Orange County Register

During my CES travels, I stopped by the IOGEAR booth where the company discussed its CES announcements: its a more mobile pen-to-text product, a multi-room home stereo system, a portable media center and a new dual-link KVM switch.

Digital pen: The company updated its “Digital Scribe” for CES by going cordless — or at least less cord-dependent. Click on the picture at right to see last year’s version, which was was first demonstrated at last year’s CES. A user writes with the digital pen, which draws ink on a paper while transmitting every movement to a receiver that clips onto a notepad or piece of paper. Last year, the receiver had to be plugged into a computer’s USB port while the pen was being used. This year, the receiver stores up to 50 8½ by 11 pages of notes before having to hook up to a computer to transfer the notes. The new version sells for $129.95 and will be available in about three weeks on IOGEAR’s Web site and at some, so far unidentified, retail stores.

Stereo system: The company also rolled out what it calls the Powerline home stereo system which pipes stereo sound from one room into multiple rooms without much hassle. The system starts with an iPod docking station with a 3.5 mm input jack and RCA inputs so users can play music from other MP3 players, CD players, computers and media centers. Then adapters — black boxes about 4 by 6 inches in size, plug into regular electrical outlets in other rooms. The adapters plug into speakers. Music from the docking station can be heard on those speakers, in up to four rooms with adapters. The product includes the docking station and one adapter and is available at IOGEAR’s Web site for $330.

Media center: IOGEAR joined many other companies who rolled out media center systems at CES. IOGEAR’s stands out, but not just because it is lime green and black coloring. This system comes with a remote and can store 250 gigabytes of movies, music and photos. All of that can be easily taken on the road and plugged into a TV using an HDMI port, just like a DVD player. The system supports 720 lines of resolution and sells for $299, available sometime in mid-February.

KVM switch: IOGEAR is best known for its KVM products — cables that connect two computer monitors to one Keyboard, Video and Mouse. The latest version offers dual links, allowing the switch to work for Mac consumers using large computer monitors. The device sells for $399 and is not available yet.

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