While viewing screens in headrests aren't new there are certain companies that have now been able to build a more largely useable type. Audiovox Electronics takes it that one step further with built-in DVD players and the ability to plug in other media. That new concept, which won Audiovox the CES Innovation Design and Engineering Award this year, means that child one can watch Finding Nemo while child two plays his Xbox beside her. The gadgets will retail at about $1,800 a pair and be available by March, said David Shalam, Audiovox's vice president for mobile video technology. The prior technology required everybody in the vehicle to view the same thing.

Indeed, the race is on in the mobile-technology industry to provide as many fun-filled applications as possible in one or two devices. There's a reason why Delphi's clever slogan for this line of equipment is "Entertainment: The best seat isn't even in the house."

"The key this year is multitasking equipment for the vehicle," said Car and Driver Radio's Alan Taylor, who hosts national syndicated talk shows every Saturday. "It's how can you make one screen do as many things as possible."

To that end, there's an effort by Rosen Entertainment Systems and Horizon Navigation to combine an in-car entertainment unit with a directional program. The system can automatically pause a DVD playing on a back-seat screen, for example, in order to audibly tell the driver what turns to make, said Horizon sales representative Todd Carey. And that's just the start. Visteon is showing off its plans to bring to market in coming months the Dockable Family Entertainment System, a 10-inch DVD and MP3 player mounted to the car's ceiling that can be removed and used elsewhere.

Yet more technological is one companies idea that's the precursor to what are essentially Internet-capable laptops docked to the back of headrests, due out in a couple of years. That system, demonstrated at CES but not yet perfected, would come with wireless keyboards that can be hidden inside the back-seat armrest. Web access would be provided through cellular communications, or through a high-speed link if the vehicle is in a Wi-Fi hotspot

Up to now, satellite receivers on automobiles were unsightly large domes suited mainly for recreational vehicles or large SUVs, but the TracVision A5 antenna is flatter and more discreet: a 5-inch-high, 30-inch-wide disk that can be affixed to the roof rack of any SUV. Delphi projects by 2008 it will be able to build the satellite antenna into the roof of the car during the car's construction, making it invisible altogether. "This takes the whole thing to a new level," said Taylor. "People like flying JetBlue Airlines because it has gate-to-gate TV. You're not stuck watching the same DVDs you own or rent over and over. I get sick and tired of having to listen to my kids watch the Little Mermaid for the 8,000th time when I'm driving."

And lest you think that nobody's considering ways to make the actual driving part of being in a motor vehicle better, Delphi has at least one intriguing concept. The Drowsy Driver System, available this year for commercial vehicles and planned for passenger cars by 2007, involves mounting a tiny camera above the rearview mirror that monitors the motorist's blinking patterns.

As the driver starts to doze, the system responds with the driver's choice of alarms. That is, the radio could come on, the seat might vibrate, or the window may open.