Texting While Driving?

There's an ap for that!

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, is home to thousands of new products, ranging from revolutionary to cheap knock-offs.To highlight the best of the best, the Consumer Electronics Association gives away Innovations Awards to the most innovative products of the show. Here are two particularly interesting products on display in the Innovations Showcase.

MODLET

Modlet is short for "modern outlet." It's basically an intelligent power strip. You plug it into a regular outlet, and then plug in devices that consume a large amount of energy. The Modlet sends the energy consumption data to your computer. Based on how regularly you use those devices, it will suggest that you shut off electricity to them when they're not in use.

This can be used to stop "vampire" power drains, a common occurrence where devices draw power even when they're off.

TIWI

Another gadget on display in the showcase, tiwi, confronts an entirely different problem: teenagers texting and playing with their phones while driving.

When someone is driving a tiwi-enabled car, their phone is turned off through an app available for iPhones and Android phones. In addition, tiwi helps teenagers who are learning to drive by talking them through various mistakes.

There are other safety features included, such as a service that texts parents when their child is driving recklessly or when he or she leaves a designated zone. However, since the tiwi device gets all of its data from the car it is installed in (unlike other similar products on the show floor that were strictly tied to the cell phone), there are no protections enabled when the teenager drives another car.

The tiwi device begins at $299.99 and requires a monthly subscription costing $24.99 and up.

—Aaron Broder

PHOTO: The tiwi on display at CES. (Photo by Sue Broder)

3-D Games and Avatars

Press Day at CES reveals the future of gaming.

The day before the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) opens—CES Press Day—is almost as important as the four days that follow. Every company at the convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, is trying to make as much news as possible to attract people to come and visit their booth once the show actually starts.

Many companies host press conferences on press day, including big names like Casio, Samsung, Panasonic, and Sharp. Two companies that always attract a lot of attention are Sony and Microsoft. Here are some of the highlights from their announcements.

SONY

Last year was the year of 3D TVs. This year, at least for Sony, is the year of 3D everything else.

At its press conference, Sony unveiled new products in many of its most popular lines that are 3D-enabled. For example, a new Bloggie, a small handheld video camera similar to the Flip Mino, now has two lenses that enable it to shoot 3D movies. Similarly, there's a new Cybershot camera that can take still 3D photos.

Even more impressive, you can view these videos on the devices' LCD screens without the need for 3D glasses (although if you want to watch them on a bigger screen you'll need a special monitor and the glasses).

In addition, Sony showed off a prototype for a device that is still under development. It is a head-mounted display—a pair of goggles that looks like they came straight out of the new Tron movie. When you put them on, you can watch a 3D movie or play games in 3D without needing a TV screen!

With no release timetable set, there's no knowing when (or even if) this device will come out. But regardless, it's a clear sign that 3D is here to stay.

MICROSOFT

As always, the last event of CES Press Day was the Microsoft keynote, given by CEO Steve Ballmer. With the combination of Windows, Windows Mobile, and Xbox, he had a lot of ground to cover.

The Microsoft Kinect, a motion-sensing controller for the Xbox 360, sold more than 8 million units in its first 60 days on the market. Microsoft intends for this growth to continue, and is developing new features for the system.

One new system revealed is something called Avatar Kinect. With it, you can go online into virtual worlds and chat with your friends using your Xbox Live avatars. Most impressive is that the avatar not only mimics your body movements, it can even mimic your facial expressions, such as smiling, laughing, and raising your eyebrows. Avatar Kinect is coming this Spring for Xbox Live Gold subscribers.

Another cool product at the keynote is a variety of new form factors for Windows PCs. They now come in all shapes and sizes. One is a computer without a keyboard. It has been replaced with a second screen that extends how much you can see at once. When you tap it with 10 fingers, however, it turns into a virtual keyboard.

Microsoft also showed off a laptop by Samsung with a keyboard that slides underneath the monitor and becomes a tablet.

CES Press Day is just a small taste of what's to come at CES 2011. It's exciting to imagine what still has yet to be announced. Check back to find out! The show runs from January 6-9.

—Aaron Broder

PHOTO: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shows off the new Avatar Kinect feature that creates life-like avatars that mimic your own facial expressions and emotions. (Photo by Sue Broder)

Consumer Electronics Show Year Five

Kid Reporter returns to technology convention

Five years ago, I stepped onto the floor of the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the first time. I was the youngest reporter to ever cover the convention.

Also, that year was the 40th anniversary of the show. Everyone was talking about wireless technology, smaller and more intelligent cell phones, and bigger and better TVs. Everyone is still talking about all of those things (although people care more about whether or not TVs have three dimensions than if they have large dimensions), but other hot topics have risen and fallen over the past five years. Here are two things that I've noticed over my years covering this convention.

The Recession and CES

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which runs CES, says that the recession still hasn't affected the show much. This year the show floor is 100,000 square feet larger than it was last year. But even as the numbers remain strong, there's evidence that even the biggest convention in the CE industry hasn't been left untouched by the global economic crisis.

In 2009, only 110,000 people attended, a drop of more than 30,000 people from the previous year. Although there was an increase in 2010, it still doesn’t match the pre-recession numbers.

In addition, while big companies like Microsoft continue to have huge booths with lots of exhibits, smaller companies have cut back.

Technology Convergence

The first year I wrote about CES, Bill Gates gave a keynote speech about one of Microsoft's key strategies moving forward: an integration of services between Windows, Windows Mobile, and Xbox. This integration of technology is a trend that continues today on a much greater scale.

Every year, in the days leading up to CES, the CEA hosts a State of the Consumer Electronics Industry speech that discusses the trends to watch. Last year as well as this year, there's been an increasing tendency for these trends to overlap.

One trend, the "Sensorization" of technology, fills ordinary technology with a lot of sensors that take data from the real world. This leads directly to objects that are able to respond to one another and their environment, or "Intelligence of Things”—another trend that was listed in this year's talk.

Shawn DuBravac, the Chief Economist and Director of Research at the Consumer Electronics Association who helped give the presentation, thinks this growing overlap isn't a coincidence.

"There probably is an underlying trend at work,” he said. “I think it highlights how interconnected things are becoming. These trends play off each other, [and] even feed off each other."

As CES continues, I will be blogging about everything I learn at this year's convention. Check back for daily updates!

—Aaron Broder

PHOTOS: (Top) Kid Reporter Aaron Broder at his first CES five years ago. (Bottom) This year at the convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photos Sue Broder)