I've been unmistakably jammy and bagged myself a slot at Macworld Expo almost as soon as CES closes its doors. And this year Apple's Macintosh Business Unit is loudly heralding the arrival of an Intel-native Microsoft Office for Mac which will be fully, marvellously compatible with Microsoft Office 2007.

Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage will be included, along with Microsoft Windows Server support for the bells and whistles version; the student edition is now called Home and Student so if you don't need the business tools it's easy to just get the four programs you need at a reduced price. As well as the distinctive, elegant interface, a little Mac-only extra, My Day, will complement Entourage as a floating calendar that works even when Entourage is closed. I'll be getting my hands on all the tools at Macworld Expo, kicking off on the 14th of January - a day before the software goes on general release. And of course I'll be busting a gut to bring you all the Mac news, product announcements and videos I can. Because you're worth it.

Macworld Expo | Microsoft Office for Mac 2008

By the time you read this, we will be safely hanging out in a metal box somewhere above the Atlantic. However, as if from the mists of time past, I'm in this movie below, giving you the insider track on just what we're likely to see at CES this year. Totally safe for work, unless you have very loud speakers, in which case you might want to mute them at about 00:52 when I start talking about porn.

We get about a bit at Shiny Media. By which I do not mean that we put ourselves about a bit, so you can rein in the unpleasant thoughts now. This week it's been the turn of European jetsetters Katie Lee and Ashley Norris to scoot over the Paris and report from the Le Web 3 conference.

Exhaustive liveblogging, commentary, analysis and news has been appearing on Tech Digest, but for a concise summary of what you need to know, check out Ashley's 20 Things I Learned from Le Web 3. It's all about social networking, media sharing, Jason Calacanis (he gets a special mention because we both have Greek surnames) and more. In fact, you could learn up to twenty things.

Samsung have got a busy few days of it, since they seem to be launching something in pretty much every category. Luckily, we've got our man on the ground, Ashley, to talk us through it, and explain just what's going on, liveblogging from the press conference. And yes, those are his big fat fingers in the picture (along with the YPP2 MP3 player).....

All makers talk about how big they are getting etc (insert huge pinch of virtual salt), but Samsung is claiming some pretty impressive stuff. According to Anthony Marsella on information from research company GFK, Samsung is now the number one CE brand in the UK and also top in TV and set top boxes. In TV Samsung says it is number one in LCD and is now number two in plasma. The UK is apparently the biggest market for Samsung outside of Korea. It also claims to be number one in Europe as a whole too.

For those of you who worship at the alter of Jobs, you'll be interested to know (or perhaps already have the t-shirt) that there was a worldwide developers conference this week, which traditionally is a great place to get all the gossip on the way a company is heading. This one was no exception, with secrets pouring out like wine at a wedding.

First up was a quick chat about the iPhone. Apparently, it's not going to be a closed platform, which means that anyone with a developing inclination will be able to develop applications for it - they won't even need a developers kit. This leads the way for loads of Web 2.0 apps, such as something channeling Last.fm or even Facebook.

HP are ever so excited about mscape. They reckon this new technology which allows you to get media on your PDA or smartphone which is relevant to your GPS position is going to have us all creating our own personal 'mediascapes'. I had a go, and learnt lots of interesting things about Shanghai.

For more on mscape, click here.

So, I’m here, I’m awake and I’m ready to hear all about the HP goodies that we’re about to be told about. The key note is due to start in a second, but in the meantime, here’s what the press releases are telling us:
• There are going to be 13 different notebooks launched over the next two days.
• There’s one big consumer notebook launch
• There’s one big business notebook launch
• Mscape’s going to be a focus.
• HP wants to get in on the video on your mobile act, and they’ve developed three programs they’re going to sell on to operators to make the whole thing simple.
Now the keynote has started, and as per, there’s graphics a-go-go, and in the first 30 seconds, we’ve been told that HP is the largest technology brand in the world. Go them!
The vice president has just told us a long story about how the way to a man’s heart is through the stomach. He apparently believes that the way to a man’s wallet is through the heart, which leads me to believe the only logical conclusion is that perhaps HP are going to start giving away Pot Noodles with their laptops.

