According to an Ars Technica story, the Electronic Entertainment Expo has gone from a small-and-interesting show to something enormous: maybe too enormous to be workable any longer. It's gotten to the point where you have to schedule meetings behind closed doors to find out anything newsworthy (that a million and one other journalists aren't already covering), and I can attest that tromping from hall to hall at the LA Convention Center to meetings all day long does not put one in the mood to rhapsodize about anything, no matter how new and cool it is. I would end up exhausted and overwhelmed by the overly loud, bright, blingy show floor and really happy not to have to go back for another year.

When I first started covering games, E3 was where most of the big announcements happened; in recent years, though (with the exception of the Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo triumvirate) many game companies have announced stuff before or after the show; some haven't even had booths there at all.

Although it's been reported elsewhere that E3 might actually be closing, Ars Technica reports just that the show will be downsized. (Of course, that's also what happened to Comdex before it bit the big one...) I'll be interested to see what happens in 2007. If the show survives in a smaller form factor, it might be compelling again.

This week on Gearlog Radio with host Robyn Peterson: Sascha discusses the hot new Motorola phones coming our way; Dan takes a stand on the coming Microsoft digital audio player; and Jen rounds up some rather strange gadgets that can help make your bathroom experience more high-tech.

-> Download the MP3: Motorola's New RAZR, RIZR, SCPL, and MOTOFONE; Is the Microsoft Zune an iPod Killer?; And More Bathroom Tech… Seriously!

On this week's show:

• Lead analyst Sascha Segan returns to us from a week in Chicago with Motorola; his hands-on experience of the new phones the company announced.
• More on Motorola: Is the company switching to Linux?
• Our Hollywood mole tipped us off about Tom Cruise, Helio, and Tom's $1,000 sushi.
• The Microsoft Zune: Will this be the real competitor for Apple's iPods? Senior editor Dan Costa speculates.
• Will the Sony Reader succeed where other ebook readers have failed?
• Our top post of the month: Bizarre bathroom tech products! Assistant editor Jen DeLeo makes recommendations for all the panalists. 

Hosts: Robyn Peterson and Sascha Segan

Panelists: Dan Costa and Jen DeLeo

Audio Engineer: Scott Bernstein

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Verizon Wireless came out with their new flagship music phone, the LG Chocolate VX8500, today, and my feelings are maybe a little more mixed than my very positive PC Mag review would suggest.

I gave the Chocolate an Editor's Choice because it succeeds at being a music phone in ways no other Verizon Wireless phone does. The music player natively supports MP3s, WMAs and protected WMAs, and might be upgraded to support AAC files as well. The phone takes 2GB MicroSD cards, and it can play music over stereo Bluetooth headphones. No other Verizon phone offers stereo Bluetooth, or both MP3 and WMA support in a good-looking music application that syncs easily with Windows Media Player. The Chocolate also sounds good, looks neat, and uses Verizon's new Flash interface, which promises even neater looks in the future.

That said, I'm curious to see how the Chocolate's learning curve will play out. The Chocolate's navigation buttons are touch-sensitive rather than real, physical buttons, and that takes more time to get used to than most phones I've used. I'm also a little concerned about battery life, which was on the low end of okay -- so throughout this week I'm going to be running some more battery tests. (Battery tests are a pain because they take a full day to run each scenario, and you can't do anything else with the phone while you're running them.)

A neat thing: You can load your own MP3 ringtones with the free program Bitpim (use the VX8300 settings.) And you can use your own MP3s as alarm clock sounds!

I also gave the Chocolate an EC as, well, a mark of boredom with Motorola's RAZR line. The RAZR has been on the market since 2004, and it really needs a refresh. That refresh is coming in the form of the KRAZR, RAZR MAXX, and SCPL from Motorola, but not quite yet. Buying a Chocolate will set you apart from the RAZR-wielding masses. As your cell phone is an expression of your personal identity, it's good to have options.

Have any questions about the Chocolate? Ask me here.

Just when you thought Gateway had already axed off their eMachines branded notebooks, a new eMachine notebook resurfaces at Wal-Mart for back-to school season. The eMachines N-10 laptop is available at any of the 3200 Wal-Mart stores, and the packaged deal seems like a pretty good one. For $798, the 14.1" widescreen and AMD Sempron 3200+ processor may look like a rip-off, but Gateway manages to throw in a 2-year warranty, 2 years of LoJack laptop theft recovery software and 2 years of McAfee AntiVirus software. Folks, the operative word here is TWO years, which is very impressive all by itself.

Gateway and Wal-Mart will also throw in a 128MB USB flash drive and a Targus backpack, because the notebook will weigh 5.3 lbs on top of all your textbooks. . Some of the other technical specs include Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, 512MB RAM, and a 60GB hard drive(4200rpm). You can't get this deal on Gateway's website or any other retail outlet, so you might have to suck it up and head over to your local life-sucking retail giant.