Thursday, January 6, 2005; Page E01

LAS VEGAS

Talk about multitasking. Tomorrow`s kids will be watching live TV in the corner of their ski goggles while zooming down mountains and simultaneously chatting with ski buddies over short-range wireless headsets.

At least that seems to be where things are heading, judging by the many media gadgets being showcased here at the 37th annual Consumer Electronics Show, which opens today and ends Sunday. Mobile media -- picture tiny new audio-visual jukeboxes in all shapes and sizes -- is a major theme at what has evolved to be the top technology trade show in the United States.

Orb Networks shows off a service that lets subscribers remotely access their digital media files from their home PCs, and even watch live television, on gadgets with Internet connections. (Joe Cavaretta - AP)

``The big trend for the show is going to be around place-shifting of media,`` declared Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for research firm NPD Group.

That`s geek-speak for carrying media around in your pocket, on your lapel, in your car or -- who could forget? -- on your cell phone. Only you won`t be calling it a cell phone judging by all the new features phone makers are building into their do-everything communication contraptions. And don`t ask whether anyone really needs TV in their pocket; that`s party-pooper talk at this high-tech toy extravaganza.

As if on cue, start-ups are rolling out new services to deliver video and audio programming to still-experimental portable media players -- companies such as Orb Networks Inc., which recently began selling a $10-a-month service that beams live TV and any other stored media to phones, handhelds and laptop computers. At a preview reception Tuesday, Orb Networks was showing the televised Orange Bowl on a laptop from a signal streamed live from somebody`s home in California.

Gaithersburg-based TimeTrax Technologies Corp. is here touting a different concept that piggybacks on satellite radio. TimeTrax enables recording for digital radio, much as TiVo and its clones do for TV. TimeTrax began selling a $50 adapter a few months ago that lets subscribers of XM Satellite Radio automatically record and play back shows, so they can listen to them at their convenience. TimeTrax today is releasing a similar product for Sirius Satellite Radio. Both of the start-up`s products may be controversial with the music industry because they turn over-the-air broadcasts into digital recordings.

``I think we will see a shakeout in the first half of 2005 over time-shifting technologies and the boundaries of what is permissible and what is not permissible,`` said TimeTrax chief executive Elliott D. Frutkin.

Cell phone giant Motorola Inc., meanwhile, is making it hard for convention-goers to miss its new communication clothing line announced Tuesday. To tout the futuristic duds, Motorola built a giant snowboarding ramp dubbed the ``MotoMountain`` in front of the Las Vegas Convention Center where real snowboarders will be putting on a show.

The idea behind the clothing is to make it easier for sports buffs to talk on cell phones and listen to music while snowboarding, bicycling or doing other activities. Motorola`s parkas will have hoods with sewn-in stereo speakers, collars with embedded microphones, padded holsters for Motorola phones and voice-dialing controls. The gear lets people talk over Bluetooth, a short-range wireless technology.

So okay, the attire being developed in tandem with Burton Snowboards won`t have live TV receivers sewn into the linings when it`s released next winter, but it`s not hard to imagine that as the next step. After all, eMagin Corp., a company specializing in micro-displays, is here touting its new 3-D glasses allowing people to watch video on super-bright displays built into the glasses.

Motorola`s ski-n-chat outerwear is just one example of how phone industry players are assuming a higher profile in the escalating race to create do-it-all digital devices. For several years, the Consumer Electronics Show has showcased a growing rivalry between makers of computers and traditional electronics; this year the phone and cable companies are muscling in on the action.

Orb Networks shows off a service that lets subscribers remotely access their digital media files from their home PCs, and even watch live television, on gadgets with Internet connections. (Joe Cavaretta - AP)

SBC Communications Inc. plans to outline details of the Internet-based video service it aims to start selling to consumers this year, competing head-to-head with cable companies. Cable company gearmakers are showcasing their latest set-top boxes with video-recording capabilities, along with such innovations as the ``mosaic channel`` system that DirecTV Group Inc. plans to introduce soon for simultaneously watching multiple TV channels on one screen.

Car video systems are big here, too. Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. announced plans to add video programming to its satellite broadcasts next year. Delphi Corp. announced a deal with Comcast Corp. to develop a system for letting people save TV programming from home and move it to their cars. The idea, of course, is to keep the kiddies happy in the back seat.

Traditional electronic giants -- Sony Corp., Samsung Electronics Co., Panasonic and others -- are hardly sitting still. LG Electronics Inc. is showing off a giant plasma TV with a 160-gigabyte hard drive and built-in video recording capability that should give TiVo a scare.

Much of the buzz, though, is around offerings from start-ups and computer companies, especially pocket TV and video-to-go doodads. Some have been on sale for months, others debut this week, and still others won`t reach stores until later this year -- if at all.

At a press conference yesterday, Sony showed off its new Portable PlayStation, a nine-ounce gizmo that plays video, music and games and goes on sale in the United States in March. No doubt the portable console will be popular, but Sony can`t be too happy that it has been upstaged by a computer maker -- Apple Computer Inc. with its wildly popular iPod -- in the race to make the hottest portable music player.

Among the many newcomers here hoping to make a splash in the nascent market for portable media players:

Sling Media Inc. of San Mateo, Calif., is showing a $250 box it plans to start selling in March that lets people with home computer networks stream live TV shows to any connected computer, including laptops. Unlike Orb Networks and TiVo (which announced its new TiVoToGo mobile video service this week), Sling Media charges no monthly service fees. The company plans to offer the live TV capability later for cell phones and portable media players.

Smart Video Technologies Inc. is launching a live TV service that will stream video to cell phones and WiFi-equipped portable devices. The service includes on-demand video, too, along with a mix of televised news, weather, sports and entertainment. The company bills itself as ``the ultimate in mobile television.``

Following a planned speech by Microsoft Corp.`s Bill Gates on Wednesday night, Intel Corp. chief executive Craig R. Barrett was slated to open the festivities this morning with a keynote titled ``Upgrade Your Life.``

All of which raises the question, are people ready for this ``upgrade``? Do we need or want it?

Probably not, but that won`t stop digital technology from going mobile, as this year`s show amply demonstrates. After all, inventors have been pursing a technological manifest destiny for centuries by exploring what is possible and then living with the consequences.

Why should the 21st century be any different?