CES to spotlight startups and entrepreneurs

The 2014 International CES will spotlight the promise, power and future of technology through innovative startups and entrepreneurs.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) today announced new areas and events at CES dedicated to the startup community, including the Indiegogo Zone and UP Global LIVE Stage.

Owned and produced by CEA, the 2014 CES, the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies, will run January 7-10, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“CES is a platform for innovators, big or small, who come to CES to take their business to the next level,” said Karen Chupka, senior vice president, International CES and corporate business strategy, CEA. “Startups are attending and launching their products at CES in ever-growing numbers, underscoring CES’ importance as the proving ground for innovators in consumer technology. We’re thrilled to bring new areas and events to the show floor that showcase these entrepreneurial companies and their groundbreaking innovations and provide them access to potential customers, partners, and investors as well as the global media.”

The all-new Indiegogo Zone, housed within the Eureka Park TechZone, will feature hardware campaigners from around the world. These innovators will showcase products and share experiences about raising funds on Indiegogo. The Indiegogo Zone provides an opportunity for anyone interested in learning more about crowdfunding for hardware.

The UP Global LIVE Stage, sponsored by GE, will showcase the startup community, facilitate connections and provide programming in Eureka Park. The stage will feature panels with iconic entrepreneurs, leading investors, corporate executives and media. In addition to programming, UP Global will host mentor sessions and pitch competitions and provide resources and networking opportunities for exhibitors and attendees.

The second annual ShowStoppers Launch.it power session is a curated pitch event built exclusively for the young, transformative and entrepreneurial startups that exhibit in Eureka Park. Sixteen exhibitors will pitch to a panel of high profile angel/VC investors along with media, analysts and industry experts in the audience.

An anchor for the startup community at CES, the 2014 Eureka Park TechZone will feature more than 200 exhibitors, 30 percent more than the 2013 CES. In partnership with UP Global, the National Science Foundation (NSF), General Electric (GE) and AT&T, Eureka Park provides a stage for new companies with technologies to market their innovation to venture capitalists, media and buyers. Eureka Park will have a French pavilion for the first time with UbiFrance bringing 11 French startups to the area.

Building off the success of Eureka Park, the new Eureka Park: NEXT hosts the progressing stage of Eureka Park startups. This TechZone is designed for mid-stage startups that have launched a product in the past year. In Eureka Park: NEXT, retailers, venture capitalists, manufacturers and more will discover established startups looking to expand their growth.

Floored within Eureka Park, Academia Tech focuses on the technologies coming from colleges and universities. CES also offers special networking events curated for startups and entrepreneurs like the invitation-only Entrepreneurs Reception and Tech Cocktail’s Startup Night.

The 2014 CES will feature more than 3,200 exhibitors unveiling the latest consumer technology products and services across 15 product categories. For more information on the 2014 International CES, visit CESweb.org

Mysterious smart ring project?

A high-tech ring that promises to replicate many of the features found in the latest crop of smartwatches, but without strapping a brick to your wrist, is now one step closer to reality. Smarty Ring, a project that launched on Indiegogo last month, has blown past its funding goal to produce a ring with a built-in LED screen that ferries information back and forth between a connected smartphone. Like the Pebble, which garnered more than 100 times as much funding on Kickstarter last year, it can display incoming caller ID, and text messages, along with updates from social networks that have been synced up using a companion app for iOS and Android. There are also physical control buttons on the side of the ring, which can be used to control apps, including your phone's camera app. Other settings let you turn on some anti-theft features, like a phone alert that goes off if the ring goes beyond a certain distance from its owner.

PUTS MOST SMARTWATCH FEATURES ON FINGERS INSTEAD

On paper, the ring does all this through a Bluetooth LE connection, and its creators are promising a rather dubious 24 hour battery life with standard use. So far there have been many contenders in that arena, but nothing that's set the world on fire. One thing that could help the Smarty Ring: its creators plan to sell the watch for $275 when it arrives in stores. Early bird buyers can also purchase it sight unseen for $175, or at a discount when bundling either four or 10 of the rings at once, with an estimated delivery of next April.

