The next wave of cool new stuff

If you're still trying to figure out what's up with video iPods, Xbox 360s and other gizmos that debuted in 2005, brace yourself.

A wave of new products for 2006 and beyond will be rolled out this week at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Here are a few standouts among the thousands of products being displayed at the gadget smorgasbord. Some of them won the show's "Innovations" award for outstanding design and engineering.

Samsung YM-P1 portable TV and MP3 player

What it does: There's a crowd of iPod wannabes, but the YM-P1 is the first one that receives and plays TV signals from satellite broadcasts. That means you can watch live TV, instead of downloading video clips from a computer connected to the Internet. The YM-P1 also stores and plays music and video and displays digital photos.

Details: Samsung isn't saying until a Thursday news conference at CES.

A little context: Apple's iPod owns the market now, but some analysts think the market is still young and there's room for others to compete. Shipments of portable multimedia players will top 13 million units by 2010, according to consumer-research firm Parks Associates.

Belkin TuneStage

What it does: The latest attempt to make iPods work better with home stereos, the TuneStage wirelessly connects an iPod to a stereo or home-theater system.

It turns an iPod into a sort of ultrapowerful remote control, using Bluetooth radio technology. TuneStage includes a small transmitter that attaches to an iPod and communicates with a receiver that plugs into a stereo.

Details: Belkin began selling limited quantities of TuneStage in July for $179.

A little context: Apple doesn't participate in CES, but the show is full of companies trying to catch the iPod wave. The TuneStage morphs the iPod into one of the hotter new product categories at the show: hard-drive storage devices that attach to home networks. Sales of networked storage devices are expected to grow from 300,000 in 2004 to nearly 10 million by 2010, according to Parks Associates.

LG 50-inch Wireless Plasma Display 50PB2DW

What it does: After getting radically thinner, bigger and better in recent years, televisions are now getting trickier. This one gets its signals without wires, drawing images from a separate transmitter unit. But it still has one wire to bring it electricity.

Details: LG is expected to provide the scoop at a CES news conference Wednesday.

A little context: Falling prices, new manufacturing technologies and digital broadcasts have made flat-panel displays among the fastest-selling consumer-electronic products. Sales of LCD and plasma displays grew about 150 percent over the past year, and flat-panel TVs earned a majority of TV sales for the first time last fall, according to research firm DisplaySearch. Overall TV sales are expected to be $23.6 billion this year, up from $18.2 billion in 2005, according to CES organizers.

Fujitsu PalmSecure

What it does: It can't tell your fortune, but the PalmSecure may let you open the door to a secret chamber or log into a secure computer. PalmSecure reads unique patterns in a person's palm veins, identifying them without requiring anyone to touch a potentially germy fingerprint scanner. It also works only when blood is flowing through the veins, complicating the schemes of ruthless villains.

Details: The company didn't share pricing, but it said about 10,000 units are being used in Japan by banks, hospitals and schools.

A little context: Identity and access management are top priorities for corporate-technology buyers, according to a recent Goldman Sachs software-market survey that expects security spending to increase 16 percent this year.

RaySat SpeedRay 3000

What it does: Forget those little backseat DVD players. How about a low-profile, rooftop antenna that turns your vehicle into a rolling Wi-Fi hot spot? The 5.7-inch-high antenna provides in-motion, two-way high-speed Internet access and live satellite TV.

Details: Now in testing, the SpeedRay 3000 is expected to go on sale in July for $6,995, not including the cost of Internet and satellite TV subscriptions.

A little context: The number of households with a broadband gateway is expected to reach 47 million by 2010, according to Parks Associates, although it's not clear how many will take their gateways on the road. RaySat says the SpeedRay 3000 is aimed at RV owners, emergency-service providers, businesses that work in remote areas, tour buses, high-end SUVs and even trains.

Exer-station game controller

What it does: The latest effort to make video gaming a fitness activity, Exer-station is a 24-inch-tall joystick that translates muscle force applied by users into in-game motion. Sensors measure forces applied by users, and users can adjust the level of effort required to control games. The manufacturer, Powergrid Fitness, claims users can burn 350 calories per hour.

Details: Exer-station is going on sale this month at a suggested retail price of $199.99. It's being sold through the company's Web site and select Best Buy and Canadian Tire stores.

A little context: Sales of game hardware are expected to reach $5.04 billion this year, up from $3.72 billion in 2005, according to the Consumer Electronics Association that hosts CES.

D-Box Quest X3me

What it does: At the other end of the spectrum from the Exer-station game controller is the X3me, a motion-simulating motorized leather recliner for home theaters. The X3me (pronounced "extreme") has three motorized lifts that produce motion, synchronized with on-screen action and sound. D-Box goes through selected movies frame by frame to create "Motion Codes" that are distributed via the Internet or disks.

Details: The X3me retails for $10,200 for the chair or $16,700 for a companion love seat. They require a companion motion-control system costing $1,000 for a PC version or $3,200 for a standalone version; they include the current stock of Motion Codes and a one-year subscription for downloading new codes.

A little context: Home theaters have been evolving since VCRs went on sale, and the technology will be pushed even further with the X3me and a raft of other new products appearing at this week's show. Other standouts are likely to be systems for playing new DVD formats — Blu-ray and HD-DVD — with capacities up to 50 gigabytes. That's enough room to record more than four hours of high-definition video — and perhaps a few Motion Codes — on a single disk.

Brier Dudley: 206-515-5687 or bdudley@seattletimes.com