The camera was provided by Santa Clara

I'm guessing stereo companies will show some cool new options next month at the Consumer Electronics Show, but I'd be amazed if any were in the $250 price range.Microsoft's Zune could someday evolve into a home music streamer, since it has Wi-Fi built into the player, but the company isn't saying whether this is part of its plans for the current or future Zunes.

The Zune's funky colors and textured paint are also more smudge-resistant than the shiny plastic and chrome laptop battery cases of the iPod, which seem to immediately get smeared with fingerprints.

But the downside to the Zune's design is that it doesn't feel as much like an exquisite little device as the iPod. In comparison, the Zune feels more dense and utilitarian than you expect, like a Chevy Camaro.

Microsoft developed the Zune in part because Plays For Sure wasn't working as a response to the iPod. But the software worked like a dream when I plugged in the K5 — it instantly recognized the device, then helped me fill the player with music in just a few minutes.

Lonely side streets on pitch-black winter mornings can make her nervous, though. That's when she might start work later than usual, catch a ride from her husband or call the office as she leaves home so that someone will be expecting her.

As any student of the calendar knows, the hours daylight of have been gradually increasing since the Winter Solstice in December. But it's the arrival of what we might instead call Daylight Appreciating Time, which psychologically moves us from the shadows into Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery the light.It's nearly 13 hours from sunrise to sunset today, and that will stretch to 16 hours by the start of summer June 21.

"It's not really a computer anymore," said Dag Spicer, senior curator of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. "It's a companion, it's your memory, it's your teacher and your entertainer."

For something celebrated for being light, the laptop is propping up the computing industry. Analysts say U.S. laptop sales rose 21 percent in 2007 to 31.6 million, while desktop sales Compaq Presario X1400 Battery  slumped nearly 4 percent to 35 million. Overall, laptops are still underdogs, but they're expected to account for the majority of U.S. computer sales in 2008 and of worldwide sales in 2009.By 2011, research firm IDC expects portable computers to constitute 66 percent of all corporate PCs sold, up from 40 percent in 2006.

The camera was provided by Santa Clara, Calif.-based OmniVision, a company that specializes in the miniature cameras found in cellphones, laptops and endoscopes.Zafer Zamboglu, staff technical-product manager at OmniVision, said he thinks that success with the eye camera will accelerate research into using the technology to restore vision to blind people."We believe there's a good future in the prosthetic eye," he said.