to announce jointly with SanDisk a new version of the Memory Stick
removable flash memory card format, called Memory Stick Pro. The two companies have
worked to develop the format since 2001.

On the more consumer electronics-related side, Sony is expected to relaunch its Aiwa
brand,
along with a new logo, and is expected to announce new products due out in the spring.
Sony
will also detail plans, such as its redefined focus and retail distribution strategy,
which will
distinguish Aiwa- and Sony-branded products.

Hewlett-Packard will demonstrate a new home networking device, called the Digital Media
Receiver, for distributing digital photos, music and other media through a wired or
wireless
home network.

HP announced Tuesday external and internal versions of its new 4x DVD+RW drives for PCs,
which it will be demonstrating this week at CES. The new higher-speed drives will cut the
time
it takes to record a full-length DVD+RW disc to 15 minutes, according to HP
representatives.

The $299 HP DVD 300i will be used inside PCs and began shipping to manufacturers this
week. Computers using the drive should become available in about two weeks. The $399 HP
DVD 300e will be connected externally to PCs via either a FireWire or USB 2.0 port and
will be
available starting Feb. 4.

Kim Burch, an HP product manager for DVD products, said that the improved speeds of the
drives are consistent with the company's efforts to simplify the use of DVD+RW drives. In
keeping with that strategy, the company is including with the drives ArcSoft's ShowBiz DVD

software, which combines video authoring and editing capabilities. In previous generations
of
drives, HP included two separate applications for authoring and editing videos.

Japanese video-game giant Nintendo will also have news, after titillating gamers for a
month
with the promise of a "megaton" announcement. Nintendo won't give any clues, but the most
informed forecasts have the company unveiling a new version of its Game Boy Advance
portable game player, equipped with a backlit screen to address one of the most frequent
complaints about the megaselling handheld game machine.

Publishing software giant Adobe Systems will show off Photoshop Album, a new consumer
offshoot of its market-leading image-editing program that focuses on organizing images
stored
on a PC.

Targus, which specializes in mobile computing gadgets, will show off the Defcon MDP Key
Card, an add-in security card for laptops and tablet PCs. The card includes motion
detectors
that sound an alarm and lock down the computer if an unauthorized person picks it up or
makes "unfriendly gestures."

Several companies will be focusing on juicing up devices you already have, with
Splashpower
and MobileWise showing recharging pads that can power up a cell phone, PDA and other
devices without wires and bulky power adapters. "If you're a person who carries multiple
mobile
devices and need to power them, this saves you a lot of weight and hassle," said
MobileWise
CEO Andy Goren. "All you need to do is drop the device on the pad...and it's smart enough
to
recognize the exact power needs of each device."

Satellite radio competitors Sirius and XM Satellite Radio will both be showing new car and

home receivers, and Sirius mysteriously promises a demonstration of how it will use its
network to distribute "other types of content."

Digital camera companies will have a host of new wares to show off, including a new
5-megapixel model from Konica that accepts both SecureDigital and Memory Stick media.
Panasonic will reveal new models in its Lumix digicam line, along with the first 1GB
SecureDigital memory cards.

News.com's David Becker, John Spooner and Michael Kanellos contributed to this report.

http://news.com.com/2100-1040-979344.html?tag=fd_lede2_hed

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