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Digital Discoveries at CES 2006

The decade of digital lifestyle

By CEN Staff

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, "The Digital Experience" treated show-goers to a cornucopia of technological enticements. At this exclusive pre-show press event, reporters from all over the world took a look at the latest releases and products from a diverse group of companies. The best part of this big press event is that it's a unique opportunity for hands-on testing and sampling of the latest and greatest from all over the consumer electronics world. Here's a sampling of some of the best products spotted at this sneak preview of the gigantic gadget extravaganza, opening Thursday.

Philips Ambilight LCD Televisions
Phillips unveiled two new versions of its Ambilight LCD flat panel, an unusual design that accounts for 20% of Philips LCD sales. It uses colored lighting behind the screen that adjusts for ambient light, and also changes colors along with the program material on the screen itself. As the company demonstrated these new screens, it was actually a pleasing experience to see those colored backlights changing colors and intensities. The Ambilight 3 has lighting on the top and sides of its LCD flat panel, while the Ambilight Full Surround (see graphic below) goes all the way, framing the edges of the entire display with light. Sure, it's a gimmick, but that?s not necessarily a bad thing. Its sophisticated design might even make it so that your gadget-geek choice of flat panel displays might just be more acceptable to that all-important distaff member of your family.

Panasonic
Panasonic told members of the press that size really does matter, and proved it when the company unveiled its 103-inch plasma TV in a press conference that started out a snoozer but ended with a bang. This gigantic plasma display (see graphic below) was downright gorgeous, sporting 1080p resolution that will be perfect for displaying upcoming Blu-ray and HD-DVD content, and sported a colorful and contrasty picture that had jaws dropping all around. Boasted Panasonic North America's Chairman and CEO Yoshi Yamada, this new flat panel ?might possibly be the largest plasma TV to become an actual product.?

At the end of the press conference, Panasonic knocked the socks off the yawning audience with the spectacular multimedia presentation featuring forty 65-inch plasma displays mounted on a half-circle backdrop (see graphic above). In the mid-ground were four vertically-oriented plasma displays. In the foreground appeared a group of Irish dancers, with some of their band members shown on the background plasma displays, and selected musicians appearing individually in the vertical displays in the mid-ground. Suddenly we were being taken through an eclectic mix of a variety of musical genres, with the grand finale bringing all the musicians together, with some appearing on video in the background, some on the mid-ground plasma screens and some live in the foreground. It was simply magnificent. Bravo.

Sony
Sony appeared to also be readying itself for the new high-definition disks to come, where of course it ballyhooed the upcoming Blu-ray disks and players which it said would be delivered in early summer of this year. Since both blue disk formats will be capable of 1080p resolution, that super-high HDTV resolution was the order of the day at all of the pre-show press conferences, and not to be left out, Sony touted its new slim-design 55-inch rear screen projector with 1920x1080p resolution. It also talked about how it's trying to be more appealing to women (aren't we all?), with more sophisticated design and of course, high performance HDTV. In line with that philosophy, Sony?s new, nicely-designed Bravia flat panel 46-inch LCD display also features 1080p resolution. And, not to be left out of the Bigger-Is-Better Derby, Sony also had a monstrous 82-inch LCD flat panel on display that was, alas, just a prototype, but spectacularly beautiful nonetheless. No word on when that will be actually marketed, but to these eyes, it qualified as absolute eye candy.

Garmin Forerunner 305
Garmin has completely redesigned its Forerunner line of GPS devices that you can wear on your wrist while walking or running. The Forerunner 305 (pictured below) now looks much more streamlined and is actually quite beautiful in the way it wraps itself halfway around your wrist. As a result, the antenna nestled inside gets better reception, giving you faster satellite acquisition times. The chore of finding all those satellites in the sky took way too long in the old version of the Forerunner, the model 301. Just like its predecessor, the Forerunner 305 automatically records time, distance, position, and even your heart rate. You can get a less-expensive model, the new Forerunner 205, that doesn't include the ability to measure your heart rate. But in the 305, that heart rate chest strap has also been redesigned to be more streamlined and easy to use. Take a look at the graphic above, and you'll see that there are also new graphing functions available on the screen of the Forerunner. The overall impression of the Forerunner 305 is that it makes its predecessor look clunky by comparison. Better functionality, and looks better, too? Sounds great to me.