CES 2008

Will MyGig receive lossless audio over WiMax in the near future?

(Credit: CNET Networks)

At a party during CES, we sniffed out potential new technology from Harman International that combines wireless transmission with lossless audio. We stumbled on a display unit using the MyGig entertainment system, built by Harman for Chrysler, labeled Harman Wireless. A Harman representative on the scene said that he couldn't tell us anything about the technology, so we talked to him for as long as we could to try and get a few details. From what we could piece together, Harman is working on a device that will use some kind of wireless technology, possibly WiMax, to receive lossless audio and play it back in the car. Our Harman representative talked about the low audio quality of MP3, and how Harman would prefer a higher-quality audio format which would use all the potential of its

Apparently, your life is too wired.

(Credit: Kevin Ho)

The open assault on cables and wires was on particular display at CES. Apparently, wires clutter your life and cause you misery, or some vendors would have you think. Whether it's faster and faster Wi-Fi from Intel, streaming video from Slingbox, in-home HD distribution, Bluetooth home theater audio from Samsung at different parts of the radio spectrum, the trend is moving away from physical media and physical connections.

Samsung's Bluetooth home theater

(Credit: Kevin Ho)

Various measures of fidelity, range, and quality were touted by the Monster rep I ... Read more

The tall beauties demonstrate American technology at its best.

(Credit: Anthony Gallo Acoustics)

Anthony Gallo Acoustics (AGA) is displaying its all-new Reference 5LS line source loudspeaker at CES '08. The towering speaker stands 78-inches tall, boasts twelve aluminum 4-inch woofers, seven cylindrical tweeters, and eight 4-inch carbon-fiber midrange drivers, each housed it its own 5-inch spherical enclosure. The brushed stainless steel design is a knockout. I have heard the 5LS and think it'll likely become an audiophile classic (I have a review coming in a future issue of Home Entertainment magazine). The 5LS projects a gigantic, life-size sound. Yes friends, size still matters.

This loudspeaker is the culmination of more than 25 years of loudspeaker design research by Anthony Gallo. The 5LS offers options for bi- or tri-wiring, as well as bi- or tri-amping. The combined surface area of the twelve 4-inch rear-firing woofers nearly equal the surface area ... Read more

CES 2008: Cell phones slide show

Though CES 2008 hasn't brought us a ton of new cell phones, we've still found plenty to cover at the show. Motorola introduced two new handsets, and Sony Ericsson graced us with three new models. Also, Samsung showed us a few devices it was planning to bring to North America.

The new phones included a high-end video handset, a music phone with an innovative new keyboard, and a supercharged world phone. We also spotted a couple of design-centric models including Samsung's Armani phone. You can check them all out in all their glory in our CES 2008 cell phones slide show.

Strada CN-NW100U

(Credit: Panasonic)

Following the release of its in-dash CN-NVD905U and its portable CN-GP50U last November, Panasonic has added two new in-dash navigation devices to its Strada lineup. The Strada CN-NW100U and CN-NX100U follow the CN-NVD905U as all-in-one in-car navigation and multimedia systems. Both come with an identical features set: a 7-inch touch-screen display, turn-by-turn GPS navigation with text-to-speech technology, and as-standard RDS traffic service; built-in Bluetooth handsfree calling; a USB 2.0 connection for playing audio from iPods and flash drives; video support for DVD and DivX formats; and the capacity for XM and Sirius Satellite Radio via an add-on module.

Strada CN-NX100U

The CN-NW100U is a double-DIN sized device, while the CN-NX100U makes use of a motorized pop-up screen and stows away inside a single-DIN chassis. According to Panasonic, the two systems will be available in April with pricing still to be determined.

The Zyxel DMA1100P digital media adapter

There are many devices that aim to let you share the multimedia content stuck on your PC with that large HDTV in your living room. Zyxel's DMA1100P digital media adapter is the only such device, however, that uses HomePlug AV Powerline technology to do so. (Netgear's Powerline HD Ethernet Adapter isn't certified as a HomePlug AV device, but it promises the same 200Mbps theoretical throughput as the Zyxel DMA1100.)

Still, for those looking to stream HD video and music and can't do it wirelessly--perhaps your TV and your home theater are too far apart or you simply have an aversion to wireless networking)--Powerline networking is an easy and effective way to go. Zyxel claims the DMA1100P is a snap to set up and will automatically recognize and connect to DLNA-certified devices. And unlike Netgear's adapter, Zyxel's unit ... Read more

LAS VEGAS--Every year, I schedule too many meetings at the Consumer Electronics Show and don't get enough time to just roam the show floor in search of gadgets that are either ultra-cool, absurd, or preferably both.

This year, I made a commitment to wander the show floor and absorb as much as possible. It should be said, in three hours on the show floor, I covered a very small portion of the south hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

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So the seventh wonder of the tech world could have been in the north hall, central hall, or the far-flung Sands expo hall, but I couldn't tell you.

What did I learn? First of all, there was not one product that everyone was talking about. If there was a ... Read more

I got a demo at CES of FlyTunes, an Internet radio aggregator whose CEO, Roy Smith, is pitching as an alternative to Sirius Satellite Radio.

No radio in your iPhone? Try Flytunes.

(Credit: Rafe Needleman / CNET)

It's a stretch to compare it with Sirius, but FlyTunes is a worthwhile idea. A service designed for Safari on the iPhone and iPod Touch, it displays a curated list of Internet radio stations, and, over Wi-Fi, streams and records the stations you listen to. What's cool is that it can work when you're not online. It will record streams for your favorite stations. Then you can dock your iPhone or iPod to play your tunes over your home stereo or in your car.

Users will need to install a piece of software on their home Mac or PC to act as an intermediary. That software will redistribute the streams via ... Read more

Buffalo's new drive doesn't make you pick a winner in the high-def disc format war, and it doesn't make you open up your PC's case to install it. The Buffalo MediaStation Blu-ray HD DVD (BRHC-6316U2) drive is an external USB combo drive that reads and writes Blu-ray discs and reads HD DVD discs. Unfortunately, Buffalo made no mention of eSATA or FireWire, so you're stuck with USB 2.0. It'll cost $649 when it starts shipping later this quarter.

LAS VEGAS--It's not just inside the CES hotels and convention center that you find technology and tech enthusiasts here in Sin City.

Vegas cabbie Daniel Habtewold has quite the collection of gadgets. Here he shows off a Casio watch that also acts as a TV remote control.

(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)

One of the most passionate techies I met all week was Daniel Habtewold, the cab driver who took AJ and me back to our hotel after visiting with the Pleo robot dinosaur on Monday night.

Habtewold was playing an eclectic mix of reggae and other music, and AJ asked whether it was a CD or the radio. He said the tunes were streaming from his iPod, noting that it was Apple's beefiest model, the 160GB iPod Classic introduced last fall.

"I have 20,000 songs on my iPod," he said. That makes it the largest ... Read more