Getting Your Gadget Fix at CES 2007 - Hit or Miss?
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Not everything at CES seemed destined to be a sure-fire hit. Some items looked to have pretty specific and possibly limited uses, and others...well, perhaps it would be best if you judged for yourself.
I'm not sure what you'd do with Israel-based Epos Technologies' latest product, but it must have some kind of niche application. The company bills it as a combination digital pen and USB Flash drive. You can write with it on normal paper, and everything you've scribbled can then be downloaded from the pen as a graphics file. The pen uses a reader clipped to the top of the paper to detect its position (the pen itself contains a transmitter). One observer bills it as a good solution for the keyboard averse. Maybe, but given the handwriting of some computer-hating professors I've worked for, it would need some really good OCR software to suit that purpose.
MyVu's personal media viewer received mixed reviews. It's basically a pair of special glasses that attach to an iPod video. It gives an experience similar to watching a 27-inch TV from 10 feet away. One commentator noted that it seemed hardly worth the price since the accessory costs as much as an iPod, the video quality is diminished from what you'd experience by watching it on the iPod itself, and the glasses make you "look dorky." A different commentator noted that the glasses felt more comfortable than holding an iPod in your hands.
Speaking of dorky, not everything at CES looked, well, high-tech. Hello Kitty had an entire booth at the show, for example, featuring hair dryers and other products. Worth a giggle was the ultrasonic humidifier from Sunpentown. It comes in several shapes, including a pig and a duck (or, as one viewer insisted, a penguin). But why, oh why, did they have to put the knob on the bird quite so front and center? Since I'm a native English speaker, I'd really rather not consider the possibility that my electronic devices of whatever stripe (or anthropomorphic persuasion) might have a gender.
I suppose you could get this last device for someone who has a really hard time waking up in the morning, but if you do, I take no responsibility for the repercussions. It's called a Sonic Shaker; it's a combination alarm clock/bed vibrator. If the shaking doesn't wake them up, the 90 decibel alarm surely will. If they sleep through that, they won't sleep through the cops breaking in - who will surely be called by the neighbors when they hear the alarm continuing to go off for too long. Thank (or blame) Sonic Alert for this $30 wonder.
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