The new technology and numerous other wireless wonders are being showcased here at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show.

Visteon, a company that uses eCoupled induction technology, expects to have its cup-holder charger in stores later this year.

"The social aspect of being able to have one adapter that powers all those devices is much more environmentally friendly and universally friendly to the consumer," said David Baarman, lead inventor of eCoupled. The charger works off any car's 12-volt lighter.

If you have lots of devices that need charging, WildCharge is debuting a device for cellphones and MP3 players or small laptops. It's a 15x25-centimetre plate, only a few millimeters thick, that you simply place the devices on so they can charge simultaneously.

The plate, off course, must be plugged into an electrical outlet.

More than 2,700 exhibitors are plugging new technologies like these at this year's show, where floor space covers the equivalent of 30 football fields.

The watchword for the year appears to be wireless.

The most impressive cordless TV at the show was at the Samsung booth, which is showing a wireless transmitter beaming high-definition TV, DVD cable and satellite TV to a nearby plasma screen, sans cable. Most of this year's Samsung large flat-panels will have built-in wireless technology.

Want to watch better TV in your car? Right after its announcement, Samsung took reporters on a bus equipped with ordinary-looking wall-mounted and portable hand-held TVs.

They were showing live TV from a local station especially equipped for the demo.

Samsung says its A-VSB technology is unique, in that it can work on any off-the-air North American digital TV broadcast.

A-VSB embeds new digital information during live broadcasts, which are invisible on older TVs but clear and sharp on newer models.

Samsung is waiting for standards verification this summer for use in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and South Korea.

"This will liberate the couch potato," said Samsung's John Godfrey.

Expect to see these in 2008.

Speaker wires, too, appear to be on the way out, with technologies from Neosonik that offer clear, uninterrupted cordless sound in high-quality speaker systems.

"Wireless speakers are the holy grail," says Ted Feldman, president and founder of Neosonik, showing models that will be available mid-year, starting at about $400.

Microsoft has found new ways to get computing on to more than screens.

Co-founder Bill Gates showed off his latest Home of the Future Smart Surface technology, which converts a kitchen counter or a teen's bedroom wall into a touch-surface for interactively projected images from a special projector.

But don't start throwing those cords away yet. Many of these new technologies are prototypes that may never see the light of day.

Copyright © 2007. Edmonton Journal.