Consumer Electronics Daily News

Sony Updates Current All-In-One and Ultrabook Line

Sony has announced enhancements to VAIO's All-in-One Tap 20 and L Series PCs and Sony's top-selling VAIO T Series 15 Ultrabook™ incorporating all around excellence in productivity and entertainment with rich touch experiences powered by Windows 8.

VAIO Tap 20

The family tabletop VAIO Tap 20 PC continues into summer and is even more entertaining with pre-loaded Sony Imagination Studio™ VAIO^® Edition software and Intel® Wireless Display (WiDi) that lets you easily stream your computer screen directly to your compatible big screen HDTV.

VAIO T Series 15

Sony's top-selling stylish aluminum brushed touch-enabled VAIO T Series 15 Ultrabook continues into summer as well. VAIO T Series 15 is the perfect laptop for users looking for a powerful, easily portable solution with a larger screen. Featuring a beautiful Full HD (1920 x1080) 15-inch touchscreen with backlit keyboard and integrated number pad, users can create presentations, edit and watch videos and surf multiple windows without sacrificing mobility.

Packing high performance with Intel's third-generation processors with hybrid hard drive options, the VAIO T Series 15 is ideal for college students and business professionals who demand speed at all times.

VAIO L Series

Powered by Sony's BRAVIA^® Engine with the X-Reality™ chip for amazing picture quality, the VAIO L Series All-in-One high-definition PC/TV will also continue into summer. The VAIO L Series All-in-One offers intuitive touch access to the Internet, movies, music and photos. Built for multi-tasking, the L Series includes a TV Tuner with picture in picture functionality, allowing users to watch TV while on the PC.

Pricing and Availability

The VAIO Tap 20, T Series 15 and L Series are also available mid-May for about $899, and $849 and $1,249 at Sony retail stores and other authorized dealers nationwide. 

 

Sony Introduces New VAIO Fit Laptop

Sony today introduced the brand new VAIO® Fit laptop built with Sony's innovative digital imaging, sound and display technologies. "We built the brand new VAIO Fit line from many of the same features as our amazingly thin and powerful ultra-premium models but at an entry-level price point," said Pedro LaFargo , SVP, Sony VAIO & Networked Products Division. "Our entire new Fit lineup is optimized for Windows 8 and incorporates the best technology that only Sony can provide from our innovative digital imaging, sound and TV divisions. The new Fit family is providing students and professionals' on-the-go with advanced performance and design."

VAIO Fit and Fit E

For students and business users who are looking for a step up and want more of a premium design but still at an entry-level price point, the new VAIO Fit and Fit E product lines are an excellent portable companion. With a major focus on design, the VAIO Fit 14 and 15 models and the VAIO Fit 14E and Fit 15E models are super thin and light. Crafted in tough, aluminum materials, the VAIO Fit 14 and 15 models feature Sony's signature sparkling diamond cut VAIO logo.

Developed by the same people who engineer amazing TVs, the VAIO Fit line features high resolution displays, Full HD (1920 x 1080) on the Fit 15 model and HD+ (1600 x 900) on the Fit 14 model, as well as color enhancement technology for an unbelievably crisp picture so you can see your games and movies in detail. The optional capacitive touchscreen allows for a snappy and responsive touch experience and the LED backlight ensures a bright display while conserving battery life.

Featuring Exmor R® CMOS Sensors developed by Sony, users experience impressive web camera functionality even when chatting in low light.

By implementing Sony's ClearAudio+ supreme sound quality into the VAIO Fit line, users experience louder and clearer sound for a virtualized surround sound experience. Listeners hear dynamic bass and soaring highs with less distortion for an unmatched music and movie experience. In fact, the VAIO Fit 14E and Fit 15E models include big box speakers while the Fit 15E model features a subwoofer for powerful audio quality.

High Level of Standard Features

Additionally, the Fit models include standard Sony features such as a full-size backlit keyboard with integrated number pad (Fit 15 model only), large touch pad designed for a comfortable computing experience, quick charge functionality and Sony's own Rapid Wake technology for instant PC resume.

