CES

Joel Johnson

Video: Current's Ben Hoffman at CES

"I'm gonna put Wild Things on while I hug my mom." Thank you, Ben Hoffman, for not making us the only assholes to wander around CES haranguing people.

Rob Beschizza

Change Back: The Post-CES Guide to de-Appleification

The day Microsoft, Palm and Sony upstage Apple is a strange day indeed. With MacWorld offering little more than an expensive laptop upgrade, however, it was left to CES—a show often buried by Cupertino cool—to bring new toys to 2009's table.

Apple will be back in force, with new ideas and shiny new things, but why wait? Aren't you sick of spec bumps that never come? It's time to change back—and for the first time in ages, you can do it in style.

Palm Pre

It's smaller than the iPhone, has a fantastic new interface, and it runs linux. There'll be an AppStore anyone can get into, top-knotch integration with Facebook and Gmail, and a multitouch display. Even the menu bar caused CES attendees to gape like beached whales. With a hardware keyboard and cut and paste, the mobile novelist brigade will be happy, too.

And it's by Palm! Palm!

Windows 7 beta

After the public relations abattoir of Windows Vista, the sequel has a lot riding on it. First indications are that Microsoft might have nailed it: the beta edition is simpler, swifter and sleeker than its irritating predecessor. Available free to the public until August, the unfinished and unsupported software weds XP's snappiness with Vista's eye candy.

Just don't expect it to work perfectly, O.K.? Caveat downloador.

Sony Vaio P

In the Vaio P "lifestyle" computer, Sony's created the high-end mini-notebook that Apple hasn't. Early reviews paint it as a masterpiece, beautifully designed and small enough to slip into a jacket pocket.

It also has a decent keyboard, a high-definition display, and a fast-booting linux mode. Performance isn't too hot, mind, and the $900 tag is only cheap by Sony standards. Nonetheless, it's easily the coolest laptop on the block.

HP Mini 2140 netbook
Want a real netbook that costs half the price of Sony's little wonder? HP's Mini 2140 has a 10-inch 16:9 screen with 768 lines (most netbooks have only 600), 2GB of RAM. It runs Windows Vista, which you will promptly remove, and was cut to a surprisingly Mac-esque design. Best of all? It's just $500.

Just try not to think about where the trackpad buttons are.

Dell Adamo

What do we know about Dell's new 13-inch laptop? Not much, except for the fact that it's not out yet and doesn't have a release date.

What we do know is that it's a monolith made of pure Kubrickstone, surface-textured by a million years of thrashing by an army of robot monkeys armed with diamond-tipped cats o' nine tails.

Is it any good? Haven't a clue: they wouldn't let us touch its mockup/prototype. But it's got looks to match the unibody MacBooks: no mean feat for the company that had 250 different words for beige.

Want something right now? Voodoo's Envy laptop is a similarly slab-like alternative to the MacBook Air. [Photo: Gizmodo]

Lenovo IdeaCenter 600 all-in-one

With the iMac already looking underfeatured compared to rival machines from HP, Dell and Sony, Lenovo's IdeaCenter 600 comes along to kick the whole lot back into 2008, where they belong.

Now, it has its flaws. The Wii-like remote wasn't much fun. And the design? It looks great from the front, but weird from behind: Lenovo clearly imagines use as a television.

But look at the hardware behind that 21.5 display: 2GB of RAM, Blu-ray disk, a TV tuner, 6-in-one card reader, dolby digital audio and 6 USB ports.There's even an optional 512MB DirectX 10 video card: it can game like no iMac in this universe.

To quote m'colleague Joel: "The junk down on the trunk is appealing."

Sony Walkman X-1000

It's sleeker than the iPod Touch, and it's got a brighter OLED touchscreen display and in-built noise cancellation. It's beautiful and black, with a strange texture that looks like a fancy tombstone.

