Live from CES 2011: Regulators boot Scosche iPad dash mount into the backseat

Scosche iPad

Scosche's front double din iPad mount will apparently never make it to market due to legal concerns. However, their new rear seat mount will. iPads continue to be a sought after solution for in-vehicle computing.

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OLPC jumps ARM bandwagon with $165 laptop at CES

OLPC 1.75 at CES

One Laptop Per Child, the outfit dedicated to bringing affordable computers to children in developing countries, became the latest name to jump on the ARM bandwagon as it demonstrated the latest version of its portable PC at the Consumer Electronics Show 2011 in Las Vegas.

The organisation's new XO-1.75 laptop uses an ARM-based 1GHz Armada 610 chip from Marvell Technology. It has an 8.9-inch touchscreen and uses just two watts of power - half the figure consumed by its x86-based predecessor, the XO.

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Can you feel the noose, Apple? Android gains against flat US iPhone market share

Noose

What do the US market share leaders for cell phones and smartphone operating systems have in common? Android.

Yesterday, ComScore released September to November US mobile subscriber market share. Yes, I initially thought to cover it then, but there was simply too much news from the first official day of the Consumer Electronics Show. So here we are a day later.

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Google admits that, for some, Android is misdirecting texts

Android

Google admitted this week that an issue with how the Android OS handles contacts and text messaging is causing phones to sometimes randomly send or misdirect SMS messages to the wrong users. The issue was first reported in late June of last year, but was not confirmed as a legitimate bug until now.

Engineers have been able to recreate the issue, and now say that they believe the problems stem from two different issues with the Android OS. That said, the company stressed occurrences of the bug are rare, and a fix for the problem has been developed and would be released soon.

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Mac App Store tops 1 million downloads during first 24 hours

Mac App Store Featured

Apple just won't let it go. While the rest of the industry is focused on the Consumer Electronics Show (Apple isn't there), the company keeps trying to steal other tech vendors' thunder. ;-) First, Apple launched the Mac App Store on CES 2011 Day 1. Now it's announced that Mac users downloaded 1 million apps within the first 24 hours. Yeah, but how many people paid?

"We're amazed at the incredible response the Mac App Store is getting," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. "Developers have done a great job bringing apps to the store and users are loving how easy and fun the Mac App Store is."

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The ancient art of printing gets a game changer

Memjet printer prototype

Memjet, the printer design company headed by former Qualcomm COO Len Lauer, made its first major partnership announcements at CES 2011 yesterday, and its staggeringly fast inkjet printers will be brought to market by Lenovo in China, WEP in India, and Kpowerscience in Taiwan. North America and Europe are sure to follow.

Why should you care about Memjet? Because most of the big announcements coming from printer companies in recent years have revolved around advances in printer communication and broadened functionality. It isn't often that a disruptive technology comes along and results in a different kind of printer.

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Mac App Store already a target for hackers and piraters

Mac App Store

Just a day after Apple launched the Mac App Store to generally positive reviews, reports that the copy protection may have been hacked have begun to surface. In addition, several developers may have improperly secured their apps, making the pirator's job that much easier.

A group calling itself "Hackulous" said that it has developed a program called Kickback which circumvents the DRM methods used by Apple. However, the group is holding off public release of the application until the Mac App Store builds a larger library.

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5 things you should learn from CES 2011

CES 2011

Today may officially be Day 2 of the Consumer Electronics Show, but, based on vendor announcements, it's really the fifth day. CES has a few lessons for those who live and breath tech, whether they work in the industry or follow it as analysts, bloggers, investors or journalists.

1. Rumors are often false. I shouldn't have to state this. Short of a reliable gadget blog/news site getting hands on a verifiably-authentic photo or video of something new -- or actual product -- rumors can't be trusted. The more general or speculative, the more likely to lead nowhere.

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Apple's Mac App Store fundamentally changes PC software usage rights

Mac App Store Logo

Earlier today, Apple officially launched its application store for Macintosh, with about 1,000 free and paid applications available. Snow Leopard users download the Mac OS X 10.6.6 update, and the store is included. But people using the software are in for a change. Consumers typically buy software by machine. Those people buying from the Mac App Store purchase by person. The software is attached to an identity. This is a dramatic departure from how consumer software is typically licensed.

