The all-new, fully Intel-native and long awaited Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac OS X, is finally available for order at the Apple Store. While it won't ship until next week, during MacWorld, you can get reserve your copy now. [AppleStore - Thanks Jorge]

Good lord, look at this Elite Portable Floor-Rising Screen that's motorised. Carry it around with you, make it rise with its magic motors, and impress all those superficial suits on your next presentation road trip. Or, keep it right at home, take off that easily-removed handle, and it looks like it's a permanent installation. Available by June, your choice of either an 84" or a 100" diagonal screen will set you back $US2000. Screen sizes up to 150" are planned.

This TIE Fighter, and the X-Wing after the jump, is what happens when you put together Star Wars, LEGO and steampunk in the title of a contest. That and a collective geekgasm. Truth is, as fun as the official Star Wars LEGO models are, home-made models like this steampunk TIE Fighter have a charm that the former can't achieve. The most amazing thing, however, is the source of inspiration for some of these:

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In Samsung's booth there's a 57" display with a Star Trek-like visor above it. The visor, called WAVEscape by Reactrix, contains a camera that can track your motion and distinguish it from the person next to you and all of the other people in the room, allowing you to use natural motions to interact with things on the screen: spin a globe, spike a volleyball and yes, punch a panda. Come on, you know you would if you could. Video by Curtis Walker [Reactrix]

How much 1080p projector can you get for $US1,995? We took a close look at the Mitsubishi HC4900U, selling for $US2495 with a $US500 rebate until the end of this month (but company reps whisper that might go on indefinitely), and are happy to report that you get your money's worth with the lowest-priced 1080p projector in the world. Let's tote up the good and the bad.

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I am not a fan of Booth Babes. That's not to say that I'm not a fan of the female form, but I find being tricked into liking some mediocre gadget because a girl in a bikini top is standing next to it pretty insulting. And I feel bad for them, standing on the show floor for 15 hours a day, forcing smiles and being stared at like just another big TV on the wall. I do like pretty girls who have more going for them than being pretty, however, and there were plenty of them here at CES as well. The ones who came to CES to do non-booth-babe jobs, I guess. So what do you think, dear readers? Do you like straight-up eye candy or do you like a little more substance? We've had Nick McGlynn trolling the show floor all week getting photographic evidence of both booth babes and regular babes. Who wins in this oh-so-shallow battle of the galleries?

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With the HD DVD ship sinking fast in the fickle minds of press and public, the assumption is that everyone left on board is lining up to jump. Reuters had a story that played like Microsoft—one of HD DVD's biggest backers—is on the verge of doing so, based on a quote from Albert Pennello, marketing manager for Xbox hardware. Let us count the ways he told us in a sitdown that the story was wrong, and when HD DVD really is buried in Microsoft's mind.

1. The "headline misconstrued the context of what I said."
2. Microsoft is "not thinking about it."
3. It is "fairly definitive" Microsoft is not doing it.
4. Microsoft has "no plans" to build anything Blu-ray.
5. Microsoft is "totally committed to HD DVD."

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The Availbot was a neat prototype, but this i-Buddy we just saw takes instant message emote representation to the next level. It's a little MSN guy with MSN-ish wings that hooks up via USB to your computer. When one of your pre-specified MSN buddies signs on, the little monarch man blinks its lights, flaps its wings or twists its body in a way that can only be described as incredibly spastic. Best of all, it can recognize up to eight different emotes and act accordingly, meaning you can gauge your sig-other's mood at you ignoring her IMs all the way from across the room because you are tired and at CES and don't have time to talk.

Things didn't go so well yesterday, but today is a new day! And while perusing the International Pavilion, I came across the Ring Mouse.

Impressions: Even on one knee, the Ring Mouse is both surprisingly comfortable and convenient (it's more than a novelty, for sure). The trackball is extremely sensitive, but we'd love to see a buttonless TouchPad version of the device.

The Verdict: Let's just say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

RCA was nice enough to sit down with us and justify one of the most pointless car modifications we've ever seen: an LCD screen on the lower trim/bumper of a car. I mean, seriously?

Shooting/Editing by Eric Sheline.

