I went to Las Vegas / CES with one purpose in mind. SideShow hardware devices. Once in Las Vegas, I bolted directly to the Microsoft Vista Sideshow Booth. The Microsoft floor space was huge (a good portion of the LVCC Central hall) and after a short time I was able to locate the SideShow goodies. Actually, the Vista Sideshow hardware devices were spread out in 3 areas, 2 out of 3 aread had hands on demos of the actual hardware. Dan Polivy, the lead SideShow developer from Microsoft was kind enough to give me a quick tour and demo of products featuring SideShow hardware support. This article will contain pictures from all the showcased devices, future postings will have in-depth explanations of individual hardware devices....[Read more »]

So far this is the 2nd laptop with built-in Vista SideShow technology: The LG Electronics Z1 Notebook. It looks like the Z1 is running NVIDIA's "Preface" Sideshow hardware technology. For those familiar with the deal, NVIDIA bought Portal Player last year for the modest sum 375 million USD.  Here are some preliminary specs on the LG's Z1 Laptop... NOTE: The Press Release ommited to specify the SideShow LCD resolution, but I guess it is TFT color QVGA (320x240).

Designed for prosumers and business users alike, the LG Z1 notebook boasts an array of power features including:
    * In-lid secondary display based on the NVIDIA Preface media platform
    * Intel Core 2 Duo processor, T7200 (2.0GHz, 667MHz, 4MB L2 Cache)
    * 12.1-inch wide XGA (1280 x 800) display
    * 1GB DDR2 memory...[Read more »]

Eleksen Group, the inventor and manufacturer of ElekTex(R) smart fabric touchpads for consumer electronics, announced the availability of its Wearable Display Module (WDM) for Microsoft Windows SideShow, a computer auxiliary display product for integration into soft-goods such as bags, backpacks and clothing. Eleksen's Wearable Display Module is the world's first development of computer display technology for this market and makes carry products into extensions of our intelligent devices. The Wearable Display Module is easily integrated into soft-goods like briefcases and backpacks and provides the first "in-bag screen" available for any computer electronics product. ...[Read more »]

As first reported by CNET's Jasmine France, it seems that Dell is prepping an MP3 player with support for Vista's Sideshow protocol. This rumor is not confirmed, but if true, we should see this device in action at CES probably at Dell's or Microsoft's booth. Little by little, more and more devices will be be able to talk with your PC, providing you, the user, with realtime information on virtually any type of hardware device that has a display. You can read Jasmine's full article at this URL: http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9671193-1.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Crave

For developers interested in the powerful SideShow I.MX SDK you might need to wait couple more weeks until the product actually ships. The new scheduled date for shipping is 02/02/07, just few days after Vista's consumer release date. I ordered mine back in Nov 06 and I got an email stating that the product will ship Jan-19-2007, but today I got the following email. ...[Read more »]

Year 2006 came to an end and despite that fact that 2006 brought us few comercially available Vista SideShow compatible hardware devices, there is a product that definitevely qualifies as the best SideShow device for 2006. This particular hardware is not a consumer device, however it contains all the necessary groundwork for many future devices. And the winner is......[Read more »]

Also spotted was a Japanase web page showing an interesting prototype of MSI's MegaPlayer model 529. This prototoype was running Portal's Player "preface" system. As previously reported, Portal Player's Preface system, a complete Vista Sideshow hardware and software solution can be found at http://www.portalplayer.com. Or read our article at http://www.sideshowdevices.com/portalplayers-sideshow-preface-platform. Here is a higher resolution picture of MSI's Mega 529 player.  Click on title for more pictures. ...[Read more »]

The official Visa SideShow FAQ, published by Microsoft can be found at Microsoft Vista Sideshow FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).
Troubleshooting Vista SideShow can be found at Troubleshooting Microsoft Vist SideShow Devices.
Using a Windows SideShow-compatible device information can be found at Using a Windows Sideshow Compatible Device.
A general overview on Microsoft's Vista is here : http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/foreveryone/sideshow.mspx#more...[Read more »]

So I bought a plane ticket for Las Vegas / CES.  Jan-10, I'll will be attending CES for few hours with only one scope in mind: Reporting on SideShow hardware devices, gadgets and the latest and greatest SideShow related items from Microsoft. I hope I will get a chance to talk with developers and 3rd party hardware manufacturers. Make sure you visit www.sideshowdevices.com during the Jan-10 to Jan-12 timeframe, I will be posting articles and cool pictures in almost real time. Stay tuned for cool news from CES. In the meantime, I wish you Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year. Hope that 2007 will be bringing us a lot of amazing SideShow gizmos!

