Posted 01/13/10 at 07:35:28 AM by Paul Lilly

Maybe the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) was just being pessimistic, but whatever the reason, the organization behind CES was expecting a drop in attendance this year. They were wrong.

In 2009, 113,085 people flocked to CES. This year, that number jumped by about 7,000 attendees.

"At show close, preliminary registration figures indicate more than 120,000 industry professionals attended the 2010 International CES," the CEA said in an email.

Other stats include more than 2,500 companies showing off their wares, which is actually a decline of 2,700 from 2009, or more than half. If there's a bright spot, however, it's that there were "a record 330 new exhibitors," the CEA said.

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Posted 01/06/10 at 09:45:54 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

The Microsoft Keynote has started! Click the image below to jump into the conversation and follow along with tonight's announcements!

Read on to follow along with our keynote liveblog!

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Posted 01/06/10 at 07:00:00 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

This week, we're here in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. We'll be reporting about new PC hardware and gadgets from the show floor, various press conferences, and private meetings. As you can tell from out CES landing page, there have been plenty of product announcements before the convention floor has even opened its doors. We'll be getting our hands on these and more devices for photos and hands-on impressions. In addition to cutting edge gadgets like netbooks and mobile phones, we'll also be keeping tabs on the latest in system-building components. You can keep track of all of our CES 2010 coverage by clicking this link or the banner below.

Stay tuned for our Microsoft Keynote liveblog and more event coverage!

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Posted 01/04/10 at 07:51:56 AM by Paul Lilly

CES is just around the corner, and that means lots of new product announcements and sneak peeks at upcoming projects. The excitment can be too much to contain, and in some cases, that means catching a glimpse at what's in store even before the annual convention kicks off, whether intentional or not. Take Lenovo, for instance, whose "New product showcase" page reveals half a dozen new laptops scheduled to go on sale starting January 5th-7th.

Kicking off the new lineup is theThinkPad Edge, a sleek 13.3-inch ultraportable with a spill-resistant keyboard, dual-core processor, up to 7.8 hours of battery life, three USB ports, and "clean lines with color and finish options." This one will go on sale January 5th.

So too will the ThinkPad X100e ultraportable, which sports an 11.6-inch HD display and weighs less than 3 pounds. It will come equipped with an AMD processor and boast corporate OS support and "robust warranty options."

Other upcoming models, each of which is slated to go on sale January 7th, include the ThinkPad T410s (14.1-inch, up to Intel Core i5 processor), ThinkPad T410 and T510 (up to Intel Core i7), ThinkPad W510 (up to Intel Core i5), and ThinkCentre A70z desktop (19-inch display).

No word yet on pricing.

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Posted 12/28/09 at 07:05:38 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Are you hoping this whole 3D TV thing will just blow over? Well, if the newest rumor turns out to be true, that’s looking less likely. According to everyone’s favorite, the “unnamed source”, DirecTV will be making an announcement at CES indicating their intention to begin broadcasting 3D high definition content as early as March of 2010.

The rumor also says that the 3D content will require only a firmware update on existing set-top boxes to access the 3D content. Still in question is what sort of goofy-looking glasses people would need to wear. The 3D channel will reportedly offer an assortment of sports, movies, and TV series. All content should meet the recently agreed upon 3D specifications.  The 3D video will require customers to buy one of the new 3D capable HDTVs expected to debut at CES, and new HDMI 1.4 specification cables.

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Posted 12/28/09 at 07:52:24 AM by Paul Lilly

Touchscreen digital cameras are all the rage (just ask any teenage girl who's seen Ashton Kutcher pimping a Nikon Coolpix), and while that isn't new territory for Samsung, the company's upcoming CL80 boasts a few new tricks.

Electronista describes the CL80 as "Samusng's first real connected camera," which points to the model's Wi-Fi connectivity to upload photos to Facebook, Flickr, Photobox, and Picasa without having to sync up with a PC.

The CL80 will also sport a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen display with haptic feedback, a 14MP sensor, a 7X wide-angle lens, and hardware image stabilization. And of course it will come ready to take H.264 videos at up to 720p.

No word yet on price or a projected release date, both of which are likely to be revealed during CES next month.

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Posted 12/16/09 at 12:00:40 PM by Paul Lilly

It took Microsoft's Zune HD player to really showcase what Tegra was capable of, and rather than wait for other devices to do the same, Nvidia appears ready to move forward and announce Tegra 2 next month at CES.

"At CES we are going to make a major announcement about the Tegra family," said Micheal Hara, senior vice president of investor relations and communications at Nvidia. "It is highly possible that we will see some very interesting form factors coming out at the same time. [There will be products] shown by our partners using the next-generation Tegra device."

Hara went on to promise that partners will be rolling out Tegra 2-based tablet PCs, smartbooks, netbooks, and MIDs throughout the first half of next year, followed by major roll-outs of smartphones in the second half of 2010.

There isn't a lot known about Tegra 2 at this point, but if we're to take high-ranking Nvidia officials at their word, we can expect Tegra 2 to be at least twice as powerful as its predecessor. The system-on-chip (SoC) will feature a dual-core ARM GPGPU and other powerful graphics technologies yet to be announced.

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Posted 12/08/09 at 04:47:51 PM by Paul Lilly

Bummed that there's no such thing as an LTE (Long Term Evolution) router? Don't be, because ZyXEL, the China-based maker of various networking gear, today announced the ZLR-2070S, laying claim to the world's first LTE CPE/SOHO router.

"ZyXEL is excited to lead the LTE revolution by bringing innovative solutions to service providers," said Brian Feng, senior VP, Key accounts business unit for ZyXEL. "We are proud to offer service providers the ability to bring wireless high speed Internet access to millions, including those in under-served markets."

The new device comes with two VoIP ports, home networking capabilities via a four-port, 802.11n wireless switch, a USB port for printer sharing and storage devices, and data rates up to 50Mbps.

No word yet on price or availability, but ZyXEL did say it plans to demo the new unit during CES next month.

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