Licensing agreements typically restrict installation on one PC, sometimes two or even three. If a consumer goes into a store and buys, say, Microsoft Office, the purchase ultimately is tied to a computer. For years, Microsoft took machine purchases on trust, but in 2001 added product activation to Office and later Windows. Office 2011 is the first Mac version of the productivity suite to require product activation, which essentially locks the software to a computer. Not a person. Similarly, when a new PC ships with Windows, the license is tied to the machine not the buyer.

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Qualcomm's Mirasol full color e-reader display, one year later

Mirasol low-power MEMS display for e-readers, in a proof-of-concept built by Qualcomm.  [Courtesy Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, Inc.]

At CES 2010, Qualcomm made a surprise unveiling of a full-color e-reader display technology called Mirasol that utilized a new reflective technology called IMOD (Interferrometric Modulation) that gave it the color and refresh of an LCD screen, but with the sunlight viewability and low battery consumption of e-paper. At CES 2011, the screen still hasn't been employed in any e-readers yet, but it isn't far from being a reality.

Though Qualcomm couldn't tell me today who will be utilizing the technology in an e-reader/tablet, nor could they say when it should be expected, but judging by the company's readiness to let the public handle its protoype version --as opposed to last year's model, which was only viewed on appointment, and still couldn't be touched-- and time in development, a product offering the unique display should be in the channel this year.

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Hands-on with RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook, Sprint 4G not included

BlackBerry PlayBook

Research in Motion's 7" BlackBerry PlayBook slate/tablet made its first official appearance back in September, and today at CES 2011, it's gotten its first 4G U.S. carrier partner, Sprint, and has gone on display for the public to touch.

Of course, what the public can do with the Playbook today is still very limited. You cannot, in fact, pick up the device, as it's attached to the display stand. However, you can swipe through the QNX-crafted interface, open up a few apps and demonstrations, use the browser, and develop a general longing for a deeper experience.

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Motorola's Atrix bends the definition of mobile computing

Atrix 4G

Motorola Mobility's Atrix Android smartphone, announced separately by both AT&T and Motorola yesterday, is drawing crowds on the CES showfloor today. After talking to Motorola and getting some solid hands-on time with it, I can say it's an easy contender for the best announcement of the show.

The Atrix is not so much a smartphone as a dockable cloud computer, and without its impressive feature-enhancing docks, could have easily gone unnoticed against the dozens of tablet announcements coming from CES this year. Because without these docks, it would just be another Android smartphone; albeit one with mind-bending specs.

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Skype buys video service Qik in $100 million deal

Qik logo

Skype said Thursday that it had acquired streaming video service Qik for an undisclosed amount, believed to be around $100 million USD. The VoIP provider says it plans to use Qik's technology to enhance its own video calling functionality.

Qik was founded in 2006 and is compatible with about 200 phones across several platforms including the iOS, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile platforms. The company has also struck several partnerships to have its applications come preloaded on select devices.

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Olympus woos enthusiasts, photo pros with XZ-1 and PEN E-PL2 digicams

Olympus XZ-1

Olympus announced two new cameras at the Consumer Electronics Show, and, man, are they hot -- the diminutive XZ-1 and classy PEN E-PL2. Both cameras should appeal to enthusiasts and to pro photographers looking to carry a lighter kit. Honey, get the credit card. I want both.

The XZ-1 is Olympus' response to other high-end compacts, such as the Canon S95, Nikon Coolpix P7000, and Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 (I got the Lumix DMC-ZS7 for Christmas; get the gift receipt because it's going back for refund). These cameras generally pack high-end features, such as big-aperture lenses and RAW-capture capability. The XZ-1's f/1.8 lens is remarkable in a compact and will let in lots of light (the PowerShot S95 is f/2.0) for shooting in dimly-lit areas or for better producing the bokeh, or background blur effect, popular for portrait photography. Perhaps more than any other feature, the lens distinguishes the XZ-1 from other high-end compacts.

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Apple opens doors to Mac App Store

Mac App Store

Aiming to provide Mac users with a one-stop shop for basic applications, Apple on Thursday launched the Mac App Store. Much like its sister App Store for the iOS platform, the offering allows users to purchase and install applications from a single place.

Currently about 1,000 apps are available for download, ranging in price from free to as much as $79.99 for Apple's Aperture 3 product. Indeed, Apple is committing itself to the product, offering the Pages, Keynote, and Numbers applications from its iWork suite and the GarageBand, iMovie, and iPhoto apps from iLife '11 for individual download.

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