ces

If you're not keen on squinting at a little display to view maps and driving directions, then feast your eyes on the Garmin Nuvi 5000. Unlike most of today's portable navigation systems, which have 3.5-inch or 4.3-inch displays, the Nuvi boasts a 5.2-inch touch screen with a 800x480 pixel resolution and is designed for RVs and trucks. It's well-stocked in the features department as well with preloaded maps of North America, text-to-speech functionality, integrated Bluetooth, multimedia capabilities, and compatibility with MSN Direct for real-time traffic, weather, and more. There's even a composite video … Read more

After a full day roaming the Consumer Electronics Show floor, I have to say the most mind-blowing thing I saw was the dual-view and 3D high-definition technology called DLP, made by Texas Instruments. This technology is being rolled out in Mitsubishi and Samsung televisions.

These are not flat-screen models, but thicker projection TVs. I was initially stopped in my tracks by the amazing image on a 73-inch model. They showed Shrek on the demo reel, and I have to say, the detail in the animation was incredible. I could see the sugar crystals sparkling on the Gingerbread Man's gumdrops. (They also showed Transformers, and it was very manly and explosive. Looked good too. DLP has a very fast refresh rate, so it is well-suited for action.)… Read more

Panasonic announced a partnership Monday by which customers will be able to use forthcoming 802.11-equipped Lumix digital cameras to wirelessly upload photos to Google's Picasa photo-sharing site.

Panasonic announced the partnership at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Buying the camera comes with a 12-month subscription to use any of T-Mobile's 8,500 wireless hot spots for free, similar to an earlier deal that Nikon announced with the telecommunications company.

Panasonic didn't share further details about the Wi-Fi-enabled camera.

Having already debuted its line of ultraslim, flat-panel LCD-based HDTVs in Singapore and Japan, Hitachi finally announced its availability stateside at CES. The models, which comprise three separate series of three screen sizes each, all have a depth of 1.5 inches, which is the thinnest we've seen from any flat-panel LCD. The closest competitor among announced (non-concept) models is LG's 42LGX Super Slim (1.75 inches), which joins the Hitachis in trumping JVC's "world's thinnest" (2.9 inches) models and the current champ, Sharp's LC-D64U series (3.25 inches). Personally, we don't see much use in making current inches-thin flat-panel displays a couple inches thinner, but there's no denying that trend, embodied in extreme by models like Sony's OLED (3mm) and Pioneer's concept plasma (9mm).

Watch the LGX Super Slim HDTV video on CNET TV.

Hitachi packed a passel of features into its slim LCDs. The 37- and 42-inch models from each series include 1080p resolution as well as the company's version of 120Hz technology with de-judder, which Hitachi calls "Reel20." We've reviewed similar technology in models from Sony, Toshiba and Samsung, for example, and we're curious to see how the Hitachi version stacks up.… Read more

From Bill Gates' final CES hurrah to Yoko Ono and will.i.am, CES launched with a star-studded cast. See the full CNET CES slide show.

The giant gadget get-together known as the Consumer Electronics Show is now formally under way in Las Vegas. Here are just some of the show highlights from Monday. For CNET's full and continuous coverage, click here.

Gates bids adieu--Just before his farewell CES keynote address (see video), Microsoft's chairman talked to CNET News.com about Redmond's rivals and the changing face of Windows.

Motorola makes music--See pics of Motorola's new music phone, the Rokr E8, along with a video phone dubbed the Moto Z10. (Plus, make movies with the Z10.)

Dell updates high-end XPS M1530… Read more

Though it was announced earlier this year, the Samsung SGH-G600 made a guest appearance at CES. Like the SGH-G800, the G600 is a 5-megapixel camera phone with lots of photo-editing features. The thin slider design may look like a lot of Moto phones before it, but it has a solid feel in the hand, and the opening mechanism is sturdy.

Features inside include full Bluetooth, a digital music player, a document viewer, e-mail and messaging, a speakerphone, 40MB of internal memory plus a microSD card slot, USB 2.0, a 16-million color display, and personal organizer applications. The SGH-G600 is … Read more

Early access to the CES showroom floor isn't always as glamorous as you might imagine, as we found out first-hand at the Panasonic booth. Our prying eyes made our way to an open back door revealing some of the company's to-be-announced goodies--but we were swiftly denied recording access as a nimble Panasonic rep jumped in the way of our filming.

Cell phone/PDAs or other iterations of what you want to call the convergence of handheld devices are featured prominently at the Consumer Electronics Show, no doubt. Whether these devices from Motorola or Samsung overtly claim to be iPhone killers is beside the point. The point is that most devices feature cleaner user interfaces and better bundles of applications that access more and more content. Nearly all of these gadgets are touch-based. Nearly all the devices, though, still don't come close in terms of usability and elegance to the iPhone's user interface. You can check out all the … Read more