CES gets a kick start with gadgets galore and more
Here in Las Vegas, the forklifts may have still been driving across the show floor getting booths ready for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the carpeting may have yet to have been rolled out, but that didn't stop the pre-show known as "CES Unveiled" from getting underway. Here at CES, I'll be pumping some videos into the Testbed blog and one type of those videos is going to be what we're affectionately referring to as our "driveby shootings."
Each batch of drivebys will consist of some very quick takes on the stuff I found here at CES. Since the "C" does stand for "Consumer," there's a lot of consumer stuff here at the show and that's a lot of what we'll be covering in the drivebys... leaving most of the more well-rounded and dedicated coverage to the more business products and issues I find. After all, when you're a blogo-journalist with a video camera at a consumer show, how can I not treat you to some of the neat stuff that the geek in me saw at the show.
In this first batch, I spied a couple of digital frames that you'd probably put on your desk, nightstand, or some place close to AC power because both the frames require it. The first frame I saw was Parrot's 7 incher and in the video you can see how incredibly fast you can take a picture with a Bluetooth-enabled camera phone (or camera, if you have one), and wirelessly transfer it to the frame. From there, I take you to an alternative frame from Axion (pronounced "action") that's significantly cheaper than Parrot's, but photos cannot be wirelessly transferred into it. That said, Axion's can play music and videos which makes it a bit different than what Parrot has to offer.
But for some pretty crazy fun in the house, you might want to try Interactive Toys' Micro Mosquito remote controlled helicopter . Priced at a very reasonable $70 and found in a Radio Shack near you, you have to see how this little whirlybird nearly gave me a haircut while it floated around my head.
AMD was present and accounted for showing its Acer Turion mobile processor inside two machines I haven't seen before. The first of these was a sub-notebook Ferrari system from Acer (not capture on video). But the one that caught my eye (and that's in the video) was a fashionable leapoard skin-adorned little number from Ego (the system is called the Tulip Ego) that runs around $5,000. The skins are replaceable and from a distance, it looks like a purse (which is probably why a lot of women would like it).
Finally, for you exercise fiends that use an iPod while you're working out, but you don't want to have to play with the controls or mess with any wires, Scosche is here in Las Vegas showing off a nifty set of iPod peripherals that not only wirelessly control the iPod from a wristband, they also transmit the audio via Bluetooth to a stereo headset. If you're a biker, Scocshe has a handlebar mount for the little wireless remote control that others would normally put on their wrists. With another adapter that connects to your home or car stereo, the iPod can pump music wirelessly to them as well. Coupled with the wrist control, that could make for a pretty impressive set up in your living room (wow your friends by press the volume button on your wrist while listening to the music in the room get louder). Here's the video.
For a complete round-up of my CES 2007 coverage, click here.