Over at CeBIT, our man of the hour, Will, snapped a pic of the telly which has the privilege of being called 'the world's largest'. Sure, we've all seen that 108 incher LCD from Sharp unveiled at CES, and the Panasonic 103 inch Plasma, but this effort from TecnoVision (I know, who!?) is actually the largest TV full stop. Made from an array of 750,000 LEDs, it's whopping 205" should not go within any form of proximity to a Nintendo Wii. The screen is over 15 feet by 8 feet, and reportedly costs €350,000 - go on, show us your credit card already! (Via Tech Digest).

Related: Sharp's 108" LCD | Panasonic's 103" Plasma

Well, it would've been a heck of a lot more, had I not seen all of it already at this year's CES. Those Americans, moving too fast for us Brits. Still, from what I gathered from walking around the endless corridors of Bristol's Marriott hotel for most of last Friday, is that people care a lot more about their home audio system than I ever could've imagined. I guess that's what's meant by the term 'audiophile'. However, it was rather interesting taking a closer look at things like Sennheiser's PXC 450 NoiseGard 2.0 headphones, without worrying about missing out on happy hour at whatever random Las Vegas bar we would be frequenting that day. We've written about all the products already over the last few months, but here are the home audio and cinema items which really took my fancy last Friday.

1.) Denon's AH-D5000 headphones - scraping in at a pence under £500, this top of the line model offers superior acoustic characteristics, due to its outer casing being made from quince wood. These are absolutely without a doubt the best looking pair of headphones I've ever laid eyes on, and the acme of my Sound & Vision show experience.

We've been talking recently on Shiny Shiny about DVD-upscaling, whether that be in DVD players or projectors, but they've all been on the fairly pricey side...up until now. Last Friday I travelled to Bristol to attend the Sound & Vision show, and feasted my eyes upon Denon's new DVD-2930 player, a more affordable version of their DVD-A1XVA but which uses most of the same technology, for less money. Not only does the player upscale to that beloved 1080p HD, but it also enhances standard DVD pictures with near broadcast-quality picture improvement circuitry. I was told that this technology also processes each individual pixel in real-time, which enhances sharpness and minimises picture noise. It's on the market as we speak, for £649.99.

Denon

Related: Denon's D350s | Denon's DF102DAB Hi-Fi | Denon's DF-103HRDAB

I can pick a winning horse, me. I'm not saying they win because I pick 'em, but... Anyway, I stumbled across the Polymer stand at 3GSM, which was demonstrating some new technology that will enable you to pull out a paper-type screen from your mobile phone for viewing all sorts of stuff. And now they've won the Most Innovative Technology Award from 3GSM. Coincidence?

The mobile phone industry has gathered in Barcelona to show off the best of their wares, and Shiny Media is right in the heart of the action. Not only are we blogging about new phones as and when we learn of them, but we're also using our mobiles to audioblog - we speak, and the nifty converter types, so you can hear the uncensored thoughts of the Shiny Media Massive. Represent.

Top Stories

Toshiba launches G900 and E01 smartphones
Top 5 phones of 3GSM
The best of the new Samsung phones
HTC launches Vox/S710 - smartphone with full QWERTY keyboard
HTC launches Advantage (X7500) and P3350 mobile devices
BlackBerry news
Motorola unveils MOTOSLVR L9 multimedia handset
Nokia launches three new Eseries models - E90 Communicator, Nokia E65, and Nokia E61i
Motorola's MOTORIZR Z8 - "fit-to-face" entertainment slider phone
Nokia N77 mobile TV phone
Nokia 3110 classic 'dad phone'

Video

Samsung's F500 multimedia phone
BlackBerry's 8800
Samsung's U100 Size 0 mobile phone
Samsung's F700 Smartphone
Samsung's F300 music phone
Samsung's D840
HTC Advantage
Nokia E61i
Motorola Q9
HTC S710 and P3350
Nokia 3110
Samsung WiMAX Ultra Mobile PC
Motorola KRZR K3
LG Prada phone (part one)
Motorola SLVR L9
Motorola RIZR Z8
A first look at the LG Prada phone

3GSM Live on Spin-My-Blog

3GSM Morning roundup
Nokia at 3GSM: E61i
New Motorolas at 3GSM
Samsung WiMAX at 3GSM
Samsung steal the show at 3GSM
BlackBerry 8800, live from 3GSM
UK mobile TV a lost dream?

All the Tech Digest 3GSM coverage. Shiny Media do 3GSM Live.

