Vizio who is well known for creating competitively priced, full-featured televisions is now targeting the PC market. This is a very interesting move considerings that many manufacturers have been phasing out. And consistent with their normal business practices, the focus will be on pricing and solid feature sets.

Expect to see at next week's CES the introduction of 24 and 27 inch all-in-one desktop computers, a standard 15.6 inch notebook and two ultralight models (14 and 15 inch). Ultralight laptops and all-in-one PCs are proving to be hot categories at this year's show. These computers are designed to feed audio and video to their Vizio television counterparts and will feature a Windows-based operating system.

This entry into the PC market-space will put a great deal of pressure on Hewlett-Packard who has clearly been one of the stronger "value price" manufacturers in the PC space. Vizio is very comfortable operating in these hot "head-to-head" competitive marketplaces. Their battles with Samsung for market leader in the TV space is well documented.

We'll be sure to get more details next week from Vizio and how their products will differ from competitive offerings.

LG is the latest to join the GoogleTV camp and has released some images of their new televisions that feature a slightly tweaked user interface. The LG televisions according the their release will include the Cinema 3D FPR technology (3D glasses similar to those you experience at the movie theater) and a "Magic Remote QWERTY" which uses voice and a Nintendo Wii-like wand to control the system. And the reference of QWERTY means the remote will also feature a keyboard that is so critical for controlling the GoogleTV interface.


Sony and Vizio have also confirmed they will be demonstrating new offerings that support the Google teams latest efforts.

Below is Google's CES 2012 demo video...

Organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays have been around for a few years and offer stunning visuals but have been constrained to smaller cellphone sizes. This very respectable 55" OLED promises to be a real stunner. One aspect of this technology is how small the technical underpinnings are allowing for incredibly thin executions. We are talking about a 55 inch television that is a 1/6th of an inch deep and weights 16.5 pounds.

This type of OLED technology has a refresh rate a 1,000 times greater than most plasmas and LCDs. And a contrast level of 100,000,000:1 that results in deep, dark blacks and very vibrant colors. The bad news is there really isn't a lot of original content or distribution solutions that support this level of quality. That will need to mature over the coming years.



While the technology is maturing, this calendar year we'll be looking at smaller executions in the 30" or less category and even those will be retailing in the high four-digits! We'll get a better sense of timing and the commercial roadmap of this technology at the show next week. We expect "incredible resolutions and visual clarity" to be a hot topic at the show.

Pre-CES news leak on the new Nikon D4 professional digital SLR camera. The release is dated January 10, 2012 and we are scheduled for a press event is January 6th. With an shipping date of February 2012, it will be coming out a month before the new Canon EOS-1DX.

• Substantially lighter body
• Available by February 2012
• Suggested retail price: $6,000
• The ISO range is listed again as 100 to 102,400, expandable to 50 to 204,800
• 91,000-pixel RGB metering sensor
• Face detection/recognition
• 100% viewfinder coverage (obviously)
• Illuminated function buttons
• Dedicated video button
• Includes H.264 B frame compression
• Contrast detect AF in movie recording
• Low-pass filter for video recording
• Smooth aperture feature for video recording

• Full-frame 18.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor 
• All-new Dual DIGIC 5+ Image Processors deliver high quality image capture at up to 12 fps (14 fps in Super High Speed Mode) 
• Powerful ISO range of 100 - 51200 (up to 204800 in H2 mode) 
• All-new, 61-Point High-Density Reticular AF and 100,000-pixel RGB Metering Sensor that uses a dedicated DIGIC 4 Image Processor
• March 2012 availability
• Suggested retail price: $6,800

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus launches today on the Verizon's LTE 4G network and is the first phone to feature the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system. The new OS brings an all new interface and simplifies the overall experience on an Android phone.

The interface is rich with pictures, interactive widgets and has a more magazine-like feel about it.

The large 4.65 inch vibrant Super AMOLED 720p display is easy to read and the pictures from the 5 mega-pixel low-light camera are quite clear. It also features 1080p video recording capabilities.

Overall, this is the hottest Android smart-phone offering to date and is available for $300 with a 2-year contract on Verizon.


I have also posted a write-up on WouldntMind.com: Great Holiday Gifts for Cool People You Know, WouldntMind.com Holiday Gifts for Good Little Boys and Girls and a WouldntMind.com: 2011 Holiday Video Gear Wish List.

I am always on the lookout for more great gift ideas for friends, family members or your favorite kids. Please feel free to share in the comments below if you have your eyes on something I haven't considered.

For recommendations on what to get and not get this holiday season...and avoid one of these OEM tablets. Check out WouldntMind.com: Don't Buy These for the Holidays - 2011!

B&O A8 Earphone

I've been getting emails asking for some holiday gift giving recommendations for people that love music. While I am working on an audio write-up, it might not help in time for those of you out and about this weekend. So I did want to point out a couple articles on WouldntMind.com that might help stimulate some great gift ideas.

First of all, I went on a quest a couple months ago for a new set of headphones. I really wanted a wireless set so my iPhone could stay in the pocket or sit on in the charger but I would conveniently live more untethered. At the end of the day, I stuck with my B&O A8 Earphone (approx $160) corded headphones but check out Wireless Headphones - Bluetooth Earbuds for a whole range of options including my beloved B&O earbuds.

Bose Soundlink Wireless Mobile Speakers

Another set of hot technology is the latest wave of Bluetooth wireless speakers. This category really heated up lately with the high-end introduction of the Bose Soundlink Wireless Mobile Speakers ($299.95-$349.95). You can read the full WouldntMind.com write-up Wireless Speakers "On-the-Go" to get all the details.

I have also posted a write-up on WouldntMind.com: Great Holiday Gifts for Cool People You Know and WouldntMind.com Holiday Gifts for Good Little Boys and Girls. I also just posted a WouldntMind.com High-Definition, 3D and Home Audio wish list as well.

All the articles at WouldntMind.com will help you with a great line-up of holiday gift ideas.

I am still looking for more great gift ideas for friends, family members or your favorite kids. Please feel free to share in the comments below if you have your eyes on something I haven't considered.

Larry