2012

LAS VEGAS--Well, it can only get better from here, right?

Acer informally kicked off the Consumer Electronics Show's wave of press conferences today with the unveiling of the Timeline Ultra and Aspire S5, along with a look at its cloud services.

Missing were any concrete details of its tablet, as well as any information on its planned Windows 8 products.

With its laptop announcements, Acer is doubling down on the ultrabook segment. The products underscore the company's need to find a hot new category to spark revenue, particularly with its key Netbook business cratering. The trouble is, the … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Not content to rest on the laurels of its recently announced A200, Acer today unveiled a new Iconia Tab tablet, featuring a screen resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels (1080p).

Typically, tablet screen resolutions top out at 1,280x800 pixels, but thanks to the faster speed of quad-core processors (Acer didn't reveal which quad-core CPU the new tablet would be using), look for high-res screens like this (and even higher) to become a trend over the next year.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Acer unveiled the Aspire S5, which it boasts is the world's thinnest Ultrabook.

The Aspire S5 is the second ultrabook that Acer announced today at its press conference ahead of the official start of the Consumer Electronics Show. With ultrabooks looking very similar in size and shape to each other, thinness has been on the key differentiators. Acer boasts that the device is only 15 millimeters at its maximum point.

Like the Acer Timeline Ultra, it offers an instant-on connection, allowing it to turn on within 1.5 seconds. The device will also get the same access to … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Acer is banking that the cloud will give the company an edge when pushing its line of Ultrabooks.

Chairman J.T. Wang wasted no time talking up AcerCloud, a service that allows the company's customers to sync files between a Windows-based device and Android devices.

"We're determined to make it very successful and sustainable," Wang said.

In July, the company acquired a cloud-services provider called iGware for $325 million, to help it build AcerCloud.

Cloud services will play a big part in the ultrabooks, Wang said. He added that AcerCloud wouldn't have worked without … Read more

Sure, the idea of augmented reality has some appeal.

Overlaid on your view of the real world, your Net-connected glasses show navigation instructions, prompt you with the name of the person you're talking to, and run an ad-blocker app to turn billboards into wallpaper with soothing nature photos. And with one display for each eye, you see in 3D, so you can turn the outisde world into an immersive videogame.

The only problem is that you look like a total dork walking around with bulky electronic devices stuck to your face.

Vuzix, which sells such products, says it's … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Acer today unveiled its Aspire Timeline Ultra, representing its latest take on the ultrabook.

The Aspire Timeline Ultra is slimmer and lighter than Acer's previous version, which came out in September. The company plans to start shipping the device in the first quarter.

Acer is just the latest to commit to Intel's ultrabook campaign, which is an answer to Apple's successful--and similarly sleek--MacBook Air. Intel is putting a lot money behind a push to convince consumers that this is a new product category. Industry analysts, however, are skeptical that the market can support so many new … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Tomorrow, the CES press conference machine will whip us up into a lather and new phone announcements will zing out fast and furiously.

While we don't always know precisely how the cards stack up, a combination of leaks, press day schedules, and common sense provide more than a hunch of how the game will play out.

Phones you can bet on I would put money on these, and I'm not a gambling woman.… Read more

Fujifilm took to the stage at CES to unveil its X-Pro1, a mirrorless camera that will set you back an estimated $1,700 for the body alone.

Lenses--and there will initially be three of them, though no zooms--will go for about $650 apiece, the company said. The camera and initial lenses are due in February, with pricing to be firmed up in late January.

Zoom lenses won't appear until 2013. At its press conference here, the company said it's aiming the camera at wedding and portrait photographers.

Last year, the Tokyo-based camera maker debuted a whopping 16 new point-and-shoot models, … Read more

Ultrabooks will come in two basic varieties at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas: present and future. The latter will incorporate Intel's Ivy Bridge processor, destined to populate all of the ultrabooks and hybrids coming out in the second half of the year.

Ivy Bridge follows the Sandy Bridge chip shipping in current and ultrabooks. While SB should be the chip of choice in ultrabooks until this summer, expect PC makers (and Apple) to make the switcheroo to Ivy Bridge after that.

PC manufacturing titans like Foxconn and Inventec were already hawking their Ivy Bridge wares in September. … Read more