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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

The 2008 Pepcom’s Holiday Spectacular! came to New York City with plenty of gadgets to gawk at. This year, representatives showed from: HP, Altec Lansing, Kingston, Pentax, Aliph, Seagate, Samsung, Canon, Sony, Nikon, Sanyo, Asus, Western Digital, Buffalo, Lenovo, RIM and more.
By Josh Taylor, Contributor
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1 of 35 Josh Taylor/ZDNET
Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

I couldn't wait to get my hands on RIM's new Blackberry Bold. The verdict? A nice weight, wide like a man's wallet and great texture on the back. Oh yeah, and it's pretty slick, too.

Related story: The Toybox: ‘Flip,’ 3G ‘Bold’ Blackberrys announced

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008

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Back to: The Toybox: Pepcom Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008
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2 of 35 Josh Taylor/ZDNET
Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

HP had its new HDX 16- and 18.4-inch laptops on display. Here's the 18-incher, the HDX18. It's so big that when I picked it up, it flexed slightly in the middle.

Related story: John Morris: First reviews of HP’s HDX 16- and 18.4-inch laptops

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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3 of 35 Josh Taylor/ZDNET
Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

HP had its new HDX 16- and 18.4-inch laptops on display. Here's the 16-incher, the HDX16.

Related story: John Morris: First reviews of HP’s HDX 16- and 18.4-inch laptops

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Altec Lansing drew from its history and showed off a revamped logo and style on its products. Here's two cone-shaped woofers that each underneath have a speaker pointing downward called Expressionist BASS. MSRP $129.95.

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Altec Lansing drew from its history and showed off a revamped logo and style on its products. Here's a slick clock radio/iPod dock called moondance GLOW. MSRP $179.95.

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Plantronics showed off it's Discovery 925 Bluetooth earpiece in several colors. The earpiece charges in its case.

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Ceiva showed off two new digital photo frames that update with new photos automatically.

Related review: CEIVA 8-Inch Digital Photo Frame

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Kingston showed off its newest memory stick, the 32GB DataTraveler 150.

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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9 of 35 Josh Taylor/ZDNET
Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Motorola showed off two Bluetooth headsets that are about to hit the market. This one has a small stirrup that connects when you flip it open.

Related review: Motorola H12

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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10 of 35 Josh Taylor/ZDNET
Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Motorola showed off two Bluetooth headsets that are about to hit the market. Here's another, with a different design.

Related review: Motorola H12

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Motorola is still excited about its MOTOROKR T505 Bluetooth In-Car Speakerphone. It's available for $139.99.

Related review: Motorola Motorokr T505

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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12 of 35 Josh Taylor/ZDNET
Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

A little birdie at the Pentax booth told me they're about to debut a new digital SLR and gave me a peek, no pictures allowed. She said, "all the action in upcoming months will be on the SLR side." Stay tuned.

Related story: Janice Chen: Pentax announces 10 megapixel digital camera for $140

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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13 of 35 Josh Taylor/ZDNET
Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

The biggest seller at Pentax right now is their underwater camera, pictured here.

Related story: Janice Chen: Pentax announces 10 megapixel digital camera for $140

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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14 of 35 Josh Taylor/ZDNET
Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Aliph had a fashionable collection of Jawbones on display.

Related review: Aliph Jawbone 2

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

At the Office Depot booth, a representative showed me a little silicone-wrapped USB drive that can be had for $14. The perfect stocking stuffer for plugged-in kids.

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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16 of 35 Josh Taylor/ZDNET
Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Seagate showed off the latest incarnation of its FreeAgent Go drives, now pushing 500GB in small format. They come in red, blue, silver and black.

Related review: Seagate FreeAgent Go (160GB)

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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17 of 35 Josh Taylor/ZDNET
Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Samsung showed me their "soda-can size" Samsung SC-HMX20C HD camcorder.

Related review: Samsung SC-HMX20C HD Camcorder

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Samsung also had a huge wireless soundbar on display.

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

There was a colorful collection of Samsung Pebbles and S3 slim MP3 players on display.

Related review: Samsung S3 Slim (blue, 4GB)

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Canon showed off its line of digital camcorders, including the inexpensive FS 100.

Related review: Canon FS100

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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21 of 35 Josh Taylor/ZDNET
Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Canon also showed off its line of dSLRs, including the brand-new, full-HD shooting 5D Mk II.

Related story: Janice Chen: More details on Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Imation showed off several storage products, including solid-state drives, thumb drives and external hard drives. This one has an interesting and functional swivel foot.

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Imation showed off several storage products, including solid-state drives, thumb drives and external hard drives. This was the tiniest USB drive at the show.

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Sony showed off a member of the high-end multimedia Vaio LT line.

Related review: Sony VAIO LT19U

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Sony showed off a member of the Mac-inspired Vaio JS line.

Related review: Sony VAIO LT19U

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

SentrySafe showed off its FIRE-SAFE Waterproof Hard Drives, which come in 80GB, 160GB and 250GB capacities.

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Peak showed off its full-size Guitar Hero and Rock Band controllers. Pat Benetar signed the red one on the right.

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Sanyo showed off the latest underwater version of its Xacti line.

Related review: Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Sanyo also showed off its in-car navigation. One representative said the company has 60 percent market share in Japan and is just now entering the U.S. market.

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Asus showed off its bamboo-clad laptops.

Related review: Asus Eee PC 1000

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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31 of 35 Josh Taylor/ZDNET
Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Nikon showed off its D90, the first dSLR to shoot video.

Related story: Janice Chen: Just-announced Nikon D90 vs. just-reduced Canon EOS 40D

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Panasonic showed off its Lumix cameras.

Related review: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Western Digital had a colorful collection of My Passport external drives.

Related review: Western Digital My Passport Studio (320GB, Mac)

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Buffalo showed off several storage products, including the Portable HD, which uses the same drive as the Macbook Air.

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008
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Holiday Spectacular! NYC 2008

Lenovo had a ton of notebooks on display in all sizes. Note the one with the enormous display in the back.

Related story: Lenovo ThinkPad X300

Related gallery: Pepcom Digital Experience! 2008

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