Thanks to Apple itself, defection is easy, too: pay the DRM kill fee in iTunes and your hitherto iPod-locked collection is free. The only question: it is worth paying extra, when the Walkman's price tag will surely make the iPod Touch look like a stocking stuffer?

Netgear Internet TV Player

So it's not as pretty as Apple TV. It looks like the routers that spawned it. It's not very powerful, either, requiring saved media to be stored on an external USB drive. But Netgear's Internet TV Player handles standard-def TV streaming in any format known to man and is absolutely tiny: little larger than a deck of cards. Dangle it off the back of your TV set for a solution to a problem you already have: watching internet junk like YouTube on a big TV. Too proletarian? Get Boxee then, media snob!

Eee Keyboard

Weird as all hell and strange too, Asus's Eee Keyboard contains a home theater PC and an LCD display. Unlike most demented modern attempts at that oldschool computer-in-the-keyboard combo, it even looks cool.

It's as if Commodore Amiga 500's spirit was reaching up from 1988, to clutch at the Mac's throat one final time. [Photo: Matt Buchanan/Gizmodo]

Rob Beschizza

Boing Boing Gadgets at CES: The Highlights

Despite only attracting "only" 110,000 attendees, there was still a lot to see and a lot of fun had at 2009's Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. First impressions were downbeat, but we found things to look positive about and ended up having a great time with some of the tech toys we'll be seeing on the streets this year.

Top of the stack was the Pre, a good-looking smartphone that turned Palm's press from tragedy to triumph in a matter of hours. There are seven features that make it better than the iPhone. Don't miss Joel and John's hands-on coverage.

We also took a look at Sony's amazing Vaio P notebook. Though the company hates it when people call it a netbook, it's hard not to notice the resemblance: an Intel Atom-powered lightweight 1.4lb laptop with a 9" display, full keyboard and up to 6 hours battery life. Here's the announcement and the hands-on review. We fawned over it, we did.

LG came up with the first not-awful cellphone wristwatch; Casio announced a point-and-shoot digicam with the same features as the fancy EX-F1; Sharp announced televisions, and Netgear had a TV streaming box almost as small as a deck of cards.

There were hands-on playtime with the OQO model 02+ and other new pocket PCs and MYVU's latest video glasses. John had a strange encounter with Disney zombies and pirate play at the Toshiba press event.

We also covered new gear from Dell, Samsung, Toshiba, Monster Cable, HP (more), Netgear and Logitech.

Not enough? There was also another show called MacWorld, should you be interested in $3,000 laptops.

Rob Beschizza

CES Video Roundup: The whole happy, horrible, humungous thing

Palm Pre hands-on

Joel Johnson and John Brownlee get hands-on time with the new smartphone. It won't be out until the summer, but one verdict's already in: Palm's not dead yet.

Many more after the jump!

READ THE REST

Joel Johnson

CES Video: We Did It!

Our last — and dare I say least essential to the gadget nerd — video from CES is above for your enjoyment. It's also probably the one that most accurately portrays our day-to-day on the showfloor.

I have to say, I had a blast at this year's CES, hanging out with all the BBG and Boing Boing Video crew, as well as many of our friends within the industry. We puttered around like the dilettantes we are, drinks in hand, and just tried to enjoy the spectacle and the company, while still skimming off the strangest and most interesting products around.

But we couldn't have pranced around the place in good conscience if it weren't for the diligence of sites like Gizmodo, Engadget, CrunchGear, Oh Gizmo!, Shiny Shiny, Wired, Ars, and dozens of other gadget and tech writers out there sifting through products to sort the inspired from the insipid. There's no shame in having a good time when you're working, but I want to acknowledge the hard work of others when I see it. We may all be competitors in the loosest sense, but when you're walking the floors packed primarily with local action news teams, morning madhouse DJs, and lifestyle section stringers for Ladie's Home Journal, it's hard to see all the other online tech writers out there hustling as anything other than friends.

