CES 2008

The Ion Audio LP2CD turntable allows you to record your old records directly to blank CDs.

(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)

Ion Audio had a slew of new USB turntables on display at CES this year. Of all the new models, the turntable I'm the most interested to get my hands on is the LP2CD, a direct-to-CDR vinyl archiving solution.

The LP2CD includes an all-metal platter, an LCD display, a USB connection, a switchable line/phono audio output, and a front-loading CD player and recorder. At $449, the LP2CD turntable doesn't come cheap. There's something to be said, however, for paying a little extra to take a computer out of the vinyl archiving equation (although the LP2CD can be used with a computer as well).

The Ion Audio LP2PC should be available within the first quarter of this year.

Joining Yoggie's cool Gatekeeper Pico, a security suite on a USB stick, is the new Firestick Pico, a firewall-only version of the same thing.

Security on a stick.

(Credit: Rafe Needleman / CNET)

As covered previously on Crave, Yoggie's products are essentially security coprocessors. Computers unto themselves, they intercept all Internet traffic going in and out of your computer and scan it for threats. The Gatekeeper products scan for viruses, spam, and other threats, as well as running a bidirectional firewall. The new Firestick is a firewall only.

The benefit to these products is that they free up your computer's processor from running the security processes that you need. Considering how big and complex software security suites are getting, it sounds like a great idea.

The downside is they are physical products and have to plug into your computer. The Yoggie products are marketed for laptop users, but who wants to have to remember to plug in a USB gizmo just to run background security? I do like the idea for desktops, though.

The new Firestick Pico retails for $119. The fully featured Gatekeeper Pico is $149 and strikes me as the better deal. If you're going to stick a security dongle on your computer, why not just have it run all your safety software?

(Credit: Samsung)

(Credit: Samsung)

Bearing a striking resemblance to Sony's Bravia Internet Video Link, Samsung has announced the Home Digital Media Adapter (DMA). The Home Digital Media Adapter is designed to attach to the back of certain 2008 Samsung HDTVs and streams media from the internet or networked connected PCs. Connecting to your home network is possible either by a wired Ethernet connection or by buying a separate 802.11n module. It also works as a Media Center Extender, which gives you access to Microsoft's user interface and features like an electronic programming guide. The initial list of supported file types is decent, with WMV, MPEG2 and h.264 video support, MP3 and WMA music support, and JPEG photo support.

The $199 list price is considerably less than Sony's Bravia Internet Video Link, and it compares favorably to standalone media streamer prices. Still, we're always skeptical of integrating functionality as complex as media streamer with another product (in this case an HDTV). We'll wait for a hands-on review for our final verdict, but we'll be surprised if it outclasses standalone media streamers. The Home Digital Media Adapter will be available in April.

The Haier HG-N99 in Chinese

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

Haier's booth was way in the back of one of the halls at CES, but we wanted to swing by to see if (and when) the company would be bringing its cell phones to the United States. The PR rep wasn't exactly forthcoming, but we did get a brief tour of the models the company is hoping to bring here. The most interesting of the bunch was the HG-N99, and we can only hope that it actually arrives on our shores (Haier says it is in talks with U.S. carriers).

The Windows Mobile handset may look like your average smartphone, but it ups the ante in a big way by offering double SIM card, double standby functionality. That means you'll be able to put two SIM cards in the phone, which will enable you to use the HG-N99 for two phone numbers at the same time. No, you won't be able to place calls simultaneously, but you can receive calls to both numbers at any time. While such a concept is hardly original to the HG-N99, compatible phones are pretty rare in North America.

Other features on the GSM device include support for GPRS and EDGE, a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, messaging, polyphonic ringtones, a mini-USB port, a WAP browser with Java support, and a microSD card slot.

The Toshiba's onscreen keyboard.

We're always interested to see what's coming up for ultramobile PCs, the handheld platform better known as UMPC. We've seen previous iterations from the Sony UX to the OQO model 02, to the Vulcan Flipstart, but none have totally scratched our ultramobile itch, because of awkward interfaces, poor battery life, or underpowered processors.

Toshiba is showing off a new UMPC at CES, and while it doesn't yet have a name or release date, it incorporates a number of new features that move the category forward--but it's clearly still not "the one."

The Toshiba UMPC is a slightly bulky silver box running Windows Vista. Unlike other UMPCs with BlackBerry-style thumb keyboards, this uses an iPhone-like onscreen keyboard, accessed by flicking your finger up from the bottom of the screen. A flick from the left or right sides brings out a quick-launch dock of useful apps.

While the prototype we played with had a traditional disc drive, Toshiba says solid state drives will also be available (and they make much more sense in small devices such as this). A built-in accelerometer lets you flip the screen on its side, and in perhaps the most interesting touch, tilting the screen forward and back lets you scroll up and down Web pages.

