Tweets from Showstoppers at CES, 8 January 2009 8 January 2009
Posted by Steve Blum in Tellus Venture Associates.Tags: autonet ces, broadcom, consumer electronics show, cruisecast, fyretv, meebox, plasticlogic, raysat, showstoppers, tikitag, via technologies
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Ask yourself: what would Mick Jagger do?
- New adult IPTV platform Fyretv.com sez 5K subs at launch a month ago, 27K more signed up & waiting for equipment. STB, basic lineup: $10/mo. Some biz models are recession proof.
- HD downloads caching on 1GB USB stick on Fyretv roadmap. Subs buy content but store it on Fyretv servers.
- Fyretv OEMs STBs in China: Broadcom 7401 chip, mostly text & menu-based inhouse user interface on Linux kernel. No content storage, streaming only. Miami HQ, headend in Dallas colo.
- Tiki Tag puts RFID chips on cheap stickers, lets you attach metadata to your stuff, makes smart biz cards.
- PlasticLogic.com large format ebook reader, made out of plastic. Very cool. Unfortunately, not on market until 2010.
- AT&T CruiseCast is Sat TV to cars. 22 channels now, via 20 cm x 10 cm mechanically tracking antenna on car roof.
- CruiseCast runs off Intelsat Ku bird, managed by RaySat. In aftermarket now, targeting auto OEM eventually.
- CruiseCast competition: digital broadcast TV, mobile phone carriers, recorded content. How much backseat video is enough?
- Via Technologies is another player in the netbook game. Product looks good, not game changing.
- MeeBox. Home media center, 1TB storage with 1TB backup, does the usual movies, music, etc. thing.
- Autonet aggregates many cellular data carriers into single service, provides more robust Internet access in car. Biz play.
- HP showing netbooks. Product is pretty ordinary, but brand will carry it just fine.
FyreTV.com set top box. All the standard gozintas and gozoutas, plus USB for expandability. But not for content storage.
Coolest e-book reader to date. Too bad I can't buy it for a year. At least.