With NFC (Near Field Communication technology) users can now quickly exchange website URLs and enable Bluetooth and WiFi direct connections by simply touching a compatible NFC device to the new VAIO Fit.

Create Something worth Sharing

Also included with VAIO Fit is ArtRage® Studio, the premiere digital arts software. ArtRage Studio offers natural painting tools such as oil paints and watercolors, along with utilities to make painting easier for anyone who wants to paint or draw on their computer regardless of skill level.

For those that want to try their hand at video creation and music recording, the Fit family includes a pre-installed version of Sony Imagination Studio™ VAIO^® Edition software, about a $170 value, including four powerful Sony applications: Movie Studio Platinum, ACID™ Music Studio, Sound Forge™ Audio Studio and DVD Architect™ Studio software - so you can create music and movies like never before.

Accelerated Performance

The Fit models offer the best combination of mobility and performance. The Fit 14 and Fit 15 models feature everything students and performance minded users need including a 15-inch Full HD Display (1920 x 1080) or 14-inch HD+ Display (1600 x 900), optional NVIDIA^® Graphics with up to 2GB of VRAM, faster boot-up and data access with Hybrid Hard Drive and Solid State Drive options for Fit 14 and Fit 15 models, and optical drives (including Blu-ray Disc™ writing options as well).

With third generation of Intel® Core™ processors, the Fit 14 and 15 and Fit 14E and 15E product lines will be available with up to Core™ i7, delivering even more performance automatically when users need it.

Pricing and Availability

The Fit 14 and 15 are available beginning mid-May in Steel Black, Steel Pink and Steel Silver for about $649 and $699. The Fit E 14E and Fit 15E are available in Black, Pink and White for about $549 and $579.  

New Mexican Banda Expansion Pack For The Yamaha PSR-S650 Keyboard

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, Yamaha has introduced the brand new Mexican Banda Voice and Style Expansion Pack for its popular PSR-S650 portable keyboard, enabling anyone to add festive live music to the celebration.

This package contains seven new authentic Banda Voices recorded in a professional studio with professional Banda musicians. Instruments include Trombon Banda, Trompeta Banda, Clarinete Banda, Charcheta Banda, Tuba Banda, Bateria-Tambora and a special Gritos Kit of vocal expressions. One of the main ingredients of Mexican music is Gritos, the fun, vocal exclamations that accompany the music. The Voice and Style Mexican Banda Pack Expansion features 60 unique gritos that inject flavor into any performance.

Also included are 20 popular Banda Styles covering Acoustic Banda, Electric Banda and Duranguense. Each Style comes complete with four One Touch Settings that match these excellent new instrument Voices to each of the four Style sections. Panel registrations, with special Banda and Duranguense keyboard splits and layers make it easy to play with the band.

 

The Yamaha Banda Expansion Pack can be downloaded free of charge for the next three months at http://4wrd.it/BANDAPR.

Proving Size DOES Matter: WD Shipping World's First 5 mm 2.5-Inch Hard Drive

 WD^®, a Western Digital company, today announced it is shipping the world's first ultra-slim 2.5-inch, 5 mm hard drives and solid state hybrid drives (SSHD), which are designed for integration into the slimmest devices and space-constrained computing environments. With 500 GB of storage capacity and models with high performance-enabling solid state hybrid drive technology, this slim product line helps to address the tradeoffs system designers often make between capacity, physical size and performance.

"With the launch of our new WD Blue™ 5 mm ultra slim hard drives and our WD Black™ SSHD products, currently shipping to OEMs, WD is delivering to our customers a variety of solutions that maximize storage capacity and volumetric efficiency, as well as performance and system responsiveness, for consumers," said Matt Rutledge, Vice President of WD's client computing business unit. "Our engineering team took a clean-sheet approach with 5 mm to deliver an ultra-thin hard drive that enables a world of possibilities and applications for mobile computing and beyond."

