Las Vegas gadget show ends

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Las Vegas gadget show ends

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10 January,2011 04:09 pm

Gadgets revealed at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas flop more often than they pop. Microsoft provided a sneak peek at a radical new version of Windows, Verizon showed the first consumer gadgets for a wireless network that's faster in many cases than wired broadband, and many manufacturers showed tablet computers with the potential to give Apple's iPad a run for its money. Touch-screen tablet computers crowded the show, as brand names large and small showed off a slew of devices meant to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPad. From a hardware standpoint, companies touted features that the iPad doesn't yet have, such as front- and rear-facing cameras for video chatting and taking high-definition videos and the ability to operate over wireless carriers' new and forthcoming high-speed networks, together known as 4G. As for software, the upcoming Honeycomb version of Google Inc.'s Android software seemed a popular choice. For now, only plug-in laptop modems can take advantage of it, but at the show, Verizon showed off smart phones from Motorola, LG Electronics Inc., HTC Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. set to arrive in the first half of year, along with two tablets. However, Verizon promptly stole its own thunder by inviting journalists to a second press conference on Tuesday in New York, less than a week after its big reveal in Las Vegas. It's widely believed that Verizon will announce that it will start selling Apple Inc.'s iPhone, now available in the U.S. exclusively through rival AT&T Inc. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that this is the case. Intel and AMD, whose processors are the brains of PCs, unveiled new chips with significant design changes, in part to help them hold off threats from tablets and smart phones. The idea is to make traditional, low-cost computers using their chips more competitive with the mobile devices. Last year's big new thing in TVs, 3-D, didn't catch on as manufacturers had hoped. One problem might be the bulky, expensive, battery-powered glasses the sets need. This year, LG Electronics Inc. is trying a different take on 3-D, with light, inexpensive glasses of the kind used in movie theaters.