Face it – making noise by hitting stuff is fun, which is why Rock Band flew off the shelves despite the high price. Roland are cashing in on this craze with two new products – the HD-1 entry level electronic drum kit and the DT-HD1 drum trainer software.

Roland drum kits are well regarded and the HD-1 has all the usual toys you’d expect from a modern instrument – velocity sensitive pads, MIDI interface etc. No real surprises there except it’s compact size. The thing that caught my attention was the training software.

Reading music is hard work so the guitar hero / Rock band games introduced a much simplified method of displaying musical notation on the screen. Roland have now adopted that approach in their training software – the practical upshot of this is that people who get interested in the drums through the video games (and there will be quite a few of those) will feel right at home when they transition to a grown-up kit. The software also offers a more traditional musical notation and has a range of options including jamming with a backing track.

Neat.

“So what am I looking at?”

“Time machine for Windows.”

That was pretty much how the conversation surrounding the Rebit product went and I can’t think of a better description so I’m stealing it! (with apologies to Apple…).

Rebit copies any and all changes made to your PC onto a backup drive, silently and automatically. If you ever need to go back to a previous version of a file you can use the normal windows explorer interface to inspect the disk as it was at any given date.

The system manages space automatically – if you make a change to a file every day for example  then you’ll have lots of previous versions. As the drive gets low on space it removes the oldest copies automatically to make way for the newer ones.

Because it’s a complete system copy it can also recover a failed machine. You can boot up a machine using the recovery CD, pick a date and it will restore the PC to the exact state it was in at that time.

You can buy it packaged into various capacities of USB hard drive or as a separate software install if you already have spare storage. It can use any hard drive, built in or external as it’s backup store but not a network share (yet). Personally I quite like the idea of partnering it with one of these but that’s probably just because I’m looking for an excuse to buy a fireproof hard drive!

Cell-Mate Straps have managed to find their way into the wide world of CES.  It makes it so that you can talk on your cellphone without using your hands.  Which is nice for driving or just when you’re busy with other activities.  However, you’ll probably still get pulled over by the cops, just so they can make sure you’re competent enough to even drive a motor vehicle.  This strap at least has the benefit of amusing everyone around you, because no one will be able to resist teasing you and snickering when you aren’t looking.

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As America has been gearing up towards the digital TV handover on February 19 (which may now be delayed if Obama gets his way), the obsession at CES over the past few years has been bigger is better in HDTVs. Panasonic is currently the king of the kill with a mammoth 150 inch LCD screen (so huge, it needs it’s own cargo plane and a team of technicians to ship and install). But along with the Ballmer era at Microsoft, 2009 represents a new change as “thin” is now in for HDTV design. It’s been coming since last year as OLED technology has matured. But now, it’s out in the open and proud of it. Thin is in and everyone is vying for the thinnest, lightest HDTV. And who’s topping the profile mountain at the moment? Panasonic again with a plasma TV that’s 1/3 of an inch thick.

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We’ve mentioned before that iHome would be rolling out a new line of lamps that would connect to your iPod. Well iHome is showing this one off at this year’s CES. The lamp would be great to put next to your favorite chair and listen to your music. It would also be nice for dorm rooms or those that just have tiny apartments. Granted depending on your situation it might be better to find a floor lamp that does the same thing. However, I’m sure you could find a desk or dresser to place this on. It thankfully also comes in several different colors.

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Coolest Gadgets readers, there may not be a reason to post another article on this site. You see, I have discovered the coolest gadget ever. Okay, maybe it is a little too early to say it is the coolest gadget ever, but it is easily the coolest thing that I’ve seen so far at CES 2009. And I saw the Live 3D coverage of the BCS championship, for crying out loud.

Today, while I was at a CES event known as Lunch at Piero’s, I saw a demonstration by a Total Immersion. This company uses Augmented Reality (AR) to make special effects in real-time.

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I consider myself a lucky man, for today, I took part in history. I had the chance at CES 2009 to attend the first ever live 3D broadcast of the FedEx BCS Championship Game.

This “groundbreaking” televised broadcast of the University of Florida Gators vs. the University of Oklahoma Sooners took place at the Theatre of Arts in the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. The event was sponsored by 3ality Digital, with cooperation from Fox Sports, Sony, and Cinedigm Digital Cinemas.

So how was the experience? Let’s just put it this way: when the camera goes over the crowd, you can see a sense of depth. The people who are sitting in the back rows don’t just look smaller, but they truly look further away. When the camera passes by a row of cheerleaders, it looks like you are walking by the cheerleaders.

In short, it is like you are actually at the stadium watching game itself. It helped that there was a crowd in the theater cheering for their favorite team, and there were even hot dogs and other various sports arena snacks readily available that helped to complete the illusion of spectator seating.

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I couldn’t stand reading the article one year ago when we reported that The Sharper Image filed for bankruptcy. For years, The Sharper Image had been a beacon of inspiration to technology enthusiasts everywhere.

Fortunately, the company has signed a licensing contract with another company called HoMedics. So now Sharper Image Products, or SI Products, lives once more. In fact, The Sharper Image had a lot to display at its booth at CES 2009 with twenty-four new products.

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