It's CES time (yearly consumer electronics show in Las Vegas,) which accounts for all the geek gadget news.

Anyway, Kodak introduced something very cool (can you believe?) The Easy Share One is a 4 megapixel, 3x optical zoom digital camera with the option to add a WiFi card to upload photos directly to the web.

Nikon did this on a high end camera back in 2003, but the Kodak is (almost) reasonably priced at $599 (WiFi will be another $100 or so.)

I've been keyed in so much on phones getting better cameras that I forgot about the opposite trend: cameras getting wireless connectivity. I don't really want to talk on my cell phone anyway, I just want mobile internet access. And if my camera can give it to me then maybe that's okay.

Still, if it's WiFi and not cellular it means it's not going to work in too many places. I'd love to think we (the people) are going to blanket the world with grassroots free open WiFi networks, but I'm coming around to Russell Beattie's position. If I can get 200 Kb/s of nationwide cellular data coverage for some reasonable price ($50 a month for Verizon EV-DO service on 3G phones,) why would I mess with WiFi?

But in any case, this Kodak camera is cool, and I hope more manufacturers follow suit.
- jim 1-06-2005 7:21 pm

A couple of items from CES ...

Some sort of video thing.

Bill's Follies.

- mark 1-07-2005 6:48 am


Ha! Bill's follies indeed:

While demonstrating what he called the "digital lifestyle" at the Hilton hotel, Gates inadvertently showed how vulnerable all computer users can be these days.

During a digital photography demonstration, a Windows Media Center computer refused to respond to Gates' remote control.

Later, during the demonstration of a soon-to-be-released computer game by a Microsoft Xbox program manager, the computer didn't work and displayed the blue screen saying "out of system memory."

The glitches prompted celebrity host Conan O'Brien to quip, "Who's in charge of Microsoft, anyway?"


I can't get the video story to load. Even from Google's cache. But I'm sure it's impressive! :-)

Are you in Vegas for this Mark?
- jim 1-07-2005 6:29 pm


No. I've never been to CES. One of these years I'll have to go.

That "video" link I've found is a couple of months old, but there was a new press release about the same sort of demo. Broadcast-grade IPTV to the home is heating up. The phone companies need to cut off the cable guys, or the combination of digital TV, high speed data and VOIP from cable companies will shut them out.
- mark 1-08-2005 6:11 am


I agree. This race is really interesting to watch. I think Om Malik is the blogger most on this one. Here's a short little piece of his in Business 2.0 which takes your triple play scenario (cable co's bundling of TV, data, and voice in one package,) and adding wireless for a four play. Looks like Time Warner might get there first in the U.S..

I don't know what was wrong before when I couldn't load the dtvprofessional article. Works fine now. Nice write up. I want to know more. H.264 seems like it is really ready to roll. Looks like the smart wagon to be hitched to! Looking forward to Quicktime 7 when I can start playing with it.
- jim 1-08-2005 5:25 pm


DVB-H incorporates H.264, and addresses mobile video. Be nice to see another DVB standard catch on.
- mark 1-09-2005 12:28 am


The 4.5 million iPods in 3 months is fucking amazing. I think at this point, Apple can afford to bet on volume. And must. The question is how much elasticity does the market have? In the portable player market, I don't think Apple has the opportunity to decide. They must react the fact that the CE suppliers are jumping all over this.

The opportunity to play the volume game and the margin game at the same time will come if Apple learns how to bifurcate the market. Can they sell a low cost single function unit into the volume market, and continue to lead the high margin market with a powerful unit that becomes a platform for integration? And integration of what? Integration of entertainment services? A portable, multi-wireless, audio/video TiVo for mobile consumers? A pocket microMac? What does the $500 iPod morph into over the next 5 years?
- mark 1-12-2005 9:40 am


1920 x 1080 is the holy grail of resolution. Many devices are stuck at in the 1280 x 720 ish range. Even some rather large, bright and expensive displays don't reach the highest resolution. I think the plasma guys have given up. DLPs and LCOS projectors are stuggling to reach that range. If there is a projector that can do that, I haven't seen it, and would expect it to be well into the 5 digit price range. I was told that triple LCOS full 1920 x 1080 @60p rear projection units would be sub $1k by now. I was misinformed.

Samsung and Sharp both announced 46" LCD TVs with full 1920 x 1080 resolution for $8k. But both Sony and Apple have had 23" 1920 x 1080 monitors for computers for some time. They're in the $1600 to $1800 price range, but without YPbPr inputs. The Samsung TV of similar size (which does have YPbPr) has been stalled at the $3k-ish price range for a year. I'm not sure why Apple or Sony don't step into this void for 1920 at sub $2k. I suppose HD is about big TV, and a 23" monitor isn't the thing to impress the neighbors.
- mark 1-12-2005 11:25 am


More on displays, from somone who, like, actually went to the show. Rumors are that bigger DLPs are coming, but I'm assuming they'll still have the color wheel (which causes very annoying rainbow artifacts that a few people, and moi, can see).

I need to finally replace the HD set I sold to work, and get something for home. As much as I want to move away from tube technology, another CRT may be the most bang for the buck.

The same site has a four part article on HD display technology.
- mark 1-12-2005 11:54 am


Somehow I missed this Philips unit that fills the sub-2k price nitch for a flat panel TV with full 1920 x 1080 resolution. A similar size CRT HDTV (but which probably has lower horizontal resolution) can be had for closer to $500.
- mark 1-12-2005 12:26 pm


Thanks for all the info Mark. I am really interested in the HD display market. I'll read those extreme tech articles you linked.

So 1920 x 1080 is what we want, but will this come in both progressive (p) and interlaced (i) flavors? I know what these mean, but I can't figure out which is "better". Or are they just "different"? Is there one you should want more than the other?

I'd be interested to hear what you end up buying.
- jim 1-14-2005 8:59 pm


I'm leaning towards one of the Toshiba CRTs. I think the model number is 34HF84. It's about $1200.

The ideal display device is 60p, so that it can handle 1280 x 720 @60p natively, or close to natively, and so that it can stabilize the interfield twitter of 60i material (such as plain old TV, and 1920 x 1080i). Also, it should have full 1920 x 1080 resolution, so that it can display 1080i without having to sacrifice resoltion.

Some of the DLP and LCoS (which is falling out of favor) use a color wheel to display the three different primaries (R,G and B) with a single device. This leads to a "rainbow" effect, which I find annoying.

So for me, the optimal display would be front projection (big with wide viewing angle), 1920 x 1080p, with triple element DLP.

But for now, a little CRT will have to do. The Toshiba has an interesting feature that will allow me to experience a bit of progressive. They can take the 480p output of a DVD player, and upscale it to 540p. It will be interesting to see what difference that makes.
- mark 1-17-2005 11:52 am





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