AU: Is this a picture of Melbourne?! Thanks Lamul

Samsung has just popped out a ridiculously large 82" LCD TV, boasting ultra high-definition resolution of 3840 x 2160. That is a four times increase on conventional LCD standards, and word on the street is Japan has already begun testing video broadcast in ultra high-definition. We are sure that'll eat bandwidth faster than the cookie monster (Chris) eats cookies. That aside, the picture rendition is jaw dropping. Check out the gallery below.

Back in Panasonic's secret demo room at CES 2008, they're showing off a stress test where they slam a metal ball into a plasma with one joule of energy, and see if the screen will smash up. (Guess what? They've also run the test on LCDs.) Videography by Curtis Walker

We bumped into Larry Weber, the shaggy professor mainly responsible for the invention of the plasma TV in the 1960s. He's got a lot to say about his latest project, mostly too technical for our hurting little brains. Here's the skinny: He wants to improve notoriously inefficient plasma energy use to a point that it drains a battery less than the LED light source in an LCD does. Pair that with super-thin plasma technology, and voila—plasma-screen MacBook Pro anyone? We were just kidding about that whole "saving Middle Earth" business...or were we? [Larry Weber's Society for Information Display]

The guy from yesterday's CES rap is back, this time testing waterproof cameras… in a fishtank… on the CES show floor. Good news: they really are waterproof! If all CES coverage was this awesome, maybe I wouldn't hate CES so much. [Digitalcamerareview.com]

With the LCD window thermometer from La Crosse, long gone are your days as the victim of weather-fashion faux pas. The unit mounts to a window and displays the current temperature, as well as the high and low. This gadget seems useful for the weather obsessed, or people who have no idea how to dress themselves. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer the tried-and-true combination of looking out my window and remembering what month it is. If you still regret the time you wore a ski mask in July, it can be yours for 17 bucks. [ThinkGeek via DVICE]

LG Philips dives into the multi-touch display game at CES 2008, seen here running Google Earth. Coolness indeed, but LG's idea of mounting dual IR-sensitive cameras on either side of the display is still flawed.

Since it's such a big screen, its two-point moving and zooming is not exactly an iPhone finger pinch, and zooming out requires two hands and a rather elaborate movement to get any action.

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When we heard about Blu-ray-to-PSP movie transfers getting all official we got pretty excited, even though the announcement was a little skimpy on the details: How big are the files? How long will it take to download a movie? How odious is the DRM? Most importantly, when? Well, we've got 'em all right here.

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The Gadget: National Geographic are launching a night vision scope that has the ability to take still pictures. The NV20/20 will have a user variable frame rate, three infrared intelligence modes and it will be able to amplify ambient light by a factor of 650. The scope will ship in April and retail at $US520.

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"If we get bigger than 150, we might have to go with Airbus."

Heard in: Panasonic booth...an exec saying how they could only fit one of its prototype 150-inch plasmas in a Boeing 747 cargo hold—and only just barely.

We asked a simple question: what Microsoft product could have used a little more polish before release? The answer astounded us. We would just like to thank Bill Gates for his honesty and his openness.

Gizmodo's Bill Gates CES 2008 Interview:
Part 1 - On the difference between Microsoft and Apple
Part 2 - On his changing public image
Part 3 - What he worries about most

The Gadget: Orbitsound were showing off their speaker sets that incorporate "air sound" technology. The idea is simple; single point stereo sound is directed at a target area, meaning you only hear stereo music in one particular zone created by the device. Other models by Orbitsound include the T6 set (valve and speaker system), and the T12 soundbar iPod dock. They all boast the great technology described before, but pricing and shipping details were not available at present. However, what's the catch?

The Catch: No matter how many questions Eric asked, he could not get an answer to how this wizardry works. No matter how much I listened to the musical output, I just could not believe this just didn't work. Sure, it is an OK speaker, but it does not deliver on the promises it makes. Air sound, Orbitsound—meh. [Orbitsound]

It's still years away from mainstream adoption-and there are huge barriers to manufacturing the larger screen sizes-but Sony and Samsung are already slogging it out to achieve the largest screen size for its prototype OLED TVs. (Toshiba already took its 30-incher out of this year's battle.) The active-matrix organic light-emitting diode technology (AM-OLED), produces brighter images and use less power than any current TV—this Samsung uses half the power of a "typical" 32-inch TV. The 1080p panel is just 4.3mm thick (.17-inches), thinner than any LCD other than the prototypes we've seen this week. The 14-inch is even more impressively razor thin (maybe as thick as a USB flash drive). The colours pop, the blacks are deep and it makes me think that Samsung, like Sony, is going to transition to OLED more quickly than anyone guessed. Plasma's not dead, but LCD might be.

