If your life revolves around making video games, then you would be in San Francisco this week.  The annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco (http://www.gdconf.com/) is THE major event for the game development industry.  GDC is five days of educational sessions, specialized summits, networking events, and expo & career pavilions.

On the final day at GDC, the show continues with lots of activity in the Career Fair.  With the continuing bad economy and poor job outlook, there were many people visiting all the exhibiting companies with resumes and demo reels in hand.  While there were many companies looking for new talent, then number of openings appears to be small.

Many of the final lectures and sessions were very full as the conference attendees eagerly rush to take in a final chance to learn from the many experienced speakers before the close of the show.  As the show ended, hundreds gathered in the main lobby of the convention center reluctant to see this year’s GDC end.

Some things that caught our attention on Friday were:

If your life revolves around making video games, then you would be in San Francisco this week.  The annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco (http://www.gdconf.com/) is THE major event for the game development industry.  GDC is five days of educational sessions, specialized summits, networking events, and expo & career pavilions.

The second day for the main part of the show opened today with the Career Fair and Expo Hall as well as more session for Art, Programming, Design, Production, etc.

Some things that caught our attention on Thursday were:

If your life revolves around making video games, then you would be in San Francisco this week.  The annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco (http://www.gdconf.com/) is THE major event for the game development industry.  GDC is five days of educational sessions, specialized summits, networking events, and expo & career pavilions.

The main part of the show opened today with the Career Fair and Expo Hall as well as more session for Art, Programming, Design, Production, etc.
Also featured today was a Keynote Address from Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, who spoke about how Nintendo & Independent Developers can both be successful in the same market and how Nintendo’s Star Designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, approaches design and development.

Some things that caught our attention on Wednesday were:

If your life revolves around making video games, then you would be in San Francisco this week.  The annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco (http://www.gdconf.com/) is THE major event for the game development industry.  GDC is five days of educational sessions, specialized summits, networking events, and expo & career pavilions.

We will be roaming the show to bring you tidbits of news that will affect the technology and games you will be playing soon.  Many of the news stories we will bring you will become product reviews in the futures as new products announced at GDC reach your local retail store.

The first two days of GDC are specialized summits including Outsourcing and Mobile.  These summits allow the attendees to get focused instruction on specific areas of the game industry.

Some things that caught our attention today were:

Congratulations to our 44th President of the United States of America; Barack H. Obama!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

We missed this during CES, a pitfall of a small staff. However Engadget caught wind of it. The design is interesting and is squarely aimed at the enterpriser market or uber phone geek. The device is not exclusive to WinMo as it is built around an open platform with an open source u-boot bootloader and the usual toolset to bake your own ROM’s for WinMo, android, and Angstrom Linux.

The Exeda has a 3.5” VGA touch screen, a five row full QWERTY keypad with backlight and a capacitive touchpad acting as a mouse.

More Specs:

- Marvell PXA270 520MB CPU
- 128MB RAM
- 2 banks of internal FLASH, 512MB each
- 2MP camera with flash
- GPS with built-in and external antennas
- MicroSD socket with SDHC support
- Built-in microphone and speaker + 3.5mm stereo jack
- High capacity 3000mAh battery

The Exeda will be available for purchase in March ‘09 pricing to be released at that time.

http://www.exedamobile.com/web/?gclid=CMrT-cH4i5gCFQFqxwod2HPLkQ

More pics after the break…

Here is a brief round-up of the vendors we saw at this year’s Lunch@Piero’s event during CES 2009.

VIA Technologies showcased their latest in ultra mobile and small form factor computing featuring the VIA Nano processor and the VIA C7-M ultra mobile processor. More info at http://www.via.com.tw

VIA Embedded showcased their new ARTiGO A2000 barebone storage system and innovative home server set-up using the touch-screen VIPRO. http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/embedded/

Graphics will demonstrated the latest HD video and image applications using the all-new Chrome 500 series graphics cards running on a VIA Nano processor-based board. http://www.s3graphics.com
Blendtec, famous for their “Will it Blend” videos in which they blended an iPhone in their kitchen blender, was on hand to talk about their highly successful viral youtube campaigns. Blendtec CEO Tom Dickson and VP George Wright was on hand throughout Lunch@Piero’s to blend a phone, a garden rake.  http://www.blendtec.com

Developing and organizing your thoughts isn’t always a straightforward linear process, especially in groups. Comappings “mind-mapping” tool helps you make sense of even the most complex topics and projects with its innovative approach to formulating, developing, and organizing ideas. http://www.comapping.com

Continue reading: Round-up of the vendors we saw at this years Lunch@Piero’s event during CES 2009.

