Okay, just one more, because it sounds so damn cool: Trek Puts a Camera on a Key Chain.

"Key chain USB drives have a place in the hearts and pockets of many geeks. But simply storing files isn't enough; the next generation of Trek's tiny ThumbDrive devices, announced at the Consumer Electronics Show here, can take photos and play music.

They join a growing selection of key chain USB devices seeking to distinguish themselves with extras like recording functions, enhanced security, and cameras.

The ThumbDrive Camera from Trek, for instance, combines flash memory with a digital camera in a package about the size of a couple of packs of gum.

The prototype Trek is demonstrating at the show takes distinctly blurry photos, and with a maximum resolution of 640 by 480 pixels, it won't replace a dedicated digital camera. But Trek doesn't intend it to: The ThumbDrive Camera is aimed at casual photo snappers who value convenience over image quality....

When not connected to a PC, a single AAA battery powers it. And like previous ThumbDrives, the camera version doesn't need drivers, so you can plug it into a PC in a hotel or cyber café and access the photos or files stored on it. The ThumbDrive Camera is scheduled to ship in February priced at $179.

For the more musically inclined, the ThumbDrive Music is a combination of key chain USB drive and digital audio player. It has 128MB of memory, can play MP3 or WMA digital audio files, and can run for as long as 12 hours powered by a AAA battery. It is scheduled to ship in February as well, with a $169 price tag." [PC World]

SanDisk introduces Compact Flash Wi-Fi

"Alan Reiter writes up SanDisk's announcement at CES of their Cmopact Flash-based Wi-Fi cards that are available in configurations with 128 Mb and 256 Mb or no memory. The memory plus Wi-Fi combination is particularly useful because in cameras that could be upgraded to handle Wi-Fi networking support, for instance, it would require much more engineering to add double Compact Flash slots." [80211b News]

Digital cameras with lots of memory and Wi-Fi.... I need a sound icon of Homer drooling over donuts....

Sony Predicts Rebirth of Television
"A key executive at the consumer-electronics giant takes the stage at CES, proclaiming that television is still in its infancy and will be the center of home entertainment networks." [CNET News.com]

Dell: PCs Still Rule the Roost
"In a gentle slapback to remarks from Sony's president, Michael Dell tells CES crowds that the PC will become the center of the digital home entertainment universe--not the TV." [CNET News.com]

Remember, convergence isn't just for phones and PDAs! They're still trying to figure out which appliance will serve up your media. Yet another race, but the question is which group will focus on the single biggest concern of consumers? Convenience is the key, and so far no one has found a way to make DRM easy, which is only going to stall the fun part.

A Microsoft Watch Will Provide Much More Than Time

"Microsoft, continuing its effort to extend its reach beyond computers, today introduced designs for a new class of watch that gives more than the time and a pocket audio and video player.

The designs, which will be available from several manufacturers by the end of the year, were presented by Microsoft's chairman, Bill Gates, in a speech today that opened the annual International Consumer Electronics Show here.

But even as the company extends its reach to new devices, Microsoft's vision is closely linked to the computer. Both the watch — which can provide weather information, text messages and other data — and the media player are designed to be controlled through wireless connections to their owners' PC's....

The watch will initially be made by Fossil, Citizen and Suunto. The simplest versions will cost less than $150, but the watchmakers will also make much more expensive designs. The watch will require a subscription to a data service, which Microsoft executives said might have a fee of $5 to $12 a month or might be included in the price of some watches.

All of the watches will have a small, rectangular liquid crystal display and the ability to receive short data messages, much like a pager. This technology will allow the watch to identify where it is and what the local time is — and the local weather forecast — as the wearer travels.

The watch will also be able to receive the wearer's personal calendar sent from a personal computer and instant messages sent through Microsoft's messaging service.

Microsoft has built a new national wireless data network, based on the data broadcasting ability of FM radio stations. The company says that compared with traditional paging systems, this network makes it cheaper both to broadcast data and build receivers. It said the microchips for the watch, which it designed, cost less than $10 each wholesale.

Microsoft's watch design is the first instance of what it calls smart personal object technology, or SPOT, which powers devices with access to information. William H. Mitchell, the general manager of the smart personal objects unit, said such a device could be sold for less than $20." [New York Times: Technology]

I don't think I could handle a blue screen of death on my watch. Actually, I don't even wear one. As Richard Lewis used to say, I tell time the way the Aztecs did - by asking the person next to me.

I can't imagine paying a subscription fee for a watch when I'll have my smartphone with me and it will do all of this and more via a wireless, always-on connection.

Handhelds Go Multimedia is a good primer on the convergence of cell phones and PDAs for those not already familiar with the topic. The good news: "the hardware is basically here and now." The bad news: "Plan to choose more than one, and then a new one every 18 months or so as technology advances." So basically Moore's law has transferred from PCs to smartphones. Of course, none of this will happen until we have cell phone number portability in the U.S.

"This Next Big Thing will result from a combination of three big things: rapidly advancing handsets and PDAs, fast wireless networks, and compelling applications.

While we can't say for sure whether the Next Big Thing will be a Treo, a Pocket PC Phone, a Nokia 3650, a T-Mobile Sidekick, or one of the other devices flooding the market, we can say this with confidence: Most of us will be carrying small, powerful devices, equipped with high-resolution color displays and connected to fast voice and data networks. We'll use them to send and receive video, music, and rich multimedia messages; play games; and access a host of location-based services." [ZDNet]

Today's AnchorDesk column, Where Mobile Tech Is Headed, goes into more detail. Consensus already seems to be that wireless is the "it" technology this year, but then we knew that last year.

In Japan, Cell Phone-Cameras Click with the Public

"Mobile phones with built-in digital cameras are taking Japan by storm and, amid a proliferation of new uses, bolstering Japan's reputation as the most advanced and creative cell-phone market in the world. It is a phenomenon likely to be repeated in the United States, where picture phones are just starting to appear in advertisements....

Finding new uses for the pictures has become something of a treasure hunt here. Buyers at Tokyo's world famous Tsukiji fish market's auction beam shots of $15,000 frozen tuna to sushi chefs across Japan before placing their bids. The Osaka police now get dozens of cell-phone photos a month from concerned citizens of crime scenes, stolen cars and suspects. And video microscope firm Scalar Corp. offers free attachments so customers can send skin and scalp photographs to beauty centers for an automated analysis.

Perhaps inevitably, the new technology has been tapped for matters of the heart. People are using the pictures as digital alibis, sending previously taken shots of themselves at work to a husband or wife back home, when in reality they're off having an affair.

'One problem is making sure you're wearing the same clothes when you get home that you wore in the picture,' says Atsushi Baba, a systems engineer.

Matchmakers have embraced the technology as 'ingles wanted' Web sites proliferate, allowing people to study cell-phone photos online before deciding to take the next step. Magazine articles help the self-conscious with tips on how to look your best in a thumbnail frame....

Men and women tend to use phone-equipped cameras differently, some say. Men take more shots of scenery, their cars, their girlfriends, with a particular emphasis on external objects, says Naoki Nakayama, editor of "J-Phone Sha-mail Hearts" magazine. Women, meanwhile, tend to take more pictures of themselves, their hairstyles, how they look in new clothes, with emphasis on the internal and the psychological, he adds." [LA Times, via Smart Mobs]