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Diamond Tears Edge headphones

This morning Monster announced the debut of its Diamond Tears - Edge high definition music headphones at CES 2012. Developed in partnership with J.Y. Park, the Diamond Tears - Edge is the first in a line of planned audio products from Monster and JYP Entertainment. The design of these over-ear headphones is based on J.Y. Parls musical talent, including Rain, Wonder Girls, and more. They say these headphones are "edgy like diamonds, but smooth like tears." If that strikes your fancy, then you can look forward to picking them up in the first quarter of the year for $279, with an in-ear model to follow in the second half of the year.


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Monster Diesel VEKTR

This morning at CES 2012 Monster Cable announced the VEKTR on-ear headphones. Partnering with Diesel, the fashion lifestyle brand, they've created a stylish headphone that features strong lines in a diamond-cut design. Of course, looks are great, but with headphones that sell for $249.95, you're also gonna want to make sure they sound good. Monster says that VEKTR offers a premium-quality listening solution, and this is the company that brought us the Beats by Dr. Dre audio line as well, so we trust them. Aside from the VEKTR on-ears, Monster will also be releasing an in-ear model as well, which will sell for $149, which will feature a jet black earpiece with yellow accent, and the Diesel logo. Look for both models to arrive later this quarter.


Microsoft announced today that Steve Ballmer's keynote at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will be the software giant's last.

"We'll continue to participate in CES as a great place to connect with partners and customers across the PC, phone and entertainment industries, but we won't have a keynote or booth after this year because our product news milestones generally don't align with the show's January timing," Microsoft said in a statement.

Ballmer is scheduled to take the stage at CES in Las Vegas on Jan. 9 at 6:30pm. It will be the Microsoft CEO's third keynote appearance; he took over in 2009 after Bill Gates retired in 2008 to focus on philanthropic efforts.

In recent years, however, the Microsoft CES keynotes have not included anything particularly spectacular or unexpected.

Click to continue reading CES 2012 keynote will be the last one by Microsoft


We've been hearing about Android 3.0 Honeycomb for a while now, the build of Android that would be designed with tablets in mind. Now, Google shows off it's latest version during CES, and it does appear that the UI has been redesigned in some major ways--it now fits especially well on the larger screen. Google posted a video showcasing some of the new design, which looks very different from what we've grown used to in the Android world.


intel core 2 sandy bridge

Intel has announced the details of its next generation CPU at CES, the Sandy Bridge Core processor. Basically, it's the next generation Core series of CPUs that will soon power a large amount of desktops and laptops. Some of the features include better energy performance, providing better battery life, and improved 3D graphics. One of the perhaps most impressive change is how much better the integrated graphics will be. Previously, a system that does not have a dedicated graphics card, but instead relies on Intel's integrated graphics, could simply not play any recent 3D game. According to some early reports, that may no longer be the case. Intel also claims "content creation is up to 42 percent faster and gaming up to 50 percent faster." Like previous chips, the new Sandy Bridge will be available as i3, i5 and i7. A big thank you to Sears from bringing out the Blue Blogger Crew to CES.

Read More | CNET

pioneer in-car social networking

As part of their CES presentation, Pioneer, a company used to making audio and electronic equipment for cars, announced their plans to integrate Twitter, Facebook and Pandora deeper into their devices. This will lead to your dashboard being connected directly to your social feeds. Pioneer says that it believes smartphones don't do the job because of their small screens, plus the fact that they require a driver's full attention. The new devices from Pioneer will read tweets and status updates directly to the user. The company will bring 9 different models in 2011 starting at $150.

Read More | Mashable

tablet sales us

According to a new study by Forrester Research, the US sale of tablets, whether it's the iPad, Android or others, will more than double in 2011. The trend will keep going up, until more than one third of Americans own one by 2015. Their previous figures were much more conservative, and the outlook is likely to change again in the future. Still, this is probably closer to reality, as the iPad showed us that people really do want tablets, as long as the software and hardware are well executed. While the iPad will dominate at least for the foreseeable future, most device makers have already jumped on the bandwagon (you'll see proof of this at CES this week.) By 2015, the yearly amount of units sold should reach 44 millions.

Read More | Forrester

samsung SH100

Fresh out of CES 2011, Samsung has announced their new SH100 point and shoot camera. What's so special about this one? Well, the main advantage here is the built-in Wi-Fi with DLNA support. This allows you to send images and videos to friends and web services (Facebook, YouTube, Picasa, Photobucket) directly from the camera itself without having to sync to a computer first. Speaking of syncing, the SH100 can also use it's Wi-Fi signal to wirelessly and automatically sync to a computer on the same network, eliminating the need for a cable. The DLNA let's you wirelessly display images and videos to a television right from the camera as well.

Even better, if you have a Samsung Galaxy S Android smartphone, you can use that device as a remote control for the camera. It will act as a remote viewfinder with shutter control at the very least. It's got a 14.2 megapixel sensor and 4.7-23.5mm lens which is nothing to write home about, but hey, for all this thing can do it's priced at just $200. That must mean we should be seeing more of this type of stuff just built-in to cameras this year (we hope!)

Gallery: Samsung SH100 Wi-Fi enabled point and shoot digital camera


CES 2011It's the beginning of a new year, and in the technology world, that means it's time for CES. We'll be hitting Vegas this week to cover the biggest consumar electronics show in these here United States later this week, where we expect to bring you a ton of breaking news. CES is where consumer electronics manufacturers shows off their upcoming wares for the year, and it gives a general idea of where the industry is going (for the records, we expect tablets to be pretty big this year.)

For CES, we'll be part of the Sears Blue Blogger Crew, and we'll be working as part of a team of other technology experts as we aim to give you an in-depth look at the sights and sounds of the event:

  • Jenna Hatfield, lead blogger at Stop, Drop and Blog; newspaper photographer and BlogHer contributing editor.
  • Kris Cain, Kris Cain, lead blogger for LittleTechGirl, Tech Editor on Mom Blog Magazine, Host of Tech Talk After Dark on MomTV, editor and writer for the National Apple Gear and Chicago Tech Gear sections on Examiner.com. 
  • Andru Edwards, Editor-in-Chief of Gear Live (that's me!)
  • Kelly Clay, a veteran blogger, works for Lockergnome, where she breaks news and analyzes trends in the tech industry. She currently lives in Seattle.
  • Barbara Rozgonyi, founder of the Chicago chapter of the Social Media Club, reports on ways to grow business and build brands through her blog, WiredPRWorks.

Be sure to check Gear Live this week for all the latest CES news. In addition, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or go old-school with our RSS feed.

Big thank you to Sears for covering our travel costs and expenses for this years Consumer Electronics Show.


tablet ces 2011

This time last year, the tech world was holding its collective breath for the "slate" device Apple was heavily rumored to be releasing. A few weeks after CES, we had the Apple iPad, and a new product category with a clear leader was officially born. Since then, it feels like someone poured water on the tablet category or fed it after midnight. The sheer multitude of tablets seems to multiply like gremlins, and many of the products are equipped with operating systems that have a few gremlins of their own. CES 2011, nonetheless, will be remembered as the opening bell for the year of the tablet. Thus far, only two true contenders, Apple's iPad and Samsung's Android-based Galaxy Tab, have emerged as viable, enviable tablets. In about a week, that will all change…maybe.

Click to continue reading Tablets set to take the stage at CES 2011


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