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2008-01A

Newstips Electronic Editorial Bulletin       Issue # 2008-01a

            Last news before CES

CHERRY PICKS
 Sunday, 9AM to noon (come at 8:30 & take your time eating),
 Cherry Picks is at The Wynn (Lafite ballroom 5; use the tour bus
 entrance between the main entrance & The Venetian & skip the long
 snaking walk through the lobby). Come hungry. Since the program
 portion will be shorter, you can have a little more mingle-time
 with the winners before lunch arrives. Also, to save everybody
 the haul, Marty decided to ship you the press gift bags the week
 after CES; make sure he has your shipping address. Bring business
 cards; we'll scan one.

CES SURPRISE: NEW STUDIODOCK USB MONITORS
 Analog audio gets noisy, but you never have to hear it with the
 new Samson StudioDock USB Monitors. Your PC streams digital audio
 directly into these via USB; they do the digital to analog
 decoding, then (this is a big deal) lets you hear it through
 monitor-caliber speakers, far better than anything you'll hear in
 computer store speakers. Do come by to hear them but prepare
 yourself to never again being satisfied with the speakers on your
 PC now. By the way, we should mention there's an iPod dock up top
 for charging, syncing & streaming. Ask Mark about pricing &
 availability, or just send him a message & asked to be put on the
 reviewers list. Contact: Mark Wilder, SAMSON TECHNOLOGIES
 (Hauppauge, NY) 631-784-2200x142 mailto:mwilder@samsontech.com
 http://SamsonTech.com

WI-EX CES SURPRISE: CELLULAR SIGNAL STRENGTH READER
 Pilot production units came in, tweaks made & by the end of
 January, everybody will be able to buy a really cool, handheld
 cellular signal strength reader from Wi-Ex; yes, you can see it &
 try it at their CES booth. Switch it to the band you want to
 measure & it will tell you where you'll find your strongest
 signal; that's extremely cool for installers, but be honest,
 you've been wanting something that could do that just to keep
 your own calls from dropping. This & the zBoost cell bar boosters
 aren't the only goodies Sharon will be sharing at the booth;
 hint: do you have a sweet tooth? Contact: Sharon Cuppett, WI-EX
 INC. (Norcross, GA) 770-239-5475x6380 mailto:scuppett@wi-ex.com
 http://wi-ex.com AGENCY CONTACT: Deanna Anderson 404-759-1890
 mailto:danderson705@comcast.net

JVC AT CES: EVERIO EVOLVES
 Year after year, the JVC Everio series of hard disk camcorders
 keeps kicking the category up a notch. At CES this year, JVC
 previews the newest Everio models with a slimmer, smaller form
 factor (paperback book size). There will be models with 30 & 60GB
 drives. The lowest-price model will be available in silver,
 black, blue or red. And all of these new SD models feature high
 quality Konica Minolta lenses. See them in the JVC new product
 showroom at Caesar's by appointment or after the JVC press
 breakfast briefing on Tuesday, January 8 (8-9AM). Contact:
 Chelsea Vander Groef, JVC COMPANY OF AMERICA (Wayne, NJ)
 973-317-5000x5312 mailto:cvandergroef@jvc.com http://jvc.com

CES SURPRISES FROM APRICORN
 Find Apricorn at CES & among the surprises you'll find there is
 an X54 notebook slot port expander that adds a lot of video
 horsepower & other conveniences, new higher capacities in the
 Aegis Mini pocket drives & more. Of course, there's nothing
 boring in their standard products, like the Aegis BIO portable
 that uses your fingerprint to make sure that you & only you can
 read what's on the drive, the Aegis Vault that provides portable
 encryption protection via login & password instead of biometrics,
 one-pass notebook upgrade kits, big-capacity external desktop
 drives & a lot more. These aren't your papa's hard drive
 products. Come see & ask Michelle. Contact: Michelle Fischer,
 APRICORN INC. (Poway, CA) 858-513-4480
 mailto:mfischer@apricorn.com http://apricorn.com AGENCY CONTACT:
 Jennifer Olson 415-402-0230 mailto:jennifer@atomicpr.com

