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[CES 2009] The WowWee Alive generation gets four more companions to further enhance its appeal across the children’s demographic, and it is hoped the WowWee Alive Seal Pup, Husky Puppy, Koala Joey and Leopard Cub will offer comfort to kids who need a plush toy to help them go to sleep each night. Each of the four Alive toys will feature animated facial and vocal expressions triggered by users’ touch, and to make the whole thing all the more realistic, they are accompanied by adoption papers and a family portrait. Isn’t this a wee bit too much? What if one day the WowWee Alive gets clubbed to death (no prizes for guessing which of the four this is) and is thrown out during a spring cleaning session without the kid’s knowledge? All those extra attachments like adoption papers and family portrait might make the grieving process all the more traumatic.

Permalink: WowWee Alive Gets New Quartet from Ubergizmo (US, FR) | Good deals | Hot: CES 2009, Jan 6-11

[CES 2009] WowWee is back this time round with its Cinemin suite of ultra portable multimedia micro projectors, and like the majority of other micro projectors in the market, the Cinemin line will be powered by Texas Instruments’ DLP Technology that offers superior image quality. The Cinemin projectors were specially designed to function with popular mobile devices including the iPod and iPhone. There will be a trio of products that fall under the WowWee Cinemin banner - the Cinemin Swivel, the Cinemin Stick and the Cinemin Station. The Cinemin Swivel is a pico projector done right, being no larger than the average candy bar with a 3-hour battery life, full volume control and a special adjustable 90-degree hinge for ceiling projection. As for the Cinemin Stick pico projector, this relatively tiny micro projector comes with internal memory and an SD memory card slot for expansion purposes. Last but not least is the Cinemin Station pico projector that shares roughly the same dimensions as the average alarm clock, featuring a built-in iPod docking station for your portable entertainment needs.

Permalink: WowWee Cinemin Projectors from Ubergizmo (US, FR) | Good deals | Hot: CES 2009, Jan 6-11

[CES 2009] Having a flying toy is always cool no matter what your age is, and WowWee aims to impress with its FlyTech Lightstar flyer that features a propulsion-based design wit built-in LED lights that are able to recreate a cool glow and halo effect whenever it takes to the skies. If you happen to live somewhere near Area 51, why not give the FlyTech Lightstar a whirl around at night to increase the number of UFO sightings amongst tourists? The crash resistant FlyTech Lightstar flyer is controlled via a remote that lets you determine the flyer’s altitude, and it is able to take charge of three FlyTech Lightstar flyers simultaneously. As with most other flying devices, the rule of diminishing returns applies here when charging - it takes 10 minutes to charge for a 4-minute flight.

Permalink: WowWee FlyTech Lightstar Makes Flying Cooler from Ubergizmo (US, FR) | Good deals | Hot: CES 2009, Jan 6-11

[CES 2009] WowWee has expanded its Robotics line with the Joebot robot that tries its very best to be a walking, talking interactive buddy complete with a sense of humor and rhythm to boot. While it can’t hold a candle beside classic stand up comedians, it ought to be able to keep you entertained for some time (longer if you’re a kid). The Joebot can be commanded via voice, responding to key phrases through the use of sound sensors. In addition, he can be controlled via his hands or by using the Robosapien robot’s remote controller - now that’s a novel idea, if only our newer TVs can be controlled by the older model’s remote as well. Joebot does not only beatbox and dance, he is able to repeat your own beats perfectly while grooving to it. Other modes found in Joebot include Wandering, Patrol, Talk, Guard and Battle Modes. This would’ve made for a great Christmas present a couple of weeks ago, but hey - at least there’s Christmas every year.

Permalink: WowWee Joebot Targets The Playful from Ubergizmo (US, FR) | Good deals | Hot: CES 2009, Jan 6-11

[CES 2009] WowWee’s Roborover is part of its Robotics line, and is operated through a remote control with poseable arms, head and waist for that added touch of humanity (ironic, isn’t it?). This talking robot comes with some spoken content, a bunch of driving-based games to keep you entertained, infrared sensors so that he won’t bump into obstacles and fall over as well as tilt sensors that lets him know he has fallen over in order to get back up after dusting his knees. Other features of the Roborover include a “Follow Me” homing function that makes him all the more adorable - it kickstarts his exploratory nature by searching out for his user regardless of whether it is night or day. Should it get too dark, the Roborover will turn on its sensor-based LED headlights to aid in his movement.

