What’s the last gadget standing?

Posted January 8th, 2008 at 11:15 pm by Robin Raskin, Yahoo! Tech

 2 Comments / Filed in: Conferences/Events, Cool Stuff

CES: 1.8 million square feet of booths and tents. 140,000 self-acclaimed geeks. 2,700 exhibitors. 30-minute taxi lines. And just 10 contenders for the annual Yahoo! Tech “Last Gadget Standing” contest.

After reviewing hundreds of the latest, cool, hip gizmos and contraptions, we’ve whittled them down to the Top Ten and are pitting them against each other tomorrow morning. Think “Survivor” meets “American Idol.”

Here’s how it works. Each of our ten finalists will have four minutes to make their spiel. Using a highly scientific applause-o-meter, we’ll ask a live audience of about 500 gadget hounds to help us pick our winner. We’re not looking for the latest flash in the pan — we want something with staying power. That thing that defines or redefines how we get things done… whether that’s cleaning our gutters, steering clear of traffic jams, improving our golf game, or getting photos off our cameras. Last year’s fast-paced demos were highly creative and entertaining — we were even graced by an Elvis appearance.

Here are the final contenders:

• Asus Eee PC 4G is a computer that costs only $399, has a tiny 7-inch screen, runs Linux, and comes with a suite of great software applications.
• Eye-Fi is a specially designed low-power wireless chip with a 2GB memory card that lets you automatically transfers photos from a camera to a Mac or PC or places like Flickr and other social networks.
• Dash Express is an Internet-connected GPS device that gives real-time traffic conditions based on data transmitted from other Dash users (think social networking meets traffic reports). It also taps into Yahoo! Local for up-to-the-minute info on everything from movies to gas prices.
• Electric~Spin’s Golf Launchpad Tour is a unique golf simulation input device that lets you play golf in the convenience of your home, with your own clubs.
• Fujitsu’s U810 WWAN is an ultra-mobile PC with state-of-the-art connectivity.
• iRobot’s iLooj is a robotic gutter cleaner that will clean a 60-foot stretch of gutter in ten minutes.
• The LG Voyager phone has a touch screen and beneath the flip is a QWERTY keyboard for easy typing.
• The Logitech DiNovo is a wireless keyboard that fits in the palm of your hand.
• Sansa TakeTV offers a simple and less expensive way to move downloaded TV programs around the house. Using a cradle with standard RCA and S-Video plugs, your TV media is stored on the USB memory stick.
• Toshiba’s TDP-EW25U wireless DLP projector can produce an image that casts 41 feet or 1.6 feet, create a 60-inch picture even when it’s positioned 2.4 feet away, and accommodates high-def video.

If you’re here in Vegas, my fellow Yahoo! Tech advisors and I invite you to come to the Convention Center’s North Hall (Room N255-257) at 10:30am tomorrow. If you can’t be here, we’ll be posting a video recap of the showdown later this week.

May the best gadget win.

UPDATE: And the winner is…. the Eye-Fi! This new wireless memory card makes it a snap to move photos from your camera to your computer or upload them to your favorite website. They stole the show in spite of an appearance by the Verizon Wireless guy to promo the LG Voyager phone. Here’s to redefining how we make use of our photos. Congratulations to the Eye-Fi!

Robin Raskin
Yahoo! Tech Advisor – The Boomer

Tagged: CES, conference, Yahoo! Tech

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2 Comments Add your own

gag | January 9th, 2008 at 1:03 pm

Dash Express seems like an interesting prototype, i am more excited about the traffic

Bruce Moten | January 10th, 2008 at 7:33 pm

What a pitiful bunch of gutless gadgets. If this is indicative of what excites us then I hereby turn my gadget geek card in. I combed through the ware at CES and underwhelmed is an understatement. We can do better.

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