The Celestron SkyScout, selected as a 2006 CES Innovations Award Recipient and honored as the Best of Innovations, is a revolutionary, one of a kind, handheld device that employs state-of-the-art technology to transform the night sky into a planetarium for stargazers, families, teachers, students and astronomers alike. If you want to get the jump on star-gazing, this seems to be the device to have. We will be taking a close look at this one when we hit CES.

Astar Electronics, a division of KXD Technology of Shenzhen, China, recently opened its first North American office in the city of Baldwin Park, California.  The new Company offers a variety of innovative and high quality digital entertainment devices such as LCD Televisions, DVD Players and Recorders, Portable DVD Players and Home Theater Systems. Astar will make its CES debut this week.

Sports Video Group (SVG), an organization created by leading sports executives to assist the multi-billion dollar sports industry in the use of video and new media tools, is now moving forward with industry initiatives to strengthen the value of sports properties and the fan experience. Sports Video Group will focus on advancing the creation, production and distribution of sports content for broadcast, broadband and mobile devices. A committee of technology experts from a broad array of sports entities will help guide the organization’s range of initiatives.

Veteran broadcast and technology journalist Ken Kerschbaumer, formerly of Broadcasting & Cable (B&C) magazine, will lead SVG’s educational efforts. Mr. Kerschbaumer has spent 15 years covering broadcast, cable, Internet and consumer technology developments for industry-leading publications including B&C, Digital Television, Television Broadcast, Government Video and TVBEurope magazines. He will continue to edit B&C’s bi-weekly HD Report and will syndicate his SVG information to a wide range of industry and sports news services.

“SVG is the first industry forum created to specifically help leagues and teams, content distributors, stadium and arena personnel, and even coaches and athletes keep up to date on the latest video and new media technologies and practices,” said Mr. Kerschbaumer. “SVG members will share their knowledge to help the entire sports industry, at all levels, best address the needs of the industry’s most important segment: its fans.”

Sports TV Summit is scheduled for Jan. 6 from 3:00-4:30 p.m. at CES. Highlights will include presentations from guest speakers Brian Bedol, chief executive officer and co-founder of CSTV, and Bryan Burns, ESPN vice president, strategic business planning and development. The SVG and the CEA will also present the findings from a joint research study: “HD Sports: Winning Over the Consumer.”

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For all you consumer electronics aficionados, enthusiasts, fanatics, connoisseurs - and all the rest - welcome to Covering CES. We will be bringing you live updates from the CES show floor each year. If there is something you want to see in particular, feel free to let us know - otherwise, enjoy the madness that is the place to be for anyone who loves gadgetry.