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We wrapped up the CES issue (on newsstands next month) and our heads are still reeling with all the great products we saw and covered. I’m drooling over three products in particular, two from the car side of the electronics realm and one from the home theater side. I can’t wait to get my hands on a Dash Express nav device (www.dash.net), which should be available next month. It has two-way Internet connectivity to provide enhanced traffic data, incredible POIs and immensely good searching capabilities.
I’ve got to say, though, it’s incredibly fugly. Its a clunky appearance is way behind other navis on the market. Also, since it’s built solely for navigation, it lacks extra bells and whistles at the moment. But, by focusing on one thing, it does it so well that I could care less about the lack of extra stuff. With all the things I have to fit in my compact car nowadays, I don’t want to give up any more space than I need to. That’s why I love Alpine PDX amps. They stack up without overheating and still can provide the oomph that your system needs.
Alpine (www.alpine-usa.com) released a five-channel version: the PDX-5. Imagine an entire multi-channel system powered this puny (in size, not power) amp! At $650, it’s also a relatively affordable option.
 Venturing outside of car audio at the Sony booth (www.sony.com), I was entranced by an incredibly vivid picture. It came from Sony’s XEL-1 OLED television. You’ve seen OLEDs on handheld-sized devices, but Sony pumped it up to 11 inches.
The size isn’t much to boast about, until you realize how difficult it is to get organic light-emitting diode technology to work on the larger scales. I don’t know if I would pay $2,500 for a screen this small, but that incredible image this TV produced (with a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1) is still burned into my memory.
For the rest of our picks from the show, check out the May issue when it comes out next month!
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