WD designed the new WD Blue and WD Black 5 mm drives to enable new levels of device portability. The new drives are aimed to increase internal storage capacity while enabling it to fit into smaller device slots. In addition, the slimmer and more portable the device, the more vulnerable the hard drive is to user-induced stress. To battle this, WD has designed key enablers to the 5 mm form factor:

Ultra-slim Form Factor – 5 mm height with compact connector offers system designers a greater degree of chassis design freedom. This ultra-slim form factor reduces weight by up to 36 percent compared with a standard 9.5 mm drive.

Best-in-class Acoustics and Shock – WD's best-in-class acoustics use technologies that reduce noise when the drive is active or idle. The WD Blue and WD Black 5 mm drives deliver unprecedented operation and non-operation shock specifications with 400 G and 1000G, respectively. 

Edge Card Technology – WD designed the connector and board utilizing cell phone miniaturization technology to maximize the mechanical sway space in the hard drive and ensure shock performance.

Edge Card Connector – WD Blue 5 mm hard drives also feature the first application of a new small form factor SFF-8784 edge connector. This new connector receives power from and interfaces with the host I/O bus via the SATA interface connector SFF-8784.

StableTrac™ – The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking during read and write operations which enables consistently higher performance.

Dual Stage Actuator – Leading-edge enterprise dual stage actuators provide two actuators that improve positional accuracy over the data track(s). The primary actuator provides coarse displacement using conventional electromagnetic actuator principles. The secondary actuator uses piezoelectric motion to fine tune the head positioning to a higher degree of accuracy.

Price and Availability

Shipping today to select industrial distributors and OEM customers in 500 GB capacities, WD Blue 2.5-inch 5 mm hard drives, (model: WD5000MPCK) has a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $89.00 USD. WD Blue 2.5-inch 5 mm hard drives are covered by a two-year limited warranty. WD Black SSHD versions are currently shipping to OEM's and integrators with both WD proprietary hybrid technology and industry standard SATA I/O technology. More information on WD Blue 2.5-inch 5 mm hard drives may be found on the company's website at http://www.wd.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=800#tab11.

BeagleBone Black: Small, Cheap, Friendly and Smart

With BeagleBone Black, the next-generation offering from BeagleBoard.org, everyone from electronic artists to engineers has access to a ready-to-use, 1-GHz computer for only $45. This credit-card-sized, Linux computer is an open hardware and software development platform that makes it quick and easy to transform great ideas into products. BeagleBone Black allows developers to leverage the ideas and knowledge of the highly active and engaged users of the BeagleBoard.org community who support each other from concept through development. Opportunities for innovation are endless.

It’s all in the box
For only $45, BeagleBone Black includes all the necessary components in the box to connect a display, keyboard and network, providing a lower total cost of ownership than the nearest competitor and allowing for immediate development.

BeagleBone Black is based on the 1-GHz Sitara™ AM335x ARM® Cortex™-A8 processor from Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI). TI’s Sitara AM335x processor enhances the user experience by enabling an advanced graphical user interface and more than 2x higher performance than ARM11™-based solutions. BeagleBone Black includes 2GB of on-board storage to run pre-loaded Linux software, as well as a USBcable to power the board. Featuring USB, Ethernet and HDMIinterfaces, BeagleBone Black has the interfaces to connect to a wide variety of devices such as a mouse, keyboard or LCDdisplay. BeagleBone Black offers designers flexibility with expansion headers, including 65 digital I/Os, seven analog inputs and access to a variety of analog and digital peripherals.

Open-source software and hardware accelerate development time
BeagleBone Black is based on production-ready hardware and software, helping developers, makers, hobbyists and students around the world speed development time. In addition, all of the components on BeagleBone Black, including TI’s Sitara AM335x processor, are commercially available.

BeagleBone Black comes pre-loaded with a Linux operating system and Cloud9 IDE to kickstart development and keep the microSD slot available for additional storage. The software is optimized to help new users explore embedded Linux and become proficient quickly. The ecosystem includes free access to documentation, example code and mainline kernel support for other software distributions like Ubuntu, Android and Fedora. BeagleBone Black’s kernel and driver flexibility allows users to easily integrate new hardware and software.

