Other Tech

I told you about fast-growing fields of new formats intended to replace the CD. You know the place: First there was Warner's MVI, for Music Video Interactive.

At this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Edifier Group launched a trio of stylish budget products, two of which won CES Innovations Design & Engineering Awards.

The finale for Season 5 of Nip/Tuck just aired [on February 19]. Are you happy with how the year went on the show? Yeah. The overall tone of this season was pretty cool. I grew to like the direction they took it this year.

Mention the word "headphones" to the average audiophile geek, and the name Ultimate Ears is hardly the first to come to mind. In fact, it probably won't come to mind at all.

I trudged through booth after booth, aisle after aisle, mile after mile, becoming increasingly depressed. The Consumer Electronics Show - held mainly in vast, warehouse-size buildings - was like an inventory manager's nightmare. Some idiot had leaned on the "TV" button and unwittingly ordered up a zillion screens.

Personal hovercraft. Jet-propelled backpacks. Robots that automatically prepare your meals and clean up afterwards. And everyone's favorite - weekend junkets to the orbting Hilton space station. Back in the optimistic 1950s, technology writers were confident that by the 21st century, such things would be a part of daily life.

A home theater is nothing without a first-rate surround setup, and a 7.1-channel system can give you the most compelling sound experience that today's technology can offer. But having the right receiver and the right number of speakers doesn't mean you'll magically get the most out of your system.