Yesterday, at Google I/O, Google announced the latest extension of its empire, Google TV.

This technology could potentially revolutionize television, as it opens the door to many possibilities by  implementing the web into your TV screen with just a simple “Box.”

For a myriad of information on this new technology, make sure to stop by here.

This year marks my third for attending the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.  As a few of you might already know, my father is the almighty Yahya Ahdout, the owner and CEO of dreamGEAR, a video game/iPod accessory and speaker producer and distributor, and he is my ticket into this amazing show.  You can find his wonderful products at many places including your local Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Blockbuster.  One of his latest items is the Warbeast Guitar Controller for all Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Rock Revolution games on PS2/PS3. But, enough of that, lets get to the good stuff.  I will be at the show for its entirety, and I will constantly be blogging and posting every interesting thing that I find.  Like Engadget and Gizmodo, we will be posting about the biggest announcements by all the different companies, but I will also use my time to go around the smaller booths and post about the pretty cool things that everyone forgets about.  As I roam from hall to hall and booth to booth, I will be accompanied by a very good friend of mine, Michael York, who is getting his new blog off the floor, and will be working in compliance with us at blargKABOOM.

Finally, the things I will be bringing with myself on my journey:
Canon EOS 30D – To snap pictures of everything for all you guys to see!
Asus eee 901 – For blogging on the go while on the show floor.
Apple iPhone 3G – For constant tethering, and music on the go. As it is also of course my telephone.
MacBook Pro – Yes, mine is in fact the first generation model, but it will be my home-base for posting in the hotel room. 

And also, a little background for those of you who do not know what CES is; ah god im too lazy, just read about it on Wikipedia here!

Apple started shipping their new in-ear headphones last week and due to overwhelmingly great reviews and coverage, we figured we’d let you know. Compared to Apple’s old in-ear headphones: this new model now features a mic and remote built-in with volume control (however volume control is not supported on iPhones), two drivers (separate woofer and tweeter), and a new design featuring new, more comfortable silicone ear buds. Reviews from sites around the ‘net are pretty consistent saying that these guys are great for their value, costing only $80 (rare for dual-driver headphones) and having a built-in remote and mic. Pick up a pair at most retailers now.

Blockbuster is jumping on the set-top-box bandwagon. Yup, sounds crazy, movie rental store Blockbuster is releasing a set-top-box. Well, it’s true. Joining the likes of Apple TV, VUDU, Roku, and Xbox 360, Blockbuster is making a play at the digital downloads world. Blockbuster’s service, Blockbuster On-Demand (we know, very unique), offers rentals from $1.99 to $3.99 with varying viewing period limits. Right now, Blockbuster’s got an offer where for $99 you get 25 free-rentals and the MediaPoint box. No subscription required. That right there may be a key selling point considering that the economy’s so unstable and people might not want to waste money monthly on a movie service.

For all of you who have been waiting, Intel’s new micro-architecture sporting 45nm Core i7 (aka Nehalem) chip has unofficially gone on sale in certain stores today. Many including myself have been waiting a long time for this and are glad that it is finally here.

Reviews and benchmarks of the retail chips will be posted soon!

TiVo is easily the most popular DVR around the country and for those TiVo users with the TiVo HD, HD XL, and Series3 models, you are about to get a welcome addition to your TiVo: Netflix streaming. Similar to the current streaming offered by the Roku box and other services, the service offers Netflix subscribers “all you can eat” access to over 12,000 movies and TV shows streamed over the internet. The rollout of Netflix has already begun through a beta program, but the official rollout is planned for mid-December.

via the Crave blog

We wrote about the KOR ONE back in June. I’ve been intrigued by it ever since and it is definitely the most advanced reusable water bottle yet. We just received our KOR ONE today and first impressions are: it looks great, it’s massive, and it’s useful. Check out the two-part unboxing video on the blargKABOOM YouTube page now. Part 1 is featured above, with part 2 available after the jump. For more info on the KOR ONE, check out korwater.comClick here to view the embedded video.

