There was SO much coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the tech press it was difficult to keep up. It seemed like a new gadget was mentioned or reviewed every hour (or less!). This is why the “Best Of” lists are so handy—they’re the overall “takeaways” from this giant event. Interestingly, two products made just about every list: the Oculus Rift and Razer’s Project Christine.
Oculus Rift
Oculus is a virtual-reality company and the Rift headset is its flagship product. Pop the headset on and you get a 110 degree field of vision in a virtual game. As Engadget said, “With its latest prototype, Oculus VR has taken a huge leap forward, eliminating the stomach-churning motion blur that has plagued previous generations of VR headsets and adding sensors and a camera to track the position of both your head and body to provide more accurate simulated movement.” The word that is mentioned over and over with this product is “immersive.” Wired said, “It’s one of those rare products you know will change everything when it finally gets a consumer release.” For more detailed info, check out Wired’s gadget lab piece.
Razer’s Project Christine
This is a totally fresh take on the PC…that doesn’t even look like one. It’s a completely customizable computer with a super-cool modular design. Each part is self-contained pod, making it easy for a user to swap new ones in (and old ones out). Apparently Razer is contemplating a subscription model that would let customers upgrade whenever they’d like. Engadget says this concept “could mark the beginning of a plug-and-play PC upgrades for gaming machines and, in time, it could change the way OEMs design regular computers, too.” (And the green glow is pretty awesome too :-)).
Other picks that made multiple, but not all the lists? The Pebble Steel Smartwatch and the Makerbot 3D printer
Pebble Steel Smartwatch
The Pebble is a kickstarter-backed smartwatch that is the one to beat. It started with a very colorful exterior, but low and behold, they have introduced a new chic version—the Pebble Steel. It has a sleek, upscale look and they’re opening a Pebble app store to offer buyers even more functionality. CES visitors got to try using Yelp, Foursquare, and Pandora on Pebble and clearly that’s just the beginning. (Am I the only one who can’t help of Dick Tracy whenever I see a smartwatch?). Mashable has a few more details if you’re interested: http://mashable.com/2014/01/06/pebble-steel/
MakerBot 3D desktop printer
Seriously, who doesn’t secretly think that owning a 3D printer would be awesome? Well, MakerBot has inching us ever closer to that reality with a “prosumer” desktop 3D printer. It has a “nearly automated setup” and, print using PLA plastic cartridges (and even tells you when you need to replace it), and navigation is all done via a dial modeled after high-end stereo equipment. In short, it’s meant to be easy and simple to use. This sounds incredible!
My favorites from all the “best of” lists? I thought the Onewheel looks awesome, and the Sony 4K ultra short theater projector could be so cool! But, see what you think. Here, for your afternoon enjoyment, here are the best “Best of CES” lists that I spotted:
Overall winner lists:
And Engadget offered up some more specific “roundups” from CES that I thought were rather handy if you’d like to get some highlights from each category:
Finally, and just for fun, Mashable offers this report of 10 weird gadgets (seriously though, my husband might need the GrillBot):
How about you? What did you see reported on from CES that you’d like to own?
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