Well Benjamin just got back from the Consumer Electronics Show, and so he brought back news of the things he saw, including a LOT of televisions that stream Hulu and are really thin and so-on and so-on. However, look forward to seeing a lot of interviews in the coming months from the people from the fascinating companies he met at CES. In the meantime, we’ve got a lot of show to cover here in the notes.

                With the coming of the transition to digital Television, Pixie e-mailed Benjamin about the fact that the government ran out of coupons and Obama wants to extend the deadline so that more people can be ready. However, broadcasts are going in both at the moment, so Pixie wants to know why they can’t just continue doing both until people are ready. Unfortunately, this isn’t going to happen because the government is making money hand over fist by auctioning off the stations.

                Continuing along with the government, Benjamin brought along to us that cybercrime is increasing and Obama must make his main focus to cut down on cybercrime. There’s a lot that they can do, but just need to take the time to do it. Revisiting the laws and regulations regarding it will be a great start. For the entire list of proposed action, check out the audio below.

                In other news, Benjamin talked mentioned that there is a week left for the Windows 7 Beta download. There were of course bugs, as in any beta, but they have been resolved and everything looks to be going pretty well now.

                SanDisk appears to have noticed the problems with not backing up your data, and so they have added a push-button back-up option to flash memory. Called the SanDisk Ultra Backup USB Flash Drive, the drive allows you to simply push a button in order to back up your information. This is a great innovation, and hopefully it will help a lot of people back up their data simply and quickly.

                SanDisk made news again at CES with the unveiling of the first SlotMusic player.  Essentially a simplified MP3  the $99 slotRadio, will play SD cards loaded with music and will ship pre-loaded with 1,000 songs from the top of the charts, and adding new music will be as easy as loading music to one of your SD cards. You can also buy more pre-loaded 1,000 song cards for $39.99 organized by genre or by playlist. This is an interesting new direction for music, and Benjamin is excited to see where it leads.

                Another new product coming out is the Palm Pre. People have a lot of questions about the device, but Benjamin’s found at least some of the answers. Unfortunately, they are not all good. Apparently the Pre will ship initially in black only, and neither Sprint nor Palm will comment on releasing other colors.

                Mike e-mailed in this week with a complaint about the Microsoft Songsmith program and its commercial… Actually it was more of a joke and a chance to laugh at, and of course Benjamin laughed along at this program that accompanies your voice with child toy music… hmm… sounds… exciting? I vote “no.”

Make sure to tune into the audio below!!