Consumer Electronics Show Highlights Smart Gadgets

LAS VEGAS -- Convergence is the continuing theme of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicking off here this weekend. Vendors are welding PC smarts to consumer electronics, producing more intelligent and capable appliances--and Internet-enabling them.

In your networked home, which you'll be able to run remotely through a Web page, the Internet will bring an array of entertainment products to your stereo, DVD player, and cell phone, as well as your PC. Increasingly, it all will be wireless as well.

PC Pioneers Claim the Core

Underscoring the PC's influence, a pair of PC stalwarts begin the gadget parade. Keynote speakers are Bill Gates, Microsoft chair and chief software architect, and Craig Barrett, Intel's chief executive officer. While Intel is best known for its stronghold in the PC processor market, Barrett will probably highlight some of his company's recent forays into the consumer electronics space. Most recently, Intel unveiled the Intel Pocket Concert Audio Player, an MP3 player and FM tuner.

Barrett is slated to speak on the "Extended PC Era," introducing the concept of an emerging consumer scenario that Intel calls PCX--the PC to the power of X, according to Intel representatives.

Barrett will tout the PC as the center of a digital universe that is expanding. The home PC will be tasked to do even more, and consumers will be at the center of their own Internet experiences. He predicts that in the near future 1 billion PCs will be connected to the Internet.

Like Intel, Microsoft has been making inroads into the consumer electronics space with a number of products designed to work with or complement the PC.

Gates is expected to show off a prototype of the X-Box gaming console, promised to be faster and better than Sony's competing PlayStation 2. But it isn't scheduled to be available until fall, priced at under $500.

Microsoft is also boosting its Ultimate TV products and a series of wireless devices. Gates will probably also hit on features in the next release of Microsoft's Windows CE operating system that are designed to enhance the media abilities of the company's current and future device lines.

Cruising the Wired Road

While the old guard may dominate the start of CES, a bevy of vendors look to showcase their latest products and catch the public's eye. Here's a look at some of the technology expected to be on display in Las Vegas over the next four days.

• Motorola is unveiling its IRadio system, a programmable vehicle entertainment service packaged like a car radio. You'll configure your IRadio through a Web page, and you can choose from a scale of service packages. One system supports multiple profiles for all the drivers in the family. Besides music and other entertainment, the IRadio provides location-based information, navigation references, emergency calling, and communication functions. It accepts voice commands and even supports a hands-free phone system. Motorola expects to begin consumer testing of the IRadio early this year, and to ship it in vehicles within 18 to 24 months.
  
  
• Delphi Automotive Systems will announce the availability of its Communiport Rear-Seat Entertainment System. This portable system is targeted at automotive manufacturers and gives users access to DVD playing capabilities in the back seat of a car. In addition, you can hook gaming consoles up to the 7-inch flip-up color display. The unit costs $1495 and will ship in February.
  
  

• See more like this:
• CES,
• consumer electronics,
• wired home,
• Xbox