Posts Tagged ‘ces 2010’

MTC-600 Onboard Car Computer

Maxtrack, a Brazilian company, will be showing their MTC-600 on-board car computer at CES 2010. This is a pretty impressive piece of equipment that can handle just about everything in your car.

Several devices are integrated into the system such as keyboard, message panels, passenger counters (yes, passenger counters), billing equipment, cameras (there are four cameras), sensors, actuators, among others. It will gather all the information about your car and store it. Your car will know if it’s running or not, what direction and speed it’s going and whether it’s in an open area or not. Most of that can be handled by a good GPS system, but this car computer does a bit more.

Sensors placed throughout the automobile will monitor and take specified actions for just about any situation it encounters, from controlling the interior temperature and ambiance to identifying and recording information from any peripheral you want to hook up to it. It can even tell you about your bad driving habits that can cause extra wear on the automobile.

And, of course, it can all be done through voice commands, as well. The digital audio component stores voice commands, environment sound with music equalization in up to eight frequency ranges, volume control, among others.

The four cameras can be programmed to react to different events like start a recording when the driver slams on the brakes. So not only do you get to watch as you slide your car through the garage door after locking the wheels up on an icy driveway in person, but you get to enjoy it with the rest of the family over and over again. Won’t that be fun?

Here are the technical specs from the MaxTrack website:

At less than 2” tall, this baby could be installed just about anyplace in the vehicle. I would imagine it could also be adapted for motorcycles (Imagine Dennis Hopper’s “Billy” riding a Harley that’s smarter than he is).

Maxtrack Industrial Ltd. Will be in booth: North 1023 at CES 2010.

You can visit their website Maxtrack.com.br.

2010 is going to see a HUGE change in home entertainment. According to Alfred Poor, an analyst with GigaOM Pro, there will be between 28 to 46 million 3D ready TVs in homes by 2013. Many of the new sets are being introduced at CES 2010.

Companies like JVC USA Professional Products (Booth: NorthMtgRm N234) and Panasonic (Booth: Central 9405) have already announced that they will introduce new products at the upcoming CES. The technology has progressed far beyond the early days of 3D in theaters (remember the old red and blue glasses?) and is ready to start moving into the livingroom.

There are even companies like Nagravision Kudelski Group (Booth: Venetian Toscana 3601,Venetian Toscana 3602,Venetian Toscana 3603) that are planning guides to 3D sources. The NAGRA Media GUIDE for 3D allows consumers to view and purchase 3D VOD content.

While some 3D sets were shown at last year’s CES, (see 3D is coming to a living room near you), Panasonic and others have announced that sets will be available to the public in 2010.

People flocked to see the 3D film 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.' From Sony Pictures Animation

It’s been a while since we’ve seen boom boxes on the street, but that can change with Altec Lansing’s new toy. The Mix Digital Boombox will be shown at CES 2010 and can accommodate up to three mobile devices at one time and allows you to control the playlist from an infrared carabineer style remote that clips to your belt loop.

The company, which previously specialized in computer speaker systems, has branched out to deliver the audiophile one of the best means to take your music library with you since the introduction of the iPod.

The sound is delivered by five active speakers, two 1” horn-loaded polypropylene tweeters, two 3” mid range drivers, one 5.25” subwoofer and a 5.25” passive radiator. The system also features Advanced audio Digital Signal Processing (DSP) for a crisp sound.

The only drawback I could find is that it takes eight D cell batteries (I hate those things) to power it on the run. However, the Mix will run for 30 continuous hours before you need a bank loan to replace the batteries. There is an AC adapter included to save on battery life when power is available.

There are a ton of features on the Mix, like a 7 band equalizer, digital FM tuner and it even pauses your music when a call comes in through your iPhone. One thing I especially liked, although it’s not a selling point, is that Altec Lansing not only posted a pdf spec sheet on their site, but also made the user’s manual available for download so you can see everything you need before you decide to buy.

For everything you get, including Altec Lansing’s quality, it’s moderately priced at $299.

Altec Lansing will be at CES 2010 at  Booth: South 1 21919