More than 30 plug-in boards, called “capes” by the community, are compatible with BeagleBone Black, with more capes to come. Integrating BeagleBone Black with these capes—such as 3D printers, a DMX lighting controller, a Geiger counter, a telerobotic submarine, LCD touch screens and more—extends the functionality of the board to enable an even broader range of innovative projects and rapidly accelerate the development process.

Community engagement fosters innovation
The ticket to maximizing the full potential of BeagleBone Black is to tap into the wealth of information available in one of the most active communities in the industry, BeagleBoard.org. Interact with other developers to learn, answer questions, share ideas or just watch for inspiration. By utilizing the brilliant minds and contributions of open-source developers, BeagleBoard.org members can solve their development challenges quickly.

“With all you need to get started included in the box for only $45, BeagleBone Black is a fantastic platform for hardware hackers at a great value,” said engineer Limor Fried, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year and founder of Adafruit Industries. “BeagleBone Black and the BeagleBoard.org community can help almost any electronic artist—from beginner to professional developers—easily bring their unique project concepts to reality.”

Order yours today!
Do you have a creative project idea that can help change the world? Make it a reality by ordering BeagleBone Black now. A list of distributors is available at www.beagleboard.org/black. Initial quantities are limited. BeagleBone Black is expected to ship in volume by the end of May.

HTC, LG and Samsung Join Power Matters Alliance

HTC, LG and Samsung, global leaders in consumer electronics, have joined AT&T, Google and Starbucks in the Power Matters Alliance, marking a tenfold increase in membership in the past five months. The Power Matters Alliance (PMA) associated with a program of the IEEE Standards Association called Industry Connections is dedicated to creating an ecosystem and open standard for smart wireless power.

PMA is today the standard of choice for wireless charging in public places in the US. Over 1,500 charging spots have been deployed across a growing number of Starbucks coffee shops, airports and at iconic places like Madison Square Garden and The Garden State Plaza Mall. It was recently announced that Powerkiss, a European leader in wireless charging, is dropping the Qi standard in favor of PMA installations at their over 1,000 locations across European airports and train stations, soon to include McDonald's restaurants in Europe too.  

In recent months PMA has also enjoyed broad support on the device-side, with Blackberry, NEC, Texas Instruments, IDT, NXP, ZTE, Kyocera and accessory makers Incipio, Sketch and Otterbox all joining its ranks. This trend is expected to continue and intensify, following AT&T's announcement that they plan to have PMA-wireless charging integrated into their smartphone portfolio by 2014: "We want to welcome HTC, LG and Samsung to the PMA," said Jeff Howard, Vice President, Mobile Devices and Accessories at AT&T, and a PMA Board member. "AT&T fully supports the concept of an industry standard for wireless power. In an effort to move toward making this a reality for consumers worldwide and in direct support for the public ecosystem roll out led by Powermat, we have asked our device suppliers to integrate PMA-certified wireless charging solutions by 2014. In the meantime, we are working with them to deploy PMA-certified handsets and accessories as quickly as possible."

About the Power Matters Alliance

PMA was founded by Powermat Technologies and Procter & Gamble in 2012. Google's Vint Cerf – one of the fathers of the Internet – is its Honorary Chairman, and its board includes AT&T, Duracell, Starbucks and the US Government's Energy Star and Federal Communications Commission. A wide array of PMA-compliant products are available at leading retailers, and compatible 'wireless charging spots' have been installed at leading airports, stadiums, restaurants, gyms and hair salons. 

Membership of the PMA is open to all, and its technical specifications are available to all members.  For more information and to join the PMA visit www.powermatters.org.

Groundbreaking 7-inch Android Touchscreen Security and Home Control Platform.

