A number of new music gadgets, accessories and technologies were unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Association’s Annual Show last week.
Carly Fiorina announced that HP will offer an “HP” iPod Photo, as well as a couple of new home media center boxes.
HP is also partnering with Nokia to provide a service called “visual radio” which will broadcast music to phones using GPRS and regular old FM. The service will provide artist information as well as embedded e-commerce (e.g. ringtones, concert tickets).
Verizon kicks out the mobile jams with it’s rollout of a fat 3G wireless multimedia network and services, called Vcast. According to Engadget—
The service will cost $15 per month for unlimited access to basic video clips and WAP content. Premium content like music downloads, 3D games, NBA, NASCAR and probably some exclusive video content will cost extra. All of the video content is produced specifically for the small screen, so it’s not shmooshed TV clips but actual phone-centric video, and it looks sharp. Verizon won’t just get exclusively formatted content, they’ll also get exclusively produced content. Fox will create 3 new series specifically for the VCAST service, Love and Hate, 24 Conspiracy and Sunset Hotel. MTV and other broadcasters will also provide programs.
The Verizon release is here.
iPodlounge has an excellent roundup of iPod-related accessories, which seems to have become an industry unto itself.
Samsung announced a not-shipping-yet MPEG4 portable.
Alpine announced an impressive lineup of auto-centered satellite radio and mobile multimedia devices and accessories.
Creative takes a shot across the bow of the iPod Mini. More at Engadget.
Satellite radio is blowing up, with portable announcements from both XM and Sirius. Both companies also announced upcoming video services. (XM, Sirius)
Bill Gates, in a glitch-ridden demo, previewed a bunch of crappy Windows stuff backed by lame marketing slogans like “PlaysForSure”. He also referred to those advocating copyright and intellectual property reform as “Communists”. The response from the Creative Commons blog.