Today, at CES, I finally got a chance to go over to the exposition at the Sands. For those who don’t know CES, the Sands/Venetian is the where some of the more experimental technologies is at (as opposed to the Las Vegas Convention Center).

One of the better products is the Smart-Leaf by Originatic. The Smart-Leaf is a Wi-Fi enabled computer that mounts on the wall. It is made for both business and the home, and has a fold-down keyboard.

The Smart-Leaf comes in two forms: the Oasis and the Mountain. The Oasis has a Standard keyboard with a touchpad control, and the Mountain has a stainless steel keyboard with a trackball controller.

Read the rest of this entry »

We already discussed the Emperor super-power chair from NovelQuest, but in the booth next to it at CES was SimCraft’s racing simulator. That’s real Indy 500 race car driver Sarah Fisher in the photo, by the way.

I got a chance to try it, and I tell you, it felt like I was really auto racing. The frame was made of the same materials found in actual race cars, and it moved when I turned the wheel. I quickly learned that first lesson of racing: an inch is a mile.

In other words, you barely need to turn the wheel when you are going at 150 miles an hour on the track. You also have to stay on the outside of ring of the track, because once you go inside, your suspension gets all messed up and you go into the wall. Could a console game have taught me that? Not even with a steering wheel control.

Read the rest of this entry »

Relatively few of us actually need a folding pocket knife with 32GB USB flash drive, laser pointer, biometric security and bluetooth powerpoint controller but you know you want one anyway. Even if you never use powerpoint.

The new Presentation Pro from Victorinox adds tech to the traditional blades and scissors of the Swiss Army knife. The range includes a de-clawed “flight” model that has no pointy bits making it suitable for hand luggage.

Price and availability from www.swissarmy.com

Many of us have heard about the dangers of wandering around with our headphones on. With them on it drowns out surrounding noises and that is of course not always such a good thing. Which, for adults is a bit on the dangerous side, but for the most part the concern is for the youth. Well this iCap makes an attempt to solve that problem and frankly, they fail miserably at it. Sure I can see the occasional middle aged male wandering around doing yard work with this attached to his cap and his kids hiding inside with their heads hung in shame. However, for most people, it just looks ridiculous.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Green” is a bit of a theme this year and solar chargers have started appearing in a variety of shapes and sizes. the Kinesis K2 takes the concept further by adding a wind turbine for additional generating power.

On the plus side it needs extremely little wind to spin, on the downside it adds a fair bit of size to the charger and is less efficient than solar. Still, power is power and if you really need to juice up the iPod out in the boonies after the sun goes down (or you live in the UK and never see any sun) you don’t have many other options at the moment.

… he’d have one of these. The Emperor from NovelQuest is slightly more than a chair. It’s got touchscreen control panels, surround sound, a top-end Recaro seat and a crazy spec PC / multi monitor arrangement. There’s motorised tilt and swivel, it has an air purifier and I’m sure they could build in a senseo if you asked them nicely enough.

They’re custom built to order and available now with a guide price of around $40,000. Start saving!

GiiNii are going to have a winner on their hands with the Movit. A portable internet tablet with a decent screen and excellent software should be a no-brainer anyway and using Android only increases it’s geek cred.

I’d like to be able to talk about the slick user interface, the responsive web browser etc etc. and indeed things were going well. Then after a reboot it powered itself off and resolutely refused to turn on again. Hopefully they have more than one at the show…

Battery problem? Overheated? Who knows – Luckily it is still pre-production so I presume they’ll iron the kinks out of it before it ships. Meanwhile you can drool over the screenshots at Gizmodo.

I remember a time when Maxell made some of the finest VHS tapes on the market. Maxell has obviously needed to make changes in order to stay in business. Maxell is now making many other products including iPod accessories, including three different types of headphones.

The first are the M&M’s headphones that have the image of the popular candy on each ear. These will be available in five colors including red, pink, blue, orange, and white. To celebrate this product’s release, four guys in giant M&M cosutmes hung around the Maxell booth at CES. It was a nice touch.

The second is the Action Sports Headphones, which is everything that the name implies. These are headphones designed for the extreme or even non-extreme sports person. They are designed to withstand a lot of sweat, and can filter out unwanted sound.

The third is the Kid’s Safe Headphones and Ear Clips. These are designed with the little ones in mind, with a limited volume control so children will not play their tunes too loud. They also come in bright colors that we believe the children will appreciate. (I guess kids like bright colors, right?)

Read the rest of this entry »