New Year Kicks Off with CES, Google's Nexus One
The new year in IT news kicked off this week with the annual gadget-and-gear extravaganza, the Consumer Electronics Show. Apart from CES, Google got in on the news action, announcing its Nexus One smartphone, which provided (yet) another lesson about why it's not a good idea to get all hyped about rumors and speculation around new products that may or may not be all that when they are officially announced. Unless, of course, those products are from Apple.
Fri, January 08, 2010
IDG News Service — The new year in IT news kicked off this week with the annual gadget-and-gear extravaganza, the Consumer Electronics Show. Apart from CES, Google (GOOG) got in on the news action, announcing its Nexus One smartphone, which provided (yet) another lesson about why it's not a good idea to get all hyped about rumors and speculation around new products that may or may not be all that when they are officially announced. Unless, of course, those products are from Apple (AAPL).
1. CES 2010: Hot new tech gear, CES 2010 projects post-recession optimism: Netbooks, 3D HDTVs and games, smartphones, networking gear, new chips and much, much more are on display this week at CES in Las Vegas. Our IDG colleagues are attending the show speeches and demonstrations and canvassing the expo hall to check out the latest news.
2. Report: Ballmer to unveil tablet computer before Apple, Ballmer's CES keynote and the incredible disappearing tablet and Project Natal hitting Xbox 360 this year: But one anticipated bit of CES news didn't quite pan out -- The New York Times cited unnamed sources saying that Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer would show off a touchscreen tablet computer at his show-opening keynote Wednesday night, stealing some thunder from Apple's rumored tablet (see number 10). Ballmer did show off tablets during his talk, which sounds like it was a bit of a yawner, but not the hotly anticipated Courier tablet. He did, however, say that Microsoft's full-body game control system, dubbed Project Natal, will be out in time for the 2010 holidays, which will spell joy for many an Xbox 360 user.
3. Google takes wraps off Nexus One, Google introduces ... just another smartphone, Google's Nexus One phone: Questions and answers and Nexus One another another tactic in Google's ad-revenue strategy: Speaking of hot anticipation -- Google unveiled its Nexus One phone this week and it turns out to be just another Android-based smartphone. The Nexus One can only be obtained from Google, and is not currently available in any retail stores where a potential buyer could actually, you know, see and touch one before deciding whether to buy it. The phone costs US$529, unlocked, or $179 with a T-Mobile contract (and read that early-termination fee fine print).
4. Outlook 2010: Since we're still greeting people with "happy new year," we thought we'd include Network World's fine package of 2010 outlook stories high up in our list. There's a lot of interesting analysis to dig into with the package.
