Find Our Latest Video Reviews on YouTube!
If you want to stay on top of all of our video reviews of the latest tech, be sure to check out and subscribe to the Gear Live YouTube channel, hosted by Andru Edwards! It’s free!
Latest Gear Live Videos
CES 2007 Video: Shure Gives Us A Look At Their New SE210, SE310, SE420, and SE530 Earbuds
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: CES, CES 2007, Features, Music, Portable Audio / Video, Videocasts, Videos,
We were able to stop by Shure’s booth at CES Unveiled, where Chris Lyons gave us a look at their newly announced line of in-ear headphones. Focusing on sound isolation, the four new models aim to heighten your listening experience through keeping outside noises away, letting you hear all the details of the music. We have the details of each product after the jump, along with the interview in the video above.
Here's how to get the show:|Download| - iPod-formatted H.264
|Download| - Apple TV High Resolution
|Download| - MPEG-4
|Download| - Windows Media
Gallery: CES 2007 Video: Shure Gives Us A Look At Their New SE210, SE310, SE420, and SE530 Earbuds
Advertisement
CES 2007: Asus W5Fe Notebook First With SideShow, Not Sure Why
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: CES, CES 2007, Features, Microsoft,
One of Vista’s new features, in addition to superior power and boot management for notebooks, is the SideShow add-on. Asus’ W5Fe is the first to include the technology: An externally visible, cover-mounted display that sits quietly, looking forlorn while displaying information to you “at a glance” and asking you why you don’t just open it up and use the computer proper. (“Battery and convenience,” you say, trying to comfort it.) “I feel like you’re taking me for granted; toiling all day to provide you with occasional weather and email updates, on a tiny screen that should make you smile, but only makes you wax quizzical, curious and questioning how you ever let the salesman talk you into this upgrade.”
“We’ve had this discussion before, SideShow. I appreciate that I can play simple games and check RSS feeds and emails from you. I just wish that you would do something truly useful, like send this data to my cell phone.”
Fortunately, the SideShow platform allows for such possibilities, but until someone makes use of it, having an external display for something like this just seems silly, and the Asus W5Fe probably knows it.
Gallery: CES 2007: Asus W5Fe Notebook First With SideShow, Not Sure Why
CES 2007: Duracell PowerFM iPod Battery & Radio Brick
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: Accessories, Apple, CES, CES 2007, Features, Portable Audio / Video,
The Duracell PowerFM package is a simple lithium-ion battery expander for your iPod nano or video. It will easily double the battery life for your device, but includes a few cool features that set it apart from similar products in the market already. As per its name, it includes an integrated FM transmitter, that allows you to specify which frequency you wish to transmit on. It also includes a pass-through dock and headphone port on the bottom of it, so you can still use other iPod accessories or charge it in a normal charger/docking station (if its able to accommodate the extra depth). Oh, and they throw in a silicone case for the hell of it, to keep your nano shiny and fresh. My only real gripe with the design is that its emblazoned with DURACELL’s copper-top logo, both on the front of the device itself, and on the FM configuration screen itself. It seems to detract a bit from the cool, minimalistic Apple approach, while turning you into a walking battery ad at the same time. Still, integrating FM transmission into a significantly expanded battery life for just $79 is a nice touch. Available now.
Read More 
| Duracell Direct
Gallery: CES 2007: Duracell PowerFM iPod Battery & Radio Brick
CES 2007: Gennum nX6000 Noise-Cancelling Bluetooth Headset
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: Accessories, Smartphones, CES, CES 2007, Features,
Gennum showed off their newest “extreme noise cancellation” Bluetooth headset, the nX6000. The headset is comfortable and incredibly small and light. It doesn’t protrude downward at all from your ear, but maintains some pretty intense, advanced-DSP-based noise cancellation. It’ll be available by Q2 of this year and will cost $129.99. With 6 hours talk time and 90 hours standby, it looks to be a nifty solution for using a headset in a very noisy place, or even just on the freeway.
Gallery: CES 2007: Gennum nX6000 Noise-Cancelling Bluetooth Headset
CES 2007: Fastap Digit Wireless Text Entry
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: Smartphones, CES, CES 2007, Features,
Digit Wireless was also present at CES Unveiled, showing off their innovative approach to cramming a full alphabetic key-set on a regular phone keypad called Fastap. If you haven’t seen it already, (it’s available on several LG phones, including the LG AX490) the alpha keys are placed as raised buttons in between the numeric keypad digits. The design is intelligent in that, if you try to mash down, say, five of the buttons at once, only the center key will be pressed. It’s pretty intuitive, and works with T9. It’s a pretty nice solution for budget phones that don’t have the complexity for a swivel qwerty-style keyboard, but nothing we haven’t seen before.