Toshiba says its UMPC will hit Japan in the not-too-distant future, but no solid plans for a stateside release--or even a name--just yet.

Sanyo W53SA

(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET Networks)

Aside from the U.S. phones at the CES booth, Sanyo also had an additional display showing off phones that are only available in Japan. And as with all things that are Japan-only, we really wish we had them here. One phone that particularly stood out was the Sanyo W53SA, a waterproof digital TV phone, so you can "enjoy watching TV while taking a bath," according to the Sanyo representative. There isn't too much we know about it, except that it uses Japan's CDMA 1X WIN network, and that it has a 2.0-megapixel camera. We managed to grab a photo of it getting dunked in a fishbowl with the digital TV still running.

Sanyo Infobar 2

(Credit: Nicole Lee/CNET Networks)

Another cool phone that had us salivating was the Sanyo Infobar 2, a phone that "has a look of a melting candy bar." It also has a built-in digital TV tuner, and we were amazed at how amazingly sharp the video was--it truly looked like what HD video on a phone should look like. And then we found out why: The whole 2.6-inch display is an OLED screen, resulting in very crisp-looking images and video.

Other Japan-only Sanyo phones we saw were the W52SA digital TV phone and the EO2SA wireless LAN phone that can be used to make VoIP calls, as well.

One of our predictions for CES 2008 was that DVD recorders with ATSC tuners would get a couple of key features upgrades that take full advantage of the built-in digital tuner. Well, if Panasonic's new line of DVD recorders is any indication, we were wrong.

Despite some significant clamoring for a DVD recorder with a hard drive, the new Panasonic Diga line of DVD recorders includes only two standard DVD recorders, plus two DVD/VHS recorder combo units. There's also no mention of a few features we were hoping for: true HD output for ATSC programming, an EPG that pulls content data embedded in the ATSC signal, and an IR blaster to control other gear, such as a cable or satellite box.

While that's a lot of doom and gloom about the upcoming units, they'll still work perfectly fine for the standard usage of archiving content to DVD. As usual, all of the Panasonic recorders support all of the recordable DVD formats, including DVD-RAM. Also note that Panasonic is offering two models, the DMR-EA18 and DMR-EA38V, that lack a tuner of any kind--which is a nice option for those who are going to use the units with a cable/satellite box and want to save some money. Additionally, we anticipate that the recorders will include Panasonic's standard array of features, including flexible recording length, an outstanding LP recording mode and chasing playback on DVD-RAM discs.

DisplayLink makes video chips that let you connect an LCD to your PC via USB, which is highly convenient for adding a second display. Even more convenient? Going wireless. Iogear introduced its Wireless USB-to-VGA Video Card that uses DisplayLink's technology to output a video signal via WUSB to multiple monitors, TVs, and projectors at up to 1,680x1,050 resolution and 16.7 million colors. Iogear expects the WUSB external graphics adapter to become commercially available in mid-2008 from monitor, PC, and peripheral manufacturers.

To learn more about DisplayLink, read our reviews of DisplayLink LCDs from LG and Samsung.

LAS VEGAS--Lots of companies here are touting green design and environmental thinking, though in some cases it seemed more sloganeering than anything very deep. Here are just a few samples from the floor at the Consumer Electronics Show:

Among other things, Nokia was showing off their reduced packaging (50 percent smaller; most of their phones now shipping in it; have saved them $150 million to boot)

HP had a large area of their booth dedicated to their environmental efforts, and like Nokia had several people on hand who could talk knowledgeably about it.

There's still a long way to go on this issue, though, as can plainly be seen by looking at the sheer quantity of stuff at the show. And those massive plasma TVs look fantastic, but they sure gobble energy like there's no tomorrow. Not to mention the fact that most of what's being shown here will be obsolete (and non-upgradable) this time next year, if not sooner.

Here are just a fraction of the shipping crates stacked outside one of the convention halls that were used to bring everything to the middle of the desert. Remember that closing scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark? It's like that.

Neonode N2

(Credit: Neonode)

Swedish company Neonode showed its N2 phone at CES. The tiny handset, which launched at the 3GSM show last February, would certainly be in the running for the title of smallest (and perhaps cutest) cell phone around. Like a certain device from Apple, the N2 relies almost entirely on a touch screen and has just one physical button. Yet the N2's interface is unique. Aside from a couple menus that involve pressing icons, most functions are performed by finger swipes across different areas of the display. You even use finger swipes to place and end calls. We tried it out for a few minutes and it worked pretty well. Admittedly, it has a learning curve, but onscreen arrows show you where to swipe your finger. Neonode gave us a review model so we'll give it a thorough shake-down when we return the office.

Features include Bluetooth, USB compatibility, messaging, a 2-megapixel camera, a miniSD card slot, and an MP3 player. The N2 is a quadband GSM world phone, and though you can get it unlocked, Neonode says it is in talks with U.S. carriers. Stay tuned for more availability news.