Photos: Under-the-radar tech at CES 2009's Digital Experience
Every year, CES exhibitors converge at Digital Experience--an evening, food-laden media party--to show off new and not-so-new gadgets. The show-within-a-show always includes a few standouts that get a lot of attention. We went on the hunt for the opposite: less-well-known gadgets and technologies that nonetheless caught our eye.
Lindsey Turrentine
Lindsey Turrentine is executive vice president for content and audience. She has helped shape digital media since digital media was born.
HP is concentrating on thin new notebooks at CES, but its Digital Experience desk shows off some smaller goodies, too. Taking a cue from HP's well-received Vivienne Tam-designed Netbook, these mice certainly put plainer-dressed competitors to shame.
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Like a tiny recording studio for your Nano, the Xtreme Mac MicroMemo puts your iPod to work recording 16-bit audio via a tiny boom mic or any microphone with a 3.5mm plug. The back of the MicroMemo integrates a small speaker for immediate playback, and the device integrates with iTunes for managing your recordings. Look for the MicroMemo on sale in late spring 2009 for about $80.
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iRobot's Looj isn't new, but still cool to see in action. This robotic gutter cleaner promises to keep homeowners everywhere from breaking their backs during the fall downspout-clearing ritual.
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Levana's Interference Free Digital Wireless Video Baby Monitor takes a widely popular concept--the video baby monitor--and makes it bearable for parents who struggled with staticy transmissions all night long.
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Illuminated by LEDs, 3M's teeny-tiny, MM200 portable digital projector can transmit video from digital cameras, computers, or your phone, as shown. Expect to see the MM200 for sale sometime this year.
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Cruzer, perhaps the world's best-known maker or memory sticks, has turned out all variety of high-fashion 2MB sticks.
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The eCoupled table demonstrated Fulton Technology's wireless power forays. The company makes a technology that transmits power via magnetic field and charges items from toys to phones simply by placing them above a charging pad. Last year, a similar vendor--Powercast--introduced consumers to wireless power at CES.
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This wooden tray is actually an eCoupled charging station. With partners from Bosch Power Tools to Energizer, Fulton Technologies is optimistic that consumers will start seeing mainstream acceptance of eCoupled wireless power technology in the near future.
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Energizer's table looks old-fashioned compared with the wireless power demonstration around the corner, but these disposable "Advanced Lithium" batteries are brand-new to the market. According to the company, they last four times longer than "normal" batteries and they cost $7.99. Another, $9.99 battery pack, the "Ultimate Lithium" batteries, should last seven or eight times longer in consumer electronics.
