CES 2010 latest news

Samsung is clearly intending to make a big push with its LED-backlit LCDs, but the company did announce one new line of LCDs without LED. The Samsung LNB750 series uses standard CFL backlighting, but includes other cutting-edge features such as 240Hz refresh rate, a slim inch-thick design, and access to Samsung's new Internet@TV content. Here are the details.

Key features of the Samsung LNB750 series:

• 240Hz refresh rate
• Slim design, around an inch thick
• Ultra Clear antireflective screen
• Wide Color Enhancer Pro
• Internet@TV capable (Yahoo widgets)
• Built-in Ethernet
• Wi-Fi-ready, with purchase of additional adapter
• Energy Star 3.0 compatible

Pricing and availability of the Samsung LNB750 series (estimated street prices):

• 40-inch 40LNB750 ($1999, May)
• 46-inch 46LNB750 ($2399, May)
• 52-inch 52LNB750 ($2899, May)

We've covered 120Hz technology extensively before, and we expect 240Hz to offer similar advantages. The major area for improvement is the associated dejudder processing, particularly eliminating annoying artifacts and making the processing look more natural. Wide Color Enhancer Pro is a feature that supposedly matches a source's color space to the HD color space--we haven't seen a feature like this yet, so it will be interesting to test in the labs.

A built-in Ethernet connection enables access to Samsung's new Internet@TV platform, which lets users access Yahoo widgets capable of delivering content from services such as Flickr, Yahoo News, Yahoo Weather, USA Today, YouTube, Showtime, and others. The LNB750 series is also Wi-Fi-ready, but you'll need to purchase an additional adapter. Finally, the sets are compliant with the new Energy Star 3.0 specification, although it seems like almost all 2009 HDTVs are.

From the Consumer Electronics Show, Larry Magid talks with Wall Street Journal columnist Walter Mossberg about Palm's new Pre cell phone and Yahoo's new Internet TV. Both Mossberg and Magid were impressed by the Palm phone, and Mossberg had some good things to say about Yahoo's TV initiative.

Today's stories:

Palm calls it a comeback with the Palm Pre

High hopes at Yahoo, Intel for Internet-enabled TV

(Credit: Trendnet)

Recording and viewing images from a security camera is nothing new, but being able to do that conveniently from any location within a wireless network is. And this is exactly what Trendnet offers at CES 2009 with its first-to-market 7" Wireless Internet Camera Monitor Kit, the TV-M7110WK.

The security surveillance kit includes one 7" Wireless Internet Camera and Photo Monitor, the TV-M7, and a Wireless Internet Camera, the TV-IP110W. The TV-M7 displays streaming IP Camera video in real time via the wireless network.

The TV-IP110W is capable of providing real-time, high-quality wireless video in the M-JPEG format. The camera can perform motion-detection recording, e-mail alerts, and scheduled recordings. It comes with an easy-to-use mounting kit and can be used on most surfaces.

The 7" TV-M7, on the other hand, can automatically connect to your wireless network, detect the included camera, and stream real-time video wirelessly. Interestingly, it can also act like a photo frame that displays slide shows and plays personal videos and music. It even comes with a little remote control for you to easily change what it displays.

The TV-M7 is the first device of its kind in the market for now and allows for monitoring up to four Trendnet Internet cameras on one screen or scan between cameras one at a time. While you can do the same thing with a computer, the TV-M7 makes it much more convenient and easy to use. And, of course, it works without any computer at all.

The Wireless Internet Camera Monitor Kit TV-M7110WK seems a good investment for a large home or a warehouse. It comes with a two-year limited warranty and an estimated price of $450. It will be available shortly in the U.S.

LED-backlit LCDs are certainly winning the hype war at CES 2009, but home theater buffs know that plasma TVs often offer better performance for your dollar. Samsung's new top-of-the-line plasmas, the PNB850 series, feature a superslim, inch-thick design and offer the new Internet widgets available via the Internet@TV platform. Here are the important details.

Key features of the Samsung PNB850 series:

• Slim design, about an inch thick
• Ultra FilterBright Plus antiglare screen
• Real Movie (24 frames per second) mode
• Wide color Enhancer Pro
• Built-in Ethernet
• Wi-Fi-ready, with purchase of additional adapter
• Energy Star 3.0 compatible

Pricing and availability of the Samsung PNB850 series (estimated street prices):

• 50-inch 50PNB550 ($2,299; May)
• 58-inch 58PNB550 ($3,399; May)

While we usually see manufacturers print misleading, inflated contrast ratios, Samsung instead only claims "mega dynamic contrast ratio" for these plasmas. The Ultra FilterBright Plus screen is the latest iteration of Samsung's glare reduction coatings, with these sets adding black stripes into the panel to absorb more room light and create deeper blacks. We're anxious to see this in action, as screen glare is still often a problem with plasmas. Wide Color Enhancer Pro is a feature that supposedly matches a source's color space to the HD color space--we haven't seen a feature like this yet, so it will be interesting to test in the labs.

