If you are technically inclined, you know that CES is on, the big Vegas show where the manufacturers roll out their new technology and Engadget has been doing a stunning job of covering it. A few that I have found interesting:

• Toshiba embedding Windows Media Extender technology into their new AV products.. This is a very interesting move. Imagine buying a DVD player and being able to stream the pictures, video and music from the PC through the DVD player to the TV or stereo. Now if a company like Denon would do that, it would be even cooler. The Yahoo news is also interesting with their gadgets on a TV. The routes to the TV continue to proliferate … XBOX 360, HDMI out on the laptop. Many choices. I came across this video, which is the history of Media Centre for the TV – past, present and future – interesting watch.
• It may be time to upgrade to the latest Harmony remote. I still remember being in the office one day and a guy on our team had been over to their office and seen this new product, the Harmony remote control. A year later, Logitech bought them. Best remote I have ever used.
• Of course, Windows 7. Beta is out. Interesting overview here. You will be able to download it Friday here.
• Our boys love building things and I can see how Kodu, the new XBOX LIVE game creation program, will be a huge hit in the house.
• This is not a CES link, but I really need to get to a demo spot to try these ‘Video eye-wear’ devices.
• I played with the new line of HP TouchSmart PCs at the Costco the other day. These are very slick devices, with the touch interface and a huge 22 inch screen. Great for a kitchen or dorm room. I remember my first 22 inch monitor, it weighed 150 lbs and cost $2300.
• They are also posting about MacWorld or something?
• MSN has a few other neat gadgets from CES including the WowWee Spyball (A little odd) and the Powermat (which I can totally see in my house).
• DIVX announced full HD and H.264 support.

Over the holidays I acquired some new tech. First and foremost was the Canon Speedlight 430 EXII. I made sure it was the first present opened so that I could capture all of the pictures with perfect lighting (although the comments of ‘Wait a minute guys, don’t open anything else until Dad figures out how to turn it on’ did not go over well. And then of course, disaster struck. A Duracell Plus AA blew up in the flash while we were in Paris. That battery is now on it’s way to Germany courtesy of P&G for testing and a report (which better result in their replacing my brand new flash as I can hear it corroding in the battery department as the second pass).

The second was a wireless router upgrade. This is an interesting one. In the UK, the walls are very thick in the homes. Plaster is alive and well. Which means that getting a connection from floor to floor or even from room to room is almost impossible. At one point I tried to hook up the XBOX 360 with wireless but could never get a good enough signal for video streaming. In the end I resorted to Ethernet over power. But I still was not getting the speed that I truly desired (The broadband provider has a ADSL2 router that I was using, but it always seemed flaky and using XBOX Live lead to challenges (i.e. NAT issues)).

What is amazing to me is the choice. 54mbps, 300mbps, N, N+1, 2.5GHZ, 5.0GHZ, dual band. Plus the reviews are all over the map. CNET says one thing and while Trusted Reviews says another. In the end, I ordered the Belkin N1 Vision after much humming and hawwing for four reasons:

1. Reasonably consistent good reviews.

2. N+1 for coverage for long life (I hope).

3. The LED was reviewed by many as handy. I agree, nice to see download and upload activity at the push of a button.

4. Gigabit Ethernet ports.

And in the true spirit of technology, the day that I buy it they announce the next version at CES with one more feature – dual band. I am not returning it ….