Las Vegas (NV) - If the first real day of CES is officially the day before the opening, then the last official day is often considered the day "after" the conference. That's the meaning of a conference when it spills over into a Saturday, not because it necessarily becomes uninteresting, but for far more logistical reasons: For the business of the world to continue as usual on Monday, it's often necessary to start flying back on Saturday.

This is when you'll start to find the non-keynote companies attempting to seize their turn in the spotlight before somebody shuts the spotlight off. Tim Higgins discovered what may end up being one of the most important news items to have come from the show: The 802.11n specification may, at long, long last, finally be at hand, with discussions among members of the Enhanced Wireless Consortium having come to some fruitful conclusions. We discovered Samsung's little jewel peeking out from the back of a display, a WiMAX-enabled notebook computer that might very well command 300 Mbps wireless transfer speed. And we learned from Seagate - the company that will absorb Maxtor in 2007 - that there may actually be an "end of the road" for the ever-increasing capacity of common hard discs. Could you have imagined the day when half a teraByte might not be enough for consumers? Here now are the stories that made headlines from the floor of CES on Saturday, 7 January 2006:

Highlights From Day Four Of CES 2006

• 802.11n draft spec draws near; WLAN chipmakers get ready to rumble
  Discussions with both Enhanced Wireless Consortium (EWC) members and Airgo Networks at CES revealed that the joint proposal that has been submitted for vote will most likely be approved in two weeks.
• TDK showcases 100 Gb 2x Blu-ray disc
  If the hardware industry has its way and digital content owners play along, first-generation Blu-ray and HD DVD may have a very short shelf life.
• Samsung shows off first WiMAX notebook
  We caught a glimpse of a notebook computer that can receive broadband data using the Korean WiBro 300 Mbps standard.
• 500 Gb likely the end of the line for current HDD storage technology
  With literally millions of content items finding their way in the digital stream to various CE platforms over the coming months and years, there never has been a better time than today to be in the storage business.
• D-Link shows off gigabit interface for RAID storage
  It's one thing to have a good "spy photographer" at the show; it's another when the photographer knows more than most about what he's photographing.
• ATI demos HD digital cable receiver for PC
  ATI announced a new device theat allows end-users to receive HD "premium" television programming through their digital cable service.
• Seagate demos W-USB harddrive, pluggable hard drive concept
  On display was a 1.8" harddrive, encased in a shiny aluminum casing that was equipped with a Wireless USB chipset.
• While DirecTV spins, Dish Network delivers multi-set support
  The VIP222 Receiver and VIP622 HD DV-R can handle both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 signals in two tuners, and support viewing on two sets simultaneously.
• Thermaltake waters down GPU heat with liquid cooler
  Cooler and case specialist Thermaltake revealed a totally new concept for a liquid cooling device.
• Fujitsu announces a pair of Centrino Duo mobile notebooks
  Fujitsu Computer Systems introduced two desktop replacement notebooks based on Intel's new Centrino Duo mobile technology.
• Toshiba announces Qosmio notebook computer with HD DVD-ROM drive
  Toshiba is showing off its newest Qosmio 17" notebook with Centrino Duo processor, which looks to be the first on the block with an HD DVD-ROM drive.
• NVIDIA Quad-SLI-endowed Dell XPS redefines 'discretionary spending'
  NVIDIA and Dell on Wednesday jointly demonstrated the first fully-functional, Quad SLI gaming PC.

Source : Tom's Hardware US