CES Special Coverage

• CES Audio Innovations Sound Sweet
  

  Decompressing Your Tunes

  Squeezing your music down so you can fit hundreds of CDs-worth on a small portable player does some real damage to its sound quality, eliminating much of the range and depth of the music. IHome, maker of a variety of iPod docks and speaker cases, says it has found a way to undo the effects of compression automatically as your music plays. The company’s iP1 ($299, due out in May) sounded impressive in the demo I attended. In a recording of Tony Bennett singing “New York, New York,” the system brought out the sounds of the individual instruments in his backing band. In a contemporary hit by Rihanna, the iP1 pumped up the bass considerably while also brightening up the top end of the music.

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• K2 Charges Electronics With Solar and Wind Energy

  

  Artwork: Chip Taylor

  With green being a big theme at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the K2 from Kinesis fits right in. The waterproof device can charge a number of electronic devices using just solar and wind energy.

  The device has a number of features including a solar panel, wind turbine and internal battery. The sun and wind can charge the internal battery, which can then power and charge electronics. There is also an option to charge the internal battery using a standard wall outlet and users may want to do just that before they go out.

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• Toshiba Shows Its First TransferJet Prototypes

  The first prototypes from Toshiba based on TransferJet, a short-range, high-speed wireless data transmission system intended as a replacement for cables, are on show at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

  The Sony-developed technology uses a low-power, ultra wideband signal to send data at up to 375 megabits per second over distances of around 3 centimeters and is designed to replace the cables that are typically needed to connect gadgets.

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• Value-priced Blu-ray Disc Players Gain Net Connections

  Blu-ray Disc is poised to go mainstream in 2009--just as manufacturers start eliminating some of the more confusing points of differentiation among players, based on the products introduced at the International CES this week.

  Fourteen of the 19 Blu-ray Disc players I've counted here at the show--including models from LG, Samsung, Pioneer, and even Memorex-- have BD-Live, the official designation of players that support Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0's ethernet connectivity, storage, and interactive disc abilities. Models that lack BD-Live technology are: two models from Philip (HTS-5100B and BDP-3010), Sharp's LC-BD80U, and Vizio's VBR100, and JVC LT-42B300.

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• Killzone 2 Kicking Tires, Lighting Fires, but Why Again Exactly?

  

  Guerilla Games' first-person PS3-exclusive shooter Killzone 2 has everyone gabbing, and bloggers in particular panting, gushing, and fawning. According to the developers, it's steeped in "Hollywood realism" that's supposed to make things more "immersive."

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• Casio's New, Thinner Cameras Offer High-speed Shooting

  Casio has unveiled a small, thin digital camera that features the same fast-shooting functions only available until now on much larger cameras in its line-up.

  The EX-FS10, which was unveiled on Thursday at the International Consumer Electronics Show, is 16 millimeters thick but can manage burst-shooting at up to 30 frames per second and high-speed movies at up to 1,000 frames per second.

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• Eleven HDTV Trends I Spotted at CES

  It's Sunday and here in Las Vegas things are winding down for the Consumer Electronics Show. This is a good quiet-ish time to process the massive amount of tech-overload I've been inundated by this week.

  Some of the biggest news this CES came from HDTV manufacturers and related companies. With that in mind here are eleven HDTV trends I spotted on the show floor that make it clear to me 2009 is going to be great year for HDVT technology. If the economy improves, it could be a good year for HDTV sales as well.

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