CRISTAL (Control of Remotely Interfaced Systems using Touch-based Actions in Living spaces) is a research project from a group of universities that attempts to create a more natural way of interacting with devices found in a typical living room. The system offers a live video view of the living room displayed on a tabletop, so users can can walk up to it, see the layout of the room and touch the table to interact with the TV, photo frame or any of the other devices – the prototype can also control the lights and a Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner.

You can see how this system works in a video the team have produced.

One of the team members Dr Stacy Scott says:

“We wanted a social aspect to activities such as choosing what to watch on TV and we wanted to make the process easy and intuitive,”

Stacy estimates that the current cost is around £7000 but she is confident that in a few years something like it will be a viable consumer product, especially as Microsoft is also experimenting in this area.

The new Sony BDP-S5000ES has a Super Bit Mapping Technology included which aims to assist you in achieving the best possible outcome, allowing you to select your TV bit depth to match the players output.

Other features include a Vertical Edge Correction to make the images smoother and sharper, a HD Reality Enhancer to fine tune images to perfection and Precision Cinema HD to add detail!

To create the best sound possible, concentration has been placed upon the audio selection and Sony have ensured that with Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio the deepest bass and surround sound is available.

Sony have included connections such as USB 2.0 and Ethernet for BD-Live Interactive content in order to future-proof the BDP-S5000ES.

This is Sony’s technology that allows you to download content to view on your LCD or Plasma TV such as movie trailers, additional scenes and much more.

For AJ Electronics full range of Sony Blu-Ray players, please click here.

The Touch Watch device launched by LG at the industry tradeshow will transport wearers back to the days when they played at being a secret agent by talking into their wristwatch.

Orange is expected to launch the LG G910 wrist-watch phone in the UK later this year. The phone is packed with all the features that consumers expect, including Bluetooth and a small touchscreen.

The hope is that a device that allows consumers to talk directly into the watch will improve the demand for mobile phones during this economic climate.

The LG G910 will also be able to make video calls and use voice recognition technology to look up numbers. As well as usual phone features, the watch can read text messages and other information aloud and play back music files.

President at LG, Dr Skott Ahn said: ‘LG is the first company to introduce a mobile phone with the wearable device technology. We will continue to develop category-creating products to form a new market, based on our technological leadership and design capability.’

The Netbook has already taken over sales of the 2008’s top gadget, the iPhone. During last year’s third quarter, Apple shifted 4.7 million iPhones, compared to the 5.6 million netbooks sold in the same three-month period.

And the netbook market is expected to grow by 80% in 2009, with an IT research firm predicting that, by 2012, annual netbook sales will reach 50 million.

Luke Peters, deputy editor of T3, the technology and gadgets magazine says ‘They’re so portable. In a business environment, people are buying them for their size. And on a mainstream, consumer level, people are buying them because they’re cheap.’

Netbooks are perfect for businesspeople, sick of trying to type emails on a tiny Blackberry keyboard; students and their parents looking for a decent first laptop; and anyone who wants to Facebook on the move.

Mr Peter’s says ‘You can do almost anything on a netbook as long as it’s not graphics-rich gaming, or serious photo and video editing. A netbook’s power now is akin to a decent laptop from six or seven years ago.’

Thanks to a lack of mechanical moving parts such as CD drives, and the lower power requirements of their processors, they also have a long battery life making them great for long journeys.

In the present credit crunch, these are the sort of practical, low-cost specifications that most people will want from a new laptop.

And get this, they’ll even be a version available in Next!

CES 2009 will also bring together celebrities, sports icons and legendary musicians to experience and promote the latest products and technologies in the consumer electronics industry.

Here at Aj’s Electronics we pride ourselves in being top for high definition TVs, so lets have a look what LCD’s the top brands will have on display.

SHARP the official HDTV of the MLB (or rounder’s as we call it in the UK) will have a constellation of Major League Stars in their booth. SHARP will be displaying HDTVs with screen sizes from 19″ to 108″, home theatre front projectors, home theatre and conventional audio systems, Blu-ray players and cell phones.

Sony will be showcasing new series of high definition TVs with built in, interactive entertainment with the announcement of the first new BRAVIA LCD HDTV models with Internet applications called widgets that deliver real time information, as well as streaming video capability via integrated BRAVIA Internet Video Link.

Sony’s new XBR9 and Z-series models feature an Ethernet connection, allowing the sets to directly access Sony BRAVIA Internet Video content using an existing broadband connection.

Samsung is bringing the internet to the living room with the launch of a new service that enables viewers to access the web on their TVs. On display there will be a few new series 3, 4, 5 and 6 panels with the main focus being on their LED-backlit-ness with sizes ranging from 40-inches and up.

Panasonic is betting on high definition 3D TV technology and is planning in proposing a standard for Japan in the coming months. On their booth visitor will find top end HDTV like 0.33-inch thick Neo PDP Eco plasma TV and the 1-inch thick TC-P54Z1 VIERA plasma TV.

This is year at CES LG will be focusing on HDTV and mobile gear, with multidisplay laptop and HDTVs wired for broadband to Blu-ray players that can deliver Web content.

The latest project to come from the MIT Media Lab is the “Huggable” Robot Teddy. The Huggable is intended to be much more than a fun, robotic and very cute companion; its main purpose is to enhance human relationships by functioning as both a visual and sensory tool and could one day be used for healthcare, education, and social communication applications.

The Huggable features more than 1500 sensors on its skin, along with quiet actuators, video cameras in its eyes, microphones in its ears, a speaker in its mouth, and an embedded PC with 802.11g wireless networking.

“The movements, gestures and expressions of the bear convey a personality-rich character, not a robotic artefact,” the MIT Media Lab’s Web site explains. “A soft silicone-based skin covers the entire bear to give it a more lifelike feel and heft, so you do not feel the technology underneath. Holding the Huggable feels more like holding a puppy, rather than a pillow-like plush doll.”

The Huggable was originally based on the concept of therapeutic companion animals, and has important touch-based features. The robot’s neural network can recognize nine different classes of touch, such as tickling, poking, and scratching, etc., and each class is further divided into six response types, such as teasing pleasant, punishment light, etc. Based on the response type, the robot interprets the intent of the touch and how to respond. The response type defines how the Huggable interprets the intent of the touch and what behavior to perform in response. For example, a pleasant touch should signify a happy reaction while strong punishment should result in a pain response.

Currently, the MIT Media Lab is working to create a series of Huggables for real-world trials. The Huggable was created using Microsoft Robotic Studio, and the project is supported in part by a Microsoft iCampus grant.

AOL Shopping and Pricegrabber have done  a survey on the most wanted technology this Christmas.

The Top 10 searches for the most wanted technology gadget this year :

1. Sony Bravia KDL-32V4000 32" LCD TV
2. Acer Aspire One AOA110-Aw Notebook
3. Sony Bravia KDL-40W4500 40" LCD TV
4. Sony KDL-40W4000 40" LCD TV
5. Panasonic DMC-FZ28 Black Digital Camera
6. HP (Hewlett-Packard) Compaq 2133 Mini-Note Notebook
7. Samsung NC10 White Notebook
8. Asus Eee PC 901 Black Notebook
9. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5EB-K Black Digital Camera
10. Pioneer PDP-LX5090 50" Plasma TV

They also found that Blu-Ray Players are starting to take of with the Sony BDPS350B the most popular search AJ Electronics have this blue-ray player on sale for £159.