The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is currently sucking up electricity in Las Vegas, and Vulture braved the acreage of future shock to explore some of the biggest trends and most interesting products of the new frontier. (The new frontier will be considered the old frontier in about three days, so click through quickly.) For the latest gadgetry that surprised, disappointed, or had us making our Christmas 2011 lists early, read on!
Not since Moses have tablets been so hot. Inspired by the success of Apple’s iPad, more than a dozen companies are unveiling plans for new or updated tablet computers. Most work on either the Android or Windows operating systems; a few work on both. Getting the most media heat seems to be Motorola’s XOOM, which runs on the new Android 3.0 OS (cutely code-named Honeycomb) and looks like an uglier version of the iPad. Call us whores for Steve Jobs, but virtually all of the non-Apple tablets (next slide excepted) seemed harder to use and didn’t seem to do a single thing better than the iPad … unless, of course, you really need to play flash video or get excited about such words as “dual core processor.”
Okay, so there was one iPad imitator that impressed us. Mightily. The PlayBook multitasks like crazy, letting you watch a movie (in full 1080HD) while browsing the web and playing a game. You’ve got an HDMI output so you can download Mad Men to your PlayBook in HD, then play it back on your 60-inch plasma. And it automatically syncs with your regular BlackBerry: When you get close enough, all of your e-mails pop up. Swiping and pinching was just as instinctual as on an iPad and in some cases — like web browsing — it seemed even easier.
All the rage at last year’s CES, 3-D TV hasn’t exploded as many had expected. One reason: You need to use (and, often, purchase separately) expensive, battery-powered glasses easily broken by 2-year-olds. So the new new thing in 3-D is: no glasses! Several manufacturers showed off glasses-free 3-D, but Toshiba appears to be leading the pack, claiming to have a model that will be ready to sell by Christmas at a price in line with the more expensive 3-D TVs now on the market (around $3,000-$4,000). The picture quality of these new sets is kind of iffy, however: Toshiba’s looked the best of the bunch (Sony’s glasses-free version was very grainy), but even a rep for Toshiba said the company’s only “about 50 percent there” with its product. For now, a much better bet may be the new wave of 3-D sets that still require glasses but let you use the cheap, almost disposable kinds of specs you get at most theaters. Picture quality on these sets was superb.
While many new 3-D TVs will accommodate cheaper, more disposable glasses, there are advantages to investing in your own quality pair. For example, what of the prescription glasses wearers, who are often frustrated by trying to balance 3-D glasses over their own specs? Marchon’s new EX3D line includes a couple of models specially designed for the myopic: They curve at the edges, making for a comfortable fit over your own glasses. Best of all, the EX3D line — set to debut this spring at big box retailers and some movie theaters — will cost about $35 a pair.
You can already buy 3-D camcorders, but most will set you back more than $1,000 or be of questionable quality. Sony is hoping its strong brand name combined with a $200 price point will help its new Bloggie 3-D become a real rival to Flip Video’s suddenly boring 2-D cams. While you’re not going to get James Cameron–quality images out of this machine, you’ll get cool enough shots of your kids playing, and be able to make your own content for that expensive 3-D TV set you’ll buy after rationalizing that this cheap camera has left you with tons of disposable income. How long before a currently unknown member of the Kardashian clan becomes famous for a 3-D celebrity sex video?
Even though few folks seem to be rushing out to buy the new Google-powered TV sets, manufacturers are still catering to potential cable cord-cutters with a slew of TVs that harness the power of the WWW to either add to existing TV programming or replace it altogether. Sony and Samsung announced deals that will let Time Warner Cable customers stream content directly to their sets without any sort of cable box. We saw some cool new Interfaces for apps-powered TVs (early versions have been available for over a year now) that make it easier than ever to grab content directly from the Net; LG’s Magic Remote Control (seen at left) works like a wireless mouse and lets you easily access its suite of SmartTV features. Then there’s a newly updated version of Yahoo TV, which doesn’t let you bypass networks, but supplies you with a slew of web data about the show you’re watching as you watch it, just to make sure that you are never 100 percent focused on any one thing at a given time.
Suburban gadget geeks will be psyched at many of the high-tech home goods unveiled. Kenmore solved a problem that you weren’t entirely conscious you had by developing an oven that sends you a text message when your oven is fully pre-heated. A lock system from Yale not only lets you open your front door via keypad (a technology already on the market for a while) but also rigs it so that when you open said door, preprogrammed lights will come on and selected music will begin playing. Set it for Barry White when your sweetie comes home, or the Yo Gabba Gabba soundtrack for when the tots come home from preschool. But never, ever settle for a silent entrance.
We didn’t get a chance to see Lady Gaga showing off a new line of Polaroid “instant” cameras that let you see images before you snap them. But given how most pics these days are shared electronically, we don’t get why anyone would need to print out low-res versions of digital pics on demand. We predict a bad romance with consumers.
So it costs $30 and even its creators admit it’s mostly a novelty. That said, we found the very low-tech TV Hat — back again this year — charmingly silly in a sea of much more complicated devices. In contrast to some 3-D multimedia goggles being shown off by rivals, TV Hat simply requires that you slip your iPhone into a slot at the front of a special hat. Et voilà: Home theater on your head. Plus, it blocks out the sights and sounds of people laughing at you! Also odd at CES: Trojan’s new line of innovations (including several vibrators) designed, in their words, to “protect your hardware.”
