CES 2007

Gateway's scaled-down sequel

We really liked the recent 15.4-inch Gateway NX570 laptop. It was a highly configurable system that could run anywhere from $699 to almost $2,000, but the brushed metal accents and fingerprint-resistant design made it seem like a much more expensive system than you'd expect based on its low starting price.

The sequel keeps a lot of what we liked about the original but shrinks it down to a 14-inch package. The more-portable Gateway NX270 (replacing the NX260) should be available February 1, right after the Windows Vista launch and will have a similarly affordable starting price--$699--and more

Motorola to bring navigation to its phones

An increasing trend in cell phones is the addition of location-based services, such as TeleNav and Verizon's VZ Navigator, so you can get maps and driving directions right on your handset. Now, Motorola has announced that it's teaming up with Destinator Technologies and Jentro Technologies to bring such services to its mobiles, as well as new navigation products in 2007. Jentro specializes in satellite phone navigation, while Destinator develops nav software for mobile devices. Though the companies didn't outline any specific products, they did say the products will give consumers access to local point-of-interest searches, community tools, more

LG Shine shines at CES

We've mentioned the

JVC puts a nav screen in a car stereo

Convergence is the name of the digital game at CES 2007.

The KD-NX5000, on display at CES for the first time, is an impressive product. Its 16GB hard drive-based navigation system contains 13 million points of interest and comes with a built-in RDS-TMC traffic tuner to give drivers real-time traffic information. The system provides turn-by-turn voice guidance, with maps displayed in either 2D or 3D. The unit's display is not a touch screen, so destinations must be entered using hard buttons on the face plate or by using the system's remote control.

Media options include DVD video and

Sherwood receiver delivers HDMI 1.3, next-generation lossless audio

The Sherwood Newcastle R-972 will deliver audio decoding (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio), and a graphic onscreen user interface when it's released in August for $1,500. (Note that the back panel image shows four HDMI inputs, but Sherwood has pledged that the shipping model will include six.) The product becomes the first officially announced receiver we've seen that incorporates all of those bleeding-edge features. Its step-down model, the R-872, offers similar HDMI and lossless decoding capabilities with "only" four HDMI inputs and a text-only onscreen interface, for $500 less.

If our Best of CES nominations weren'more

Audiovox wants to one-up other XM satellite portables

Shhhhhh! Audiovox has been displaying the XM2Go/MP3 portable in its copious CES 2007 booth, but the company isn't quite ready to discuss details. Scheduled for a late-summer release, the X2G100B will offer a similar feature set as other XM/MP3 portables such as the Delphi SkyFi3--live and recorded XM playback, MP3 playback, storage, and so on--but company execs say they are taking some time to make sure they can equip the player with enough cool features to really differentiate it from other XM/MP3 portables.

It will likely have at least enough memory to store up to 50 more

Cingular debuts Video Share

Cingular Wireless announced a new video sharing service that lets people send videos in real time over their phones. Video Share (quite the original name) isn't exactly video conferencing--the service works only one way--but you can use it to show off yourself, or whatever you're looking at, to your friends. To get it going, you just need a cell phone signal and, of course, a compatible phone. On that end, Cingular has announced two handsets that will work with the service: an updated LG CU500 and the new Samsung SGH-a717. It's in trials now; widespread availability is more

Plantronics sticks Bluetooth stereo in your ear

Throw away those lousy, hanging-off-your-ear buds that come with most MP3-playing cordless phones. The Plantronics Pulsar 260 gives you soft in-ear buds that jack into a stereo Bluetooth dongle with an in-line mic that clips to your shirt or lapel. The advantage of Bluetooth stereo earphones is that you don't have to swap headphones when a call comes in. But unlike bulky stereo Bluetooth headphones, you can pull one earbud out so that you're not listening to your significant other, friend or co-worker in stereo. The disadvantage is that the Pulsar dongle jack is 2.5mm, so you more

Carry your hard drive with you

Zyxel's new NSA-220 NAS drive plus media server offers two empty drive bays so that you can bring your own SATA drives, up to 1.5TB. The drives can be arranged in a RAID-0 or RAID-1 array, and the included Memeo software lets you set up autobackup of your data. Two USB ports let you connect additional hard drives or thumbdrives, and a "copy" button allows you to quickly duplicate the contents of an external drive (or an MP3 player or digital camera) to the NAS-220 without touching your PC.

Aside from acting as a repository for your data more

CS3.7: Jim Thiel's new masterpiece speaker

Conventional wisdom says that a stereo or surround sound system is only as good as its speakers. That's why speaker designers often become celebrities in the world of high-end audio. One such celeb is Jim Thiel, who's been designing speakers for the company he co-founded for 30 years now. He calls his latest high-end creation the CS3.7 and it stands 45-inches tall, 12.5-inches wide, and 21-inches deep, looking more like a sleek piece of modern sculpture when compared to the bland boxes taking up space in Best Buy.

Mr. Thiel's gone to great lengths to