If you prefer a direct MP4 download, well then just go ahead and download it why don't you?

See if you can spot my love handles in the special features!

Joel Johnson

CES Video: Krown Sign Language Translator

One of the first thing we actually put our hands on at CES this year was a prototype sign language translation device from Krown Manufacturing called..."The Sign Language Translator". It's essentially just a dictionary that links to videos of man signing words and letters on screen. Basic in execution, perhaps, but also potentially quite handy for teaching yourself how to sign. (I have a couple of deaf friends who can read lips or, you know, words written on paper or typed into a Sidekick.) Still: neat. Here's a direct MP4 download if you'd prefer that version.

ces, ces2009, deaf, krown, sign language translator

Rob Beschizza

CES: Boxee ready for the big time

Boxee is one of the more fool-proof ways to get stuff like Netflix, Hulu, Comedy Central and even network television to your computer: here's a live demo given to BBG from the loud and booze-soaked floor of CES Unveiled.

You can also download it in MP4 format.

Joel Johnson

CES Video: D-Box Motion Chairs

We got a chance to sample the motion simulation gear from D-BOX at this year's CES, including this fantastic new GPH-120 "Home" model that starts at a low, low $3,000. Pricey, yes — but it makes most other home interactive motion systems seem chumpy.

If you'd like a direct MP4 download, there you go!

Joel Johnson

Designing gadgets for women

Women really do get the short end of the gadget stick. While surveys have indicated that women have generally as much interest in electronics as most men, most gadgets aimed at Team XX are condescendingly absent any thoughtful additions besides the most superficial touches. (The "shrink it and pink it" approach, quips designer Erica Eden, as quoted and profiled in this Fast Company piece.)

I doubt there's fundamentally any difference between designing a gadget for men or for women; simple, powerful, understated design inside and out is appealing to everyone. Garish "fashion" gadgets — like the HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition netbook the women from Smart Design's "Femme Den" note looks "cheap and plastic-y in person" — may appeal to some women, but no more than ultra-rugged, overwrought, military-inspired gear appeals to a small subset of men.

(Thanks, Robotron!)

Xeni Jardin

CES: Drew Carey and Three-year-old Son Hunt for Cars, Robots (BB Video)

(Flash embed above, MP4 download here.) Television host and gadget-o-phile Drew Carey visited with the Boing Boing crew in Las Vegas to roam the blinking, beeping halls of CES 2009. He was there with his lovely fiancé, and her three year old son, Connor. Today's episode documents Connor's search for talking robots and "tiny cars I can ride in." Along the way, Drew stops at the Intel booth to check out a $47,000 VR racing system that puts you in the driver's seat on famous racetracks around the world -- the system includes topographically accurate maps, down to the pebble, of famous tracks.

Previous "live from CES" videos on Boing Boing Gadgets:
* CES Video: Asus Netbookstravaganza, with Bamboo, Gold Lamé, and Lamborghini (MP4)
* CES Video: Palm Pre Hands-On with Joel and Brownlee, post-review huddle with Ars Technica (MP4)
* Boing Boing Gadgets at CES: Video Report, Day Two (MP4)
* Boing Boing Gadgets at CES: Video Report, Day One (MP4)

John Brownlee

Awesome Dragon controller at CES breathes fire

I didn't see this dragon-shaped gamepad at CES, and it's a good thing I didn't: a poor Korean gamepad representative with blood pouring from his jaw, and then me fugitively running down the aisles of the South Hall with the stolen display model tucked under my arm and a host of booth babes hissing and clawing at my back like outraged cats.

It even breathes fire! What it does not do, alas: play nice with an Xbox 360. It's PC only, I'm afraid.

Awesomegadget CES: Dragon Fire Breather [Engadget]

John Brownlee

CES: Disney Zombies

CES is no stranger to zombies. Plodding, doddering half dead things, each drop of juice forcibly drained from their desiccated husks into the 1.8 million square foot vortex of tech consumerism's great embalming necropolis. It's the nature of the show: too big and sprawling and full of screaming lights and tightly packed flesh. It kills almost everyone inside just a little... but some more than others.

