Hot Gadgets 2013

December 13, 2012, Churchill Club, Palo Alto, CA—The Churchill Club held their annual gadgets program to review what’s hot and not in consumer technologies. The presenters are people who get to play with new technologies as a part of their day jobs.
This year’s presenters were: Walt Mossberg from the Wall Street Journal, Kara Swisher from AllThingsD.com, Greg Harper from Harpervision, and Aaron Lewis from Box.

The presenters all seemed to know each other and the evening was filled with many barbs about previous suggestions. Swisher’s theme was photography. There are many websites that now do things with digital photos; instagram, insta-something-or-other, photo-whatever, flickr, snapfish… One that does something different is photoweavers, a site that takes any picture and transfers it to a almost any size fabric up to 4 x5 ft.—pillows, blankets, etc. Another way to add interest to a large picture is to add speech or thought bubbles to the photo, numerous sites enable this function. by combining, the two functions, you can have poster-sized commentary.

Another unique site is foldify, an app for iPad that starts with a photo and places it on to a foldable surface, to make a 3-D photo. They have templates for various shapes to allow you to make a special gift box for someone. To create some of the images, try the Carbon 1 Mini, a $19 5M pixel webcam that takes still or video pictures. The interesting aspect of this camera is that the outputs can be like Polaroid-format prints, with white borders.

Finally, the ability to mix hardware and software is now available in plush toys that talk. These toys can talk to each other and interact with people on an iPhone app. The talking friends app is a consumer version of the Internet of things.

Lewis started out by noting that in the past, Mossberg touted an MP3 player that can only get better over time. Unfortunately, the Microsoft Zune is now in the long list of forgotten gadgets. After espousing the functionality of enterprise software, he noted that the networks of controllable sensors will be the first wave of home automation. This network will use the technologies the enterprises developed.

Many new functions will be powered by the iPhone and its brethren. The technologies are getting simpler as Siri-like agents help with your daily life. Some examples: a blood pressure monitor attachment for the iPhone. The smart screens will be able to remotely manage sensors and electronics. Lights and other items on the network of sensors will facilitate greater interactions with the house. The sensors will also enable more diverse robots and control other things that can be turned on or off.

Mossberg offered some interesting tends and gadgets. iRiver is a $700 dock for an iPod that regenerates HD sound form the player. Base HD files for a single track will be 50-100 MB. The box can also convert in the other direction and make MP3s form CDs or other sources. This is the start of a trend to go to higher quality music. The emerging sector is already drawing in competition.

For those who don’t like the ergonomics of an iPhone, a cradle that has a separate wireless desktop telephone handset. It also plays music. Belkin has a line of outlet controllers that contain motion sensors and can be operated from a phone. For charging the ubiquitous phones, a wireless charging plate from Nokia that uses the Qi standard for NFC charging.

And if you don’t have an easy way to store a small amount of data, a paper-based USB memory from intellipaper. It currently has a very small capacity and very slow access times, but it can be used as a paper copy of a QR code.

Harper covered a wide-ranging set of technologies. Today, many gadgets are both smart and useless. In the next 5 years, a number of technologies will change that equation. In imaging, a very nice camera is the Sony NEX7. it has interchangeable lenses and a 24M pixel sensor for $1400. the NEX 6 is a $1,000 version of the same technology. In DSLRs, Sony’s RX100 has a 1-inch sensor with 20M pixels. Standard lens is F 1.2, and there is also a zoom lens package.

Cameras are getting smaller. Now you can get a 1080P video camera that fit into sunglass frames. The only real problem is that decent images require you move your head slowly to keep from causing motion sickness for your viewers. For more active sports, the GoPro 3 has up to 4k resolution at 1080P-60. other companies including Sony and Contour also make these action cams.

The trend here is that many consumer devices are moving from 1080 to UHD and 4k. 4k camcorders are appearing with up to 4 HDMI ports, 4 SD card slots, and will cost less than $5,000. Expect to see a lot of UHD equipment at CES. Over the top TV is becoming available through the smart TVs. Roku has a HDMI plug-in on a stick that sells for $50. The El Gato TV tuner for iPhones is going for $99.

In audio, Senheiser has some ear buds that include a high-end DAC for higher fidelity sounds. VModa has a battery charger-headphone driver that also has a high performance DAC. ParrotStak has a $900 headphone that may be better than the Bose set. It is NFC enabled and includes a Bluetooth link and touch controls for $399.

NFC in appearing in a lot of phone models including the Samsung S3, Motorola Max—which also boasts of an amazing 21-hour talk time—the Nexus 4.The Lumia has a camera with built-in image stabilization and includes NFC and wireless charging. Mossberg interjected that the Lumia is a very heavy phone.

Wireless functions are also showing up in accessories. A glove phone is a Bluetooth extension for €50 that has a mike and speaker for calling on really cold days. Smart watches are capable of being your second screen. An Oakley sunglass has a heads-up display with WiFi and Bluetooth that can show your front radar and temperature.

All these electronics need to be charged, so a camping stove now has a USB charger that is powered by the heat from the stove. Sensors are moving to golf. A set of golf gloves includes pressure sensors in the fingers to indicate grip and contact information. Human-machine interfaces are increasing convenience. Black and Decker makes a screwdriver that has motion sensors to determine direction and speed for the screwdriver. Nike has a cordless watch that tells activity by connecting via Bluetooth to a smart phone.

The Internet of things will include such items as the Plantronics noise-canceling headset that allows Dragon Dictate to get cleaner voice information. Lightscribe has a WiFi pen that captures audio and can capture notes and drawings from special paper. Lightbulbs will have their own IP address, and an infrared controller could adjust it. Sensors will change our lives. Medical sensors like eeg could gauge emotive states, and the connection to the cloud will allow greater connectivity and immersion into activities.

The newest gadgets all take advantage of the availability of increased intelligence. Some of the functions will require cloud access, which could be a problem when the local WiFi is less than acceptable.