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February 02, 2007
First CES Favorite: Digital Pen
At CES, the entire Hilton Convention Center is consumed by small booths in blocks organized by countries, mostly Asian. Frankly, I found this area a little tedious. All the exhibitors are hopeful that a WalMart or some other big box buyer will stop by and place an order for a million or so units. The endless offerings of MP3 players, headsets and headphones, cables, HDTV screens, and GPS units begin to blur into a numbing sameness.
However, occasionally something new jumps out and grabs you. For instance, WaaWoo offered one of my favorites last year, the WOW MousePen (www.wow-mousepen.com) has an exciting, new item that blew me away. It's my first CES Favorite.
What if I told you that this digital pen would allow you to write or draw on any surface and that all your strokes were recorded digitally? The recorder is a USB memory stick that does not have to be connected to a computer to record. When you slip it into a USB port, your scribblings will appear on the monitor. You can even convert your writing to text. You can also use the flash memory stick to store any kind of data. This device is slick, compact, and mind bogglingly adaptable to an endless variety of applications. The suggested retail price will be about $100. Be on the lookout for this beauty when it hits the retail market. Meanwhile, just imagine how you might use such an ingenious device.
At the Sands Hotel Convention Center a mile or so south of the main venue, there is another huge space for the overflow. Many of the exhibitors were similar to those at the Hilton--small Asian electronics companies. However, I found several innovative offerings here and a greater variety of products including games, furniture, household appliances such as robotic vacuum cleaners, and a variety of other robots.
Posted by conradb212 at February 2, 2007 06:43 PM