Not wasting anytime waiting for a blackjack controversy, Caesars Palace in Las Vegas has gone ahead with a ban of Google Glass inside the casino.

A spokesman for Caesars was quoted saying, “Gaming regulations prohibit the use of computers or recording devices by persons who are gambling. Therefore, individuals wearing Google Glass would not be allowed to gamble. If they attempted to do so, would be subject to arrest under various state gaming regulations.”

This is a bit of a no-brainer for casinos and I’m sure there will be plenty more to follow suit with an outright ban of Google Glass by name – in addition to what appears to already be technically banned by Nevada state law.

[via Computer World]

Sony’s new 4K TVs revealed back at CES 2013 should be available this summer with pre-orders starting later this month. The 55″ XBR-55X900A 4K TV will retail for $4,999, while the 65″ XBR-65X900A 4K TV will retail for $6,999.

Along with the new 4K TVs, Sony also priced its FMP-X1 4K Media Player bundled with 10 feature films and video shorts in true 4K resolution at $699. The FMP-X1 should be available this summer with the ability to download 4K titles to the device coming through Sony’s distribution service in the fall.

If you want to get in on the pre-order action, you can find out more here on Sony’s online store.

Kindle Fire HD: The Missing Manual is a new book from author Peter Meyers. An overview of topics from the publisher include:

• Read all about it. Find ebooks and newspapers in the Kindle Store, and add your own books and magazines.
• Use great new features. Discover Amazon’s X-Ray service, and parental controls for individual users.
• Take in a show. Watch movies and TV series, and display your photos and videos.
• Go online. Browse the Web and manage email with Wi-Fi and 4D LTE.
• Fill up your jukebox. Listen to your favorite music from Amazon and iTunes.
• Load up on apps. Get popular games, guides, and references with Amazon’s Apps for Android.
• Get to work. Read PDFs, Word files, Excel spreadsheets, and other docs.

Kindle Fire HD: The Missing Manual retails for $15.99; however, it is currently available for $9.99 in a Kindle Edition.

Angry Birds Rio, which normally runs $0.99 for the iPhone and $2.99 for the iPad is free this week on the iTunes App Store as the Free App of the Week.

Check it out on the iTunes App Store for iPhone and iPad.

Sony has a new line-up of HD Handycam Camcorders at CES 2013 ranging from the flagship, $1,599 HDR-PJ790V to the $249 HDR-CX220.  All the Handycam line now offers the ability to switch between AVCHD or web-friendly MP4 formats.  Click on past the break to read more and watch a brief interview with Amy Koppmann of Sony.

HDR-PJ790V

The flagship of the Handycam line, the HDR-PJ790V includes a new 5.1 channel microphone, a brighter 30lm projector with input capabilities from another device, along with a new advanced sound system and a multi-interface shoe, now compatible with XLR boxes.

HDR-PJ650V

This camera is what Sony calls the enthusiast model, but still offer plenty of great features, like a 20.4-mp Exmor R sensor, 12x zoom, 3-inch LCD display, HQ 5.1 microphone, stereo speaker, GPS / Geotagging features, 32 GB of flash storage, and the ability to shoot in 24p.  All these features are retained from the previous model.

New to the HDR-PJ650V are an electric viewfinder, multi-interface shoe along with the new projector input feature, a brighter 20lm projector, the advanced sound system and and added manual control dial

HDR-CX380V, HDR-PJ380V, HDR-CX430V, HDR-PJ430V

Sony’s mid-level models off a good 8.9-mp Exmor R sensor, 30x zoom, a 3-inch LCD display, the ability to shoot 60p video, GPSmapping, an HQ 5.1 channel microphone, 24p shooting, and a mic jack.

New to this line is Balanced Optical SteadyShot, upgraded from SteadyShot, multi-interface shoe and a projector input for the PJ430V model. This year onboard storage was cut in half to 16GB.

HDR-CX220, HDR-CX230, HDR-PJ230, HDR-CX290

Sony’s entry level models offer a lightweight package with a nice 8.9-mp Exmor R sensor HDMI out and 60p recording, optical SteadyShot, and a 2.7-inch touchscreen display.  The PJ230 offers a 13lm projector on board with the ability to once again connect an external device such as a computer or mobile device.

HDR-TD30V

This is Sony’s 3D, double HD camcorder and really is virtually identical to the previous TD20V model with the exception of being stripped of the on-board memory and manual control dial.  Sony did this in the name of reaching the sub-$1000 price point.

ADP-WL1M

Sony’s new WiFi module works in conjunction with the multi-interface shoe allowing wireless file transfer to computers and mobile devices and mobile control-ability of the camera.

Sony’s new Handycam line will be available for purchase in February 2013.

I stopped by the Parrot AR.Drone booth yesterday to see four AR.Drone copters performing a synchronized flight sequence and all was going really well until disaster struck…

Parrot has a cage set with flight demos using a color coded grid on the floor to position the AR.Drone’s flight.  This was quite impressive until 2 collided in the air sending one quickly to the ground near the end of the show.  To be fair though, I did witness a successful show.  Watch the video below to see the botched flight.

Updates

The AR.Drone 2.0 is not new but Parrot is adding some new features such as a new 1500 mAh battery wit 50% more power, affording around 18 minutes of flight time; up from the current 12 minutes.