Today, a tragic event of dramatic proportions hit CES 2008 in Las Vegas: Chandler Blinkers III, affectionately known as Pit by everyone at Panasonic, died in the water tank at their booth. According to the press conference held by the company, the circumstances are still unknown and police is still investigating. "He was there one moment, happily swimming, and then... then poof... gone. He was belly up. I can't start to tell—" said Panasonic spokeswoman Rosa Fernández before she couldn't hold her tears anymore and left the stage. At this time, workers are still emptying the tank where Mr. Blinkers had stayed for the past five days showcasing that, indeed, some Panasonic cameras are what Engadget's Editor-in-Chief Ryan Block technically classified as "waterproof."

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Oh, CES. You are a disgusting, bloated beast oozing everything that makes this industry horrible. Nay, everything that makes our culture horrible. Sure, to you fine readers it might look like it's all product announcements and good times, but that's far from the truth. In reality, it's a vile clusterfuck of nerds, sluts and suits; a deadly combo. Let me give you some reasons why CES signals the downfall of our society, if you can stand it.

1. Booth Babes
Are we such simple people? Are we so easy to manipulate that all it takes for us to decide that a product is worth writing about or purchasing are some out-of-work strippers in skimpy outfits handing out 64MB thumb drives? Yes! It seems to work. D-Link, a boring company, consistently had loads of pasty, sweaty show goers swarming around its booth, ogling their whorishly dressed booth attendants and grabbing at free handouts that aren't worth the jostling it takes to get them.

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Stand aside, Panasonic. We've heard about your 150-inch TV, and we have no interest in its six-figure pricetag. Meanwhile, we found a display by Lancer that's almost as big, for only 1/10 the price ($US15,500).

Sure, this LED display is intended for commercial purposes, like basketball stadiums and Times Square, but that just makes the display all the more enticing. While the resolution isn't optimised for close viewing, the brightness of the LEDs will probably permanently blind you after half a season of 24 anyway.

This Korean PaperTablet for uPlusPen looks like a regular pen, but has a USB connector so you can digitise your inputs like a tablet. It's not as fancy as Jesus's favourite Wacon Cintiq, but this only costs $US99 and you can use it on any old piece of paper. We tried it out, starting on our thoughts with the Gizmodo publication and moving on to obscenities and dirty pictures. You have to hold it at a certain angle to get the writing to recognise correctly, but it works decently well after training for a few minutes.

Give it a minute.

What is it? In addition to being a plain ol' indoor/outdoor thermometer kit, the Weather Direct 4-Day Audio Weather Forecaster has an internet connection (through a proprietary wireless link interface) to download weather predictions for the next three days. Add text-to-voice email capability (it actually reads the subjects and sender fields as new mail shows up) and RSS feeds, and it turns the little guy into a fairly useful gadget.

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Sony's Boomerang controller for the PS3 never made the light of day, but that doesn't stop it from being knocked off by a Chinese OEM. We spotted this in the International Corridor of CES. And we feel really, really bad for the sweatshop workers who have to crank out such products...that are obsolete before they're even made.

The Gizmo: The iBuddy is a portable iPod DJ mixing station, with inputs for two iPods, two MP3 players or a combination of the two. The three knobs control things that are strictly to do with DJ talk, like "reverb," "flange" and "autophase." As crap as we are with DJ lingo, we know it sounded damn good. It was also quite small, making your nomadic DJ dreams a true possibility.

The Catch: If you are having dreams of becoming a nomadic DJ; get off the smack. Shipping / pricing details not available at present.

Monster Cable, the cablemonger that never saw a $90 cable worth $10 it didn't like, reaches deep downmarket with iCableLink, letting you use a proper set of earphones with your iPhone instead of the included stock iPod buds. Uncharacteristically, it's reasonably priced.

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