Fiorina shows off HP's '05 wares

LAS VEGAS - The "digital revolution" is all about providing users with easy-to-use affordable technologies and products that help them to share their lives with others through media, Hewlett-Packard (HP) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina said Friday in a keynote address at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Joining Fiorina were musician-fashion icon Gwen Stefani, showing off an HP digital camera she designed, and singer Vanessa Carlton, promoting "personalized tattoos," which are downloadable art linked to particular songs and used to decorate the HP-branded iPod. DreamWorks Animation SKG Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg was on hand to sing HP's praises as a business partner.

Fiorina did offer hints at news to come this year, saying that she would provide details in April at the National Association of Broadcasters conference about a digital platform HP has developed to help content providers such as movie studios and TV networks transfer content from their archives into digital format.

The keynote also featured a video of work going on in HP labs, including development of a coffee table with a screen built into the top that can be used to view city maps and to put together puzzles and play games. Users will run their fingers over the map areas to move from street to street and likewise will move their fingers across the table top to hook together puzzles or move game pieces. A timeline for the debut of that product was not provided.

HP also is working with Orca Interactive on IPTV (Internet Protocol TV), which has been a hot CES topic, Fiorina said, but gave no further details on that project.

Also, this year, HP will complement its TV offerings by releasing 17 new TV and home theater projection products, Fiorina said.

"We don't just OEM someone else's TV and slap a logo on it," Fiorina said, adding that HP-developed technologies will be central to the new TVs, which will roll out in time for the holidays.