OTHER TECH

It's easy, in this age of technological plentitude, to feel overwhelmed. Digital gadgets fall in and out of favor with dizzying speed, and even successful products disappear from stores almost as fast as you can say "mini." It can be tough to tell what's worth your attention and what's just a waste of money, so we've separated the digital wheat from the digital chaff to identify the four tech trends we think are most worth tracking this year: video to go, satellite radio, high-def discs, and whole-house A/V. We even asked Al Griffin to peer into the future to see what's going to be hot a few years down the line. (In most of the sections, you'll find references to products we've already written about.)

We're not saying these are the only trends, or that something won't suddenly appear out of left field. (Who really knew that the iPod was going to change the world when it was first introduced?) But these are the four that, by keeping home entertainment exciting, will have the biggest impact on our lives.