The televisions of CES 2013 are the sharpest, brightest, slimmest, biggest, and smartest TVs tech companies have ever shown — but they're also the priciest. With last year's 4K (four times the pixels of a 1080p display) screens now being called UHD — short for Ultra HD — TVs, display resolution is front and center as a key feature, which is unfortunately out of the everyday consumer's budget. Take a look at many of the TVs announced so far at CES, and stay tuned for more to come.
3D fans, you may want to hold off on buying a pair of those designer 3D glasses; Toshiba recently announced plans for 3D TVs that don't require glasses before the end of 2010. They're planning to launch three different models before the end of the year.
Instead of traditional 3D TVs, which project two separate images on top of each other (one to your left eye, one to your right), these new TVs emit rays of light at different angles, allowing 3D images to be viewable by the naked eye and at various viewing angles (hello, Minority Report!). All current 3D content will be playable on the new TVs.
Sadly, these new TVs are only available in Japan (for now), but for the sake of goofy glasses-wearing masses everywhere, let's hope they're not long for a US debut, too.
Looks like you Apple fans aren't stressing out about waiting on hold for tech support — according to Consumer Reports, Apple is the top company for after-sales customer service. In a report that was based on phone support, online support, and general problem-solving ability, Apple beat out others including Dell, Toshiba, and Lenovo in all points. 
The survey took place over a one-year period and looked at 7,000 laptop and desktop users' customer support experiences.
Lenovo and Toshiba ranked second and third in the laptop category, while Dell and HP/Compaq ranked second and third for desktops. They claim that Apple's success is partially due to its ownership of the hardware and software that comes with each Mac. So amid complaints that Apple can be limiting, the silver lining is that its tech support is often able to troubleshoot and solve problems. And between phone, online, and Genius Bar support, Apple also gets an A for accessibility.
Sony recently announced their latest Sony VAIO NW notebook, which comes fully equipped with Blu-ray disc technology and now Toshiba has just announced that they are next in line to create devices that support Blu-ray storage format.
From HDTVs to laptops to DVD players, Toshiba will start rolling out these new Blu-ray products sometime this year.
Later this month, Toshiba will be bringing its teeny and chic 10.1-inch NB205 netbook to the States, and it is expected to cost only between $350 to $400. With its nine-hour battery life, durability, Bluetooth functionality, and cool colors like brown, white, pink, or blue, it's definitely a winner in my book. This laptop is extremely portable and perfect for anyone who wants to stay connected on the go — and you don't get stuck paying the hefty price of other netbooks on the market.
Noteworthy features include a hard drive impact sensor that will guard data if it happens to take a tumble, a USB port with sleep and charge (so you can charge other gadgets like your iPhone when it's even turned off), and it is extremely power efficient. How's that for one cute little laptop?
If you are sick of white cats and anything that resembles Hello Kitty, I apologize. But for those of you who can appreciate a good themed phone every now and then, check out these Snoopy and Hello Kitty cell phones. A far cry from the innocent HK phone by Okwap, these vibrant Toshiba 815T models come with a matching bag, cell phone strap and jewel box, plus come fully loaded with themed wallpapers, screensavers and ringtones—what does a Hello Kitty ringtone sound like anyway? Featured on Gizmodiva, the 815T also includes face recognition software which is pretty cool and prevents anyone else from unlocking it! Currently these phones are only available in—you guessed it, Japan. 
Note to designers and gadget manufacturers: Some of us are sick and tired of candy-colored MP3 players, cameras and cell phones.
Apple's announcement that the new iPod nano will come in silver, black, blue, green and red and the shuffle will come in silver, mint green, turquoise, lavender and magenta (those are my descriptions of the colors, not theirs!) got me thinking about the fact that almost all gadgets in the US are either staple colors like white, silver and black or bright — almost juvenile — hues of red, blue, pink and green.
Where, my friends, are all the fall colors like orange and yellow, or the muted, retro colors? I was scanning through a catalog for the Japanese mobile communication company KDDI and was floored by its amazing color selection for Toshiba, Panasonic and Casio phones. I'm not asking for a full array of pantone colored cell phones, I'd just like a little more variety. I know someone is spending millions of dollars on market research, but I just can't believe I am the only American who would prefer a "jewelry gold," "fresco orange" or "palmer brown" cell phone to sorbet colored ones?
