DigitalLife today, with TiVo ToGo, Zen Micro, etc.

Well, this year's DigitalLife expo in New York wasn't all that fantastic to us and Engadget readers, probably because we're always getting hooked up (and in turn, hooking you up) with the scoops way before the launches. But either way, there were a few highlights, including the skinny on the BenQ P50, TiVo ToGo, a hands-on with the new Creative Zen Micro (and lots of pics!) and a few other surprises. Click to read on.

So, on to the big news first: we chatted it up with BenQ and the official word from them on their forthcoming lust-laden P50 is this: the product, which was previewed earlier this year at CEBIT, will officially be announced during CES in January, and will hit stores by March. Pretty weak, we know, but we?re hoping the sheer amazingness of this phone is going to enough to trump the phone currently that sets our hearts a pitter-patter, the Treo 650, even despite its 4+ month lead.

Yes, that?s a laptop connected via Ethernet to a TiVo box.

We also talked to Tivo, who were kind enough to give us a demo of TiVo ToGo. The functionality comes in the form of a free automatic update to any and all TiVo series 2 boxes; just add the TiVo Desktop application to your computer, get the two on your home network, and you?re ready to roll. TiVo gives you an account-specific key for DRMing the shows between your TiVo box and your computer, but no dongle, no fees, and no hassle. We like. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) the video files are indeed encrypted, and they said any time a television network asks TiVO to disallow this feature, or if they enable any kind of copy-protection on their broadcasts (like, by implementing Macrovision)
TiVo is going to readily oblige the request. So we have a feeling there?s probably going to be like, three channels that won?t demand this of TiVo at the time of launch (and those would be the three obscure satellite channels who haven?t even heard of TiVo). But at least you can burn the files to DVD for playback later if you?re running out of space or just like to archive. TiVo ToGo is due before the year?s end, as will be the hacks that make this thing way more awesome and useful than it already is.

Ah yes, the Creative Zen Micro.

Not a bad looking player or interface?

... and very tiny.

But we?re just gonna say it. We played around with it for a little while, and we were less than impressed. The scrolling touchpad was way, way over sensitive, and was exceedingly difficult to use without triggering a bunch of commands and menus accidentally. And it was really small, but it didn?t feel small. You know? Ah, forget it.

The new Apex MP-2000 portable video player was decently sized, feather light (without the battery, though; none of them had one), and had a decent screen with a decent interface. Apparently the battery life is pretty stellar though, at or over four hours. Basically, it?s an okay player with an aggressive price, which is basically how Apex does it, so we hope they keep ?em coming!

We got to take a good long look at BenQ?s lineup, which included the
Joybee 150 (actually a lot smaller and nicer than we thought it?d be) and the rest of their players, including the Joybee110 and
Joybe125. Nothing much new going on here, ?cept for that P50 tip.

We finally got to take a look at the Toshiba Qosmio 15.5-incher, the AV-201. Unfortunately it?s exactly the same as the AV-501 we showed you last night in our coverage of DigitalFocus, just with the smaller screen and chassis. Pfft.

We also got to hang out a little while with the ifbot, a Japanese companion robot who speaks over 400,000 words and phrases, and recognizes faces and whatnot. We caught him here after he took a huge hit off an e-bong.

We need only quote the flier for the Hello Kitty ROBO (oh, how we do love
Hello
Kitty), which will cost about $4,000 and comes out next month: ?Be your best friend. You can talk and play a lot. Communicate her with personal contact. Touch her, and then she will show you her feelings. Your favorite idol is always by your side. Happy days will be yours.?

The Digital Lifestyles Group was also present showing of their dismal
Hip-E teen-puter thing, which will be out soon and is fairly crappy. Yeah, it?s the one with the modular 512MB flash player, dockable LG CDMA cellphone, ?Beatbox?, and a ton of other silly stuff that?s going to set you back at least $1,700 to get started. Thanks, but no thanks.