Inbox:What do 140,000 people, 1.85 million square feet of floor space and Las Vegas have in common? They are all part of this year's Consumer Electronics Show where the latest gadgets are unfolded for the tech-obsessed world to drool over.
This year the themes are homes, toys and smaller and smaller devices. Typical of the latter is the Asus Eee PC, (pictured, previously reviewed in InBox), the ultra compact, lightweight laptop which launched with a Linux operating system but will now pack Windows, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of flash memory. And the seven-inch screen has been boosted to nine-inches.
It will even cram in WiMax, a new, more powerful version of normal WiFi being trialled in 70 different countries. The Eee has been a smash hit selling more than 350,000 machines in the past three months.
TV and mobile is also making a big showing. Making a debut is the laser-driven TV from Mitsubishi, which is more energy efficient and cheaper to produce than existing LCD and plasma televisions. Not to be outdone, Panasonic unveiled a high-definition TV with a 150-inch plasma screen that towers six feet high and stretches 11 feet wide.
And Sony announced that the PSP games console will soon be able to make free VOIP calls over Skype, something of a blow to mobile phone operators.
The gaming world is not being left out. Gamers will be wanting to get their hands on a new special vest which is packed with air bladders that can rapidly inflate, creating the feeling of G-force as you fly a fighter plane or drive a car in a game. The vests are based on technology originally designed for doctors to remotely examine patients and connect to the computer via USB port. Imagine your character is shot in a game. The vest will re-create the force of something hitting you in the chest. Perfect for those winter evenings in.
TV manufacturer Westinghouse, working with networking firm Pulse-Link, has launched an integrated wireless HDTV. What does that mean in plain English? The 47-inch television displays video sent wirelessly from a high definition DVD player. No more cables.
