Pre-CES Announcements . . . wherein all of the 'playahs jump the gun

UPDATED 18:25 EST, JANUARY 5, 2010
UPDATED 13:30 EST, JANUARY 5, 2010
UPDATED 13:10 EST, JANUARY 5, 2010
UPDATED 10:10 EST, JANUARY 5, 2010

Digital Imaging

• Canon has a new version of its already excellent 70-200mm f/2.8 pro zoom lens - updated optics with significantly reduced chromatic aberration, the latest image stabilization, and possibly slightly faster autofocus (we'll see about that).
  
• Sony, never one to leave a good thing alone, has released its umpteenth version of its Alpha digital SLR, this one the A450 - another sub-$1000 digital SLR offering little besides feature creep, an tiny bit less power consumption, and the same 14 megapixel sensor found in several other Alphas.
  
• Lexar is showing off a new Professional 32GB 300X CF cards - isn't that great? 32GB - really - fill it up (fast at 300x) and then sit for days in front of your computer sorting through thousands of images.
  

Computers

• Lenovo has got new ThinkPad laptops coming out its ears - of the new T-series models we really like the 15.6" W510 that can be loaded with a Core 2 Extreme i7-920XM CPU (yummy), up to 16GB of RAM (yummier), and an nVidia Quadro FX-880M graphics card (yummiest). The new entry-level ultraportable X100e is the first one of its kind for Lenovo and is designed to go head-to-head with netbooks, while offering optional bluetooth and 3G, plus much more serious processing power from the Athlon Neo.
  
• We're going to keep our eye out for a retail/buyable copy of Samsung's new netbooks - the new N-series looks terrific and the N220 is especially interesting with the ultra low power new Intel Atom "Pinetrail" CPU at 1.6GHz, lovely anti-glare 10" LED backlit screen, up to 12 hours(!?) of battery life, instant-on (via the integrated Phoenix HyperSpace tool), and enough storage space and usability to satisfy a lot of business users and a lot of traveling digital imageers. I want one.
  
• 3M will be showing off its Display M2256PW, 22-inch high-definition, multi-touch LCD display - its capable of responding to 10 different simultaneous inputs (10-finger touch sensitive in other words), and its native resolution is an impressive 1680 x 1050. This will be a really interesting product for designers and other pros in a variety of disciplines who need to physically interact more fully with their work.
  
• USB 3.0 is here now, so get used to it. Western Digital is first out of the gate with its SuperSpeed USB 3.0 My Book® external hard drive, among the first devices certified. Throughput is almost 10 times faster than USB 2.0 hi-speed, and it's all allegedly backward compatible with USB 2.0 (ahem). The drive is supplied with a USB 3.0 card so you'll actually be able to use it with your now-obsolete USB 2.0-equipped computer. Lots more USB 3.0 products coming, so stay tuned.
  
• In Store Solutions launched the Freetalk TALK-7181 HD PRO PLUS webcam for Skype HD - as long as you've got a minimum 800Kbps (up & down) web connection, you can use this thing to chat via high definition video. It uses embedded H.264 encoding to compress the video stream, and at 5 megapixels and an allegedly decent lens, might put competing products to shame. Let's just see how well it works and how often prevailing ISP throttling policies ruin the use of this product.
  

eReaders

• Interead Cool-er - it's an ereader that's almost all screen (6"), making it the smallest form factor on the market (and the e-ink screen is very good too), with 2GB of internal storage, expandability via SD card slot, and a 3G version coming mid-year. This one may make grab my attention away from my excellent Sony PRS-300 and PRS-600.
  
• The Skiff Reader seems to (finally) be a reality - it's a big momma with an 11.5" screen at 1200 x 1600 pixels and 174ppi, but the screen is a metal foil design that is really remarkable by all accounts and combined with the magnesium housing amounts to barely a pound in total weight. The specs boast an active week of battery life, but we'll believe it when we see it. For large form factor magazine and newpaper reading, the Skiff looks like a serious contender.
  

