Harman Kardon’s Drive+Play is a mobile media manager for your car. Drive + Play 2 supports any music/flash players as they are USB-based. It features a 3.5-inch color display which is easy mountable on your dash. Drive + Play has also a five-buttons wireless controller and a power adapter that connects to the car’s lighter. With this device the drivers can browse through their Apple iPod or Microsoft Zune players. It can charge your iPod while in use, but only iPods and not other types of audio/video players.

This car device retails at $399. It seems a little expensive because you can get at the same price a CD/DVD deck with LCD screen that is complatible with your iPod.

V Cast Mobile TV is a new service that will provide live television streaming directly on your cellphone. The technology comes from Verizon. They announced the service will be available from March 2007. The TV programs included in the service are CBS, NBC, MTV, Fox, and ESPN. There are rumours about the price for V Cast Mobile TV - $15 per month.

V Cast Mobile TV will broadcast directly to supported handsets: LG VX9400 and Samsung SCH-u620. These mobiles were created especially for V Cast TV service. Thus, the phones offer landscape display for better TV viewing, dedicated TV buttons and high-end features. Verizon announced they will produce other models in the future. Verizon promises good quality video streaming, live transmissions and perfect audio/video syncing.

[more on www.verizonwireless.com]

Philips HTS8100 SoundBar is a new solution that saves the space in your room. HTS8100 is a compact speaker system that produces the same experience as a 5.1 sound system. Only 5 inches thick, the Philips Soundbar features Philips’ proprietary Ambisound technology. Philips announced its release around the middle of this year at a price tag of $999. If this device is too expensive for you, we tell you that HTS8100 has a built-in DVD player that offers 1080p upconversion via HDMI and Faroudja DCDi circuitry. The only detachable piece of the Soundbar is subwoofer. You are not sure about this device? Philips HTS8100 SoundBar was declared the Best Home Audio at CES 2007. We recommend this system for using with a flat HDTV to create your own Home Theater.

How would you define a fully independent webcam?I for one am thinking of a digital camera that is able to transmit images trough the internet without you needing to provide an internet connection and not even a power supply. If you think that is impossible think again as the next product does all that with a catch.

The device is named SCIRC t1 and it is sold by digitalXtractions. It is a 1.3 MP camera capable of capturing single shots or even videos on request or at scheduled times. A built-in memory of 150 MB ensures will permit storing the images and videos for later uploads.

The SCIRC t1 is independent because it can be powered trough solar panels and because it connects to the internet independently using GPRS/EDGE (like mobile phones). Consequently the device has a relatively high price at $450 not including the solar panels sold separately (priced at $150 or $250 depending on the power they provide) and the internet access fee.

Presented at CES 2007, Samsung’s FP-T5894W has won the Best TV Award. It is the first wireless plasma TV in the world. The 58-inch screen has a resolution of 1,920×1,080 and 10,000:1 contrast ratio. The display comes together with a wireless A/V center that can be placed up to 300 feet from the screen and will communicate at 150Mbps, the 802.11n wireless standard. You can connect your DVD player, Blu-Ray player and even your PC to the A/V center because it has 3 HDMI 1.3 inputs.

Samsung FP-T5894W incorporates the FilterBright2 Plus technology that allows users to experience great and clear viewing under bright light conditions. The wireless plasma will be produced from September 2007 and will retail at the price of $5,799.

Yes the next generation operating system from Microsoft is finally here, we have a new Windows, Windows Vista and a new Microsoft Office suite. Both were expected for some time and, at least on the surface, the change seem to be numerous (especially on Office 2007 and the new Ribbon).

Focused on security, the new operating system has a lot to deliver as Microsoft employees have stated that the new OS can do without even an antivirus program. Windows Vista will also be focused on delivering a true multimedia experience and in a couple of years we might end up surrounded by devices running this OS. We have to remember that Bill Gates said at the CES this year that it sees Windows everywhere in your home, even your toaster should have Windows installed.

Although I have tested the Beta versions of both the Vista and the Office 2007 I will wait to see the final product and I expect you will do the same. I am sure there will be a lot of badmouthing and of course there will be a lot of pro reviews but as always the consumers will have the final saying. And, considering Microsoft is already working on a SP1 (Service Pack 1) for Windows Vista you might expect some major improvements once it is released. For the time being I will stick to my Windows XP, and I suggest you do the same as you should think of buying Vista only if you buy a new computer.

Mashimaro M808 is a rabbit themed mobile. It is the successor of M800. It impresses more for its design, rather than its features. The phone has the usual options: 1.5″ TFT display, 1 megapixel camera, MP3 player, microSD slot, USB connection. Other features like alarm, currency converter, world clock, calendar, memo, PC sync, photo album, photo editor and three games are part of this phone. I think the rabbit theme makes Mashimaro M808 a mobile destined for teens.

The phone is scheduled for launch on 1st of February. The price for this rabbit-themed cellphone is $135 or 900 Yuan (in China). I think Mashimaro M808 will be a success on the Asian market, because of their addiction for such designs.

Globalsat has announced a new gadget for runners or athletes. Is the new GH-615 watch that includes GPS module. GH-615 is equipped with the SiRF Star III high performance GPS chipset (supports WAAS and EGNOS), a built-in patch antenna and a LCD display. The LCD’s dimension is 24.9 x 39.88mm with a resolution of 80 x 120 pixels. Because the watch is destined for sportsmen and for outside use, it is waterproof. GH-615 watch can be connected to your laptop via USB cable. No information was released about the price or availability.

Apparently Samsung’s marketing division doesn’t know consumers tend to forget products with complicated names and the YP-T9 mp3 player is such a device. People look at Apple for example. Simple names keep your product in the memory of your consumers. Anyway I started this article with the intention of presenting you with an mp3 player, so I will do that no matter how bad the name is because what’s under the hood is always more important

The YP-T9 is a small powerful 1.68″(42 mm) x 3.27″(83 mm) x .44″(11 mm) device that weights only 1.7 oz. (less than 50 grams). But what does this mp3 player has to offer? Well, it offers music playing (MM3, WMA and DRM 10) and much more. If you were to buy it, the YP-T9 will be able to provide audio recording, video (MPEG 4) and photo playback, flash games and even the possibility of opening text documents and browsing your folders. Of course you will not be able to see much on the 1.8″ LCD display, but it is a good thing to have for searching a phone number, address or something similar that you have on the of built-in memory (1 GB, 2 GB and 4 GB available).

At a price of $129.99 (2 GB version at Best Buy) this device might be a tough competitor on the market although I don’t find myself particularly attracted by its design.

BenQ-Siemens design was always great but they’ve managed to outdone themselves with the gorgeous EF71 mobile phone. With such great looks this phone is already very sexy, but it turns to be even more appealing if you stop and look under the hood.

Besides making phone calls the main purpose of the EF71 is the music playback (maybe even more important than the calls). The ability to listen to music without even flipping the phone open comes to support my prior statement. Moreover on the exterior OLED display you can see relevant informations regarding the songs playing and under the display there is a set of buttons for performing common functions like play/pause and move to next/last song. Music can also be listened from radio stations as the EF71 has a built-in FM receiver, but a FM transmitter also allows you to stream songs from your phone to your other devices.

Besides music the device also provides a good video experience with the included 2MP digital camera that also has the possibility to record video files at 30 fps with the storage capacity as the only limit. And that is a real problem as this capacity is limited to only 24 MB. But a solution is also available as the EF71 includes an microSD slot for expanding the initial memory (to reach a maximum capacity of 2 GB) and a 256 MB memory card is shipped with the mobile phone.