Still, as I wandered the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, I began noticing a pattern. While many were partially zombified, there was the occasional shambling mummy, with each step threatening to explode into a cloud of calcified dust and send their shadows skittering away in a swarm of beetles. Their eyes had no luster or joy or capacity for human feeling; their mouths slack holes from which only rattled wheezes emanated.

Each time I saw one, my eyes would instinctively go to their badges. Across the board, the deadest, most emotionless things at CES were representatives of the Walt Disney Co.

Unfortunately, by the time I'd tied together this realization, I'd seen my last walking Disney corpse. Instead, please accept this picture of Tinkerbell, who Disney has really whored up over the last few years, although I can't help but notice that her legs have been rendered with garish ineptitude: a thalidomide pixie extending her posterior for a spanking. In the age of CGI, isn't there anyone left at Disney who remembers how to draw? No wonder Disney's reps at CES are so depressed.

Joel Johnson

CES Photo: Intel's Minority Reportesque Demo Screen

Sent more or less live from CES.

Update: Gadgetell has a video.

Joel Johnson

CES: The Audacity of Woot

The Woot boys challenged us to find the most flagrant display of waste at CES. Clearly, this monstrous booth run by Woot themselves typifies the worst sort of disregard for the dire economic climate in which we live.

I mean *two* flashing lights? A slap in the face of decorum! And if they would have made this desk -- which encompesses the entirety of this baroque cathedral to consumption -- slightly more modest, they could have probably had the resources they could produced dozens of extra bags of crap.

Sent more or less live from CES.

John Brownlee

CES: Dell announces Mini Inspiron 10, Adamo luxury laptop brand

Clamping my ears to prevent my melted brain from oozing out of my cochleas, I stumbled up to the Dell Suite in the Palms Pleasure Tower this morning to allow Dell's constabulary of attractive public relations girls the honor of ministering to my hangover with smoothies and omelettes.

It was not to be. As I poured my gelatinated central nervous system out of the elevator, I really did expect those dollsome PR sirens to whisk me away to a chaise longue, where they would press my noble brow with a moist cloth and provide me with Bloody Marys and sympathetic, dove-like cooing.

Instead, though, those assholes decided to throw a press conference, and sidelined me into a press room... a press room where there was not a single omelette or smoothie to be had. Unbelievable.

Over the course of the next forty five minutes, Dell pulled the curtain on an array of new products. They debuted a 13-inch Adamo with much vagueness and mystery, refusing to be pinned down to anything besides its screen size and the fact that it is a "luxury product" with top-of-the-line hardware specs. This vagueness seemed to confuse the other tech writers in attendance, but even through the random jactitation of my limbs and reality's insistent loop-de-loops and vomit-inducing pirouettes, it seemed pretty clear that the Adamo wasn't intended to be a single laptop, but Dell's new luxury brand.

It's a curious announcement either way. A luxury laptop? Sure. But a luxury brand... even forgetting the recession, is "luxury" really a market that can be pandered to with Dell's typical broad product line swathes?

Also debuted during my delirium tremens: the Mini Inspiron 10. It is what it is: a 10-inch expansion to Dell's netbook line, with built-in GPS and a digital television tuner. Yesterday, they also announced an aftermarket add-on tuner for their existing Mini Inspirons. I think Dell's got whiff of the right scent: they are probably right to guess that netbooks have appeal as portable televisions to the broader public at large.

But, you know, whatever. I'm just so mad at Dell right now. I really don't know what those guys are thinking. It is true: omelettes don't come free. And I understand that Dell and I have a symbiotic relationship. I need to give in return.

