This Wednesday, San Francisco will be the battleground of the tech news world… again!
At an event in the heart of the City’s Financial District, Cisco will unveil its visio-conferencing system for the home.
Cisco’s living room telepresence system will connect a person’s high-definition television to the Internet.
The offering will include a video camera and the device to connect the TV and Internet, all of which will cost about $600 and a $30 monthly subscription price.
The cheaper, consumer-friendly version of Cisco’s popular TelePresence videoconference systems is another proof that the San Jose, Calif.-giant is dead serious about entering the consumer market in a big way.
Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Logitech will show off the very first Google TV box at the Clift Hotel. The Revue, as it is called, started shipping last week to retailers including Best Buy and will cost $299. Logitech expects to ship over 500,000 units before 2010 is over!
On the Google TV blog, the search engine said it partnered with Amazon Video On Demand which offers access to over 75,000 titles for rental or purchase, and Netflix. Google has also launched a new website that provides more information about Google TV and features some of the new applications.
The following week, on October 12th, Sony is hosting its own Google TV event to show off televisions and Blu-ray players with Google TV built in.
Last but not least, and not to be outdone, Facebook just sent out invitations today for a special event on Wednesday morning at its headquarters in Palo Alto. My guess is that its something about mobile – maybe a Facebook phone – and related to the CTIA wireless show, also happening in San Francisco this week.
Busy indeed!
Jean-Baptiste Su is the technology columnist for L’Expansion, the leading business publication in France. He’s also the co-founder and editor of TechPulse 360, a blog at the crossroads of business and technology, exploring the innovation and companies defining the high-tech and clean-tech industries.
Jean-Baptiste started his journalistic career 18 years ago at IDG in France, first as reporter at InfoPC (PC World) and then senior editor at Le Monde Informatique (ComputerWorld). He later joined Decision Informatique, part of Groupe Tests (01 Informatique, 01net.com…) as senior editor, before heading to France’s financial daily newspaper La Tribune as its local Silicon Valley correspondent.
