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The Microsoft CES 2012 keynote might be the last, but that doesn't mean it lacks in interesting news-- amongst other announcements, Steve Ballmer revealed the Kinect is coming to Windows PCs on February 2012.

The Kinect was a hit on the Xbox 360, with 2010 sales reaching around 18M units. It also proved to be fertile ground for inventive hackers, who used it for all sorts of experimental applications, such as PC control.

Now Kinect for Windows will allow for official gesture and voice control on Windows devices (Windows 7, 8 and Embedded), while Microsoft says it will "allow other companies to integrate Kinect into their offerings." It will also have a "near mode" for "close up" applications on desktop PCs.

A number of companies are already working on Kinect for Windows applications, including American Express, Mattel, Telefonica, Toyota and the United Health Group.

Ballmer's keynote also confirms Microsoft ambitions to transform the Xbox 360 from mere games consoles to "an entertainment hub for live TV, on demand videos, movies and news, social (networking), music and of course still games." Announced at CES is a partnerships with News Corporation, bringing content from Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Fox and IGN to the console.

Go Official Kinect Blog: Kinect for Windows Announcement

Swiss Army-branded product maker Victorinox has a stand at CES 2012, where it unveiled its latest product-- the Swiss Army SSD.

Just like the popular knife/tool set, it emerges and collapses into its case, and even has a couple of small blades. Being around the size of a small Swiss Army tool set Victorinox claims it is the smallest high-capacity SSD on the market, with sizes ranging from 64GB to 1TB.

It supports both USB (2.0 and 3.0) and eSATA connections, and carries a tiny ePaper display for content labeling. Security comes through AES 256 encryption, while automatic backup and synchronisation should also keep data safe.

There is one drawback though-- Swiss Army SSDs don't come cheap, with prices starting from $470 to up to $2000.

Go Victorinox Swiss Army SSD

Toshiba launches the Excite X10 tablet at CES 2012-- the thinnest tablet from the company yet, with a 7.7mm profile and a 10.1" 1280x800 Gorilla Glass display.

Powering the device is a dual-core OMAP 4430 1.2GHz CPU from Texas Instruments, while Bluetooth 2.1 and 802.11b/g/n wifi provide connectivity. Ports come in micro varieties of HDMI, USB 2.0 and SD card slot.

It also has built-in speakers supporting Toshiba SRS sound enchancement technology, a 2MP front-facing camera a 5MP back camera with an LED backlight. Android 4.0 acts as OS.

Models will be available with either 16 or 32GB of storage from "mid first quarter" 2012.

Like many other vendors, Toshiba also has a new skinny ultrabook on display at CES-- the 14" Portege 2830, with USB, HDMI, RGB and ethernet ports. The company has "Visible Man" style model with a clear plastic case at its CES stand, showing off a shrunken motherboard providing space for cooling and standard-sized memory.

Go Toshiba CES 2012 Plans

While many companies search for ways to add value, Monster consistently turns adding value into an art, a lucrative art. But how?

“One demo at a time,” asserts Noel Lee, known as the Head Monster. It’s not enough to add valuable features: you have to show the benefits to the public.

When industry pioneer Lee started in the audio cable business, there was no internet, no blogging, no YouTube. “You had to stand in front of buyers and demo, and demo, and demo…”

“If you want to sell high performance to the public, you still have to show high performance,” says Lee.

Noel Lee is the man that’s a retail legend for taking nearly-free audio cables and convincing the public to pay more for better Monster audio cables.

That led to the creation of the value-added accessory industry. And more recently, the Head Monster took the cheap “ear bud” and created a market for $150 fashion headphones using celebrity involvement. Monster now owns 52% of the over-$100 headphone market in USA and 26% of the over over-130 euro market in Europe.

Lee still believes strongly in demo-ing, taking an IFA press audience through a demo to illustrate each and every individual product now launched. The press watched the test to show how ordinary HDMI cables can lose data, the demo on how sports earphones can be washed and still play (see photo), the test to experience the sound from the new Clarity speakers…well, you get the idea. Demo…demo… demo…

Part of this comes from Noel Lee, the showman. Part comes from Noel Lee, the man with a known passion for music. And that passion can be catching…

In another example from IFA, Monster announced a new partnership with an Italian house of fashion, Diesel. In announcing the Diesel Noise Division with Monster, Diesel’s Andrea Giacomelli explained, “We watched as fashion and technology came together, for example in categories like spectacles. We wanted to do something different with technology and then we met Monster. The two companies both have a passionate founder who started a company in the same year, 1978. Diesel founder Renzo Rosso, like Noel in cables, took denim fabric, added value and started selling it at twice the price.”

When Giacomelli finished his introduction to the electronics press at IFA, attention turned to the first product…the Diesel Vektr, an edgy, fashionable pair of headphones.

Giacomelli stood there, letting the product design speak for itself, but the Head Monster spoke up, insisting"Put it on, put it on..."

Giacomelli somewhat reluctantly consented and adorned himself with the Vektr headphones. He stood there, feeling a little sheepish but Noel only beamed proudly. Once more the Head Monster had his demo.

Go Monster Headphones