Vizio’s Portable Smart Audio players run Android, play from built-in streaming apps

Don’t call it a wireless speaker. Though Vizio’s new Portable Smart Audio players are capable of streaming music over WiFi and Bluetooth, that’s not how they were meant to be used. Rather, these guys have Android KitKat built in, along with a quad-core processor, allowing you to play music and video off any app you choose. Basically, then, you can bypass the streaming altogether — a setup that’s potentially easier to use, and maybe more reliable, too. And because both players have access to the Google Play store, you don’t have to worry about whether Pandora, Netflix, et cetera come pre-loaded.

Available with 7- and 4.7-inch screens, the little guy is obviously more portable (think: 3.6 pounds versus 8.8). To be fair, the bigger model does have a built-in handlebar, making it easier to carry, but you’ll still probably want to put it in the backseat the next time you’re on your way to a beach party. At the same time, the 7-inch model brings bigger drivers and a bigger set of passive radiators, allowing the player to get down to a lower frequency of 60Hz. Believe us when we say the difference is noticeable — the larger version definitely has a thumpier sound than the 4.7-incher, which goes down to 80Hz. No word on pricing (or battery life, for that matter), but we imagine all will be revealed before these go on sale — whenever that happens.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video

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Blue Microphones looks to tackle headphone hi-fi audio woes with Mo-Fi

Blue Microphones have long been the choice of podcasters and recording pros for capturing audio both in-studio and on the go. Now, the audio outfit is looking to tackle hi-fi mobile listening with an effort it’s calling Mo-Fi. The company says that “true mobile high fidelity” is what Mo-Fi brings to the table with a line of products coming in spring 2014. “The market is plenty crowded with lo-fi headphones for our mobile devices. But classic hi-fi headphones are too power-hungry for our mobile devices. We are ready for the next innovation in headphones and the market is ready now too,” said John Maier, CEO of Blue. Unfortunately, that’s about all the detail Blue is spilling at this point, so we’ll have to wait to hear more on the gadgets and the hi-fi… er, Mo-Fi tech that’ll power ‘em. There’s a teaser video after the break that flaunts what a appears to be a set of headphones, but that’s the only tidbit we have to go on right now. You can, however, click over to the source link below for product previews as they arrive.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video

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Source: Blue Microphones

Broadcom’s new WiFi chips aim to keep your video streams flowing

All that hardware strewn throughout your crib is only as good as the sum of its parts. Broadcom is one of the firms bent on evolving those parts, and today at CES the company’s introducing two new chips that’ll pervade the tech of 2014 (even though you likely won’t know it). First up is the BCM43569 (2×2 MIMO), which blends 5G WiFi, aka 802.11ac, and Bluetooth 4.1 standards with a USB 3.0 interface. The combo SoC is intended for the next-generation of smart TVs and set-top boxes, allowing simultaneous WiFi / BT connections to other devices and ensuring solid video streaming performance in your airwave-saturated home.

The BCM43602 (3×3 MIMO) 5G WiFi chip, which instead uses a PCI Express interface, is destined for future routers and set-top boxes. It, too, is slated to improve the reliability of video streaming over 802.11ac by assuming the brunt of wireless processing work usually executed by those products’ internal CPUs. Both new chips also support beamforming for maintaining stronger connections, and are available for OEMs to play with right now.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Wireless, HD

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Alcatel’s 4-inch Bluetooth e-reader will offer a more portable reading experience

Alcatel doesn’t just show up to trade shows with phones, it also likes to come with a handful of clever accessories (regardless of whether they’re final products or just prototypes) as well. At this year’s CES, the TCL-owned manufacturer showed off a 4-inch e-reader called the Magic Flip, which connects to your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth. It’s incredibly small, thin and light, and is meant to be a companion to your daily driver — as long as it’s made by Alcatel, that is. The Magic Flip is exactly what you’d expect it to be: a pocket-friendly e-book reader capable of receiving notifications from your phone. The E Ink reader, company reps tell us, is supposed accept every standard e-book format, which theoretically should make it pretty easy to transfer books back and forth. In terms of hardware, it offers three capacitive buttons underneath the display, consisting of backwards, forwards and home buttons. Since the demo unit we played with did not feature final firmware and was prone to quite a few bugs, we weren’t able to navigate the user interface outside a basic demo page. Still, the Magic Flip makes its way to the market in the next few months, and even though it will likely appeal to only a small number of people, we appreciate a smartphone maker that’s at least thinking outside the box and taking risks.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Vizio finally intros its first Haswell PCs, with Iris Pro graphics and 802.11ac WiFi