Acer unveils new Iconia A1-830 tablet

Electronics maker Acer has unveiled the new Iconia A1-830, a 7.9-inch Android tablet with a stylish design, vibrant IPS display, responsive performance and rich sound.

The Iconia A1-830 debuts at this year’s 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It will be shown for the first time at Pepcom’s Digital Experience! media event on Monday, January 6, which highlights some of the hottest gadgets and technologies debuting this week.

“Our fundamental goal when creating the Acer Iconia A1-830 was to provide our customers with an optimized Android tablet that stands out from other devices,” said Jerry Kao, associate Vice President of Acer Mobile Consumer Business Unit.

“Consumers expect more than ever from value-oriented products, and the Acer Iconia A1-830 tablet delivers much more than tablets in this class with its vibrant IPS display, premium aluminum metal finish and great performance and sound.”

The tablet features a design with an aluminum rear cover and a metal mid-frame to add strength and rigidity to the device. This design provides additional protection for the 7.9-inch display (1024 x 768 resolution) with IPS technology. The IPS display offers crisp and accurate colors from viewing angles up to 178 degrees for an enhanced visual experience. The 4:3 aspect ratio provides a large viewing area for browsing websites and reading.

The Iconia A1-830 is powered by an Intel Atom (Clover Trail+) Z2560 1.6GHz processor and 1GB of onboard LPDDR2 SDRAM, so it delivers fluid and fast navigation through apps and websites, smooth video playback and better mobile gaming. The processor also contributes to the long 7.5-hour battery life.

“People continue to demand more from their tablets, and we must stay ahead of what they need and want to do,” said Hermann Eul, Corporate Vice President and General Manager for Intel’s Mobile and Communications Group.

“Acer has designed a tablet that does just that using our multi-core multi-threaded Intel Atom processor for Android. The new Acer Iconia A1-830 provides a smooth, seamless and responsive Android-based mobile experience for multitasking, web browsing and gaming. We’re excited to see another Intel-based Android tablet available for consumers.”

World’s first phone with 2K resolution launched

Vivo has pipped the likes of Samsung and LG to launch the world’s first smartphone with 2K (2560x1440p) resolution, named Xplay 3S.

Chinese manufacturer Vivo has pipped the likes of Samsung and LG to launch the world's first smartphone with 2K (2560x1440p) resolution, named Xplay 3S. This phone's screen has more pixels than the current crop of 1080p displays, making text, videos, images etc clearer and sharper.

The new Vivo Xplay 3S's 6-inch display has pixel density of 490ppi, which is higher than the 469ppi (the highest pixel density before this launch) of HTC One. Other features of Xplay 3S are also top end, such as 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chipset, 3GB RAM and 13MP rear camera. It also has a 5MP camera in front and comes with an app called Photo+ that features augmented reality functionalities and shares video on the cloud.

The phone is powered by a customized version of Android, named Funtouch OS. Other features of Vivo Xplay 3S include 32GB built-in storage, 3,200mAh battery and metallic bezel. The phone weighs 172gram, measures 4.95mm at its thinnest point and comes with a fingerprint scanner.

The manufacturer has included several audio technologies in the phone, such as TI OPA2604 amplifier and ESS Technology ES9018 DAC. Its DTS Headphones:X technology supports 7.1 and 11.1 surround sound effect.

Vivo is also the company behind the world's thinnest smartphone, X3, which is just 5.75mm thick.

Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S5 smartphone is also rumoured to feature 2K resolution. Earlier this year, LG unveiled its 2K resolution display panel that is likely to be used in future smartphones. Chinese manufacturer Oppo has also announced that its upcoming Find 7 handset will have 2K screen resolution.

Intel Wants to Make Computers Think More Like Humans

LAS VEGAS -- Intel says it wants to make science fiction into reality. More specifically, it wants to make the way we interact with computers and tablets more human, more "natural."

"We want to communicate with the computing device naturally, as you would with another human," Mooly Eden, Intel's senior vice and perceptual computing general manager, said today during a press conference here at the International Consumer Electronics Show. Think of it, he said, as adding senses to the computer brain.

Enter "RealSense," Intel's new technology that spans devices and attempts to bring immersive, human interaction to devices. It was announced today. 

