Top ten gadgets from CES 2009
Mike Harvey of TON, posted a summary and review of the top 10 gadgets of 2009 and following my review of the CES meeting and reading several Tec blogs and sites, I agree with Mikes's summary. It is an excellent review and all those people into gadgets better start saving up if you are going to be buying any of these item.
CES is all over, bar the shouting and it's time for a round-up. Here's my take on the 10 best and most significant gadgets, gizmos and launches from Las Vegas. I have put them in no particular order - except that I have saved the best to last. And no, it's not the Palm Pre.
1 SONY'S POCKET LAPTOP
The early contender for gadget of the week (because I have a thing about laptops) was Sony's Vaio P Series, a mini-notebook (not a netbook apparently) which is about the size of a big envelope and not that much thicker. It weighs just 638g.
The device has an Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM and a 60GB hard drive. Other features include mobile broadband, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS technologies with pre-installed maps. The 8-inch display that has a light-emitting diode backlight for more vivid colors than a standard LCD screen. The display has a resolution of 1,600 by 768 pixels and is "ultrawide".
The system runs Windows Vista, but has an instant-on option that launches directly into Sony's Xross Media Bar interface, which provides access to music, video, photos, and the Web. The Vaio P Series Lifestyle PC is available from February in the obligatory range of fancy colours. The only real problem is the price - from £849 in the UK - which is a lot for such a small screen. But it is a thing of beauty. Details here.
2 YAHOO! GETS INTERACTIVE WITH YOUR TV
Yahoo led the show-wide charge into getting more internet content on your TV. The company unveiled an avalanche of deals with TV manufacturers such as Samsung and Sony to put its TV Widget platform into the living room. With a Widget-enabled set you can interact with content and services that complement your TV viewing (but you don't get the full browsing experience). Press one button on your remote to bring up the TV Widget Dock, select a TV Widget, and view content.
You can track your favorite sports team, watch financial stocks, share photos with friends and family, go shopping, play games, view movies or web videos while you watch your favorite show. eBay, YouTube and MySpace are among the offerings. A significant move for the ailing company. Details here.
3 SKYPE FOR MOBILES
Skype, free video calls over the internet, is the one technology that my move to San Francisco from London has turned into a true life-changer. The company is now doing the same for mobile phones.
The Web-based voice and text messaging service owned by eBay has developed a "lite" version that can be downloaded for free to more than 100 models of Java-enabled mobile phones or those using Google's open-source Android platform.
The T-Mobile G1 runs Android software while phones from LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson are Java-enabled. Skype "lite" is not yet available for the Apple iPhone. (ha!)
The "lite" version gives you the ability to make free Skype-to-Skype calls and low cost calls to landlines and mobiles (no video but still pretty fab). Details of the beta here.
4 THE BEST HD MINI VIDEO CAMERA
Ok, so the Flip Mino HD, strictly speaking, was launched months ago but it was one of the ten entries in the Last Gadget Standing competition at CES and I think it is just brilliant. The world's smallest HD-quality video recorder features 4GB of memory and up to 60 minutes of recording time and all-new built-in FlipShare software for easy saving, organizing and sharing of video. It is pocket perfection. Details here.
Sony entered the market at CES with a new line of HD cameras called Webbie HD, both models coming in under $200. The PM1 has a swivel lens with 4x digital zoom and captures high-definition video at 1080p and snaps 5-megapixel pictures. It has a USB connection allowing easy transfers to a computer and uploads to services such as YouTube. Personally I still prefer the Flip Mino and they were first. But here's a picture of the Sony Webbie, anyway.
5 SUPER-POWERFUL PC FOR GAMERS
One of the sexiest launches for gamers was HP Firebird, from the gaming supercomputer specialists VoodooPC. I'm no gamer but it was not difficult to see why everyone was getting so excited about this fantastic piece of PC engineering.