MORE ABOUT THE ITORNADO
 The new iTornado ($80, March) you'll see at CES is the first
 product that can in one pass, with no software to install or
 network to configure, transport files between any pair of Windows
 PC or Mac systems. Like the original (Windows PC only) Tornado,
 the new iTornado connects the two computers through their USB
 ports using twin USB cables on a spring-wound retractable reel
 within its body. Like the original, directories of both computers
 appear on both computers, making copying or moving files in
 either direction a cinch; green LEDs light to confirm each
 computer's connection. See it in action at CES & tell Clint if
 you want to be on the list for one when it ships later in 1Q08.
 Contact: Clint Hughes, DATA DRIVE THRU (Dallas, TX) 972-897-7057
 mailto:chughes@datadrivethru.com http://TheTornado.com

VOX POPULI SANS 2-YEAR VASSALAGE: SURPRISES AT CES
 While a lot of binding cell phone contracts leave you feeling
 like you've sold yourself into servitude, Virgin Mobile does
 business with no long-term commitments & that's one reason to get
 to know them better at CES. But admit it, a lot of it is about
 the tech for you, so swing by the booth & get surprised by the
 variety of gear they offer & their feature sets. If you want to
 editorially field test one of their phones during CES, this is
 the last call to call Corinne & set that up. Contact: Corinne
 Nosal, VIRGIN MOBILE USA (Warren, NJ) 908-607-4235
 mailto:corinne.nosal@virginmobileusa.com
 http://virginmobileusa.com

AT THE TIFFEN BOOTH: DIGITAL HT FILTERS
 In the world of camera filters, HT stands for high
 transmissivity, meaning just about all the light gets through; in
 other words, the glass is clearer than ever. An HT filter is
 especially important outside the studio & in natural light, since
 the more light that makes it to the image sensor, the more the
 camera picks up nuances & the less it's subject to noise. Stop &
 see Hilary for a look at these & the other really cool new stuff
 there, like the Steadicam Pilot & the Steadicam Merlin arm & vest
 & more. Contact: Hilary Araujo, TIFFEN COMPANY (Hauppauge, NY)
 631-273-2500x1216 mailto:haraujo@tiffen.com http:/.tiffen.com

NOW 30-30 HEAT VISION TAKES REMOTE TEMPERATURES FOR $30
 New from MaxMax, the 30-30 Heat Vision non-contact temperature
 measuring gun ($30) takes about half a second to digitally
 display the temperature of a target up to 100' away. There's a
 built-in laser pointer for aiming & a target cone that's tighter
 than 30 degrees; the readout is on a backlit LCD & the whole
 thing is powered by a 9V battery; it reads temperatures from
 0-400F (-20 to 200C). Yes, you can use it to spot heat leaks at
 home. It's shipping & reviewable now; ask Dan. Contact: Dan
 Llewellyn, LDP LLC (Carlstadt NJ) 201-882-0344
 mailto:dan@maxmax.com Http://MaxMax.com

BT2 DAPTER DEBUTS THIS MONTH
 It's barely a bulge beyond the USB socket, but it's a big boost
 in a PC's Bluetooth skills: the new Dapter Bluetooth 2 plug-in
 for USB2 ports will be available for first looks just past
 mid-month & will ship to resellers in late January. Drop Jack a
 note now with your shipping address & mention whether you want a
 first-looks pre-production sample or a full-production sample a
 few weeks later. You can also take a peek at it or the MoGo Go-Go
 Girls at Showstoppers. Contact: Jack Corrao, NEWTON PERIPHERALS
 (West Newton, MA) 858-792-0944
 mailto:jack.corrao@newtonperipherals.com
 http://NewtonPeripherals.com