A GPS “black-box” is also new, which allows the pre-programmed flight.  The module has 4GB of memory on board, which is used for storing the flight data and over 2 hours of HD video.  The information can download to your PC or Mac via WiFi to make a map of the flight.

Parrot also has an update to the AR.FreeFlight app “Director Mode” used to edit video from the copter,  which adds new programmed commands and video edits, such as lens correction, stabilization and more.

Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 – $299.99

Back at CES 2011 Sphero became one of my favorite new gadgets of the show, but was still in the developmental stage.  I bumped into them again this year at CES 2013, but now the robotic ball has a full head of steam with 20+ iOS and Android games including a recently released augmented reality game.

Sphero is the brain-child of Orbotix, a Boulder, Colorado based start-up, blending real and virtual worlds and making it all fun using smartphone and tablet platforms as a controller.  Sphero is connected using Bluetooth technology and has a 50 foot range.  The robotic ball is tons of fun, simple, but challenging and has a battery that will last for better than an hour of constant play.  You won’t want to quit!

Using augmented reality, a game, “Sharky the Beaver,” is the first developed for Sphero putting the virtual beaver in your world using Sphero as the AR marker.  Go to iTunes App Store to download.

Other games are are also available in the iTunes App Store and Google Play.

Sphero can be purchased now on Amazon, the Sphero store and a number of other retailers for $129.99.  Check the video below to see Sphero in action.

Monday evening I had a chance to catch up with Moshi.  I’ve got to say they are probably my favorite Apple outfitter.  They always impress me with their new products.  At Pepcom’s Digital Experience on Monday prior to the start of CES 2013, Moshi had a few new items including the all new Ionbank, a portable charging solution for Apple and Android mobile devices.

Moshi’s Ionbank spots a sleek minimalist design common among their products and familiar to Apple users.  Ionbank will be available with a  5,000 or 10,000 mAh capacity battery, 2 USB port, LED battery life indicator and a sliding bottom to conceal a hidden compartment for storing the USB charging cord.

Key Features

• High-capacity lithium polymer cell technology
• Sleek, ultra-modern form factor
• Built-in ability to regulate charge and discharge cycles for maximum battery life
• ‘Smart detection’ circuitry to recognize and adjust charge for each individual mobile device

Moshi says Ionbank will be available for purchase in the second half of 2013.

Also, launched along with the Ionbank is the Metallic ‘Mythro’ Earbuds along with a free ‘Burn-in’ iPhone app for new headphones.

The Mythro earbuds are cast in aluminum and anodized for durability and good looks at a budget friendly $29.  The Mythro will be available in late February, 2013 in gunmetal gray, jet silver, tyrian purple, satin gold, rose pink, and burgundy red.

Key Features

• DR8 Neodymium drivers (15Hz-20kHz / -10dB@1kHz) in an anodized aluminum casing.
• Integrated microphone with universal button control.
• Hybrid injection silicone earbuds in three sizes for superior noise isolation and comfort.
• A convenient Velcro HandyStrap cable manager.

The “burn-in tool” app (see images in gallery) works in the Moshi’s earbuds using pre-programmed tone profiles customed designed for each earbud line.  Moshi audio engineers customized each profile based on each earbuds frequency response, but even if you don’t own Moshi earbuds, you can create profiles for any new headphone.

The app can be found a the following link:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/burn-in-tool/id556809463?mt=8

Visit Moshi to see a full line of products.

If you’ve ever tried to watch a movie on an iPad using the built in speaker with ambient noise in the room then you know that’s nearly impossible.  At CES 2013, Belkin has finally come up with a solution to the volume coverage problem with the iPad in the way of the Belkin Thunderstorm Handheld Home Theater iPad Case.

The Belkin Thunderstorm is a full-coverage, portable case and dock with Smart Cover-esqe flap adding multi-fold function, allowing more viewing angles. The biggest difference is the built-in  speaker housing stuffed with full-range drivers and integrated air channels and the extra bulk of the speaker electronics.  Belkin contracted Audifi, a mobile audio engineering group, to handle the audio internals.

At CES Unveiled I had a chance to get hands-on with the Thunderstorm and as with all Belkin products, I felt like I was handling a quality piece.  The room was quite noisy, so I’ll reserve audio quality judgement for a later date.  As I hinted to earlier, this case is a bit bulky and only a 30-pin dock connector is available at this time (a Lightning connector dock version is expected in the spring).  The 30-pin edition will accommodate the iPad 2 and iPad (3rd gen.).  iPad (4th gen.) owners will have to wait until Spring.

You can buy the 30-pin version this month at Belkin.com, Apple store and Amazon for $200.  Although, the advertised retail price is $200.  Amazon has the Thunderstorm listed for $249.99 at the time of this writing.  Hopefully, this is a misprint.

3M was showing off its touch display technology at CES 2013 with a massive, table-sized touchscreen that allows you to move on-screen objects around on the table and also have the ability to rotate and zoom them with multi-touch controls.

The display is an 84-inch multi-touch display prototype that allows not only multi-touch from the user, but also multi-touch control from multiple users. There will be several concept models on display at CES 2013 from 32″ to 84″ in size. Production models are available 21.5″, 24″ and 27″ sizes for desktop displays.

Check out the short video of the 84″ prototype in action below.