Having just finished my morning trip through the South Hall at the enormous LVCC, I thought I’d share a couple of the gems I found today.

Nvidia GEForce 3d Gaming glasses

Nvidia’s 3D Gaming glasses make any DirectX based PC game a 3D experience. They split the geometry of the game graphics into two channels – right and left – and render them to the glasses. they don’t work with console gaming, though. For console gamers, you’ll need to keep an eye out for my report on 3D TVs on display at CES. They retail at $199.

Creative X-Fi

The Creative X-Fi wireless music system works like the Sonos wireless music system I saw last year but with a significant difference in price.  The small dongle transmitter (indicated by the red arrow) and the receiver (below) retail as a pair for about $150. The speakers shown above actually retail for about $130, and have the built in wireless receiver.

Creative X-Fi receiver

The receiver has standard RCA jacks to allow connection to a home theater or any powered speakers. The transmitter works on a proprietary 2.4 Ghz band, so you don’t need to consume your wi-fi network bandwidth for music.  The included software works on PC or Mac and is compatible with media players like Windows Media and iTunes or Internet music like Last.fm.

inPerson Video Conferencing

The inPerson video conferencing system takes broadband video calling to a new level.  The video feed is customizable based on your connection from 128k to 1MB.  The camera shoots in 640×480, and includes an output jack that be easily attached to a large screen TV.  The unit retails about $800, making it a bit pricey for most consumers.  However, it starts to make video conferencing more affordable for small businesses with multiple offices, or distributed collaboration.

One year ago today, we launched this blog from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  Today, Paul and I are back in Vegas for the show again.  We’ll be bringing you a look at the new tools and toys you’ll be connecting to cable’s broadband network in the future.

As we look forward to the new year, a new administration, a new Congress, and new policy challenges and opportunities, we’ll continue to take a closer look at the impact of policy changes on cable operators, programmers, and customers.  We’ll also continue looking for ways to get the most out of your cable connection.

Thanks for being with us over the past year.  It has been a lot of fun, and we’ve enjoyed the conversation.  And stick with us over the next few days for the best that CES has to offer.

We created this blog to tell cable’s story. The cable industry has spent $130 billion on our network since the 1996 Telecommunications Act was passed. That investment of private capital has spurred fundamental change in how we work, play, communicate, and entertain ourselves.

Today a friend sent a link to a video that illustrates that point beautifully. It’s a spoof of the Fox series 24. Allegedly the ‘long lost’ original pilot made in 1994, the video clearly shows the changes in technology we’ve seen over the period of time that we were building our network. Take a look.