DigitalLife Summer Press Preview 2008

DigitalLife’s Summer Press Preview 2008 is later this week in NYC.  Expect a horde of bloggers flashing cameras and scooping up freebies while pushing through an overcrowded Roosevelt Hotel lobby in search of that one cocktail that makes it all worthwhile.  Sound like a nightmare?  Well it’s not,  the number of new gizmos and exhibitors is supposed to be way up this year,  meaning more gadget-gropes and seductive promoter girls/boys than ever.   This Thursday evening at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown New York,  Press Only.

Of course the main DigitalLife Expo 2008 is in the fall (Sept 25-2 at the Jacob Javits Center on the west side and is open to the public.

Link goes to DigitalLife

The future of gaming? Augmented Reality with HP’s MScape

I got to see this demoed at the HP Keynote speech at DigitalLife last week here in NYC. If they can make this next-gen gaming platform a reality I will be the first in line.  MScape takes a portable game console, adds a video camera & highspeed wireless Internet, and merges the gaming world with the real world around you.  It’s like holding up a lens to the real world and seeing the virtual game world overlayed on top. Just watch the video.

PepperPad 3 and ME!

Santa, please bring me a pepperpad for xmas!

Click to enlarge

These Linux powered touchscreen wifi media playin’ remote controllin bad boys are available NOW. Check it out via Pepper.com

S14 PC-Bot autonomous servent!

I stumbled upon this little guy scurrying around the show floor at DigitalLife and had to stop and interact. It’s basically a high powered PC on motorized wheels with infrared, optic, and audio sensors that help it intreprete and navigate its surroundings. Here’s a picture of what he looks like naked without that itchy Hummer exoskeleton on:

The CEO and father of the PC-Bot was on the scene and told me his company White Box Robotics had just been acquired by an unnamed military contractor. Does this mean we’ll see waves of these little autobots plowing through the streets of Baghdad soon?

Read more via WhiteBoxRobotics.com

Windows Vista and the motorized mouse wheel

I’m watching a Microsoft demo on Vista and they’re showing off a new VX Revolution notebook mouse. The scroll wheel engages and disengages single/multi-scroll mouse wheel depending on how you need to use it. Very cool!
Here’s the Vista-enabled VX Revolution mouse from Logitech:

And here’s the MicroGear technology:

Logitech’s ’spin’ on the new mouse wheel:

A new concept in PC navigation, the MicroGear™ Precision Scroll Wheel operates in two distinct modes, allowing you to scroll faster and with more precision than ever before:

Free-spin mode for hyper-fast, nearly frictionless scrolling. With a single flick, the machined alloy wheel spins for up to seven seconds, scrolling hundreds of pages or thousands of rows. Fly through long documents, and instantly stop wherever you want.

Click-to-click mode for detailed navigation. An ultra-precise ratchet-scrolling mechanism allows users to move line-by-line through complex spreadsheets, step through slideshows, or travel small vertical distances in documents or Web pages.

More via Logitech.com

SonyEricsson Bluetooth Watches

SonyEricsson had a slew of brand spankin’ new Bluetooth enabled wristwatches on display today.  Suprisingly not just the ugly, huge, dorkware variety either! I really liked the white sport model. All these watches connect to your mobile phone wirelessly to display caller ID information as well as other programmable data such as todo lists or appointments. Pretty sweet!

The Elumenati 3D immersion inflatable room!!

This is absolutely insane. A giant 15 foot tall inflatable dome room with 360 degree live video surrounding you. They had it set up running Second Life. The immersive experience is like no other. Awesome!

The ELUMENATI.com

Verizon ONE FioS appliance

Even though it can’t make coffee for you or wipe your bottom, the Verizon ONE has upped the Internet appliance market one with adding fiber optic service support as well as adding in some cool (although closed source) widgets that let you check basic email and pay your bills from your home phone’s screen. Open that source code Verizon or you’re looking at a sitting duck and lagging subscriptions.

More on the Verizon ONE

Sony Playstation 3 in the flesh!

This thing is badass. I just played some basketball game and the graphics were UNREAL!   Gamestop.com is taking pre-orders for this $599 bruiser but that won’t guarantee you actually get one (even if you CAN afford one).  The graphics on this, especially on a giant 1080p screen, are unrivaled in the next-gen console field. But superior gameplay and lower prices make the Nintendo Wii a frightening contender in the 06 Holiday season. Not to mention the fact that Wii topped both CircuitCity and Toys R Us’s #1 Christmas Wishlists.

Sony ‘Style’

Hey Sony! Can I get a limo ride if I one up your PS3 on this blog?

DigitalLife 06!

Ugh even with a press pass I’m stuck standing in line with a bunch of oily teenagers.

I did just get to eat a piece of Sonic the Hedgehog cake though. Apparently it’s his 15th birthday today!  I sure hope this gets better though!