Month: January 2013

More unlicensed spectrum coming soon, says FCC chairman

9 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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Tired of slow WiFi at the airport.

Julius Genachowski is a popular guy at CES today. The FCC chairman announced that the commission is moving ahead with freeing up spectrum that's currently assigned to government agencies for WiFi and other unlicensed uses.

“This is unlicensed spectrum. This is in 5 GHz. It's time to move to do it,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do with federal agencies that have this spectrum. We're moving forward with it and we're going to work out the problems as we go.… More

Headset turns thought into deed

8 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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Taking flight on wings of fancy.

The ultimate input and control method is a direct connection to your brain. NeuroSky has just such a device on the market. It's a reasonably sleek headset that reads your alpha and beta brain waves, and then translates the readings into commands that are passed on to whatever you're trying to control.

Their breakout product last year was the Necomimi – fuzzy cat ears that attach to the headset and then move up or down or wiggle according to your mood.… More

Home automation winners at Showstoppers


A joule of an idea.

The essence of genius is turning complex and confusing concepts into elegant simplicity. The Energy Joule manages the trick of taking your home's energy usage, benchmarking it against often byzantine electric utility rate pricing and distilling the result down to a simple glowing light.

Ambient Devices sells it to electric utilities, who in turn provide it to their customers. The idea is to give instant, easy to understand information about what it's costing to keep the lights and everything else on, so consumers can keep their bills down and utilities can spread out their load.… More

Taking the fun out of hide and seek

8 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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At least it isn't Big Brother watching.

Parents don't particularly want young kids to have mobile phones. But they do want the convenience of reaching them at any time. And, apparently, they want to be able to track their whereabouts 24/7.

At least that's the idea behind the Vivo Play, a mobile phone and location tracker from Evado Filip that was on display at the Showstoppers press event at CES tonight. It looks like a wristwatch.… More

Lowes executes a home automation play

8 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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Presumptive retailing.

“It's our fault – technology and business models – we just haven't gotten it right,” said Kevin Meagher, vice president and general manager for the smart home segment at Lowes. The problem isn't consumers, who readily accept automation. “It's in our cars and none of us would buy one without it. The hurdle is getting it into the home,” he said.

Meagher was speaking at the Parks Associates Connections Summit at CES this afternoon.… More

Rap star aiming to be the next tech rock star

8 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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“Actually, music is harder.”

“Hell yes, it's a good time to be an entrepreneur. I don't want to be a rapper anymore,” said will.i.am, founder and chairman of i.am.plus and, incidentally, a music icon. “I don't want to make money, I want to make change.”

His passion for solving problems and creating opportunities was shared by the other panelists this morning at CES's Next Generation of Innovators keynote panel.

“What's cool about the world now is that you can build something that millions of people use, without any money at all,” said David Lieb, CEO and co-founder of Bump Technologies.… More

Home automation and wearable computing hits at Pepcom

7 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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The FitBit is the bit that fits inside the wristband.

Along with Alabama, Pepcom was a winner tonight. The second of the three major press group gropes at CES, it featured a tailgate party theme and the Notre Dame/Alabama game on big screens. Nearly 200 companies set up small displays at the MGM Grand, showing new products and new brand positioning.

Nexia was in the latter category. It's a re-branding of the Schlage Link home automation system.… More

One OS to rule them all

7 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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Built for ARM and x86 processors.

Ubuntu will be the next major player in mobile and desktop operating systems, if it delivers on its promise of releasing a fully integrated platform by April 2014.

Founder Mark Shuttleworth put the mobile version of the company's Linux distribution through its paces at the Pepcom event at CES 2013 tonight. Running on a Samsung Galaxy – for no particular reason except it's a convenient development platform, he said – Ubuntu did all the things you'd expect from Android or iOS.… More

Electric skateboard wins investor pitch crown at CES

7 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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Made in Modesto.

CES's first start-up beauty pageant tiara went to ZBoard this afternoon. The Modesto, California based electric skateboard manufacturer was declared the winner of the inaugural Showstoppers Launch.It competition, which has been designated the official investor pitch event of CES.

Eight companies competed for the blessing of a panel of five experienced early stage investors, led by tech guru Guy Kawasaki.

The four minute presentations ranged from crisp to baffling. My favorite quote of the day came from a guy who struggling to explain exactly what his company did.… More

DISH hops out fighting

7 January 2013 by Steve Blum
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Joe Clayton takes a combative stance.

“If skipping commercials is illegal, I guess we're all just a nation of outlaws,” said Joe Clayton, DISH CEO. He was speaking at a CES press conference today, defending the AutoHop feature on DISH's Hopper set top boxes and calling for change. Change in the pay TV business model, change in the attitudes of networks and change in industry attitudes towards consumers.

Clayton was positioning himself as a consumer advocate, saying the industry was moving toward “a tipping point” on programming costs.… More