CES 2008

It's adapt or die for record industry, execs say

Correction 5:35 p.m. PST: This blog gave an incorrect last name for the head of EMI Music's digital business. He is Barney Wragg.

Because I had to leave Las Vegas on Wednesday, I was only able to catch the first two sessions of the one-day Digital Music Live conference, a conference about technology and the music industry co-sponsored by Billboard and the Consumer Electronics Association (who's behind CES). Nonetheless, the morning speakers had some interesting thoughts.

First up was Gregg Latterman, president of : without EMI, the band might never have built the huge global audience that more

Harman hints at new wireless tech

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 more

CES: The anticable, no wires movement

Stainless steel speakers from Anthony Gallo Acoustics

Anthony 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 of a 15-inch subwoofer, while offering the speed and transparency a large single driver cannot match. AGA offers an optional Reference SA amplifier to drive the woofers. The amp allows the speaker to be positioned for optimal imaging and soundstaging without compromising bass performance.

CES cell phone 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 .

Panasonic expands the Strada navigation range with two new in-dash systems

Zyxel media adapter uses HomePlug AV

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 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 more

CES Notebook: Tales from the show floor

LAS VEGAS--Every year, I schedule too many meetings at 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.

So the seventh wonder of the tech world could have been in the north hall, central hall, or the far-flung Sands expo hall, more

FlyTunes makes your iPhone into an Internet radio

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

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 more

External Buffalo drive does Blu-ray and HD DVD

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.