By Paul Palazzolo
The emotions going through a technologically savvy individual walking into the Digital Life Convention at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan is similar to a child walking into a large candy shop. The video games, communications, computers and many other components at the convention are incredible to browse. In addition to the technology at the convention, there were Def Jam Record artists like Ludacris, athletes like Michael Strahan and Kurt Warner of the New York Giants and television stars on shows like The Sopranos and Trading Spaces.
The most attractive display to most collegiate-aged students is the Motorola cellular phones. The smallest phone that Motorola showed at the show is the C155. This phone has Hi-fi polyphonic speakers for clarity during conversations. There is a program on the phone that gives its user the ability to make his ringtone. Since cellular phones are used more often, the battery on the phone should last longer. Even though the C155 is small, its battery life is 350 hours standby time and 400 minutes of talk time, twice as long as most phones that are out on the market.
The Internet access on the phone has WAP and GPRS connection, making it very quick and practical for all users.
“GPRS is a faster connection and you can connect it to the computer with a USB cable to make a wireless connection,” Deon Williams, a Motorola representative, said.
Another feature that Motorola is striving to make a reality is the Push-To-Talk capability on Cingular and AT&T phones.
“Push-To-Talk with GSM phones has a two-second delay nationwide, but the users will not notice the delay if they are apart from each other,” John Wernecke, the General Public Relations of Motorola, said.
Push-To-Talk is similar to the nationwide walkie-talkie service that Nextel offers. Push-To-Talk, this service is more useful and functional for families as opposed to businesses.
Another interesting table to view the gadgets is the Logitech table. The outstanding object on the table is the IO2 Digital Writing System. It uses a 3M memo pad and a streamline pen that would record inside the pen. When the writer is finished using the pen, he can synchronize the pen with the computer using a USB cable to save them as a PDF formatted file.
The IO2 Digital Writing System was released into the market in late September and the system costs around $200.
The Logitech MX 1000 laser cordless mouse also attracts people to the table. It is the first laser mouse that is on the market. Instead of using an LED light to track the mouse, it uses a laser light that has 20 times the capability of tracking surfaces.
“It has a side scrolling ability so you can use it on Microsoft Excel to prevent having to pull over the spreadsheet,” Alan Smith, a representative of Logitech, said.
The Logitech Z5500 digital speakers impress anyone who walks by its exhibit because it is “the ultimate entertainment experience”. The speakers’ hardware includes Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS, making it the best speakers out in the market. The cable recommended for this system is the Monster THX certified optical audio cable.
The Logitech Harmony remote is for those who are couch potatoes because it can program up to 16 devices. It has an ergonomic design that is easy to program. Instead of entering codes for each device, the user go to the Harmony Logitech Web site, finds the device to use and it is programmed by attaching it to a USB cable. Therefore, there is no manual programming. The remote’s users and anyone who controls it update the Web site, therefore new products will have the program control on it.
It is specifically designed for Tivo and other digital video recorders, so you can use the remote without losing any features.
“All of the features are mapped onto the remote, so it’s like using the original,” Mike Warrener, a Logitech representative, said. “There is also the ability to name objects, so you know what you are controlling, so there is no guessing.”
The Sonos digital music system is innovative and stopped many people in their tracks. It makes people who have digital music to be controlled throughout the entire house. The speakers used in the Sonos system are wireless and have a range of up to 150 feet. You can use it throughout the entire house, or the proximity of the house. One can use the system for a block party, or rock inside the house.
The remote control that comes with the system can synchronize with the iPod, so you can hear what is playing on the iPod throughout the entire house. Internet radio like Sirius and XM satellite radio can also be used.
The system can be used so every speaker plays the same song, or different songs and playlists can play with different sets of speakers. So you can have classic rock in one room and techno playing in the next.
“You can have a 50 watt per channel digital amplifier to improve the speakers sound,” David Caro, a representative of Sonos, Incorporated, said. “This system should be out on the market by February 2005.”
XM satellite radio attracted many attendants of the convention. It broadcast 130 commercial-free stations of music, entertainment, sports and news. The basic service runs for $9.99 per month.
As part of the 130 station lineup, it broadcast ACC, Pac 10 and Big Ten college football and basketball games during the entire season. It also has a station called XM Live, the special events channel, it broadcasts live interviews and play live music. Cinemagic is a station devoted to screenplay and Broadway show soundtracks.
“The great part of XM is you can have it play in the car, home and it is portable, so you can take it anywhere,” Mike Leffler, an XM representative, said.
The Blackberry phone is an all-in-one machine. The user can have one-touch E-mail access and retrieve and send out messages. The Blackberry is the device that can do it all. It’s a PDA, camera and phone that has the ability to download games, use an address book, synchronize with Outlook and create an appointment book. Blackberry also has a QWERTY keyboard, so it is like a miniature notebook computer.
The Blackberry is offered for all major celluar providers.
The latest Blackberry is the 7100. It has 56K Internet capability. It is more compact and is designed more as a cellular phone than its predecessors.
“This is your all-in-one device,” Evan Bonnar, a Blackberry representative, said.
The Blackberry can open and edit attachments in e-mails, such as PDF, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. It has a scroll bar to edit long documents go easier. When the user is done, he can send it to anyone via E-mail.
The Eyetop DVD player attracts many people in the convention. Several people wearing dark sunglasses that have a wire hanging to a case stopped many people. It is the first wearable DVD player on the market.
“The Eyetop is your own private room on the go,” Shahid Latif, a RCS Computers associate, said.
The buyer can use the portable DVD player that is part of a package or use any other portable DVD player. The versatility of the Eyetop does not stop there because the user can hook it up to a laptop, or a portable television, so he can always be entertained on the go.
“You can use it with the PlayStation2, Xbox, anything that RCA outputs,” Latif said.
Whether it was the Fable gaming competition or the digital house, the attendants were satisfied knowing that many of these technologies are available or will available in the near future.
The Motorola cell phones, being demonstrated by many people, were a popular venue during the Digital Life Convention. (Paul Palazzolo/The Chronicle)