Saturday, January 30, 2010

CES Ten Cool Gadgets for 2010

The Consumer Electronics Show or CES has recently ended on Sunday in Las Vegas, Nevada. There were many new gadgets scattered all over in the show such as Three-dimensional televisions, Internet-enabled TVs, touch-screen “tablet” computers, e-book readers and other funnew gadgets. The CES is one of the best trade shows for spotting new technologies. And here are the top 10 new toys.

1. Toshiba CELL TV: This television requires no remote control but TV watchers can simply wave their hands in the air to control the menu, fast-forward movies and turn the volume up or down. In other words, the television has gesture technology. This technology has not been perfected yet but Toshiba is the first one to show off publicly.

2. TCL 3-D TV, sans glasses: TCL Corporation has showed off 3-D TV technology that doesn’t require glasses. How it is possible? The technology adds a layer rippled lenses to the front of the TV screen to produce the three-dimensional effect. These could also be used in the home as well as on billboards.

3. Blio E-Reader: The Blio e-reader software application can turn any laptop, netbook or smartphone into an image-rich, full-color electronic reader. It uses publishers’ original PDF files to preserve the exact format of books and magazines while supporting interactive multimedia, including video and Web links.

4. Samsung TV remote with a TV screen: A remote with its own television screen, a “All in One Premium” remote that can play its own audio, and can be tuned to different TV channels than the TV it controls. Samsung will introduce the remote in its upcoming C9000 high definition TV, which will be sold separately.

5. Lenovo IdeaPad U1 tablet laptop: This Lenovo’s U1 hybrid was among the standout tablets at CES because of its touch-sensitive screen. The gadget looks like a laptop; it is independent from the keyboard; the screen is like the big iPhone; and it is ideal for reading digital books.

6. Tivit: This device brings mobile TV to smartphones such as the iPhone, Blackberry and Droid. It aims to bring live television signals like local weather and news to your mobile phones. How it is possible? The device uses an antennae in order to pick up mobile free digital TV signals from local television stations and transmits them to mobile phones via Wi-Fi.

7. Intel Infoscape: Intel’s multitouch-screen display that has two seven-by-seven-foot HD screens showed an ever-shifting array of 576 cubes, each representing a photo, video or other piece of Internet content pulled from 20,000 sources and more than 20 live feeds.

8. Intel Reader: This device scans printed text, converts it to voice and reads it aloud. It also can play documents you transfer from a computer. It is very significant device for those who have vision- impaired.

9. Parrot AR.Drone: It is a gaming helicopter that is remote- controlled. It is about the size of a pizza and can hover almost motionlessly. It is propelled by four rotors and an on-board computer. This device is fun, different and it can hang suspended in the air like the spaceship in “District 9.”

10. Palm Pre Plus: This is a smart phone capable of creating 3G mobile hotspot for up to five laptops or other devices. The function comes in a downloadable app that lets Pre users create a personal Wi-Fi cloud on Verizon’s 3G network.