While at ShowStoppers during CES 2009 I was able to spend some time with a Plastic Logic e-reader prototype. What an amazing product for an early prototype, it felt and operated like a product ready to ship and use. I was told early samples will trickle out in mid to late 2009 with shipping units in early 2010.

The screen contrast seemed to be on par with my Sony 505, however I did not have it on hand to compare side by side. The page response was quick as you can tell from the video I took.  The device looks like it will support many if not most formats including DRM material when it ships. I did not discover what DRM formats are planned.

Their e-reader interface runs on top of a version of Microsoft WinCE, measures a thin 7mm weighing in at less than 16 oz, with a form factor of 8.5” x 11”. Basically it is the size of a typical magazine.  The touch screen was also quick and responsive and featured a soft keyboard.

I am enthusiastically waiting to make one of these units my new daily e-reader.

http://www.plasticlogic.com/

More pics and videos after the break!

I took the new HP Mini 2140 for a spin today and liked what I saw. The feel was nice and the keyboard felt similar to the Mini 1000. Since this unit comes with Vista i decided to run the Windows Experience tool. The processor pulled a 2.9, memory came in with 4.4, graphics got a 4.2, gaming graphics saw a 2.8, and hard disk pulled a 5.7.

The basic specs:

- 10.1-inch LED display with 16:9 aspect ratio available in either standard-definition (1,024 x 576) or high-definition (1,366 x 768) resolutions.
- 92 percent of full-size QWERTY keyboard and a touchpad.
- Scratch-resistant acrylic LCD cover and magnesium hinge bracket.
- The integrated VGA webcam enables video
- Two battery solutions - 3 cell or 6 cell lithium-ion battery.
- 2.6 pounds with 3 cell battery
- Atom 1.6Ghz Proc
- Wifi, bluetooth, etc
- Express Card Slot
- 2 Gigs of RAM

http://h71016.www7.hp.com/html/interactive/mini2140/model.html

Yesterday, Pharos unveiled the Traveler 137 smartphone, winner of the 2009 CES Innovations award.  The Traveler 137 is an unlocked Windows Mobile phone that is distinguished by its slender profile, cool applications, and bright, 3.5 inch touch screen.  True to Pharos’ roots in the navigation space, the Traveler 137 provides full-featured navigation with voice prompts on a pay-as-you-go basis that spares users an ongoing monthly fee.  In an industry brimming with mobile devices, the Traveler 137 stands apart by offering users great navigation on a powerful, sleek smartphone that runs on the GSM network of their choice. The Traveler 137 will be available late in the first quarter of 2009 from major retailers for a suggested price of $599.95. 

Traveler 137 Specifications

- Operating System: Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
- Hardware partner: Pharos works closely with Inventec
- Processor: Qualcomm MSM 7201A 528MHz
- Memory: 256MB DDR SDRAM, 512MB Flash ROM
- Phone: unlocked GSM quad band 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, EDGE / GPRS, Tri-band 3G, 1700/1900/2100 MHz, UMTS 384Kb/s, HSDPA 7.2Mb/s, HSUPA 2Mb/s
- Talk time: up to 4 hours talk time and 200 hours standby time
- Display: 3.5” TFT LCD with touch panel, 480 x 800 Wide-VGA with 65,000 colors
- Wireless: GPS aGPS compatible, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth™ v2.1 + EDR , FM tuner
- Camera: 3 megapixel for picture or video, .3 megapixel on the front for video conference
- Expansion: USB 2.0, micro SD slot support SDHC, stereo audio jack
- Battery: 1380 mAh Li-Ion, rechargeable/replaceable
- Size: 4.60in (L) x 2.40in (W) x 0.51in (H)
- Weight: 4.9 ounces

http://www.pharosgps.com/default.asp

Compact and lightweight, the portable MBP200 can connect to mobile phones and laptops and by utilizing the DLP pico chip from Texas Instruments it allows users to transform their traditional two inch screen to a HVGA (480*320) 50-inch viewing screen allowing others to share in the video experience. In addition, users can easily transfer files and project content independent of an attached source via the microSD card slot. The MBP200 has a simple shape and design with touchpad controls on the right side of the device for easy navigation and a 2.2-inch QVGA LCD screen which allow users to view content privately.

The unit can accommodate a range of projected image sizes - from an 8 1/2 x 11 standard sheet of paper to a large 50-inch screen. For added convenience, the MBP200 comes with a small screen holder with a telescoping pole hidden inside, which can instantly turn a standard sheet of paper into a screen to view movies, document files or pictures. The 3.5mm standard jack allows users to enjoy their own headphones or speakers, or the built-in external speaker allows the MBP200 to play audio directly from the device.

