It’s time for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) again. The year’s largest trade show dedicated entirely to gadgets and technology is back again. The festivities started on Sunday, with a few major press conferences from the likes of Sharp, Toshiba, Sony, Samsung, LG and Microsoft, but the show floor officially opens today to journalists, bloggers, and business folk.

We touched down in the land of sin on Sunday afternoon. Our CES 2012 coverage will be a slightly different than what other blogs are doing. Rather than blast out as much gadget news as we can, we’ll be covering only the best stuff: the gear that’s in a class of its with top-notch design.

Mobile World Conference 2012 is officially underway. I didn’t make it to Barcelona this year, but that doesn’t mean I’m not keeping up with the coverage that’s coming out of Spain.

I had the privilege of taking a look at HTC’s One X, One S and One V trio of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphones and I was quite impressed. While only the One X and One S were powered on, I did manage to get a good feel for the device and its features.

As mentioned, the phones run on Android 4.0 and as usual, come with HTC’s Sense 4.0 skin. The devices weren’t tuned into 4G LTE radios or 3G – just Wi-Fi – but they felt extremely fast and responsive. The UI just felt so bubbly. HTC says it cut a lot of the bloat in Sense 4.0 to make its One family as lean  as possible and I’m obliged to agree.

The major features for the One phones are fast cameras Beats audio. On the camera front, the shutters were so fast that at times I thought I didn’t even take the shot properly. From what I saw and tried, the One phones can shoot at 5 frames per second, 20 on burst mode for best shot, and can record HD1080p video while simultaneously allowing you to take full five-megapixel stills. Quite impressive.

Beats audio didn’t really excite me, but I did enjoy hearing about how HTC is using micro-perforation techniques to cut the speaker holes as well as using dyed polycarbonate and anodized aluminum to achieve brilliant unibody designs that are super thin and light.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the differences between the three One smartphones:

HTC One X: 1.5GHz dual-core processor for AT&T model (Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor on International HSPA+ model), 4.7-inch (1280×800 resolution) IPS display, 4G LTE (AT&T) Beats audio, 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 1.3-megapixel front camera, 9.3mm thick, MHL-HDMI output, 32GB of internal storage, 1GB of RAM and sealed 1800 mAh battery. Carrier: AT&T

HTC One S: 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 4.3-inch Super AMOLED (960×540) display, HSPA+, Beats audio, 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, 1.3 megapixel front camera, 7.9mm thick, MHL-HDMI output, 16GB of internal storage, 1GB of RAM and 1650 mAh battery. Carrier: T-Mobile

HTC One V: 1.5GHz processor, 3.7-inch (800×480) display Beats AudioMHL-HDMI output, 4GB of internal storage, 512MB of RAM (microSD card slot) and 1500 mAh battery. Carrier: MetroPCS, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Virgin.

Battery life is a little on the poor side, but I won’t know for sure until I get more hands-on time with these. For now, enjoy the hot gallery:

Meet the HTC One X.

See the micro-perforated speaker holes?

A spacious keyboard doesn’t hurt it.

Up top is a 1.3-megapixel front camera for video chatting.

Three buttons to work better with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Polycarbonate back is matte. We shall see how fast it gets dirty.

8-megapixel back camera with LED flash.

More micro perforations.

The One X has a 4.7-inch IPS display. Quite nice viewing angles.

9.3mm body. Quite slender.

Camera is super fast with zero lag.

View of their backs (left to right): One X, One S and One V.

Believe it or not, but the borders are glossy.

Stacked top to bottom: One V, One S, and One X.

Left to right: One V, One X, and One S.

The HTC One S has a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash.

Same Beats audio with micro perforations.

Foreground: One S. Background: One X.

HTC One V.

5-megapixel camera with LED on back.

Anodized aluminum unibody design.

See that “legacy” chin design from the G1/Hero era?

Stacked from top to bottom: One V, One S and One X.

Sunday, February 13 saw the kick off to the 2012 New York Toy Fair. For the last two years I’ve been lucky enough to attend it at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in the city. There are several conventions/trade shows that are held at the convention every year of which I attend for work, but Toy Fair is the first of the year.

As one would expect, toy vendors from across the world pile inside the small (for a convention center) confines of the Javits Center in order to pitch their new toy lineups. While the show is mostly for business folk, reporters and press do get to have in on the fun as well. A chance to see the newest and hottest toys months before they even hit stores? It’s the dream of any kid.