Around three years ago, Art Lebedev studios started talking about making a fully customizable keyboard, complete with displays under each key. Not until the beginning of this year did they actually release that full keyboard, the Optimus Maximus, and for a hefty price of almost $2000 ($1877.43 to be exact). The keyboard has 113 keys with OLED screens inside of them, each fully customizable to display anything the user wants. You can trigger a certain key to open an application, display a certain image when a certain application is open, you can make it do anything–it is completely customizable through a computer software. Before Art Lebedev released the Maxiums, they teased us with the Optimus mini three: basically the same thing, except instead of 113 keys, it only has (you guessed it) three. The mini three is only $183.48, however, which is a much easier buy than the Maximus. Now Art Lebedev has added another product to the line – the Optimus Pultius. Little information is known currently, and all we do know is that it has 15 of the same customizable keys and works alongside any keyboard. Pricing is unknown and the only dates given are end of 2008/early 2009. Hopefully, they’ll let this bad boy have a relatively small price tag–my best guess is around $400–because a set of customizable keys like this is exactly what a lot of users are looking for.

Apple has dropped the price of their bluetooth headset to $99, from its original $129. The catch, however, is that they took out the dock for both the phone and the headset which retails for $49. So they dropped the price by $30, but they took out $50 worth. You’re now paying more if you want to buy both. Apple – you’ve already got loads of people buying new iPhone 3G’s without docks, now your taking away the docks from the headset – tisk, tisk, tisk.

Incase you didn’t know by now, Guitar Hero 4 is officially Guitar Hero World Tour and will have drum and microphone support. We’ve seen pictures of the drum set before, but IGN got a preview of the whole set. Besides the drums and a microphone, the guitar got some big changes. The overall guitar is physically larger to be more like a real guitar, and it features a touchpad on the neck. The pad, according to IGN, “allows you to alter notes during sustains by sliding up and down the strip… It can also be used for tapping to play notes.” The touchpad can be used for more when using the Music Creator. Besides the guitar, which after reading IGN’s preview sounds awesome, the drum set looks pretty cool, too. It, unlike Rock Band, features three main pads, two symbols, and a pedal. Also, IGN says the drums are quieter than Rock Band’s. Both the guitar and the drums are wireless, but the mic (very similar to Rock Band’s) is wired. Besides the gear, the game features loads of new features like more customization with characters, over 85 songs and more tracks downloadable, and the Music Creator which lets users create their own tracks (sorry, no vocals) and share them with other users. No specific price has been announced, but pricing will be “competitive”. GameStop, however, has released pricing for the game at $199 and given a launch date of October 27 of this year. Check out the gallery below for more pictures, and check out IGN for the full read.

Yup, hydration vessel is the new term for water bottles, or at least the good ones. The KOR ONE aims to be a good one, and it looks like one. Definitely the best looking water bo–excuse me, hydration vessel, out there, the KOR ONE is designed for the environmentalists out there. The same story applies, how we use about 50 billion single-serve water bottles a year and 40 billion of those water bottles end up in landfills and kill the Earth, and the sad thing is that the story is true (well, maybe not that dramatic about the killing the Earth part). KOR ONE is apparently the best of those reusable bottles that are trying to be green, it does look the best though. Some features that boost this one above the others: the cap doesn’t fall off and it’s not a screw off, perfect for one hand use; the quality of the bottle is great, it doesn’t contain any BPA, which apparently means it’s top of the line stuff; it let’s you put a message (a Stone as they call it) at the top of every bottle, if you would like; and the spout is apparently ‘just right’ for the mouth. Of course, being green has a price. A $29.95 price to be exact, and the KOR ONE won’t be available until August 1 of this year. That may be a steep price to pay, but saving the world is a worthy cause.

KOR Water via Gizmodo

Apple surprises us again with the introduction of the iPhone 3G’s power adapter. Whats new? Its ultra tiny, about one quarter the size of the one that came with the original iPhone. It seems like Steve just can’t stop pulling tricks out of his sleeve. (good rhyme, huh?)