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Archive for the 'IOGEAR' Tag

Will this gadget change the way you watch TV or use your PC?

August 7th, 2009, 4:45 pm by

Who here wants to watch Hulu.com’s free movies and TV shows on their big-screen HDTV? 

IOGear's HDMI Control Center controls multiple HD video sources with one keyboard.

IOGear HDMI Control Center

Irvine’s IOGear may have something of interest. Its upcoming HDMI Control Center, part of the company’s new audio-video AVOIR product line, simplifies the union between PC and TV and other high-definition video sources by relying on what IOGear knows best: a KVM switch.

I know I may have lost half of you with that abbreviation. But bear with me. KVM is short for Keyboard Video and Mouse and, in the past decade, the technology was popular with people who worked on multiple computers but only wanted to use one keyboard, one monitor and one mouse. A KVM switch lets someone switch back and fourth between two or more computers. 

Now turn that monitor into an HDTV and add in a few high-definition video players, like a game console and Blu-ray disc player. This is what IOGear’s new HDMI Control Center does. It offers a way for consumers to easily switch between a computer, PlayStation 3 and other video device, but use the same keyboard and mouse. That’s right — pull up Hulu on your laptop and you’ve got big-screen happiness. There’s also a USB port on the front (and two more in the back) for that occasional slide show of digital photos.

Ruben Lugo, IOGear’s product marketing manager for the HDMI controller, demonstrated the technology for me on a recent afternoon and I wanted to share my first look at the HDMI Control Center. I took my point-and-shoot camera and shot some video. Far from professional, but hopefully you get the idea:

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Brightcove video.

More thoughts and lots of photos after the jump…

 

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • | 4 Comments »

IOGEAR’s wireless HD video gadget wins CES award

January 12th, 2009, 10:14 am by

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

Thanks to a technology called Ultra-Wideband or certified Wireless USB, consumers are now able to stream music and video wirelessly from their laptop to a nearby monitor. While the first products have been around for nearly two years, it looks like they are about to hit mainstream.

And IOGEAR, an Irvine gadget company, is out with the “first to market” wireless high-definition video adapter. Being shown at CES, the IOGEAR Video kit was streaming high-definition video on a nearby monitor. The monitor can be up to 30 feet away. This can handle 720p high-definition video. The product won a CES Innovations award (see image on right).

But it wasn’t as neat and clean as one would expect wireless technology to be. IOGEAR’s kit includes three pieces — one adapter for the laptop, one audio adapter and one video adapter for the monitor. To attach to the monitor, messy cables are necessary. 

IOGEAR’s kit also doesn’t include audio built into the adapter. Video and audio are separate. However, said Miranda Su, IOGEAR’s executive vice president, combining the two is definitely on the company’s to-do list. Click images below for a larger view.

  

The products will start shipping in two to three months (by March 2009), Su said. The three-piece kit is $349 and also be sold separately.

For more Gadgetress reports from CES 2009, visit gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/ces2009.

Posted in: Wi-Fi & networking • • • • • • • • • | Comments Off

A smaller, cheaper CES: Will it be better?

January 6th, 2009, 3:27 am by

If you’ve attended the Consumer Electronics Shows in years past, you know the drill. Book a hotel, try not to flinch at the $400-and-up nightly rate, arrive at McCarran International Airport and wait two hours for a taxi to your hotel. And when you’re finally in Las Vegas? You’re joined by thousands of attendees wasting too much time in lines — for a cab, coffee, dinner, the CES shuttle bus, the bathroom.

But, possibly, maybe, I sure hope … not this year. The first sign of a smaller, quieter and cheaper CES, which opens Wednesday night, was lower hotel rates. The official CES hotels starting reducing prices months ago. Places like Bally’s, which in 2006 (the last year I attended) charged $400/night, were still offering $139/night specials before Christmas.

Then I noticed that some Orange County tech companies that for years showed up in big, splashy booths were missing from the show floor.

A third sign? Bill Gates isn’t the opening keynote, as he has been for the last 12 years. What is this? Macworld? (Oh yeah, Gates retired in June.)

After a rough year for the consumer electronics industry –- one where Circuit City filed bankruptcy, Best Buy began layoffs and others went kaput –- CES is expected to be smaller and cheaper. Still, the Consumer Electronics Association, which organizes the annual event, is optimistic about the show and is pushing quality over quantity.

