There is nothing like a few days at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to persuade you that your life is nothing — nothing! — without a high-def, flat-panel plasma TV at least as wide as the front porch on your double-wide mobile home.

Of course, in my case, I fear that installing the world’s largest version of these — a 150-inch monster shown off by Panasonic at the event — would not only require re-engineering the framing of the entire structure of my house, but would also probably cause my retinas to ignite and my brain to seize up in a form of encephalitic shock induced by too much exposure to Howie Mandel’s head on Deal or No Deal.

No, this Clifford-the-Big-Red-Dog-sized display isn’t for sale yet. That’ll happen sometime in the undated future. So you’ll just have to settle for a more modest size, say, 65 inches.

What does a TV have to do with computers? Absolutely nothing. But now that Comdex is dead, the tech event we computer journalists must do pilgrimage to on an annual basis is CES. I know. Don’t thank me.

And when you go to CES, you get to look at a lot of TVs. In fact, if I see one more herd of XXL-sized business men in dark suits casually blocking the aisles in front of a wide-screen TV, trying to look like they’re composing business while really catching Mission Impossible III with the sound turned up too loud, I’m going to thrust my head into an aquarium. (Yes, there were lots of those around too — to show off the water-resistant bodies of the new breed of digital cameras for active living.)

But I promise, over the next month, while I sort through my voluminous notes, I’ll be sharing the most interesting new computer products I saw at the show. Some are even worth buying.

Posted on January 13th, 2008 by dian