CES Special Coverage

• LG Adds to Connected Blu-ray Player Lineup

  LG Electronics forges ahead with its initiative to meld streaming content with Blu-ray playback. At the Consumer Electronics Show today, the company introduced two Blu-ray players that offer access to on-demand streaming content from Netflix, CinemaNow, and YouTube. LG also took the wraps off three new Blu-ray Disc Home Theater Systems.

  The new players are the LG BD370 and LG BD390 Network Blu-ray Disc Players, which are follow-ups to the BD300 released last fall. That player let you access streaming content from Netflix; the new players all feature LG's "NetCast Entertainment Access" for on-demand streaming content from Netflix, CinemaNow, and YouTube. Millions of YouTube videos can be accessed via the players and the nterface makes it easy to search, preview, and watch YouTube videos.

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• BlackBerry 8900 Curve Debuts on T-Mobile: Slimmest Full-QWERTY

  The thinnest and smallest full-QWERTY BlackBerry, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 is the latest addition to RIM's popular family of smart phones. Available from T-Mobile, the Curve 8900 has a more powerful processor and the 2.4-inch 65K display has the highest resolution of any full-QWERTY BlackBerry available. Unfortunately, the Curve 8900 has no 3G support.

  Curves aren't known for having the best photo quality, so a 3.2-megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom and flash is a welcomed addition. Additionally, the 8900 has expandable memory for up to 16GB - a necessary feature for media-rich smart phones.

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• Netgear Unveils Versatile Multimedia Player--and More

  LAS VEGAS -- As home networking companies go, Netgear has been eclectic in its product lines--and the announcements it is making here at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show continue that tradition. Over the next couple of months, the company will introduce products that enable innovative home networks and devices that provide uses for them.

  The new products include a powerful digital media player designed to work with HDTVs as well as stereos and one of the first home network kits based on the young MoCA (Multimedia over Coax Alliance) 1.1 specification for networks that use standard cable TV wiring. Netgear also announced several more traditional networking products, including a dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi router capable of supporting concurrent 2.4-Ghz and 5-Ghz Wi-Fi networks, a HomePlug AV powerline network switch, and a router that lets you create a Wi-Fi hotspot using a mobile broadband adapter.

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• Samsung Enters Pico-Projector Market

  The growing pico-projector market is getting a jolt here at the Consumer Electronics Show, with announcements from a range of vendors. The latest company to enter the market is Samsung Mobile, announcing the MBP200 Pico Projector.

  Weighing only 5.6 ounces, the MBP200 can project a viewing area up to a 50 inches in size. It can connect to a laptop or mobile phone, and includes a microSD card slot for accessing content. The MBP200 supports standard Microsoft Office and PDF formats for display.

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• Coming to a Wall Near You: GreenTV

  At a time when power savings is a hot topic, LG has begun shipping the first televisions that qualify for the LCD TV Association's GreenTV logo. The logo program was designed to encourage TV makers to reduce power consumption, and to help consumers make an informed choice on what kind of TV they're going to buy.

  Integral to program is that TV makers implement the use of ambient light sensors, which automatically lower the TV's brightness in a dark room by decreasing power to the backlight. This results in a power savings of 30 to 60 percent.

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