CES 2008 Kicks Off in Las Vegas

The 41st annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicked off today in Las Vegas. In case you aren’t familiar, CES is an industry wide event in which tech companies show up to announce their newest and coolest gadgets and products to the world. Here are some of the highlights, so far.

Bill Gates’ hysterical keynote video presentation and a demonstration of Microsoft’s Surface tabletop PC. The Surface takes PC interaction to a whole new level. No more using a mouse, all work on the Surface is done with gestures. Expect to see the Surface turning up in hotels, restaurants and retails stores in early 2008.

The Motorola ROKR E8 is a sleek, touch based phone with audio playback capabilities. Switch from phone mode to music mode with one simple touch of a button. There’s also an built-in FM radio with Song ID, a 2.0 megapixel camera with 8x zoom, wi-fi capabilities and more.

Audio Technica introduced the ATH-ANC3 QuietPoint™ Noise-Cancelling In-Ear Headphones. These headphones promise to block out up to 85% of all background noise, while providing outstanding audio quality and comfort. They are expected to be available in Spring 2008.

Audio Technica QuietPoint Noise Cancelling Headphones

Panasonic announced an enormous 150″LCD HDTV. With 4096×2160 resolution, it’s the size of nine 50″plasma screen TVs. While the price tag will certainly be quite hefty and you’ll probably need to knock out some walls in your apartment to get it in, just imagine getting movie theater quality in your own home, without the hassle and frustration of dealing with the public.