Shortly after Panasonics announcement, Sony declared that its new models will also have face detection—so the camcorder stays focused on subjects even as they move around. Sonys face-finding models—the high-def HDR-UX20, UX10, SR12, SR11, and SR10 and standard-def DCR-SR220, SR85 and DVD910—track up to eight faces and optimize not only focus but also color and light exposure. And when they compress the video for storage, they allocate more digital bits to the subjects mugs, so they come out looking sharper. Sonys still cameras with face-detection are very adept at locking on the kisser, and the same Bionz image processor tech is now in the camcorders, so results should be good. In a very quick test, a preproduction model found up to four faces (the most I could get in a frame), even those in profile.

PopSci is covering the HDR-UX20 in its February issue, for a sneak peek, click here.—Sean Captain

Want more? Check out our entire CES 2008 coverage here.

Seriously, The Black Eyed Peas? Ugh.

What immaculate timing. No less than 24 hours after I happened upon CoverFlow, Apple unveiled a new version of iTunes that incorporates, among other things, the exact same cover-browsing technology under the exact same name. And rather than being simply "inspired" by CoverFlow, it looks like Apple bought the technology outright. I don't know, though—iTunes 7 seems to be taking its sweet time downloading my missing art. And where are my Wikipedia links!? Maybe I'm missing something, but for now, I'm sticking with the original.

Other news from Mr. Jobs today included underwhelming iPod updates (although the tiny new clip-on Shuffle is pretty cool), an iTunes Movie Store, and a sneak peek at the long-rumored Apple set-top box, dubbed the iTV and available early next year. Is it just me, or are these Apple events getting a little eh. —John Mahoney