For those of you about to rock, I encourage you to pick out a nice pair of headphones. I tested four models at around $100. They are:
Which one did I love the most? While they were all special in their own way, there were two that really stood out in the round-up… but I won’t ruin the surprise! Watch the video to find out.
There’s not too many gadgets out there that I’d spend money on. There’s the Zune HD, which, while totally unreadable in direct sunlight, is still otherwise a fine portable media player. So that’s one. Another one would be that Philips Wake-up Light (though that will have to wait till next month; stupid Zune HD was expensive!) I bring this up only, and I do mean only, to segue into a brief discussion of this here video of the Philips Lumiblade OLED, um, thing. Get it, Philips, lights, OLED, etc. Very high-concept.
The thing that got the biggest titters at IFA were Philips improved “sensual massagers,” the his and hers HF8400. Interestingly, Philips is straight up saying this is a sex toy and it was on display next to a bed in the Philips booth. Good on them. I haven’t tried it but this young lady sincerely enjoyed modeling it.
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Oh the things engineers do when they’re bored and forced to look busy. Philips will debut, at a conference in Salt Lake City (of all places), a jacket with built-in vibration motors. The point is to study how people physically react to watching movies. Suggested first movie: Caligula.
There’s an episode of Seinfeld (“The Slicer”) where George and Jerry discuss the merits of skin care and the skin care industry. Neither of them think very highly of either—at one point, George tells Jerry that all you need to do to take care of your skin is “wash it, dry it, move on!” That’s how I’ve always felt about remote controls: there’s no need to complicate the celebrated procession of turning on and off the TV and DirecTV receiver, of opening and closing the DVD or Blu-ray player; there’s sure as hell no need to shell out hundreds of dollars merely to lower the volume of your sound system with a shinier piece of plastic than the one that came in the box. So I’ve always believed, at least; and to an extent, still do. But you know what, gosh darn it, after using the Philips Prestigo SRT 9320, I’ve come this close to reconsidering my anti-fancy remote position. (I know for a fact that, broadly speaking, I have a problem with “luxury,” wether it be fancy remotes or fancy restaurants; it’s the peasant in me.) If I had never heard of the remote my life wouldn’t be all that different; but, I don’t know, as a piece of consumer electronics, as example of what can be engineered, well done to the crazy Dutchies at Philips.
Panasonic, Philips and Sony today announced they joint forces to consolidate the Blu-ray licensing business. The aim is to offer a single license that not only covers patents for Blu-rays but also DVDs and CDs. If things go well, we as consumers could get cheaper movies, music or games in the process.
Full press release after the jump.
Philips is working on some fancy new drug deliver technologies that utilize microbubbles in a new way. Traditionally, microbubbles are used to enhance the resolution of ultrasound images, but Philips’ research provide a one-two punch for imaging and targeted drug delivery.
Talk about a case of the Mondays. Sprint and Philips are the latest to announce layoffs with Sprint cutting 8,000 and Philips 6,000 employees. You know the drone. It’s cause we can’t borrow against our overinflated home’s equity to buy these companies latest crap anymore. We’re too busy dumping all of our cash into organic foodstuff now. The Sprint layoffs are expected to be completed by March 31st and Philips’ are on top of the recently announced 3,000 cuts. Alright, back to work before you get cut reading this in your cube. Unless you wanna collect unemployment, in which case, onto the next post, buddy boy.
Short Version: The Philips DC910 is great-sounding system for playing music from your iPod, a USB thumb drive, an SD card, FM radio, or up to two external sources — all for under $150.
Quick Version: In a world chock full of streaming music devices, the Philips Streamium NP1100 blends into the crowd as a straightforward, easy-to-use network device.
Holy cow, people. Costco is currently offering three two-for-one bundles on Philips and Sharp LCD HDTVs. You can snag a 19-inch and 42-inch combo for $1200 on up to $1800 for a 52- and 32-inch LCD HDTV. That’s pure madness! What are you waiting for?
