CES 2012 Archives - Serious Startups

Microsoft Kinect is coming to Windows AND laptops?

Microsoft Kinect is coming to Windows (AND??) laptops? During CES 2012 Microsoft announced that they would be releasing the Kinect for Windows PC’s. They released the SDK earlier this month you can download it here. Microsoft is following its old patterns of gouging consumers charging an additional $100 over the cost of the Xbox 360 Kinect. If you have yet to see or test the Kinect we have included a video below.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diy7rkWkDtU]

This in itself is exciting. I am hoping to have a review unit (two actually) coming to Nibletz for in-depth testing of the Kinect on the few PCs that we have at our disposal. TechCrunch and The Daily are reporting that a few other options may be on the horizon. The Daily was able to spend some time with a pair of prototype laptops with Kinect sensors built-in to the devices. While no photos were taken they did give a brief description of what they witnessed.

“The Daily had a chance to check out a pair of prototypes incorporating Kinect sensors over the last few days. The devices, which at first glance appear to be Asus netbooks running Windows 8, feature an array of small sensors stretching over the top of the screen where the webcam would normally be. At the bottom of the display is a set of what appear to be LEDs.” Matt Hickey, The Daily

They also identified a potential to give people with disabilities more accessibility options. This would be ideal in the kitchen while cooking, using it as a HTPC, and automotive applications. I have already started to plan the way that I will be using this as my Infotainment system in my next car. Microsoft will be showing off the preview for Windows 8 and they will most likely take that time to showcase all of the innovation coming out of Redmond.

Kinect for launches for Windows on February 1^st, 2012 in 12 countries (United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom), at a suggested retail price of US $249. Read more from Microsoft here

TheDaily via TechCrunch

CEA Opened Eureka Park In 2012

The Consumer Electronics Association, the producers of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), this year introduced a new area to CES. Over the years CEA has added several category specific areas to the ever-growing show floor. China, Korea and Japan all have their own areas in addition to the ability to spring for a full booth on the main show floor.

Eureka Park was housed in the Venetian hotel which was also home to the exhibits in the 70000 area and PMA which is the photography convention that merged with CES this year.

Putting Eureka park in the Venetian hotel as opposed to the convention center, allowed CEA to offer start-ups their own place to play and show off their wares, apps and ideas. It also allowed CEA to offer booth space at the largest trade show in the western hemisphere at a lower cost than the premium spaces at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

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Unboxing And Review Of The ClarityOne EB110 Earbuds From CES

While at CES, we were privileged to be invited to the ClarityOne press conference where we heard first hand of the clarity and the sounds of the audio of what they put into their speakers. Using what they’ve learned after 12 years of testing and tinkering they presented the EB110 Earbuds. At a price of $129.99 USD they are not the cheap headphones you pick up at Wal-Mart or Target, and you can tell. The minute you put these on and turn up the volume you can tell right away something is different. At a frequency range of 15Hz to 20kHz and a transducer at 7.5mm the sounds coming from these little earbuds are something that can’t be truly appropriated even with words. Currently

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Video Game Manufacturers Razer And Red 5 Take A Stand Against SOPA at CES

The interwebs are going wild about SOPA (Stop Online Privacy Act). We’ve all read the story by now about XDA and many other web companies like Reddit, who are going dark this week on January 18th to raise awareness about SOPA.

Well these guys at CES could not have said it any better. Although many in the video game industry are believed to be protected by SOPA because of online piracy, many companies actually agree that SOPA is too restrictive and that the government shouldn’t be able to exert as much control as they are proposing.

It’s true that millions of dollars are lost in online piracy but it’s very hard these days to associate actual numbers to the losses of the copyright holders and creators. On one hand copyright owners may be losing initial dollars from someone downloading an mp3 or a torrent of a movie, on the other hand it’s well-known that even pirated copies of music, videos, movies and software lead to building not just scale but popularity.

SOPA affects everyone who uses the internet. If SOPA is to pass than then websites could be shut down without warning if a site is believed to be violating copyrights. In addition SOPA could cause websites from being blocked from ad payment networks and payment facilitators like PayPal.

For more on SOPA read this wiki

CES 2012: Surf Easy Personal Internet Web Browser

At CES 2012 we met with the investors of a new start-up called Surf Easy. Surf Easy is a personal web browsing product.

The Surf Easy personal web browsing solution is actually Mozilla’s Firefox on a secure and encrypted USB flash drive. When you put the Surf Easy USB key into a Mac or PC it asks you for your password and then opens up your own personal, private and secure web browser. Unlike traditional web browsing, everything you browse while using Surf Easy is stored on the USB key.

The Surf Easy web browser keeps your cookies, passwords, and history safely on the key itself and send your information encrypted to their cloud based servers. This way whether you are using your own computer, a hotel computer or a friend’s computer your information stays with you.

Surf Easy also saves your bookmarks, and as much history as you would like so you can pick up where you left off. They were at CES 2012 in Eureka park with their private investors.

Surf Easy may miss the boat though, as the service costs $60. We’re not sure that the price makes it an attractive solution to something that can be easily replicated. We are also nervous about the fact that they wouldn’t allow us to self test.