This year, I managed to burn through the Toy Fair in one day because I was out to specifically look at techie toys for DVICE. You can find some of my coverage on the newest battery-powered Super Soakers, new iOS-compatible Monopoly that uses electronic “debit cards,” all of Nerf’s new dart and disc guns, and a video of me using the Nerf Dart Tag Speedswarm on an unsuspecting dummy.

The excitement surrounding the Toy Fair wasn’t quite as upbeat as last year (if last year was even exciting), but there felt like a general interest to boost interest in tech-related toys. I can’t tell you how many iPhone/iPad products people kept trying to hock.

Rather than go on and on about how great the toys were, I think I’ll just dive right in and show you the toys.

Welcome to the Javits Center for the 2012 New York Toy Fair!

Activision’s surprise-hit Skylanders is back for 2012 in Skylanders Giants

The Giants figurine are nearly twice as large as the original Skylanders figurines.

Some gameplay from the new game.

Some of the new figurines even light up. How cool is that?

This special edition metallic purple Cynder figurine was only given out to press and media at the Activision booth.

Not too shabby. You can find these going for over $100 on eBay!

Where’s Waldo?

Hard to believe, but people still play with die-cast cars.

DC superheros in LEGO form ready to kick some bad guy ass.

LEGO had a ton of new toys on show. Here’s some of the new Batman LEGO.

The Batwing is going to make a showing in The Dark Knight Rises. Can’t wait to see Christoper Nolan’s latest masterpiece and the end to the Christian Bale Batman trilogy.

Some kind of ninja transport? I thought ninjas flew/jumped around in the dark.

TY Beanie Babies are still kicking.

This is the stuff that most attendees pay overpriced dollars for and scarf down in seconds before running back to the booths/halls.

Jason the Red Ranger. Celebrating 20 years of the original Power Rangers. Still the best series out of the entire franchise. Here is a huge statue of the RR.

Hulk in LEGO form. HUUULLLK SMAAASSHHH!

Have never been interested in One Piece, but I hear it’s quite popular. The toys sure are colorful.

Mario’s bitches aka Yoshis.

C-3PO!!

Never cross Darth Vader.

The details on these toys is stunning.

Some Xbox Live Master Chief avatar figurines.

Halo toys are pretty too.

Used to be a huge fan of Yu-Gi-Oh! Bought the cards, watched the show, and played the games and everything. Even had my own news site for it. These new characters look awful.

Good ol’ Seto Kaiba and his Obelisk the Tormentor God card. Memories!

I had no idea people still were into Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.

The loneliest booth ever was the Pokemon booth. Only one worker and nobody inside. He was really bored.

What the Toy Fair looks like inside. Wear sneakers! Your feet will hurt like hell from al the walking.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Toki Doki’s creator Simone Legno several times. His toys are cute, but expensive.

If my iPhone had a strap hole, I’d put one of these dongles on it.

Not really feeling this new set of TD toys. Royal Pride feels too ghetto.

My favorite Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII.

Was totally into Dragon Ball Z when I was a kid. Akira Toriyama was a god to me.

Vegeta. It’s OVER 9000!!!!

Showdown!

Going Super Saiyan 3??!? Don’t even remember which hair is for what level anymore.

Godzilla about to crush the Javits Center.

Gundam models are always so fun to look at!

Trunks was one of my favorite characters. Remember when all the guys in the ’90s had his hair cut?

Space Shuttle made out of Bucky Balls.

Wow! A golden dragon!

I used to have a model of a Titanic. Was totally obsessed with the Titanic back when James Cameron’s movie came out. Built my own model and everything. A year ago, I decided to toss it. It was decaying

Some more awesome LEGO. This time it’s a TIE fighter and Star Wars sets.

Hasbro’s Lazer Tag reinvented to use augmented reality tech with iPhone/iPod Touch. It’s quite coool!

Twister reinvented as Twister Dance. Me no like it.

Battery-powere automatic Lightning Storm Nerf Super Soaker. Get wetttt!

The FireFly tech inside keeps the darts/discs charged up to glow in the dark!

Wear these special LED headlight thingies and you can see footballs and basketballs (below) glow in the dark, so you can play sports at night!

