Welcome to our blog

No marketplace moves faster than that for electronics, where new models can appear and disappear in mere months and where prices (especially for the hottest products) can change weekly and even daily.

Hence, this: the Consumer Reports Electronics Blog. We'll use this new outlet to quickly report on important new developments, follow up on past Ratings reports posted on ConsumerReports.org, report ongoing issues or trends, or highlight particularly good prices for recommended models. We'll also serve up shopping advice — much like that we posted over the holiday season to the Consumer Reports Shopping Blog.

Along the way, we hope to have some content to satisfy the geeks. But as with all our coverage, we'll try to minimize jargon, babble, and inside-baseball debates so regular (or even techno-averse) consumers can stay abreast of what's new without feeling dumb.

We're kicking off our blog as the electronics and computer industries are about to unveil their latest developments at two big trade shows, both starting January 8.

The Consumer Electronics Show — a colossus that draws some 200,000 manufacturers, reporters and editors, analysts, and other professionals to Las Vegas -- features everything from TVs to MP3 players to cell phones and video golf games.

The smaller MacWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco is the annual gathering of the Apple Macintosh tribe. Tribal leader Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, typically uses the event to unveil new Mac computers, iPods, and other offerings.

Consumer Reports' experts from each of three major product areas -- TVs, mobile devices, and computers — will preview what they'll be looking for at the shows in a special edition of our Electronics podcast, which will be available here and on Apple's iTunes.

Naturally, our crack team of reporters and product analysts attending the shows will regularly post here the latest news, observations, and even images. So, check this blog regularly next week. Better yet, click here to subscribe via RSS so you never miss a blog entry or podcast. (See the "How to subscribe" section on the right for more information.)

And we'll of course stay with you after the shows — and beyond.

Let us know what you think by posting your comments below or by sending us e-mail at podcaster@cro.consumer.org. And thanks for joining us in our newest venture.

— Paul Reynolds, Electronics Editor

—Paul Eng