TYLT hooked up the guys at BSN* with battery packs and other tools to keep our mobile devices alive throughout CES 2013 – Here?s what we thought:

One of the highlights of being at CES is that you get to socialize with industry leaders, in a city that parties all night long. But being in Las Vegas has its downsides too, in its arguably busiest week of the year. Within a 3-mile radius you have roughly 3 million nerds heavily-wired with at least 2 mobile devices, all desperately fighting for a stable mobile/data signal to update their web. And this is all on top of Vegas being one of the densest cities of wireless signals (RF, mobile, broadband, surveillance, public service) in the United States. Mobile devices will chug even harder for stronger signals, draining even more battery life.

Good thing TYLT provided us with the PowerPlant, an all-in-one solution that quickly charged our phones, tablets, and other equipment fed through a micro-USB connector. With a hefty 5200 mAh Li-Ion capacity, it fully and quickly revived my Galaxy Nexus twice a day, barely breaking 50% drain. In some locations without a wall socket nearby, we plugged it into one of our Verizon Wireless phones acting as a WiFi hotspot, outperforming our previous power solutions with a steady 2.1 A output. It even completely refueled our Nexus 7, while we took notes during Intel?s press conference earlier this week.

PowerPlant comes with a 3? micro-USB to USB charging cable, but in case you forget to bring it, the pack also has a flexible charging arm that folds away when not in use. Our team is mostly Android based, so TYLT gave us the micro-USB arm version, but they also have an Apple 30-pin model available. On the back are four indicator lights that show how much juice is left, but this is more of a visual estimate than accurate reading.

At 5 oz, PowerPlant is relatively light, and is great for storage in a bag or backpack. It?s a bit wide, however, so it may not be the best fit for your pocket. We also found it interesting that it did not include an AC adapter, when it came time to recharge the battery itself. Of course, with the added USB cable, you could plug it into a nearby computer, but how much more would have it cost to include a simple one? TYLT may have done this to separate the PowerPlant from their Energi model – a USB wall charger with an integrated 1800 mAh battery.

When it?s done charging, a rubber door protects all the ports, ready to go for your next scramble for power. Overall, we were very satisfied with how well TYLT?s products performed throughout CES 2013, and while it may not have the biggest capacity or portability of other models we?ve seen this year, at $65 USD it packs quite the punch.

The post TYLT's PowerPlant Packs a Punch appeared first on VR World.

At CES 2013, Sennheiser introduced the Momentum ? their entry into the lifestyle headphone market, combining brilliant sound with a tasteful, comfortable design.

With a lightweight, stainless steel frame wrapped in luxurious leather from Ethiopia and tannery from London, the Mometum at first glance is as striking as the audio it drives. The soft leather ear cups and headband sit very comfortably, while keeping a firm grip that can withstand everyday usage of listeners on-the-go. The headphone cable is outfitted with an in-line media control and microphone, that can transport music, change volume, answer calls, and activate voice control.

Like most manufacturers, these controls are built and tested for Apple iDevices, however control of Android or other platforms should be possible. The cable is both removable when unneeded and locking when in place, to protect your investment in case your cable goes bad, or to simply use these headphones to drown out the drone of city life. The mini-TRS 3.5?? connector on the bottom can be rotated from 90 degrees each way, allowing for a streamlined connection to any mobile device.

So how does the Momentum sound? During our brief introduction at Sennheiser?s booth, before starting the music I could already tell how well it sealed off the insanity of the convention with great noise attenuation. These headphones are one of the most comfortable I?ve worn of its class, and I could feel it could last for long hours of wear. Loading up tracks ranging from indie pop to jazz, the Momentum immediately took stage and gave a clear sound from such a small, minimalist package.

Momentum comes in two color tones, black/red and brown/gray, and retails at a debut price tag of $349 USD. Over the coming weeks, BSN will be reviewing the Momentum and listen to how well it performs at the home, and while mobile. Stay tuned for more!

The post Sennheiser Enters Lifestyle Listening with Momentum appeared first on VR World.