Not satisfied with making all sorts of other stuff (you expect me to do my research? Pah! They make stuff, and that should be enough for you.), Toshiba have begun to manoeuvre their way into the smartphone market with the launch of two new phones at 3GSM.

The first phone - and the one everyone's getting their knickers in a twist about - is the G900, which has a QWERTY keyboard on a horizontal slide, super-fast HSDPA goodness, 3-inch WVGA screen, 2 megapixel camera and front-facing video camera, 64MB internal memory (expandable by miniSD card), rear biometric scanner, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB On-The-Go and Windows Mobile 6. The only thing it lacks is pricing and availability info - but that's for plebs, dontcha think?

While 3GSM hasn't been BlackBerry's convention in quite the same way it's been Motorola's, there has been more than a wee bit of BlackBerry-related news following the launch of the 8800, and I thought it would be handy to put it all in one place. Aren't I lovely?

First up comes the news that Vodafone will be the first UK mobile operator to offer the 8800, so all you Crack(Berry) heads had best get down to your local shop and start badgering. Or you could always go to their website for full pricing information, but that would just be lazy.

If you're still too attached to your laptop to even contemplate ditching it for the Advantage, then this may be the HTC for you.

The company has announced the Vox (also known as the S710), a smartphone with full QWERTY keyboard, a 2.4-inch QVGA display, a 2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, 128MB of Flash memory, 64MB RAM and microSD support. Like every other smartphone in the whole world (except that one you're thinking of. Pedant!), it runs Windows Mobile 6.

You like? Go see Orange, who'll hook you up with a nice one. Probably for many many pennies, unless you go for the first-born child contract option.

Check out the rest of our 3GSM coverage. And don't forget to check out Tech Digest for more reports.

So you've seen the video of Susi saying goodbye to her laptop for once and for all (or at least until the next high-spec shiny laptop-shaped gadget catches her eye), but how about a write up? After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, so a moving picture is worth at least a million. And all those words will make your eyes hurt, so why not downsize and read 100 or so?

I've not actually been jammy lucky enough to go to Barcelona, or to look at these new toys without a computer screen and many miles of cable in the way, so check out what the Tech Digest boys had to say after covering the new toys in boy cooties: "The HTC Advantage (X7500) is like a miniaturised PC, powered by a 624MHz XScale processor and Windows Mobile 5. It also features an 8GB hard drive, along with tri-band UMTS with HSDPA, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, QWERTY keyboard, 5-inch VGA touchscreen, 3 megapixel camera and built-in GPS. Battery life is good too - up to 8 hours between charges. Expect to see it in the UK as the T-Mobile Ameo next month."

For details of the P3350 see after the jump.

Well, there's another hour or so of the majority of the Shiny Massive's time here at 3GSM (although Hard Core Stu is staying on for more mobile fun); just time enough for a quick reflection on our own personal Top Five Best Things What We've Seen. There's a noteable absence of certain big players, but we've looked deep into our souls and decided that's just the way it is.

1. LG Prada
I was very over-excited to get my hands on the LG Prada phone yesterday, and was not only not disappointed, but positively surprised at just how luxurious it was. The touch screen is a sleek black and white, and navigating it is a doddle. In actual life, I'll be interested to see how easy it is to text, but as an aspirational handset, it's a winner. Check out the video here.

I've just overheard someone in the press room say that if they heard anyone else saying they'd developed a product that was going to mean you could leave your laptop at home, he was going to commit murder. Well, I'm really hoping he doesn't read it, otherwise I might be done for accessory to murder - guess what this does? Yep. You can resign your laptop to The Place Where Technology Goes to Die (under your bed), as this is so cute, and so light, you'll never want to use it again.

I took a look at two of the more friendly phones from the HTC announcements made today here at 3GSM. The first is all about the music, and is hoping to tempt you away from your none converged MP3 player, whilst the second reckons it'll have you IMing your mates on the bus.

It's a bit of a Samsung love-fest here at the moment, as Susi and Ashley are getting hands on with some of the brand's recently announced mobiles. The latest cat out of the bag is this rather sleek F500 multimedia phone, which features a handy swivel function, allowing you to view videos while it's propped up on a table. It can play DivX files, although with the micro SD memory slot, it limits those files to just 2GB. Still, it's a nice piece of kit, one I'd personally love to check out in detail at a later date.