Retrevo

We're just back from the consumer electronics extravaganza in Las Vegas where we saw some amazing new gadgets and gear including new TVs, tablets, smartphones and new high tech automobiles. Much of the technology we saw may not be available for some time (if at all) but we did see some trends that will sooner or later make many of your high tech possessions obsolete.

Future TVs Will Be Sharper

A year ago at CES 2011 we saw just a few 4K resolution HDTVs but at this year's show we saw lots more. Full HD is defined as 1920 x 1080 but he next generation standard will double that to 3840 x 2160 which they are calling 4K (4K x 2K). Just as everyone who saw HD when it first came out could see a big difference between its higher resolution and older standard definition TVs, once you see 4K TVs you'll want one. Yes, it will take new production equipment, new distribution methods and present all kinds of challenges but isn't that what the industry thrives on?Read more

Amazing iPhone Camera Rig, Cool New Car Tech and More CES news

Today was the official opening day at CES and the crowds showed up as expected. I started my day at the Intel booth and ended up at Showstoppers which is another press only event in the evening. As always, there was a lot to see and some very cool new technology like new car tech and of course the new 55-inch OLED TV which was on display showing passive 3D at the LG booth. Here are videos of some things that caught our eye.

Intel Life Forms Exhibit
Every year Intel has some amazing demonstration that is powered by one or two of their multi-core processors. This year they had some 3D scanners that turned whatever you put under them into a "life form" that "evolved" and interacted with other life forms.

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The day before the show officially opens is among other thing press conference day and Steve Ballmer keynote night, neither of which yielded any major surprises. One of the big events of the show is the press only event called Digital Experience or Pepcom where it seemed like close to 100 exhibitors including big companies like HP along with startups. Here are some products that caught our attention for one reason or another.

Lenovo Yoga is Very Flexible
Lenovo announced a new product they call Yoga. It's so flexible the display flips around and the whole thing turns into a tablet. It has a touchscreen display and was running Windows 8 whose Metro UI works well with touch commands.

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Another year, another CES. The huge consumer electronics extravaganza in Las Vegas that officially opens on January 10th looks to be a major showcase for tablets, TVs and connectivity this year. The 55-inch LG OLED TV is already getting a lot of buzz even though it's rumored $8,000 price tag will keep it in the fantasy realm for most consumers. We predict this will be the most photographed and talked about product at the show.

Android Tablets Will Make Another Run At the iPad

This time last year Google was just about ready to ship its tablet-friendly version of Android called Honeycomb but even that didn't seem to help Android make a dent in Apple's iPad business. This year we have another version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich which may or may not help the mainstream tablet vendors like Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and others attract buyers to their tablets. At the moment it looks like the two dominant tablet makers; Apple and Amazon won't even be exhibiting at CES. We also think we'll see tablets featured at a lot of booths as accessories to TVs and controllers for smart home technology. The word is we'll see close to 100 new tablets on display at this year's CES including some quad-core, Tegra 3, Kal-El-powered versions like Acer's Iconia Tab A700. Samsung's 5.3-inch Note, which represents a new size for tablets should be getting a lot of attention along with some tablets that might be running Microsoft's Windows 8.Read more

This year's CES should bring out the latest HDTV sets from all the big names including Samsung, Sony, LG, Panasonic, Sharp, Toshiba and more. We expect to see more connected TVs with more iPads and other tablets controlling them. A challenge they will all be facing is how to make their TVs stand out from the pack. With little differentiation between one, high refresh rate, LED backlit big screen HDTV set, and another, TV manufacturers are going to have to differentiate in order to make their TVs more appealing than others. One differentiation we may see is added TV "smarts" either built into the TV itself or provided in a companion device like a tablet. TVs with more smarts will help but with rumors of an Apple TV coming in 2012, we wonder if any of the major TV brands will be able to compete with Apple in the battle for the living room.

TV Brands Used to Be Enough of a Differentiator
Unfortunately, throwing pixels on a screen is not enough to sustain a TV manufacturer's market share. HDTVs like laptop computers are becoming something of a commodity; there is little to differentiate one brand from another. Even Sony who has been able to command a price premium in the past now has TVs that are priced similarly to Vizio TVs. Of course there will always be new technology advances like Ultra High Definition (UHDTV), quantum dots, and big screen AMOLED TVs but these won't come for some time and once one vendor gets one of these features, they all will.Read more

Not to quote Ned Stark, but, "Winter is coming." And what better way for any self-respecting nerd to spend the season than hunkered down in the glow of some of the best nerd-approved films of all time. But you've watched your favorite films a billion times, so how do you find the films you haven't seen yet, but should?

