insignificant thoughts » Digital Life 2007
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`insignificant thoughts
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`Digital Life 2007
`Posted on September 28, 2007 by Vinny in Geeky
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`My bud Jose and I went down to Javits today to catch Digital Life 2007. It’s an annual show meant to
`highlight products for those of us interested in the “digital lifestyle” meaning there’s some kind of tech
`product throughout the show to help make your mundane non-digital life more digital. All in all, a geek
`like me should totally be within my element there, but I have to say the show was massively
`disappointing.
`
`First of all, the show didn’t even take up the entire main hall of the Javits center. That in itself was
`ridiculous to me. I can only imagine what they were charging exhibitors because a parade of people
`paying to see your products and only seeing half a convention center sends a bad message: that
`companies aren’t interested. That, of course brings me to my second point: No one showed.
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`Here’s what we saw…
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`Microsoft, Intel, Logitech, HP, Nokia and Toshiba were the big names there. Other companies like
`Logitech, Palm, and Dell had booths that were nothing to write home about, although Dell did co-
`sponsor a massive tractor trailer setup with Intel. Other than that? Not a whole lot to see.
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`http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/2007/09/28/digital-life-2007/
`
`10/3/2007
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`ZIPIT EX. 2054, pg.1
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`insignificant thoughts » Digital Life 2007
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`HP had a nice booth. We got to check out their new MediaSmart TVs and they were seriously
`impressive. Big smart televisions with wide screens, WiFi, and all kinds of other goodies. If you’re a
`computer-centric TV geek, this isn’t a bad move for you at all.
`
`Toshiba was showing off some amazing televisions. Heroes looked ridiculously good in HD; something
`I had never seen before. Their booth had a lot of their computers including a line of laptops that was
`laughably large. One of the machines we saw on the high end had a gorgeous 17 inch screen and a full
`keyboard, but probably weighed about nine pounds! Overall, Toshiba’s presence was really large and
`they showed off a lot of products from HD DVD players to TV’s to computers. Even their media players
`impressed, but frankly, the fact that they run Microsoft’s Plays for Sure means, at least to me, that
`they’ll never gain any real traction except for the “I want anything that isn’t an iPod” crowd.
`
`We went over to Nokia’s booth, but there wasn’t much going on there. It was barely 15 feet wide and
`had a few shelves with some products. We played with the new N95 3G for the US (a welcome
`improvement) as well as the 8 Gig Black version. I was impressed by the N81, which is a sleek slider
`that the N95 should look like (that’s one of the phones in the video. Take a look at it and you’ll see what
`I mean). Jose enjoyed the E90, and I’d have to agree. Despite it’s humongousness, it was still a really
`nice phone with an excellent screen and keyboard. We wanted to see the N800 internet tablet, but the
`one other guy in the booth was standing there looking at it. Gee thanks, Nokia. You could’ve moved him
`along especially considering most of his time was spent standing in front of the N800 and not actually
`doing anything with it. Oh well.
`
`We tried to eyeball the new Palm Centro, but for some reason neither one of us could find it at Palm’s
`booth. The truth is the word has gotten out about how it’s Palm’s last hope because CBS was there
`talking to someone about it (he had one in his hand). Frankly, I hope Palm stays around if for nothing
`else than their historic significance to the PDA world. The Centro might keep them alive, though. It’s
`going to be really inexpensive and run on Sprint’s EVDO network. And it’s small. Really small. We did
`catch one in a display case at the Digital Village and I was wholly impressed.
`
`IZ3d was showing off their 22 inch 3D gaming monitor. No, not red/blue 3d. Real 3D with gray glasses.
`I have to say that I was skeptical before putting the glasses on but a believer within three seconds.
`Watching the Quake IV demo in 3D was mind blowing. In fact, after one frag with blood flying, a
`stepped back a bit. It was that convincing.
`
`A surprise for us was the booth for a company called ZipIt Wireless, and they were demoing their new
`IM WiFi handheld called the Z2. It’s a small device with a full QWERTY keyboard. No recurring
`monthly fees, and it connects you to Yahoo, MSN, and AIM for all your IM needs. It worked nicely,
`was small enough, and at $149 seemed to be priced right. It’ll be available on 10/1, so if your cellular
`carrier does what most do and burns you on SMS charges when you send IM’s, this is for you.
`
`We also spent a lot of time talking to the folks at the Neuros booth. Neuros is a favorite company of the
`Open Source community, namely because they open up their source code and beg for programmers to
`hack it. Their newest product, the OSD is a promising standard-definition media extender / recorder.
`Think Apple TV, not high-def, but with a lot more features and a strong programming community
`behind it. The community is so active that they even developed a YouTube plugin so you can watch
`YouTube videos right on your TV. The OSD saves files in MP4 format to an SDD card or Memory
`Stick you can plug into any device that uses them, and be on your way. You can even share files over
`the network or hang any USB Mass Storage class device off the USB port to save files directly to an
`external HD. All in all very impressive. It’s priced a bit high at $239, but I spoke to the media contact
`there and a review unit will be forthcoming shortly. Stay tuned for more details on that when it does.
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`http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/2007/09/28/digital-life-2007/
`
`10/3/2007
`
`ZIPIT EX. 2054, pg.2
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`insignificant thoughts » Digital Life 2007
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`Page 3 of 8
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`We got a few minutes to eyeball the Supacam DVi. Had I not just bought my camcorder, this would’ve
`left with me. It’s a very small and really slick solid state camcorder. Jose seemed impressed by it also,
`but also said that he’d be leery of any company called Supacam. The guy barking promos into the mic
`told us to Google the company to see the amazing reviews their last product got. I wonder if he read
`them at all? Macworld Expo loved it, but they seem to be the only one. In any case, the DVi is a nice
`cam, and I wouldn’t mind owning one for on-the-go video.
`
`Finally, the most interesting product at the show for us was the Novint Falcon. It’s a ridiculously cool
`device that, while I don’t see a use for it right now, could change the way we interact with games even
`more than the Nintendo Wii and that’s saying a lot. Don’t think that the demo and quotes on the site are
`hype. They’re not. It really is that cool. I don’t know how practical it is, but the experience is
`sensational.
`
`Overall the show wasn’t too bad, and maybe I over-hyperbolized when I said it was massively
`disappointing, but we did cover the whole show floor in 3 hours which seems, at least to me, a bit
`ridiculous. I would’ve liked to have seen Panasonic, Sanyo, Samsung, and Sony there, but they were
`nowhere to be found. Guess if I want to see what they have to offer, I’ll have to head out to CES this
`year. We shall see. Maybe having been to CES is what spoiled me to begin with, huh?
`
`Until next time…
`
`Technorati Tags: digital life, dl, ziff davis
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`One Response to “Digital Life 2007”
`
`1. The Masked Rye, on October 1st, 2007 at 12:24 pm Said:
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`That Novint Falcon seems freakin’ awesome!!! I love the demos! I want to try it! They need a full
`body version. Atleast a double version so you can use two hands or something. I sooo need to try
`that thing out. Thanks for the head’s up.
`
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`http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/2007/09/28/digital-life-2007/
`
`10/3/2007
`
`ZIPIT EX. 2054, pg.3