Gallery: CES 2007: Fastap Digit Wireless Text Entry
CES 2007: InFusion Pointless Portable Internet Radio Device
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: CES, CES 2007, Features, Portable Audio / Video,
Torian Wireless showed us their InFusion portable internet radio device, for those of you who cannot get enough of… well… I don’t really know anyone who listens to internet radio with any regularity. The InFusion supports SD/MMC cards and can play MP3, AAC and OGG, along with a built-in FM radio. Its raison d’état, of course, is internet radio and as such, it has 802.11b (yes, b) support to play back internet radio wherever a Wifi access point exists. It allows for time-shift recording and scheduled recordings, but as far as I’m concerned, podcasts handle this behavior a lot more gracefully, and internet radio is really rather stumbling around and looking for its place. The device itself was a bit awkward, and felt like another also-ran late-coming MP3 player with a low contrast screen that should do a hell of a lot more for the $229.99 asking price. But maybe it’ll find its place in Torian’s native Australian. I’ll be honest: I’m really not sure about internet radio penetration here or abroad.
Gallery: CES 2007: InFusion Pointless Portable Internet Radio Device
CES 2007: Avega Aios Networked Audio Platform
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: CES, CES 2007, Features, Home Entertainment, Wireless / WiFi,
Avega Systems was at CES Unveiled tonight, showing off their Aios Networked Audio Platform. The concept is simple and eloquent: Wi-fi enabled speakers that allow for synchronized playback of music or any other audio source, throughout your house. It sounds a bit like Sonos, and it has its similarities. However, the Aios system is a hardware platform, and Avega won’t be manufacturing their own speaker systems. Instead, they’re working with several different speaker manufacturers, and you’ll likely see Aios-capable speakers in retail channels by mid- this year. Better yet? They say that you’ll see two- and four-speaker sets in the sub $200 range.
The Aios platform includes software that allows you to configure your Aios speakers. The system is intuitive—if you add speakers to an existing setup, the software will detect them and let you create a profile for them. Each speaker attaches to the network with its own IP address, and elects a “leader.” One of the points that stand out with the Aios system is the incredibly low latency—under 5 ms, which allows for distributed real time DVD playback and gaming, along with some innovative UPnP capabilities, that allow for streaming audio through other devices, like your cell phone, without an active PC on the network.
Some very cool things to look for, and hopefully a relatively affordable, customizable and easily expandable distributed audio solution for your house.
Gallery: CES 2007: Avega Aios Networked Audio Platform
CES 2007: JVC High Definition Everio GZ-HD7
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cameras, CES, CES 2007, Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment,
JVC has just given out the details on their HD Everio camcorder. Recording at a full 1920 x 1080i resolution, the GZ-HD7 Everio outputs at a full 1:1 pixel ratio to high definition displays, which in turn results in an even higher quality image. The camera also features three 1/5-inch CCDs, USB 2.0, iLink / FireWire / IEEE 1394, and HDMI. Everios are also known for their built-in hard drives, allowing for tapeless recording. This one doesn’t disappoint, as it includes a 60 GB hard drive - not a ton of storage for recording 1080i video, but definitely enough for the average consumer/prosumer. This all comes to you at the price of $1,799.95 USD, and is scheduled for an April 2007 release.
UPDATE: Check out our video look at the JVC Everio GZ-HD7.
Gallery: CES 2007: JVC High Definition Everio GZ-HD7
CES 2007: Waterproof iPod Speaker Set
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: Accessories, CES, CES 2007, Features, Portable Audio / Video,
H20Audio has a waterproof case for your iPod, so that you can go snorkling or swim laps at your leisure, with your iPod in tow. Atlantic Inc. showed us their EGO Waterproof Sound Case—A floating, waterproof iPod hard case that includes built-in speakers, driven by four AAs (30 hours of playback time). It floats! And its silicon membrane allows you to control the click wheel with relative ease, straight from the bathtub. Oh, and the speakers spit water up as they bump to your… mad tunes. Or something. It sounded pretty cool, and it would be a fun addition to the above-ground pool behind your friend’s house that he got from Sam’s Club on discount, in its quirky way. It fits the iPod nano, and the 4th and 5th gen iPods, with inserts that allow you to get a nice, snug fit for each. Available for $130-ish. Soon-ish.
Gallery: CES 2007: Waterproof iPod Speaker Set
CES 2007: Zune Wireless: In The Wild!
Posted by Sparky Categories: CES, CES 2007, Features, Music, Portable Audio / Video, Wireless / WiFi,
Here at Gear Live we got our Zune‘s at the official launch in November of 2006, and have been eagerly awaiting our first “in the wild” sighting of another Zune to try the wireless features outside of a “test scenario.”
Now don’t get us wrong, we love the Zune, but market adoption has been rather slow - but today in the SeaTac airport on our way to CES we encountered “ALIENSPAWNER” and had a chance to transfer a few tracks back and forth. Hit the jump for a picture of him with our Zune.
Click to continue reading CES 2007: Zune Wireless: In The Wild!