Earlier today, Technicolor introduced BSN to a private demo of their new Qeo software framework, allowing seamless communication across devices of all brands and platforms.

Imagine being able to bridge all of your gadgets and appliances in your home, no matter the manufacturer, operating system, or interface. With the Qeo ecosystem, families can do just that, while creating a custom experience within their home, across all devices. While being able to shoot your media from mobile devices to the television is no secret, Qeo can also manage your alarms, home surveillance, power automation, facial recognitions, and much more.

Check out some video highlights of the live home demonstration below:

[developing? coming soon!]

So the moment you walk through the front door, your lighting, favorite television channel, alarms, calendars, recent visitors, or social networking updates can all be presented to you across all platforms throughout your home. A ?Butler? app handles the cross-communication between all devices, coordinating them throughout your private home network. In fact, there is little to no pulling of information from an outside server unless the content demands it. The best part of the Qeo ecosystem is that it adapts to every new changed preference or event. If the room becomes a little too toasty, you can always manually override your thermostat, and the Butler will remember for your next entry. Authorized users can also explore a full history of all activity across all Qeo-enabled devices, through the ?My Butler? app.

Safety and security plays a big part in Qeo. When an unknown person is at the door, the Butler will pull possible facial recognition matches from your social networks and then give you the option to create profiles, access levels, and notifications to your devices. Parental controls will also be much easier with this system. When your grade-school son stumbles upon The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Butler will know that it?s a movie for mature audiences. It will show the option to notify your parent and continue, or to change back to your approved programming. Dad receives a notification, and can choose to remotely lock your sneaky late-night movie that you weren?t allowed to watch.

Smart homes are becoming more of a reality, and Technicolor strongly believes that Qeo will be the future step in managing your multi-platform digital world. Technicolor?s diversification of their Connected Home Division is an interesting step for this Hollywood-renowned quality standardization giant. They pride themselves in creating new visual standards and patents to ensure that audiences view the best quality possible, across all platforms. But are they using this ecosystem to create a new experience for entertainment viewers, or are they aiming to diversify just for the sake of keeping up with the digital future? It?s difficult to tell where Qeo will go, but with major players in the storage, telecom, and networking industries already ?on board?, we?ll be following where they go next.

The post Technicolor Seamlessly Connects Your Entire Home with Qeo appeared first on VR World.

Technicolor is showcasing their new CineStyle Color Assist software at CES 2013, bringing easy color correction solutions to both novice or prosumser videographer.

Color correction, a visual skillset once reserved for the professional film industry, has been becoming more available to creators over the last five years, as media creation suites become more accessible to prosumers and videographers of all levels. By applying different color grading and other aesthetic choices to your visual project, you can help achieve different moods within your content, and drive your story forward.

Introduced in late 2012, and showcased at this year?s CES, CineStyle Color Assist will bring easy, non-destructive coloring options onto existing Quicktime, H.264, DVC Pro, ProRes, and other widely popular formats up to 2K resolution. Through a straightforward user interface, editors will be able to choose from 25 preset color profiles, and can even create and save custom grading as they experiment with CineStyle. These filters and profiles can be easily applied while previewing clips in real time, render-free. On top of the easy click-and-go options, tools like a vectorscope, color waveform graphs, curves adjustments, and key selectors are also available, to not leave prosumers and aspiring colorists behind.

CineStyle plugins are designed to work with Adobe Premiere CS5.5 and CS6, as well as Apple?s Final Cut Pro 7. They recommend a system with at least a newer generation of i5 CPU or equivalent, with at least 1GB of graphics memory. This program can also take advantage of GPU computing, such as NVIDIA?s CUDA architecture. Support for Final Cut Pro X and still image support is still in the works for future updates. Additional DLC ?premium? color profiles can also be purchased and used in conjunction with popular NLE (non-linear editing) software.

And the best part? CineStyle Color Assist is available only for $99.

Stay tuned as we report more exciting news from Technicolor!

The post Technicolor Brings Coloring to the Masses appeared first on VR World.