But a press conference at the positively inhuman hour 8:30am after a night out at Casino Royale? Bad cricket. Minister to my hangover, Dell. Stroke my hair. Let me lay my head in your lap for a spell. Then, after all of that, pluck the Dadaist splendor of my hangover from my brow and slap it as a sticker on the back of one of your custom-art Studio laptops. I am an artist.That is how I can give. And it would beat some of the Bill Cosby sweater designs you're already rolling with.

Consider my protest lodged.

Image of Dell's Adamo brazenly stolen from Gizmodo. I have cropped out their watermark with confidence. You know, plied with enough booze, Brian Lam is surprisingly open about the profane fetishes of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and the manner in which Gizmodo has capitalized upon them. It would be a shame if any of those secretly recorded remarks "got out."

Xeni Jardin

CES Video: Asus Netbookstravaganza, with Bamboo, Gold Lamé, and Lamborghini.

Full Disclosure: Boing Boing's video production at CES is sponsored by WEPC.com, and they're also the subject of this episode. We were not paid to produce a piece about them, nor were we required to cover their presence at CES as part of the sponsorship. They had no editorial control or involvement in the content we produced, including this episode. Netbooks were sort of a hot topic at CES 09, and since Asus was something of a pioneer in this product sector, with interesting products out this year, we chose to cover this project's presence.

Xeni from the motherboing here with a new Boing Boing Gadgets CES video installment! Beschizza and I visited the Asus booth to check out some of the netbooks and other devices they're developing. Rob got some hands-on time with some of the more visually interesting models, including one netbook covered in bamboo, and others covered in very Vegas-appropriate gold lamé or Lamborghini co-branding. (Ay, que Elvis, hombre!) We also spoke with one of the senior designers with Asus from Taiwan about the Intel co-partnered WEPC project, in which they're soliciting feature requests from the public, then sorting through those crowdsourced suggestions and figuring out what makes sense to implement in production.

Flash embed above, downloadable MP4 here.

(Special thanks to Q-Burns Abstract Message for the background tracks in our CES episodes!)

More Videos: BB Gadgets at CES
* CES Video: Palm Pre Hands-On with Joel and Brownlee, post-review huddle with Ars Technica
* Boing Boing Gadgets at CES: Video Report, Day Two
* Boing Boing Gadgets at CES: Video Report, Day One

Xeni Jardin

CES Video: Palm Pre Hands-On with Joel and Brownlee, post-review huddle with Ars Technica

(Flash video above, downloadable MP4 here.)

Joel and Brownlee got a hands-on demo with the new Palm Pre, and Boing Boing's video team was there to cover them. Watch the whole review above. In the first half of the video, Brownlee and Joel grill a Palm rep -- who doesn't want to let either of them touch the device -- about features and what's under the hood. In the second half of today's video, our fellas huddle over brews and watered-down show floor drinks with Jon Stokes from Ars Technica for a post-game analysis. Verdict seems to be that if this is Palm's "hail mary," it just might work. The Pre seems pretty sweet. Here's the Pre product page at palm.com.

Previously: Seven features that make the Palm Pre better than the iPhone

Sponsor shout-out: Boing Boing's video coverage of CES 2009 is sponsored by WEPC.com, in partnership with Intel and Asus. WePC.com is intended to be a site where users come together to "share ideas, images and inspiration about the ideal PC." Participants' designs, feature ideas and community feedback will be evaluated by ASUS and "could influence the blueprint for an actual notebook PC built by ASUS with Intel inside."

(Special thanks to Q-Burns Abstract Message for the background tracks in our CES episodes!)

More Videos: BB Gadgets at CES
* CES Video: Asus Netbookstravaganza, with Bamboo, Gold Lamé, and Lamborghini.
* Boing Boing Gadgets at CES: Video Report, Day Two
* Boing Boing Gadgets at CES: Video Report, Day One

Joel Johnson

CES Photo: Drunk gadget bloggers fawn over VAIO P

Guess we should have gone to that Sony dinner.

