CES 2009: Palm's new Web OS in detail

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Previously known as “Nova”, Palm has just rechristened and launched its new OS “Web OS”. It’s an amazingly dreary name for a concept that could reshape how we use our mobile mobiles. The bottom line is that Palm is bending head-over-heels to make their platform easy for developers – so easy that they reckon anyone who knows HTML, CSS and XML will be able to write an app.

The UI is very iPhone-like. You flick the display to scroll around, and there’s various gestures that you can use, too. Everything’s managed with a ‘cards’ metaphor, where you see a deck that can be rotated with a finger and shuffled. The biggest feature, though, is something called “Synergy”.

CES 2009: Sony shows off three more Cyber-shot compact digital cameras

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Sony may have revealed its Cybershot G3 Wi-Fi enabled camera which we (apparently) are not going to get a sniff off in the UK, but we’ve got three Cyber-shot cameras of our own to keep us busy.

I’m not sure if these have been shown at CES or not, but everything else seems to have been, so this is where I’ll pretend we’ve seen them first.

The W210, W220 and S950 are compact digital cameras with a fairly standard set of features. Is it worth getting excited about them? Read on and find out.

The Cyber-shot W210 and W220 models both offer 12.1 megapixels, Carl Zeiss lens, 4x optical zoom, smile shutter and face detection (so hopefully you’ll catch shiny happy people in your photos), intelligent scene recognition, 30mm wide angle lens, and a range of body colours – silver, black, blue, pink and green, depending on the model…

CES 2009: Palm shows off rumoured touchscreen device – the Palm Pre

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The rumours were true. Palm’s got a brand new device to go with its spangly new Nova operating system. All we knew previously was that it had a portrait touchscreen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but now there’s a bit more info to go with it.

That touchscreen measures 3.1″ diagonally, at 480×320 resolution. The slide-out keyboard doesn’t come straight out – it sorta curves. There’s oodles of connectivity – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and EVDO. There’s a removable battery, microUSB connector, support for USB mass storage and – YAY! – a 3.5mm headphone jack.

It’s running the new Nova OS, but more about that in another post. It’ll be available in the “first half” of 2009. In the meantime, for more CES coverage, click here.

(via Gizmodo’s liveblog)

CES 2009: Sony keynote

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Below, you’ll find the Sony keynote liveblog, but I feel I should warn you, it went on for two hours. I’d recommend reading this if you’re completely up to date on every other CES related piece of news. There are, however, a few ‘sleb spots for you to enjoy.

CES 2009: Sony Cybershot G3 – Wi-Fi camera with built-in browser

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Gosh, this is rather nifty. Sony’s new Cybershot G3 camera has an inbuilt web browser! Eat that, Eye-Fi. You can log on to a wireless hotspot, and surf the web to your heart’s content. Disclaimer – depending on the sites your heart wants to render, it may not end up 100% content.

Sony provides a “Easy Upload” homepage, with quick links to Shutterfly, Picasa, Dailymotion, Photobucket and YouTube (no Flickr?). It’ll store your login information, too, so you don’t have to type it in on the 3.5″ touchscreen every time. But what about the camera itself? It’s got a 10 megapixel sensor, 4x optical zoom and Face Detection, along with 4GB of internal storage. Available right now, for $500 (£330).

(via Gizmodo)

For more CES stories, click here.

CES 2009: LG unveils huge range of plasma and LCD HDTVs

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LG has decided that it hasn’t released nearly enough high definition TVs already, and so is spending this year’s CES showing off a jaw-dropping eleven new series (yes series, not just models) of plasma and LCD TVs.

So that you aren’t bored witless with every detailed specification, here’s an overview of what’s on offer.

Let’s take a look at the LCD TVs first…

CES 2009: Sony reveals latest HD/SD Handycams with ridiculous optical zooms

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I’m sure there’s a competition among camcorder manufacturers this year to see what the biggest optical zoom they can put on their latest models is. Sony’s latest standard definition camcorders boast a 60x optical zoom.

Sony’s has launched nine new models in its SX range, with features including a choice of recording formats (DVD, hard disc or Memory Stick) depending on model, one second quick start-up, SteadyShot image stabilisation and Carl Zeiss lens…

CES 2009: Samsung intros new YouTube-friendly camcorder, plus an ergonomic high def one

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Samsung is just one of several companies showing off its latest range of camcorders, with a model to suit most consumer needs, from YouTube enthusiasts to budding high definition filmmaker. We’ve already seen the H Series of HD handhelds, but Samsung is also catering for those who haven’t jumped on to the high definition bandwagon yet, but are most definitely riding along on the YouTube train.

The SMX-F34 camcorder can’t boast the same filming resolution as the H Series – we’re talking strictly standard definition (up to 720 x 480) here — but it does have a ridiculously large 34x optical zoom range that can be boosted to 42x with the Intelli-Zoom function…

CES 2009: Sony reveals its 3" OLED-screened WALKMAN X music and media player

This beauty is the new Sony WALKMAN X range – featuring a 3″ OLED touch screen to make videos look marginally better than they have ever looked before. Although they won’t look very good when you’ve had your fingers all over the screen for six months.

The X1050 and X1060 both feature digital noise cancelling technology, FM tuners, the 3″ 432×240 screen and come with 16 or 32GB of storage space. Here’s a big photo of it, as it’s rather pretty. That’s not my music. That’s someone else’s music.

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The WALKMAN X is even packed with a wi-fi chip and custom BBC iPlayer tool…