Cars Get Gadgety Makeovers

There was more to electronics show than TVs

(NEWSER) - This year's Consumer Electronics Show had the predictable high-tech TVs and other conventional items—but the 3,100 exhibitors also showed off some rather bizarre devices. A few highlights:

• Solowheel. An electric unicycle with no seat and footboards that allow riders to stand and lean in the direction they want to go. The 26-pound, $1,800 machine goes 10mph on its battery-powered motor, and has a 15- to 20-mile range.

Smartphone market to become 'three horse race,' Nokia promises

(NEWSER) - Nokia and Microsoft announced a “broad strategic partnership” today, as both companies try to claw their way back into the smartphone market. Nokia will now produce a host of new Windows 7 phones that CEO Stephen Elop promises will make the segment a “three horse race” between Google, Apple, and the new Nokia-Microsoft partnership. Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, meanwhile, said the move would “dramatically accelerate” Windows Mobile 7 adoption. More»

Slate columnist: Tech journalists won't say it, but the show's always a bore

(NEWSER) - Farhad Manjoo isn’t one of the tech journalists descending on Las Vegas this weekend. He decided to stay home and avoid “the overcrowded, overstuffed, chaotic, and profoundly pointless vaporware parade known as CES,” he writes in Slate . The Consumer Electronics Show “is an enormous waste of time,” and all tech journalists know it, he contends—but because it gives them so dang much to blog about, they all schlep out there anyway. More»

Company mulls yet another callback, this time for steering

(NEWSER) - In a burgeoning Toyota recall crisis, the car maker is now considering calling back Corollas because of a problem with power steering. Meanwhile, the company president is refusing to attend the upcoming US Congressional hearing on complaints about the Corolla. "Our officials in the US will amply answer the questions," Toyota President Akio Toyoda told AP . "We are not covering up anything, and we are not running away from anything." More»

Consumer Electronics Show previews Project Natal, Hitachi TVs

(NEWSER) - Losing your remote control will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to new technology that embraces motion control, making it possible to channel surf with your hands. Hitachi televisions, for example, will allow you to change the channel by twisting your wrist, the New York Times reports. Microsoft’s Project Natal, to be released later this year, will compete with the Nintendo Wii—but without controllers, allowing you to use just your body to dodge balls and do skateboard tricks. More»