Earlier today at CES 2013, Sharp announced their new IGZO-based displays, promising to revolutionize the LCD display industry. IGZO ? short for Indium, Gallium, Zinc, and Oxygen, is a new type of semiconductor touted to miniaturize componentry as well as doubling the operating resolution of a device, in comparison to conventional LCD displays. This is also part of a continuing relationship with Corning glass, with their latest ?Lotus? series of glass substrate. With IGZO technology built into Corning’s Lotus Glass, Sharp is able to achieve displays that can withstand rigorous high-temperature processing while delivering pristine surface quality and superior thickness control. Sharp?s line of Aquos mobile phones will also benefit from the IGZO semiconductor, promising better touch recognition and accuracy, as well as significantly reduced power consumption.

Towards the end of the press conference, they also clued what could lie in the horizon, including developments already underway for 2014 and beyond. Most intriguing was their plans to add a nanoscale cone structure on screen surface, similar to a moth eye. This design will prevent screen glare while allowing as much light to pass to the viewer. They also plan on improving current Quattron technology by doubling the resolution per pixel, using a subpixel algorithm to provide a richer color spectrum and image resolution at lower costs.

The post Sharp Partners with Corning for New IGZO Displays appeared first on VR World.

At NVIDIA?s CES 2013 press conference, Nvidia’s CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang, agreed that the ?best camera you can have is the one that?s readily available.? It?s no secret that photography on smartphones and mobile devices has become more advanced and popular over the past three years. Tegra 4 will usher in a platform so powerful that capturing and processing your images will become practically instantaneous.

One of the most popular processing techniques in mobile photography is using HDR, or high-dynamic range. This is currently a native feature on many of the latest smartphones and captures two images of different exposures, then its CPU superimposes them, calculating the best overall exposure before drawing the newly combined image. 

For example, on the iPhone?s HDR setting, both images need to be captured and stored to memory individually before they are sent to the CPU for processing and drawing. With the A6 processor, this takes about 2 seconds/frame. Tegra 4?s ?Computational Photography Engine? effectively combines the processing power between the GPU, CPU, and image-signal processor, resulting in an HDR image that is processed in 0.2 seconds before reaching the memory.

That?s 10 times faster than any mobile SoC to date.

Another issue with HDR photography is the potential blur of moving subjects in the background, because both images take extra time processing before reaching the CPU. This can cause blurring or doubling of moving visuals behind your subject. With the Tegra 4?s new engine, both images are captured much quicker, eliminating this side-effect.

So what else can Tegra 4 mean for mobile media creation? Imagine being able to capture and process HDR video in the palm of your hand. How about real time focus tracking for not-so still life photography? Once this platform becomes sees adoption, it will welcome a new future of mobile photography that we will always have ?readily available.?

The post CES 2013: Tegra 4 Will Revolutionize Mobile Photography appeared first on VR World.

After setting up yards of extension cable, an array of systems and mobile devices, and figuring out how to connect to the outside world (Wi-Fi isn?t free), the guys at BSN* are now reporting live from Las Vegas for CES 2013!

Here?s a sneak preview of what to expect over the next week:

• New CPU announcements from Intel
• AMD likely to unveil Sea Islands GPUs and future company strategies
• NVIDIA likely to showcase Tegra 4 mobile SoC and possible new GPUs
• Corning will announce Gorilla Glass 3 for smartphones and tablets
• MakerBot Industries and the industrial revolution of 3D Printing will unveil new 3D printers
• SmartTV Alliance adds five more partners: Panasonic, ABOX42, IBM, Specific Media, TechniSet
• A new player in consumer SSD market
• New GoogleTV version enabled TVs coming from multiple TV manufacturers
• $100 Active Noise-Cancelling Headphones
• Sennheiser shows us what?s new
• MIPS adds Android Jellybean support
• New SOC of Chinese vendor, Ingenic
• Anshel Sag will compete in the TigerDirect PC Charity Race

This week is going to be full of advancements in consumer tech and beyond ? so stay in the know! Add or follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@BrightSideNews), or Google+ for live updates.

Stay tuned!

~ The BSN* Team

The post CES 2013: Vegas Baby! appeared first on VR World.