The following video gives potential buyers a closer look at the upcoming HP Slate and the thinking behind it. HP’s CTO, Phil McKinney, states that 2010 is providing the “perfect storm of innovation” for such a product to be introduced to market. In particular, McKinney is referring to the current costs associated with producing such a product as well as the availability of a touch-capable OS like Windows 7. However, while McKinney was explaining this in the video all I could think of was: Why not introduce this product with the same touch UI currently loaded on its HP TouchSmart PCs? In fact, HP, with their TouchSmart UI, could have released this product last year — if they were really on top of things — and blown everyone away. Personally, not having a custom tablet friendly UI is what I think is the problem with most of the Internet Tablets showcased recently at CES — including Android based ones and possibly even the upcoming Apple Tablet, which so far is sounding like it’s just going to be a larger version of the iPod/iPhone with scalable apps. As a side note… it seems like McKinney must have read this press release when he refers to the tablet size consumers are interested in (or not?). MORE »

I don’t know how analysts arrive at these numbers, but 3DTV was a big hit at CES 2010. So on top of HDTVs being network connected for streaming media locally from devices on your home network and the interent, consumers will soon have 3D options to look forward to — including dedicated 3D programming channels. Thankfully, most TV manufactures (Samsung, Toshiba, Panasonic, Sony, JVC) have picked one 3D technology to go with, RealD (of Avatar fame), to power their next-gen HDTVs. As DisplaySearch points out, we’ll soon see “a thriving accessory market [...] develop” around the technology once consumers are assured 3D glasses will be compatible with other brands. Gunner Optiks at CES 2010 already announced they’re developing a pair of RealD compatible eyeglasses that look much hipper — and with better optics — than the standard issue provided at the theater. Personally, like Tom’s Guide, I’m waiting for eyeglass-free 3D — but I fear that’s still a few years out until the technology is good enough. MORE »

What do you know? Multi-touch has been integrated into an HTPC remote for Windows Media Center. The attached video demo shows how Elan Microelectronics Corp.’s capacitive touchpad Smart Remote Control works in conjunction with Windows 7’s built-in touch features over RF. You’ll notice that it makes browsing photos and web pages on your TV a relatively enjoyable experience. Plus, it can operate in 6 modes: handwriting, mouse, remote control, joystick, presenter, keyboard. No word on pricing or availability, but they should definitely be rolling this gadget out ASAP (a quick search online reveals it’s been under development since early 2009). MORE »

Get ready folks. Starting this April Silicondust will be accepting applications to beta test their currently under development HDHomeRun CableCARD product. The new device (expected to retail for $249) will accept a multi-stream CableCARD and will offer dual HD capable tuners that can be accessed by multiple Windows 7 Media Center PCs over your LAN via Ethernet. Not to be greedy… but I’m thinking there’s going to be a lot potential customers who are going to be begging for a 4-tuner model down the line (if not out of the gate) — which by the way is the max number of tuners supported by (non-speciality) Windows 7 Media Center. One potential negative of this setup, however, is that PCs have to share available tuner streams. In other words with a dual tuner HDHomeRun, for example, if one PC is tuned into a program and recording another, the other PCs can’t watch or record anything as far as I’m aware. Attached below is a video recorded by Pete Brown talking with Silicondust’s Jason Ludka about the new product at CES. MORE »

Here’s an intriguing device that made its first appearance at CES. The $119.99 HSTi Wireless Media Stick is a USB dongle that you can attach to any media playback device that can read files from a USB drive (i.e. Blu-ray player, TV, stereo, game console, digital picture frame, etc.). Unlike a traditional thumbdrive with limited storage capacity, the HSTi Wireless Media Stick aggregates shared media files from network connected PCs and presents them to the device its mounted to as if the files were stored natively. Once a file is chosen for playback, the HSTi Wireless Media Stick then streams the file via 802.11n Wi-Fi from the respective computer. MORE »

If you’ve had your eye on the Chumby, but couldn’t get yourself to pull the trigger because of the form factor or its miniture size, have a look at Sony’s new dash Personal Internet Viewer available this April. For a $199 you’ll get a Wi-Fi enabled infotaiment device with a 7-inch (800×480) touchscreen, built-in speakers, microphone, headphone jack, USB port (for playing files from a thumbdrive), a physical snooze / volume buttons, and full support for Chumby’s widgets and services. What’s more, Sony’s engineers designed the dash to be able to function standing up or laying flat — when flat the screen rotates orientation and is displayed at an angle. Personally, I think it blows away the original Chumby, which by the way sells for the same price. Attached below is a quick demo from CES. MORE »

Now here’s a tempting piece of gear showcased at CES. Iomega this February will be launching a $99.99 NAS adapter, called the iConnect Wireless Data Station, that will take any USB hard drive or thumbdrive and make its contents available through your home network or remotely via 802.11n Wi-Fi or Ethernet. In addition, the iConnect features a built-in DLNA / UPnP media server (for streaming photos, videos, music to computers and digital media adapters), Apple Time Machine compatibility, torrent download manager, and printer server which can all be administered through the product’s web interface. Iomega is even throwing in some of its popular EMC software to help users backup computers and keep files synchronized. Not bad for less than a hundred bucks. MORE »

The once counted out VUDU offering is now showing the world and its critics that the streaming 1080p HD video (w/ Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound) and VUDU App service is here to stay and one to be contended with. VUDU today announced at CES that the company’s app catalog now consists of hundreds of internet powered apps/programming which will be available across current and upcoming network connected HDTVs and Blu-ray players from Mitsubishi, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba, and VIZIO. As such, VUDU is now the leading provider of internet apps through network connected HDTVs surpassing Yahoo! TV Widgets (at least as far as I can tell). The full list of available VUDU apps can be seen after the jump. You can also read VUDU’s blog post on the subject here. MORE »

Syabas, creator of the Popcorn Hour Network Media Tank, have today unveiled their latest offering called the Popbox. Expected to launch in March for $129, the new device features a completely new UI (created by Moxi Media Center designer, Dewey Reid), slim form factor enclosure sans HDD bay (includes 2 x USB, 1 SD card slot), and support for a bevy of media formats and popular internet services like Netflix, Clicker, IMDB, Twitter. From the company’s press release (attached below), Syabas hopes to entice more content producers and service providers to port their services via the system’s Popapps Portal, which can then be offered to users for free or for a fee. All in all, the Popbox is looking like a top notch HD media streamer. MORE »

The folks at Boxee are teasing fans with computer renderings of the remote they plan on shipping with the Boxee Box by D-Link. Being that the images posted are “first drawings [...] of Astro’s original idea,” it’s probably fair to say that the final remote will be slightly different — but we’re hoping not too much. Inspiration from the remote comes unabashedly from Apple’s 6-button remote, but with a QWERTY keyboard twist. UPDATE 1: Gizmodo has pics of the Boxee Box and Remote in the flesh direct from CES. UPDATE 2: Avner Ronen on the Boxee Blog says the QWERTY remote will be sold separately, but will also work with other devices (I’m guessing he means other computers) running Boxee.