2003 CES Sneak Peek

The Consumer Electronics Show opens its doors tomorow in Las Vegas. Here's a sneak peek of some of the products sure to be making news in the days to come. Be sure to check back daily for CES updates including coverage of some major new product announcements.

Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio broadcasts to your car 100 channels of digital entertainment coast-to-coast. Sirius has 60 original music channels, all commercial free, and 40 news, sports and entertainment channels like ESPN, CNBC, CNN, NPR, Radio Disney, ABC News, FOX News, A&E and Discovery with commercials.

New at CES this year are portable Sirius products that play in the home and office as well as in the car. A new FM Modulator/Adapter converts your standard car FM radio to Sirius. Right now they are offering a special – buy the Modulator/Adapter for $80 and get a free satellite tuner/receiver for the trunk, plus 30 days of free service. Sirius Satellite car radios start in price at $170 – purchase a Sirius car radio and also get a month’s free service. Subscription to Sirius Satellite radio is $12.95 a month. www.siriusradio.com

Gibson Digital Guitar
The Gibson Digital Guitar is the first electric guitar ever seen at the Consumer Electronics Show. The guitar looks very similar to Gibson’s Les Paul model, the only differences are an additional “Hex” pickup that separates the guitar’s sound into six individual signals (one for each string) and a new jack that will accept standard Cat-5 Ethernet cable.

Inside, the prototype is equipped with chips developed by Gibson Labs along with 3Com and Xilinx that convert the analog signals from the pickup into a digital signal. The signal is transported via Gibson Labs’ MaGIC technology, which makes standard Ethernet cable act like a supercable, with higher bandwidth, lower latency and bi-directional capability. A “breakout box” converts the digital signal back to analog for compatibility with conventional equipment. http://labs.gibson.com

New Cordless Phone Technology
AT&T is introducing it's 5830 5.8 GHZ cordless phone/answering machine. The 5830 is the world’s first cordless phone with Talking Caller ID which allows you to hear the name or number of the incoming caller. Other features include 50 Name/Number Directory, Analog and Digital Clock Displays, Call Transfer, Conferencing, Any Key Answer, and Page / handset locator. Plus, the 5830 is an Expandable System -add up to 5 additional handsets. $199 for one base and handset. http://telephones.att.com/

Vtech 2434 Teen Phone
This 2.4 GHz phone is the first cordless phone designed especially for teens-- it works more like one of today's cell phones with six distinctive pop song-like ringer melodies, software and MIDI files for composing up to seven customizable songs. Features an animated display and 50-name phone book directory. www.vtechphones.com

HP Scanjet 5500c Scanner
HP’s new Scanjet 5500c is the first scanner to feature an automatic photo feeder – use it to easily scan a stack of 3x5 or 4x6-inch photos into digital photos. Get photo-quality results on photos, graphics and text with 2400 dpi and 48-bit color. The lighted adapter makes scanning 35-mm negatives and slides easier than ever. And no warm-up is required – simply start scanning and see images in about 7 seconds. 7 one-touch buttons allow you to copy images directly to CD, DVD and email. $299. www.hp.com