Jan. 14--HEY, I JUST flew in from Las Vegas, and are my arms tired! Thank you, thank you . . . And don't forget to tip your waitress!

But seriously folks, I've just been to the mountaintop of gizmo-mania, the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. Now to share the wealth (none scored in the casinos) with Takiff's Top 10 Hits from the show.

INTEL-IGENCE: The Intel Corporation was behind several interesting products, none more meaningful than the Classmate PC. It's a sturdy, shock-and water-resistent mini-notebook designed for students (K to 8th grades), with a flip-up swiveling touch screen that turns the 'puter into an electronic tablet for write-on experiences.

The teacher, observing on a large monitor, has a thumbnail view of what each computer-equipped student is up to, can communicate with each kid, and send one student's good work to the others.

This compact, 2.5-pounder is being sold singly for $499 to $599 as the 2Go Convertible from CTL Corp., as the Equus Convertible Nobi and the M&A Technology Companion Touch. Bulk discounts available, natch.

3-D IN YOUR FACE: CES set the stage for the next big format war (and patent royalty split), as varied makers showed off techniques for encoding three-dimensional Blu-ray disc content and displaying it on magically deep, HD stereoscopic screens.

With about 30 new theatrical 3-D films in the pipeline -- from "Monsters Vs. Aliens" to "Avatar" -- and not enough theaters to show them, there's serious pressure to get home versions ready.

Best of the reach-out-and-touch displays at CES were 3-D LCD TVs from LG and Sony that you view with inexpensive ($1 a pair) yet comfortable polarizing lens glasses, just like the ones at movie theaters.

By contrast, a competing technology touted by Panasonic, Mitsubishi, NVIDIA and Samsung required LCD shutter glasses that are heavier, produce a less bright picture, require recharging and go for $200 a pair.

Um, case closed.

ROCK THE HOUSE: The D-Box Technologies booth offered another great way to throw yourself into the action. Its cool Canadian entrepreneurs have mastered motion codes for video games and movie discs to get motorized theater or gaming seats rocking, rolling and vibrating in sync with the on-screen action.

D-Box Motion Coding is downloaded to a companion control box for DVDs and is pre-installed on Blu-ray discs and PC games.

Now D-Box is introducing the tech in its cheapest GPH-120 chairs (about $3,000) and in the first motion seats to be installed in a movie theater -- at the Mann 6 in Hollywood's fabled Grauman's Chinese Theater complex.