Sent more or less live from CES.

Update: This is, of course, the lovely Zara Rabinowicz from Shiny Shiny. (With David Ponce of Oh Gizmo! over her shoulder.) And of course me, drunkenly taken the picture while also fawning.)

Joel Johnson

Seven features that make the Palm Pre better than the iPhone

There was a glow on the face of every Palm employee we saw today, and deservedly so: the new Palm Pre is a hail mary product. It's probably going to save the company.

And it is, in many ways, better than the iPhone.

Brownlee and I got a little guided tour of a Pre by a beaming executive this evening. (We filmed it; Xeni, Derek, and Wes from the Boing Boing video team are working on it as I write.) But I'm so excited about the product that I wanted to share my enthusiasm before I forgot all the details about why I am so into it in the first place.

• It feels small and pleasant in the hand. Much smaller than the iPhone, but inexplicably the screen seems big enough. Part of that is the lovely interface that Palm has created that echos a little bit of the old Palm OS in font choice and such, but feels wholly new.

It's a little bit longer than a Treo when the keyboard is extended, but the curving bit makes it seem a nice size.

• It runs Linux. SQLlite is the built-in database. Developers will have to use "web technologies" to make most of the apps, but it sounds like there may still be ways to use closer-to-the-metal languages.

• The animations and interface are gorgeous. They are in many ways busier than the iPhone's animations, and clearly largely cribbed from the bouncy, lively way the iPhone OS moves around, but they look really nice when switching from app to app.

• It has the coolest menu bar I've ever seen. The touchpad actually extends about half an inch below the screen, and to bring up the ever-present menu bar, you push up from below to smoosh it onto the screen, where it rests under your thumb like a Gummi worm. It looks really great and really useful. It is the first clear "impress your friends" feature.

• Integration with Facebook and Gmail looks top notch. Here's the part that got me: if you choose to, you can make your contacts list pull live from Facebook, including their selected profile picture, which means every time your friends call you their image will be their latest Facebook profile picture. Not a huge deal, of course, but a wonderful touch.

• There will be an official app store, but you can still load other apps. Probably. Palm isn't quite sure how syncing with a PC will work, but it sounds like you'll be able to load apps from a variety of sources as well as buying them over-the-air from the Palm application store.

• It's got multitouch, Apple patents be damned. We asked if they were afraid of Apple's claimed protectionist patents for multitouch. They would only respond with a confident smile.

What a pleasing thing it is to see a company that had been all but counted out of the smartphone game come storming back into what I suspect will be the lead.

Update: Oh, one more thing: It has system-wide cut-and-paste.

Rob Beschizza

Computing orb wraps occupant in LCD displays to no obvious end

As uninviting as this thing is, I had to snap a shot and upload it. Joel has always had this idea of a work-cocoon in which he is surrounded by displays that keep him apprised of everything happening on the Internet. In this respect Joel is like the evil Mason Verger from Hannibal, but instead of having a grossly disfigured face, he has grossly disfigured hair.

Rob Beschizza

Using WiFi to spread a display over multiple notebooks

Behold multidisplay, the platonic form of brilliant but arguably pointless technology. "It might help you with spreadsheets."

Rob Beschizza

Intel-skinned Smart Car

I want a Smart car. But I'm not sure I want this one!

Rob Beschizza

Hands-on with OQO 2+, UMID, Panasonic Toughbook U1 and the Compal JAX 10

As soon as you walk into CES' central hall, Intel's treasure trove of wee handheld computers presents itself. After half an hour playing with them, I've changed my mind about something. Mobile Internet Devices aren't just another echo of the HPCs and UMPCs of years gone by. They're aaaalmost there, especially those fitted out with well-designed keyboards--and assuming you have a purpose in mind for buying one.

