When I was growing up if you wanted music in different rooms of your house, it meant fighting over CDs with your siblings and owning multiple stereo systems. Thankfully, today most people buy their music digitally and network media players allow us to stream tunes wirelessly throughout the house to multiple users.

Logitech announced its latest Squeezebox model called the Boom all-in-one network music player. The Boom has an integrated amp, high-performance speakers, and simplified setup. All that is needed to set the Boom up is an AC outlet and a wireless network.

I have said it before, and I will say it again — PC gamers need a good set of headphones. Headphones are a great way to keep the neighbors/wife/girlfriend/mom from complaining every time you fire up Call of Duty to frag some noobs. Headphones also let you hear more nuances of the sound as well.

Plantronics makes all sorts of headphones and headsets for different tasks — including PC gaming. The latest gaming headphones from Plantronics are called the GameCom 777 and are connected to the PC and powered by one USB connection. The headphones have a built-in USB sound card and utilize Dolby Pro Logic II and virtual 5.1 surround sound.

The new Samsung X360 laptop looks like it might be something special, measuring in at only 0.66-inches thick and weighing 2.8-pounds, it obviously wants to compete with the MacBook Air. The 13.3-inch laptop is powered by a Centrino 2 ULV processor and sports 1GB of RAM and can support up to 4GB.

You can choose from 64GB or 128GB SSD, or a 5400RPM 120GB HDD, X4500 integrated graphics. Some other features are a 7-in-1 card reader, three USB ports, PCI ExpressCard/34, HDMI, VGA, LAN, docking port, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0+ EDR and a 1.3 megapixel camera. No optical drive. The battery will supposedly give you 6 to 10 hours. No word on price yet.

Many people who shoot lots of digital pictures are big fans of digital photo frames. The frames give somewhere for all of the digital pictures they shoot to be viewed. Digital frames have become much more useful since makers have begun integrating Wi-Fi into the frames.

Samsung introduced four new digital photo frames today called the SPF-85H, SPF-85V, SPF-105P, and SPF-105V. The 85 models have an 8-inch screen and the 105 models both have a 10-inch screen. Both the 85V and 105V have built-in Wi-Fi connectivity with 802.11b/g. The Wi-Fi frames are optimized for Windows Live Spaces for photo sharing and can display RSS feeds from USA Today and more.

Sony is revamping its Xplod line of car stereo units that will work with iPods. The iPod-aware models are the GT630UI, GT430IP, GT330 and GT130, and each features a USB connection that transfers data and charges the iPod.

These are the first models of their kind that feature scan technology known as “ZAPPIN”, which will do what auto-scanning does for radios, but for your digital content. So, using it will play samples of each track in a given piece of the listener’s library so you get a taste of songs, rather than text descriptions. If you want GT630UI you’ll have to pay $160, while the GT430IP and GT330 will cost $130 and $100, when they’re released in September.

Teens and tweens don’t normally want to use the same gadgets and electronics that their parents do. The younger crowd wants bright and colorful gear that is easy to use. More and more companies are starting to target this group of younger users with products specifically designed to grab their attention.

Canon announced several new cameras today and one of the new cameras is the PowerShot E1. Canon says that it designed the E1 specifically for the teen and tween age group. The E1 is available in blue, white, and pink colors and has a rounded design.

Over the last week some specifications and information has been popping up around the web about the Canon 50D DSLR camera. The images were met with welcome by some and as expected when things are leaked early — some called the camera a hoax.

Canon officially announced its EOS 50D DSLR camera today. The camera features a 15.1-megapixel sensor, and a host of other items to make using a DSLR easier for new users. The camera uses Canon’s DIGIC 4 image processor and has an expanded ISO range of ISO 100 to ISO 12800. Several dust reduction features are included.

While everyone else is trying to get your dollars by offering various colored laptops or laptops with art prints on them, Asus is taking it one step further by offering a dimension not of sight or sound, but smell. ASUS has a new line of fragrant laptops.

It gets better.(Or worse depending on your perspective) The fragrance will match the graphics, so that as you work the day away, you can trick your nose into thinking you are at the beach or something. It’s aimed more toward female users though, with four special edition laptops. Floral Blossom is pink and flowery, Musky Black sports graffiti art emits a…earthy musk; Morning Dew comes in pastel green and probably doesn’t emit Mountain Dew odor, while Aqua Ocean smells like the sea. Pretty strange. No price yet, but you’ll smell it coming.