A built-in Ethernet connection enables access to Samsung's new Internet@TV platform, which lets users access Yahoo widgets capable of delivering content from services such as Flickr, Yahoo News, Yahoo Weather, USA Today, YouTube, Showtime, and others. The PNB850 series is also Wi-Fi-ready, but you'll need to purchase an additional adapter. Finally, the sets are compliant with the new Energy Star 3.0 specification, although it seems like almost all 2009 HDTVs are.

The A950 series was Samsung's only LED-backlit LCDs in 2008, but the company is serving up several LED-backlit lines in 2009. The UNB7000 is the step-down from the top-of-the-line UNB8000 series, but includes nearly all the same features except 240Hz refresh rate. Here are the details.

Key features of the Samsung UNB7000 series:

• 120Hz response time
• Slim design, around an inch thick
• LED-backlit
• Ultra Clear antireflective screen
• Internet@TV capable (Yahoo widgets)
• Built-in Ethernet
• Wi-Fi-ready, with purchase of additional adapter
• Energy Star 3.0 compatible

Pricing and availability of the Samsung UNB7000 series (estimated street prices):

• 40-inch UN46B7000 ($2,499, April)
• 46-inch UN46B7000 ($2,999, March)
• 55-inch UN55B7000 ($3,799, March)

Like the step-up UNB8000 series, the UNB7000 uses a so-called edge-lit LED backlight system, which lets it achieve such a thin cabinet depth. The downside is that it can't utilize the local dimming technology we liked so much on the A950 series. We've never tested an edge-lit LED display, so we're anxious to check it out in the lab.

We've covered 120Hz technology extensively before and the short story is that the associated dejudder processing can have a large effect in minimizing film judder, but not every viewer likes the effect. We haven't seen any sets with 240Hz processing yet, so its unknown is if it will offer a significant upgrade over this series.

Like other new Samsung LCDs, the sets feature a super slim design, coming in about one inch thick. They also have Samsung's Ultra Clear panels, which are designed to reduce reflections and increase contrast. Built-in Ethernet enables access to Samsung's new Internet@TV platform, that allows users to access Yahoo widgets capable of delivering content from services such as Flickr, Yahoo News, Yahoo Weather, USA Today, YouTube, Showtime and others. The UNB7000 series is also Wi-Fi-ready, but you'll need to purchase an additional adapter. Finally, the sets are compliant with the new Energy Star 3.0 specification, although it seems like almost all 2009 HDTVs are.

Samsung's UNB8000 series doubles its fun with a 240Hz refresh rate.

Samsung has put a big emphasis on LED-backlighting on this year's LCDs, and the UNB8000 series are the most souped-up models the company has at CES 2009. Here's a quick rundown of the feature set.

Key features of the Samsung UNB8000 series:

• 240Hz response time
• Slim design, about an inch thick
• LED-backlit
• Ultra Clear antireflective screen
• Internet@TV capable (Yahoo widgets)
• Built-in Ethernet
• Wi-Fi-ready, with purchase of additional adapter
• Energy Star 3.0 compatible

Pricing and availability of the Samsung UNB8000 series (estimated street prices):

• 46-inch UN46B8000 ($3,299, May)
• 55-inch UN55B8000 ($3,999, May)

Like the step-down UNB7000 series, the UNB8000 uses a so-called edge-lit LED backlight system, which lets it achieve such a thin cabinet depth. The downside is that it can't use the local dimming technology we liked so much on the A950 series. We've never tested an edge-lit LED display, so we're anxious to check it out in the lab.

From the specification sheet, the major step-up of these HDTVs over the step-down UNB7000 series is the 240Hz refresh rate. We've covered 120Hz technology extensively before, and we expect 240Hz to offer similar advantages. The major area for improvement is the associated dejudder processing, particularly eliminating annoying artifacts and making the processing look more natural.

The rest of the features are available on the UNB7000 step-down models. As mentioned, the sets are superslim, coming in about one inch thick, and also feature Samsung's "Ultra Clear" panel, designed to reduce reflection and increase contrast. Built-in Ethernet enables access to Samsung's new Internet@TV platform, giving users access to Yahoo widgets, which deliver content from services such as Flickr, Yahoo News, Yahoo Weather, USA Today, YouTube, Showtime, and others. The UNB8000 series is also Wi-Fi-ready, but you'll need to purchase an additional adapter. Finally, the sets are compliant with the new Energy Star 3.0 specification, although it seems like almost all the new HDTVs at CES are.

