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Backstage Crew: Day two: Nate

CES 2007 was in full swing on Tuesday, and Backstage Crew member Nate Lanxon was roaming the halls to find the most interesting gear.

CNET Reviews staff
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Here we have an interesting innovation from Micro Optical called MyVu. Made for all models of video iPod, MyVu is a personal media viewer that fits over the eyes like a pair or glasses. Video is projected on the inside of the eyewear to provide a large TV viewing experience, while audio is pumped through the noise-reducing earpieces. The iPod fits in a rugged casing that also features an ultraslim battery, providing an exceptionally useful eight extra hours of iPod battery life. Thanks to the great design of the eyewear, it is easy to see around the video image, allowing you to see your way down the street without missing a second of video.

Canon
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This is the Tavi 030, a truly portable, on-demand IPTV video player. It can handle podcasts, video podcasts, DivX, Xvid, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video, and plenty more besides. It'll connect to any Internet connection you choose to use it with and will even handle RSS feed subscriptions for your regularly updated content. It supports high-def content and will output all content via a variety of cables to a variety of devices, including--you guessed it--a TV! There's a 30GB hard drive inside and a huge number of other features. If you're a mobile video junkie or VOD fanatic, or if you just want a full-featured multimedia player, check out the Tavi 030 from New Media Life.

Canon
Backstage Crew photos taken with a Canon PowerShot SD30 Digital Elph and made possible by
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Have you ever used your iPod and thought to yourself, "I wish this could be combined with bathroom tissue dispenser?" No, me neither. But Atech Flash Technology did, and the result was the iCarta, iPod docking station with built-in stereo speakers, an iPod charging facility, and a bathroom tissue dispenser. Never again will blowing your nose have to be done in silence! Enjoy your favorite tunes or music videos from the comfort of your bathtub, shower, toilet, washbasin...the choice is completely yours.

Canon
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Here is the world's first Windows Vista SideShow notebook computer, the Asus W5Fe. We've laughed before at the thought of a notebook with two screens, but here's some suggestion that it's not a completely flawed concept. The second little screen provides access to pictures, movie show times, MP3s, videos, and other useful information. The screen can be used when the computer is switched off and apparently can last for hours with only minimal drain on the battery. Personally, I would never bother using it. But I can see its uses--it could provide a little extra bit of functionality for some people.

Canon
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This is the X60, an ultraportable, dual-core computing solution from Lenovo and the model up from the popular X41. Features include a 1.8GHz Intel Core Duo CPU, 512MB of RAM, a 60GB hard disk, and Intel GMA 950 graphics. The Intel 802.11 a/b/g wireless integration will allow you to connect to all WiFi connections, and I was told that under light usage the battery would last almost 10 hours--an incredibly impressive figure. Flip the screen around and the notebook becomes a full-featured, touch-screen tablet PC. Superior handwriting recognition allows for easy note taking, too.

Canon
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Here's the new Medion UMPC, sporting Microsoft's Windows Vista OS. This model will be released on January 30, side-by-side with Vista itself. This nicely designed UMPC features a bright, 6.5-inch screen, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, and even GPS functionality. The only downside is that the keyboard would take a bit of getting used to. It's been designed to be held in two hands, so you type with thumbs alone. You can navigate through the system using the buttons on the left of the device, or you can simply take advantage of touch-screen technology. This has been my favorite pick of my second day at CES. It's gorgeous.

Canon
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Now here's something every modern house needs: the Hewlett Packard TouchSmart PC. This elegantly designed desktop machine boasts a crisp, HD-ready, 19-inch screen, a dual-core AMD Turion CPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, and incredible graphics thanks to the Nvidia GeForce Go 7600. There's also built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, TV and FM tuners, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and a DVD read/write drive. HP has built onto of Vista to provide a truly family-oriented computer. The ability to use the screen as a touch-screen board on which to stick hand-written Post-It notes is a very interesting idea indeed. The wireless keyboard is completely ready for spillages and can be thrown in the tub for a quick rinse without damage. This machine really belongs in the modern kitchen and will act as a perfect media hub, too.

Canon
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Here's a sneaky glimpse at a product that hasn't hit anyone's shores yet, not even the Asian market! Very few details are available yet, but I felt it was crucial to get a close-up of this new PMP from iStation. It plays back all popular formats of video, including DivX, Xvid and MPEG-4. Inside is expected to be a 60GB hard drive from Seagate. Navigation through the menus was very similar to that of Windows Media Center, which is no bad thing. Sadly all the menus were in Japanese, but the iconic Internet Explorer icon tells us the device will come with Internet browsing over Wi-Fi. There are clues hinting at many office applications being included, too, though none were easy for me to use since I don't speak Japanese. Keep your eyes out for this new iStation PMP--it looks to be a truly versatile portable entertainment system.

Canon
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Finally, my favorite piece of gaming eye candy is the Dell XPS 710 H2C with hybrid, two-stage cooling. If you were asked to put together the gamer's dream machine by using all the latest and greatest hardware, this is pretty much what you'd end up with. This is a quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme system with two--count 'em--Nvidia 8800GTX graphics cards and 4GB of DDR2 RAM. The immense and crisp 20.1-inch display will perfectly display the jaw-dropping performance this machine is capable of giving. Its hybrid cooling system includes a new water-cooled system from Dell, which makes the system very stable when overclocking. The only downside is a comparatively meager amount of disk space. 320GB just doesn't sound right in a system so otherwise blistering. A healthy terabyte would've been far more fitting. Still, this is a monster to be feared by other gaming systems and is probably the most powerful gaming system in existence. Prices start from $5,499.

Canon
Backstage Crew photos taken with a Canon PowerShot SD30 Digital Elph and made possible by

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