Tech

The Creative HS-1100 is their latest gamer-friendly USB headset; it uses Silencer tech to wipe out ambient noise while improving speech clarity, dual mics and 3D positional surround sound.

If you’re expecting a dry summary of the 2009 CES in Vegas, look elsewhere; Current’s Ben Hoffman spends his time ridiculing absurd gadgets and harassing hapless exhibitors.

Viliv’s X70 Atom MID is a lighter, non-swiveling version of the S7 with the same 7″ touch screen, but swaps one option for another: no 1.86GHz, but buyers can choose Linux or XP.

It may not be pretty, but Motorola’s Tundra meets US Military specs for abuse while managing to pack a decent feature set with 3G, SMS, email, 2MP camera, aGPS and microSD slot.

Most likely the fastest single-GPU available, NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 285 is about 10% faster than its GTX 280 brethren; it sports 240 stream processors and 1GB of GDDR3 memory.

Panasonic’s RP-HJE900 in-ear headphones are the first to be made with Zirconia (ZrO2); the material boasts less resonance than plastic or aluminum for distortion-free sound reproduction.

At 10,000 lumens, Sanyo’s PLC-XF71 screams ultimate bachelor pad; however, with a 3000:1 contrast ratio and 1024×768 resolution, it’s really a pro-level projector for presentations.

Leica may seem overpriced and obsolete to some, but die-hard fans are no doubt salivating over this M8 Safari, which sports brushed silver accents and a Summicron 28mm F2.0 bundle.

Although largely unremarkable, Panasonic’s Lumix FS15 and FS7 cameras have an ace up their sleeves: a 29mm wide-angle Leica lens with stabilization and 4x-5x optical zoom.

While we question their quality, Sony’s Japan-only MDR-EX36SC earbuds use convergence on a small scale: the protective case actually doubles as a passive speaker.

Impracticalities of a wood case aside, this S-series handset by student Simon Enever is an interesting blend of bamboo, black acrylic and stainless steel; any chance that’s a touchscreen, Simon?

eFizz doesn’t instill much confidence name-wise, but this all-in-one iPod dock and 2.1 stereo system cranks out 70 watts RMS through Cabasse speakers; it includes a HandMusic remote.

While the tiny numbers may not be ideal for the mainstream users this Freedom 2010 concept phone targets, its “keep it simple, stupid” philosophy features strike a chord with us.

Electro Harmonix’s Voice Box is a vocal synth processor: in short, sound like a synth-robot, add backup singers or even do a little gender bending (hey, it’s your music).

Short of a toilet and a fridge, the Emperor Workstation means you’ll never have to leave your computer; it comes with reclining Recaro seats, HEPA filters and optional PS3. Thanks, Blake!

Physical media will eventually go the way of the dino, but until then we’ll settle for Baba Akcja’s Floppy Disk CDRs, which are a double dose of nostalgia; they’re shaped like 3.5″ floppies.

Though similar in size to Sony’s Vaio P, Viliv’s Atom-powered S7 MID has our attention with 9 hours of movie playback on a 7″ 1024×600 swiveling touchscreen, 3G/4G and GPS.

Part media player, part projector, Samsung’s Pico weighs only 5.6 oz and projects up to a 50″ image at 480×320; it also includes a 2.2″ QVGA LCD screen, headphone jack and speaker.

Developed with Intel, Olidata’s Conte laptop is inspired by the MacBook Air; the high-end model will get a 13.3″ 16:10 screen, 3GB of RAM, SSD, backlit keyboard and MiMAX or 3G.