Panasonic AG160 - User Test Video

Chris Carbonel Films: "Shot in auto mode at 1080/50i, shutter 1/50. No color correction and sometimes using n/d filter. The last clip of Fire is zoomed X2."

Get more info on this camera here

Cool Computer Stuff At CES 2012

While at least half the exhibit halls were full of iPod cases and headphones, there were some computer exhibits at CES 2012. Intel and Microsoft had huge and crowded booths, and there were plenty of ultra books on display, but since your Dude brought his MacBook Air to CES, ultra books were sooooo 2011. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. But these two items did catch the Dude's attention.

OWC was showing a prototype drive array system - Jupiter. Based on a mini-SAS back-bone, this array gives you all the benefits of fibre arrays, at a much lower price point. The benchmark tests they were showing in the booth were insanely impressive - read 1719 MB/s and write of 1578 MB/s. WOW. DOUBLE WOW. There will also be an upgrade path for switches to make this an affordable SAN. The blue case design will change, and it is targeted for an April launch. The Dude is excited.

Your Dudeness normally doesn't pay attention to Windows computers, being a committed Mac head, but this caught his eye in a big way. The Xi3 is about 4" square, and is the computer that the Mac Mini should have been. Besides its nice styling, and the cool different colours it comes in, is the genius of the upgradability of it - all the internal components are on removable modules, able to be swapped out down the road with different modules with newer components.

The Xi3 features an AMD processor, 2 eSATA ports, 6 USB ports, dual monitor
support, ethernet, and a SSD drive. And it only draws 20w of power. Because
it is so small, it can be attached to the back of a monitor, or hidden in
places you normally could never put a computer.

Because it draws so little power, it can be ganged together in small places
to be a render farm. Mmm.... Hats off to Xi3, a Utah company, for making a
better Mac than Apple.

Cool Photo Stuff at CES 2012

There wasn't a ton of photo announcements at CES this year, but your Dude saw three cool products that he'd like to share with you.

Of all the cameras I looked at, this one surprised and impressed me the most - the new Fuji X-S1. Feels great in the hand, insane 24-624mm zoom, no shutter lag... Part of Fuji's acclaimed X line. This is worth looking at instead of a Canon Rebel or Nikon D3100. DV Shop should have stock shortly.

The biggest hit in the Canon booth at CES - took forever to get my hands on this to play with. Slightly larger than a Canon G12, but with a much larger sensor, this is Canon's answer to the mirrorless cameras coming from Panasonic, Sony, Olympus and now Nikon. And I think they may have done the smartest job. No, you can't change the lens, but unless you need super wide or super telephoto, the 28-112mm zoom will suit most people's needs quite nicely. A perfect "pocket" camera for SLR owners, or someone who wants better images than the point-and-shoots deliver, without the bulk of a SLR. Coming at the end of February for around $799. Going to sell well. My only
nitpick on this - same lousy optical viewfinder that plagues the G12.

Let's face it - what's cooler than using your iPhone to control your SLR? With this cable and app, you can use your iPhone as a remote shutter release, and even do time lapse. Canon version coming in February for under $80. Nikon version will ship in April.

More Cool Things At CES

Been a little busy catching up at work to blog. Here's some more cool things
the Dude saw at CES.

This had line-ups at the Sony booth to try, and have to admit, it was cool.
This Star-Trek inspired device is a Personal 3D viewer, and it does work. I
always have felt 3D in the home was going to centre on gaming, and what I
saw at CES reinforced that.

More stylish than a Go-Pro, this wearable video camera from Panasonic is
interesting.

Very cool product from GigaPan Systems. This robotic camera mount automates
panoramic images by taking tens, hundreds or thousands of photos, then using
their GigaPan Switch software, combines the images into one mega panoramic
file. The GigaPan can do 360 degrees, and uses NASA based technology. If you
do this for a living, this might be worth the money (under $1000).

