Putting Ohio State's poor showing last night in the BCS Championship game behind them, Ohio-based Micro Center had a few Vista desktop and laptop prototypes on display at CES. The big news on its PowerSpec desktop line is the addition of a Lian Li chassis for its high-end gaming PCs. The Lian Li chassis is an all-aluminum, tool-free unit that will be used on two highest-end models, the G450 and the G430. Lian Li makes some of the best PC enclosures around, and it should help the PowerSpec name garner some respect among gamers.

Likewise, Micro Center's WinBook … Read more

At CES Samsung showed off a quirky cell phone that takes "thin" to a whole level. It's not thin from the side like the Motorola Razr, but rather it's exceptionally slim when measured across its front face. The GSM Samsung SGH-X830 measures about an inch wide and sports a swivel form factor in a gallery of colors, including black, green, red and blue. Features are impressive for such a small phone. Inside is a 2-megapixel camera, a digital music player, multiformat video support, 1GB of flash memory, stereo Bluetooth, a 65,536-color display and USB 2.… Read more

With the iPhone, Apple just may have an everything-killer on its hands. Is it the ultimate gadget? If so, is it worth $600 for eight gigs of its magicks? Or $500 for four gigs? Them's PS3 prices!

Granted, we haven't even laid a finger on the thing yet, let alone reviewed it. That said, Apple seems to have killed several birds with one stone by addressing some of the iPod's shortcomings while creating a buzz-inducing all-in-one supergadget that everyone will want. And here is why.

When we reviewed the Samsung SGH-P300 last year, we thought it had a perverse appeal. Though it looked like a grade school calculator, its credit card-like dimensions were unique and frankly, pretty cool. Also, its feature set was generous for the phone's size. Now, at CES this year, Samsung is showing the P300's successor that was introduced in the fall, the Samsung SGH-P310.

Fortunately, Samsung managed to make the design a bit more attractive with a black color scheme and a redesigned keypad. We also like the circular-shaped navigation toggle, which beats the square control on the P300 … Read more

Everyone's heard about the Samsung Ultra Music, but Samsung also chose CES for the U.S. unveiling of its new Ultra Video as well. The Ultra Video looks like the Ultra Music, but it features a unique and sexy swivel design that allows you to balance the phone on a table for easy viewing. Also called the F500, the GSM Ultra Video made its first debut last month at an electronics show in Hong Kong. But don't get too excited. It's not even out in Asia yet, so a U.S. arrival should take a few eons. … Read more

Continuing the tragic saga of cool smart phones that we can't get here in the United States, we have the Nokia N95. As you may or may not recall, the N95 is the flagship model of the company's N series of multimedia computers. It has a 5-megapixel camera, integrated GPS, Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), HSPDA, 150MB of internal memory, and a Micro SD slot. The design allows you to switch between different modes; you can slide the dial pad down to make calls or slide the dedicated media keys out in the opposite direction, automatically converting the 2.… Read more

Despite the CES brouhaha happening simultaneously in Las Vegas, Steve Jobs appeared onstage at his Macworld 2007 keynote in San Francisco to introduce one of the most anticipated gadgets in years. The final unveiling of the iPhone puts to rest the plethora of speculation, gossip, and rumors that have littered the Web for the last year. Read on for our first thoughts of the ballyhooed new phone for Cingular.

There are plenty of ways of hooking up an iPod to a car stereo: generic auxiliary input jacks will do the trick (if you're desperate); a connection via USB might transfer some data to the head unit display; while dedicated full-speed iPod harnesses have been the best option to date. Well, now there's a car stereo that's tailor-made for Apple fanboys. The Alpine IDA-X001--getting its debut here at CES 2007--is so iPod-centric that it doesn't even have a CD slot. Instead, it has a USB input to allow drivers to connect digitally to their fifth-generation iPods. … Read more

iRiver is replacing its T10 MP3 player with the T50 and the T60, both of which look a bit odd, in keeping with the whole T series. Available in spring 2007, the T50 and the T60 will have 1, 2, or 4GB of flash memory, a 1-inch color CSTN screen, an FM tuner, and a voice recorder. The main controller is a little joystick (click wheels are for newbies anyway, right?), and you'll be able to play back MP3s and WMAs as well as OGG and ASF files, but not video. These players are for the disposable-battery-loving crowd, and … Read more