Big ticket electronics had many people standing in line on Black Friday and with good reason. There are some hip, new techie items being introduced in the market. Consumers have a tremendous appetite for electronics, and this holiday season offers some unique and fascinating options.
Cole Godfrey, Best Buy customer solutions manager, gets very excited when asked about what’s new in electronics. “You have to see this,” he said as he led the way to Microsoft’s new motion gaming system, Kinect.
New age of games
Connected to your Xbox 360, Kinect uses a motion sensor that tracks your entire body, so when you play, it’s not just with your hands and wrists it’s with all of you. As you play, Kinect creates a digital skeleton of you based on depth data. When the player moves left or right or jumps around, the sensor captures the motion and puts him/her (or their “avatar” as Godfrey calls it) in the game.
Because the technology is so new, the selection of games is a bit limited at this early date. Still a dozen or so games are available featuring fitness, dance, sports and driving.
Sony’s latest version of motion gaming is the PlayStation® Move. “It’s kind of a hybrid of the Wii and Kinect,” said Godfrey. The player still has a controller in his/her hand, but the technology pairs a motion controller with an “eye camera.” The sphere at the end of the motion controller allows the eye camera to pinpoint the players’ moves and position within the room. The tracking translates into gameplay, allowing for more accuracy of your moves.
A nice advantage to the PlayStation® Move, said Godfrey, is that it is compatible with some existing PS3 games, so a whole new collection of games isn’t required to play it.
High-tech TVs
3D TV is an emerging technology that allows consumers to enjoy three-dimensional movies, television programs and video games in their home. Several companies have developed viable 3D technology for the home theater environment. When paired with a 3D-capable Blu-ray player and 3D glasses, your viewing experience is other-worldly.
3D content is limited, but rapidly growing. At this time, viewers are limited to 3D Blu-ray discs and limited channels on Direct TV. Godfrey said that, “Some 2D discs can be used on a 3D TV. The picture will be an upgrade from 2D, but won’t be quite as dramatic as full 3D.”
And the experience is now migrating from your theatre to your web browser.
We know that Google is one of the most popular web search engines in the world, but Google TV may not be as familiar to the masses.
With Google Chrome and Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Google TV lets the viewer access everything on the web, through your TV. You can view any web page, allowing you to, for example, read The Billings Gazette on your TV, play games, watch movies through Netflix, attend to your social media sites, create a TV playlist, listen to music through Pandora or Napster or feature your photos on the ultimate picture frame.
“With the picture-in-picture feature, you can even browse the web and watch TV simultaneously,” said Godfrey.
E-readers for E-very reader
“This time last year, we had one e-reader in stock. Now we have every type available,” reported Godfrey.
An e-reader (electronic reader) is a portable reading device that can deliver an entire book to a light, easy-to-manage-screen that is approximately the size of a paperback. Typically, an e-reader can hold about 200 books or even more with a memory card.
The reader can turn the page with a touch of a button or a swipe of the screen, highlight passages, make notations and mark their place. The size of the print can even be customized to an individual’s level of comfort, potentially rendering reading glasses unnecessary.
The e-reader also provides wireless Internet access, making it possible to read a newspaper, magazine subscription, PDF file or Word document on it as well.
And for the techie who’d like something a little more robust, the ever-popular iPad offers web access, e-mail, photos and videos.
“iPads are a great way to watch movies. Most movies purchased now come with a digital copy, so you can take your favorites with you,” said Godfrey.
“We have the latest and greatest in stock today, but that may not be the case tomorrow or as we draw closer to Christmas. Shop early,” advised Godfrey.
By DINA BROPHY Of the Gazette Staff
Full story here: http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/home-and-garden/article_3dd69843-0c2c-5918-ba71-5fb1e0c4e60c.html?oCampaign=hottopics
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What’s the latest on cell phones?
Remember all the hype about the iPhone? It doesn’t have much of a presence in Montana due to its exclusive ownership by AT&T, but with the pre-defined period of “exclusivity” by AT&T nearly expired, the iPhone will soon be available in Montana.
But will it make the big impact we expected? Likely not, advised Leif Welhaven, Cellular Plus district manager.
“The Droid, which is available in Montana, is currently outselling the iPhone six-to-one nationwide.”
There are a number of reasons the Droid is a stand-out, such as its high-resolution screen, GPS navigation through Google Maps, Google voice searches and the number of applications available to the owner. “Droid has an open-source platform, so anyone can create an application for it. There are currently 140,000 apps available for it,” said Welhaven. “It allows you to simplify your life by bringing together your phone, calendar, e-mail, notepad, address book and laptop.”