On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

Media Markt opens its second outlet in that most populous of markets-- China.

The new Shanghai outlet will carry both Western (such as Apple, HP, Acer, Siemens and the like) and Asian brands (Changhong and Hisense, amongst others) in a space including TV and hifi departments and 3200 square metres dedicated to household appliances-- with the company saying its customers are able to "experience" its products.

In total, the store covers around 13000 square meters, with services including installation, setup and repair for both appliances and computers.

Go Media Markt Sets Up in Shanghai

Asus reveals its take on motion-based input with its WAVI Xtion at CeBIT 2011, combining PrimeSense technology with its Xtion Portal user interface.

The awkwardly-named device looks and works very much like the XBox Kinect-- whose motion-sensing technology was done by the same company now working with Asus.

The Xtion comes in 3 parts-- the sensor itself, and a pair of media streaming extending the users' PC desktop to a TV to which the sensor is connected (one connects to PC, the other to the sensor). All actual connections are through wireless HDMI, with a range of up to 25m.

Users can use the device to control their PCs via hand gestures. Demos at the show include media control (scrolling through picture files or stopping/starting videos), internet browsing and a number of games.

As the Xtion appears to only have IR hardware inside, it might not be as capable as the Kinect-- although Asus is already busy courting developers to start developing software for its device. The company says the WAVI Xtion should start shipping by Q3 2011.

Go Asus Reveals WAVI Xtion

Blockbuster's plan of putting itself on auction-- with bids starting off at $290m from Cobalt Video Holdco LLC-- meets opposition from 45 creditors, including Walt Disney Co., Universal studios, Yahoo, landlords and a committee of unsecured creditors.

The opposing creditors accuse the sale proposal of "being aggressive", as it benefits the group of lenders at all other creditors' expense; allowing them to dictate who receives the sale proceeds.

Meanwhile movie studios-- including Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios and Warner Bros.-- form a separate committee representing their interests in the case.

The hearing on the case is now set to continue on March 10.

Go Blockbuster Sale Attacked by Disney, Universal, Landlords (Bloomberg)

Go Blockbuster on Auction Block

Hanvon will show off its full product range at CeBIT 2011-- including e-readers, graphic tablets, tablet PCs and biometric solutions.

First off are Hanvon's WISEreaders-- one with a large 200dpi resolution screen, and another with a colour screen. Both carry a 9.7" e-ink display, wifi/3G support and even business office software. User input comes through pressure sensitive electromagnetic pen, allowing for document modification.

Hanvon's Art Master III is a graphics tablet employing 2048-level pressure sensitivity, making it ideal for digital creatives. Meanwhile the SenTIP combines HD LCD LED-backlit screen with graphics tablet technology, as a drawing screen with 1024-level pressure sensitivity and wireless passive technology.

The company will also have 2 tablet PCs on show-- the Hanvon HPad and TouchPad. The HPad is consumer-aimed, using Android 2.2 and carrying wifi, bluetooth, 3G, dual cameras and handwriting and face recognition software. The TouchPad is aimed at business users, and uses Microsoft Windows 7. It has a 1024 x 600 screen, 2GB DDR2 memory and 250GB HDD.

Finally there's Hanvon's F710 embeddable facial recognition software-- with a "Dual Sensor" face ID algorithm.

Go Hanvon at CeBIT