Permalink: WowWee Roborover Grows With You from Ubergizmo (US, FR) | Good deals | Hot: CES 2009, Jan 6-11

[CES 2009] Think that James Bond is cool? Why not do some spying of your own with the WowWee Spyball spy camera? This tiny remote controlled robotic ball will definitely be a hit with the boys regardless of their age, featuring built-in Wi-Fi connectivity and traverses around on sleek wheels, capable of smooth mobility and quick 360-degree turns. It is able to transform from a ball to a camera and back within seconds, and it goes about its job quietly - perfect for sneaking around the home. We’re just a bit worried that this could be used by perverts who would want to capture upskirt shots though, so parents who want their kids to learn about the birds and bees the proper manner would think twice before bringing home the WowWee Spyball. When connected to a home network, the Spyball can actually be controlled remotely via the Internet for added functionality.

Permalink: WowWee Spyball Spy Camera from Ubergizmo (US, FR) | Good deals | Hot: CES 2009, Jan 6-11

As expected, Apple has just announced its 17″ MacBook Pro that has been making its rumors prior to Macworld. This time round, it is 0.98″ thin and tips the scales at 6.6 pounds - not exactly lightweight, but what do you expect from a 17-incher? It still is the lightest and thinnest 17″ notebook in the world though, and will feature the following :

• 17″ LED backlit display 1,920 × 1,200 resolution 700:1 contrast ratio 60% greater color gamut compared to its predecessor
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.93 GHz Dual Core processor
• 8GB 1066MHz DDR3 RAM
• 320GB hard drive

Users have a choice of a $50 anti-glare option if they want to, since Apple has to remove the bezel out front first in order to install that. In addition, you will benefit from a trio of USB 2.0 ports on the left, a Mini DisplayPort, FireWire 800, digital audio in/out and an ExpressCard slot, not forgetting mainstays like Gigabit Ethernet and a Magsafe port. Other familiar favorites include the glass multi-trackpad, complete with four finger gestures and multi-button support. Owners of the new 17″ MacBook Pro can use it with the 24″ Cinema Display if they so desire. As with the 15″ model, you will find integrated 9400M and 9600M graphics cards from NVIDIA with the option to replace the 320GB hard drive with a 256GB SSD. [10:23:14 AM] Editor - Edwin Kee: to add : Apple touts an eight hour battery life on a single charge, and the battery itself can last for up to 5 years before requiring a replacement - chances are you’ll change your MacBook Pro by then to a newer model. Ships in late January. Photo courtesy of Gizmodo.

Permalink: Apple Introduces New 17-inch Macbook. 8hrs Battery, A bit thinner. from Ubergizmo (US, FR) | Good deals | Hot: CES 2009, Jan 6-11

Samsung just announced that it has launched a 100GB SSD aimed at the IT/infrastructure market. It can read at 230MB/sec and write at 180MB/sec, which puts it high in terms of performance, but not at the top spot held by Intel’s X25-E SSD (64GB). Random seek time are also extremely fast, due to the solid-state nature of SSDs. Besides performance, Samsung is also touting the low-power consumption of its new SSD: 0.6 Watts in idle mode and 1.9 Watts in power mode. A typical 15k rpm hard disk is said to consume 8-15 Watts at full load and 1 to 2 Watts in idle mode. Samsung says that the drive will be “standardized in height, width and thickness”, although it’s not clear whether or not the company was thinking of the 3.5″ format usually used for server drives.

Permalink: Samsung Launches a 100GB Enterprise SSD from Ubergizmo (US, FR) | Good deals | Hot: CES 2009, Jan 6-11

Apple is spending a lot of time talking about iMovie 09, but the one feature that is really eye-popping is the video motion stabilization. It removes a lot of the small hand motion, which is particularly true if you film something in a car because there is a lot of small motion jitters.

It works by analyzing frames before and after the current one being processed, to extract information that might not be in the current frame, or to guess in what direction the image will shake next. From there, the software can compensate for it. A few companies do this sort of things and it’s not clear if Apple re-invented the wheel or if they licensed it. It doesn’t really matter, as long as the end-user gets to have it.

It is reported to be fairly slow, so it’s probably not GPU-accelerated at this point. That could be a future improvement, once Snow Leopard comes out with GPU computing support. Photo courtesy of Gizmodo.

Permalink: Apple Adds Video Motion Stabilization to iMovie 09 from Ubergizmo (US, FR) | Good deals | Hot: CES 2009, Jan 6-11

Faces is way to organize your photo by person (by face), thanks to a face-recognition feature. Once it tagged photos as containing a particular person, you can go ahead an name that person. The name will then be reference by all the photos. That’s pretty cool, because it’s automated you don’t have anything to do, and even if it doesn’t work 100% of the time, it’s still much better than nothing.

Places is designed to use geo-information in photo files, but if you don’t have a GPS tag, you can still enter the location where photos were taken. The app will show you where the photo was taken on Google map or other mapping services. With GPS chips prices fallen like dead flies, it won’t be long until we start having GPS receivers in cameras - just look at phones.

Permalink: Apple introduces Faces & Places (in iPhotos) from Ubergizmo (US, FR) | Good deals | Hot: CES 2009, Jan 6-11