At this point, we wouldn’t be surprised if Intel used CES as an opportunity to talk up its next-generation laptop processors, due out later this year. That said, you’ll still find the rare company that’s just getting around to releasing models with Haswell. Vizio has belatedly refreshed both its 15.6-inch Thin + Light and its 24-inch all-in-one, both of which now come standard with fourth-generation, quad-core Core i7 processors, 1080p touchscreens, 802.11ac WiFi and Intel’s Iris Pro graphics — the same kind used in Apple’s latest iMacs.

Other than that, these have the same designs as the PCs Vizio showed off at least year’s CES, which is to say they have all-metal bodies and flat keyboards with closely arranged buttons. As always, too, these come with zero bloatware installed, just like if you bought it from Microsoft itself. No word yet on pricing or availability, but you should know this: 15.6 and 24 inches are it as far as screen sizes go. That’s right, the 14-inch laptop and 27-inch all-in-one are no más, so don’t bother waiting for any refreshes there.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

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Wilson Electronics’ new 4G signal booster doesn’t care about carriers

Wilson Electronics is only interested in one thing: boosting cellular signals for those starved of bars. The company’s also quite fond of Vegas, and for the third year running has made the trip to CES with fresh hardware in tow. Previously, Wilson’s boosters have been able to enhance the signal from a couple of carriers at the most, but the new DT4G doesn’t care what device you’re using, nor which network bills you at the end of the month — all it cares about is making sure you’ve got all the 4G, 3G or 2G airwaves you need. It’s touted as the very first carrier-agnostic booster, and will be ready to cling to walls “soon” for around $400.

Filed under: Misc, Wireless, Mobile

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Vizio’s HDTV plans for 2014 focus on Ultra HD, in sizes going all the way up to 120 inches

We took a peek at Vizio’s CES 2014 booth and came away impressed with not only its current mainstream HDTV lines, but also what it’s planning for the future. The current E- and M-series are rolling out now with features like smart apps (cribbed from its Co-Star LT platform) and local LED dimming backlighting that are usually reserved for higher end HDTVs. It’s also readying a number of new audio products, from those Android-packing Bluetooth speakers to its current soundbars and even an upcoming sound plate device that you can sit your TV on. Still, the models we think most will be the most interested in are Vizio’s upcoming Ultra HD televisions.

The P-Series holds its mainstream approach, with 64 zones of LED backlighting and built-in CPU with two CPU cores and four GPU cores in sizes of 50-, 55-, 60-, 65- and 70-inches. The custom Vizio design handles all the processing and per-pixel tuning needed to work at that high resolution, and the TVs even support the latest wireless tech like 802.11ac, and 4K streaming from sources like Amazon and Netflix when it’s available. Vizio’s most striking assault however, is planned at the extreme high end with its Reference Series. Consisting of two models — a 65- and 120-inch version — they promise all the features of the others, plus an upgraded 384 zones of local dimming, Dolby HDR tech for unprecedented lighting and color quality, and an integrated 5.1 soundbar (with wireless subwoofer). We don’t have prices or release dates for Vizio’s 4K ready TV lineup yet, but the company reminds us of its groundbreaking pricing history. That’s enough to have us interested and thinking these may be some of the first cheap Ultra HD TVs worth purchasing — assuming they debut in the second half of the year as planned.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Vizio CES

Harman integrates Google Glass into smart mirror concept, eyes safer driving with wearables

Automakers and in-car infotainment outfits have begun to make a play for Google Glass alongside vehicles and tech. Hyundai has already outed plans for using Google’s headset for unlocking doors, and now Harman is looking to enhance driver safety with the device. At CES, the audio and infotainment company will show off its advanced driver assistance services (ADAS) engine, One Harman, integrated with Glass. The smart mirror concept leverages the ADAS tech and cameras in order to analyze real-time data, map lanes and calculate potential road hazards. Warnings and alerts can then be sent directly to the driver’s headset, allowing the focus to remain on the open highway. Of course, Harman will still have to sell lawmakers on the new safety regimen before it can become a mainstay.

Filed under: Transportation, Wearables

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