Best of the bunch is OQO's Model 2+, an update of 2007's respected but fiddly pocket rocket. Replacing the last-gen model's VIA chipset with an Intel Atom, it's fast, genuinely small enough to slip into a pair of jeans. It runs Vista on an 800x480 display and has a thumb-board about as good as thumbboard's get, and is otherwise the incremental upgrade its unadventurous name suggests.

Several devices dialed back the specs (and the size), opting for stripped-down linux-based user interfaces and an even lighter weight: fans of Nokia's Internet Tablet series will like these. Typical of them is the Compal Jax 10, which has 512 MB of RAM, an 8GB solid state drive and a 480-line display. Though it lacks the horsepower and utility of the OQO or a netbook--you can browse the web and play media and not really much else--it's got great connectivity options, up to an including all the standard 3G options and WiMax.

I finally got my hands on a Panasonic Toughbook, in this case a U1 with a Z500 series Atom CPU.

It runs XP, has a gig or RAM and a 32GB SSD, WiFi, Bluetooth, a 5.6-inch display with 600 lines, and optional GPS and 3G internet. Most striking about it, though, is the fact that it is bad-ass. Armored, with every port protected by a thick plastic clasp, it has a hard-to-learn thumb-board and a stylus touchscreen. The design's not too hot--its more "pipeline worker" than "special forces," but it's hard to imagine breaking it without trying. They're damned expensive too: some configs take it past two grand.

The surprise, for me, however, was the UMID. Similar to other MIDS, with a gig or ram, 16GB SSD and 3G/WiMax connection options, its clamshell form factor allows for a much better keyboard than any of the other machines on display. Though too small to touch-type, the keys are big and relatively well-spaced -- great for my stubby thumbs to hammer at. As is invariably the case, the layout is odd, with some bad choices (you have to use a function key to access the apostrophe, for example) but it's a neat little Qwerty device that would be great for mobile text editing and messaging. Mobile bloggers will be disappointed by the lack of a camera.

Joel Johnson

CES: Palm Lives! Introducing the multitouch, slide-out keyboard Pre smartphone

It's basically a more open iPhone with a new OS — how new is yet to be determined — a new interface, and a physical QWERTY slide-out keyboard. This is their Hail Mary — and at first glance it looks like it just might work.

Coverage at Gizmodo and gdgt.

John Brownlee

CES: Dell announces Studio XPS 13 and 16 laptops

At a press conference hosted this morning on the 26th floor of the Palms Pleasure Tower, over omelettes as fluffy, golden and delectable as the lanugo pudendums of virgin angels, Dell announced the newest extension to its laptop line: the Studio XPS 13 and 16.

Featuring an attractive design of anodized aluminum accenting the gloss of Obsidian Black, as well as an attractive leather strip on the spine, the new Studio XPS laptops are meant to appeal to design-minded multimedia enthusiasts and artists.

The flagships XPS is the 16, which features a 16-inch WLED display with an optional RGB LED Full HD 1080p display, with an 8 millisecond response time and a 130 degree viewing angle. It also features an Intel Centrino 2 processor, a 512 MB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 3670 graphics and 7-watt Dolby 5.1 audio.

The XPS 13, on the other hand, is the road warrior model, a 13.3 incher with an Intel Core 2 Duo starting at 2.26GHz, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive and optional NVIDIA hybrid SLI technology allowing users to switch dynamically between power saving and graphics modes.

Both Studio XPS laptops are available for order now from Dell's website. Both laptops start at $1,199.00.

Studio XPS [Dell]

Joel Johnson

CES: Those Darn Woot Boys

Seems the boys of Woot want a little blog tussle, seeing how they called us out over coffee and EVDO driver downloads outside of the Las Vegas Convention Center this morning.

Their challenge? Find the most flagrant display of extravagance at CES this year; the most inappropriately luxurious or wasteful image of gaudy consumerism wins. We'll put up our entries this evening on Woot and BBG and then — after listening to your measured commentary — declare ourselves the winner.

Take that, old media!

Joel Johnson