Home Entertainment

• Polk Audio will be showing its single footprint surround-sound wireless speaker system - I know, I know, how can you generate surround sound from only one front-n-center positioned speaker enclosure? It's a conundrum, but several other speaker makers have already released (dreadful) similar products. Polk Audio (back in the early '90s) had a wonderful reputation for producing competitively priced, audiophile quality speakers. Then Polk seemed to have slipped overall for a time. Too many products perhaps? In recent years, Polk has been regaining its quality edge, so let's give this one a chance shall we? The system uses a method of controlled sound dispersion via individual speaker drivers in the enclosure.
  

Wireless

• Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein has told everybody that v1.3.5 of the webOS mobile will be officially launched at CES 2010 - download and store more applications, enhanced program and WiFi performance, improved battery life, and increased device speed and responsiveness are supposed to come together to make great products such as the Palm Pre work even better. Okey-dokey - we'll see - but Palm is a funny place, so many times a world-beater, but lagging far behind the market leaders for quite a few years.
  
• The Google Android pre-CES press conference was a big deal actually. In addition to its existing T-Mobile relationship, Google announced new carrier deals with Verizon in the U.S. and Vodafone in Europe. Nice. Android phones are accelerating quickly in both quality and quantity, the operating system itself is terrific, and Google will outreach Apple very shortly because Google seems to be reeling in new carriers quite quickly.
  
• (added @ 18:15 EST, Jan 5) Google again. This time the search supergiant has unveiled its Nexus One smartphone (or as ZDNet has dubbed it, the Superphone). According to ZDNet the Nexus One is 11.5mm thick (a BlackBerry Curve is 15mm thick), 130 grams in weight (an iPhone 3G weighs 135 grams), every text field is voice accessible (speak to compose an email?), it's fully multimedia enabled and also contains a 3D subsystem for Google Earth. Don't forget the gorgeous, gesture-enabled touch screen. If it actually makes phone calls too, it might actually be a real superphone.
  

Automotive

• (added @ 15:08 EST, Jan 5) Kia Motors has announced its Uvo (powered by Microsoft) in-vehicle infotainment system (really - the pre-CES press release said "infotainment") - it's a voice activated system for controlling and configuring mobile communications and the vehicle's entertainment system (radio, CD, DVD) and turn-by-turn GPS. We promised there'd be plenty of this stuff in the wake of Ford's success with Sync, so here we go.
  

Nothing from Nikon, Panasonic or Sony. Apple will not be at CES, preferring - as usual in recent years - to do its own thing when its new product announcements won't be lost in the massive noise of CES. Apple's successful corporate individualism won't flag as long as Jobs helms the company. Google will not be at CES either, but has lots of products of its own in the pipeline and will be running (Google search, Google Chrome browser, Android) on almost every laptop (and many smartphones) at CES, (added 13:15 EST, Jan 5) and has a major press conference scheduled at its Mountain View, CA headquarters. We think Google probably has the right idea - just like Microsoft all those years ago: be needed and be everywhere.

Nothing pre-CES from an awful lot of companies, but it's a reflection of the times. Retail is off all over the place and manufacturers just aren't rushing new products to market right now. Makes sense. So will CES 2010 be a yawn? We'll see about that too.

More to come . . .

Incompatible with Vista? It's Not Always Microsoft's Fault . . .

Although Adobe sends products to Kickstartnews for review from time to time, we don't review every version of every product, so we really don't have free access to everything we need for day to day productivity. That means, just like you, we often have to buy the versions and upgrades we need. I've got several thousand dollars worth of Adobe software installed on two computers. Every couple of years I spend another $750-$1200, and more on occasion, for upgrades, updates, new products, replacing the previous bloated version of Acrobat with the latest bloated version, and generally dump a lot more money into Adobe's coffers.

It came as a shock therefore to find out that Adobe had absolutely no intention of issuing a Vista compatibility update for Photoshop Elements 4 or Premier Elements 2. The combined upgrade cost to move to Elements 5 and Premier Elements 3 is only $150. Not bad? Maybe to some, but I say that any top tier software product which runs perfectly in Windows XP Professional should be updated through at least one operating system revision, and that includes Windows Vista.

