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Beyoncé, Batman, the 2010 Super Bowl and Vizio

January 28th, 2010, 8:16 am by

Beyonce starring in Vizio's 2010 Super Bowl commercialUpdate: New photo from Vizio on right…

Vizio’s latest super-celebrity endorser  Beyoncé Knowles-Carter will indeed star in the Irvine HDTV company’s Super Bowl 2010 commercial, the company said this morning.

The 60-second commercial was directed by  Wally Pfister, a 3-time Academy Award nominee for cinematography who worked on “The Dark Knight” and “Batman Begins.  It will air during the fourth quarter of the game. No sneak peeks were revealed.

This is the second year the Irvine company will advertise during the Super Bowl and with actress/singer Beyonce, it’s sure to be much more entertaining than last year’s basic spot. Last year, the company focused on value and giving away $1 million worth of HDTVs.

This year, who knows? When I visited the company’s suite at the Consumer Electronics Show, it showed off several new TV accessories like headphones, Internet radios, routers and universal remotes. One headphones line in particular was created by fashion designers. With a touch of color, these fashion-minded headphones look like a headband and come in textured finishes and hand-stitched leather.

Vizio adds ladies line of headband headphones.At the time, Vizio indicated hiring Beyoncé as its new face (see earlier story “Vizio hires Beyoncé as new spokesperson“) was part of its move into fashion. Guess we’ll see on February 7.

Vizio isn’t the only Orange County company advertising in this year’s game. Boost Mobile, also in Irvine, has gathered up members of 1985′s Chicago Bears who did the Super Bowl Shuffle. The recreation of the shuffle is sure to be oh so wrong, as part of its ongoing campaign against what wireless companies shouldn’t do (read earlier story, “Boost’s $2.5 million bet: Super Bowl ad to parody 1985’s ‘Shuffle’“).

Either way, both companies are spending big bucks for their spots. A research firm estimates that advertising in this year’s Super Bowl will cost  $2.5 million to $2.8 million for a 30-second spot since it is, after all, one of the most watched TV events each year. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • | 9 Comments »

Vizio goes beyond TV with 6 new gadgets

January 12th, 2010, 4:31 pm by

Vizio Universal RemoteVizio conquered the LCD HDTV market last year. Now it wants a piece of the TV accessory market.

While the Irvine TV company unveiled its first Blu-ray Disc player, sound bar and cables last year, this year’s show had many nice surprises as well. It not only showed its latest TVs, including a 3D model and a super skinny HDTV, but it offered up a bunch of interesting TV accessories. I’ve highlighted the following, with pictures of course:

Number 1 stock artUniversal remote control with built-in LCD – Two of them are coming but the more interesting one is the XRT100 touchscreen remote control has a 3.5-inch LCD display to control the home’s entertainment system. It will work with Vizio’s upcoming (and delayed) Internet TV, as well as older audio and video devices. Unlike the Samsung Wi-Fi remote with the built-in TV display, this one works over Bluetooth. Click photos to enlarge.

Vizio universal remote control with touchscreen Vizio universal remote control with touchscreen

Number 2 stock artHeadphones with built-in LCD — Why does one need an LCD screen on a set of headphones, I’m not quite sure. But it was cool to see. Vizio added a round LCD display to the outer part of each earpiece. Users will be able to see the album cover or personal images on the screens. These are future products with no price or availability date available. Watch the video I took inside Vizio’s dark CES suite: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Gadgets • iPods • Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 9 Comments »

Dolce & Gabbana phone from Sony

January 7th, 2010, 12:29 pm by

ShowSony Dolce & Gabbana mobile phoneSpotted at the Sony Electronics booth at the Consumer Electronics Show: The Jalou, a phone inspired by fashion house Dolce & Gabbana.

The small flip phone comes with a lot of fun extras, including a Dolce & Gabbana branded headset and satin case, plus it’s preloaded with D&G photos, videos, themes and wall paper. And see the gold around the phone? It’s real 24-caret gold. Click images to enlarge.

ShowSony Dolce & Gabbana mobile phone Sony Dolce & Gabbana mobile phone ShowSony Dolce & Gabbana mobile phone

Consumer Electronics Show 2010 with The GadgetressFor more CES 2010 coverage, visit the Gadgetress CES page at gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/ces2010.
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Posted in: Cell phones • Gadgets • • • • • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

A real bag for a wanna-be laptop (OK, a netbook)

March 2nd, 2009, 7:06 am by

Some thought netbooks were a passing fad even though pretty much every PC maker and its mother launched a netbook last year. I’ve been undecided myself for the past six months. These super-petite laptops weigh in under 3 pounds, cost less than $500 and have all the tools one really needs for everyday connected life. It made me wonder, why do I need my clunky, more powerful laptop?

Well, at least one local manufacturer is betting that netbooks will live longer  than most Internet fads. Mobile Edge, a laptop bag maker in Anaheim, gave me a sneak peek at its first line of netbook bags. Not netbook sleeves, mind you. Those aren’t quite as sturdy and are already available. 

Mobile Edge, one of the first bag companies to tap into the female market, felt that demand for netbooks justified a new line of smaller bags, called The Edge Ultraportables. The first three bags are pretty basic — that is, they’re all black — but they have their own sporty style, which makes me want to buy a netbook so I can get one of these bags.

“We received so much customer feedback regarding making a specific bag for Netbooks other than a sleeve. They wanted something not too big, yet large enough to carry their Netbook, external DVD drive, power cords and other accessories they want to take on the road with them,” said Matthew Olivolo, Mobile Edge’s director of public relations. ”We took that customer feedback and let our design team have some fun.”