Well, today I'm putting my Cinema "Minor" to work and that means digging through film history and pulling out title gems that are too often overshadowed by Avatar or the all-impressive Star Wars. These films will change your life (or they should), so sit down, strap in and load these puppies up in your Netflix queue. Here are the best of the best in their respective categories. Enjoy these films. You will be a better nerd for watching them.

*Note: All films should be watched in the aspect ratio they were shot in and if possible, watch the director's cut. None of this "4:3" nonsense when a film was shot in widescreen. Also, may of the older films on this list are now on Blu-ray. For a more technical overview of a specific film's transfer to Blu-ray, please query The Blu Ray Blog. Now, please... enjoy the show.

Straightup Nerd-Tastic Films (AKA Category 1)

Dark City
(1998)
Film Notes: If you liked Metropolis, The Matrix, and Inception, you have to see this film. I wrote an entire master's thesis on it. If you can, watch the commentary by Rober Ebert.

The Fifth Element
(1997)
Film Notes: This eye-candy adventure is one of the most charming, beautifully shot, creative, colorful sci-fi films of all time.Read more

2011 will go down in the history books as a great year for tablets mostly for Apple's iPad however, not all tablet vendors fared as well as Apple. It's not for lack of products that prevented Android tablets from taking any market share away from Apple this year. By our calculation, over 100 tablets were introduced since the iPad however, we defy even the most tech-savvy of you to name more than a few of them. What was so wrong with the competition that it failed to make any inroads in the tablet market, at least until the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook came along? In this Retrevo Pulse Report we'll look at the tablet market and explain why we think Apple and Amazon will continue to dominate the market well into 2012.

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Holiday Shopping is in full swing now. Before you head out to the mall this weekend, be sure to check out Retrevo.com's 2011 list of the "best rated gadgets" for the holidays. This year's winners include in-demand gadgets such as smartphones, cameras, Blu-ray players, HDTVs and more. The list was complied by Retrevo.com's editors and their exclusive "Artificial Intelligence engine" which scans the web every day, looking for the best gadgets at the best prices. Read on to see Retrevo’s 2011 Holiday Gadget Picks…

Welcome to Retrevo's 2011 list of holiday gadget picks from Retrevo's Artificial Intelligence-based product evaluation engine. Retrevo's algorithms process over 100M data points from across the web every day to give you an objective, unbiased, comprehensive, and relevant, "Retrevo Real Time Review," that answers these questions:

Is this product current? Our algorithms analyze the age of a product relative to the shelf-life of similar products from a given brand, the velocity of the product through the retail channel and the velocity of user discussion around it on the web.

Do people like it? Retrevo aggregates expert and user opinions about a product from around the web, synthesizing and summarizing them into a single overall community sentiment.Read more

Black Friday 2011 is almost here. The editors over at Retrevo have been analyzing the deals on electronics from HDTV sets to digital cameras and have turned up some real deals and some duds. There are some great deals like a Sharp 42-inch 1080p TV for $199 at Best Buy although we suspect supplies will be limited on killer deals like this one. On the other hand, there are some deals that don't look as sweet - like the $78 Magnavox Blu-ray player at Walmart - that has been offered in past Black Friday deals. Here are some picks and recommendations:

*Amazon hadn't announced their prices as this list was put together but we're sure Amazon will be offering some very compelling deals

HDTV Bargains Come in All Sizes

If you're looking for a small TV to put on the counter, bedside or next to Grandma's chair there are some under $100 small screen sets worth considering. There are plenty of larger screen deals to consider as well even some 3D sets.

Samsung 55-inch D6000 LCD TV for $1099 at Sears
This TV offers some attractive features for the price. You get 120Hz, LED backlight and connectivity all for $400 off the normal price.

Dynex 24-inch 1080p LCD TV, $79 at Best Buy
Dynex is Best Buy's house brand which we understand is made by a Thai electronics manufacturer named Orion. Even though you don't really need 1080p on a set this size, it might make DVDs and games look better and it's hard to turn down at $79. Read more

What are bargain hunters going to be looking for this coming Black Friday and what's on everyone's holiday gift wish list? This latest Pulse Study from Retrevo asked consumers about what they want for the holidays and what they're going to be looking for in the bargain bins. For Black Friday bargain hunters only, tablets top the list followed by HDTV sets, laptops and smartphones.

Shoppers Are Hoping For Black Friday Tablet Deals
Would you get up at four o'clock in the morning to get a deal on a tablet or laptop computer? Apparently there are plenty of bargain hunters who plan on braving the elements this Black Friday to buy electronic things. Although we don't expect to see too many doorbuster deals on iPads or even other tablets, it's at the top of the bargain hunter's list this year.Read more