Philips is ready to turn the the nuke codes over to Funai as the company tries to reorganize in this pirate-infested world. Earlier in the year, the company turned over the rights to televisions and now is doing the same with DVD, Blu-ray, and home theater products. From here on out, the Philips name will still be present but Funai will be the brains behind the operation with the rights to develop, manufacture, and market the brand here in the States. As the prices of these products fall, so follows the profit margin which is presisly why Philips is leaving the ring.
Must everything begin with an “i” because it’s getting a bit dull and the sheep might think Apple invented it?
Philips has announced the development of an “intelligent pill” that they plan to present at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists this month in Atlanta. The magically delicious iPill includes a microprocessor, battery, wireless radio, pump and a reservoir of medicine that can be released in any one particular area in the body. Read More
Although luxury hotels are, in every respect, incredible and conspicuous wasters of resources (in the name of comfort), at least that means they’ve got nowhere to but green. So although you may safely blast the Sheraton, W, and Westin hotels among others for things like washing clean towels, throwing away used card keys and so on, at least you’ll know that when you turn on the tube for a little late-night decompression, you’ll be turning on a nice energy-efficient “green” TV.
That’s because Philips struck a deal with the Hotel meta-company Starwood to outfit all its hotels with Smartpower2 TVs, a line intended for this exact purpose and which boasts power savings of up to 40%. It may be that Starwood was looking at the bottom line: $12 million in power savings over the life of the TVs. Sure; as I read once, “corporate responsibility” may be a myth, but if we can make the “right” choice at the very least not cost them too much, they’ll be happy to do it for that more intangible benefit: the illusion that they care.
Woot; good ‘ol Woot. The LCD might be recertified – whatever that means – but if that’s cool with you, it’s only $749. Yeah, $749 for a 42-inch, 1080p LCD. Not to shabby considering the average price of this set elsewhere is north of $1,100. Hopefully though, Black Friday will produce similar if not better LCD deals.
I like Sonicare brushes. They don’t tear up your gums – too badly – and they make funny noises when you brush your teeth. Philips updated their Sonicare line with this interesting new system which is much more like traditional motorized toothbrushes although it does offer considerably more vibration and three buzz settings – regular, gentle, and the erotically-themed massage.
Philips has a treat for geeky developers, artists, DIYers and just plain geeks with an assortment of its incredibly thin Lumiblade OLED lights. The starter kit contains everything one needs to craft their very own OLED lighting solution with different size screens, shapes, and colors. The hope is that these creative types will think out of the box and create something innovative with these flat lamps. Interested? Got-to email Philips for pricing and availability.
Philips via OLED-Display
At the beginning of the year Philips consolidated their Consumer Electronics and Domestic Appliances & Personal Care divisions into a single unified Consumer Lifestyles group, with a focus on “enabling [consumers] to enjoy a healthier and more rewarding lifestyle”. (source) The Philips HomeLab I visited is one example of how Philips investigates what products are best suited for satisfying that goal.
Tucked away in the corner of the Philips stand at IFA 2008 was another way that Philips strives to improve their product line. A pair of computers were running a local demonstration of the Philips Simplicity Labs website, a site touted “as a testing ground for upcoming technologies and applications.”
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If you don’t like the idea of shooting your alarm clock, the new version of the Philips Wake-up Light might be for you. Like any other alarm clock, you set the time at which you want to be woken up. 30 minutes before that time arrives, however, the Wake-up Light starts to gently glow. As the minutes pass, the light gets brighter, simulating the rising sun, so that when the designated time arrives you should be roused from slumber by the light. According to research, a gentle waking up process makes one more alert and ready to tackle the day.
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At IFA today many companies are showing off their attempts at 3D TV. Most of the displays being shown are not yet designed for home use, and instead are being positioned as business applications: in-store signage and advertising, architecture and CAD displays, and prototype user interfaces. Most of the televisions require no glasses, and produce a reasonable 3D display. In the displays I’ve seen, there are a few “sweet spot” viewing angles that produce an acceptable 3D display, and viewing from an angle just a little off from these shows the individual stereoscopic images just slightly off alignment from one another.
