WHEN HIGH TECH MEETS LOW TECH. Hey, you gotta have both.

OTHER CES NEWS: Sharp will start selling the 108″ LCD TV it displayed last year. Here’s the pic from last year.

SONY HAS INTRODUCED OLED TVS: An 11″ model that you can buy now, and a 27″ prototype. The picture is better than regular LCD or Plasma screens — a million-to-one contrast ratio with no backlight — and they’re thinner.

My impression, though, is that there’s not much that’s really new here — just a lot of slightly-improved iterations of products that are already out there, for the most part. Sony led off its presentation with the Rolly (pronounced “role-y”), which is basically a dancing Walkman. Apparently it’s huge in Japan, but so was Spinal Tap. I’m underwhelmed. Here it is, up close, on a lighted disco floor. It’s about the size of my fist.

WHILE I’M SEEING GREEN, the Netroots crowd has been seeing things in black-and-white. Jon Henke and Tom Maguire have been reading them, saving me the trouble of responding. Which is good, because I’m busy, er, gathering information.

UPDATE: Happily — see photo — the Comfy Chair Revolution has arrived at CES.

LOTS MORE CES COVERAGE over at the Popular Mechanics site.

LAST YEAR, EVERYTHING WAS BLUE. This year, more of it is green. I credit Al Gore.

I’M AT THE SONY EVENT, AND AS YOU CAN SEE, THE PRESS IS EAGERLY GATHERING INFORMATION

JUST ARRIVED IN LAS VEGAS for the Consumer Electronics Show. Old-Media can’t be doing too badly, as the suite that Popular Mechanics has me in this year is even nicer than last year’s. (It has a blender. They think of everything.) Off to the big Sony event in a bit.

A PREVIEW OF the 2012 Mazda RX-9. I agree that it’s “a far less attractive incarnation of the current RX-8.” I’d suggest that Mazda give it some more thought.

I HADN’T THOUGHT OF THIS ASPECT: Warner Brothers’ backing Blu-Ray as a boost for PlayStation. Makes sense, though.

A PLUG-AND-PLAY REFRIGERATOR: Because what’s a fridge without an iPod dock?

FORGET NATIONAL HEALTHCARE: Try Wal-Mart healthcare. “I will never go to a regular doctor for a minor, routine illness again. Sick and wanting an appointment immediately, I went to one of those medical clinics in Wal-Mart. I got in almost immediately, everyone on the staff was extremely friendly, and it only cost $59.”

I’M PRETTY SURE THE ANSWER IS “NO:” Could the U.S. walk away from the Persian Gulf?

HEH: NY Times, CIA Launch Joint Overt Operations Unit. It was only a matter of time.

Related, not-so-humorous item, here. London Times story here.

IN THE MAIL: From Eric Flint, Ring of Fire II, the latest in his Grantville / 1632 series. I have to say, though, that while I admire him for opening up his world to other authors, I’d rather see more solo Flint efforts. The original book is still the best part of the series, despite numerous high points since.

KERRY HOWLEY ON HILLARY CLINTON: “The uncomfortable truth is that political nepotism has often served feminism’s cause well.” Lurleen Wallace, however, is not mentioned.

THE SCIENCE OF TOGA PARTIES.

THE LATEST BLAWG REVIEW is up!

BILL, HILLARY, and Sigmund.

EMPEROR PALPATINE DECRIES BLOGGERS.

HEH, I MISSED THIS FROM DANIEL HENNINGER ON THURSDAY, but it’s still worth quoting:

Let me describe a pre-election moment of perspective this way: Later today some people who will start their evening with Iowa’s caucus by watching angry Lou Dobbs–convincing themselves, again, that they and this country are getting shafted, and coming to this conclusion while watching a $700, 32-inch Samsung flat-panel, high-definition TV with Lou’s sad song flowing through Monster digital coax cables to five Onkyo HT-SR800 home theater speakers.

The reader who sent the link observes: “Seems like there’s nobody so comfortable that they can’t be recruited to the politics of resentment these days.” Well, yeah. I mean only 32 inches?

VIDEO: Squirming over the surge.

A POST-DEBATE WRAPUP FROM STEPHEN GREEN. And from looking around the blogosphere, I’d say there’s a fair amount of agreement with this observation:

High: Charles Gibson. He wasn’t the perfect moderator, but he did act like a moderator. For the first time, the debate wasn’t about the host, it was about the candidates, and their interactions with each other. Chris Matthews, Anderson Cooper and all the rest were not missed.

Read the whole thing.

HILLARY’S gender gap.

PROFESSOR BAINBRIDGE looks at Obama’s position on corporate governance. “I’d give Obama a failing grade on this issue.”