New Products

Podcasts, those audio recordings of your innermost thoughts that you share with every Internet-connected person on the planet, are easily done with a hodgepodge of hardware and software. But they're most easily done with M-Audio's Podcast Factory ($180), which has everything you need to record and edit your podcasts and post them as MP3 files on podcasting sites.

DLP PROGRESS If HDTV is your religion, your savior has arrived: The Marantz VP-11S1 is the first DLP front projector with 1080p resolution. Unlike previous 1080p DLP TVs, which stacked their pixel counts using a technique similar to interlacing called "wobulation," the VP-11S1 packs a state-of-the-art DLP chip that renders discrete 1,920 x 1,080-pixel images.

May the flash be with you! For daily data transport, Star Wars fanatics can now stay on target with USB flash drives that are both practical and whimsical. Mimoco's Star Wars mimobots include a storm trooper as well as Darth Vader, Chewbacca, and R2-D2 & all designed to the exacting standards of Lucas Licensing.

KALEID-O-SET In the modern TV world of huge screens and off-the-scale resolution, color matters more than ever. The palette in Mitsubishi's 57-inch 1080p set is run by a 6-Primary Color System, which creates the "subtractive" colors (cyan, magenta, and yellow) directly instead of mixing red, green, and blue.

Everybody wants a flat LCD or plasma TV to hang on the wall, but punching holes for cabling can be a pain. Mizzico has its "Superb Wiring Solution" for this quandary: the WS-18, an 18-inch-long wiring channel ($89) that attaches to the wall between your TV and component rack (assuming it's right underneath), hiding any unsightly cables.

If you think Netflix is a convenient way to watch the movies you want, take a look at MovieBeam. After buying one of its shiny silver boxes ($228 after rebate), you can stream flicks right into your home for $2 to $5 a pop, and there are even high-def titles available.

KEEP IT TOGETHER Imagine having an iPod and a satellite radio in every room. The IntelliControl ICS system makes it happen with just one iPod and one radio tuner by distributing their feeds via the GXR2 receiver, which takes audio from up to six sources and streams it to six zones. Touchscreens in each zone display artist, title, and track information.