Postcards from The North Hall at CES 2012

The north hall at CES 2012 is a lot of fun, because it has car stuff in it. There are the very cool concept cars that we already blogged about, but it is also the section of CES that has car audio, and you know, if it's a trade show, and you have car audio, then everyone has to compete with everyone else on who can do the most over-the-top car audio displays. So without further ado, here are some of the best DV Dude saw, and yes, his eardrums did survive.

I always felt having a single speaker in the car door is just so ...
restrained. Here is what every car should be like.

Now we're talking! This is taking it real man!

You know you want one.

The Weird & Wonderful At CES 2012

Sure, one could talk endlessly about Crystal vs OLED TVs, the upcoming wave
of Ultrabooks, or numerous other serious CES subjects, but really, it is so
much more fun to show you the weird and wonderful your Dude discovered at
CES 2012.

Possibly the least appealing iPod dock seen at the show. With the speakers
built into the eyes, how could one go wrong buying this for that special
someone in your life?

I kept waiting to see if R2D2 was creating this hologram, but no. The image
is about 7 inches in height.

The one licensing deal that didn't make sense - Jack Daniels' guitars.
Really? You're going with that?

I can't make a caption up for this.

Now these are SPEAKERS! They were taller than the Dude!

Concept Cars At CES 2012

Concept Cars! Nobody told me about this! Cool! Maybe I will come back next year!

This is from Audi.

This is from Ford.

Wild one from Kia.

Mercedes.

This isn't so much a concept car from Panasonic, but more an experimental one - and yes, it really works. Environmental issues were a big issue with the Japanese companies - they all were touting how much less power their new models of TVs use over their older ones.

PMA@CES 2012 Notes and Observations

It was the most successful CES ever - over 150,000 attendees, 3100 exhibitors, 1.861 million square feet of exhibit space, and apparently over 20,000 new products announced, though I think that last figure might be overstated - someone announcing 100 new iPod cases is an easy way to get to 20,000 new products.

But for those going for the PMA portion of CES, your faithful writer among them, the show was a disappointment. Very few photo products were announced, and a lot of the usual suspects at the old PMA shows didn't show up this time, or if they did, they didn't bring much photo gear, thinking it was a consumer electronic show. So I know I"m not alone in the PMA contingent in being disappointed in the lack of a larger photo presence. Certainly there was some, but not what one is used to for a photography trade show.

What there was a lot of, an insane amount, an amount beyond any human comprehension, was iPhone, iPod and iPad cases. In fact, it became the joke of the floor whenever I'd talk to other people - no one could believe there are so many companies making cases. Of that 3100 exhibitors, it felt like half of them were case companies. I'm not exaggerating. It may have been called CES, but really it should have been called Apple Case Show With Some Other Stuff Too.

The other insanity was headphones. There were slightly less number of headphone companies than case companies. Again, it was beyond comprehension. Does the world really need 58,000 headphone companies? These lovely Sennheiser headphones, in the photo above, only cost $1200.

But enough complaining. Here are some random observations:

3D Is Not Dead Yet
While 3D has not caught on with customers, the TV companies are not giving up - in fact, they are doubling down. There is an excellent chance the next TV you buy will be 3D capable, whether you use it or not. Some prototype glasses-free 3D sets were shown - they worked, but their field of view is very narrow.

4K Is Coming - Everyone Get Busy
JVC showed a 4K camera, Sony and JVC showed 4K home projectors, and I'm sure there was a lot more 4K stuff if I looked for it (I'm sure NAB is going to have a ton of 4K stuff). I sat through a JVC demo, and have to say it was impressive. Their new 4K projector on a 150" screen looked amazing. Heavy sigh - here we go again.

Dials Are Cool Again
After the Japenese got rid of all the dials on cameras, they are coming back thanks to Fuji and Canon.

TVs Are Thinner Than Angelina Jolie
It is amazing how thin the next generation of TVs coming this spring are - razor thin thin thin.

Zombie Companies
Two classic names have come back from the dead - Polaroid and Vivitar. Both are shipping new products that they are picking up out of China, and putting their names on them. You will be able to get Polaroid TVs and other CE products soon.

Elevator Music
Discovered that the Venetian Hotel plays the music from Phantom of the Opera in all its elevators. No one would join me in a sing-a-long though.


