CES of the day. Tuesday

Shipping late Feb early March Sony Alpha 200. The just released Sony DSLR entry model doesn’t look a whole lot different to its predecessor, the Alpha 100. But there’s more to love on the inside.
10.2 megapixels, a quieter drive system, quieter shutter , improved focus performance, built in stabilisation, built in sensor dust reduction, continuous shooting 3 frames per second and 2.7 inch LCD screen.
The Alpha 200 uses Compact Flash cards and will be sold sporting the DT 18-70 and 75-300mm lens for around AU$1099

CES gadget of the day. Monday

Logitech diNovo Mini. HTPC keyboard.
This is amazing for the past few days I’ve been ‘Googling’ and ‘Ebaying’ a mini keyboard for the Home Theatre PC. The best I could find was one of those fold up PDA style Kb’s so I started to bid on a Bluetooth version. Then on Sunday I stumble across this.

Now - a keyboard for the living room.
A palm sized keyboard with backlighting, ideal for cinema-style room lighting. Compact and not out of place on the coffee table. Integrated click pad, point & click. Rechargeable Li-ion battery, Bluetooth connectivity. This is the one.

Wireless HDTV

Finally, technologies coming together that make sense.
As one house guest was heard to quip. “The flat screen looks awesome on the wall but what’s with the entrails.”
There’s no getting around the unsightly cabling unless you’ve pre-planned during construction or your prepared to do some architectural reworking, not until now that is.
At CES this week, the WirelessHD Group (can’t wait for their acronym) will announce their plans for world domination.
Wireless HD will use a pristine band of the radio spectrum at around 60GHz, so you’ll forego the interference of the already crowded 2.4 GHz band where all your Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and phone conversations currently sit.
It also means that the signal sent from set top boxes will not be compressed. The signal is designed to work in range similar to Bluetooth at around 10 meters. So a decent sized room will be covered while not leaking signals into your neighbour’s living room. It also means, however you won’t be able to send from one room to the other.
The system looks set to be available from late 2008. But we’ve been teased by wireless streaming HD TV before once for a release in 2004 then again from Philips in 2005. Both systems never made it to the market. So here’s to holding our collective breaths.