Hi-tech Frontier

Opera Caruso speakers One look at the Caruso speakers from Opera Loudspeakers and you know the punchline -- sure they're fat, but will they sing? Details on what's packed in each handcrafted box is suitably sparse, as these are clearly intended for the silly-rich who want something that's expensive, showy and fits in well with the decor of the prospective owner's abode -- something keeps pulling us towards a Fifth Element Mondoshawan theme (we'll let you judge if that's good or bad). Caruso praised the four side mounted 8-inch woofers , and based on the pics, we're guessing that after that there are four 5-inch mids and five 2-inch tweets (four rearward facing). Lots of cabinetry, lots of wood and lots of money; can you say "ostentatious flagship?" Paired up with the Caruso name, the €28,000 ($35,000 ) sticker brings Pagliacci to our minds.

Archos 10 netbook So, the last we'd heard, Archos' 10-inch netbook was going to be available in April , but here it is -- the middle-to-beginning-of-the-end of February, and it's available to order now. If you'd forgotten , the little guy boasts a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, up to 1GB of RAM, the 10-inch screen has a 1024 x 600 resolution , and it runs Windows XP . The starting price for this one is $399 .

Canon Selphy CP780 portable photo printer Looking for some red hot photo printing action "on the go," as it were? Canon has just announced the newest addition to its line of SELPHY compact photo printers . The CP780 boasts faster print speeds, improved image quality, and (count 'em!) three colors . That's right, three. Apparently the Face Detection brightness and color correction have been improved on this guy as well -- so all those embarrassing candid photos you're famous for will be rendered in "natural and realistic colors," if the PR is to be believed. The printer carries an estimated MSRP of $99.99, but once you start throwing in goodies like the optional battery pack ($80) and Bluetooth adapter ($50) things start getting rather pricey.

Adtec Bluetooth wristband Adtec 's just released its Bluetooth wristband , which enables hands-free -- well, sort of. The band, which is equipped with a speaker and volume control , connects to your cell phone via Bluetooth , and comes in white or gray . The company suggests one might find this little gadget useful while fishing or running. Maybe it's just us, but we were thinking it might be neat to use it while conducting highly confidential espionage missions, too. Or... you know, blogging. Pair it with this guy and you've got a match made in heaven! It's available now in Japan for ¥5,980 -- about $65 -- but will probably (sadly) never makes its way across the waters to North America.

Samsung SCH-M830 While perusing the Samsung booth for something fresh and fun we happened upon this, the Samsung SCH-M830. The M830 is a WiBro (mobile WiMax) and HSPA set, WiFI, Bluetooth, 3 megapixel camera, a 3.3-inch LCD, memory expansion with microSD, and runs Windows Mobile 6.1. The interface and all the UI elements were in Korean (see that Anycall branding? That's the hint) so if there were any special goodies in there we definitely didn't catch them. Impressions? It felt great and was really solid, but as to performance we can't add much there -- though just that big display had us smiling. Lovely gallery and a quick video flip-through follow the break.

Gateway 14-inch TC7306u and TC7307u laptop Gateway's MD and UC families, which were introduced at CES, earned high praise from reviewers and came in at very respectable price points. Now, the outfit is expanding things further with the 14-inch TC line, which is currently comprised of the TC7306u and TC7307u. Designed to hit that sweet spot between a full blown 15-incher and an ultraportable , these media-centric lappies get going at $649.99 and tip the scales at 5.3 pounds. Each one sports a 1.3 megapixel webcam, WiFi, gigabit Ethernet, a 1,366 x 768 resolution panel, a built-in multicard reader and three USB 2.0 ports. You'll also find a variety of colors, Intel's Core 2 Duo CPUs, a dual-layer DVD writer and a 6-cell Li-ion battery . Nah, you haven't missed anything out of the ordinary, but these two don't seem half bad for handling basic tasks without spending a bundle.

LG VX9600 Versa The Versa could end up being one of the more fascinating North American devices to launch this year, and it turns out that Dooney & Burke agrees. New documentation arriving on our doorstep this week indicates that Verizon's launch of the unusually adaptable device will be supported by fashion accessories from Liz Claiborne and Dooney & Burke , not to mention the usual host of water resistant, sport, and plain leather cases to keep your multi-hundred dollar investment safe from harm. More importantly, though, we're seeing that it'll launch on March 1 in all sales channels for $199.99 on contract after a $50 rebate -- but that funky dedicated game pad controller will set you back another $29.99, and you better get it while the getting's good since it's labeled as a "limited stock" item. Can't get caught playing Monopoly without a dedicated 8-way pad, can you?

Honeywell 82-inch Altura LCD Soyo's been marketing poorly-reviewed LCDs under the Honeywell name in the US for a few months now, and it looks like it's going to try and make up in size what it's lacked thus far in quality: get ready for the 82-inch 1080p Altura LE to hit a shopping channel near you. Actually, get ready for quite a few Altura LEs, since they'll be offered in five screen sizes as Honeywell's "top of the line". Hopefully that means the poor black levels and shoddy, impossible-to-defeat image processing of the original Alturas have been improved, but honestly, we're not willing to let this 303-pound behemoth anywhere near our now-precious Kuro to find out. This 82-inch Altura LCD will be released this fall .

BenQ all-in-one computer and nScreen i91 Remember when we told you BenQ was hot and bothered for all-in-one computers? That pronouncement wasn't just the soulful yearnings of a lustful suitor; the company has followed through, revealing the i91, first in its nScreen line of (nearly) fully integrated machines. It's an 18.5-inch, 16:9 LCD boasting an AMD Semperon 210U processor, 1GB of memory, 160GB hard drive , and some other niceties like a 4-in-1 card reader, integrated webcam, and an average power consumption of just 30 watts . The machine is designed to be incredibly simple to use , like a television, advertising that users can just plug it in, press in the big volume/power knob, and then surf away -- assuming they know to connect the keyboard and mouse first. Sure, it's not half as attractive as Lenovo's A600, but at $517 it is about the cost. No word on US availability, but can be found on store shelves in Taiwan now , with a 21-inch model, the i221, coming soon...