Top 10 CE innovation gadgets at CES

12/9/2011 1:06 PM EST

Sometimes we have different expectations. I'd like to hear from readers on whether these consumer electronics devices would make a difference in your lives.

12/9/2011 2:53 PM EST

Perhaps I'm just an old, cranky engineer, fixed (or rusted?) into my ways, but I couldn't work up more than a yawn for all but two of these goodies. The Lytro camera is interesting from a technology standpoint, but I am not sure just how widespread it will become. Certainly, the bulk of photos are "just" snapshots, and no one gives a hoot about changing their focus: you just shoot the thing again. Of course, there are applications where after the fact focus would be important, but why not just focus the whole image? That's not always artistic, but it's more economic than dinking about after you snap the shutter. I like the technology, though, and Ng's thesis is a neat read.


The other device that I can see of some practical value are the Sennheiser wireless headsets. I could use that... I sometimes want to watch a movie after the kids are in bed, and I don't always want to turn the volume down into the noise.


The other items: well, they are nifty, or neat, or cool, but not for me. Overall, it would be interesting to see which of these make it to this point next year.

12/10/2011 1:58 AM EST

Did you know that the judges for the Innovations awards don't even get a hands-on with the product? They simply send over spec sheets and the judges have to basically "guess" what products will be great for 2012. If you ask me, it's an absolute joke.

Thus, consumer disasters like the Google TV somehow snuck into the mix.

12/10/2011 8:32 AM EST

None other than the tab from Sony is of much appealing to my likings.
Why the tab from Sony is stands ahead of all others in the market? Has anybody experienced it? Does the feature mentioned in this article make big sense?

12/10/2011 9:15 AM EST

The libratone is operated from battery ?

12/10/2011 1:47 PM EST

The Lytro camera is very cool. I'm sure each of us has a few photos that are out of focus, but could not be re-taken -- action shots, or those rare events that were captured at just the right moment, which happened to occur before the autofocus had settled.

The Wipnet gadget is something I would personally be very interested in. Some of us have coax in the walls throughout the house, but not CAT5 cables, and would love to connect our desktop PCs and TVs to Ethernet instead of WiFi.

The Biscotti TV Phone falls in the "what were they thinking?" category. Is it really meant to sit on top of a TV set? Modern LCD TVs are so thin, you can't sit anything on top of them.

12/10/2011 9:09 PM EST

I really hate to say this, the blurb had an unacceptable level of technical problems, i.e. "system" instead of "spectrum", and the final 15 words being incompetent garbage. Highly unprofessional. (the Sennheiser blurb)

12/11/2011 7:45 PM EST

quite boring,
the wireless speaker/earphone are the same piece of junk and has been around for quite many years.

Have you seen a wireless guitar connector? much cooler.

For the sony tab, I am realizing all it's function now with a usb/VGA extention cable. why bother?

12/11/2011 7:55 PM EST

Good effort! May be some device will be useful for specific application.

12/12/2011 2:44 AM EST

Apart from Lytro, Liked the Nest thermostat. The design is very nice. Hopefully along with the AI learning, it helps more people to waste less energy.

Sony tablet! Really!

12/12/2011 9:43 AM EST

Glad that some choices have hot the mark with readers. More innovations will be reported on by our intrepid reporters in the days leading up to CES in January. Stay tuned.

12/12/2011 11:11 PM EST

The Lytro Light Field camera is amazing. I will buy it when it gets cheaper, since presently I am unemployed.

Have the folks at Lytro demo'd the camera to Law enforcement? This could become the standard camera for crime scene investigation.

12/13/2011 12:04 PM EST

Check out Lytro's blog, chuck full of objective lens (pardon the pun)technology details of why it's worth watching this company: http://blog.lytro.com/

12/13/2011 10:26 PM EST

i'm no audiophile but i would love to see the D-Premier in action. And wow, what a circuit board! i dont think even apple puts that much care and precision into their circuit boards. very impressive.

12/15/2011 3:41 PM EST

The Lytro camera is interesting, but I don't really understand why they just don't focus the entire photo. It seems an extra unnecessary post process to arbitrarily choose a focal point for every single photo when the entire picture could be focused. No thanks. The one other interesting thing to me is the thermostat. Personally, I will probably buy one myself eventually. People spend extra money all the time on mundane house items like faucets simply because they like the style. The thermostat looks cool, and the smart functionality is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned. The Apple guys get it right again.

1/4/2012 3:51 PM EST

D-Premier, what a joke, if your willing to pay $16,000.00 for an audio amplifier I will sell you a $500 coffee mug that will make your coffee taste the best ever, and I will give you all the specs. you need, such as the height, the bottom diameter, the top diameter to the nearest thousandth, and the purity of the cup material. Hopefully this will convince you it is worth $500 dollars.