News

CES 2011

jetbook_oxford

The Ectaco jetBook Oxford+ educational eReader

January 8th, 2011 | by Zara Stone

I’ve always thought that the natural place for eBook readers resides in schools, if only to prevent kids from the terrible backache caused by heavy backpacks. Ectaco have just announced an eReader especially for schoolchildren, the jetBook Oxford+ / jetBook K-12 (they don’t seem to have made up their mind on the title). What immediately strikes you about this is the design- it comes in its own stand with penholders and the Ectaco C Pen arranged to its side. It’s quite an eye-catching design, and the finish is ruggedized, to cope with all those knocks and bumps in the playground. The jetBook Oxford + comes preinstalled with a selection of books from the reading lists of states countrywide and has a 5 inch TFT screen, is 15mm thick and weighs in at 220g. It has been designed with the education system in mind, and this is evident from the number of thoughtful features included in the device. The included Ectaco C=Pen allows you to scan printed text and upload it to the eReader, which will enable students to put the majority of work they get given on their device, and get rid of all those ‘the dog ate my homework’ excuses.


CES 2011

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Hands on with the BlackBerry PlayBook

January 8th, 2011 | by Zara Stone

Tablets might be a ten a penny at CES, but I was eager to have a look at the BlackBerry PlayBook, a new step in terms of business technology. Merging the functionality of a BlackBerry with a stylish tablet, the 7 inch PlayBook could potentially be a market changer, in terms of business conferences and office functionality. It features a 7 inch multitouch capacitative screen and is 10mm thick. The BlackBerry PlayBook was surprisingly comfortable to hold, far lighter than the iPad (it weighs 0.4kg compared to the iPad’s 0.68kg) and felt good in the hand. The gloss finish was attractive and the screen was beautiful to behold. The multitouch was a tad tricky to use, with a little display lag when zooming in and out of the pages- ‘it’s extra sensitive’, the spokesperson claimed, before elaborating that the model we had was still ‘unfinished’. We couldn’t look at document editing or spreadsheets as they weren’t yet installed, which was a shame, as that’s going to be one of the big draws for people. The PlayBook features two cameras, a frontward facing 3megapixel camera and a 5megapixel rear camera. Connectivity wise, you get an HDMI port, a micro USB port and WiFi. As well as Adobe Flash 10.1. You can play videos in 1080p on the screen, and what we saw looked great, with rich vibrant colours and it was easy to adjust controls such as volume and brightness with a finger swoosh. As the PlayBook is designed to cater for the business user, you have full BlackBerry support, from integrated calendars to Blackberry Messaging services. In terms of video conferencing, you’re able to use both cameras, and it has a 1GHz dual core processor for fast speeds, and 1GB RAM. There are more functions than just business to this device, as it provides an all round multimedia experience, with music, videos, pictures and games all as standard. Out later this year, price


CES 2011

Hanvon_colour-ebook reader

Hands on with the Hanvon eInk colour Ebook reader

January 8th, 2011 | by Zara Stone

For years the debate has raged- do you opt for the pretty (but tiring on the eyes) LCD eReader for eBooks, or do you go for the drabber but infinitely better eInk screen, which lacks colours. That choice just got easier with news of the Hanvon eBook reader which uses eInk AND has a colour screen. How does it achieve this? Very simply, actually- it simply uses a colour filter to display 4096 colours. They did look rather muted on the devices we got to play with, but we were told they can look brighter with different PDF's. Hanvon hope that this option will change the way people choose which eReader to buy, as their reader will offer colour in combination with the 30+ days of battery time associated with most eInk readers. The eReader will play most common formats, including ePub, TXT and PDF files and will also display JPG's. It features integrated WiFi to allow you to download easily from their eBook store, and their are plans for a 3G model in the works. The screen is 9.7 inches and has a digitizer touchscreen, and you can use your hands or the included stylus to flick through pages or surf. There's seems to be quite a lag on the page turns however- we were quoted 2 seconds- which seems a long time to refresh, but hopefully this will be improved on. There's an SD card slot so you can expand the memory, and a 3.5mm jack, as the reader can also handle audio. It comes preinstalled with a selection of games and books, and feels rather nice in the hand- substantial, but not too weighty. A release date has yet to be confirmed, but it will be on sale for approximately $500 from, Hanvon in China later this year


CES 2011

whirlpool-ces-2011

Whirlpool Vantage washer and dryer feature Laundry Apps and a USB port

January 7th, 2011 | by Zara Stone

Laundry is not a sexy subject. The weekly chore of throwing your dirty clothes in the machine, pouring in the liquid and then hanging it all up again is always going to be dull and mundane. Or is it? Whirlpool is trying to make the whole experience more entertaining/ intuitive. And this includes a colour LCD screen and a USB port. It gets stranger... The Whirlpool washing machine features a display screen with touch enabled laundry apps. Yes, really. These allow you to make sure you always wash your clothes at the correct temperature, so no more shrunken silks or ruined jeans for you. The animated graphic will help younger user do their own laundry as well, as kids will no longer be able to say they don’t understand the setup. There are 33 special cycles which cater to everything from stuffed toys to bath mats, shower curtains and swimwear-all the usual, and a couple extra just for fun. For the particularly useless, the LCD screen will even give you tips and tricks on how to deal with stubborn stains. The price point may be high, buy you’re actually going to be pretty energy efficient using this, as the washer can use as little as 11.5 gallons a load- well below the minimum requirements



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