CES Monday Action: Livio Radio Adds Partners

Building A Bigger Team

At MONDAY's 2013 INTERNATIONAL CES Press Day in LAS VEGAS, Internet radio-in-cars firm LIVIO RADIO's CEO JAKE SIGAL announced the new FM Connect service, which allows drivers to engage broadcast radio stations through a combination of Bluetooth-connected smartphones and broadcast FM RDS, which will send commands from the station while the phone will handle the consumer response. A user could interact with, for example, a commercial or poll and even buy concert tickets or enter contests with a click of a button on the car entertainment system.  SIGAL said that the system enables localization of audio spots and requires no changes to existing broadcast hardware, needing only a software update.

LIVIO also unveiled new partnerships with 30 more app partners, including GREATER MEDIA, NPR, RDIO, TUNEIN, ACCURADIO, ACCUWEATHER, 977 MUSIC, ADDICTED TO RADIO, DI, LIVE 365, GROOVESHARK, INRIX, JAZZRADIO.COM, SKY FM RADIO and others.  New partnerships with JOHNSON CONTROLS, KPIT CUMMINS, and VISTEON were also announced, as well as conversion of LIVIO's app developer program to a "freemium" model that SIGAL said allows the company to work with more and smaller partners.  He also said that LIVIO is working with navigation partners to create custom GUIs.

TVs Galore

MONDAY's morning Press Day events also included LG's announcement of its updated "Magic Remote" gesture-based remote control (which allows channel-changing with finger points or even writing numbers in the air), Voice Mate voice control of TVs, 55-inch OLED display, 84-inch Ultra TV, and 100-inch HD Laser TV projector; and SHARP offering a new lineup of large LED TVs.

PANASONIC showed off its new "customized home screen" concept for its Smart TV line, with some new Viera models offering facial recognition using built-in cameras to bring up personalized home screens, plus voice controls and "Swipe and Share," allowing users to share pictures between their TVs and iOS and Android mobile devices.

SAMSUNG also stressed TVs at its afternoon conference, with new OLED sets and an Ultra HD set with a "gallery" frame on display along with a set that allows, with the use of earbud-equipped glasses, two viewers to watch two shows on one display, plus a refrigerator with space convertible back and forth between freezer and refrigerator, a camera lens that does both 2D and 3D, new Series 7 Windows 8 laptops, a new touch display, and the new Verizon LTE Note 10.1 phone/tablet.

SONY's event late in the afternoon at the LAS VEGAS CONVENTION CENTER included a new flagship smartphone, the Android-based quadcore five-inch Xperia Z with a 13MP camera and NFC technology built-in, plus new Bravia and OLED TVs, cameras, headphones, and a 4K TV content distribution service to launch in the SUMMER, as well as 4K Blu-ray titles to come.

Qualcomm's Dr. Paul Jacobs Delivers Keynote... With A Little Help From Steve Ballmer

Opening with a trailer from GUILLERMO DEL TORO's upcoming movie "Pacific Rim" and a visual-effects-laden segment with three actors playing typical young consumers, the opening keynote for the convention was delivered MONDAY evening at the VENETIAN by QUALCOMM's Chairman and CEO Dr. PAUL JACOBS, who noted that the address was the first time a mobile company had opened CES (MICROSOFT, in the person of either BILL GATES or STEVE BALLMER, had been the traditional opener, but is not participating in the convention this year).  The theme for the speech, "Born Mobile," stressed that generations are now coming of age having known nothing but a time with the ability to use mobile devices.  BALLMER made a surprise appearance to show off Windows 8 and Windows Phone devices, while JACOBS announced two new series of Snapdragon processors at the event, showing a promotional trailer styled like an epic fantasy movie with a CGI dragon and holding up the upcoming 800 series "superpremium" Snapdragon chip.

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