CableLabs is holding its Winter Conference this week featuring, among other activities, an Innovation Showcase. To bring a little buzz to the event, CableLabs hosted a short media teleconference yesterday announcing the winner of Best Product Idea among the Showcase participants. Jinni got the nod from conference attendees for its “next-gen guide” including personalization features and an emotion-driven recommendation engine. (Test out the concept yourself at the Jinni.com website.) According to the Jinni execs on the teleconference, the company combines Web crawling with natural language processing and filters for more than 2,000 emotional attributes (witty, funny, etc.). The idea is to create a better VOD experience, and Jinni says it expects to announce operator deployments of an EBIF version of the app later this year. For back story, check out Davis’ post on the company back in January of 2009.

Beyond Jinni, Engadget HD also reported yesterday about RCDb’s Innovation entry, a technology solution that culls information from databases like IMDB and Gracenote and delivers it via tru2way to set-tops. Tru2way still hasn’t hit the retail market in any major way, but it is on the roadmap for, if not already deployed by, many of the major US cable systems.

Other companies in this year’s Innovation Showcase included Wowza Media Systems, SeaChange, Clearleap, and FourthWall Media (formerly BIAP). Separately, CableLabs also announced this week that it has completed the new EBIF I06 spec in conjunction with Canoe Ventures to support 3D technology development.

Fabulous parties and celebrity appearances aside, the Powermat booth tour may have been my best blogger experience at CES this year. And while I won’t make it out to Mobile World Congress later this month, I do have a few educated guesses on what the wireless-power company will be launching there.

The Powermat folks graciously guided me on a back-room tour at CES to show off several upcoming product lines. In the queue are new single- and dual-position charging mats (charge one, two, or three products at once), higher-powered mats to support netbooks (!), and sleeker mobile device cases. All of these products are officially due out in the spring, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Powermat jump the gun on that projection. The company recently sent out MWC emails inviting media to visit its booth at the show for the introduction of “its next line in wireless charging.” Hmm…

Just as important as Powermat’s near-term product launches, however, are the price reductions on the way (expense being one of my pet peeves), and the innovations planned for later this year and next. Currently Powermat offers a full-size charging mat for $99. That will drop to $79 for a three-position mat, $59 for the dual-position, and $39 for the single-position version.

On the innovation front, Powermat will soon start offering mobile device batteries that do away with the need for a custom case or Powermat charging tip. This is where wireless charging gets good. Imagine replacing the battery in your new Nexus One with a premium Powermat version. Then all you need to do when you get home is drop the phone on your charging mat, and you’re good to go. Best of all, Powermat is working with a programmable chip that lets it take standard silicon and adapt it for new mobile devices as they’re introduced. According to the company, it will be able to bring new Powermat batteries to market in a short four to six weeks – fast enough to keep up with the most popular new phone launches.

Oh yeah, and Powermat isn’t stopping with phones. Camera batteries are in the works for 2011. And I just gotta believe Powermat’s put in a few calls to Apple about that iPad. I can just hear the Power Pad jokes now.

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Although Dave is the king of GPS around here, I had my own Eureka moment after my recent smartphone upgrade. While traveling along I-95 in Maryland a few weeks ago, it suddenly occurred to me to use my new Android phone to check on traffic conditions. After a quick look through the app store, I installed the Inrix app and enjoyed instant access to traffic alerts throughout the region. The traffic widget uses GPS to find your current location, and provides an interactive map with roads  labeled in green, orange, and red depending on traffic delays.

After my gratifying mobile experience with Inrix, I was delighted to run into the company again a short while later, this time in person at CES. Naturally the folks there had something new to show off, and I was a willing audience to their booth demo. As of January 6th, there is now an Inrix Traffic! Pro app available for the iPhone. Instead of just color-coded maps, the premium version of the application also provides estimated ETAs depending on your location and destination, predictive traffic information, the ability to record your favorite routes for traffic comparisons, and access to real-time traffic cameras. It’s $10 for a year or $25 for a lifetime subscription. It’s not available for the Android platform yet, but likely will be in the future

But wait, there’s more. Inrix has been using its traffic data to produce national traffic reports, and third-party groups are now doing the same. News site The Daily Beast just used Inrix data to determine the worst commutes in America. (Top three are on freeways in L.A., Honolulu, and the DC metro area) Although the data analysis in this case is relatively simple, the amount of raw data that Inrix is collecting means that future data analysis projects could be significantly more ambitious. Imagine using Inrix data for city planning, or to create alternative traffic management systems. (A way to avoid congestion pricing?) Inrix is already spreading to smartphones, to smart cars, and through state transportation contracts. The company relies on its own “Smart Dust Network” with information from road sensors, commercial vehicles, toll tags, weather forecasts, events and school schedules. Smart Dust? Maybe the Internet of Things has officially arrived.

