ShowStoppers: Highlights

So last night Jeff and I went to ShowStoppers, a tech show here in NYC introducing the latest gadgets for the holidays. Here are my personal highlights from the show (both good and bad):


* HP DreamScreen 130: A digital photo frame on steroids. It has built-in Wi-Fi (802.11g), 2GB of RAM, integrated speakers, two card slots (it reads 6 types of cards total), and a 13.3" 800x480 res screen. It streams music, video, and photos from your computer and it can also access Pandora, HP Smart Radio (Internet radio), and Facebook. If you store your pics on HP's Snapfish, you're in luck 'cause it has a Snapfish widget that'll give you access to your online pics (although there's no Flickr support, boooo!) I particularly liked the alarm clock aspect of it where you can wake up and see the weather right on the display. There's also a 10" version (they both run Linux) called the HP DreamScreen 100 which will go for $249 (the 13" goes for $299). The prices are very high IMO, so hopefully we'll see deals on them soon, 'cause I really liked the 10".



* Navigon MobileNavigator App for iPhone: The Navigon folks were at the event showing off their iPhone app which now does Live Traffic updates. I don't own an iPhone, but I totally understand why people want a GPS app w/ spoken turn-by-turn directions. What I don't get is why Navigon is charging $89 for it (plus an additional $19 for the traffic updates). Especially when you can get a real GPS for a lot less. That said — the app itself looks cool. (It comes in at just over 1GB btw.) You can listen to music and have the app running at the same time (a small little iPod icon lets you toggle between the two if you want to switch to a diff song) and should you receive a call or txt message — a small prompt lets you decide if you want to take it or not. However, taking the call/txt means closing the app (blame that on Apple's lack of multitasking support). Again, the app looks cool, but it's priced way too high. (And btw, that $19 price for the traffic updates is just a promo for the first 4 weeks of Oct and it applies only if you just purchased the app. After the promo, live traffic is a one-time payment of $24.)

Redfly Mobile Companion: Remember the Palm Foleo? Well, Redfly is pretty much the same thing. They now support Blackberries. That's all. Just get a netbook.

Fast Pencil: This website/service makes it easy for you to self-publish. Whether you want to write an ebook for the Kindle or a hard-copy book as a gift for someone.


ZVOX Audio: These folks were showing off their new sound bars, which aren't so much "bars" but more like TV stands that double as speakers. The 525 ($400) is made for smaller TVs while the 575 ($800) can hold up to a 60" flat-panel. Inside the 575 you'll find five 3.25" speakers, two 6.5" subwoofers, and a 133-watt amp. I'm not really sold on the idea though. You already have your TV on a stand, why would you want to place it on yet another one (even if it doubles as a speaker). Plus, design-wise, I just wasn't feeling it. They're boxy and looked, well, dull.

And that was it. It was a small show. Tonight is the Pepcom show, which should be bigger and have more gadgets. I'll have an update on that tomorrow.