The CEA Line Show is taking place this week in New York, a preview of sorts for the post-summer gadget season that starts in time for holiday shopping. So far, there hasn’t been a whole lot of noise from the show, but a few products did catch my eye from the NYC coverage.
First is the Parrot AR Drone, a small helicopter device with two video cameras you control with your iPhone. (The International Business Times covered it here.) Apparently there’s some sort of multi-person game you can play with the drones, though at $300 a pop, I don’t know how many of your friends are going to shell out the required cash. More interesting to me is the potential usefulness of the streaming video feeds. Whether for scouting out unreachable locations or creating multi-dimensional models, the AR Drones have interesting potential. So far, it appears you can only buy the little helicopters in the US from select hobby stores, but presumably online availability is on the way.
Next up is a new Android tablet from Vizio. So far, most of the Android tablets on the market have been a disappointment, but with a new entrant at $349, Vizio may snag some consumer share here the way it is has in the TV category. PCMag reports that in a hands-on demo with a pre-production version of the product, the Vizio tablet performed reasonably well, but the reviewer also notes that it may be hampered by its single-core 1GHz processor. The tablet will launch with Android 2.3, and will, in theory, be upgrade-able to Honeycomb. One of its big selling features is an embedded IR blaster that allows the Vizio device to act as a home theater remote. Vizio also says the tablet, due in July, will be integrated with upcoming 6 Series TV sets running Google TV.
Finally, I noticed that the nPower PEG, a kinetic-powered battery was on display again this week. I got excited about the little motion-powered device back at CES in January, but since then the company behind it has never upgraded the product’s status from backordered to available. I sent a note to the company in May asking for an update, but never got a response. That’s a danger sign in my book, as I’ve seen far too many delayed products never actually make it to market. It’s too bad too. I love the idea of a battery I can power just by walking around.
What, you forgot my Parrot UFO video from CES 2010?? ;)
https://zatznotfunny.com/2010-01/ufo-the-coolest-thing-at-ces/
Ha! Did that version stream video? Also, it sounds like the price has come down by half. And $300 still sounds steep!
Any word on the Vizio tablet’s functionality with their existing 5 series line?
Baal- I haven’t investigated. Doubt there’s any specific integration, but it should still work as a remote.