At CES, Intel demonstrates its new RealSense 3-D camera.

The technology will appear in various types of devices -- laptops and tablets, for example -- from hardware partners like Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo, among others. Intel outlined two new ways RealSense will initially take shape: a RealSense 3-D camera and a natural language personal assistant.

The 3-D camera features a depth sensor and a can detect specific gesture movements from a user's hands and fingers, as well as a person's facial features and movements. With the camera, a person can use a device with any number of "natural" gestures instead of, say, typing or using a mouse. It can be used for gaming, enhanced learning and to capture and share 3-D images.

The camera can also be used for video conferencing or video blogging. For example, Intel has partnered with Microsoft to enhance Skype video conferencing, enabling users to change or remove a person's background during a video call and add video and other images in real-time. These features might also be useful for content creators who produce videos for YouTube or perhaps a company blog.

One might think of the camera as enhancing the devices sense of sight, Intel says.

To advance a computer's sense of hearing, Intel collaborated with Burlington, Mass.-based Nuance Communications, maker of the Dragon voice assistant, to develop a smart, new personal assistant.

Intel says the new personal assistant operates conversationally. "People can simply tell it to play music, get answers, connect with friends and find content -- all by using natural language," the company says.

The personal assistant software will available later this year on Ultrabooks and tablets from Asus, Toshiba, Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo, Intel says

Microsoft and Oracle forge cloud computing alliance

US technology giants Microsoft and Oracle have announced they will team up in their push into cloud computing. By using each other's server and data centers, they seek to price out cheaper rivals in the cloud market. The tie-up between Microsoft and oracle would enable customers to run Oracle software on Microsoft's Server Hyper-V and on Windows Azure platforms, the two technology firms announced in a release Monday. In addition, Microsoft would offer Oracle's Java, Database and WebLogic Server to Windows Azure customers, while Oracle would make Linux available to Windows Azure customers, the release said. Underscoring that the two tech pioneers had long worked together out of the public eye, Microsoft chief Executive Steve Ballmer said that behind-the-scenes collaboration wasn't enough in the world of cloud computing. From competitors to friends The pact effectively means that Microsoft will be promoting Linux and Java-based software, which have been longtime rivals to its own Windows platform. However, the two software makers stand to profit from widening their customers' base by granting access to datacenter services regardless of the underlying software being used. Analysts see the alliance as an important first step for the two companies to resolve competitive challenges in their cloud efforts. 'The fact that historical competitors are now friends, speaks to how big the cloud opportunity is. And it opens up potential avenues of growth down the road,' Daniel Ives, analyst with investment bank FBR, told Reuters news agency. Microsoft's cloud computing initiative, called Azure, has failed to catch up with market leader Amazon's AWS offering, as well as with younger Web-based platforms Salesforce.com and Workday. uhe/dr (Reuters, dpa)

24kt Gold & Diamonds Macbook Pro Available Online

The news of the gold plated MacBook Pro from Computer Choppers created a buzz in the blogosphere. Now, the firm is offering the golden Macbook Pros online to customers who don’t want the hassle of offline transactions. The two versions available are the 24kt Gold & Diamonds 15″ Macbook Pro and the 24kt Gold 15″ Macbook Pro. The 24kt Gold & Diamonds 15″ Macbook Pro comes with 2.2GHz or 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 802.11n wireless, up to 4GB of 667MHz DDR2 memory with a faster, 800MHz frontside bus, 2 GB of RAM, 160 GB internal drive, internal 8x double-layer SuperDrive, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT Graphics with 256MB SDRAM, and a 15.4″ TFT display. On the other hand, the 24 karat gold-plated MacBook Pro comes with its exterior finish in polished 24kt and the interior is satin 24kt gold. Other specs are almost the same as that of the 24kt Gold & Diamonds 15″ Macbook Pro.

These shiny MacBook Pros are being sold through Powermax, an Apple authorized reseller. Now, this could be the perfect Christmas gift to a geeky loved one of yours. In case, gold is not the thing that tempts you, they are taking custom orders also. Well, the Gold & Diamonds model sells for $8999 while the gold version is priced at $5999.