Las Vegas, January 2008: The 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) filled the massive Las Vegas and Sands Convention Centers with the newest and coolest products. This year it’s all about style and color, with wireless and iPod everything. We were there (along with 130,000 others and 2,700 exhibitors) to see the present and future in technology.

Flat panel TV screens were everywhere, with new HD LCD and plasma offerings from Samsung, JVC, Panasonic, Sony and others. New sets showcased features that reduce motion blur, improve contrast and reduce energy use. Screens displayed brilliant color and great contrast even in the brightly lit hall.

New this year are wireless HDTVs, the power cord is the only wire attached to the unit; electronics are housed out of sight and wirelessly send signals to the TV panel. Set top boxes, DVD players, DVRs, PCs and game consoles connect to the electronics box--some wirelessly.

Style has caught up with TVs: panels are thinner (an inch or less thick), and bezels narrower, meaning a larger picture in the same overall size frame. Samsung’s PDP 750 series adds a transparent frame imbedded with a red translucent stripe.

New digital still cameras were abundant and available in delicious colors and wow features. The new Samsung NV24 HD uses OLED technology for its 2.5 inch screen, producing bright colors even in daylight and incorporating HD movie recording. Casio premiered the Exilim Pro EX-F1, an amazing camera capable of 60 frames per second at full 7 megapixel resolution and full HD video or video at 1,200 fps in lower resolution. New camcorders from Sony, JVC and Panasonic record HD on internal hard drives, memory cards or DVD. JVC Everio 2008 models are 20% smaller and feature laser touch screen, keeping the screen free of finger prints.

New GPS navigation devices were introduced by Sony, JVC, Tom-Tom, Goodyear and others. Tom-Tom now features MapShare user road corrections. These are entered by users and transmitted to Tom-Tom, who makes them available for other users. Goodyear introduced a technology that tracks traffic flow by following the real-time movements of cell phones in an area to re-route users away from slow traffic.

JVC displayed a slick after market radio with a flat knobless face; just pass your hand in front, and touch controls appear. Delphi demonstrated Internet on the go for vehicles.

iPod accessories were everywhere and ranged from a cute and colorful Lady-Bug speaker dock from VestsLife to a dual dock from JVC that charges one or two iPods simultaneously and can play music from either one. Docks were found in A/V receivers, car radios and more. A TV panel from JVC incorporates an iPod dock for displaying videos on screen.

Over the air Radio for the Deaf was introduced by Harris. With support from NPR, the radio units incorporate a screen that displays text of the radio broadcast. Future versions will support requests to have specific newspapers "read." And Viable Corporation has developed a video conferencing center that uses sign language and the Internet. The system allows a deaf person to connect via video conferencing to a hearing person to interpret requests to call via land/cell phones to make or change appointments, communicate with hearing people and much more. The programs also allows a hearing person to contact a deaf person.

For the home or SOHO, Samsung introduced 2263DX, a dual PC monitor. A 22 inch LCD panel is supplemented by an outboard 7 inch monitor. Each monitor can have a different display, and an additional four monitors can be daisy-chained. Samsung also introduced a stylish glossy black laser printer that’s strong enough to serve as a base for a PC monitor.

Storage Appliance introduced Click-Free Backup, an external USB hard drive that installs itself, automatically does a complete file-level backup and then automatically backs up a file each time it’s saved--click free.

Several companies displayed Internet radios, some wired to a PC, some using your wireless network. A sleek example is C. Crane’s Revo Blik Wireless Internet/FM Alarm radio that includes sleep timer, snooze and presets.

LaCrosse Technology introduced Weather Direct, an Internet based weather service that uses a wireless device to display weather, weather alerts and a variety of other information.

Yahoo! premiered Yahoo! 3.0, a mobile web featuring "Snippets," providing quick access to selected applications such as weather, sports and more. New mobile video formats allowing full motion video in mobile players and cell phones were also introduced.

A look at the future was highlighted by many prototype and concept devices. Delphi displayed the "Dashboard of the Future." It’s totally flat, with no knobs or switches! Just a simple cursor/select control on the steering wheel to activate the display options on the dashboard. And the side view and rear view mirrors are replaced by cameras for greater visibility. Panasonic showed its LifeWall, a full wall-sized monitor that shows TV, movies and more on a variable size screen that follows you as you move around and also lets you take calls, surf the Internet and more. Several manufactures displayed flat panel TVs sporting 4 times the resolution of a full HD screen. These were breathtaking. And of course we had to see Panasonic’s 11-foot wide plasma flat panel, with an incredibly sharp picture. Impressive.

Stay tuned for a closer look at these and many other products we saw at the show.