Of course, it's also likely that this series will offer different image quality from the other series, so you'll have to wait for our full review to see how it stacks up. Last year's Samsung LN46A950 was one of our highest rated LCDs of the year, so the UNB8000 series has high expectations.

The Internet TV Player at Netgear's CES demo.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

Together with the Digital Entertainer Elite, Netgear showed on Wednesday its new Internet TV Player (ITV2000).

This is an Internet set-top device with a simple remote control that allows viewers to watch Internet videos from various sources on their TV screens. It works with both new HDTVs and old analog TVs.

The purpose of the device is to display on a big screen TV what you would normally watch alone on your computer.

Currently, the device can stream content from popular sites such as BBC.com, CNN.com, ESPN.com, EuroSport.com, NBC.com, PGATour and TMZ.com, as well as video powerhouses YouTube, Google Videos, Yahoo Videos, and MetaCafe.

The Internet TV Player supports streaming of live TV broadcasts from Internet sites around the world. It can also handle paid movies from on-demand services such as CinemaNow.com.

The device can perform intelligent searches of Internet videos, including targeting video sites by country, topic of interest, person, or popular Web site. It can also play video, music, and photos from a local USB flash drive, as well as from the Netgear's ReadyNAS family of network storage solutions.

The Internet TV Player connects to the home network and the Internet via Ethernet or wireless USB adapter.

What the ITV2000 can do is not new; the Sony Bravia can do pretty much the same thing. However, the ITV2000 is the first device to deliver the technology in such a small package. It is just slightly larger than a deck of cards.

The Netgear Internet TV Player is expected to be available in early Summer 2009 with the estimated price of $199.

The Ooma Telo doesn't have a price tag yet.

(Credit: Ooma)

When I met with Ooma representatives last month, I got a sneak peek at its next-generation phone system, the Telo, which combines DECT 6.0 cordless-phone technology with Internet-based (VoIP) calling. Well, Ooma officially unveiled the Telo at CES, and while no price has been announced, the it will arrive sometime in the first half of 2009, according to the company.

Ooma's claim to fame is that it currently sells a VoIP phone system that lets you make free domestic U.S. calls and low-priced international calls. (In Amazon's database, the product is in fact called the Ooma Core VoIP Phone System with No Monthly Phone Service Bills). However, that system doesn't include any handsets, while the new Telo does--and you can expand the system to up to six handsets. (You can also connect a standard phone line if you so choose).

The Telo improves upon the feature set of the original system, as well as the call quality. Ooma representatives are highlighting how you can have calls from your cell phone redirected to the Telo.

Rich Buchanan, Ooma's Chief Executive Officer, says, "Simply put, Telo sounds better, connects better, and works better than any traditional phone or VoIP service available today. Telo represents the necessary evolution of communication in the home and helps combine the home phone and cell phone so you can enjoy the benefits of both without any compromises."

We look forward to trying this one out when it arrives later this year. In the meantime, we just got the original Ooma system in house and will be testing it after CES.

The IS9181 will be available this spring for $199.95.

(Credit: VTech)

In an interesting move, VTech, the makers of wireless home phones, has entered the home-audio fray with the IS9181, a Wi-Fi-enabled Internet radio receiver that will cost $199.95 when it's released this spring.

VTech claims the "competitively priced music hub delivers higher sound quality than other similarly priced music devices" and it allows you to play not only Internet radio selections but also to stream your music library stored on your computer (the IS9181 is compatible with both Windows PCs and Macs). There's also the requisite line input so you can connect any digital audio player.

At launch, VTech will be hosting a comprehensive guide to the thousands of Internet stations worldwide on its Web site, www.vtechphones.com. The press release notes that, "Once a desired station is located using the guide, users can push their favorite stations directly to the IS9181 for one-touch access."

Stations can be programmed into presets and the unit ships with a remote. Interestingly, the IS9181 can be made portable by popping in six AA batteries, which means you can take the device outside so long as you remain within range of a Wi-Fi signal. We're not sure how long those batteries will last, but Wi-Fi devices tend to gobble power, so we recommend getting rechargeables for this guy.

All in all, the IS9181 looks pretty good on paper. Now we just have to hear how it sounds.

Here's a rundown of the full spec list:

*802.11 digital Wi-Fi technology, providing superior range and streaming rates

*Internet radio streaming from 11,000 stations or ability to search for any stations that stream online

*Internet radio stations search from VTech's site or on the device itself

*Preset favorites online

*PC- or Mac-stored MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, Real music file playing

*Connect an MP3 player or any audio device directly to the radio using the provided cord

*Connect the IS9181 (via RCA connections) to other audio systems for streaming access

*Internal 2.1 speakers

*Weather and horoscope text updates based on zip code

*Remote included

*Large full-color display

*AC Power Adapter

*Battery-operated option (requires six AA batteries, not included)