consumer electronics show

Dick Tracy, this is your year. Gadget makers have tried to re-create the 2-Way Wrist Radio before, but now they’ve finally managed to pack cell-phones into watches so sleek and func-
tional that you’d actually wear them.

High-Tech Musician: Stevie Wonder, a voracious consumer of technology, wants manufacturers to make their products accessible to everyone.  Lamar Mitchell

"He's always the first," says Lamar Mitchell, one of Wonder's technology assistants. "He was the first one to have a sampler…He was one of the first guys messing with drum machine technology." The distinct sound of Wonder's 1972 blockbuster hit, Superstition, came from a novelty piano/electric guitar hybrid instrument called the Höhner Clavinet. "It was meant to be an electric harpsichord," said Mitchell. "And then something happened when Stevie got it."

Though blind, Wonder has mastered the visually-oriented personal computer—both PCs and Macs.

The Consumer Electronics Show doesn't start till next week, but there's already some cool releases starting to roll out. We're especially looking forward to Olympus's LS-10; one of the only digital audio recorders that works with a wireless remote. Place the recorder on a speakers podium, for instance, and the infrared remote starts it from across the room.—Lauren Aaronson

Olympus LS-10 $400; olympusamerica.com

Think the iPhones 3.5-inch screen is big? How about a handheld with a 100-inch screen? Thats the promise of Microvisions PicoP laser projector.

By bouncing pulse of red, green, and blue laser light of a vibrating mirror, the PicoP can paint WVGA (848x480-pixel) images up to 100-inches diagonal in a dark room—or about 12 inches under bright lights—on a wall, tabletop or any other surface.

Measuring a scant 0.26 by 0.79 by 1.57 inches, the PicoP is about the size of the original cellphone cameras, and Microvision hopes to make it just as ubiquitous in cell phones and other handhelds.

For starters, though, Microvision will bundle the PicoP with a battery in a separate handheld device, about the size of an iPod—called the SHOW, a prototype that the company debuted today. Microvision says its already inked deals with companies that will sell the SHOW under their own brands before years end. Prices arent set, but spokesman Matt Nichols says they could be made and sold profitably for under $500.

Microvision appears to be leading the slow-paced race with Light Blue Optics and Texas Instruments to bring the first micro projectors to market. Like Microvision, TI did show an early prototype laser projector at last years Consumer Electronics Show. But TI has since decided to switch from lasers to light-emitting diodes for its Pico Projector, and it is not expected to show anything new at the 2008 CES next week.—Sean Captain

cea_485.jpg:

Since 1989, CEA has honored products based on recommendations from independent panels of designers, engineers and journalists, with advice from the Industrial Designers Society of America. Judging criteria include engineering quality, aesthetic design and uniqueness.

PopSci's official contributing troubadour and podcaster Jonathan Coulton got some major love in the Sunday New York Times Magazine this week as the centerpiece of a story on how musicians are using the Internet to interact directly with their fans in ways that were previously not possible. When he's not interviewing the best and brightest minds of the science world from his PopSci office on the moon or performing at our swanky Future Lounge in Second Life, Jonathan is a full-time, self-supported singer-songwriter. We're all crazy about his tracks here at PopSci (if you haven't heard "Code Monkey" yet, do so at your earliest convenience) and thrilled that Jonathan will probably have an even larger audience to interact with online after this week's piece.

You can read the whole thing online here. And after you're done, why not check out Jonathan's PopSci Podcast and our video coverage of this year's Consumer Electronics Show that also featured Mr. Coulton. And last but certainly not least, find out what being a magazine's "contributing troubadour' actually means by checking out Jonathan's five-track digital soundtrack to 2005's Future of the Body Issue called "Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Cybernetic Arms," still available for a free download. Great stuff.

Looking for our CES coverage? PopSci's editors are currently scouring the floor bringing you the best tech from the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Find photos, video and more at popsci.typepad.com/ces2007.

You've reached the home of PopSci.com's coverage of the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the biggest tech trade show in the world. Our team of editors will be scouring the floors for incredible innovations, surprise standouts and the tech trends that will affect you directly in '07.  This blog will be the jump-off for daily posts, photo galleries and video features live and direct from the gadget frontier.

It all gets going on January 8th, so check back after the holidays. Vegas baby, yeah!

Well here we are again. Back in Las Vegas for the 2002 Consumer Electronics Show. This is PopSci.com's second annual inside peek at the enormous trade show that spotlights the brightest and best technology innovations we can expect to see in the months ahead. Once again I 'll give you the viewpoint of the most average of Joes (yours truly).