“We’re seeing pre-registration for the show that is stronger than in 2008,” said Jason Oxman, CEA’s vice president of communication. “Will we break a record this year? Probably not. But at the same time, trade shows take renewed interest in a down economy because business gets done.”

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CES expects at least 130,000 attendees this year, down 14 percent from the 2006 high of 152,000. While this year’s lag could be blamed on the depressed economy, CES organizers began taking steps two years ago to eliminate consumers trying to sneak in at the industry-only event. It closely scrutinized attendees living within driving distance to Las Vegas.

“That reduced attendance by 8,000,” Oxman said. “The message we’re trying to send is not to have the maximum number of people, but the best quality of people.” Read the rest of this entry »

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

IOGear will plant up to 1 million trees

April 22nd, 2008, 1:23 pm by

IOGEAR’s tree campaignOne of the most aggressive tree-planting campaigns I’ve seen from a tech company so far has to be IOGEAR’s new green initiative. For every product purchased on its Web site, IOGEAR will plant a tree — up to 1 million trees.

Through its partnership with Trees for the Future, IOGEAR will plant trees in areas that have been damaged by deforestation and unsustainable agricultural practices. Trees for the Future has already planted 50 million trees in 12,000 villages in 58 countries.

For those curious about how green IOGEAR is, the Irvine company says that it also has actively reduced the use of hazardous materials: lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ethers). It’s goal is to be 100 percent PVC- and BFR-free by next year.

To see more green policies of technology companies, visit my Green Tech Co. page or the Gadgetress Guide to earth-friendly technology.

Posted in: Uncategorized • • • | Comments Off

Review: IOGear biometric mouse, part 2

September 18th, 2007, 1:16 pm by

Anything that takes multiple attempts to work is not going to get my blessing. Hence, the 1-out-of-5 rating, my lowest, is what IOGear’s personal security mouse received during a recent Gadgetress review.

That same day, IOGear released a software update.

Since I gave the Irvine company such a low rating, I decided to give it a second chance. I had no problem with the hardware but the security software was so frustrating, I couldn’t believe IOGear would let something like this out.

My second attempt didn’t go much better.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Gadgetress reviews • Security • • • • • • • • | Comments Off

Review: IOGEAR’s external video card

July 10th, 2007, 8:01 am by

UPDATE, 7/13: OOPS. One correction on the external card is that it does support resolutions up to 1280×1024, which technically is high-definition video. Thanks to reader Jeff, an HD nut, who pointed this out. D’oh!

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IOGear in Irvine is best known for its KVM switches, or gadgets that let two computers share one keyboard (the “K”), one monitor (the “V” as in video) and one mouse (the “M”).

iogearvideocardweb.jpg

Now, it’s offering a video card — the USB 2.0 External VGA Video Card (GUC2015V) – for one computer to share two monitors. The cool thing about this gadget is that it’s an external card, so no need to pry open your PC and figure out where to insert it. Install the PC-only software and then just plug one side in to a monitor (using a video cable, which you’ll have to buy) and the other side to a computer (using the provided USB 2.0 cable).

Configure Windows display settings to utilize two monitors and you’ll get your computer’s image on two screens! Bad news: This is for Windows users only. A Mac edition isn’t in the works yet, says the company. For the nuts and bolts review, read the review HERE.

I should mention that IOGear isn’t the only one out there — it’s just one that I recently got my hands on, tried it and tested it to work. Some others:

* XG Station from ASUS has a 3G graphics card, USB 2.0 ports and Dolby headphone jack.

* The not-very-cheap SideCar from Digital Tigers. You can add up to 4 more monitors with the $1,909 SideCar Quad MMS.

* The Tritton See2, which seems on par with the IOGear card in EverythingUSB’s review.

* ArsTechnica story on new PCI Express technology and ability to handle higher-powered graphic chips.

**This just in*** EverythingUSB‘s managing editor Ian Chiu just told me his group of reviewers have also tackled the Samsung 940UX, the first USB monitor, which is basically powered by Displaylink – the same core as the IOGear. Read its review HERE.

Posted in: Computers • Gadgetress reviews • Video & TV • • • • • • | Comments Off

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