CES 2007: Sands/Venetian Roundup

CES Monday brought many new and different products to the market. I spent the day at the Sands/Venetian, the smaller of the two convention centers, talking to new product developers. The Sands/Venetian convention center holds for the most part smaller manufactueres and inventors who are just now bringing their products t the market, unlike the LVCC which houses big names like Sony and Panasonic. Here are some of the neatest new products I found:

Planet 2's SMPD Chip

The new VGA chip makes it possible to shoot full-color digital still pictures in complete darkness without using any external light source. The company demo's the product with a digital camcorder, as well as a self parking car. Planet 82 reports the chip to be 2000 times more light sensitive than chips o the past al for nearly half the price.

Aigo Video Playing Watch

This was one of the coolest things I saw Monday. This watch by Chinese company Aigo will play your mp3's and video all at the same time. While mesmerized by the device at CES I can't really see a time when I personally would use one of these, but you never know when you'll need to really see a music video on your watch. The company plans on offering a 512MB and a 1GB version, both of which will have a headphone jack and mini-USB port so you can transfer files from a friends watch to your own. Of course the watch is available in China only at this time, but look for it to come to the States in the coming months.

Vault 360 Platinum

Vault 360 is a software product designed to "allow users to access their digital entertainment any time, any place and on any device." I got a demo of the product by Jim Adams, EVP Sales and Marketing and was really impressed with what the product can do. While I was there we were able to transfer video from a hard drive camcorder to an iPod, and to a mobile phone almost instantly.

EPOS USB Pen

The company EPOS has created a USB pen that remembers what you type. The pen transfers what your write through infrared to a USB device that can then be plugged into your computer. Once plugged in, the device will transpose what you write into text. At CES EPOS announced a partnership with Dane-Elec to bring the pen to the market. The pen is expected to be released in March for PC with a Mac version in the works.

Wow Wee Dragonfly

The dragonfly toy by the company WowWee immediately caught my attention, specifically because it almost landed in my head when I walked by the WowWee booth. The dragonfly is the world's first radio-controlled flying insect. The insect is set to be released this spring and is absolutely fantastic. The RC flyer has LED-flashing lights, a wingspan of 16 inches and can reach speeds of up to 18 miles per hour. The only downside to the toy I see is the battery charge time. The dragonfly requires a 20-minute charge and yields only 10 minutes of fly time.

Slingcatcher

As if watching your TV on your computer wasn't enough, now the people who brought you sligbox are making it possible for you to do the reverse. Slingcatcher will allow you to watch whatever is on your computer screen, on your computer. The Slingcatcher is going to have integrated WiFi and is planned to be released in the middle of the year with a price tag of less than $200.