Dave broke the news back in August that Comcast would be coming out with a new remote DVR scheduling feature in the near future. Since then, I’ve kept an eye on the myDVR page in hopes I’d get a heads-up on regional availability. Today, after reading about guide updates over on the Comcast blog, I revisited the bookmarked URL and hit the jackpot. I can now manage all of my DVR recordings online. It appears that I’m in one of the early market rollouts, but the rest of Comcast’s digital subscribers with a Motorola set-top should get the upgrade over the next several months.

In addition to letting me manage recordings, the new myDVR Manager site includes decent search functionality with content filters (HD, sports, movies, etc.) and keyword results that incorporate both live broadcasts and on-demand offerings. The UI is easy to use and even anticipates what I might need next. A search on Duke, for example, let me quickly isolate just the Duke college basketball games.

The series recording options are also much easier to manage than they are on the traditional guide. See further pics below for a look at menus and options.

There’s nothing like trying to traverse the CES show floor(s) to throw off your schedule. On my way to an afternoon appointment on Friday, I decided to stop by the booth for the Wi-Fi Alliance to get an update on the point-to-point capabilities of the upcoming Wi-Fi Direct specification. While Wi-Fi enjoyed a comeback in 2009 (remember when Ericsson predicted the death of hotspots nearly two years ago?), 2010 looks to be the year that innovation in Wi-Fi really takes off. With that in mind, I tried to find the right booth location for the Wi-Fi Alliance. It wasn’t easy.

I found the folks from the Wi-Fi Alliance mere minutes before my next scheduled meeting, and I was surprised to see that their booth wasn’t really a booth, but a closed-off meeting room. That said, the three representatives there were extremely welcoming when I explained why I was stopping by. Edgar Figueroa, the executive director, enthusiastically explained that the first devices certified for Wi-Fi Direct would be out later this year. Early products that have been demoed include keyboards, computer mice, and standard peripherals like printers that can take advantage of file sharing. Most interestingly, Figueroa pointed out that only one device needs to support Wi-Fi Direct in order to enable device-to-device communication. Any other device only needs to support regular Wi-Fi. This solves the traditional problem of maneuvering around legacy equipment quite nicely.

Apparently several companies demoed Wi-Fi Direct capabilities during CES, but there was no central location to see those products in action. Meanwhile, the implications of Wi-Fi Direct are manifold: no need for an Internet connection to share files, music, photos, and video between devices; less congestion on the Internet highway; no worry about bandwidth caps; a complementary, yet also competitive relationship to the existing Bluetooth and Zigbee standards.

I’ll be scheduling a full briefing with the folks at the Wi-Fi Alliance some time in the next several weeks. In the meantime, it’s fun to ponder the Wi-Fi Direct use cases. Cameras, smartphones, and eReaders, oh my.

I’ve had both positive and negative experiences with Sungale products, so I advise caution when approaching their new-to-market devices. However, that said, the company does have some interesting products waiting in the wings. First there’s the Kula TV device, which has gotten the most press attention. It’s a Wi-Fi-based mobile TV product that provides “hundreds of TV channels” including BBC stations, ABC news, MSNBC, and even ESPN international content (watch the games you want, but get the commentary in Russian). The first year of service is free, and it will cost $5.99 per month after that. The Kula TV is due out in February.

More interesting to me, however, is the company’s upcoming Cyberus G2 product (pictured above). The first-gen Cyberus,  a touch-screen widget product, didn’t fare too well. But the second-generation device has more promise. It’s Android-based, full-screen multi-touch, and has a built-in camera and camcorder. I saw a working prototype in Sungale’s booth today, and the final hardware design on static display. The G2 has an MSRP of $399, but the suggestion from Sungale was that it will actually retail at a significantly lower price. The G2 should hit the market in June, and I’m on the list for a review unit. Stay tuned for the hands-on report.

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There are numerous logistical challenges at CES, from long walks, to long cab lines, to the general press of humanity waiting to see the gadgets and celebrities on display. However, one hurdle I have not had to clear (pun intended) this year, is a lack of connectivity. Every time I pull out my trusty Motorola WiMAX adapter, I get full signal, even in the bowels of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Yesterday I got a post up while waiting on an appointment outside the Samsung football field booth. Sure, I was the idiot kneeling on the ground in a skirt and typing away on my netbook, but I was productive!

The Clear folks, meanwhile, have had a decent presence at the show, and I got a brief look at a line-up of WiMAX-enabled laptops at Digital Experience the other night. Clearwire also announced this morning that it is launching a new 4G network… in Spain. (?!) It’s the company’s first 4G service deployment in Europe.

While my good friend Paul Kapustka managed to get a Clearwire loaner USB card for his Vegas trip, I’m surprised that Clear isn’t giving away gear and temporary service to press and bloggers to drum up a little WiMAX excitement. I can’t think of a better venue, particularly in light of the LTE news flowing this week.