Navigon Pedestrian Navigation Systems Unveiled at IFA

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In a few months, I'll be spending some time wandering around Europe and working from the road. I've put together a fairly comprehensive list of the gear I'll need to make my journey in comfort, and after the IFA conference I might be adding another item to it. The Navigon series of pedestrian navigation systems are built specifically to cater to European travelers. They come at a variety of price points, each with different features and specs.

According to Engadget there will be four different models. The 8410 and 8450 Live will be the high-end devices, complete with 5" glass touchscreens and Real City 3D photo-realistic navigation. Both Live models also offer real-time traffic, weather, and speed camera updates in 32 different European nations. That sounds incredibly useful, but it isn't cheap; the service costs $115/year, on top of roughly $715 for the device (the 8450) itself (plus another 60 Euros/year if you want the digital TV service).

Posted on Mon, 7 Sep 2009 11:09:45 CDT | by Robert Evans

IFA 2009: Toshiba Camileo S20, H30 and X100

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Toshiba introduced at the IFA 2009 the new Camileo S20, H30 and X100 camcorders.
The new Toshiba Camileo series shoots high quality video in almost all lighting conditions, thanks to an optimized night mode that captures high levels of detail, even in low light. All models also double up as high quality digital still cameras, delivering excellent quality snapshots at resolutions of 5MP (Camileo S20) and 10MP (Camileo H30 and Camileo X100). Read more

Posted on Sun, 6 Sep 2009 11:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

IFA 2009 Highlights

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The IFA 2009 consumer electronics show is now in full swing and open for the general public. The IFA 2009 will go on until Wednesday. Most of the new product announcements have been made and there have been some nice new products that have been unveiled at this year's IFA.

3D for the home gets pushed by several companies again at the IFA. I am still not convinced that 3D is ready for home use. The best 3D experience you can get is still in 3D enabled cinemas. Read more

Posted on Sat, 5 Sep 2009 05:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

IFA 2009: Sony BDP-S560 and BDP-S760 Wi-Fi Blu-ray Player

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Sony unveiled at the IFA 2009 two WiFi enabled Blu-ray player with the Sony BDP-S560 and Sony BDP-S760 (photo).
Both the Sony BDP-S560 and BDP-S760 are offering Wireless-N connectivity, freeing you from the need of having an Ethernet port near your TV in the living room.
The new Sony Blu-ray players are also Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) enabled, which means that by pressing a single button on the WPS enabled router a secure connection from your player to the wireless network is established. Read more

Posted on Sat, 5 Sep 2009 04:40:44 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Toshiba BDX2000 Blu-ray Player Unveiled at IFA 2009

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Toshiba unveiled their first Blu-ray player at the IFA 2009. After the company's defeat in the HD format war, it took a while for the company to decide to join the winning Blu-ray camp.
The Toshiba BDX2000 supports BD-Live (Profile 2.0) needed to play Blu-ray discs with online content (Bonus View). Read more

Posted on Sat, 5 Sep 2009 02:52:55 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

iPod Cases With Camera Holes At IFA 2009

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Okay, so cameras coming to the next generation of iPod devices is probably the worst kept secret in Apple history. We've known for months that they were a given, and every additional piece of news we hear just solidifies the case even more. Today, word has come from the IFA show in Berlin that Hama is showing off its new next-generation iPod cases. According to ipodnn, both of the cases have cutouts for cameras.

Based on these cases, it appears that the iPod touch has a camera located in the top-center area of its back. The nano's camera, however, was placed in the bottom-left and seems to require a longer cutout. There were no iPod classic cases to be found. iPodnn notes that Hama's cases also broke the 4th generation iPod Nano before it's release last year, so this leak is fairly trustworthy.

Posted on Fri, 4 Sep 2009 10:50:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

Phillips Wireless HDTV Link at IFA Show

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Cables, have they ever been anything but trouble? They get tangled with each other and random detritus on the floor, make vacuuming a hassle, and cause hours of frustration when you actually have to unplug everything for a move or a new gadget. The more we can do to get rid of cables, the better. That's why the Phillips Wireless HDTV Link (via Engadget) has me so excited.

This HDMI transmitter and receiver pair allows you to place your actual A/V components up to 20 yards away from the set. The base station comes with two HDMI connectors and two component connectors. It can handle 1080i and 1080p video. We've got no expected release dates yet, but when it does hit this pretty little black box will retail for $850.