Qolsys delivers the industry's most advanced, connected home control platform supporting life safety, residential security, home control, energy management and more.  Partnered with best-in-class technology providers, including Google's Android, Foxconn Technology Group, and Alarm.com, the Qolsys IQ Solution transforms yesterday's "self-contained" into today's "all-in-one". To see the IQ Panel in action, click here:  http://youtu.be/rjYrCjctRTA

Behind the first all-in-one 7-inch touchscreen is an open compute platform with intuitive applications, six wireless radios, and a built-in panel camera, delivering unprecedented levels of security and home control. The IQ panel supports the industry's first Intelligent dual path connectivity over cellular and broadband, enabling efficient transfer of data and seamless upgrade services with sophisticated failover and recovery capabilities. 

"The IQ panel sets a new standard in the industry by radically re-thinking the platform architecture," said David Pulling, Qolsys CEO. "The Android OS enables Qolsys to deliver features to end users and dealers such as an intuitive user interface, custom text to speech, language localization, and a foundation for future development leveraging the Android developer community." 

The IQ Panel's remote services are powered by Alarm.com, the industry's most reliable, advanced and comprehensive interactive services platform. The IQ panel is the first to support WiFi to the Alarm.com back-end and a built-in Alarm.com image sensor radio.

 

Hungry Moose Games And Green Throttle Games Unwrap New Puzzle IP

Hungry Moose Games together with Green Throttle Games is proud to announce the development of its first internally produced title, 9 Lives: Casey & Sphynx. The game follows the exploits of a misfit couple: Casey the security guard and Sphynx the stray cat with an attitude who risk their 9 lives on an archeological adventure. 9 Lives: Casey & Sphynx is a puzzle-based action adventure game for Android with particular focus on Green Throttle's new Atlas controller.

Based in a local museum showcasing the ancient Egyptian tomb of Bastet, you can play on your own or with a friend on the same screen and navigate the misfit duo through a maze of action-packed puzzles where death is sometimes the only option. Collect pieces of the idol of Bastet, which Casey smashed to reverse the age old curse and return the world to normal.  

"Hungry Moose Games is a new studio based in Edmonton, Canada put together by ex BioWare veterans and the young guns of games," said Ric Williams, Co-founder of Hungry Moose Games. "We are excited to develop our first title with Green Throttle. The challenge of making a game using the latest in hardware technologies that connect your Android device to a TV fits 9 Lives like a glove and we think gamers will love our misfit characters and device specific game play."

"We think the Hungry Moose team came up with a really fun concept for a game that will nicely take advantage of the Green Throttle experience," said Charles Huang, CEO of Green Throttle. "Playing local multiplayer on an Android tablet or through the TV will make you connect with Casey and Sphynx in a totally different way. We can't wait to see this one launch."

 

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Green Throttle™ Games Announces Consumer Availability Of Atlas Controllers And Demo Games For Free Arena App

Computer, Launch the Drone

Today CastleOS Software, LLC announces a new addition to its suite of home automation products, the SmartHawk™ home drone control software. SmartHawk gives homeowners the ability to control their own aerial drone to monitor and protect their property. No longer are drones only the purview of the government, now all property owners can have an exciting and affordable airborne addition to their home automation suite.

With patrol schedules and automated charging stations, your drone can stealthily fly a predetermined course around the perimeter of your property keeping lookout for unwanted visitors, and providing real-time weather data linked to your home's smart thermostat, making it so you that you can keep an eye in the sky and never have to touch the thermostat again!

The drone's HD and HD-IR cameras, digital microphone, and remote-uplink speaker allow for unparalleled flexibility in property monitoring, all from an easy-to-use Android or iOS application. Operating the drone is as simple as programming property boundaries into its onboard GPS Map, installing the easy-to-setup home drone launcher, and selecting a pre-programmed or custom watch pattern, such as "Dusk-to-Dawn" mode.    

Soon this feature will be expanded to support multi-drone swarms, allowing homeowners of large properties to use a network of SmartHawk drones operating in parallel to enlarge and overlap coverage, allowing the system to retain complete protection while individual units recharge.