RicaVision International, a leading provider of digital entertainment solutions will be announcing this new Vista Sideshow compatible hardware device at CES 2007. Aside a nice 2.5" color TFT display and SideShow compatibility, this remote control also has a very interesting feature: Long range Bluetooth capabilities. Long range Bluetooth, also known as Class A Bluetooth can have an effective range of 100 meters. When compared with a strandard Bluetooth implementation of aboput 10 meters, this device really stands out from the crowd. At 100 meters (300ft) such remote control should never get out of range, a feature that is becoming more and more important as these devices need constant communication with the PC for program updates or interractive sessions....[Read more »]

PortalPlayer, a leading System on a Chip (SOC) developer for portable media devices has an interesting SideShow development plaftom called "Preface". Read more about PortalPlayer's Preface at this URL:http://www.portalplayer.com/preface/index.html. PortalPlayer envisions SideShow in every laptop or mobile device and calls the SideShow technology "a great idea". Portal player is a sidehow hardware and software platform, targeted at media player companies that want to integrate Vista Sideshow technology from a "one stop solution provider".  Also great about PortalPlayer is the fact that last month, video card manufacturer giant NVIDIA announced an agreement to purchase PortalPlayer for the modest sum of 375 million USD. PortalPlayer's customers include Bang & Olufsen A/S, Inventec , Kaga Electronics Co. Ltd., Philips Consumer Electronics and Samsung Bluetek Co., Ltd. and Thomson Multimedia (RCA).

Asus recently released the W5FE laptop, the first SideShow lid-top laptop model ever. The laptop sports at 320x240 QVGA TFT display mounted on the LCD main lid. I've spotted this laptop version for awhile now, but this version seems to be a production version. Apparently this SideShow unit is based on FreeScale's  I.MX Vista Sideshow develpoment kit. IMHO, unit is rahter bulky and consumes uncessary space across the entire laptop lid.

Nevertheless, this is the first SideShow laptop model, ever. Probably we will see more laptops at CES, where Microsoft is planning a maga launch for Vista and Vista related products. Scroll down for more pictures.......[Read more »]

Freescale introduces the i.MXS Development Kit, a high performance development kit for Microsoft's Windows Vista™ SideShow™ platform and .NET Micro Framework applications. The advanced i.MXS Development Kit leverages Freescale's i.MXS applications processor, based on the ARM920T™ core, a highly integrated IC that has been in production for nearly two years. The integrated development platform, featuring support of Microsoft's .NET Micro Framework for use with SideShow applications, is designed to enable hardware developers to more quickly and easily design applications targeting Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system. Typical SideShow applications include laptop external displays, remote controls and USB dongles, which can run certain applications without powering-up the laptop. The i.MXS Development Kit features a small form-factor reference board that has a 2.5 inch color LCD panel with QVGA resolution. The card includes Freescale’s i.MXS applications processor that provides superb performance and low power consumption, enabling hours of use off a single battery charge. The development kit also includes a USB interface and an expansion connector for add-on modules such as Bluetooth™ technology or the ZigBee™ wireless protocol, creating a comprehensive development platform for a variety of applications. ...[Read more »]

Apparently Phillips has an entire fleet of remote controls with built in SidesShow support. Go to http://www.remotecontrol.philips.com/index.cfm?id=1336 and see it for yourself. Interesting enough, these remote controls do not have a build in LCD nor operate via radio. They seem to be classic Infrared remote controls with sideshow support. Also on this page you will find 3 types of USB IR receivers, a standalone model as well as a card module for internal use.

Looks like Phillips is banking on the fact that not all remote controlls needs an LCD. Definitevely Phillips will win a price war when such units are compared with more expensive remote controls with build-in color TFT displays.

MSDN writes: Want to build your own gadget without having to write any real code? Sure, that may be cheating, but if you just want to get a feel for what it takes to write a gadget (it's not hard), get our Getting Started with Windows SideShow (C++) lab and follow the instructions...This lab will walk you through the important code snippets for a picture viewer gadget; in fact, the functionality is pretty much the same as our Picture Viewer gadget on the Windows SideShow Gallery at gallery.live.com.