The original Xbox 360 launched in 2005. It was a chunky and large machine, just like its predecessor. I didn’t buy one. Honestly, I hated Xbox. I’ve always been a Nintendo guy and semi-PlayStation guy. Nowadays, I’m impartial to any tech company.

When you write about gadgets and technology for a living, you tend to become more open, even if Apple ends up stealing most of the attention 90 percent of the time.

I’ve got all three consoles. I treat them all equally. When Microsoft redesigned the Xbox 360 in 2010, the machine finally came out of its ugly shell. The Xbox 360 S was glossy, scratched easily, and slightly smaller, but most importantly, Microsoft solved the Red Ring of Death issue, hid the hard drive inside the unit, shrunk the power unit’s brick size and decreased the heat and noise the box made (My 360 S is actually quite noisy and gets hot without easily. Think I got a bad one?)

This year, we’re going on seven years for the Xbox 360. In console years, that’s an eternity. The previous life cycles for consoles was typically five years. Everybody’s itching for new consoles already.

By releasing Kinect in 2010, Microsoft’s done a great job of extending the Xbox 360′s life. Updating the dashboard every few years doesn’t hurt either (Although, I’m not really a fan of the new MetroUI/Windows Phone-inspired dashboard).

I’ve seen custom Xbox 360′s before, but none can compare to this official Star Wars Xbox 360 designed to look like R2-D2 and the controller to look like C-3PO. The touches are adorable enough to make me want to trade in my black 360 S and buy this. Even the matching Kinect Xbox 360 is gorgeous.

The attention to details is incredible. It’s not shown in these photos, but the Xbox 360′s green ring glows blue to match R2-D2 and when the disc tray opens, it makes R2-D2 “deep-doop-deep” sounds. Inscribed on the tray is even a familiar Star Wars quote: “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.”

This special Star Wars Xbox 360 + Kinect bundle is available on April 3 for $450 and comes with a copy of Kinect Star Wars. 

Arguably, this is one of the most elegant iPad stands ever created. The Magnus Stand is a magnetic stand made from pure aluminum – machine cut. It only fits the iPad 2 as the original iPad doesn’t have any magnets built into its sides.

Normally, I’d never consider spending money on an iPad stand, but the Magnus Stand is just too sleek to ignore. If I owned an iPad 2, I’d totally drop my dollars on one. It should be heavy enough to not topple over. From the images, it doesn’t look like it’ll be useful in portrait position, though.

What’s the point of a stand that you can’t even see?
Opinions will differ, but we believe that reducing the visual noise in your environment promotes a certain clarity of thought.

Minimal and functional. It’s $50 and goes on sale tomorrow.

Six or seven years ago, if you wanted to show off your cool cred, you wore the white earbuds that came with your iPod. Everybody wanted to dance to the white earbuds. But then people realized that those earbuds were crap (I actually like them and find them comfortable).

That’s when Dr. Dre’s Beats and Monster decided to slip in and make fashionable headphones and earbuds “trendy” enough to be fashion accessories. And at the same time: expensive. Like so much that I can’t even afford them and people will try to rob you for your shiny muffs.

I’ve never particularly liked the Beats headphones. Stylish as they are, they are a little big on my noggin and in my opinion tuned to offer bass that I just don’t really care for or need.

The part that I’ve always been more intrigued by on Beats/Monster gear is the use of flat fettucini noodle-like wires that don’t tangle. Now, that’s a trend I wish more companies would get behind.

At this year’s CES, celebrities came out swinging with their own branded headphones. What started out as a beautiful relationship between Dr. Dre’s Beats and Monster is now over. HTC and Hewlett-Packard are Beats’ new buddies. That’s fine, as a company, Beats needs to go where the money is at.

Beats is now large and popular enough to strike out on its own.

Monster, too, is big enough to not need Beats anymore (although, guys, why are you still ripping everybody off with those expensive “premium HDMI” cables that don’t improve picture quality?). It’s still got Lady Gaga, Wonder Girls (see my crappy YouTube video of the girls and JYP unveiling the new gold “Diamond Tears-Edge High Definition headphones”) and some designers who pump out stuff like the Diesel Vecktr On-Ear Headphones. The angular design on those just look high-tech. Never mind how they sound. Who cares!? Only $280!

My point is, Dr. Dre and and co-founder of Beats, Jimmy Lovine started Beats because they wanted to make good sounding audio relevant again. As our music collections started to become digitalized, things like bitrates totally made our classics sound like shit. That’s the speech Lovine gave at the unveil for HTC’s Rezound smartphone. That’s the exact same reason why it let HTC buy 51 percent control – Lovine really believes Beats can make mobile devices not sound like garbage – with premium audio parts.

For Dre and Lovine, Beats was the culmination of creating quality audio gear. Beats was expensive only because it sounded good, like a BMW or Mercedes drives tighter than a Toyota.

From what I can tell, the spirit of quality has gone out the window again, as companies rush to slap star brands on any old lousy pair of headphones.

50 Cent and SMS’s wireless have the “SYNC by 50 Headphones” ($400). Bob Marley’s son was showing off some “Exodus” headphones ($150). Ludacris has his own SOUL SL300 ($300). Hell, even Miles Davis has some earbuds by Monster called “Trumpet” ($350) and he’s dead! You know things have gone too far when headphones for a dead musician are being sold.

Enough is enough!

It’s alright if companies want to make good headphones that justify their high prices, but don’t just churn them out like cockroaches laying eggs. Don’t just slap on Justin Bieber’s name to some earbuds, paint it purple, and sell them for $80 and call it day.

It’s a winning solution in the short-term, but ultimately, destroys and ruins the purpose of premium audio accessories.

Give me cables that won’t tangle or rip in a few weeks. Headphones that are waterproof so that I can take them on my sweaty run. And sound drivers that’ll make me feel like I just blew the best $300 of my life because I can finally listen to music that isn’t auto-tuned and hear the natural voices of singers again.

Who’s going to brag about wearing Ludacris’ headphones anyway? I wouldn’t, even if SOUL gave me a free pair.

Hey there! It’s been a while since I’ve had an update. I’ve been totally exhausted from CES 2012 in Las Vegas. I was covering that massive show with the DVICE crew for the second year running (more on that in another post). Today, I want to remind you that Tekunoloji is on YouTube.

This is the first major electronics trade show that I went all in with video and tried to be as pro of a “video editor/producer” as possible. The total video count I had for DVICE and CES 2012 coverage was 13. That’s 13 videos in five days.

All of my videos were shot with an Olympus PEN and edited with iMovie ’11 on a Core i7 1.8GHz MacBook Air (2011 model). Those of you who still think an Air can’t be a video editor – think again, because it can – at least for short videos.

Of course, all videos from CES are viewable also on DVICE or on Xbox Live with the Syfy video app (must have the newest Dashboard and be a Gold subscriber).

Lots of videos from CES 2012 on our YouTube channel, but I’ve still got some stuff leftover from my SD cards and SSD, which I’ll be adding exclusively for Tekunoloji.

Video is a rapidly booming source of eyeballs and I can see every major publication working to improve on their video offerings. The key is to make them with a super low-budget without sacrificing on professional quality. It doesn’t need to be CNN or MTV-quality, but it needs to be good enough it doesn’t look lackluster. And you have to be fast – super fast to shoot, edit and upload.

In terms of what kind of content to provide on YouTube, I’m going to be experimenting a bit and tossing all sorts of stuff up on our channel and seeing what sticks. Our biggest video so far is still when we were the first to break news on the Grand Theft Auto III: 10 Year Anniversary demo video from New York Comic Con.

Here are my favorite videos added recently on Tekunoloji on YouTube:

Razer Blade:

2013 Electric DeLorean:

ePawn Arena:

Sony’s computer/tablet hybrid concepts:

Razer’s Project Fiona:

Liquipel nanotechnology waterproof tech:

Mad Catz’s modular Pro Circuit Controller:

Show us your love by heading over to the Tekunoloji channel and subscribe, favorite, like or whatever to our videos. We’ll love you forever if you do!

I’m such a sucker for teasers. I can’t help it, especially when it’s done in such a tasteful and sophisticated manner. Sony Ericsson’s just released a teaser picture on its Faceboook page (can’t believe these are the norm now) and it looks like the emphasis is on the next-gen Xperia smartphone’s camera.

Going clockwise from the top left, shot one is a photo of a dedicated camera shutter button, some kind of port (HDMI?), photo and video modes, and a camera lens with HD.

Rumors point to the device being either called the Xperia Arc HD/Nozomi or Ion (recently trademarked by Sony Ericsson). GSMArena had the scoop on the device last month.

