Canon has used the CES 2008 show to introduce its new Vixia high-definition (HD) camcorders for the consumer market, ditching traditional tapes and even internal hard disk drives for Flash memory drives and storage cards.
The new Vixia HF10 [pictured] and Vixia HF100 record video to an internal 16GB Flash drive and removable SDHC cards, respectively. Both models are also Full HD camcorders, recording at 1,920 by 1,080 pixels. The HF10, alongside its 16GB Flash drive, also comes with an SDHC Card slot, which will be handy since HD video eats through gigabytes of storage like Pac-Man through dots.
Other shared features include Canon’s DIGIC DV II Image Processor; fast Auto Focus and optical image stabilisation. Each camera has 12x optical zoom, a 2.7in widescreen LCD display and, a slightly disappointing, 3.1MP digital camera facility.
Due out first in the US in April the Vixia HF10 and Vixia HF100 will cost a competitive £600 and £500, respectively.-Martin Lynch
Despite being on the Japanese market for a little over a month, Nintendo is reporting that its health-conscious Wii Fit exercise game package has sold over 1 million units.
To put that in perspective, that means that 1 in every 127 Japanese people own a copy of it. One can only imagine how Wii Fit is going to take off once us fat Europeans and Americans get hold of it.
Wii Fit continues Nintendo’s left-field approach to gaming by combining exercise with on-screen fun in order to help us shed a few a Christmas kilos. The Wii Fit comprises a balance board and a wide range of gaming activities and exercise programs covering Yoga, aerobics and muscle stretching.
Expect it to cost around £50+ here in a few months. If you want to see what it’s all about, check out the Official Wii Fit video above.
Alternatively check out the damn funny parody of the Official Wii Fit video below.-Martin Lynch
As you can from the Engadget video above, custom-PC builder Alienware is really pushing the extreme gaming angle at this year’s CES 2008 show.
The stunning Curve display is well, curved, creating a wraparound gaming effect. It is based on DLP projection technology, uses LEDs for lighting and contains four displays to create over 3-feet of viewing pleasure.
The Curve has a resolution of 2880x900 pixels and a ridiculously fast response time of 0.02ms, which kicks LCD’s ass all over the joint.
Due out in the second half of the year it will no doubt have a price that will kick your wallet's ass all over the joint too. Just hook this up with the new force feedback vest from TN Games and you might never leave the house again.-Martin Lynch
Sony stole some limelight back in CES 2007 with it’s slinky 11in OLED TV, the XEL-1, which has since gone into production. It will go sale in the US soon for a wallet-crushing £1,250. That's £400 more than the Japanese price so we're really screwed.
At this week’s CES 2008 show, OLED TVs were back stealing some thunder although this time they’ve obviously been eating their vegetables as Sony showed off a 27in model and Samsung a 31in model. See the Sony model close-up in the Engadget video below.
The Sony model comes in at just 3mm thick, boasts an astounding contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 and features 1080p support. Sweet as Hell but there’s no idea of when it will make it into production, but probably not before 2009.
Samsung managed to squeeze an extra 2in of display onto its OLED TV, a 31in skinny thing that is 40% lighter than an LCD HDTV and with a contrast of 1,000,000:1. It also features a colour gamut of 107% and brightness of 550nit. Samsung also previewed a 14in model. Again, no breath holding since the company has no plans to start rolling these babies out until 2010.
Apple has said it will cut the cost of iTunes for UK users in order to bring them into line with standardised prices across other European countries.
Within the next six months, the cost of an iTunes track will fall from 79p to around 74p [thanks Dan], which is all good news for UK iPod owners who have been paying noticeably more than other European countries for some time.
Apple’s decision comes in the wake of an investigation by the EU into the iTunes pricing structure. According to Apple, the prices will match those already in place in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain. Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, said:
“This is an important step towards a pan-European marketplace for music,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We hope every major record label will take a pan-European view of pricing.”
Apple claimed the higher price here is down to the higher prices it is charged by some record labels to distribute music in the UK. It also laid out the subtle threat of dumping difficult labels by stating:
"Apple will reconsider its continuing relationship in the UK with any record label that does not lower its wholesale prices in the UK to the pan-European level within six months."
Fighting talk indeed. Whatever goes on behind closed doors though, cheaper tunes are good for everyone.-Martin Lynch
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
