"An increasing number of people watch clips of 'American Idol' or old TV shows — old shows on the Web now or this week's 'Desperate Housewives' — and it's getting better all the time. It won't be long before they'll be indistinguishable. You'll be able to do high-definition over the Web, and there will be no real difference. Web sites are looking more like TV, and TV is looking more like Web sites. Look at CNN or ESPN, and they have stuff scrolling on the bottom and on the side. With this merger, they will be indistinct media sometime in the not-too-distant future."

Folks who like shooting their own video content have "small" options, meaning plenty of choices of diminutive camcorders small enough for one-hand operation. Among them are the Pure Digital Flip Video Mino and the Kodak Zi6. Both retail for about $179.

The Mino contains flash memory for about an hour of video and plugs directly to a computer via a flip-out USB arm or to a TV for instant viewing. It also can accommodate an SD card for more storage.

The Zi6, also using SD technology, is about the same size but offers high-definition recording.

"You know, when I was the editor of Video magazine 16 years ago, new camcorders were coming out that were 10 times the size of these but had a tenth the picture quality," Barry said.

"Camcorders have been around 25 years now, and they've gotten smaller and smaller and now high-def. But even the small ones are about the size of your fist. These new ones are so small and thin and easy to use that you will keep it in your pocket or your purse. Mom will have it in the pocket of her jeans when she takes the kids down to the park, and you'll get pictures of the kids on the swings and stuff that you wouldn't get otherwise."

The trend toward small is also seen in notebook computers, such as the Sylvania Meso and the MSi Wind. The $399 Meso weighs only 2.2 pounds and a keyboard about 80 percent of normal size, but it packs a 1.6-gigahertz Intel Atom processor, stereo speakers, built-in WiFi and a webcam — really, just about anything a standard notebook would have, except for a DVD drive. The $499 Wind, also with a 1.6-gigahertz processor, sports a full-size keyboard. Both have screens smaller than 9 inches but come with 80 gigabytes of storage.

Another trend represented in Barry's bag o' fun is hands-free communication.

The BlueAnt Supertooth Light and the Funkwerk Ego Cup let a person chat while driving but without having a speakerphone cluttering up the car.

The $99 BlueAnt device clips to a car's sun visor. The Ego Cup, under $100, can be attached to a flat surface but an attachment lets the speakerphone rest in a standard-size cupholder. It gets power through a car cigarette-lighter adapter. Both work with any Bluetooth phone and adjust sound levels to compensate for a loud engine or external noise.