The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) takes place each year in Las Vegas, it is the premier event for gadgetry with many companies unleashing there products to an expectant press. This year many new products were launched in every conceivable electronics market, the list below contains a top 5 of items you will be seeing hit the shops soon:
Wireless Memory Cards
Wireless digital cameras are a must for speedily getting photos on to PC's and the internet as a whole. These can be costly so for people unwilling to upgrade a company called Eye-Fi have released a 2GB memory card which not only stores photos but also acts s a wireless network card. When coupled with a pc running the software pictures can be taken and automatically uploaded to your favourite social networking sites(the firm currently has deals with Flickr, Facebook and Photobucket).Force-Feedback Clothing
Rumble packs and force feedback controllers are becoming standard equipment on gaming systems; however these only affect your hands (with the exception of the rumble pad designed for the game Rez). TN games aims to expand this by creating the 3rd Space Vest. This vest allows the wearer to feel the game for example in a first person shooter the vest will allow the wearer to feel where and how hard impacts are on their character, during driving games the vest will simulate the g-force experienced. The vest works by pumping air via a small compressor into small bladders around the vest and connects to a PC via a USB port.Curved Monitors
Seeking a 3d set up and more immersion hardcore gamers have been using multi-screen set ups for years allowing different images to appear on different monitors. Custom PC builder Alienware has gone one up on this concept by showing its new curved monitor, expected for release in Q2 2008 the 3 foot wide monitor is capable of 2880 x 990 resolution with a response time of 0.2ms. Prices have not yet been announced but given the niche nature of the monitor it would be worth saving now!Control your Home from the Phone
The Japanese are well known for their love of technology and gadgetry and aren't prepared to just be happy with video, internet and all the other new technologies available on the current batch of mobile phones. A consortium of Japanese Researchers and Companies have come up with a new and wide ranging set of network standards which allows the phone to control various aspects of the home. This was demonstrated at CES with an Apple iPhone setup to control a Tokyo apartment. Currently mobile network NTT DoCoMo allows Japanese homeowners to keep an eye on there properties while away via the phone, with the new standards in place soon you will be able to turn on the lights, turn the heating up if your walking home in the cold or even fire up the oven ready for when you get in all from your mobile phone.Radio for the Deaf
Digital radio systems have been around a couple of years now and are definetly here to stay. However there are people who are unable to take advantage of the expanded channel choice namely the deaf. In order to bring radio to as many people as possible a new initiative has been set up by National Public Radio, Towson University and technology firm Harris Corporation. This new initiative aims to make use of the extra bandwidth available in digital radio broadcasts to transmit text alongside the radio signal which can then be read on the screen. The aim is to create a fully automatic system capable of translating speech to text but at present it requires an operator to translate.