SmartHawk joins CastleOS' existing advanced automation features DawnGuard™, NightShield™, EnergyEye™, PermaLight™, and others, and is fully integrated with CastleOS voice control system using Microsoft Kinect®. With CastleOS, launching your drone is as simple as saying, "Computer, launch the drone."

VIZIO Launches New Premium PC Line-Up with HD Touchscreens

VIZIO announced today the pricing and availability of its spring 2013 line-up of Windows 8 PCs, equipped with 10-finger capacitive touch displays on every new model and supported by outstanding picture quality and rich audio.  With select models now available for pre-order at VIZIO.com and on sale at MicrosoftStore.com, each Thin + Light and All-in-One model offers seamless touchscreen technology, powerful performance and premium entertainment enhancements for the ideal interactive Windows 8 experience.

Offering the top-of-the-line quad-core processors from both AMD (A10 APU) and Intel® (Core™ i7), the VIZIO Touch PC line-up boasts optimal performance in an exquisitely designed, premium PC.  Highlighted by 15.6" Full HD (starting at $1,189.99) and 14" HD+ (starting at $1,089.99) screen sizes, VIZIO's Thin + Light Touch models showcase an ultra-thin profile, multi-gesture touchscreen and increased battery capacity.  A standard voltage quad-core processor enables the Thin + Light Touch to perform like a desktop, but is conveniently mobile thanks to an ultra-thin chassis.

The All-in-One Touch PCs are also now available to consumers, offering 24" (starting at $1,279.99) and 27" ($1,549.99) screen size options. With stunning, Full HD 1080p touchscreen display, enhanced 2.1 audio system with subwoofer, remote control and dual HDMI inputs, the VIZIO All-in- One Touch PC delivers world-class entertainment and performance. An alluring design with sleek lines, wireless keyboard and multi-gesture touchpad, the All-in-One Touch is a marriage of beauty and functionality.

"To help VIZIO PC users unlock the ideal interactive Windows 8 experience, we have integrated touchscreen functionality across our entire spring PC line-up," said Matt McRae, Chief Technology Officer, VIZIO.  "With the launch of the new Touch PCs, we look forward to delivering enhanced performance and entertainment options to new VIZIO consumers."

AMD and Intel processor options for the 24" All-in-One Touch, 14" and 15.6" Thin + Light Touch PCs allow consumers to select a model that best meshes with their lifestyle. The latest AMD high-performance A10 quad-core APU with Radeon™ HD graphics is ideal for serious multi-taskers or gamers, armed to deliver strikingly rich visuals and immersive gaming experience, while the third-generation Intel® Core ™ i7 quad-core processor with Intel Turbo Boost Technology focuses on high-performance, tackling the most demanding tasks, supporting all the applications with extra speed and maximum power.

Beyond the sleek design and processing power, VIZIO continues to leverage its HDTV background with brilliant picture quality, high contrast and wider viewing angles, a staple of the Touch PCs. An expertly-tuned SRS Premium Sound HD™ audio system, a DTS technology, delivers rich audio quality, complementing superior visuals with deep, resonant sound to get the most out of music, movies, games and more.

Each Touch PC features upgraded Wi-Fi with 802.11ac, making VIZIO one of the first PC OEMs to deliver advanced technology. About three times faster than standard 802.11n, consumers are now able to stream HD content not only faster, but smoother via their Touch PC.

To further ensure a premium consumer experience, VIZIO once again delivers the only PC line-up fully equipped with Microsoft Signature for Windows and backed by award-winning VIZIO Customer Support. By eliminating junk ware and offering a meticulous configuration, built-in world-class security software and 90 days free Microsoft Signature support from Microsoft, VIZIO Touch PC users will fully enjoy Windows 8.

Consumers can now pre-order select VIZIO Touch PC models on VIZIO.com and purchase the 15.6" Touch Thin + Light (CT15T-B1) and 24" Touch All-in-One (CA24T-B0) at MicrosoftStore.com.