The software development business is more of a racket than you think. Taken in total, product updates to repair bugs which have nothing to do with the operating systems and everything to do with programming and quality assurance testing mistakes, easily outnumber (and considering their impact on business productivity) often outrank the number and frequency of bug and security fixes issued by Microsoft and Apple. Adobe made a conscious decision to drop Photoshop Elements 4 and Premiere Elements 2 a long time ago. Both products are stable under Windows 2000 and XP — no significant development effort needed. The fact remains however that Adobe had a long, long run at Windows Vista compatibility and failed miserably to account for compatibility of demonstrably current product versions, including Photoshop Elements 4 and Premiere Elements 2, installed on literally millions of computers. Adobe's claim on their Vista support pages that "All Adobe products available as of January 30, 2007 were released before Windows Vista became publicly available and so have not been fully designed for or tested on this new operating system", is in a word, bullshit or a red herring or a canard or call it what you will — disingenuous perhaps, if you insist on civility. Adobe makes that statement counting on public ignorance about how software is actually developed.

Here's the truth. Microsoft has been working with its top tier partners — and Adobe is all of that — for well over two years in an effort to ensure as much third party software compatibility with Vista as possible. The core stability and final code base of Vista, like all operating systems nearing completion, was somewhat of a moving target up until January 2006. After that, Adobe should have put significant development effort behind Vista compatibility for Creative Suite (CS) 2, Photoshop Elements 5, Premier Elements 3, and a long list of other products including the lamentable Acrobat 7 & 8. Think of the timeline for just a moment. Adobe had an entire year to develop and test patches or updates for six or seven major products to ensure Vista compatibility. But when Microsoft rolled out Vista to the OEM computer makers (Dell, HP, Gateway, etc., etc., etc.), Adobe and many of its software development brethren were still working away, a day late and a dollar short. As far as I'm concerned, Adobe's management has become arrogant and supercilious. The only reason for Adobe to have failed here is a lack of human resources or the will to serve all of its loyal customers. For all the thousands and thousands of dollars we've each spent on Adobe products over the years, I think we have to wonder what sort of squandered financial reserves are no longer available to support two year old software products.

The software 'dodge' is a money pit for consumers. We get no guarantees of any kind with the software we buy. It's good for as long as it works, and when it stops working for any reason, you're on your own. If you don't want the time you've invested in learning and using the software to go completely to waste, all you have to do is pay, pay, pay for next great version again and again.

Lest you think I've invective only for Adobe, rest assured there are many other software developers in my sights. Palm is another company which has managed to squander an enormous lead in the PDA and smartphone business into a struggle to stay even with a range of newcomers, most of whom in North America (RIM's Blackberry being the notable exception) simply don't offer anything as well converged and broadly useful as the Treo. Yet despite the aforementioned long run up to the Vista release, Palm Desktop v4.2 is still the best you can get, Palm QuickInstall won't accept passed files (unless it's in the 'mood' apparently), and an initial HotSync performed after replacing hardware (e.g., upgrading from a Treo 650 to a Treo 700p) is only successful on the first attempt about half the time. Do a hard reset and try again (and again).

What's the problem? Is too much development being outsourced? Are product managers and development directors simply out of touch with reality? Is Microsoft some hydra-headed monster which deliberately feeds development partners bad information? Have marketing departments become so dominant that all thought of supporting even recent product versions has become anathema? Is it unreasonable to believe that a $200-$1200 software product should have a usable life longer than 18-24 months? What is it?

I think the answer lies in the practical exigencies of doing business in a world that is so competitive even the faintest nod in the direction of legacy version support amounts to a human resource cost that represents the difference between a profitable company and a failed enterprise. The future holds no better promise than the one we have now, i.e., if you don't want to (or can't) budget the semi-annual, annual and bi-annual costs required to update your key productivity software, you're either going to have to stick with Windows XP or find a way to afford certain upgrades. Open source software, usually available for free, is available for some productivity applications, but is often not the best choice. Don't blame Microsoft — it doesn't develop Adobe or Palm software. If Adobe and Palm can't afford or simply refuse to dedicate the resources needed to update currently active product versions, don't upgrade to Vista unless you're prepared for what could be a significant expenditure. As well, Photoshop Elements 4 running on Windows XP is a rather excellent marriage. Unless Photoshop Elements 5 and Windows Vista together offer some compelling and unalterable reason for you to upgrade, why bother with the expense, the time and the aggravation?