Earlier this AM, HP shot me a mail with the latest details on announcements they're making for CES.  Here's the latest:

• MediaSmart Receiver - works with XP and Vista PCs, offering wireless delivery of media via 802.11 ABGN and is also DivX certified.  Includes a Pocket Media Drive slot on the front for the big files and will offer Media Center Extender support this spring via an Internet-delivered update.  No note on whether that's an additional cost.
• MediaSmart TVs - Updated 1080p TV's with three (3) HDMI ports, wired and wireless connectivity and (drumroll please) Media Center Extender support built in!
• Media Vault and Media Vault Pro - Home "NAS Plus" offerings in 500GB and 1GB offerings for the Media Vault mv2100, and up to 1.5TB for the mv5100. Both include Photo Webshare and iTunes server features previously seen in HP MediaSmart servers. These units are Linux-based, unlike the HP MediaSmart Server which is powered by Windows Home Server.

All products will be available in Spring 2008

Jake's got some great guidance here for those of you going to this year's CES.  After 7 years of attendance, I'm sitting this one out and going to watch from afar.  A few more suggestions:

1.  Bring a 3 prong Multi-Outlet Adapter - you know, one of those little doo-dads that turns one 3-prong plug into three.  Now, when you get to McCarran airport and can't find an outlet during your flight delay, you can share with a spare.

2.  Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate - drink 2x as much water as you think you need.  Stop by the grocery store in Las Vegas and stock up or you'll pay $$$$ elsewhere. We used to get palettes of water at the local store and bring them into LVCC for the booth staff.

3.  Bring Mints for you and others - you're sure to encounter others who after last night's bender didn't rush home and brush their teeth.  A polite offering of a mint as you take one can often improve the persons outlook - with you and others.

4.  Bring Airborne - Placebo effect or actual benefit,it doesn't taste bad and can help ensure you're more in balance beyond vitamin B suggested by Jake.  I'm also a fan of melatonin if you're from a different time zone.

Hope that helps, as always be sure to share your CES war stories and tips here.

Update: Even more great suggestions from LiveDigitally's Jeremy Toeman here.

CES Survival Guide - 7 Tips For a Successful Consumer Electronic Show ~ Jake Ludington’s Digital Lifestyle

Apparently Wired Magazine's readers also took note that the Blackjack has yet to get the promised WM6 update nearly a year later... this is one of the worst PR/Customer sat blunders I've seen from Samsung in a long, long time. This from the same company that offered DLP TV owners a $100 upgrade to their mainboards with no additional markup just a few years ago.

Vaporware 2007: Long Live the King

The NY Times this AM is running an article on the ongoing battle between HD DVD and Blu-Ray. Frankly I'm getting pretty tired of the whole thing.  The video quality is better - noticeably better than DVD but would I not watch a movie because it wasn't available in my format?  No. 

NetFlix subscribers are the big winner in the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray battle by remaining largely agnostic.  I continue to say, don't buy the discs- just rent for now while the market sorts out.

In the DVD War Over High Definition, Most Buyers Are Sitting It Out - New York Times

Reason #1574 why I'm going to skip CES in-person this year:

As of Jan. 1, one of the most common types of rechargeable batteries used in gadgets ranging from laptops to cell phones will be subject to new restrictions on American flights. New rules from the US Department of Transportation will limit the size and number of lithium batteries allowed, as well as laying out other stipulations for safely traveling with them.

Lithium Batteries Face Travel Restrictions - Lifestyle News - Digital Trends

A few friends/family members have reported a rash of JS/snz.a virus messages when surfing this AM.  I'm not sure what is going on, but it looks like the issue just popped up and almost all of these users are running CA anti-virus software judging by the comments on Dynamoo's blog.  If I learn more, I'll post it here.

Update: The Register is commenting on the situation here.  Here's to hoping for a quick response from CA.

Dynamoo's Blog: Js/snz.a - likely false positive in eTrust / Vet Anti-Virus

Unfortunately I live in an area unlikely to get Verizon FiOS fiber-optic ultra broadband TV, internet and voice service, but that doesn't mean I can't pine for the goodies that go with it.  According to this Verizon Site, coming soon is the Verizon hub:

Simplify your life at home and stay connected.
News. Weather. Directory. Maps. Calender. Memo Pad.
And yes, it's also a phone.

Let's hope it works better than Verizon can spell "Calendar" ;)

Verizon - verizon hub

Setting aside some of the complaints that users have had with Vista, Thomas calls out one of my favorite features of Vista as well- file moving and conflict resolution.  To quote Thomas:

One of the things that I hated about XP and Mac OSX as well for that matter is that frequently I'd try to move my photos from my MacBook to my drobo after I uploaded them and I'd get a message reminding me that I already had a file with that name in the folder and would I like to replace the file or not replace it. The problem though was always that I didn't know if it was an actual physical dupe file or a different photograph using the same name.
Well now with Vista when it notifies me of this conflict, it actually shows me thumbnails of the photos in question and then gives me three choices. To replace the photo, not to move it, or to move it and give it a new title.

This is one of my favorite useful features along with Media Center which is now powering two HDTV's in our household via Xbox 360 Extenders.

Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection: Moving Files With Vista is Awesome

After perusing this book, I'm also convinced it's a must-have.  Thanks Kevin, my NetFlix queue will be filling up fast.  (Yep, that's right, I'm back to Netflix thanks to superior customer service and online UX, more on that at a later date).

Having just installed an Nvidia 8800 series video card, I'm off to see what Dx10 can offer. Sadly, this will be my first foray back into PC gaming in quite some time :)

Cool Tool: True Films eBook

Happy Holidays everyone.  Catching up on the news, the venerable Steve Garfield is one of the first to get the new service update on his set-top box- be sure to check out his video here.  The filter HD channels guide took a whopping 53 seconds to show up which is disappointing.  No word on when we will see the update here in Seattle, but at least we have a few new HD channels to work with. 

A tip for those interested in following the latest Seattle Comcast news- this thread on the AV Science Forum is among the best I've seen for news, details about outages and glitches, etc.

Steve Garfield's Off On A Tangent: Daily weblog on pop culture and technology.

Dear Santa...

Detroit Auto Show Preview: 2009 Chevy Corvette ZR-1 Officially Unveiled! (The Torque Report)

A lot of you will be traveling over the holidays and may find yourself in a similar situation; I hope you'll take a moment to say thank you.  It isn't about politics, it's about people.

Kudos to the Seattle Seahawks, The Storm, Trailblazers and others for participating.

The Gratitude Campaign

From Amazon.com Package Tracking:

At least they found it. :)  Here comes my Eye-Fi card in time for Christmas!