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Sony's little TV gets big buzz

Sony's XEL-1 flat TV with OLED technology drew big crowds at the Consumer Electronics Show. Image: Jon Fortt

LAS VEGAS - After chatting with Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow, I had to see what the hype was about. So I headed over to Sony's booth here at the Consumer Electronics Show to check out a $2,500 flat-panel TV with a screen a little bigger than paperback book.

Yes, at 11 inches, it's MORE

New life for plasma TVs?

Pioneer showed off concept TVs that offer a first: near-absolute black in a flat-panel display, providing brilliant contrast. Image: Jon Fortt

LAS VEGAS - In the United States, plasma televisions are losing the high-def battle with LCD screens. But at the Consumer Electronics Show, plasma backers including Pioneer and Panasonic clearly believe it's not over.

Plasma's problem has always been the side-by-side comparison with LCD on the showroom floor. Because LCD screens MORE

Good times roll again at Sony

The innovative Rolly robotic speaker system, which is not yet available, is emblematic of the company's improved fortunes. Image: Sony

LAS VEGAS - After a rough couple of years, Sony is beginning to look like its old self.

It might be too soon to declare a total comeback, but the electronics giant finally seems to have momentum. Those quarterly losses that at times topped $500 million as Sony (SNE) struggled to turn MORE

Warner: DVD format war hurt movie sales

LAS VEGAS - Why did Warner Bros. choose last week to exclusively back the Blu-ray format for high-definition DVDs and ditch HD DVD, a move that could end the bitterest battle in the electronics industry?

Live-blogging CES: Sony announces super-thin TVs, and a dancing speaker system

Journalists prepare for the start of the Sony pre-CES press conference. Image: Jon Fortt

LAS VEGAS - Fresh from its news that Warner has backed its Blu-ray format for high definition, Sony (SNE) is vying to show that it is still an electronics innovator, and isn't languishing in the shadow of iPod maker Apple (AAPL).

To that end, the electronics giant said it will immediately begin selling an 11-inch version of a MORE

Tech's caucus season

Trying to pick the winners in '08? Watch these three conferences.

In January, politics has Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Tech has DEMO, Macworld and the Consumer Electronics Show.

Just as primaries and caucuses define the year's political landscape, these three big technology trade shows compete to introduce trends that will shape 2008. Each show has its own personality and its own surprises – and its own part in influencing whether MORE

Cisco's video revival

Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers gives a presentation in July. Image: Cisco

To understand why Cisco CEO John Chambers is still bullish on the company's growth prospects in an uncertain economy, consider the change underway at the BBC.

The European public service broadcaster is in the throes of a major digital transformation. Its online operation, bbc.co.uk, moves a staggering 1.3 petabytes of data every month to its audience – the equivalent MORE

How to fix Dell

The executive briefing center on Dell's campus. Image: Dell

Dell is held up as one of the business world's train wrecks of the moment, sort of a tech version of Britney Spears. The stock is down near the levels where it traded when founder Michael Dell re-took the reins as CEO in February, and the pundits have plenty of questions about the company's prospects. How could things have gone so wrong? MORE

Will the Holy Grail of marketing revive Dell?

If Dell wants to regain its former glory, it will have to do a better job selling laptops like its XPS m1330; and that means new marketing methods. Image: Dell

Two years from now, we'll be hailing Dell as a marketing innovator -- or snickering about its failed attempt to decode the art of hype.

Either way, the struggling computer maker is promising a spectacle that marketing experts everywhere will be MORE

A chat with Apple's iPod and iPhone marketing czar

The iPod family. Image: Apple

Greg Joswiak has what you might call a busy job -- he's charged with marketing two of Apple's biggest hit products, the iPod and the iPhone. That might sound easy considering the buzz Apple's product announcements generate, but there's more to the task than promotion; he works with the company's engineering teams to decide what the next iPods and iPhones will look like, what features they'll MORE