Posted on Thu, 3 Sep 2009 12:06:50 CDT | by Robert Evans

Creative Announces Zen X-Fi2 Media Player At IFA

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Are you in the market for a touchscreen media player, but not one that costs as much as the iPod Touch or the Zune HD? If so, you might want to plant your eyes on Creative's Zen X-Fi2 multimedia player this holiday season. This new touchscreen player was debuted yesterday at the IFA conference in Berlin. It's got a very slim profile, and appears to be just a 3" LCD touchscreen with a very minimal frame.

Techtree reports that this media player can handle iTunes Plus, FLAC files, WMV9, MPEG4-SP, DivX 4/5 and XviD formats. It comes with a microSD slot, a TV out capability, a built-in microphone and an FM radio. It comes in three sizes; 8GB ($130), 16GB ($180), and 32 GB ($230).

Posted on Thu, 3 Sep 2009 11:00:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

New Samsung Products Announced At IFA

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Today at the IFA show in Berlin, Samsung announced the coming of its brand new N140 netbook. This mini-notebook has a 10.1" screen, weighs 2.8 lbs, and packs a battery that (Samsung claims) can last 11 hours. CNET notes that the NC10, the model the N140 replaces, only had a 5 hour battery life. Progress is a beautiful thing.

A whole slew of new gadgets from Sammy were also in attendance, including a new line of Blu-ray players with access to YouTube. CNET also listed the HMX 810 HD camcorder, a pocket-sized device that can record in full HD and upload videos right to YouTube. Samsung also unveiled the ST1000, a digital camera with geotagging, Bluetooth, and WiFi, along with the ST550 digital camera, which comes with 2 LCD screens.

Posted on Thu, 3 Sep 2009 10:40:00 CDT | by Robert Evans

IFA 2009 To Bring More Global Product Premiers

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The IFA 2009 is starting this Friday in Berlin. This year the IFA 2009 is supposed to bring more global product announcements than ever before. In past years the IFA mostly only had a few new product announcements that have been news outside of Germany.
At an IFA Preview event a couple weeks back, I asked the IFA organizers if the IFA 2009 will be more relevant in terms of product premiers. And the answer was yes.
We already see some of that happening. Logitech wanted to debut the new Squeezebox touch at the IFA 2009, but it leaked early. LG announced this weekend to exhibit the company's first commercially available OLED TV. Let's hope we will see more announcements like these this week. Read more

Posted on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

LG 15-inch AM OLED TV Debuts at IFA 2009

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The word about the new LG 15" OLED TV already appeared on Saturday. Now LG officially announced this new largest OLED TV that will be commercially available. LG will debut the 15-inch OLED TV at the IFA 2009 later this week.
LG also announced to start selling the 15 inch OLED TV starting in November in Korea. Next year LG also plans to offer their first OLED TV in other markets. Read more

Posted on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:20:36 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

IFA 2009: Miss IFA 2009 showing off some new Gadgets

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In 46 days the Consumer Electronics show IFA 2009 opens in Berlin. Their signature redhead gadget model Miss IFA 2009 has already been busy posing with the latest gadgets that will be shown at the IFA 2009.

The IFA 2009 will take place between 4th and 9th September. The focus of the IFA 2009 will be around networked TVs, LED TVs, HD, GPS, and networked home appliances. Read more

Posted on Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:22:26 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Sony rumored to show XEL-2 OLED TV at IFA 2009

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Sony was the first company to offer a commercially available OLED TV with the XEL-1 back in October 2007. The Sony XEL-1 only has a screen-size of 11 inches and is more or less just an expensive executive desk decoration ($2,499 on Amazon).

OLED-Info picked up a short mentioning of Sony and Samsung unveiling larger OLED TVs at the IFA 2009 in September in Berlin in an article on The Korea Times. Sony is possibly unveiling a 21 or 27 inch XEL-2 OLED TV. Read more

Posted on Mon, 20 Apr 2009 05:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

EA FIFA 09 Sells 1.2M in EU in a Week

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EA Sports has announced that its newest FIFA 09 game has sold more than 1.2 million copies in its first week in European retail outlets. FIFA 09 fans in American and Asia will be able to get their hands on the game on October 14th.