The P3 8GB Widescreen Portable Multimedia Player has a 3-inch WQVGA TFT-LCD touch screen, the P3 allows for widescreen enjoyment of video and photos at a 16:9 aspect ratio without the need for letterboxing. Adding a new level of connectivity between the player and its user, the P3 includes Samsung’s upgraded EmoTure touch interface with true haptic feedback. With every command gesture, from swiping a finger across the screen, to switching audio tracks, to holding down a digital button for fast-forwarding video, the P3 reacts with a variety of physical sensations for a more intimate user experience versus other media players. Mmmmm, stimulus.

At just 0.39 inches thin, the P3 squeezes a 16:9 widescreen video player, studio-quality audio player, ultra-portable photo album, personal voice recorder, FM radio, and even a portable storage drive into one compact device. The P3 can also be paired with a Bluetooth TM enabled phone, allowing owners to use the built-in microphone to answer calls directly through the player.

The P3 will be available in the first half of 2009 in 4GB, 8GB, 16GB and 32 GB storage capacities.

Haptastic!

The Samsung HT-BD8200 is the first home theater sound bar equipped with a Blu-ray player and wireless subwoofer, which delivers a streamlined, HD surround sound solution built to expand the prowess of any home theater. It features a fully integrated Blu-ray player with Full HD 1080p playback and virtual 5.1-channel surround sound for a lifelike audio presence.

It is only 2.6 inches deep and accented with Samsung’s Touch of Color (ToC) design. The included wireless subwoofer provides a superior blend of effective audio performance and interior design flexibility just about anywhere in the home.

The HT-BD8200 is also equipped with Samsung’s “Smart Volume” technology for volume level adjustments on-the-fly for superb listening levels without the need to continually pick up the remote. It also offers seamless playback of video, photos, or music from digital devices such as media players, mobile phones, and digital cameras, using either the built-in USB port or Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Multimedia disc playback and an included iPod dock add even more versatility to the system’s cachet. <- Their word not ours.

Equipped with wireless networking via an 802.11 b/g/n and optional USB dongle, the HT-BD8200 is compatible with BD-Live (Profile 2.0) interactive features and can access Netflix for instant streaming video or Pandora music.

The Nextar Z10 LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) will display images with a resolution up to 640x480. The unit has a brightness level of between 7 and 12 lumens, a 360-degree lens shift capability with manual adjust, and displays images in 4:3 aspect ratio format.

This fit-in-the-hand projector uses an LED light source with a life expectancy of 30,000 hours. It accepts Micro SD cards and comes equipped with a built-in speaker. Projected image size is up to 20”.

I/O connectors include Micro SD, TF card, L/R audio, USB, and ear jack. Video compatibility is provided for AVI, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, RM/RMVB, ASF, FLV, and WMV9/VC1. Audio compatibility includes MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, APE, ALAC, and MPEG1/2/2.5. Picture compatibility is for images in BMP, JPEG, or GIF formats.

The palm-size Nextar Z10 projector measures 4.13” x 2.32” x 1.0” and weighs approximately one pound. The PS-001 screen measures 18.89” x 1.57” x 15.7” opened and 18.9” x 1.57” x 1.2” folded. It weighs approximately 1.3 pounds.

The two new Nextar presentation units will be available in Spring 2009 at leading retailers across the country. The Z10 micro projector has an SRP of $299.99, The PS-001 portable screen has an SRP of $39.99.

The next-generation SDXC (eXtended Capacity) memory card specification, announced at the 2009 International CES, dramatically improves consumers’ digital lifestyles by providingup to 2 terabytes storage capacity and accelerates SD interface read/write speeds to 104 megabytes per second this year, with a road map to 300 megabytes per second.

The SDXC specification, developed by the SD Association, leapfrogs memory card interface speeds while retaining the world-leading SD interface. Specifications for the open standard will be released in the first quarter of 2009. SDHC, Embedded SD and SDIO specifications will also benefit from the new SD interface speeds.

SDXC allows users to enjoy more from their mobile phones. Larger capacity and faster transfer speeds allow for expanded entertainment and data storage. A 2TB SDXC memory card can store 100 HD movies, 60 hours of HD recording or 17,000 fine-grade photos.

The SDXC specification uses Microsoft’s exFAT file system to support its large capacity and interoperability in a broad range of PCs, consumer electronics and mobile phones. The exFAT system was designed for increased compatibility with flash media, from portability of data to interoperability with multiple platforms and devices on removable media.