[TechGuy]

Mike, Dan, and Brian discuss some their experience at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Find out about some of their favorite gadgets, including a wireless TV (including wireless electricity), Ford Sync, and the Sony Dash.

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Your hosts are:
Mike Cermak (TechGuy)
Dan McCarthy (linuxphile)
Brian Hansen (handee9)


Links in order of appearance:
We recorded this episode from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
http://cesweb.org/

NComputing allows for up to 30 uses on one computer at the same time!
http://www.ncomputing.com/

WiTricity powered a wireless TV's power.
http://www.witricity.com/

The Creative Life (TCL) presented a 3D TV that didn't require glasses.
http://multimedia.tcl.com/en/news/ma...20d1ce4a410126

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer presented a keynote at CES.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/ces/

Project Natal will allow you to control your Xbox without a remote.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/projectnatal/

Asus has some very impressive flexible displays on the way.
http://asusdesign.com/

Ford Sync takes voice activated vehicles to a whole new level.
http://www.fordvehicles.com/innovation/sync/

Some very interesting gadgets were presented at Last Gadget Standing, including the Neato Vacuum Cleaner, the Que ProReader, the Sony Dash, the Intel Reader, and the D-Link Boxee Box.
http://lastgadgetstanding.com/


We want your feedback!
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[TechGuy]

Feel free to reply back here with your thoughts on CES or any gadgets you heard about.

What new gadget are you most interested in?

[ekim68]

Thanks TechGuy...I'll listen and thanks for the links...

[handee9]

Hi friends! Reprinting below some follow-up email convos since CES, all about the QUE Reader.

LINUXPHILE: Apparently the Que Reader we saw at last gadget standing has a price
point of 649-799. I'd say it's not worth a third of that with 4GB of
storage. In fact it would seem cheaper for them to add an SD slot and
let you insert your own media allowing easy expansion.

TECHGUY: That is CRAZY. No one will pay that over $250 for a Kindle that has a
MUCH larger library.

HANDEE9: Price point is evidence they're shooting for the corporate users/buyers. I still think this thing is way more valuable as a portable document viewer that syncs with my Outlook & shows every type of doc imaginable - more than just eBooks, which the Kindle is not doing YET. I actually think the QUE will serve this white space really well, as long as it isn't slow as heck.

[handee9]

And also, here's a new site that just launched today/yesterday, that I fully expect TSG to take advantage of...

http://mashable.com/2010/01/20/isites/

Lots of possibilities.

[handee9]

Finally - last post today, I promise - Amazon reportedly ups their royaties to publishers & authors (you know, the people that actually do all the work that puts content on your Kindle) to 70%. Until now, I was telling Kindle owners that they should just find an author and punch them in the face - it'd be less painful than all the money they were losing everytime an ebook version of their work was purchased instead of a real book. And for clarity, I don't have problems with the technology, I had problems with the business model... and Amazon seems to have VOLUNTARILY taken steps to address it. Boffo!

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2358220,00.asp

[TechGuy]

70% seems very fair. What was it before?

[handee9]

I believe it was in the 30-35 range. It DOES also require that the e-version be at least 20% cheaper than the printed version (guaranteeing that content providers have an incentive to jack up their printed prices, meaning we should cut down fewer trees). It also only applies to books that cost less then $9.99 I think. But at least they're now getting twice as much money as before.

I actually think they may have made this move now in order to entice more publishers/authors to sign Amazon/Kindle contracts so that they won't sign vendor contracts with Apple's rumored ebook store that would likely come on the heels of the anticipated Tablet. The royatlies that Apple offers would likely be much lower (see iTunes royalty schedule), so the only way that a publisher would likely choose Apple as their ebook pipe is if they really believe that Apple will sell more ebooks than Amazon in the long run. And the only way THAT happens, dear friends, is if the tablet kicks frikkin' butt.

[linuxphile]

Judging from the article and the example provided by Amazon I'd say the percentage was 35%

As an example of how the new royalty option works, Amazon cites an $8.99 e-book, saying that the author would see $3.15 with the standard option and $6.25 with the new 70 percent option.