FIFA 09 was designed to deliver platform specific experiences on each of the consoles it ships for including PS3, Xbox, Wii, PS2, PC, PSP, and Nintendo DS. EA Sports has made the game work on all available gaming platforms save the mobile phone. Read more

Posted on Fri, 10 Oct 2008 06:27:09 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Samsung Unveils 14MP Compact Camera at IFA

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Samsung announced the new NV100HD digital camera at IFA in Berlin. The camera is the flagship of the Samsung line with 14.7-megapixels -- the highest resolution in a compact camera so far. The lens is a 28mm wide angle and the LCD on the rear of the camera is a 3-inch unit.

The camera features HD output to big screen TVs and it features 3.6x optical zoom. Other features include digital image stabilization and the ability to record 720p video. The LCD has 460k pixels and should make for good quality image viewing. Read more

Posted on Sat, 30 Aug 2008 09:37:32 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Dolby Unveils new Audio Solutions at IFA

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Dolby has unveiled some new technology at IFA today. Dolby showed off its Dolby Volume tech that will be built into AV receivers from Harmon Kardon. The technology helps to deliver even sound over all input sources without having to constantly adjust volume.

A new headset from Plantronics called the GameCom 777 uses Dolby Headphone virtual surround sound for better gaming audio. Dolby is highlighting its Digital Plus technology found in TVs and set-top boxes. Other features technology includes Dolby Home Theater and Dolby Sound Room for cinema sound on a PC. Read more

Posted on Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:06:35 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Panasonic unveils new Plasma Displays at IFA 2008

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The IFA 2008 show is opening officially tomorrow in Berlin. Panasonic is exhibiting five new prototype plasma display panels (PDPs) with new technologies.
The Panasonic Plasma prototypes include a 42-inch panel with double efficiency technology that halves energy consumption while maintaining the same brightness, a less than one-inch super-thin 50-inch PDP and for the first time ever a one-inch super-thin 58-inch and 65-inch PDP.
Panasonic will also be displaying the world’s largest 150-inch advanced high definition (HD) PDP. Read more

Posted on Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Samsung X360 at IFA 2008 revealed

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Samsung unveiled the ultra-light notebook Samsung X360 at the IFA 2008 in Berlin.
The Samsung X360 features a 13.3 inch LED backlit display and can be had with a 120GB SSD or 120GB HDD.
The X360 only weighs 1.27kg and features a slick Protect-o-Edge dubbed case design.
Other features of the Samsung X360 include Intel Centrino 2 Ultra Low Voltage CPU, 3 USB ports, HDMI, VGA, 7-in-1 card reader, Bluetooth, 802.11n, and 1.3MP video camera. Read more

Posted on Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:38:24 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Toshiba to Show Eco-Products at IFA 2008

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Toshiba has offered a glimpse of the eco-friendly products that it will be showing off at IFA 2008. The products will include LCD TVs like the 42XV515D that features brightness control to reduce the number of backlights needed saving up to 20% power consumption.

LED lighting products will also be shown that are for the Japanese market only. Notebook PCs on display will include the Portege R500 series -- the world's lightest notebook model. One of the most interesting products to be shown is Toshiba's SCiB Super Charge ion Battery. The battery can recharge to 90% of its capacity in less than 5 minutes. Read more

Posted on Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:13:17 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Cowon L3 7 inch GPS and PMP debuts at IFA 2008

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Cowon will introduce the Cowon L3 7 inch touchscreen media player with GPS navigation at the IFA 2008.
These multitalented portable media players rarely make it outside of Korea. Features of the sleek looking Cowon L3 include 7" touchscreen with 800x480px resolution, media player, T-DMB TV, FM transmitter, speaker, SIRF III antenna, SD card slot, and remote control. Read more

Posted on Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:58:33 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Cowon S9 premiers at IFA 2008

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Besides the Cowon O2, the Korean PMP maker debuts a rather stylish PMP with AMOLED display at the IFA 2008 dubbed Cowon S9.
The Cowon S9 has a curved backside and features a 3.3 inch color AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display with 480x272px resolution and 16m colors.
Other features of the Cowon S9 include 500Mhz Dual Core CPU, T-DMB TV, Bluetooth, FM tuner, voice recorder, G-Sensor, TV-Out, 40 hour music playback on a single battery charge, music, video and photo player and Macromedia Flash User interface. Read more

Posted on Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:52:50 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr