That’s how long the story about CBS and CNET and Dish’s Hopper DVR has been percolating.

And today the story’s half-life got a little longer, courtesy of the Consumer Electronics Association: The CEA, which produces the annual CES show, announced that it was retroactively awarding the Hopper a “Best of Show” award — the designation that CNET staff had originally awarded the gadget before their corporate owners at CBS overruled them.

You can read the CEA’s press release, which includes words like “media firestorm,” here. Also in the release: A pronouncement that it won’t be working with CNET for its “Best of Show” awards next year. Per Tim Carmody, CNET had already announced that it wouldn’t be working with the CEA next time around.

But no matter the particulars, the news is an occasion to revisit, yet again, CBS’ baffling decision to meddle with the editorial operation of one of its best-known Web assets. Which my fellow typers are happy to do — make sure to click on the down arrow button on the side of this Techmeme block to see a roiling Twitter debate.

That means that the startup device maker — which was originally supposed to ship the watches last fall, before $10 million worth of demand derailed its plans — is actually hitting the deadline it set a few weeks ago at CES.

But there are caveats. Fewer than 500 watches will be shipped today (and some shipping confirmations are apparently accidentally going to people whose Pebbles aren’t actually ready), the iOS app hasn’t been approved by Apple yet, and only black Pebbles are available.

Pebble backers can’t yet visit the company’s site to see when their own device will ship. That’s also supposed to be coming soon.

Pebble is an e-paper watch that acts as a secondary display and control for wearers’ Android and iPhone smartphones using Bluetooth. Some 85,000 of them have been effectively ordered.

Here, via  Nieman Journalism Lab’s Justin Ellis, is the full-page thumb-in-the-eye Dish ran in the Times’ Sunday “A” section today. As Ellis notes, some people still see value in print ads.

It’s metadata-powered evolutionary media and entertainment.

– From “Overheard at CES: Mumblings of the Tired and Extremely Nerdy,” on The Verge

The revelation came just hours after CNET senior writer Greg Sandoval quit in protest at the episode, taking to Twitter to say that he no longer had “confidence that CBS is committed to editorial independence.” Mr. Sandoval, reached by cellphone declined to comment further, saying only that “everything on Twitter is accurate.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

That is as powerful a statement today as it was when it was first used. It was a vision for the future that is now becoming a business reality. However, the meaning behind “Internet of Things” is still somewhat a mystery even though it’s a phrase being used more and more.

The discussion around it typically has been about the possibilities — the big “what ifs,” particularly as it relates to consumers. There are many interesting ideas that will offer new conveniences and life-changing applications. We talk about “what if” we could connect the Internet to the things in our everyday life. At the 2013 International CES last week, we heard a lot about Internet-connected crockpots, washing machines and other home appliances. In a nutshell, it’s about using data to make objects smarter and more responsive to our needs.

But I also see Internet of Things as a way to address important business challenges and critical global issues. “What if” we could connect the Internet to the things in a hospital — such as medication and expensive, critical equipment — to improve patient safety and ensure the right tools are available when doctors needs them. Or, to the things we eat, ensuring we can track food from the farm to the shelf to the home or restaurant, dramatically changing the outcome of food recalls.

These are big ideas. But are they really possible? Yes, they are, and we are already making strides to address big issues like patient safety and food traceability through IoT solutions.

Let’s unravel some of the mystery that remains around this term: How do companies define Internet of Things, are they implementing or thinking about implementing related technologies and what benefits and challenges do they see in such solutions?

Possibilities Defined

First, based on the definition shared in the survey “Building Value from Visibility: 2012 Enterprise Internet of Things Adoption Outlook,” 85 percent of organizations surveyed agree that Internet of Things solutions are made up of smart interconnected devices that provide more visibility into the organization’s operational events.

With the premise that all devices connect to each other and trade info without human interaction, what does that mean for business?

If we look at what is happening today, organizations across the globe are striving to do more with less and to be more nimble and efficient. To do so, organizations need more visibility into operations in order to make smarter business decisions and unlock potential within the value chain.

Every day, events occur in a business: Assets are used, transactions take place and employees move about. Events constantly happen and those events constantly create data. What if you could harness this information and form new insights to solve a business challenge or drive innovation? The Internet of Things technologies will make this possible. Consider the following business challenges IoT could solve:

• The CDC estimated hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses are thrown out each year because of poor refrigeration at clinics, hospitals and doctors’ offices. With barcodes, RFID and sensors, real-time temperature monitoring could be made automatic and save billions.
• Or, think about the possibilities of addressing recalled items, including food, drugs and parts. Lot numbers used to provide a broad idea of recalled items. With real-time locating solutions, organizations can hone in on very specific items that may be at issue, and potentially send automatic mobile alerts to organizations and consumers, reducing inventory loss, saving money and helping quickly redeem consumer or business trust.

Whether you are gaining deeper insight into existing events and transactions or discovering new information about things you never knew were taking place, that knowledge, that illumination, can fuel big transformations like a new way to drive customer loyalty or a new line of business. For example, an automotive manufacturer placing sensors in their products could help generate data that helps identify new services offerings, such as proactive maintenance. The opportunities are endless.

Path to Adoption

While I sometimes hear or read that the Internet of Things is hype, the reality is, it’s real. In fact, we are at the tipping point for broader IoT adoption with 53 percent of organizations planning to implement an IoT solution in the next 24 months. Organizations in Asia Pacific and Latin America are more aggressive with 69 and 60 percent, respectively, planning to implement over the same time period, according to “Building Value from Visibility.”

The market for Internet of Things is said to be in the billions of dollars, and that estimate largely looks at just the technology needed to enable an IoT solution.

How did we get here? It’s been an evolution that started with barcodes, telling you what it is. Then, with technologies such as GPS and real-time locating solutions, we can now know where it is. For example, on the floor of an aerospace manufacturing plant, such technologies can, in real time, pinpoint the precise location of an expensive and critical tool. And finally, with sensors, we can know how it is. Consider a truck full of produce that is about to spoil. With sensors monitoring the temperature of the fruits and vegetables, the food distributor can get real-time alerts about the condition and re-route the truck to a different location if needed.

Benefits and Challenges

Global enterprise decision-makers are familiar with the Internet of Things term and most have a positive perception of it, according to “Building Value from Visibility.” Also in the study, global IT decision makers noted big benefits: Supply chain optimization, cost efficiencies and improved customer experience in the next one to two years.

While momentum and interest is strong for IoT adoption, as with any new technology implementation, it’s not without its challenges. IT decision makers note there are a number of technical challenges including system integration and data analytics. Additionally, they face internal challenges, such as facilitating stakeholder adoption of new solutions and implementation complexity.

It’s important for organizations to prioritize implementations within their organizations. They should identify areas of the business where they can see a quick return on their investment from IoT solutions. For example, some organizations are breaking the supply chain into sub-segments to illuminate operations in one part vs. the entire supply chain. There isn’t an offering today that provides end-to-end visibility. By providing complete visibility into a portion of the business, there is immediate ROI today that can eventually translate to an entire business as technology continues to evolve.

Additionally, it’s important to identify solutions providers and the right solutions that help the business make smarter business decisions for that part of the supply chain.

A Vision That’s Becoming Reality

The vision Kevin Ashton had almost 15 years ago — having the ability to know everything there was to know about things — is very real today. Enterprises positively view a more interconnected world, with some already using IoT technologies and many more with short- and long-term plans to implement solutions.

While we need to consider some of the more practical aspects of IoT, including technical and internal challenges, let’s try not to lose the possibilities the Internet of Things will bring to business. This week at CES, technology leaders announced an Internet of Things Consortium to foster and support the growth of Internet-connected devices for consumers. While the focus may be different from tracking tools in a supply chain, these types of initiatives are important to encourage dialogue and collaboration and spur new ideas. By talking about “what if,” we can keep our focus on the innovation, and I can’t even imagine what other business and societal problems we might solve. The sky’s the limit.

Anders Gustafsson is CEO of Zebra Technologies, a global company, which offers technologies that give a virtual voice to an organization’s assets, people and transactions. Joining Zebra in 2007, Gustafsson is evolving the company from a trusted, reliable manufacturer of barcode printers to one that offers technologies that enable smart operations and supply chain management. “Building Value from Visibility: 2012 Enterprise Internet of Things Adoption Outlook” is a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Zebra Technologies.

I have owned every iphone released (and every ipad and galaxy and kindle). It is far better to actually use a product day in and day out so before CES I started using it and will use it for a month or so. Just prior I was using my 920. In Office I spent a long time using SmartSuite or Google Docs for the same reasons.

– Steven Sinofsky, commenting on a post by Bijan Sabet, entitled “Why Don’t Microsoft Alumni Use Their Own Products?”

For each of the last many years, Sinofsky would go to the Las Vegas show and then provide detailed notes in an internal Microsoft blog post outlining various trends and adding observations and implications of what was shown at the consumer electronics event. Unlike in years past, however, one need not work at Microsoft to read Sinofsky’s trip report.

Sinofsky, who left Microsoft abruptly late last year, posted his thoughts Sunday on his newly launched blog, learningbyshipping.com.

Promising “snark-free CES observations,” Sinofsky noted several things on the rise and a few trends on the wane. In addition to some obvious trends such as the shift to mobile, Sinofsky honed in on the increased attention to design and quality that were pervasive at the show.

“Across the board products are getting better,” Sinofsky said. “That’s not to say there’s [not] a fair share of low-end and low-quality stuff, particularly tablets, one can see in the South Hall as usual. There is, however, a rising tide of quality.”

On this year’s not-so-hot list were storage devices (which he attributes to the rise of the cloud), cameras, media hubs and 3-D displays. But while those first three are being sidelined as other devices handle the same functions, Sinofsky said 3-D could make a comeback down the road.

“I’m still surprised by this a bit because the world is 3-D — it seems that the technology approach wasn’t working so I would not write off the concept just yet,” he wrote.

Of course, Sinofsky also paid attention to all the PCs running the Windows 8 software he spearheaded. Despite the lack of presence by Microsoft and several big name PC makers, Sinofsky said Intel and those PC makers that were there showed a powerful range of new devices.

Sinofsky also talked about the plethora of cases for tablets. “I really don’t understand why someone hasn’t built a tablet yet that has a really strong case, built-in stand, and a cover that also allows typing,” clearly a reference to Surface. “I said free of snark, not free of sarcasm :-),” Sinofsky wrote.

But Sinofsky didn’t just stick to PCs, writing about everything from the latest in TVs to areas like digital health and green technology. As with all Sinofsky blogs, you are best off sitting down in a comfy chair as it’s not a short report. That said, Sinofsky knows a thing or two about products, and it’s worth a read.

Background image copyright kentoh

For the uninitiated, the former president is referring to the fact that there are few to no American communities that are hubs of the kind of world-leading bandwidth sufficient to drive next-generation innovation in our economy. He’s referring to the fact that, though international studies differ, the United States does not enjoy bandwidth that is nearly as fast as our peer countries. He’s referring to the fact that, for the first time since American ingenuity birthed the commercial Internet, we do not have a single national wireline provider with plans to deploy a better, faster and bigger network. For most Americans, five years from now, the best network available to them will be the same network they have today. As a result, the best networks — along with the innovations and economic power they enable — will live in other countries as well.

But we should not give up on American ingenuity; as Tom Friedman detailed in a recent New York Times op-ed, upgrading the broadband network in Chattanooga, Tenn., to world-leading gigabit speeds has transformed the community from a “slowly declining and deflating urban balloon” to the fastest growing city in Tennessee, attracting “a beehive of tech startups that all thrive on big data and super-high-speed Internet.” That’s what Gangnam bandwidth can do in America.

That’s why a recent announcement about big bandwidth from Seattle is also big news. The city just announced a plan to bring gigabit service to a dozen of its neighborhoods. Over 100,000 Seattle residents, as well as health care and educational institutions, will have access to world-leading speeds. Not only is the scale of Seattle’s effort impressive, the path it took — smart policies involving rights of way management and dark fiber — can be replicated by other communities that wish to control their own bandwidth destiny.

As America’s National Broadband Plan concluded in 2010, our country needs a critical mass of communities with world-leading networks for us to continue to have the kind of environment that fosters the cutting edge innovations necessary to develop the next generation of world-leading broadband applications. Seattle is not alone in recognizing that bigger bandwidth is an economic development tool. Just as in decades past, when communities had to learn how to benefit from new modes of power or transportation — with electrical, train or air terminal facilities — so it is now with bandwidth. Officials in Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri worked with Google, offering streamlined processes and regulatory efficiencies. Mayor Emanuel in Chicago and Mayor Bloomberg in New York have both recently launched initiatives to enhance their cities’ digital future. Thanks to efforts by their local leadership and a commitment to next-generation networks, residents in Bristol, Virginia; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Lafayette, Louisiana can already get gigabit speeds. And Gig.U, a consortium of universities and communities looking to accelerate next-generation connectivity in their regions, has, in addition to the Seattle project, helped catalyze ultra-high-speed broadband projects in the past few months: in Orono and Old Town, Maine; Cleveland, Ohio; Gainesville, Florida; East Lansing, Michigan and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.

Not every community has Seattle’s assets, particularly the strong information, communications, apps development economy and committed local leaders like Mayor McGinn. But Seattle has created a model that every community can follow in improving the environment for the private investment necessary to create a new generation of American broadband leadership. Mr. Friedman proposed a $20 billion fund to bring gigabit connectivity to 200 American cities, arguing that these networks would lead to “a ‘melt-up’ in the United States economy.” While, unfortunately in our view, such a program may not be in the realm of the politically achievable, ironically, it might be the actions of individual cities to catalyze such networks that leads to the kind of growth, debt reduction and surplus that could enable the federal government to once again consider big programs to drive growth and American economic leadership. And this is the kind of policy innovation America deserves.

Blair Levin became Communications & Society Fellow with the Aspen Institute after serving as Executive Director of the National Broadband Planning effort. He is currently Executive Director of Gig.U, a project within the Institute that seeks to accelerate the deployment of next generation networks and services by using university communities as test-beds.

The University Community Next Generation Innovation Project, or Gig.U, is a broad-based group of over 30 leading research universities from across the United States. Drawing on America’s rich history of community-led innovation in research and entrepreneurship, Gig.U seeks to accelerate the deployment of gigabit-speed networks to leading U. S. universities and their surrounding communities. Improvements to these networks drive economic growth and stimulate a new generation of innovations addressing critical needs, such as health care and education. Visit Gig.U online at www.gig-u.org.

Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Tech Forum at CES Tuesday, Windows Chief Financial Officer Tami Reller revealed that Microsoft has sold 60 million Windows 8 licenses to date. Reller said that number is “roughly” in line with the performance of Windows 7 at the same stage of its rollout three years ago.

Regardless, 60 million is 20 million more licenses than Microsoft had sold by the end of November.

That said, the figure includes upgrade sales, as well as sales to PC manufacturers, so it’s not at all a reflection of sales of Windows 8 devices to consumers and businesses. And until Microsoft discloses hard numbers describing those sales, we’ll have to rely on metrics from market research firms, which are nowhere near as rosy as Microsoft would like. To wit, NPD Group’s announcement last week that sales of Microsoft-powered notebook PCs dropped 11 percent during the five-week holiday-shopping season.

But 2013 looks to be the year automakers move beyond a few pre-approved partnership-driven test apps and into the great unknown.

Today, Ford is announcing its developer program, which will allow app developers to connect their Android and iPhone apps to Ford’s SYNC voice-activated interface.

But don’t expect to be playing Angry Birds on your dashboard as you’re driving down the freeway. The so-called “open platform” for an auto interface will have a high bar for approval of new apps.

“It’s as open as we feel comfortable to make it. Developers can be as creative as they want, but we do reserve the right to be selective under safety concerns,” said John Ellis, Ford’s global technologist for connected services and solutions.

As of today, developers can register to download Ford’s AppLink SDK. Then they can submit a Ford-compatible app for review “to ensure it works properly and is suitable for use in the vehicle.”

There already seems to be significant latent interest in developing for the Ford platform. In the lead-up to this launch, Ford collected 4,000 developer sign-ups on its website.

But Ford isn’t the only automaker trying to attract developer interest for its increasingly open platform. General Motors, which is also gearing up for a big launch at CES later this week, held a hackathon this weekend where about 20 projects were developed for the GM platform.

While the details of GM’s full announcement aren’t out yet, the hackathon projects included an app that allows users to remotely update in-car navigation with new destinations — the idea is to extend a “honey-do” list while your partner is already out doing errands — and another called “meet me in the middle” that suggests restaurants and cafes halfway between two GM drivers’ locations.

Ford was the first major auto company to jump on the connected-car bandwagon; the AppLink program dates back to 2010. At first it only included a few apps — Pandora (of course!), Stitcher and a couple more.

That small library has grown over time, and today at CES, Ford partners are launching quite a few more apps: In social media, Sina; in news, Wall Street Journal radio (where, full disclosure, AllThingsD reporters are sometimes featured), USA Today and Kaliki; in music and entertainment, Amazon, Aha Radio, Rhapsody and Greater Media; and in navigation and location, Glympse and BeCouply (a bit of an oddball, in that it provides date ideas on the go). Some of these apps will soon be live in Europe and Asia as well.

The next big step is for carmakers to provide app developers with vehicle data. That will allow for apps to be built around interesting and car-specific topics like fuel efficiency and ride sharing.

Vehicle data is “very near on our roadmap,” according to Julius Marchwicki, Ford’s SYNC AppLink program manager. GM seems to be further along on that front, with vehicle data mentioned in a developer website that’s already live.

The other big question is how integrated automakers want to be with existing platforms, and how much they require developers to build on top of car systems — which unfortunately often seem to be a takeoff of the interfaces we get on our smartphones and tablets, only with more pixelation and awkward hierarchical menus.

There are a range of perspectives on that issue — for instance, Kia and Hyundai said last week they will add Google Maps into their navigation systems.

Ford’s strategy is to have developers incorporate its voice-activation and vehicle interfaces into their apps for Android and iPhone apps, so they are distributed through familiar marketplaces to drivers’ existing cellphones.

But there are some hiccups with that strategy — for example, on the iPhone, Ford cannot open a new application; the app must already be open for the car system to engage with it.

The GM developer portal, meanwhile, indicates that the company is choosing more of an HTML5 open Web app strategy, though we’ll hear more about that soon.

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Roku can finally add a few more to the list. At CES the startup is showing off six “Roku Ready” TV partners, including Coby, Harmon Kardon and Westinghouse Digital. Basically, “smart TVs” from these manufacturers are certified to work with the Roku Streaming Stick, joining Roku’s existing partners, including Hitachi and Best Buy’s Insignia brand.

But even as Roku is arranging more hardware partners, it’s looking beyond the boxes and the stick.

“It’s part of a bigger strategy to integrate Roku into more hardware, and in many cases it will be the stick bundled with a smart TV,” Anthony Wood, Roku’s founder and CEO, said in an interview. “We could get to the point where Roku is integrated directly into TVs.”

Roku sees itself as not just as a set-top box maker, but as the content platform provider for a wide range of smart TVs — which is why its app offerings, or “channels,” as Roku calls them — are just as important as its hardware partners.

The company just added TWC TV, the Time Warner Cable authentication app — the first time that TWC TV is coming to a streaming device — Dish TV, Vevo, iHeart Radio, Amazon Cloud Player and Spotify to its list of 700-plus channels that already include Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, MLB.TV and Pandora. (But still no YouTube!)

Roku has also added a few more casual games to its roster. Newer Roku devices, the 2 XS and the Streaming Stick, already come with Angry Birds built in and have a motion sensor remote for these games.

Wood claims that Roku streamed more than a billion hours of video last year, making Roku the No. 1 set-top box for apps like Netflix and Hulu.

To be clear, when it comes to non-gaming set-top boxes, Apple’s “hobby” has the edge. Roku likes to point out that it splits the market 50/50 with Apple TV, but Roku has sold just under five million units, while on Apple’s last earnings call, CEO Tim Cook said the company had sold 1.3 million units in the fourth quarter, and five million for the 2012 fiscal year.

Also, Roku has put itself in a kind of awkward phase by going with the MHL standard for the Streaming Stick, an interim device that could well serve those looking for cheap TV upgrades. More MHL-certified TVs will hit the market this year. And the technology does allow for: a) wire-free charging; and b) a universal remote, two excellent features. But until this standard spreads further, the market is limited for the nifty stick.

Lastly, Roku faces another competitor on the OEM side: Google. The search giant made some embarrassing missteps in its early attempts at Google TV hardware, but it keeps throwing different devices at the wall to see what sticks, and it is working with electronics companies to have the Google TV platform installed right inside TVs — beating Roku to the punch, at least for now.

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This year, the Chinese computer maker is going big. Literally.

The company is wagering that consumers will want a giant, 27-inch, 17-pound “table PC.”

Called the IdeaCentre Horizon, this Windows 8 table PC (table tablet? coffee-table computer?) is running on a third-generation Core i7 processor with Nvidia GeForce graphics. It has a full HD, multi-touch touchscreen display with a 16 by 9 aspect ratio. There’s a 720p front-facing camera for Web video chats.

It’s also adjustable, so it can be propped up and viewed in different modes.

With customized games from Ubisoft and EA, and compatibility with joysticks and other accessories, Lenovo is clearly trying to target the game-playing crowd in addition to average consumers, some business users, and 6’7″ basketball players.

Lenovo is calling this the world’s first “table PC,” which may be the case, and it is a whopper of a computer. But it’s not the first attempt at a big touchscreen device aimed at family time around the coffee table. Who could forget this ridiculous 65-inch Android tablet?

There’s the Sony Vaio Tap 20, reviewed in full here by my colleague Bonnie Cha, which is a 20-inch all-in-one PC screen with a kickstand. And last summer Toshiba launched the Excite 13, a 13-inch tablet designed primarily for use in the home — which The Wall Street Journal’s Katie Boehret thought was great for entertainment, but concluded that bigger wasn’t always better.

The Horizon is expected to ship this summer, and will cost $1,700.

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Both auto makers confirmed on Thursday that they will be demonstrating autonomous-driving features at CES in the coming week, signaling a new effort to raise the technology’s profile among consumers.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

So far in the six-month reign of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, there has been a pile of attention paid to the flashy cultural changes (free food!), much-needed rehauls of key mainstays (Flickr, Yahoo! Mail, homepage), a focus on attracting entrepreneurial talent (Hey, we got Max Levchin to join the board!) and, of course, the frequent mention of mobilemobilemobile by the former Google product exec.

But on the topic of where the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s search and display advertising business is headed — which is, of course, its key revenue and profit generator — it’s pretty much been crickets.

No longer, it seems, according to multiple sources inside and outside Yahoo. Mayer is planning a series of appearances at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show — which is taking place in Las Vegas in less than two weeks.

That includes sitting for a high-profile fireside chat with Starcom MediaVest Group Global CEO Laura Desmond in front of several hundred ad clients on Wednesday, January 9; organizing a plethora of one-on-one meetings; and throwing a Yahoo dinner party, as well as angling for invites to key parties thrown by others, such as MediaLink’s power player dinner on Tuesday, January 8.

As I previously reported, the company is planning on having this much more prominent presence there in order to reset its sometime rocky relationship with advertisers.

And, not surprisingly, its big weapon at the giant annual confab will apparently be Mayer, who has not yet interfaced significantly with the company’s big ad clients since taking the top job in July. At CES, sources said, Yahoo is hoping the “Marissa Halo” — i.e. the excitement around the decidedly telegenic exec — will help boost its business.

It’s important, since big agencies and advertisers have privately been grumbling about the lack of outreach by Yahoo and also how much more active execs at rivals such as Facebook, Google and AOL have been.

More than one source close to Yahoo said the dissatisfaction was being heard loud and clear at the company. “[Everyone will] take it as an opportunity to vent (again), while Yahoo promises a new beginning,” said one exec.

New beginnings will again be the case, though, with new COO Henrique De Castro also in place. He’s been making a series of moves to rejigger the ad business at Yahoo since he got there earlier in the fall, also from Google, including shifting its sales process to a category model.

In addition, Yahoo execs have continued their noodling on whether or not to make significant ad tech purchases — with no major deals in place yet — along with improving the creaky performance of the company’s own owned-and-operated offerings.

It’s all in the hope that advertisers and agencies will reconnect with Yahoo after the nearly consistent CEO changes over the last year. For those keeping score, after Carol Bartz was fired in the fall of 2011, CEO Scott Thompson made his debut at CES in early 2012, touting Yahoo’s data prowess before being ousted only months later. He was followed by renewed efforts toward marketers by interim CEO Ross Levinsohn.

And now there’s Mayer.

Interestingly, while many major ad players are looking for more specifics about how Yahoo will improve its mobile, search and data products to give better insights to advertisers, they also are simply wanting to hear Mayer’s plans for Yahoo.

“What I don’t see yet is what the vision for Yahoo is, articulating the bigger ideas than just presenting an assemblage of products,” said Rob Norman, chief digital officer of GroupM Global. “And what everyone would still like to see is what is the escape route from being a portal or even reemerging from what that means, so I am really interested in what she has to say.”

Added another top ad exec: “She really has not said anything yet about how she plans to capitalize on Yahoo’s strengths over the next year in the ad space. People are genuinely excited about Mayer, but the stakes are still high for her since everyone feels as if they have already given Yahoo a lot of extra chances.”

High stakes, indeed. But, then again, it is Vegas.

Some took a Samsung teaser page for CES to be an indication that a big mobile device was coming at the January consumer electronics event — perhaps even the next flagship Galaxy S phone. We’re told by sources close to Samsung not only not to expect the S4, but not to expect any big mobile news at CES from Samsung.

The Korean electronics giant will of course have news at CES, but expect more on the big screen front (and I don’t mean the Galaxy Note). Think TVs.

Meanwhile, expect mobile news to come at events later in the year.

And, we’re not alone in this view. CNET and others are hearing the same thing.

Meanwhile, here’s the teaser video that got people all worked up.

In what will be a major shift in how the Silicon Valley Internet giant sells online advertising, Yahoo’s new COO Henrique De Castro has briefed employees on a plan to move its sales organization to a “category” model, according to numerous sources close to the situation.

Simply put, that means its sales reps will sell all of Yahoo’s ad products, as well as its search offerings, in a vertical process organized around advertiser segments, such as automotive, entertainment and packaged goods.

This is how Google, where both De Castro and CEO Marissa Mayer recently worked, conducts its ad sales efforts. (After copying free food and smartphones, staff evaluation efforts and more, What Would Google Do seems to be strategery at Yahoo these days.)

In contrast, Yahoo has long sold its advertising in a regional and tiered organization against premium and performance inventory in display and search.

The move from regional to vertical is a “seismic shift,” said one source quite accurately. That’s because Yahoo’s go-to-market efforts have been designed to avoid vertical conflict and its sales staff have built up advertiser relations across many areas. In a vertical organization, those reps will be forced to give up these long-term relationships with marketers, some of which have been built over years.

There are, of course, many different ways to organize sales — and each has its fans and detractors. But one thing is clear: Making such a major change has potentially large ramifications on Yahoo’s financial performance, at least in the short term, since advertising makes up the bulk of its revenue.

The change might also result in some attrition among the sales staff, said sources, although many at Yahoo are expecting that De Castro will bring in his own execs from outside to help with the transition. (One interesting name I heard floated was former Googler Penry Price, who was close to De Castro when they both worked there. He is currently president of Media6Degrees, an ad targeting start-up.)

De Castro (pictured here) will need all the help he can get as he overhauls Yahoo’s sales efforts. Well-regarded Chief Revenue Officer Michael Barrett left Yahoo in mid-October after De Castro got the COO job.

His departure has left a large gap in sales leadership and in maintaining strong relationships with big advertisers and agencies. De Castro himself is not as well known in the ad marketplace, despite many years at Google in sales (more on that to come).

Currently, the key ad execs at Yahoo under De Castro are Peter Foster, who heads audience advertising, and Mark Ellis, VP of North American sales and global partnerships.

De Castro outlined the new ad org plan to staff immediately after a multi-day offsite with top sales leaders last week, at which Yahoo’s acquisition options in the ad tech market were also discussed.

Sources said De Castro noted that the changes could take place as early as January 1.

De Castro is also planning to have Yahoo’s annual global sales meeting for the end of January in Las Vegas. Last March, the gathering — then set for about 1,300 advertising staffers in Florida — was cancelled due to a restructuring under ousted CEO Scott Thompson.

In addition, sources said, Yahoo is planning on having a much more prominent presence at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show — also taking place in Las Vegas in January — in order to solidify its relationships with advertisers.

Its big weapon at the giant annual confab will apparently be Mayer, who has not yet interfaced significantly with the company’s big ad clients since taking the top job in July. At CES, sources said, Yahoo is hoping the “Marissa Halo” — i.e. excitement around the telegenic exec — will help boost its business.

As was announced earlier this week, Qualcomm CEO and Chairman Paul Jacobs has nabbed the keynote spot at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

He’ll kick off the massive tech event, taking over the pre-show speech slot that has been the property of Microsoft since the beginning of geek time.

Until this coming year, that is. The selection of the head of the wireless chip giant says a lot about just how much mobile has taken over the scene at CES, and the title of Jacob’s speech expresses just that: “Born Mobile.”

Said Qualcomm about the keynote: “Thanks to anywhere, anytime communication, mobile technology brings people together and is enabling a powerfully connected future, a future that is now. Mobile has become an integral part of consumers daily lives, and it will continue to transform the way individuals and communities interact with one another and the world around them.”

Ya think?

In any case, in releasing the news, the company also added a painfully cute video, titled “Baby’s First Text,” of a little girl using a wide range of mobile devices, (and, no, as home video as it looks, I doubt she is really doing those things).

Enjoy:

But it was evident at January’s Consumer Electronics Show that the search giant — and its hardware partners — hadn’t given up on the idea of marrying Internet TV with “real” TV, mainly through small boxes, like Apple TV or Roku, that run Google TV.

And as my AllThingsD colleague Peter Kafka noted a month later, if the new and improved Google TV system works the way it has been advertised, it may actually do a nice job.

Now, TV maker (and new PC maker) Vizio has officially announced availability for its Google TV device, the Co-Star.

Available for preorder in early July, the Co-Star costs $100, comes with a Bluetooth-enabled, touch-friendly universal remote, and includes apps like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and iHeartRadio, as well as access to OnLive’s cloud gaming platform. Vizio also notes that the Co-Star supports 1080p full-HD and 3-D video.

Unlike most set-top boxes that bring Internet connectivity to your TV, the Vizio Co-Star can connect to your existing cable or satellite box, which Vizio says allows you to toggle easily between live TV and Web apps. Bonus: The universal remote means you won’t have to switch remotes, either.

And just yesterday, Sony made a push with its new Google TV player. The NSZ-GS7 — also known as the bland “Internet Player,” take your pick — is a set-top box that runs Google TV and includes apps like Netflix and Hulu Plus, plus access to a Web browser. It goes on sale July 22 and costs $199. It will also be sold in the U.K., Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Mexico.

LG was the third hardware maker at CES this year to hop aboard the Google TV train, though the electronics maker rolled Google TV into its existing “smart” TV platform, rather than showing off a separate box. LG’s Google TVs are also 3-D-friendly, and include motion-control technology through a “Magic Remote.”

The G2 Series Google TVs hit the market late last month, at $1,699 for a 47-inch model, and $2,299 for a 55-inch set.

A more integrated approach to TV-plus-Web may seem like an easier solution, but keep in mind that, at least in the short term, the market for interim devices like Internet set-top boxes is ripe, with many consumers clinging to their older TV models and looking for solutions to get their Web video fixes.

Vizio’s Co-Star is a third of the price of the original Logitech Revue for Google TV, and lines up with Apple TV in terms of price, though it does cost more than some Roku models.

First introduced in January at CES 2012 and available today, the Series 7 Gamer features a unique dial that allows you to switch into four different modes and optimizes the laptop’s performance, depending on whether you’re using the computer for gaming or less intense tasks, such as creating documents.

For example, in Gaming mode, the main gaming keys are highlighted in red, and the lights around the speakers pulsate to the sounds of the game. Meanwhile, General mode turns the Series 7 into more of an everyday laptop, on which you can surf the Web, work on documents or view photos.

There is also a Quiet mode that disables the fan and all sounds, as well as a Power Save mode designed to save battery life by turning off all non-critical components.

Gaming is at the core of this device, however, and the Samsung Series 7 Gamer has some of the latest technology to power the Windows 7 laptop. This includes Intel’s new Ivy Bridge i7 processor (2.3 GHz Intel Core i7-3610QM CPU), Nvidia’s latest Geforce GTX 675M graphics, 16 gigabytes of memory and a 1.5 terabyte 7200RPM hard drive.

Games should look spectacular on the Series 7’s 17.3-inch full-HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) display, which Samsung promises will offer 50 percent more brightness than traditional PCs. Samsung also packs in a Blu-ray player, Dolby Home Theater v4 speakers and a built-in two-megapixel camera.

A heavyweight in features, the Series 7 gamer is also just plain old heavy. At 13.34 pounds, this is definitely not a device for toting around town every day, especially with its rated battery life of 3.7 hours, but it could be an attractive option for gaming enthusiasts looking for a powerful, portable solution.

The Samsung Series 7 Gamer costs $1,900 and is available now through a number of retailers, including Amazon, Newegg and TigerDirect.

Coming on the heels of both January’s Consumer Electronics Show and February’s Mobile World Congress, the CTIA event in March had become something of a rehash of products announced at those earlier events.

In response, the show’s producers have pushed this year’s event back to May, a move aimed at creating some separation from the other conferences.

“We were told by a lot of people ‘I’m out of breath,’” CTIA chief Steve Largent told AllThingsD. “We heard that. We listened.”

This year’s event takes place next week in New Orleans, at the end of that city’s popular jazz festival.

By changing the timing, CTIA is also hoping that some companies may be ready to announce products due to ship by the back-to-school shopping season.

“I would say the verdict is not in yet but all the indications are it is a good move,” Largent said.

It seems some companies aren’t waiting for CTIA to make announcements.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, for example, is announcing news at its own developer conference this week, while Samsung is using a May 3 event in London to announce its next flagship Galaxy device.

Some device makers and carriers have said to expect noteworthy announcements at the show, while others are planning just meetings and social gatherings at the event.

As for formal events, the highlight is likely to be a panel on Tuesday afternoon featuring top executives from the four major U.S. carriers. CNBC’s Jim Cramer is set to moderate that. The conference wraps up on Thursday with a speech from former President Bill Clinton.

Last year’s show, in Orlando, was dominated by the news announced on the eve of the event that AT&T was planning to buy T-Mobile in a blockbuster $39 billion deal.

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RIM Senior Brand Manager Jeff Gadway assures PC Magazine that the company is sticking to its promised timetable for the update and will ship it “very soon.”

In other words, it’s likely to be released during the 2012 Mobile World Congress trade show at the end of the month, where RIM is expected to have a fairly large presence.

A 400 megabyte update, PlayBook OS 2.0 will bring a number of important features to RIM’s struggling tablet, among them an Android App player and the long-awaited addition of the native email, calendar and contact apps that the device inexplicably debuted without.

So says a Googler I pinged today, after I saw a flurry of posts referencing this cryptic Facebook message from Google TV’s account.

Said Googler says there’s a new Google TV YouTube app in the works, and that we may not have to wait until tomorrow to see it — it could pop out tonight. Update: That was fast — there it is.

That’s about it, though. And it probably won’t change the world as we know it.

Recall that Google was showing off the latest incarnation of Google TV to press, partners and would-be partners just a month ago at the Consumer Electronics Show. So it’d be a bit odd for them to unveil a major new … anything quite so soon.

By the way, the new, revamped Google TV demo I saw last month was pretty impressive. It was a canned demo, and as I recall the canned demos Google showed off when it rolled out the first, ill-fated attempt at Google TV were pretty good, too. So it may not mean anything.

But! If Google TV works as advertised, it may actually do a nice job of melding “TV” with “Web video” and blurring some of those distinctions. Which is very much what Google and YouTube head Salar Kamangar would like to do.