Like all other forms of storage for computers and other digital devices, flash drives are always growing in capacity. As files get larger and more people are carrying video and images with them on flash drives, manufacturers are enlarging the capacity of flash drives.

Last week Lexar announced a 16GB version of its FireFly flash drive. Today, Lexar announced a new 16GB JumpDrive Secure II Plus flash drive that doubles the capacity previously available. The drive features an external display to show how much storage is left on the drive at a glance.

Netbooks are an interesting fad that was kicked off by the Asus Eee. The little systems are small, compact, and tend to be low cost. You can end up spending as much on a netbook as you could get a full-fledged notebook for though — if you are not careful. Back in July, Acer launched its netbook computer called the Aspire One.

Acer has now announced that the price of its Aspire One netbook has been dropped just in time for back to school. The Aspire One with Windows XP Home, 1GB of RAM, 120GB HDD, and a 3-cell battery will now retail for $349.99. A system with the same features running Linpus Linux will retail for $329.

Sony Ericsson is struggling to gain market share in the mobile phone arena. Sony Ericsson has not enjoyed much success in the market and is out to grow its business. Launching cool handsets is one way to grow its market and another is to make its handsets available on more networks.

Sony Ericsson announced today that it is producing its first handset built specifically for the AWS spectrum 1700/2100 network that T-Mobile operates in America. The handset is the first from Sony Ericsson to support T-Mobile and is called the TM506. The TM506 connects to T-Mobile’s 3G network.

Sony is betting that there are people out there who really want to be a DJ. I’m not into mixing songs together and making mixed tapes, but I am sure there are many people out there who are into that. If you are such person and you have been looking for an easy way to play DJ — the Sony XROSS FADE is your ticket.

The XROSS FADE is a 450W stereo system aimed at the aspiring DJ. The system has DJ themed features including a cross-fader and monitor cue along with a built-in two-channel mixer. The features allow the user to check upcoming tracks with headphones to ensure they are cued properly before the songs play. The features can also be used to mix two songs together or fade into the next song. A USB recording function allows users to record mix sessions directly to a USB flash drive without the need for PC.

Multi-room audio is hot these days with more manufacturers than you can shake a stick at bringing wireless audio systems to market. Lots of competition is a good thing because it means a large variety of price points and models for music fans to choose from. Sony has launched a high-end music system designed specifically for the iPod that streams music wirelessly to different rooms of your home.

The system is called the Sony S-AIRPLAY and is a wireless multi-room solution that can transmit audio from the main docking station to its wireless speakers up to 164-feet away. The system includes one docking station and two S-AIR wireless speakers. The system can support up to 10 speakers simultaneously. In addition to the iPod dock — that also charges the iPod — the system features an AM/FM tuner.

Whether you’re a Mac fan or not, I think we all get a chuckle out of the “Get a Mac” ads. And they must have converted many PC users. Now Microsoft is looking to give as good as they get, recruiting Jerry Seinfeld and of course Bill Gates to show you how magical Vista is. It’s a $300 million campaign that has $10 million set aside for “key celebrity pitchmen”.

The ads apparently focus on “Windows, Not Walls,” talking about the need to “break down barriers that prevent people and ideas from connecting.” It will no doubt involve the Mojave Experiment too, which is Microsofts version of candid camera, where Microsoft made unsuspecting users(Prejudiced against Vista) test a new product that was in fact Vista. They’ve got Seinfeld, why not get Kramer and George in on it too?

We have all ended up somewhere at one time or another where we didn’t have anything to do and were bored to tears. If you have a nice smart phone, you have a few options from playing games and watching YouTube videos to listening to music. AT&T customers with the right handset can even watch TV.

LG Mobile Phones and AT&T announced a new handset called the LG Invision, which is now the smallest mobile TV capable handset in America. The phone measures 4 inches tall by 2 inches wide and is less than 1/2 inch thick. The clear screen allows TV fans to enjoy TV programming — including college football games — on networks like CBS Mobile, ESPN Mobile, Fox Mobile, and NBC2GO.