In the week ahead I will detail some cool stuff I saw on this blog. The photo stuff has been covered very well by others, so I won't concentrate on that so much. Instead, I wll showcase some neat new stuff, and some ... interesting ... things as well, that the mainstream web universe ignores.

The Canadians Are Coming! The Canadians Are Coming!

One of the surprises of this year's CES was some cool products coming from Canadian companies - I'll spotllght 3 here - two from Quebec.

This was probably the coolest thing your Dudeness of DV saw at the show. I'm not into gaming, or 3D, but I gotta say, this ROCKED. The VRX iMotion Simulator. Anyone who tried it was blown away. From beautiful British Columbia. You can see more at http://www.vrx.ca/imotion.php

This Quebec company was previewing this cute little device. Expected to retail for $200, and anticipated summer delivery, this is going to be one of those impulse buys that could be a lot of fun. Tamaggo is Japanese for "egg", and captures 360 degree panaromic images with a 14 megapixel sensor. If it works as advertised, this could be a big seller. Learn more at http://www.tamaggo.com

The ultimate desk/chair combination. Feel like you are commanding the Starship Enterprise with this "office chair".  At $6200 (without monitors), it is a niche product, but what stockbroker wouldn't want to work in this? Sure beats sitting in a cubicle.

The Robots Are Coming! The Robots Are Coming!

One of the more fun categories at CES is robotics, and there were a plethora of vendors showing their latest wares. This is obviously technology that is only going to expand and become a bigger part of our lives. At least untily they hunt us down and kill us, just like "The Terminator" foretold.

This little guy dances! He did a better job dancing than DV Dude could with Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." This got a lot of attention. Will post a video when I return.

This is the ekoskeleton of a robot dinosaur. It moved quite well.

Mmm... not so sure about this one.

At first I thought this was just a little too creepy (you had to see them move), but then I realized these robot seals are used in therapy in hospitals. So maybe a little less creepy.

Just what every household needs - a robot air purifier, that wanders around the house like a smaller version of R2D2, purifying here, purifying there...

Hello Kitty at CES

One of the many sights and sounds at PMA@CES2012.

DV Dude's First Dispatch From CES

Greetings from Las Vegas, where your Dudeness of DV is suffering greatly to see the newest products and find undiscovered gems. It is the annual CES show, which now incorporates the photo-centric PMA show. This is the Dude's first CES, and is simply dumbstruck that a show could be bigger and busier than NAB. Look at the photo above of the Sony booth. All the big booths (Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Canon, etc) were like this.

One of the more impressive spectacles was the LG booth, where they had a huge 3D video wall.

Think your 36" TV is impressive? Not compared to this 80" LCD from Sharp. Yep - 80 inches. Why? Because they can. And yes, this is the largest LCD TV on the market today. Panasonic does have a 103" Plasma though.

By far the funkiest booth was for the new line of Bob Marley audio products (headphones, speakers). With a live DJ playing Marley tunes, backed up by a drummer, this was THE booth to hang out in for a while.

Biggest print seen at the show? This 24 foot panaromic shot of the Hong Kong harbour.

More to come, including some cool new products, and concept cars!

Farewell to Joshua Tree

DV Dude is heading to Las Vegas for PMA@CES to see all the new photo gear. He leaves Joshua Tree National Park, which has a lot of .. Joshua Trees. The Dude has gotten his long-festering desire to take pictures of Joshua Trees out of his system. After taking over 1000 pictures of Joshua Trees, he never wants to take a picture of a Joshua Tree ever again. Ever.

Greeting From Joshua Tree

On The Road to Joshua Tree

On route to Joshua Tree National Park, had to pass through Amboy and the famous Roy's Cafe on Route 66. There is a law that everyone who drives on Route 66 has to take a picture of Roy's.

DV Dude's Postcards From The Edge

DV Dude is winging his way to PMA@CES for a fun filled week of pounding the trade show floor. Stay tuned. We'll be posting messages and photos from the Dude as he ruminates on the new products being debuted at the show.