Olivolo did admit to me that the launch is smaller than some of its other first-time product launches. So, maybe the company is hedging its bets.

Mobile Edge isn’t the only company with netbook bags. I saw some cool but flimsy ones from Urban Tool at the Consumer Electronics Show. And there are a handful of others from Solo, Sumdex and CaseLogic – but even these verge on being glorified sleeves. You really want to risk your $400 machine to a single layer of neoprene? Read the rest of this entry »

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Tech toys at CES just for (wee) girls

January 12th, 2009, 5:27 pm by

The show ended Sunday. Here is the rest of what I saw at CES… To see more, visit Gadgetress@CES 2009

Girly gadgets and other frou-frou tech toys may not be the best tech around, but they are still fun to spot at CES. Here’s my roundup of fun stuff I saw:

1. The Barbie nail painter: From Mattel, this is a little fingernail printer that prints custom images directly on a wee fingernail. It’s definitely a relative of the industrial fingernail printer I wrote about in 2004 (where are these things anyway?). This offers an assortment of Barbie-friendly images, plus you can upload your own.

And better yet, it’s expected to become an actual product that people can buy at the store.  No price was available nor a launch date. I’m guessing it will be out my the holidays. I need one for my, uh, 1-year-old daughter. (Click images for larger view)

    

2. The Hello Kitty netbook. These mini computers have become very trendy, although I suspect they are more popular in Europe and Asia than here in the U.S. And what’s a world without Hello Kitty? With an Intel chip, no less. Comes with cute red bag. This one is apparently from Sotec (here are more details in Japanese).

 

3. Invasion of the Palachans: A strange assortment of USB storage creatures from Toshiba. Available in Japan only. These creatures were “born off the pristine tropical paradise of the Palau Islands.”

4. Bone bags: What started out as a silicon-based dog bone USB drive has developed into an army of cute things from the Fruitshop International Corp., which has a local office in Rancho Cordova. The USB keys are still cute, but a new product is a line of cases for iPods. On the back of the silicon case is room for headphones and cables. 

More images (click for larger view):

    

For the list of Gadgetress reports from CES, visit the headline page at gadgetress.freedomblogging.co

Posted in: Gadgets • iPods • • • • • • • • • | Comments Off

Sleeker gadget, PC bags from Urban Tool

January 12th, 2009, 2:37 pm by

The show ended Sunday. Here is the rest of what I saw at CES… To see more, visit Gadgetress@CES 2009

O.C.’s own Targus and Mobile Edge helped popularize the stylish laptop bag for women with sturdy designs and lower prices. But I’m always on the prowl for something nicer, especially for my new smart phone (how does one tote these around if you don’t want to cram it in your pants or a purse?).

The line from Vienna, Austria-based Urban Tool made me take a second look. The bags are made from a stretchy, Lycra-like material so they are light and maintain a sleekness that canvas and leather just can’t duplicate. With all sorts of pockets and funky but useful shapes, a simple “holster” that wraps under an arm like a gun holster, will discreetly hold a phone, pen, money, keys and an MP3 player with a hole to string headphones through.  

New laptop “bags” include sizes perfect for petite netbooks. A 15-inch bag is in the works. Prices are $40 to more than $100.

Company founder Mag.art Sabrina Tanner, was on hand to show off the products and said that some are available at ThinkGeek.com, but I could also buy one at the show.  I didn’t have the cash on me but now I wish I had bought one, especially since ThinkGeek has a limited collection. The company is looking for U.S. companies to resell the products.

Hmm… I wonder if Urban Tool will make fanny packs cool again? Or wait — were they ever cool?

  

For the list of Gadgetress reports from CES, visit the headline page at gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/ces2009.

Posted in: Laptop bags • news • • • • • | Comments Off

Pictures of the Prada 2 phone

January 9th, 2009, 3:24 pm by

Designer phones are always fun even if they are impractical or expensive. The second version of the Prada phone, developed by LG Electronics, was on display at LG’s booth at the Consumer Electronics Show. According to the woman staffing the Prada exhibit, the phone will be available in Europe “soon.” There is no launch date for the sales in the U.S.

The first Prada phone made a big spash with gadget freaks mostly because it was a touchscreen phone that launched right before the first iPhone. It even got some good reviews. Back then, the unlocked Prada was $849.

A major difference between the first Prada phone and the second one is that the new one comes with a matching Bluetooth watch. The two devices are linked together not for chatting a la James Bond, but to quickly view instant messages, calendar items and contacts. Do fashionable people prefer to chat on a watch? Hmm… It also includes a 5-megapixel camera, 3G compatibility with video calling, Wi-Fi and a full HTML browser. 

More photos (click to view larger): 

  

 

Earlier reports from CES 2009:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • | Comments Off

Samsung slims down Blu-ray player

January 7th, 2009, 8:45 pm by

DVD players are no longer very big, but when it comes to high-definition Blu-ray players, there is room to shave. Samsung offered the best looking redesign. Its new BD-P4600 is 1.5 inches thick, which Samsung believes makes it the slimmest Blu-ray Drive player in the industry.

Bonus: Includes a Wi-Fi dongle that plugs into one of two USB ports. So, technically, it’s wireless. Also, this player plays CDs, upconverts regular DVDs and supports BD Live (to access more videos from the Internet). Being so skinny, Samsung offers a way to mount it on the wall for those folks who really want to keep things tidy.

I didn’t see it in person — only through slideshows during Samsung’s press conference. Release date and price were not available. Here are some better photos provided by Samsung:

More CES 2009 coverage: 

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

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