"Say cheese...Say it again, this time louder...One more time now, c'mon, CHEESE"

When the victims saw and heard themselves and the torture they had just put up with by looking at the playback via the VPC-SX500's 1.8" LCD window they laughed and were slightly embarrassed.

Aside from the practical joke aspect of the VPC-SX500, the camera is very well designed, and can be used by consumers and amateur photographers alike. It definitely deserves a test drive if you're in the market for a new digital camera.

Sanyo definitely marches to the beat of a different drum, but that's all right in our book as sometimes the most innovative products come out of left field.

We liked Sanyo's 42" plasma HDTV, their new 2.5" 730MB storage medium, and their fun high-end digital camera. Sanyo's portable MP3 player also deserves a mention here, as its small size and good quality audio was relatively equal to Sony's new models in our quick listening tests.

But that blimp has got to go....

Philips Electronics is a name that's relatively well known to most of you, as they've offered a wide variety of audio and video devices for many years.

Philips has been working hard at reinventing their image to consumers as a true technology innovator, as evidenced by the large amounts of money they've spent on advertising campaigns for their $20,000 42" Plasma "FlatTV".

While Philips knows all too well that few of us have the financial resources necessary to purchase their 4" thin wall-mount 42" TV, they do know that consumers think the FlatTV is incredibly futuristic and hip, which are adjectives usually used to describe products from Philips' rival Sony.

At CES 2000, Philips had a multi-segmented booth display that offered a look at how the company manufactures products as well as exploring the technology behind the products. Here were the new products from Philips that most appealed to us, along with our opinions regarding their effectiveness.