Last December, in cooperation with Sony, WeSay, and Technorati Media, I was provided the pocketable Sony DSC-WX1 with the task of shooting some interesting panoramas. And it turns out, folks dug my work, as a panorama I snapped from the shore of Point of Rocks won the competition. Although, it wasn’t my favorite panorama… preferring, instead, the ones above (click to enlarge).

The first photo was shot from the top of the Olympic Tower in Munich overlooking BMW’s campus and starring my wife. The second photo was taken at the Dulles annex of the Air and Space Museum, featuring the SR-71 Blackbird. Which is quite possibly the coolest plane ever. And if you look real, real close you might be able to see bits of the Enola Gay in the background.

Regardless, I won with the river/bridge shot. And as the winner, Sony donated a number of cameras (plus memory cards, thankfully) to the school of my choice. As we rarely discuss my life beyond tech, most folks probably are unaware that I have a pair of degrees in education, not to mention those TWO PhD programs I bailed on, and therefore know a great number of educators. But I narrowed my selection down to a very worthy recipient in Washington Middle School (La Habra, CA) where the cameras will be used within the school newspaper and video news after-school programs. Click to enlarge the photos below, taken at the school and shot with the Sony cams:

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.

Click to enlarge:

Dazzboard is a newborn Finnish company that’s been getting decent press for the last six months as a media manager for the stuff on all your devices – photos, music, and video. Now the company is adding an Android App Manager to its list of features. The Dazzboard 2.0 software is a browser extension that you can access from your computer. Instead of shopping, adding, and deleting apps from your smartphone on the smartphone itself, you can do the heavy lifting on a larger PC screen, and just enjoy the apps themselves from your phone. It’s all drag and drop, and at least from the demo I saw tonight, looks dead simple to use. I’ll be trying this one out soon on my own Android device.

Other new features in Dazzboard 2.0 include:

• iTunes content connectivity – only non-iTunes-DRM stuff
• OpenID compatibility
• Enhanced media management including cloud storage and support for social media networks
• YouTube browsing
• Media bookmarks

I’ve been waiting for years for a useful Wi-Fi photo frame, and it looks like 2010 may finally usher in the new digital frame era. At Digital Experience tonight (a CES event within an event), I saw two promising entrants in the Wi-Fi photo frame market. First comes the Kodak Pulse. At seven inches and $129.99, the Pulse might sound a bit overpriced, but it’s not when you consider the full touch screen, and the fact that it gets its own IP address. This is the application grandparents have been waiting for. Mom and dad can email photos of baby Johnny, and they will immediately go into rotation on Grandma’s frame. The Pulse also integrates with Kodak Gallery and Facebook, with the potential for further service integration down the road. It’s due out in retail April-ish.

I also saw Pandigital’s Photo Mail frame tonight. Like the Pulse, it receives photos by email with no monthly subscription fee, but emailing photos comes with a per-pic charge after the first 300 emailed shots. The frame has Wi-Fi and connectivity via AT&T’s Edge network. Also due out around April, the Photo Mail frame is eight inches, but without the full touch screen. Interestingly, the back end is apparently handled by Snapfish, but there is no direct integration with existing Snapfish albums (as with the HP DreamScreen). The expected retail price is $149.99.

Bottom line: I want more testing time with the Kodak Pulse. I think we might have a winner.

Click to enlarge:

The Griffin Technology folks as pictured on the CES blog

Not making the trek out to Vegas this year for CES? You’re not alone. Here’s a list of five things missing from CES 2010.

Cablecos and Telcos
Despite the fact that we now live in a connected world, many of the providers that make our gadget connections possible are, by and large, missing from the CES show floor. Two years ago Comcast made a big splash with the launch of tru2way, and AT&T once had a booth in Central Hall to promote its U-verse service. This year the big guys won’t be around much at all. The one exception is Clearwire. With a booth in the South Hall, and Clear WiMAX service blanketing Las Vegas (WiMAX rentals available for $12.50/day), Clearwire will be representin’ for its broadband brethren this year.

GiNii
Remember GiiNii? I got pretty excited about the company last year when it was sporting Wi-Fi photo frames and prototype Android tablet devices. Sadly, I heard back in October that GiiNii has suspended development on both its PixPlus frames and the prototype Movit Mini and Movit Max – despite the fact that both product lines are still listed on the company site. There’s no evidence that GiiNii will be at CES this year either.

Long Cab Lines
The best thing about an economic recession? Short cab lines at CES. The long lines were missing last year, and I expect more of the same in 2010. It’s quite a relief after waiting for more than an hour for transportation in previous years.

Apple (officially)

Macworld may no longer have the star power to rival CES, but that doesn’t mean Apple has given in and joined the CEA’s annual gadget fest. In a change this year, however, Apple will have more of an unofficial presence at the show. A new iLounge Pavilion in the North Hall will feature iPod and iPhone accessories, upping the CES Apple quotient for the year. Exhibitors include makers of cases, speakers, apps, and more.

Cntrstg
Dave gave a massive shout-out to Cntrstg last year for the venue it provided tech bloggers at CES. The organizers offered us a fabulous work space, complete with food and Wi-Fi, and brought vendors in to share their wares. Sadly, there will be no Cntrstg lounge in 2010 due to sponsors pulling out at the last minute. There are some dinners and meet-ups planned, however, so we’ll hope for the best this year, and a return to form in 2011.

As previously mentioned, Sony provided me the DSC-WX1 digicam (~$300) to participate in a blogger panorama contest hosted by WeSay. The winner will designate a school for Sony to donate a number of these cameras to. And I’ve got a few worthy candidates in mind. But, before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s first talk about that WX1.

The 10 megapixel, 5x zoom WX1 was my sole camera on our recent Munich adventure. Having shot nearly 600 pics, I can say the pocketable cam performs well enough in typical outdoor sunlit still shots – once a few minor adjustments are made to dial down the exposure. We also enjoyed being able to spontaneously shoot 720p video.

However, where the WX1 really shines is in it’s low light capabilities and the simple, fun panorama functionality. Shooting a panorama couldn’t be easier… Choose the direction you want to sweep the camera (pic below) and optionally adjust the picture width (4912 x 1080 by default). Hit the shutter button and pivot. No computer-based manual stitching and cropping required.

While I’m sure the awesome ZNF community could easily propel me to the top of the Sony WeSay competition, we’ve been asked to not identify our pics. So you won’t find the two sample panoramas above (click to enlarge) entered into the contest. Go check out the entrants, and make your selection before the 18th. In fact, feel free to vote as many times as you’d like. May the best blogger win.

As previously mentioned, Sony has provided a DSC-WX1 digital camera ($350) to participate in an upcoming blogger panorama photo contest. Of course, the WX1 also happens to take traditional digital still pictures (which we’ll get to). And shoot 720p HD video. Any multipurpose device like this would have a hard time competing with a higher-end dedicated video camera when it comes to image quality. However, for the occasional clip, the convenience of being able to capture HD video from your pocketable digital camera is hard to beat.

While evaluating the WX1 during my recent trip to Munich, I shot a trio of vacation videos (links below) under some difficult conditions. Fast moving water above, an evening scene through plate glass, and a belly flop while completely zoomed in from a couple hundred yards away. So it’s safe to assume your typical family event shot at normal distance under normal lighting should look better. Also, keep in mind, it’s highly likely YouTube has transcoded these MP4 videos in some manner. (Click the HD icon while viewing for the higher res versions.) The videos:

• Munich River Surfers
• Rotisserie Pork Knuckles
• Olympic Swim Hall