Samsung is no slouch when it comes to music phones, but at CES 2007, the company is doing everything it can to top its efforts of previous years. Instead of offering new music features, however, the Samsung Ultra Music brings an innovative music phone design. And if our hunch is correct, we should see it from Sprint by March.

While most music phones barely give a thought to music functionality in their designs, the Ultra Music takes a more Jekyll-and-Hyde approach by combining elements of both devices. Yes, dedicated music controls are here but you'll find dual displays and … Read more

If you like the Mac-style white look for your computer hardware, you're going to appreciate Toshiba's initial entry in the Windows Vista laptop category. The Portege R400 is a beautifully crafted convertible tablet laptop, one that is every bit as expensive as it looks.

The R400 has plenty of high-end features, such as built-in EV-DO support and a small LED readout on the front edge that shows the time, battery level, and wireless signal strength. It can also alert you to new e-mail messages when the lid is closed.

The Portege R400 has a 12.1-inch screen and … Read more

A Pennsylvania start-up says it has the answer to one of the biggest problems in mobile phones: battery life.

After three years of keeping its technology under close guard, Powercast has come to CES 2007 to get consumer and manufacturer attention. Powercast is a radio frequency that is transmitted over a small area, and its energy is "harvested"--wirelessly--to give power to small devices like cell phones.

While it's presented as wireless power, Powercast isn't just a replacement for a universal charger. Instead, it's meant to either continuously charge a battery or replace the need … Read more

Nobody loves staring into a sea of red brake lights while enduring their daily commute, but TeleNav and Sprint are hoping to relieve some of that headache with TeleNav Traffic. A new feature of TeleNav GPS Navigator, a GPS-enabled navigation service for cell phones, TeleNav Traffic alerts you to congestion and accidents with voice and visual prompts on your mobile phone. In addition, customers can get alternate routes by pressing "0" on their phone, and can receive an estimated time of arrival based on real-time traffic conditions. Swanky.

TeleNav Traffic is currently only being offered to Sprint customers … Read more

New versions of the Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Caravan minivans made an appearance at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show. Come on, wake up! There really is something interesting about these minivans. Chrysler creates a cozy little breakfast space in the back by adding swiveling capability to its middle-row seats, along with a foldout table. And it really makes these minivans kind of cool road-trip vehicles. While a couple of friends drive and navigate, you and your friends are in back riding limo-style, playing poker and doing shots of tequila. (Make that last one lemonade if you don't … Read more

Bad pun, I know, but "Chevy charges forward" would be worse, because the concept Volt is an electric car. Chevy grabbed the front of its new Camaro and grafted on a small sports coupe made of lightweight composite materials developed by GE. GM has been using its Chevrolet brand to push its most futuristic alternative energy ideas, such as the previously announced Fuel Cell Equinox. The Volt seems especially designed to counteract the bashing GM got in the movie Who Killed the Electric Car?, as the Volt builds on the technology GM used in its original electric car, … Read more

OK, it's Sync, not *NSYNC, and with its stylish logo it should be free of any associations from the band that made Justin Timberlake famous. Unlike the band, Sync also plays music. Microsoft has been trying to sell automakers on its automotive platform for a while and is really starting to gain ground. Last year at the Geneva Auto Show, Fiat showed off an installation of Microsoft's system, dubbed Blue&Me, in one of its cars. This year the software maker and America's number two automaker announced that a version of Microsoft's automotive platform will … Read more

At the 2007 Detroit Auto Show, Mercedes-Benz demonstrated how its S-class could be used to smooth the ice of a skating rink. Or the company might have been demonstrating the new all-wheel-drive S550. Either way, most of the Mercedes-Benz floor area at the show was covered with ice, along with ice skaters chasing an S550 around the rink. Mercedes-Benz has offered its 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system in a variety of its models and used the Detroit show to announce its availability in the S-class. Mercedes-Benz brags in its press literature that it first developed an all-wheel-drive system in 1907.

The German … Read more

Mac users that have jealously watched their PC-using friends put their recorded episodes of The Office or Lost on their laptops get a late Christmas gift this year: TiVoToGo for Mac is here.

Just in time for MacWorld and CES, the product will be released by Roxio on Monday, Jan. 8.

The Mac version of TiVoToGo will sell for $99 and have all the same capability as the PC version, but it's all in one box this time, said Jim Denney, TiVo's VP of marketing. Automatic transfers of shows to a Mac, PSP, iPod, or burned to a … Read more