Gearfuse

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer used his keynote at CES to deliver some exciting news about Windows 7. As of today, the beta will be available for download and installation from MSDN and other sources. The files will be available for download starting tomorrow, January 9th. Says Ballmer of the occasion:

“I’m thrilled to announce the availability of the Windows 7 beta, which is on track to deliver simplicity and reliability,” Ballmer said. “Windows 7 and Windows Live are part of an incredible pipeline of consumer technology that is making it easier than ever for people to communicate, share and get more done.”

Ballmer also introduced Windows Live, a suite of productivity applications and synergistic bullshit.

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Every year, around the end of November up until CES in January, PR flacks email me and other writers constantly, begging for them to stop by their booth at CES so they can show off some shitty product. There are exceptions of course and there are a few good PR people left thank goodness, but let me show you what I mean. The above image? That’s a screencap of what I woke up to this morning. Six emails in a row from one Les Goldberg from D-Link. Yes, the same D-Link that makes your shitty dorm room router.

This isn’t PR. This is a spam. You spammed me, douchebag, and now we’re going to spam you. Everyone, spammers included, may I present you with Les’ email address: les.goldberg@dlink.com. Got it? One more time: les.goldberg@dlink.com.

Email Les and tell him we don’t appreciate his spam nor his shitty company’s spam. The last time D-Link made a usable product? Never.

Thanks to a shitty economy and the greater powers that be, we’re not going to CES this year. For me, it’s a nice break from an outdated technology show full of nothing but crap. However, it’s also a decent time for a company to announce something big and Microsoft might be doing just that. An analyst at Global Equities Research is claiming that Steve Ballmer will launch a Zune phone during CES 2009. The phone will rip off both the iPhone and the Danger Sidekick that T-Mobile offers. It’ll feature a slide out keyboard similar to that of the G1 and I have no doubt in my mind that Microsoft will find a way to fuck it all up.

Just sayin’.

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Right now, iriver can do no wrong. After their stellar performance at CES 2007, it seems that they are walking on water. And following in their holy path is the new Clix2 which has been released in Korea. So what can you expect to see if you happen to be visiting the country that everyone is always jealous of (they always get the good stuff first)?

To begin, it has a 2.2″ AMOLED dislay with an unlimited viewing angle, it plays video back at 30fps, it is smaller than its predecessor, and currently comes in 2 & 4GB capacities. You might want to hold your breath because an 8GB is sure to come out soon! Pricing is in Korean: 159,000 and 199,000 won for 2 and 4 respectively. –Nik Gomez

iriver Clix2 released in Korea [via dapreview]

Harman Kardon is known for its excellent audio equipment, so when they came out with the Guide + Play GPS-500 navigation system, some people were surprised. They were not trying to go all out with this player; it’s about equal with many other GPS systems out on the market. It can play audio and video, has a 4GB SD card, and uses a 4â€? touch-screen monitor. Navigation features are also pretty similar, with a route simulator and multiple views (think 2D or 3D). Harman Kardon is planning at selling this beginning in March for around $500, but there is really no point in waiting for this particular one, considering there are many just like it out there. What’s a little confusing is why Harman Kardon decided to come out with the Guide + Play GPS-500. they are already very highly regarded in audio equipment, so it’s a mystery as to why they would come into a very competitive GPS market. I guess we’ll all find out come March whether or not this was a good idea. — Nick Rice

Harman finds its way into navigation [Crave]

So after a day of praising all things Apple, it’s time to start looking at CES again; everyone gets a little sick of Apple after a while. When it came to pass that Polaroid would start making mp3 players, everyone’s expectations were not high. However, with the release of the MPA-2011, critics have started to change their minds and are now pleasantly surprised at what they are looking at. It’s about the same as many mp3 players out there these days, with maybe just a few little extras. This is a flash-based player with either 512MB or 1GB of memory; you can add up to 2GB more if you so desire with the microSD card slot.

If you’re not listening to music (think WMA/MP3), then you can watch movies (MPEG/WMV) on the 2.2â€? LCD screen. Most of the features are basic, including voice recording, FM tuner, and a JPEG photo viewer. One of the greatest things about this player is its battery life: 25 hours. That would be amazing on a weekend camping trip that has no electricity. At this point there is no word on pricing, but it is set to be sold in Target stores in March. — Nick Rice

Polaroid MPA-20011 microSD Flash Player – Surprisingly Cool [Anything But iPod]

 

 

We’ve seen OLED around for ages, but we have never seen them really mass-marketed to substitute LCDs, they’re only found on the external screens of certain mobile phones, or small digital audio devices. Sony is keeping us drooling at again by showing fully-assembled 1cm thin OLED displays at CES this year, the largest one measuring 27″ diagonally, with a resolution of 1920×1080. Brightness peaks at 600cd/sqm, contrast at 1million:1, color is at 10bit RGB and the range is larger than that of NTSC gamut area supposedly. Again, these are all prototypes and there’s no word on market availability. Sharp next door is doing a much better job, as their 108″ LCDs will actually go on sale this summer. — Sam Chan

Sony at CES [Impress Japan]

When Samsung announced the F300 and F500 at ITU Telecom World show, the company purposefully hid the backside of these phones. The design of the F300 ultra music phone was eventually revealed from FCC documents, leaked user manuals as well as blatant reviews of the prototypes. However the design of the backside of F500 ultra video phone was left in mystery, people even speculated that they should look the same, i.e. the same pathetically tiny color screen that can show up to 2 lines of text only. The pictures came out today proved it wrong. In fact, the backside of the F500 consists of a large enough color screen that can display the usual 3×3 main menu of Samsung. Our guess is that this would be a 220 by 176 screen similar (smaller) to that found on the ultra 6.9 X820 phone. The F300 and F500 will be on display at the CES this week. — Sam Chan

Press Release [Samsung Korea]

Whenever you were a kid and watched the Jetsons on cartoon network, you always wanted to have a robot that did all of the housework like they did. Well now your magical dream is one step closer with Romi, the cleaning robot. This new bot was developed by ETRI in Korea and will be presented at CES, just a few days away. It is said that Romi can do the cleaning for you, which means you don’t have to live with your mom anymore who does it for you. Another cool feature is that Romi takes voice commands, so now you can sit at your computer all day yelling at Romi what to clean; man this is starting to turn into the ultimate robot for slackers. Romi also has the ability to send videos wirelessly to your PC or phone, which kind of has no purpose on a cleaning robot. The only purpose someone might use it for is to film hot girls or something, which is sick in itself; you had to get your robot to look at chicks for you? Come on, that shouldn’t be a chore for you.  If this sounds like your next best friend, head on over to CES in Las Vegas to find out all about it. — Nick Rice

ROMI, the Roeen robot [Akihabara News]