CES 2012: Check Out Text Rings, This Is Interesting

Here at CES you’ll find things that are just, interesting. Text Rings is one of those. This North Carolina based start up was self funded however they now have some private investors.

Their product is part jewlery, part stylus and it’s called Text Rings. These small rings fit on the users thumbs and provide a capacitive touch stylus on the users thumb tips. The Text Rings allow you to text easier than using your actual finger tips, keeping your touch screen clean.

The founder insists that the text rings improve accuracy however Brent found that this just wasn’t the case. Brent who is a frequent texter, and uses his thumbs for texting, found that the text ring tips weren’t as accurate as he would have expected. In the video you will also notice that the text rings didn’t do much for the speed.

It is an innovative idea though, you don’t have to pull out stylus to use your touchscreen if it’s already on your thumb tips. Currently the text rings are available here in a set of two and in black. The shocker though is that they are $29.99. While we can see the use for the text rings we don’t think we would rush out to get them. Perhaps if the set of two was more in the price range of $10. After all you can get styli from the likes of Bracketron and Targus for under $15.00

CES 2012: Check Out WipNet Use Your Home’s Coax For Your Network

Wi-fi boosters that use your homes existing copper wire in your AC or electrical lines are nothing new. Motorola, D-Link, Linksys and just about every other company with a specialty in networking have introduced some kind of two box system that does just that. The folks at Wi3 Inc have designed something a little different that works a lot better.

The WiPNet system uses your homes existing coax cable lines to give you the option of a hardwired ethernet connection or a wi-fi connection at each box location.

The modular boxes connect to your homes coax via existing coax outlets. As you can see in the video there is an “on the wall” solution for the modular box as well as an above ground box for those that have coax cable that comes through the floor.

WiPNet uses a technology called “Mocha” that distributes the signal at its original speed throughout the coax lines.

You can find out more here

#CES2012 Intel, Ultrabooks, Isis, and Gemalto: is this the year of NFC?

Our good friend Sylvie Barak was quoted on the Gemalto blog

Intel demos NFC on an ultrabook: tap your credit card on your laptop touchpad to pay. #AWESOME #CES #eet_CES

Personally I don’t see making payments with a laptop being an option that many people would adopt. Bringing the ability for retailers, small businesses, or the average consumer to accept payments via built-in NFC hardware is an entirely different matter. We have already begun to witness the downfall of the traditional payment options and watched as first PayPal then Square knocked down the payment barriers.

With Google Wallet and Isis using NFC payments and PayPal by phone at Home Depot stores (without NFC) and NFC payments in Sweden it is clear we have almost arrived at a new paradigm in the ability to accept payments. When your smartphone can act as a terminal for both positive and negative cash flow, without any additional hardware, the benefits will market themselves.

Last year I heard over and over “2011 is the year of NFC (in the U.S.)” beginning at CES. I was not clear on why people were making that statement at the time. If I remember correctly, there were no high-profile devices announced in Las Vegas last year. The Nexus S had been announced in November the previous year, sure, but that was it. There was extremely limited NFC functionality for the end-user at the time.

CES 2012: Check Out Cubelets Robot Construction Kits For Kids By Modrobotics

The erector set has stepped into the next century with a new product by Mod Robotics called Cubelets. Cubelets are a modular building block robotic construction kit for kids. Mod Robotics is targeting kids aged 8 and up but at they explain to us in the interview younger kids have enjoyed cubelets as well.

All kids like to start with putting blocks together. One of the reason brick blocks like Lego’s or Megablocks are so popular is because kids like “clicking” them together. Cubelets allows you to “click” together blocks like children are used to, however the nearly 30 different blocks are divided into three important categories Sense Blocks, Action Blocks and Think Blocks.

Some blocks have motorized wheels, others can be controlled by light, motion and proximity, while other blocks block communication. Each block has a different function which allows the constructed robot to do different things.

As kids use the cubelets longer they realize what each block does and have come up with some wild stuff.

Check out the video for a brief description and to see Cubelets in action. This is actually one of the coolest things we saw at CES this year.

CES 2012: Meet CVision Technologies

CVISION Technologies has been a leader in document and workflow management since 2005. This year at the International Consumer Electronics Show CVISION’s Marketing Director, Chris Koulouris was talking about what CVISION does and their new mobile initiatives that are fueled by funding from the National Science Foundation.

CVISION has a technology solution for just about every type of paper document workflow that can be converted to digital. CVISION’s core technologies center around recognition, pdf management, and workflow management. Basically if there’s a paper document for something there can be a digital solution as well and CVISION is there to find it.

CVISION has now incorporated camera generated optical character recognition (OCR) so that CVISION customers can take a picture of a document and CVISION can convert it to a digital document in the proper size with the proper fonts, and integrity in place.

Koulouris said “We are very excited at the opportunity to attend the 2012 International CES and exhibit some of our newest products. Our mobile recognition technology can improve the functionality of smartphones and tablets, allowing users to receive instant, real-time information.”

Check out our quick interview with Koulouris at Eurka Park at CES