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From the PC World team members who spent the week on Show Patrol in Las Vegas, here is our report on the great, the good, the bad, and the horrible. We saw sensational servers, delicate e-dragonflies, combo HD players (at last!), odd wrist cameras, tech for your car, tech for your teeth, and more at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show.
Digital entertainment
How low can projectors go? ViewSonic demonstrated a DLP projector, aimed at gamers, that it said would sell for $399 after rebate.—HARRY McCRACKEN
No-wires HDMI: One of the biggest disappointments that HDTV buyers experience is that they just can’t get around all the ugly wires they need to connect devices to their panel. But Philips’s new Wireless HDMI product should end that problem later this year. What’s really nice is that it will work with any TV that uses HDMI connections (and all modern ones have that) instead of doing some kind of proprietary nonsense. Hat tip to Philips on this one.—RAMON G. McLEOD
Blue burners mature: Blu-ray Disc burners now have to keep pace with Lite-On’s new drive, the 2X Blu-ray Disc Triple Writer LH-2B1S, which is the cheapest yet at just $650. And, finally, Toshiba has announced a desktop-ready HD DVD-R writer.—MELISSA J. PERENSON
These will tick off Steve Jobs: Perhaps Apple is too distracted by Cisco’s lawsuit to direct its legal attention toward the maker of the Podspeakers. These oddball home speakers would be right at home in Barbarella’s living room. They’re made by the Spanish company Scandyna and sell for $700 a pair.—ALAN STAFFORD
Yes honey, I’ll turn it down: Yamaha has come up with a marriage saver. The My Beam feature on its latest Digital Sound Projector (YSP-1100, $1,700) lets the person holding the remote focus all the sound from the TV on them, so as not to disturb others in the room. The sound projector, a one-box speaker system that produces great surround sound, already had high spousal-approval ratings for its sleek design and uncluttered look, but this new feature practically makes it a valid wedding anniversary gift. Well, that may be going a little too far.—RGM
Refreshingly fast and clear: We saw a demo of 120-Hz refresh rates on LCD HDTVs from Samsung at last year’s CES, and were way impressed by the great improvement in clarity over standard 60-Hz refresh rates. But frustratingly, no 120-Hz TVs came out in 2006. This year Philips, Sharp, and Samsung will all have this doubled rate in much of their lines. It’s not quite as dramatic an improvement as moving from standard definition to hi-def TV, but it is a very noticeable upgrade in picture quality.—RGM
Weird, in a good way
You can never be too clean: Peel the liners off the top and bottom of a Peel & Clean Pad and sandwich it between your notebook’s keypad and display. Instantly, dirt, hair, and yesterday’s lunch is toast, so to speak. A pack of four pads costs $13.—STEVE BASS
Wake-up calls with a jolt: Worried that you won’t wake up in time to make a 7 a.m. meeting? The $30 Sonic Shaker is an alarm clock with a bed vibrator. If that doesn’t do it, the 90-decibel alarm will.—SB
Dance fever: An entertainingly quirky piece of entertainment at the Intel booth let conventioneers dance on a stage and then have their moves turned into a video with multiple copies of themselves boogying at one time, in emulation of the company’s “Multiply” ad campaign. An Intel employee told me that M.C. Hammer was attending CES, but declined to partake in this show unless he could perform to his own music.—HM
For serious urban cowboys (and cowgirls) only: On top of the treasure trove of cutting-edge electronic gadgets CES always delivers, the obscure corners of the convention center are always good for a few laughs. Here’s my favorite chuckle from CES 2007: the Giddyup Core Exerciser. Now, having never ridden a bucking bronco, I can’t testify to its ability to deliver a six-pack stomach, but I can tell you this: I’d rather be caught dead of a thumb cramp with a game controller in my hand than be seen riding this miniature mechanical bull. Its “exercise” is billed as “no impact”—as long as the neighbors don’t spy you through the window. The price is expected to be around $600 (Stetson not included).—ERIC BUTTERFIELD
Gadgets on the go
Surf’s up—and so’s this camera: Take the waterproof Digital Ego 3 Sports Wrist Camera along while you surf, kayak, or dive in up to 100 feet of water. Flip it up, take your shot (or video), and snap it back onto your wrist. I tried to shake it off my hand, and couldn’t. This 4-megapixel puppy weighs a little over 4 ounces, and shoots pictures and 40-frames-per-second videos with sound. Take at look at my video of it.—SB
Superlightweight power to go: Mobility Electronics’ slimmed-down iGo laptop power adapter looks incredibly enticing if you want to carry one device for charging your notebook and other portable peripherals while on the go—whether on land, in a car, or in the air.—MJP
Block out the world: Shure’s new SE2120 earbuds did an admirable job of blocking out the chaos of CES—and delivered crisp, punchy sound. The pair comes with foam sleeves in various sizes and runs $150.—EB
Face-detecting camera: The $300 Fujifilm FinePix F40fd makes the most of face-detection technology. In addition to using it to optimize exposure and focus, the 8.3-megapixel F40fd can automatically crop portraits, as well as automatically order as many prints as there are faces in the frame.—EB
What we didn’t love
Format wars—yawn: The ongoing tussle between Blu-ray and HD DVD for next-generation-DVD top honors has gotten old. Really, really old—even with the announcement of a dual-format player ( from LG ), and a single disc that stores both Blu-ray and HD DVD movies, one on each side (Warner’s Total HD ).—MJP
Down on the DRM drag: Video everywhere, on any device, at any time. Except not. Or at least not yet. The technology for much of it exists, and we see bits and pieces of it in products like the Slingbox or TiVo to Go, and in the forthcoming Windows Home Server and Verizon Wireless’s V Cast Mobile TV. The biggest stumbling block to a connected, converged multimedia future is incompatible and clunky digital rights management schemes. Some awfully smart people have been working on this for years; would it be so hard to occasionally agree on an unobtrusive standard or two?—ANUSH YEGYAZARIAN
Dopiest light show: The Farm Fresh Lightcast Lightshow (about $40) is a portable light show that connects to a music source—say, an iPod, an MP3 player, or, if you’re a masochist, your son’s guitar. With 33 LEDs of various colors, you can, and I’m quoting here, “create the ultimate synchronized light show experience.” Thanks, but I’ll pass.—SB
Bringing nothing to the table: I don’t mean to be jaded, but how many variations of unimaginative me-too iPod speaker docks without any real innovation does the “iPod ecosystem” really need? And don&38217;t you walk away just yet, digital photo frames: You’re starting to fall into this trap, too, so I’m putting you on notice.—DANNY ALLEN
Creepy award: Hands down, this goes to WowWee’s animatronic Elvis bust. Something about the bust, which sings, speaks, and curls his lip in The King’s patented sneer, just weirded us out. Elvis has left the building; let’s stop trying to bring him back. You can see the (fake) King for yourself in this video.—RGM and EDWARD N. ALBRO
For more CES coverage, visit PC World’s CES Infocenter.