OTHER TECH

Photos by Jayme Thornton

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Also check out: Stocking stuffers Personal audio players

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Spouses, children, in-laws, out-laws, parents, siblings, business associates, mailmen, mailwomen, girlfriends, and boyfriends all deserve a little something from you when the holidays roll around.

Photos by Tony Cordoza

Spend $850 on a used car, and in a few days you'll spend another $850 on repair costs. Invest $850 in the stock market, and in a few weeks you'll have $600 worth. Spend $850 on Cambridge SoundWorks' new MegaTheater 510 DVD home theater system, and in a few minutes you'll have more entertainment than you bargained for.

Photos by Tony Cordoza

Most people never see hard-disk drives, but their impact on our lives is becoming universal. We take them for granted, remembering how essential they are only when they occasionally fail. While CDs pretty much own the data of the audio world, hard-disk drives are providing exciting new possibilities. Take Yamaha's CDR-HD1300, for example.

Movie Images Courtesy of New Line

I'm standing in the rain watching a large group of soldiers in medieval armor poke at dead horses and slain warriors lying in the mud of a riverbank. There are bright lights, smoke, and machines spraying everything with water despite the steady downpour nature is providing.

Rockford Corporation, which owns such brands as Rockford Fosgate, Lightning Audio, and MB Quart, used CES 2003 to showcase its newest member, NHT, and promote home-network products made by Rockford's new partner, SimpleDevices. Formerly owned by Recoton, speaker maker NHT used its CES limelight to promote its modular Evolution line and that line's latest addition, the on-wall L5 speaker.

That's a concise summary of the myriad press conferences held the day before the official opening of the 2003 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.