ATLONA GEAR MAKES HDMI OUT OF OTHER CONNECTIONS
 Newer high def gear, from HDTV displays to HD recorders, tend to
 want to be fed HDMI digital video-plus-audio signals, but what if
 your older gear doesn't offer that connection? Atlona has you
 covered. One Atlona converter ($280) takes composite video or
 S-video plus analog audio in, digitizes it, scales it for high
 def & makes it all available at a single HDMI output. A second
 product ($180) can convert audio plus component or VGA video to
 HDMI with zero latency; this one does not have a scaler. A third
 ($270) brings computer A/V to home theater by converting graphic
 card digital DVI video plus SPDIF audio to HDMI. Atlona engineers
 these solutions; these aren't just a logo on some off-the-shelf
 Pacific Rim box. Ask Chris. Contact: Chris Bundy, ATLONA
 ELECTRONICS (San Jose, CA) 408-954-8782x113
 mailto:chris@lenexpo-electronics.com http://atlona.com

THANKS TO YOUR PHOTOS, YOU CAN MEASURE OUTDOORS FROM INSIDE
 For those of you who live in bitterly cold, slippery,
 snow-covered climes, taking a measuring tape around to the
 windows, doors, gutters, roof, eaves, etc. is not an activity to
 anticipate with any level of glee; thanks to iPhotoMeasure, you
 can do it much more cozily. If you have any old digital photos of
 the thing you want to measure & already know the size of anything
 within that photo, you're just seconds away of getting a
 print-out with the measurements you need atop the image. Ask Paul
 for a copy & see how it measures up to your expectations of easy.
 Contact: Paul Minor, DIGICONTRACTOR INC. (Tarzana, CA)
 818-888-3687 mailto:paul@iphotomeasure.com
 http://iPhotoMeasure.com

RESOLVE TO KEEP YOUR KITTY COMFY, EVEN AN OUTDOOR CAT
 If you own an indoor cat, the world outdoors is a foreign clime;
 if your cat likes to venture into the yard & beyond, you may
 worry about those times you have to leave the house with the cat
 still at large. A thermostatically temperature controlled Komfort
 Pets carrier can plug into an outlet at your porch, deck or patio
 (especially under the eaves) to give your kitty a comfy place to
 await your return. It can also plug into the car lighter for cats
 (or small dogs) who like to travel for those times you have to
 leave the car. A small-size carrier for cats or small dogs is
 available now, with a medium size emerging this winter & a large
 carrier this spring; ring Robert for a run-down. Contact: Bob
 Inello, KOMFORT PETS (Revere, MA) 781-485-0077
 mailto:rinello@komfortpets.com http://KomfortPets.com

SPECIAL REPORT: WIND POWERLESS
 We like the idea of wind power, but it isn't quite what people
 imagine it to be. Think about a wind-powered TV set; what will
 you see when the wind dies down? Early uses of wind power didn't
 need constancy; windmills would drive grindstones or water pumps
 or (later) sawmills & these are all applications that can
 tolerate pauses. Modern wind turbines are tasked with generating
 electricity, but we still need to resolve the ability to provide
 occasional unpredictable amounts of power to electrical
 distribution grids against the need to consume power in ways that
 do not easily tolerate variations or pauses. Today, with wind
 power making only minimal contributions to the grid,
 incorporating that as it's available does reduce the demand on
 traditional generators; if wind power usage grows to be a more
 significant portion of all power generation, supply variability
 is harder to tolerate. One current (no pun intended) techniques
 for buffering power generation (most commonly found in very large
 scale backup systems) is kinetic, using generated power to drive
 a motor with an enormously massive flywheel that in turn drives a
 generator. It seems likely that this approach is better to
 implement at a wind farm than at a power station, using grid
 power as an adjunct to wind turbine power (when & as necessary)
 to keep the motor/flywheel/generator turning. Any such buffering
 approach would allow a constant power output from the farm while
 using less grid power when the wind is blowing. The same
 technique can apply to solar or ad hoc hydroelectric sources as
 well. As attractive as this may sound from an environmental
 viewpoint, it's important to know that wind turbines are
 significantly more expensive to build & operate than standard
 fossil fuel generators or even nuclear power plants. Wind turbine
 blade designs have difficult requirements to meet, given the need
 for both rigidity & flexibility & a priority on light weight;
 this extends with a vengeance to their gearing, which needs both
 exceptional hardness & extreme light weight. Some of the
 necessary materials are in aerospace use or development, but wind
 turbine components tend to involve an enormously larger scale
 than jet engine components & must operate for longer periods with
 less maintenance. Like all tech, we expect this to get better &
 we hope it does, since there's more than enough wind to fully
 power the planet & plenty of kinetic motion of the planet to
 fully power the wind.

SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW: COM ONE BLUETOOTH STEREO CLIP
 What if you want to work without wires but the only headsets you
 like are wired, not Bluetooth? There's a brilliant answer from
 Com One: the Mic "Clip" Bluetooth Adapter. This gizmo is about
 the size of a small thumb drive with an integrated clip that lets
 you stick it on your lapel, your seat belt, you collar or
 anywhere handy. You don't stick it in your ear because it isn't a
 headset; instead, you plug in your favorite (wired) stereo
 headphones (it does pack a pair of earbuds if you don't have your
 own) & use its mike & talk button to complete your mostly
 wireless solution. It's an A2DP device, so you can link to more
 than one source. Its battery is good for about 5 hours of active
 use (about 4 days of standby) per charge (via min-USB connector).
 Bottom line: This is one of our favorite Bluetooth audio gizmos
 so far.

SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW 2: DIRT DEVIL KONE & KURV
 We love the little Dirt Devil Detailer for our keyboards & gear
 needs, but there are often bigger little messes to clean in our
 workspace; why can't they make cookies & crackers that don't
 leave crumbs? Our on-air show & tell segments put a couple of
 very cool & slightly larger Dirt Devil products in our hands. The
 Kone (inverted cone shape) & Kurv (sort of lava-lamp shape)
 cordless vacs are sculpted so that when in their charging stands,
 the last thing they look like is a vacuum cleaner. When you pull
 them out & push the button on the end, they produce an impressive
 amount of suction & are done with a job long before recharging is
 a worry. Bottom line: we (Judie, too) like them.

SPECIAL REPORT BONUS REVIEW 3: SOAPOPULAR
 Whenever we head off to be among a few hundred thousand strangers
 at a trade show, we wonder a bit about what new & belligerent
 germs they'll bring along for us to encounter. With all the stuff
 we lug, it's tough to Monk out & reach for a wipe to keep those
 hand transfers from happening & some of the other alternatives,
 like Purell, leave a sort of tacky feeling behind, not to mention
 a scent. Recently, such hand cleaners triggered concerns on
 another front when it was found that kids were drinking them for
 their alcohol content. We heard about Soapopular, an alcohol-free
 unscented antimicrobial cleaner based on benzalkonium chloride &
 asked for a sample. The sculpted bottle looked like something
 from a cosmetics counter, but we were more interested in the
 clear liquid inside. It pumps onto the hand as foam, much closer
 to the consistency of dishwashing froth than to shaving foam.
 There's absolutely no scent, no residual tacky feeling & none of
 that dry feeling that comes from alcohol. Bottom line: as hand
 cleaners go, we cleanly like this one.

10-MINUTE INTERVIEW PR REQUEST FOLLY
 You, as we, recently endured volleys of PR mass mailings begging
 us to schedule a 10-minute booth tour or a 10-minute CEO
 interview. Let's do the math on that. The last time we checked,
 CES 2008 has 2,700 exhibitors. Assuming zero travel time from
 booth to booth & zero wait for a turn (yeah, right), that's
 27,000 in-booth minutes: 450 hours. If you could go sleepless for
 19 days & take only 6 minutes per meal, all this might be
 reasonable. So how much time do we have per booth? Allowing that
 we start each day at The Sands (which opens an hour earlier) &
 end it at the LVCC (which closes an hour later), CES offers us 38
 hours of exhibit time. Factor in no meals, no booth-to-booth
 transit time & one shuttle bus ride each day & we can afford to
 spend almost exactly 45 seconds per exhibitor. So for all of
 those screwy PR people who think we owe each of their clients 10
 whole minutes, we strongly recommend a graduate course in time
 management mathematics at Screw U. Contact: Martin Winston,
 NEWSTIPS (Novelty, OH) 440-338-8400; mailto:marty@newstips.com
 http://Newstips.com

                # # #

Newstips Bulletin [Novelty, OH] +1.440.338.8400 http://Newstips.com

(c) Copyright 2007 Martin Winston and TwandaCorp - all rights reserved.

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