CES 2010 Sneak Peek: Lightglove, slotRadio, More

Not that CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) really needs any additional hype, but the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) wants to make sure that even with CES half a year away, that the media and analysts never forget that their technology extravaganza is on the horizon. The CEA sponsored a mini tradeshow in New York City this last week, called the CEA LineShows.

We decided that this would be a good opportunity to not only potentially learn about new products and technologies, but it would also be great real-world test for the Flip UltraHD pocket camcorder we recently reviewed. So we grabbed the camcorder and headed over to the show.

All Takes Shot On Flip UltraHD Camcorder

We spoke with a number of vendors and included some of those conversations in the video above. We got to see the SanDisk slotRadio player showing off its stuff. We also got a great peek at an open-source 3D-printer robot-kit in action from the folks at MakerBot Industries. SmartFish Technologies was showing off its ergonomic PRO:Motion Keyboard, which uses "actually studies your usage pattern, and makes periodic, yet imperceptible adjustments to the height, angle and radial position of the device"--that's right, the keyboard actually moves. FLO TV was demoing its live mobile-TV service. We got a glimpse of what the future of computer mice might be, with the wireless Lightglove "virtual controller," which uses light to sense motion, and you wear the device on your wrist. Contour Design was also showing off an ergonomic mouse alternative technology with its RollerMouse Free. Our last stop was with Storage Appliance Corp., which was singing the praises of one of its latest Clickfree automatic backup drives.

All-in-all there were some interesting products and technologies to see. As to how the Flip UltraHD did, it actually held up pretty well. We were especially impressed at how well it was able to capture audio, despite all the background noise. The lack of image stabilization is very apparent in the somewhat shaky footage (to quote Steve McCroskey from Airplane!: "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking.") You'll also probably notice at times when we tried to get in close on the products, the images get a little blurry--we forgot that the FlipUltraHD's fixed-focus lens has a minimum focal distance of 1.5-meters--at times, we got a lot closer to our subjects than 5-feet. Oops. Anyway, we hope you enjoy our peek at the show...