March 19 - 10:05pm EDT   ASUS recently unveiled the M50 notebook, a multimedia-styled computer that blends a Blu-Ray player with Altec Lansing speakers and Dolby Home Theatre. The embedded touchpad doubles as a multimedia control panel, giving users control over both music and video without moving the cursor. The M50 also features an HDMI port to connect to home theatre setups. ASUS has not given pricing or availability, but the M50 is expected to ship next week. [full story]

January 25 - 7:15pm EST   Gefen today announced a new line of electronics products geared towards home theatre enthusiasts, which it is dubbing Gefen TV, leading off the line with the Gefen TV Switcher. The Switcher is capable of sharing one HDMI v1.3 port to four separate devices. In addition to being able to manually switch between devices, the Gefen TV Switcher can automatically detect recently powered devices and switch the signal accordingly. Gefen is selling the switch through its website for $200. [full story]

January 7 - 11:25pm EST   Day one of CES 2008 draws to a close; earlier in the day, Intel formally announced its 45-nanometer Core 2 platform, based on the previously-announced Penryn architecture. The new chips offer a host of new features, such as SSE4, and up to 6MB of Level 2 Cache. Intel will release the new mobile-centric processors by the end of January, and will be available from a number of different PC vendors, such as Gateway and Sony. Intel's booth presence at CES 2008 is large, with several different areas dedicated to the manufacturing process, mobile applications, home theatre integration, and plenty of hands-on activity. [full story]