Currently only slated for the US, the top of the range model features a 2.83GHz Intel Core 2 Quad, 4GBs of RAM, two 2.5in 320GB hard drives, a slot loading Blu-ray drive, Bluetooth and Draft-N Wi-Fi, Creative Labs X-Fi sound and dual 512MB nVidia 9800S graphics cards. Which translates as everything a gamer might want. And because it is watercooled its runs in near silence. No word about when it is coming to the UK...
Details here.
6 PALM PRE HAS IPHONE IN ITS SIGHTS
The Palm Pre is the new cellphone sensation. There has been a lot of attention paid to this new smartphone from the old smartphone pioneers. I think it has great potential but because I have not had a chance to test it myself yet, I am going to sit on the fence. But it was easily the most talked about launch at the show. It will, I am told, be coming to the UK, probably in the second half of this year. Networkworld has got all the details and compares its specs with the iPhone.
7 NIGHT VISION CAMCORDER
My favourite "toy" of the show was the Digital Blue NightVision video camera. Aimed at kids and teenagers this camcorder employs infrared technology to allow users to see and record video in pitch black conditions up to 20 feet away. It is marketed at kids and teens who want to have "stealthy adventures in the dark". Now that sounds a bit weird but I think it is still a great gimmick.
The recorded videos can be played back on the camera's LCD screen, on a PC, or uploaded to social networking sites like YouTube. It also features a built-in flashlight "for safety", and a daytime recording mode. It will be available in the US this summer for $79.99.
The company website does not mention the new product yet but here is the press release.
8 JIVE ROBOT
Cute robot alert. WowWee Robotics have been turning out award-winning androidy products for a while (Robosapiens) but I was particularly taken with the Joebot. He is your interactive friend with a sense of style and rhythm. (pictured here with his launch companion the Roborover)
Joebot responds to voice commands and can beatbox and dance - his movements are sharp and swift and he can get himself up if he falls over. He has various modes but my favourite was battle mode when he will blast objects with the LEDs in his hands. You can even duel against him using any infra-red remote control. Waddya mean, this is just silly? Here's SlipperyBrick.com's take.
9 SEXIEST BLU-RAY PLAYER YET
Samsung unveiled the thinnest Blu-ray player on the planet with the BD-P4600. It can be wall-mounted and features support for internet interactive BD Live and Bonus View. Add a USB dongle for Netflix instant movie streaming and Pandora Internet Radio. This is a very cool product indeed. Gizmodo has the details. The Samsung website is pants.
10 THE WINNER - NEVER MISS A WORD
First of all - a confession. No, two. This is not a brand new launch but as above, it was part of the Last Gadget Standing contest and I had not come across it before. So I can include it. And secondly, yes, I know I love it so much because I am a hack whose shorthand is not what it was.
But this gadget is a fantastic piece of innovation and my favourite from CES.
The Livescribe Pulse smartpen places a computer inside a writing stylus to deliver a pen and voice recorder that remembers everything it writes and syncs it all with your PC.
There is a tiny scanner in the tip of the pen that picks up invisible dots in the special paper to keep a timeline of where the pen comes into contact with the paper. The pen can have its voice recorder activated, so it records audio while the notes are taken and afterwards, simply by touching the pen to any point in the notes, you can play back what was being said at the time.
If this sounds amazing, it is and it works. A journalist colleague swears by the smartpen now. Livescribe sells notebooks of the special Dot Paper, and users can even print out their own Dot Paper using a 600 dpi or greater printer.
Here's a video to help explain (it's a bit cheesy but it is aimed at students).
The pen is designed (by some ex-Apple people) to make note-taking - for journos and for students - really easy. What's more, the pen uses handwriting recognition to solve maths questions and translate words. No, I am not making that bit up.
The notes can all be transferred onto your computer using the Livescribe Desktop. The system is Windows compatible and there is a public beta to download for Mac users. A starter pack of the pen, the software, some of the special notebooks and other bits of kits costs around £185 in the UK.
And that's it. I hope you read this far. I should add that I have not included Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system update because I doubt very much that it will be fully released by the time the next CES comes to an end. So what did I miss?
Posts