If the device turns out to be the one you see below, specs look to include a 4.3-inch display with (1280×720) resolution), 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 16/32GB internal storage (no microSD card), 12-megapixel camera with autofocus, 1GB of RAM, an HDMI port and Android 2.3.5 (maybe Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich?).

Not a big fan of the convex back and prefer the concave design of the Xperia Arc, but it’s probably for ergonomic comfort – so it sits better in the palm of your hand.

Video is one of those things I’m slowly getting into the groove of. I’ve been ramping up Tekunoloji’s videos on YouTube. I shoot all my videos in HD 720p or 1080p, depending on camera I have on me. My gear is usually an Olympus PEN camera or my trusty iPhone 4.

The Pico Dolly is really just an arm attached to a plate with four Rollerblade wheels. The wheels are adjustable and can be rotated to create an arc for some neat 360-degree views (see video all the way below). The arms are also strong enough to hold a DSLR, mirrorless cameras and smartphones, which makes it quite the jack of all trades.

In one of The Verge‘s “Vergecasts” managing editor Nilay Patel said that he swears by the Pico Dolly made by Photography & Cinema. Apparently, all of their amazing gadget videos are shot with the Pico Dolly – which is to say the results look fantastic. The panning is smooth and the videos look very professional, despite the low-budget gear.

Photojojo is selling the Pico Dolly for $90, but interestingly, there is no mention that it is an official Pico Dolly, but rather it’s just generically named “Camera Table Dolly.” The photos (below) do seem to show the red Pico Dolly logo, though, I have to mention that Photojojo’s deceived me in the past (see this video rant on the crappy and bootleg Canon lens mug Photojojo sold me).

I pulled the trigger on a Pico Dolly from Photojojo the other day and then canceled my order after a good night thinking over it. My main issue is that the Pico Dolly really only works on a table or smooth surface. Roll it on a rough floor or pavement and there maybe be some hiccups in your video. You can also see in the demo video below that they use a plank board to keep the panning smooth, which as some people pointed out, defeats the purpose of its portability.

I’m still considering the Pico Dolly as a useful asset tool for professional videography, but I’m not sure if I need it yet. I’m also worried that the price will increase. The last thing I need is another piece of camera equipment that seemed like a future-proof tool at first, but ends up in a drawer bin to be forgotten.

Video:

Rarely do I ever lust after HDTVs or 3D TVs, for that matter. From a design perspective, I’m never satisfied. The HDTV has to be about as perfect as it can be for me without compromise. Usually, the tradeoffs come with an ugly backside, a fat bezel, a thick body, or alien-legs (Samsung D8000 series, I’m looking at you), or exorbitant price.

Lately, I’ve been hungering for an HDTV that will engulf me, blow me away with beauty and make my eyes fill up with tears of joy.

In the last year, I nearly dropped my money (lots of money) on a Sony NX-810 or a Samsung D8000. The former because of its monolithic one-piece “edge-to-edge” glass design and one-of-a-kind aluminum stand that doubles as a 2.1 Dolby Digital sound bar (can’t seem to find it anywhere) and the latter for its 0.2-inch brushed metal bezel that’s virtually invisible.

LG’s new 55-inch OLED 3D TV shown here that measures 55-inches diagonally, has a thickness of 0.16-inches and a bezel that’s even slimmer than the Samsung D8000. On top of all that, the 3D TV only weighs a featherweight 16.5 pounds and comes with a slick stand. With an OLED screen, you know that the blacks will be deep. No word on what type of 3D it uses (passive or active shutter), pricing (expected to break the bank) and release date, but this is a 3D TV done right.

Aesthetics. Aesthetics. Aesthetics. If I am to turn on my TV every day, I should want to turn it on. I should want to look at it. I should want to admire it. My three requirements for a TV:

1. Thin
2. 10-year proof / 3D / OLED / etc.
3. Sharp display with excellent viewing angles

Between this and LG’s 84-inch “Ultra-Definition” 3D TV monster it announced last week, CES 2012 is going to be a cornucopia for 3D TVs that’ll wet my pants.

For those who care, I’m currently using a LG 26-inch LED HDTV (720p/60Hz) that I bought around Black Friday in 2010. Yes, it’s puny, and small, but I don’t watch much TV, and when I do, it’s on my MacBook Air or on the iPad. LG, call me.