[CES 2009] The LG press conference ended with the rush from the press to shoot a picture of the LG Watch Phone work by an LG executive. Overall, there were less new products when compared to previous years, but the direction for 2009 and beyond was interesting, especially the energy savings and design aspects.

If you head to our live coverage (live.ubergizmo.com), you will see the integrality of the LG press conference( it’s 9:07am PT). Our next live coverage will start around 10am.

Roku was the most famous $99 web video stream box, but the arrival of the Netgear ITV200 might change that a little, although they don't address the same market, for now. The ITV2000 lets you connect to free web services like YouTube or other channels ("hundreds" says Netgear) and stream content to your PC via HDMI. You can also plug in a USB drive with media files and play them on your TV - most popular formats are supported.

There's one feature that I would like to see implemented in the future: filtering by video quality/resolution. Watching a 320x240 YouTube video on a big display is just too painful.

The Netgear ReadyNAS series is a little bigger: the ReadyNAS Pro Pioneer Edition is an network attached storage (NAS) that is powered by an Intel multicore processor like those found in PCs. It can receive up to 6 drives and use RAID 6, a protocol that can handle two hard drive failures (when using 6) and drives hotswap. Netgear claims that its X-RAID2 technology makes volume expansion much easier than with "normal" RAID system. I have not tried it, but in the past RAID expansion was a pain in the neck, so I'm willing to believe that Netgear has done something better - but I could not find an independent review to confirm this.

Finally, what we should really look for in the future is a thorough test of the software that comes with the box. After all, that's where the value is. Oh, and did I mention that it work with Mac and Time Machine as well?

We're covering the LG conference now on live.ubergizmo.com, tune in to see the last development. Today is press day at CES, so keep an eye on the live site, we'll update often!

Since its last September update, Synaptics has been busy adding new gestures to its trackpad driver. This time around, here’s how Synaptics describes the changes (see image above):

• Two-Finger Scroll for easy window scrolling in both horizontal and vertical directions, and work in all applications with the active window scroll control. Surf the Internet faster, review documents easily without leaving the TouchPad.
• Two-Finger Rotate for quickly rotating photos or pages in the most common photo and document applications such as Windows Photo Gallery and Adobe PDF.
• Two-Finger Pinch Zoom now enhanced with PointZoom™ for intelligent and contextual zoom control. Synaptics first led with Pinch and Expand to Zoom In/Out; now optimized for Web 2.0 applications. Users surfing the Web can pinch over a site’s text enlarging the font, pinch over a map, and zoom in on the map - all in the same browser window.
• Three-Finger Flick represents a more intuitive and reliable way to provide application control for rapidly paging through documents, photos, presentations, and other files. A simple use model to flick right for next, flick left for previous, flick up to start or play, and flick down to stop or end while improving ergonomics by reducing keyboard to touchpad fatigue.

To be honest, I’m really happy with my current trackpad usage, but if anyone out there tries this, could you add a comment to let us know how this works for you? Thanks!

[CES 2009] It is only fitting to release the Sansa slotRadio in Vegas - where else do you find as many slots in America? This new device from SanDisk thrives on its companion line of slotRadio music cards that were specially designed for the casual music consumer, and it comes in a tiny, stylish and portable form factor. In addition, each purchase is bundled with a slotRadio card that boasts 1,000 pre-loaded songs that were handpicked from the Billboard charts, although it might not be to your taste. The die-cast aluminum player will come with a 1.5" OLED display, an integrated FM radio, a built-in handy belt clip, retailing for $99.99 (inclusive of the 1,000 song card, of course). Those who want to pick up an additional thousand songs from a specific genre can do so for $39.99 a pop. The Sansa slotRadio player will be out early this year across RadioShack stores nationwide. Fancy your chances with this?

[CES 2009] We have yet another all-in-one computer for you to peruse - the MSI NetOn AP1900. This one lacks the transparent bezel found on the AE1901, but it sure doesn't lack in terms of processing power though. The NetOn AP1900 comes with the following :-

• Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor
• Intel 945GSE chipset
• 1GB SODIMM DDR2 RAM
• 18.5" WXGA widescreen display with 16:9 aspect ratio
• Energy Star 5.0 compliant
• Less than 25dB noise level

[CES 2009] We have yet another all-in-one computer for you to peruse - the MSI NetOn AP1900. This one lacks the transparent bezel found on the AE1901, but it sure doesn't lack in terms of processing power though. The NetOn AP1900 comes with the following :-

• Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor
• Intel 945GSE chipset
• 1GB SODIMM DDR2 RAM
• 18.5" WXGA widescreen display with 16:9 aspect ratio
• Energy Star 5.0 compliant
• Less than 25dB noise level

[CES 2009] Wow - this is unbelievably thin, and at $800 a pop, it is certainly at an extremely attractive price point. Most people who aren't too familiar with computers might actually mistake this for the MacBook Air, but they will be sorely disappointed to find out that an Intel Atom processor runs within instead. It makes me regret not purchasing a netbook to tote around during shows like CES since my 15.4" notebook is currently breaking my back - it gets worse when you have thousands of square feet of gizmos and gadgets to cover across four hectic days.

[CES 2009] There is nothing quite like seeing a device in the flesh, and here we are at the MSI booth with their Hybrid U115. It is unbelievably small, and the fact that it has a hard drive and a SSD running inside to store your data still amazes us. The 9-cell battery used does make it a wee bit on the heavy side though, but we wouldn't think twice about dropping some cash on this puppy to bring it home.

[CES 2009] The Duck Hunter might not be the most technologically advanced device on display at CES Unveiled, but we find it to be highly amusing. After all, this interactive hunting games comes with a free flying quick charge bird (12 seconds of charging offer half a minute worth of flying) that requires three direct hits (via infrared presumably) before it stops flapping its wings and drop "dead" to the ground. Battery life has yet to be rated, although the executive at the booth told us that a trio of AA batteries ought to last for up to 50 charges without any problems. Duck Hunter will be available sometime this Spring for $29.99 a pop.

[CES 2009] We must admit that the Nintendo Wii has surprised us in terms of console sales worldwide this generation despite its notable hardware limitations, but it is nice to see the underdog win once in a while. There has been numerous accessories released for the Wii to date mainly to augment the playing experience (like those sports kits for Wii Sports), but none of them will be able to hold a candle to the jOG. Hailing from UK, this accessory is actually a pedometer that is connected to your Wii via USB, and when plugged, will require you to run on the spot to move your on-screen avatar around. Guess those who love RPGs will find this an extremely tiring experience since moving around dungeons can be quite a tedious and long-winded task in certain segments of the game. Instead of just exercising your wrist and arm when playing with the Wii, why not get a quick jog as well? Fret not - it can be unplugged at any time if you find yourself running short of breath. The jOG has been selling for 20 quid in the UK, and the manufacturers hope to make it available in the US for $25 or so. A wireless version is currently in the works as well.

[CES 2009] Sometime in the middle of last year, the tech world was abuzz with news that Sharper Image will be closing down, holding fire sales in virtually every brick and mortar store. Well, they're back with a vengeance this time round, retaining the brand name but with a whole new slew of executives on board (different captain this time round to steer the ship, boys and girls). Maybe they should've called it the Sharpest Image if they plan to outdo its predecessor. Well, it is nice to see a familiar name hanging around, rising from the ashes like a phoenix although now is probably not the best time to be in business...